With over three hundred thousand popularity points in reserve, expanding into a new market made sense.
The way Hanabi saw it, a single film set's popularity probably wasn't enough to pull off a comeback and become a lead actress. And the audience's definition of "protagonist" didn't quite match the Stage's or the production's metrics anyway.
Otherwise she'd have gotten the crew to rename Ninja's Path to "Hanabi" by now.
[Market Expansion Survey initiated.]
[Contacting production team…]
[Scanning parallel universes…]
[Conducting dimensional transit…]
[A certain Mr. Aha, who wishes to remain unnamed, has taken on the survey project.]
[Hanabi's dedicated fan Mr. Aha has agreed to personally fund the market entry.]
[Survey complete. External market promotion campaign has been contracted. Survey and promotion results: exceptional.]
[First-quarter footage has been submitted.]
[Please wait while the new market completes its review.]
Hanabi: ???
—Did she already have a die-hard fan?
"Though 'Mr. Aha' is a name that gives me the creeps."
Was that a nickname or an actual name?
Either way, she had a second market now.
A second market meant that even if she picked up a second booking later, she could still run live broadcasts in both.
She'd looked into this earlier. Due to timing and editing constraints, each world only supported one live broadcast per series.
Live broadcasts were valuable. No retakes, sure—but the "preview version" popularity boost was noticeably higher than the standard post-edited release.
Two markets meant two possible broadcast slots.
"Right—Stage. I asked before about whether we could look into the local market's situation, didn't I?"
[You may spend 10,000 popularity points to conduct a Local Market Survey, which will identify current audience demographics, social trends, and content preferences.]
Back when she was still an extra, something like this would've required waiting for the popularity shop's random rotation. But with her upgraded permissions, she could simply spend the points and commission it directly.
"Let's do it."
Ten thousand points. Nothing. She was flush right now.
[Local Market Survey initiated.]
[Commissioning research firm…]
[Reaching out to online platforms…]
[Hiring field researchers…]
[Distributing questionnaires…]
[Please allow several business days for results.]
"There. That about covers things for now."
The whole actress management backend was enormously complex. She couldn't possibly dig through all of it at once—better to address what was immediately relevant and move on.
Then the Stage pinged her again.
[Negotiations with production team complete.]
[Production team evaluation: extremely favorable.]
[Performance fee disbursed. Please review the following reward list.]
[1. Creation Workshop (Ninja's Path exclusive synthesis station): Insert low-quality items, props, skills, or character cards for refinement and synthesis. Guaranteed output will be locally compatible.]
[2. Directed Ten-Pull Package (5-star guaranteed): Designate a tag keyword. This ten-pull is guaranteed to produce a 4-star purple card matching the designated tag. Additionally, this pull will separately guarantee one 5-star gold skill card, character card, or item card. (Independent probability; the guaranteed 5-star does not overlap with the designated tag pull.)]
[3. Solo OVA filming opportunity.]
"Oh, now we're talking."
The Creation Workshop was a significant upgrade over her old synthesis station. Feed in purple 4-star cards, and it could refine them into gold. Better yet, the "locally compatible" guarantee meant she'd never pull something amazing she couldn't actually use in this world.
The second reward was even more direct—straight gold card.
The third was another OVA shoot, the same kind she'd passed on before. Lead role again.
"No time like the present—let's pull."
She had the ten-pull in hand. Might as well use it first.
The Stage, however, immediately surfaced more options.
[Please designate the tag keyword.]
"Hmm… I'm planning to unseal Hikari Uchiha soon. Her situation isn't great. Something healing-related—Recovery."
[Tag keyword designated: "Recovery." This pull is guaranteed to produce one item or skill with recovery effects.]
[Include items with negative tags? ]
[Selecting this option may yield higher-quality items—4-star cards approaching 5-star level—but pulled items may carry negative effects.]
Post-promotion, even the pull settings had gotten more nuanced. If she kept climbing in rank, there might be even more good things waiting.
"Check the box. Then—pull."
Ten beams of light materialized in front of her.
Several purple. A handful of blue. And one gold.
"Let me see, let me see~"
Hanabi went straight for the gold.
It was a skill card. The image showed a girl wrapped in ropes.
[Curse Bind]
[Rarity: 5-star]
[Universal — all characters]
[Apply a binding curse to yourself, restricting your own capabilities to strengthen them. Releasing the Curse Bind grants access to amplified power. The nature of the curse varies by world.]
The 5-star hadn't come with the recovery tag—that was the independent pull.
"Curse Bind itself isn't that strong. Is the 5-star rating just because it's universal?"
Hanabi felt like it didn't quite live up to its name.
"Actually, wait. This basically turned Gojo-sensei into 2.5 Gojos…"
The King of Loans Sukuna—that certain someone who preferred not to be named—hadn't he used this exact principle to "take out a loan" and take down Satoru Gojo?
So… actually kind of absurd?
The skill worked like a form of self-imposed restriction. Bind both hands, and the legs grow stronger. Restrain the whole body in daily life, and in combat, speed shoots through the roof.
For Hanabi, this was particularly useful. She already wore a blindfold. With Curse Bind active, that constant restriction could translate into actual stat boosts.
"The universality is the real selling point."
Universal meant this skill would carry over to other worlds when she took on different character cards. Even a blue 3-star card with a "universal" tag would be worth treating as gold-tier.
"Let's see the rest… hm?"
This card flickered purple, then displayed the word: Targeted.
The Stage provided a tooltip.
[Targeted: When this prompt appears, the item you receive is guaranteed to match your designated tag keyword.]
"Targeted… recovery. Got it."
Hanabi looked at the card.
It was a skintight black bodysuit. At first glance, she almost mistook it for something out of an adult film set.
"Huh? Not a costume—an equipment item?"
She'd assumed it was some kind of performance outfit. But looking closer, this was something else entirely.
[Gimestoltanty's Love]
[Rarity: 4-star]
[Cursed Tool. Born from an abuser's dissatisfaction with a slave's resilience, this garment was cursed with the hex "no wound, however severe, shall cause death," making it a Cursed Tool of complete automatic regeneration. Any injuries sustained will heal rapidly on their own—but pain is not suppressed. In exchange, if the wearer ever removes the garment, they will die.]
"Completely broken."
No death from injuries.
That was cheating-tier by any reasonable standard.
In the Naruto world, it wouldn't be quite so absolute—plenty of people here had ways to kill what shouldn't die, and sealing techniques specialized in exactly that. But as a passive survival tool, it was extraordinary.
And it carried the recovery tag. That checked out.
The problem was obvious, though. She couldn't exactly give this to Hikari to wear.
Once it was on, it couldn't come off.
"Amazing item, but I can't use it right now. Still—with the right character, it might be useful."
She moved to the third 4-star.
This card flickered purple, then displayed the word: Bond.
The Stage provided a tooltip.
[Bond: When this prompt appears, the item/character card/skill card you receive will be strongly correlated with another item from this pull. With higher permissions or specific items, you can pre-designate the Bond anchor before pulling.]
"Related item… oh. Oh, it really is related."
She looked at the card lit by the purple Bond glow.
It was a belt.
And the skintight black bodysuit she'd just received—they were a matched set. In the original source material, both items belonged to the same character.
[Kuroe Kawaren]
[Rarity: 4-star]
[Cursed Tool. A beloved item of a certain killer: a belt that can extend and retract freely. However, Kuroe Kawaren will periodically seek out victims to constrict, garrote, torture, or otherwise harm. In the absence of a target, it will turn on its holder.]