"A ninja must be able to see through a plan within a plan."
"In the ninja world, one who breaks the rules is scum."
"But one who abandons their comrades—is worse than scum."
With that said, Kakashi looked toward Hanabi. "Advance reconnaissance and intelligence gathering are required skills for any ninja—I'll grant you that. But my personal information isn't something that can be pulled together by just anyone. I'll let it go this time, but inside the village, you'd be wise not to do this sort of thing again. It's dangerous."
Kakashi's PTSD had flared up badly—but Hanabi pulling this off was a testament to her own ability. That said, gathering intel came with its own dangers. The source of that danger being, for instance, Danzo. Danzo. And also Danzo. Things of that nature.
Hanabi stuck her tongue out. "Heehee~"
Kakashi gave a thumbs up. "Exercise concluded. Team Seven—first assignment starts tomorrow."
"Yeah! That whole thing felt—so cool!"
The moment it was over, Naruto single-handedly livened up the whole scene.
"grumble rumble..." Mid-jump, his stomach announced itself loudly. "Hehe... the moment I relaxed, I got hungry."
"There are only two lunch boxes," Hanabi said. "Why don't I treat everyone—"
"I'll pass." Kakashi declined promptly. "Right now, I feel a little like I might be sick."
[Boomerang 2333]
[He really might throw up, haha]
[Treat attempt: failed +1]
[If I were Kakashi I wouldn't just want to throw up—I'd want to take this little gremlin apart]
[Psychological damage confirmed 2333]
Earlier, Kakashi himself had been the one saying I'll throw up—and now Kakashi was the one feeling sick. The boomerang landed squarely, detonating another wave of audience reactions.
"Then at least let's take a photo. Last time didn't work out." Hanabi produced her camera again.
"Yes yes, photo time!" Naruto was the most enthusiastic.
Hanabi split off a Shadow Clone to operate the camera. All three gathered in front of it.
click
And in that warm, lively atmosphere, Episode 5 drew to a close.
Amid a flood of danmaku wishing it wouldn't end—Gaia, Tiga, please don't go—Hanabi also checked her popularity points.
This wave had been exceptional. Fifty thousand in one go.
[Episode 5 Broadcast Complete]
[Calculating your episode fee—please wait]
[Negotiation with production team: complete]
[Please select one item as your episode fee:]
[1. Solo promotional poster + merchandise production]
[2. Solo OVA filming opportunity]
[3. External investment acquisition]
[External investment acquisition: can optimize an outside item for local compatibility, or add new content (unavailable to supporting characters) (unavailable to this script), etc.]
[Dimensional Popularity Stage Notice: You have achieved remarkable popularity. It is time to advance from extra to supporting role. Spend 100,000 popularity points to participate in the supporting character promotion evaluation.]
[After becoming a supporting character, you may choose to settle episode fees on a seasonal basis—cumulative rewards will be significantly richer.]
The rewards this time were far more generous than Episode 1.
Not only standard broadcast episode fees—the Dimensional Popularity Stage was also offering a promotion evaluation.
In this world, Hanabi was technically classified as a "supporting character"—but only because her character card carried a "same-name character" tag that had let her slot into the role of Hyuga Hanabi.
In any other world, she'd be back to being a nameless extra.
With this reward, that problem could finally be solved.
The Naruto storyline was long—but compressed into actual in-world time, it only spanned a few years. Hanabi genuinely enjoyed living here, but unless she was going to appear in Boruto, her arc was essentially capped.
And she suspected this world's Boruto simply wasn't going to happen.
"External investment acquisition, hm..."
Hanabi found this option interesting. Though since she wasn't the protagonist, some of its functions were locked off to her.
"What does 'local optimization' mean exactly?"
[Allows you to select an outside item and assign it an in-world origin, enabling it to appear within the script without causing narrative dissonance.]
"I see."
As a supporting character, she couldn't just produce strange foreign objects out of nowhere. It would break the story.
Take the EX Curry Stick, or the Sword of Rupture, Ea she'd somehow acquired at some point—items like those had absolutely nothing to do with this series' themes. Forcing them in would work against popularity accumulation, and risked triggering an OOC violation.
OOC meant deductions. Literally—actual deductions from her episode fee. Breaking character and narrative intrusion both carried financial penalties.
"Decided. This one."
Once she confirmed her selection, a new prompt appeared.
[Please select the item or prop to be optimized for local use.]
"Mm, in that case..." Hanabi had initially thought to optimize her own character card—[Fool's Masquerade · Hanabi]—for local compatibility, but when she checked, that card was already "local."
"Does that mean cards selected through a 'karmic bond' are automatically localized? Or is it because I've already woven myself into this world so naturally that it just settled in?"
Either way, her own card was off the table.
But Jingliu's card was viable.
[Request submitted.]
[Negotiating with production team.]
[Currently arguing with client.]
[Taking the boss out for drinks.]
[Boss successfully intoxicated.]
Dimensional Popularity Stage—what are you even doing?!
Hanabi genuinely could not tell if this was a bit or the actual workflow.
A reply arrived soon enough.
[Drafting the proposal.]
[Cracking the whip on contractors.]
[Localization complete.]
[Please enter resonance with Jingliu while carrying a blank summoning scroll.]
"Resonance?"
She'd entered resonance with Jingliu once before—and had come away with a great deal. The sensation of that brutal battlefield, and of that thing called mara coiling through her body—it had been the stuff of nightmares.
"Let's try it."
It was midday. Assignments started tomorrow. There was still time.
As for the blank summoning scroll—she'd already prepared one when she'd gotten her hands on the Scroll of Seals.
Hanabi entered resonance once more.
"Hm...?"
This time, however, she wasn't sharing Jingliu's perspective the way she had before.
Instead, she saw a woman with blue-white hair and crimson eyes, patiently teaching a young man the basics of swordplay.
Different from the direct full-immersion of last time—what Hanabi received this time was pure technique. Theory made visible.
The grip. The hand position. The footwork. The stance.
The young man learned attentively. Jingliu taught with care. Even Hanabi found herself drawn in.
Then Jingliu turned her head.
"You've been watching for this long. Do you want to learn too?"
"...Me?"
Hanabi was startled. She'd assumed this was just a memory to observe—but Jingliu was speaking to her directly.
Was this real? Was this an illusion?
This isn't some scheme of Aha, is it?
"You endured that abyss and still dared to come back." Jingliu seemed to remember her.
Without waiting for a reply, she continued: "Do you want to learn—my sword?"
"May I?" Hanabi asked.
"Whoever wants to learn my sword, I will teach. But it seems you want more than just the sword."
"The sword—yes. And the person—also yes." Hanabi raised her head. "I'm someone who's going to become a dimensional idol, after all."
"What remains here is nothing more than a lingering thought. If you want it, take it. In that case—"
The voice started from across the space, coming from Jingliu.
Then it came from Hanabi's own lips.
"Two become one."
"——!!!"
Like waking from a nightmare.
Hanabi opened her eyes.
Everything around her was exactly as before. But the summoning scroll had opened on its own—lying unrolled on the ground. In the space for the summoning contractor: "Hyuga Hanabi."
Could she actually summon Jingliu now?
She secured the scroll and tried forming the seals.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
In an instant, the air went cold.
Jingliu herself did not appear. Rather, behind Hanabi—a humanoid figure constructed of ice, shaped in Jingliu's likeness, holding an ice blade, standing at her back.
Ice-blue—and yet at its core, something burned. A seething crimson light.
"A manifestation of Jingliu? No... more like a... puppet?"
The ice figure hovering behind her like a second self carried no will of its own. It was closer to a construct—an autonomous doll.
"A fierce energy is flowing through me without stopping."
As if responding to that force, Hanabi's long black hair shifted to white.
She removed her blindfold.
With a gesture, an ice mirror formed before her. The reflection staring back had crimson eyes.
"What a dominant power."
It had transformed her—from black-haired to white-haired, dark-eyed to red-eyed—just like that.
She dismissed the summon. She reverted to herself.
"So, to summarize: by channeling Jingliu's power into a summoning-jutsu framework, it can be legitimately 'localized.' That's how it works."
Summoning Jutsu was known for calling forth all sorts of extraordinary things. If the Summoning Jutsu was behind it, there was nothing strange about it at all.
"With this summon available, even if I use Ice Style, it won't raise any eyebrows."
One word—summoning beast—and the explanation wrote itself. Covering for a "summoning beast" was infinitely simpler than accounting for an inexplicable mastery of Ice Style. She couldn't show the audience yet, but future arrangements would be much easier to manage.
And when the time came to demonstrate the swordsmanship she'd been absorbing from Jingliu, it would all slot naturally into place.
"Let's call her—'Snow Woman.'"
Whatever else—a cover identity first. The reveal could come later.
"The next resonance should let me receive Jingliu's direct instruction."
Resonance required wearing Jingliu's keepsake for seven consecutive days. The next session was still a week away.
"Alright, next—OP and ED filming..."
Episode 5's story was finished. The opening and ending had to begin filming soon, because Ninja's Path was about to transition from livestream to a proper serialized broadcast.
"And then there's the actor promotion evaluation."
There was still a great deal of work ahead.