"Alright, let me run through this once more. Act One—Past Life—covers the male lead and the fox spirit's first encounter. This is essentially Sasuke's solo, and you'll need to project melancholy and isolation. As for the fox in the supporting role, Naruto handles that with Transformation Technique. Any questions?"
Having temporarily stalled Sasuke and Naruto with her South Dipper Seven Sacred Fists bluff, Hinata wasted no time launching into filming prep. The two boys shared a look, sighed in unison, and answered listlessly: "...No."
"Good. Sasuke, use Transformation Technique. You can't exactly appear on camera looking like this."
Hinata savored her script notes, appreciating once again how convenient ninja techniques made the whole production. The Transformation Technique alone solved casting entirely.
As long as the acting was there, appearance and physique were irrelevant—one jutsu swapped everything out.
Without it, the current Sasuke and Naruto were just eleven-year-old kids. Their only casting option in natural form would've been Teletubbies.
"Even with Transformation Technique, you need to tell me what the character's supposed to look like."
Hands shoved in his pockets, Sasuke turned away with visible reluctance. Not having to use his real face was a small mercy, but maintaining someone else's appearance for an extended period still sat poorly with him.
"Mm, right... I forgot to design the lead. Okay, let's do it now."
It took Hinata a beat to realize she'd neglected the male lead's character design. She began studying Sasuke from every angle. Fine features, porcelain skin, eyes and brows like brushstrokes, black hair flowing—plus that undercurrent of aloof, slightly haughty elegance. A genuine noble beauty.
"You know, Sasuke's quite pretty. Maybe I'll cast you as the heroine someday."
Examining him from head to toe, Hinata nodded with frank appreciation. She'd never paid him much attention before, but today's appraisal confirmed it: this kid absolutely had the goods to make girls swoon.
"Don't say creepy things. I've got nothing left to throw up."
The remark turned Sasuke's face crimson. He swiveled away, neck stiff. "So? What am I transforming into?"
"Hmm... start by aging yourself up to about thirteen. Then we'll adjust."
After some deliberation, Hinata decided to punt the creative work back to him. Sasuke frowned—this wasn't actually difficult. Transformation class had included an exercise where everyone visualized their older selves. A moment's thought, a hand seal, a puff of smoke, and the Sasuke standing there had changed dramatically.
Height: a solid growth spurt. Build and features: noticeably more mature. With a few adjustments to the hair and eyes, he'd be completely unrecognizable as his current self.
"Change the bangs so they cover one eye—more mysterious and brooding. Clothes should be slightly worn wanderer's robes. Oh—make the eye color a pale blue-green. Build a little more slender. Throw on a battered straw hat. And here, hold this."
Watching Sasuke's appearance shift detail by detail toward her vision, Hinata rummaged through her prop bag and produced a bamboo flute. "By the way—can you play the flute?"
"When pigs fly. I'm not some girl in arts class."
Scowling, Sasuke accepted the bamboo flute. He checked his reflection in a nearby mirror, comparing from several angles. Only after confirming the transformed face bore zero resemblance to his own did he exhale with relief. As long as nobody could identify him, it wasn't too humiliating.
"It's fine—we can add the music in post. Your turn, Naruto."
Hinata turned to the blond, who was standing with his arms folded and a vacant look on his face. She waggled a finger. "Make it cute."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just a fox, right?"
Say what you will about Naruto, but Transformation Technique was his undisputed specialty. The world-famous Sexy Jutsu and Harem Jutsu aside, in canon he'd used creative transformations to defeat Kiba during the Chūnin Exams.
A puff of smoke, and the boy sitting there was now a small orange fox—whisker marks and expression rendered with impressive fidelity.
"Not quite... give me pure white fur. Yes—now add a streak of crimson along the spine and forehead. Good. Red tips on the tail too. Perfect! Now it's got that ethereal fox-spirit look."
Hinata scooped up the fox by the scruff of its neck, thoroughly enjoying what amounted to a character-creation screen brought to life. As the one being sculpted, Naruto obediently adjusted his fur colors and markings per her instructions. None of it was particularly taxing, and before long both leads' current looks were finalized.
The backdrop was already scouted—a secluded hillside within Konoha, scenic and deserted, a perfect match for the script's requirements.
Shame Naruto hadn't learned Shadow Clone Jutsu yet—it limited him to a single role at a time. Once he had it, he could probably staff an entire production crew by himself.
"Sasuke, a little more dreamy and faraway in the eyes. That's it—now let the collar of your robe fall open just a touch. Relax, showing a bit of chest as a guy won't get you censored."
Hinata's filming method was blunt and efficient: pose the leads, snap photos one after another, compile them into an album, then layer in text and narration by hand.
The technological landscape in the Naruto world was bizarrely uneven. On one hand, modern equipment existed—ship engines, electronic instruments, and the like. On the other, adoption rates were low and inconsistent.
For now, Hinata had shelved any plans for actual videography. Television was still far from ubiquitous in this world, and post-production for a proper series would require resources far beyond a three-person crew.
Photo albums assembled like illustrated storybooks—that was the practical ceiling for both their production capacity and the market's appetite.
Even so, the crew was still far too small. Never mind the supporting cast and extras she'd eventually need—even this first act, with Sasuke playing the "shepherd boy," would logically require a few sheep and cattle in the background.
No way around it. She needed more people.
Sighing to herself, Hinata began taking mental stock of her options.
Adults were out. Unreliable, hard to manage, and a security risk. That left fellow brats.
But if she was recruiting from kids, they'd need at least passable Transformation Technique. The only viable talent pool was the current Ninja Academy roster.
She winced at the thought of splitting her profits further, but this was a necessary investment. Only once Naruto learned Shadow Clone Jutsu would they be able to ditch outside hires entirely.
With an internal sigh, Hinata settled on the obvious choice. The roster practically wrote itself—just pull from the Konoha 12 in the original story. Subtracting Hinata, Sasuke, Naruto, and the already-graduated Neji, Lee, and Tenten, that left six classmates. Enough warm bodies, at least.
Ino and Sakura required zero effort. Just mention they'd be filming alongside Sasuke, and those two lovesick fangirls might actually pay her for the privilege.
Shikamaru and Shino would be trickier. Both were the introverted, sharp, mind-your-own-business type with high IQs—hard to fool, harder to recruit unless the work genuinely interested them.
Chōji and Kiba were easy pickings. Promise Chōji barbecue and you had him. Kiba was hyperactive in much the same way as Naruto—if it sounded fun, he'd show up.
Right. Once the first volume of Fox Tales hit shelves, she'd evaluate sales figures and decide on next steps.
Decision made, Hinata wrapped the day's shoot quickly. The moment she lowered the camera, Sasuke and Naruto simultaneously released their transformations and collapsed, panting hard. Maintaining a transformed state didn't cost much chakra, but holding it that long still left them wrung out.
"Nice work, everyone. I'll organize the album at home. We'll pick up shooting again in three days."
Packing up her camera and props, Hinata turned to leave in high spirits—but Sasuke's voice cracked like a whip behind her. "Wait!"
"You haven't told us when you're giving us the scrolls!"
Arms crossed, Naruto chimed in with pointed displeasure. Clearly, both protagonists had swallowed the South Dipper Seven Sacred Fists hook, line, and sinker, and had zero intention of letting it go.
The reminder made Hinata's brow furrow. Are you kidding me? The Seven Sacred Fists were pure fabrication. Where was she supposed to conjure scrolls from? She'd done her level best to emphasize how horrifically dangerous the training was—and these two still wouldn't drop it?
Fine. The price of bullshit, apparently, was being forced to make the bullshit real.
"Excellent. I'm glad you two have such burning determination."
Turning back, Hinata had no choice but to keep the lie going. Even she felt a flicker of awkwardness—being cornered into manifesting your own fiction was not a comfortable sensation.
"Since you both have the resolve to risk your lives for this... meet me here tomorrow morning. I'll have the scrolls."
"As for whether you can actually learn from them—that depends on your commitment and... your luck."
That was what she said. But internally, Hinata had already relaxed. Worst case, she'd throw together some grueling physical conditioning drills disguised as martial arts training. Maybe they'd quit on their own.