[You wait right there, I'll just pop over and buy some oranges]
[Father, lol]
[It's "the back view," guys]
[I have a feeling Hanabi is the one about to start trouble]
[I feel like this exam was never going to be simple to begin with]
[Director Hanabi just rolled in with her Second Form]
[If you're gonna draw fanservice then give us more of it—you swapped her into shinobi gear and then didn't even let us see]
[You think rope is easy to draw? Every little strand when she moves is a nightmare]
[Yeah, the shadows and scenery in Road to Ninja have absolutely no idea what "saving budget" means. Insane work—even the shadows on the ropes are drawn in. It's a nightmare to animate]
[So the budget was limiting the fanservice all along...]
—I'm sorry I can't give the audience any fanservice, it's because I'm not the protagonist but a side character, not enough screen time...
Hanabi was currently a Level 1 minor supporting character. It was only because of her maneuvering that her position in the audience's minds didn't quite match her position on the actual production.
That was what it meant to be the scene-stealer king. You didn't just steal the scene—you upstaged everyone else too.
And right now, Hanabi was going full director.
Both Gaara and Orochimaru had to be dealt with.
Orochimaru was strong. Genuinely, absurdly strong.
But the moment you opened the Kaleidoscope Snuff Can—oh, the moment you used Tsukuyomi, Orochimaru was done for.
Itachi Uchiha didn't even need Tsukuyomi. A regular genjutsu was enough to leave Orochimaru completely disoriented.
Yeah, that's right—Itachi Uchiha could "solo" Orochimaru without even using his Mangekyō Sharingan.
There was a pretty well-known theory in the Naruto community: because Orochimaru's "reincarnation" had weakened his soul, he became unusually susceptible to genjutsu. And it wasn't really a conspiracy theory, since there was genuinely no other way to explain how Orochimaru just went down to one single genjutsu...
You couldn't seriously argue that Kishimoto used Orochimaru as a stepping stone just to make Itachi look good...
Send Hikari after Orochimaru?
Wrong—Hanabi was doing this precisely to keep Hikari from running into Orochimaru.
Otherwise, one Tsukuyomi and... there'd be no show left!
For the sake of dramatic tension, Director Hanabi was working her little heart out.
"Hanabi! I was just looking for you!"
Hikari came straight up to Hanabi.
At this moment, the Stage had cut to Naruto and Sasuke, who were bickering back and forth, and then the view swung over to other teams.
Sometimes having no camera on you was an advantage. It gave Hanabi time to do her setup work behind the scenes.
Hanabi didn't have much time to spare.
"Someone seriously bad has gotten in here. There are examinees dead outside—their faces are gone!" Hikari said urgently.
"Oh, it's nothing. That one's easy to handle," Hanabi said.
"I-Is that so?" But she'd clearly felt an incredible killing intent.
And the dead examinees had been killed in a pretty brutal way.
"Of course. All you have to do is spot someone who looks like a snake, and just toss a Tsukuyomi at them."
"Oh oh oh!"
She didn't really get it, but Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu and stuff—super handy.
Uchiha-Amaterasu-Slick-Hikari still didn't quite understand what was going on, but in general, it seemed everything was within Hanabi's control. She must have been overthinking it.
"Then I'll get going, I won't interrupt your exam—"
"—Wait."
Hanabi caught hold of Hikari Uchiha.
Then she took off her mask and handed it to Hikari.
"The timing just happens to be right. I think it's time," Hanabi said. "Hikari, you've actually been wanting to try that Uchiha descendant out to see what he's made of, haven't you?"
"Oh oh oh, you want me to teach him a lesson?!"
Always hanging around with Hanabi!
Even though Hanabi already had her!
And that Uchiha kid too—he already had a close blond-haired friend right there, but he was still pestering her Hanabi!
"In short, when the time comes, here's what you do—"
"Mm-hm-hm!"
She didn't fully follow it, but getting to beat up that Sasuke kid with a perfectly good excuse—that was just perfect.
"Last thing. If you see a man who looks a lot like a snake, if he dares to interrupt you, just hit him with a genjutsu. If a regular genjutsu doesn't work, use Tsukuyomi."
"Mm, leave it to me!"
Jiraiya would've been a harder call. But Orochimaru being hard-countered was just a fact of life.
"So, what about you, Hanabi?" Hikari asked.
"Ah, I'm heading to another spot. There's something I need to handle."
A director was very busy.
After saying goodbye to Hikari, Hanabi moved off to another location.
"Mm... Hinata's up ahead. Neji... ah, is off in another direction." No problem—knowing Hinata's position was enough.
Because knowing Hinata's position meant knowing the position of someone else she was about to run into.
And right on cue, the Stage cut over to Hinata's three-person squad.
"Hahaha, what luck—we got a scroll just now, right after entering!"
Team 8 had decent luck. They'd only just entered the exam grounds and already had a scroll in hand.
With the scroll secured, Team 8 started moving toward the tower.
"It's great having you around, Hinata, you know the way." Kiba Inuzuka was all smiles.
But just then, Kiba Inuzuka's nose twitched: "Hinata, up ahead, one kilometer—take a look at what's over there."
"Mm, Byakugan—"
The scene one kilometer ahead unfolded in front of Hinata through the Byakugan: three Sand-nin and a squad of Rain-nin.
Then Kiba Inuzuka's eyes flashed with a new idea.
"Hinata, Shino—the proctor never said we could only have one set of Heaven-and-Earth scrolls, right? If we could grab a few more Heaven-and-Earth pairs, we could knock more people out in the next round."
"But..."
Hinata wasn't sure about this. Her little sister Hanabi had mentioned that this exam had some really dangerous people in it.
"We'll just take a look. If the enemy is too strong, we just stay out of sight. And with Hinata here, even running isn't a problem—we might even be able to use the Forest of Death's terrain to our advantage!"
But Kiba Inuzuka had already made up his mind.
So the three members of Team 8 moved forward.
The moment they got there, though, Kiba's ninken Akamaru started trembling.
That's when Kiba Inuzuka realized something was wrong too.
In front of them stood the three Rain-nin.
"A bunch of Sand Village brats actually daring to challenge us—what a joke."
"...Those idiots actually dared to challenge the Rain-nin. What the hell are they thinking?" Kiba's trio had tucked themselves into hiding nearby, just in time to catch the scene.
"No, that's not it." Hinata looked at Gaara.
He was one of the examinees Hanabi had told her to watch out for.
Extremely dangerous.
[Lmao]
[This trash-tier setup is so classic]
[Brats, lol]
[Boomerang Road always has to eat its own boomerangs]
[Dead from laughing]
Kiba Inuzuka's trash talk set the chat laughing, and the livestream feed instantly burst into laughter.
Then the three Rain-nin started spouting their own trash talk, and the audience laughed all over again.
After a long string of nonsense, the three Rain-nin launched their attack on Gaara.
"Die, you little brat! Ninja Art: Thousand Rain Senbon!"
The three Rain-nin were using the same jutsu Hanabi had used before.
Countless senbon rained down from the sky—above, below, left, right, a terrifying technique with no blind spots!
Only, in the audience's eyes, this Rain-nin uncle had already been stamped with one big fat "RIP."