Enraged.
Baki was enraged.
He couldn't hold back any longer and launched an attack at Hanabi.
A blade of wind sliced through the spot where Hanabi had been standing.
But Hanabi's silhouette dissolved into mist, and she reappeared on the other side.
"Don't you dare insult Kazekage-sama!"
"Ara, I merely stated what this esteemed Kazekage-sama has done. Is there a problem? If you consider that an insult, then doesn't that mean, deep down, you've already acknowledged it as the truth?"
Hearing Hanabi's words, Baki choked.
—Could he really be doubting Kazekage-sama?!
No—no, that absolutely wasn't it!
"Then let me ask you this. If the various nations' Daimyō learned that you, as an allied nation, had conspired with others to scheme against—or even destroy—Konoha, what do you think the Daimyō would make of that?" Hanabi asked.
"Obviously they'd—"
"—You're not about to say they'd choose to start sending you their missions, are you? Sending missions to a backstabber who makes even the Daimyō feel afraid? If you can betray Konoha today, then tomorrow, couldn't you just as easily betray…"
"Shut up!"
Hanabi had interrupted Baki's sentence—but in the end, Baki interrupted hers right back.
Yes.
If they actually destroyed Konoha right in front of the Daimyō, would the feudal lords really clap their hands and say, "Thank you for wiping out Konoha—we'll send all our missions to Sunagakure from now on"? Or would those Daimyō start having very different thoughts about the Hidden Sand…?
Especially the Daimyō of the Land of Fire.
If their own military force had been annihilated by Sunagakure, would the Fire Country's Daimyō really come trotting over to hand missions to the Sand Village?
Cold sweat trickled down Baki's back.
"In the first place, this wasn't even your plan to begin with—was it?"
Hanabi spoke again.
"…" Baki didn't answer.
By this point, Baki was certain she knew the truth. But that didn't mean he should reveal anything more.
"…Did you figure it out from my reactions?" Baki asked.
"Who knows~" Hanabi waved her hand dismissively.
The Third Hokage had, in fact, mentally prepared himself long ago. Konoha had been on guard from the start, which proved that Konoha had already suspected Sunagakure might betray them.
—The Third had been wearing his battle gear from the very beginning.
Put simply: if the Kazekage were still the Kazekage, things might still be salvageable. But who could have predicted a black-swan event like Orochimaru killing the Kazekage?
Hanabi, naturally, "didn't know" about that, so she couldn't play the clairvoyant prophet.
Otherwise, she could have toyed with this Sand ninja a bit more.
Baki didn't waste words—another wind blade.
But once again, it had no effect on Hanabi.
Gaara, meanwhile, rose to his feet.
But his body was relaxed, completely unlike someone preparing to fight.
"This woman's Genjutsu is infuriating."
Baki couldn't pin down Hanabi's location at all.
"You're not here for Konoha's sake either."
It was Gaara who spoke.
"Ara, ara—now that's not a fair thing to say. I do like happy endings, you know. If we can avoid any bloodshed, that would be truly wonderful."
Hanabi genuinely hadn't planned to inform Konoha about any of this. First, because the Third already had a good idea of the situation; and second, because Hanabi wanted to make some moves of her own.
What she had her eye on was never just a single village.
The ninja world was vast, yet also small.
Ninja technology was advanced, but ninja thinking was remarkably backward.
"When it comes down to it, I just want to see brilliant fireworks." Hanabi said. "If you can understand that, Gaara-san."
"Don't you dare try to bewitch Gaara!" Baki—upon learning this woman could "soothe" Shukaku—had actually considered whether they should capture her and turn her into a dedicated tool.
But now, it was clear: this woman was far too dangerous.
And yet every Hanabi present seemed to be nothing more than a phantom illusion.
"Gaara—for the sake of Sunagakure, for the sake of your mother—use Shukaku on the Kazekage~"
[For my sake, use Fire Punch on him]
[That literally is the Fire Punch sentence structure]
[The production team always loves dropping references in the weirdest places]
[I actually kinda like it though]
After saying this, Hanabi's form vanished once more.
And the Close-Up Shot Card's time had run out at precisely that moment.
"Hanabi, are we really not going to make a move against that Sand ninja?" Hikari emerged.
"Of course not. Konoha has its affairs, and we have ours."
The behind-the-scenes maneuvering? The audience didn't need to see that.
"How's the jutsu formula?" Hanabi asked.
"Mm, the one without eyebrows—I've already placed the Yachihoko imprint on him. The tanuki is easy to control, too."
When it came to Genjutsu, the Sharingan's illusions were naturally the best.
Especially when it came to controlling Tailed Beasts.
Hanabi couldn't pull the strings directly, so she had to find someone with the power to do it.
Hikari was simply the perfect go-to tool for any director.
"Is that all we needed to do?" Hikari asked again. "I don't have any love for ninja villages, but this is your hometown, Hanabi."
"It's a necessary sacrifice. As long as no good people are killed or hurt, there's no problem."
As for the Fourth Kazekage—the kind of character who got a forced redemption arc later on? Yeah, no.
Zabuza and the like were one thing, but certain irredeemable people really didn't deserve to be whitewashed.
"So we're going to start making our move too?" Hikari's eyes lit up.
She'd been waiting to tear this ninja world down alongside Hanabi.
"Mm. But before that, there's somewhere we need to go first."
The foreshadowing on Naruto's side had been planted, but there was still another thread to tie off. Otherwise, Sasuke—as the other protagonist—would've been sidelined for far too long.
That piece of foreshadowing still needed resolution.
"Hikari, did you know—the Uchiha clan has had a stone tablet passed down since ancient times." Hanabi said.
"Mm… I think I've heard something about it. A tablet that can only be seen after awakening the Sharingan, or something like that. But… I'm sorry, I don't know much about it."
For most of her existence, Uchiha Hikari had been locked in a cage, brought out only for the battlefield. Her entire life had consisted of nothing but war and a dark cell.
This was exactly why the current Hikari clung to Hanabi so closely.
Still, the stone tablet itself wasn't particularly classified—the Uchiha clan had gathered around it regularly during their clan meetings.
It was simply that without the Sharingan, you couldn't read what was written on it.
"That's fine—I did discover a few things during my research."
"I wonder how Sasuke's doing over there. Once he learns Chidori, let's take him to see it."
Setup, development, twist, resolution.
The Third Exam was the turning point of the entire story.
You really couldn't afford to go in unprepared at a time like this.
Orochimaru had made his entrance—and the previous "Madara Uchiha" naturally needed to make his presence felt again as well.