The sky had yet to lighten when Hyuga Hinata woke.
She ran her fingers through her long hair, smoothing it down. Her little sister Hanabi had once said she loved Hinata's long hair—and so Hinata had never cut it, not once since she was small.
"Hanabi—are you practicing again?"
In the courtyard of the Hyuga estate, her twin sister was at the training post, moving through her drills.
She wore a simple training outfit, her long hair pulled back in a ponytail.
A dark veil covered her eyes—yet her movements showed no sign of limitation whatsoever.
No matter how fluid Hanabi's motions were, Hinata knew one cruel, undeniable truth: her sister couldn't see a thing.
"If it weren't for her eyes, Lady Hanabi would almost certainly be the heir instead…"
"No question. I heard she was too young for the transplant—and the reason Neji hasn't had the Caged Bird Seal put on him yet is so they can use him for the procedure when he comes of age. But Lady Hanabi said she wouldn't steal the light from someone else. Such a good child—so exceptional, and yet…"
Voices drifted over from nearby. The dark veil swaying before Hanabi's eyes sent a quiet tremor through Hinata's chest.
This is my fault.
"Hanabi…"
It had happened on their third birthday.
Konoha was in the middle of negotiations with a delegation from Kumogakure. Nearly every important figure in the village had been involved in those talks—every clan except the Hyuga, who had stayed home to celebrate the twins' birthday.
It was during a sparring match that day that a Branch House member had directed killing intent toward both of them and been disciplined with the Caged Bird Seal.
Hinata had been terrified. And Hanabi, seeing her sister's state, had quietly taken Hinata's hand and slipped out of the estate. With the negotiations bringing the whole village to life, Konoha had been unusually lively.
—And then things had gone wrong.
The Kumo delegation's head ninja had long had his eye on the Hyuga Main House, specifically its heirs and their Byakugan. Noticing the man's attention, Hanabi—apparently to protect her sister—had allowed herself to be taken hostage.
To prevent the Byakugan from falling into enemy hands, Hanabi had blinded herself.
Their father had later retrieved Hanabi personally. The kidnapper had even been captured alive. From Konoha's perspective it had almost been a political windfall, giving them considerable leverage in the ongoing negotiations.
But for Hinata, it had been anything but.
The words had been forbidden—their father and the elders had sealed her mouth on the matter—but Hinata had still pieced it together. The Kumo ninja's original target had been her.
"Good morning, Sister."
Hanabi seemed to sense Hinata's presence, turning toward her without any apparent effort—as if she had eyes in the back of her head.
"G-good morning, Hanabi." Hinata's voice came out small.
"Did someone upset you, Sister?" Hanabi smiled.
"No. It's just—graduation exams are coming up soon." Hinata hesitated.
Both sisters were enrolled at Konoha's Ninja Academy.
Despite being unable to see, Hanabi had never once abandoned her goal of becoming a shinobi. Her performance had been remarkable by any measure—her written exam scores were the highest in the school.
That was what the Hyuga adults had meant by "such a pity."
"I'll be fine." Hanabi smiled—the smile as bright as ever—and the brighter that smile, the tighter something seemed to grip Hinata's chest.
"Would you like to walk to school together?" Hinata asked.
"I'll pass—I want to practice a little longer. There aren't any real classes before exams anyway, so I'd rather keep training on my own."
"I… alright. I'll see you at school, then."
"Mm. See you there, Sister~"
Hinata made her escape.
"Hmm—I think I've been putting her through it a little," Hanabi said to herself, watching the retreating figure.
Blind?
Hardly.
But letting everyone believe she was blind—that was another matter entirely.
Easy enough: the illusion capacity of the [Fool's Thousand Faces] surpassed every transformation technique in the Naruto world. Maintaining the appearance of "Hanabi with her eyes destroyed" posed no difficulty whatsoever.
The harder part was not stealing too much of Sister Hinata's screen time.
In the original story, Hyuga Hinata had been kidnapped at age three—but the Kumo ninja had barely left the Hyuga estate before the clan head, Hyuga Hiashi, caught him in the act. Trying to steal someone's eyes under the roof of the very family whose eyes saw through everything was almost comedically doomed to fail.
So Hanabi had carefully engineered the scenario herself—convincing Hinata to sneak out with her, hiding Hinata away, and stepping out to be captured in her place.
After transmigrating into this world, Hanabi had started maneuvering immediately.
She'd quickly discovered that "plot" was not easy to rewrite.
But Hanabi wasn't the type to give up.
After studying the situation carefully, she'd arrived at a rough understanding. The so-called "plot" functioned more like fate—a force that couldn't simply be overridden but required cause and effect. It needed reasons.
For example: if Hanabi wanted to approach Haku directly and recruit the boy who served Zabuza—she couldn't. Fate would push back. Because from any conceivable angle, Hyuga Hanabi had no plausible reason to even know Haku existed.
Think of it like solving a math problem. Without the necessary conditions, you couldn't derive the conclusion.
But if Hanabi wanted to take Hyuga Hinata's place on Team Eight? That was workable. She was a Hyuga, and by almost any metric she outperformed her sister.
"In other words: whatever I do, I need a reason."
She couldn't act out of nowhere.
Theoretically, even approaching Haku was possible—she just needed a sufficiently convincing reason.
"That said, if I play up my resemblance to Star Rail's Sparkle, maybe that could work."
Star Rail's Sparkle was the ultimate chaos-maker. And the hallmark of chaos-makers was this: no matter when they appeared or where they showed up, it always felt completely natural.
To influence fate on a larger scale, she needed to become a more significant character—a major supporting role, or even the protagonist.
It was like working in film. The lead actor (the Chosen One) could rewrite scenes and the director (fate) had to accommodate. But a background extra trying to improvise? The director would boot them off set.
Still, Hanabi had also noticed something: while influencing others was difficult, influencing herself was far more lenient.
Because that fell under "character personality." As long as it fit who she was supposed to be.
Since she couldn't easily scheme around others yet, she'd scheme around herself.
Beyond that, there was the simpler goal of building rapport with Naruto while they were still young. That was straightforward—take him out for Ichiraku Ramen, talk him up, let him brag about his pranks. A little of that went a long way.
Hanabi ran through one last round of drills before a woman in a maid's uniform and Konoha forehead protector appeared at the edge of the courtyard.
"Lady Hanabi, it's almost time."
This was her attendant, Hyuga Natsu—assigned to look after Hanabi by Hiashi following the kidnapping incident when they were three.
"Alright."
With Natsu's help, Hanabi bathed and then changed into a red furisode kimono.
Hanabi always dressed elaborately, like her name—Hanabi, fireworks—dazzling and vibrant. The kimono wasn't suited for combat, but it was commonplace among the Hyuga Main House, and those around her had long since accepted that Hanabi simply loved bright, lavish things.
Today's kimono wasn't ordinary, though. It was the Stage's [Performance Costume]. A good show deserved proper stage clothes.
"Thank you, Natsu."
"Are you sure you don't need me to walk you?" Natsu asked, still worried.
"I'm about to become a shinobi, Natsu." Hanabi smiled.
The [Character Templates] hadn't just given Hanabi stats on paper—they'd given her potential. Potential wasn't raw power, but after months of training with the focus of someone possessed, that potential had translated into real capability.
Jingliu's 10% cultivation speed bonus compounded with Shadow Clone Jutsu in ways that made ordinary training look pedestrian by comparison.
But Natsu remained anxious, and understandably so. What Hanabi had lost wasn't just the Byakugan—it was her sight entirely. For a member of the Hyuga clan, fighting without eyes cost roughly half your combat effectiveness. Hanabi's scores were excellent, but out in the field, she would always be facing odds no one else had to deal with.
"But—"
"It's alright, Natsu—I trained a bit too long today. By the time we'd finish getting ready I'll already be late."
Natsu opened her mouth to continue—but Hanabi had already moved on.
After changing, Hanabi checked her current status readout.
[Name: Hyuga Hanabi]
[Stage Rating: Extra]
[Current Series Role: Secondary Character LV1]
[Status: Konoha Hidden Village — Ninja Academy Student]
[Special Bonuses]
[Hyuga Clan: +5% Attention when wearing Japanese-style attire; +5% Attention when fighting with Gentle Fist; +5% Attention when using Byakugan]
[Current Popularity Points: 0]
[Current Attention: +65%
(Eye-Concealing Black Veil: +10%)
(Red Japanese-Style Attire: +10%)
(Secondary Character: +20%)
(Hyuga Clan — Japanese Attire: +5%)
(Secondary Character LV1: +20%)]
[Countdown to Premiere: 00:20:50]
It's almost time.
Hanabi made her way to the entryway and surveyed her footwear. She owned quite a few pairs—mostly geta and zōri. She ran a quick mental inventory.
"Let's see… these today, I think."
She chose a pair of komachi-geta—black lacquer with cherry blossom carvings. Furisode kimonos were technically meant to be paired with zōri, the flat leather-soled sandal type, but the Naruto world wasn't fussy about such things. Mixing and matching was common. Pretty was all that mattered. The [Performance Costume] came with a default pair of zōri, but Hanabi was saving that detail for after graduation—a little flourish to add texture to her on-screen character.
She opened a red oil-paper umbrella to block the morning glare, fitted the fox mask over half her face, and stepped off the estate grounds.
She'd trained a little too long—by the time she'd bathed and dressed, classes had already started.
Intentionally.
And once outside, moving toward the Academy with her umbrella tilted just so, she looked far more like someone on a leisurely stroll than a student running late. She lifted her gaze to the Hokage Rock in the distance. Someone had been at it with paint.
"Who knows what'll happen once the series kicks off."
Hanabi had been waiting. She'd spent every available moment preparing—no wasted days, no half-hearted sessions, training until she pushed past exhaustion and started again.
I, Hyuga Hanabi, am a dedicated and professional performer. The rising star of the Dimensional Stage.
And then the counter in her consciousness ticked down to zero.
[Premiere countdown… 3… 2… 1… Begin.]
A small screen materialized in her mind. A moonlit image. A narrator's voice.
"Long ago, there was a great Nine-Tailed Fox…"
"Its nine tails could level mountains and trigger tsunamis."
"To protect the people, the shinobi gathered…"
"And one gave his life to seal it away."
"That shinobi's name was the Fourth Hokage—"
The flashback faded.
[Ninja's Path — Premiere.]
[Current Broadcast Mode: Live.]
The image shifted. On screen: Uzumaki Naruto, hauling a bucket of paint.
Naruto had begun.
"Hm?"
Hanabi noticed something. Scrolling across the broadcast window in real time were comments.
[FIRST!!!]
[LET'S GOOO new series!!]
[Where it all begins.]
[First comment secured, first comment secured!!]
[Ladies and gentlemen—how long has it been since we've had a long-running serialized anime? We're in the year 4202 and we're FINALLY getting another epic. I can't believe it.]
"There's even a live comment feed." Hanabi scanned them with interest.
These viewers talked exactly like the internet she'd grown up with—but they'd clearly never seen Naruto before.
Perhaps the anime culture in their world had developed differently from her previous life's.
"NARUTO!"
"STOP RIGHT THERE!"
"HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO TERRIBLE?!"
"YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY THIS TIME!"
Hanabi glanced up.
Those were lines from the broadcast screen—but she could hear them in the real world too. Following the commotion, she'd already spotted Naruto being chased through the streets below.
He tumbled down practically into her path and yanked a camouflage tarp over himself to hide from a passing chūnin patrol.
The same scene played out in the broadcast window—just from a slightly different camera angle.
Without hesitation: [Camera Card — Close-Up], activate.
Timing an active card deployment required decent reflexes—but as it turned out, Hanabi had timed it perfectly.
As Naruto ducked under the tarp, the broadcast window's camera began sliding upward from ground level.
The lens found a pair of komachi-geta—black lacquer, gleaming—with white-stockinged feet atop them.
It continued upward: a blazing red furisode kimono, cascading in layers. The camera circled slowly, catching the oversized butterfly obi tied at the back.
Higher still: a curtain of black hair falling like water. But the girl's face was hidden behind the red oil-paper umbrella—only a dangling string of cherry blossom hair ornaments visible beneath.
"Naruto?"
A melodious voice from behind the umbrella.
And just when the audience was certain they'd finally see her face—they found a fox mask instead.
Umbrella lowering. Mask slipping off. A bright, fine-featured face came into view at last.