Naruto's face was a mile long. The blond boy trailed behind Hinata with the reluctant shuffle of a man being marched to the gallows, the unconscious Sasuke slung across his back. The reasoning was simple enough: they couldn't just leave the landlord lying in the dirt, Hinata wasn't about to play pack mule, and that left Naruto—dumb muscle incarnate—to do the hauling.
Hinata, meanwhile, was carefully reviewing the footage on her camera. As valuable merchandise, these precious photos had to meet exacting standards of quality and quantity. Anything subpar would mean reshoots.
"Come on~! Where the hell is this guy's house?! My stomach's been growling nonstop!"
Rounding yet another deserted street with Sasuke on his back, Naruto voiced his protest loudly. Hinata had dragged him out at the crack of dawn for the shoot, the sun was now directly overhead, and he'd done the lion's share of the work. Maintaining the Transformation Technique burned through chakra, he'd had to contort himself into whatever bizarre poses Hinata demanded, and now he'd been lugging Sasuke through three streets. The growling from his stomach was beyond suppression.
"Technically speaking, every house here belongs to Sasuke—he's the last surviving Uchiha, so the entire compound is his. We just need to find the one he's actually living in."
Hinata answered without looking back. Annoyed that she'd completely sidestepped his main point, Naruto shot back in a half-petulant, half-combative tone.
"Ugh~! This jerk's family compound is huge! Where is his family anyway?!"
"Dead."
The flat, toneless answer made Naruto's blue eyes contract sharply. After a beat of silence, the blond couldn't help blurting out: "Did you just say... dead?"
"You're not an idiot—you must have heard at least something. A few years ago, the Uchiha were a large, thriving clan. This entire district was their residential area. But after one night, every single Uchiha—Sasuke's parents included—was killed. So right now, he's in the same boat as you: a broke orphan living on government stipends."
Hinata's voice carried zero emotional inflection, as if she were simply stating facts. She glanced sideways, her tone suddenly acquiring a teasing edge.
"Oh, and one correction: this isn't Sasuke's home. At most, these are his houses. You understand the difference, right?"
That shut Naruto up. The irritation he'd felt about being forced to carry Sasuke quietly faded.
"This guy... is the same as me, huh..."
Almost talking to himself, Naruto looked back at Sasuke draped over his shoulder. Meanwhile, Hinata stopped walking and directed her gaze toward a house on the left. Compared to the neighboring buildings buried under layers of dead leaves, this one at least had a somewhat cleaner yard, with a faint trail of footprints visible along the path. It was most likely where Sasuke currently lived.
The door was unlocked. No surprise to Hinata. Naruto followed her inside with an air of cautious wonder—this was probably the first time he'd ever set foot in someone else's home.
"Dump him on the tatami in the living room. Weren't you whining about being hungry? Go buy a few orders of Ichiraku Ramen takeout. You're not exactly short on cash right now, are you?"
Hinata seated herself casually beside a hallway pillar. Her instructions drew a disgruntled mutter from Naruto, but the blond complied and left the compound. With a hundred thousand ryō freshly in hand, money was indeed not an issue.
Only after Naruto's footsteps had completely faded beyond the yard did Hinata turn her head toward the figure lying in the center of the living room.
"It's about time you woke up, Young Master Uchiha."
The biting mockery of that title forced Sasuke's eyes open in humiliation. He stared at the girl leaning against one of his pillars, pride and fury warring behind his clenched teeth.
"Nothing to say? Can't blame you. For someone as arrogant as you, getting beaten by the dead-last—that doesn't feel great, does it?"
Sasuke's silence drew a flicker of amusement to Hinata's lips. Not bothering to look at him again, she absently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. The cherry trees in Sasuke's yard were flourishing—past blooming season, but their lush greenery was genuinely pleasant. Not that their owner seemed in any mood to appreciate the view.
"What do you want?"
Hearing the subtext in her words, Sasuke forced himself to speak through his clenched jaw despite the humiliation. The pain in his left side hadn't subsided, and instinct told him just how severe the injury was. If that strike had hit his heart, he might never have opened his eyes again.
"Sasuke, you can already perform a C-rank jutsu. That's genuinely rare talent. But the true strength of the Uchiha clan lies in your dōjutsu. Just like the Hyuga—our bloodline isn't merely a symbol of status and prestige. It represents power."
Idly twirling a lock of her hair, Hinata continued in a casual tone.
"Unfortunately, it seems you haven't been able to awaken your Kekkei Genkai yet. Am I right?"
"So what if I haven't?!"
Sasuke sat up, fighting through the agony in his ribs, but his voice had gone unexpectedly calm. If everything she'd said was factual, there was nothing to argue about.
"I can teach you about the Sharingan."
Hinata turned to face him. She was sitting in the sunlight, but the turn left her face in shadow. The smile at the corner of her mouth acquired a strange, enigmatic curvature in the darkness.
"What did you say?!"
Sasuke shot to his feet—only for the stabbing pain in his ribs to double him over with a stifled groan.
"The Hyuga and Uchiha clans are both dōjutsu specialists. And back in the day, the Hyuga collected extensive intelligence on the Sharingan to prepare for potential conflict with the Uchiha. That research might be obsolete now, but the fruits of all that effort don't just vanish."
Watching Sasuke grimace through the pain, Hinata's voice carried a strange satisfaction, as if savoring his suffering brought her a peculiar pleasure.
"...Conditions."
Reading the meaning in her gaze, Sasuke straightened his posture through sheer force of will. He didn't believe for a second she'd share this information for free. If she was making this offer, she wanted something.
"As you saw, Naruto and I are currently collaborating—we shoot photos and footage, then sell them for extra income. But the only suitable location in the village seems to be here. So, condition number one: you allow us to use this place for shooting."
This first condition was within Sasuke's expectations. Recalling what he'd witnessed earlier, the Uchiha heir let out a cold snort to redirect his thoughts.
"Then out with the rest of it!"
"Decisive and direct—just what you'd expect from the Uchiha prodigy. Well, you know as well as I do that a proper drama can't run on a leading lady alone. Naruto's Sexy Technique has reached its zenith, but I believe what we still need is a handsome, dashing young man to anchor the male roles. What do you think, Sasuke?"
Hinata gave him an appraising once-over, her eyes sparkling with unmistakable amusement.
Sasuke felt his skin crawl. Even he could figure out what she wanted him to do. And paired with that blond dead-last... hurk—
Whatever image flashed through Sasuke's mind sent him lunging for his mouth, his face draining to chalk white. For someone whose thoughts—revenge aside—were still relatively pure, it was like having something obscene forcibly injected into his brain.
"Hm? You don't look so good. Well, if you insist—I suppose if Sasuke's Transformation Technique is good enough for female roles, we could always make Naruto the leading man instead..."
Hinata didn't even finish her sentence before a sound of violent retching cut her off. Whatever Sasuke had just imagined in that configuration was apparently far worse. He was hugging a nearby trash can and heaving with abandon, poor bastard. He hadn't eaten breakfast, so all that came up was bile and stomach acid.
"What a shame. It seems Sasuke isn't interested after all. Forget I said anything—offer withdrawn."
Showing not an ounce of sympathy, Hinata arched one fine eyebrow, her entire demeanor going cold and impatient. She stood as if to leave.
Sasuke, mouth still flecked with vomit, snapped his head up and forced words out in a strangled croak.
"Wait! I'll... do it..."
"Hm?"
This stopped Hinata in her tracks. She turned back with genuine interest, studying Sasuke's face—a masterpiece of shame and fury. He clearly wasn't finished.
Kneeling on the floor, Sasuke's fists clenched until the knuckles turned white. When Hinata's patience was nearly spent, he finally ground out a single condition.
"But... nothing involving... anything intimate."
Hinata blinked. She caught on quickly enough—what he meant was: no intimate scenes.
"That, huh... Let me think. Given the current situation..."
"Alright~ Deal!"
"Welcome aboard, handsome leading man."