"Hah? He's going to be my jōnin instructor?"
Hikari's face was pure disdain.
"Look, Hikari—you're strong, but during the Warring States era, you were mostly just fighting. Real ninja actually have a lot of other work to do," Hanabi said. "You need to at least understand the basics. And besides, Karin will be your teammate."
Karin certainly couldn't go back to the Hidden Grass.
Adding her to the squad was the natural move.
"That girl from Kusagakure?" Kabuto had gathered files on all the examinees—he knew who she was. "True, in terms of hardship, that girl's had a pretty rough life herself."
Any one of these characters could headline their own tragedy.
"Karin's an orphan too. Just like you."
Kabuto: "…"
Again with this?
Drop it already!
Kabuto before he'd gone off the deep end was a mostly functional human being, and after being set straight by Izanami, he'd even gone on to run an orphanage.
But at this point in time, the only person who could probably use Izanami was Uchiha Itachi. Hanabi's hands were tied.
So—slow and steady it was.
"And the third member?" Kabuto asked.
"Ah, right. I'm thinking of bringing in a new recruit."
Hanabi handed Sakura Haruno's file to Hikari and Kabuto.
"Excellent theoretical scores, and during the Chūnin Exam—she was able to detect the Temple of Nirvana Technique and dispel it on her own. Very impressive." Hanabi offered her reasoning.
That wasn't the real reason, of course.
The real reason was that Hanabi had also noticed: even though Sakura Haruno was a "pink-haired background character," the Stage still gave her screen time when it mattered. And whenever Sakura appeared, Hanabi's own Popularity Points ticked up a little higher.
In other words, even if Sakura wasn't on Team 7, she was inherently a significant character. She might've been "background-ified" in the audience's eyes, but that didn't mean her narrative destiny was actually that of a background character.
She was still generating Popularity Points. That meant she still had surplus value.
And if she still had surplus value, that meant… she wasn't allowed to rest!
You think you can wrap your scenes and collect your boxed lunch without Director Hanabi's say-so?
Not a chance!
Get to work!
In that moment, Director Hanabi transformed into Fourth Master Hanabi, no, Capitalist Hanabi, determined to exploit every last scrap of surplus value from the entire cast.
So Hanabi also wanted to run a little experiment to see what interesting results might come of it.
"You want me to teach her Genjutsu?" Kabuto asked.
"No—Medical Ninjutsu… although honestly, I don't think anyone here actually needs it. But she might be able to help me accomplish a few things. And a bookish straight-A type like her is at least good for logistics."
This team genuinely didn't need a medical-nin.
Kabuto and Karin both had self-healing capabilities, and Hikari had a fragment of Zhuixia wound around her body.
Sakura, on the other hand, was a completely ordinary person.
"Anyway, let's give it a try. If it doesn't work out, I have backup options." Hanabi had plenty of alternatives—she'd see if this one panned out first.
After settling things on this end, Hanabi headed out again.
The cleanup work was genuinely exhausting.
It included arranging Karin's "transfer" to Konoha, getting Hikari officially registered as a ninja, and continuing negotiations with the Third over Kabuto's situation.
Naturally, there'd be pushback.
But Hanabi was hoping for pushback.
Because nine times out of ten, that pushback would come from Danzo.
Konoha had suffered zero casualties, and the Third would still be softhearted about Orochimaru.
In the "original," the Third only hardened his resolve to kill Orochimaru after Orochimaru declared he'd destroy Konoha.
Being a director meant a mountain of backroom deals. Hanabi could only hustle up and down, in and out.
Meanwhile, the Stage's cameras cut to Jiraiya's side.
Once he'd confirmed the Third was out of danger, Jiraiya had quietly slipped away.
On screen now were Jiraiya and Gamabunta.
That's right—Gamabunta had been on the sidelines the whole time.
He'd traded a few blows with Shukaku, but Gamabunta hadn't taken much damage. So he'd just been sitting in the distance with his son Gamakichi, watching Naruto and Gaara's battle.
"Jiraiya! You bastard!"
Just as he was about to leave, Gamabunta spotted Jiraiya and was instantly furious.
"Ahem, long time no see—Bunta. Hahaha." Jiraiya laughed nervously.
He really hadn't wanted to show up like this, but there were things he needed to ask.
"Ahem—business first. That Naruto kid—what do you think?"
Jiraiya asked Gamabunta for his assessment of Naruto.
"One hell of a brat. He can even suppress a Tailed Beast's power—he even strengthened Shukaku's seal." Gamabunta let out an impressed sigh.
"Naruto can do something like that?"
Jiraiya recalled the idiot in question and found it completely impossible to reconcile.
"Naruto can't—but someone can. When the Adamantine Sealing Chains and the Four Symbols Seal were active, Naruto's Chakra underwent a violent transformation. But the primary force behind that change wasn't the Nine-Tails. Also, Naruto's appearance changed. His hair turned red."
"Come to think of it, people at the Chūnin Exam venue said Naruto had panicked and used some kind of Transformation Technique or something."
Jiraiya was thinking.
"Not the Nine-Tails' power, and not Naruto himself… red hair… could it be… her?"
Orochimaru's use of Edo Tensei had already forced Jiraiya to think about the dead.
—The First and Second's reanimated bodies were still sealed away, after all.
"Did she store Chakra inside Naruto?"
[It's way more than just stored Chakra, her whole self got crammed in there]
[Lmao, Momchūriki]
[Jiraiya does know Naruto's mom after all]
[Shame, if Orochimaru had gone up against Jiraiya, that would've been way more exciting]
[Old-timer shonen battle, huh]
[Gotta say, the hand-to-hand on both sides really was kinda similar sometimes]
[Stop cross-referencing, the art styles don't even match, it's too weird]
"If we're talking stored Chakra, the amount is way too enormous." Gamabunta was sure it couldn't be that simple. "If she'd had that much Chakra left, the Nine-Tails never would've broken free in the first place."
"No way…?"
Jiraiya was struck by a possibility.
It wasn't Edo Tensei, but perhaps it was some other kind of secret technique?
"Allow me to explain."
Having just rushed off to handle Karin's paperwork, Hanabi had now arrived here as well.
A director's work was relentless—behind the scenes, the effort was ten times what showed on screen!
"Hanabi—do you know what happened?" Jiraiya asked.
"I do. But this is the sort of thing that's better explained with the person in question present, so please wait until tomorrow. I'll go over the details then."