[Feels even more tense than the Nine-Tails vs. the missus scene]
[The raw power isn't on that level, but the technique is way flashier]
[The last anime with good sword-on-sword action was Toji no Miko from years ago—man, I miss my girl Kanami]
[Since we're on the topic of fight scenes, I gotta plug Sword of the Stranger. Old series, but absolutely top-tier]
[Didn't her dad say Hanabi's best at Fire Style? Because to me it looks like swordsmanship]
[It's gorgeous though, no question about that]
Hanabi's first fight against the Jingliu Puppet had been pure performance—she'd prioritized visual spectacle at every turn, and the result was undeniably slick.
The sequence continued all the way until the Jingliu Puppet's long blade pierced Hanabi while she simultaneously landed a strike on the puppet, ending the battle in a mutual exchange.
[Scared the crap out of me—I thought my waifu was actually gonna bare her heart to me]
[Bare her heart (literally)]
[Honestly, I really did jump]
[That mark that showed up on her back... it's kinda lewd]
[I wanna put my mark on waifu too, hehehe]
[Creep (ノ｀Д)ノ]
[You got a problem with my gender?]
[Huh?]
[HUH.]
[Uh...]
The parade of danmaku had Hanabi laughing.
That mark wasn't something she'd made up out of thin air, either.
The main storyline would soon introduce the concept of the Curse Mark.
Just like how the Infinite Tsukuyomi now technically "copied" Hikari's power from this point forward, the Curse Mark that would appear later was also "copying" what Hanabi had shown first.
Whether that was actually the case didn't matter. Being the first to appear on screen was the only thing that counted.
Mine. It's all mine. I was here first!
After this section, the story moved into the second day.
And the audience gradually noticed something was off.
[Wasn't there something earlier about this area being on the land route from the Land of Waves to the Land of Lightning?]
[You can check Episode 8 of the main series—it has a world map. The overland route from Wave Country to the Land of Lightning runs right through here]
[Wait, for real? Then Hanabi picked this mission on purpose?]
[Can't figure out why she wouldn't just tell Konoha]
[The truth is, my waifu is actually a bad girl (said with a straight face)]
[Cue the scheming music]
During the search, Hinata happened to stumble upon the seal's location.
By this point, the audience had already sensed something was "off."
In the main series, Hanabi usually gave off the vibe of a cheeky brat—the kind of girl who'd taunt her enemies with a "How cute. Try harder, small fry." But here, she seemed genuinely serious.
Naturally.
In the main storyline, Hanabi had been a supporting character. The audience may have treated her as the female lead, but her screen time told a different story.
Here, however, Hyūga Hanabi was unequivocally in the protagonist's seat.
The beginning of the second day opened with another editorial cut, splicing in Hanabi and Neji's conversation from the first day.
Through their exchange, the audience learned that the location Hanabi had been investigating was actually one of the bases Kushina Yuki had prepared for summoning and controlling the evil god. There was another one elsewhere.
The mark on Hanabi's back was the evil god's sigil. Unless every trace of the evil god was completely eliminated, the mark would remain—and if it stayed, the evil god would eventually possess her.
After that exposition, the actual three-person search mission began.
Neji and Hanabi had been speaking in veiled terms, but Hinata's discovery interrupted their coded exchange.
And that was when they found the ruins.
After Hanabi entered, the descent was drawn out with additional footage—multiple angle cuts that made the originally shallow seal site look like a deep subterranean passage, layering on an air of mystery.
[Here it comes]
[It's happening! Right here!]
[This is the moment? Right now?]
[Yes, right now, this instant, immediately!]
The moderators had been busy purging spoiler comments, but the regulars were getting creative with their workarounds, diving headfirst into surreal abstraction.
And then, at last, Hanabi reached the bottom.
A gentle, elegant melody began to play.
In reality, the path had been quite short, but Musashino's Director Kinoshita had suggested extending this sequence. The added length lent the scene a sense of ceremony.
The background music that accompanied it—a piece called "Hikari"—had also been produced by Musashino's team.
Clearly, the Stage had paid them handsomely.
Or perhaps Musashino really had been that desperate for the funding.
Hikari Uchiha's face was finally revealed.
[Waifu!]
[Good grief, every time a girl shows up she's suddenly your waifu]
[Wait—so THAT'S why Hanabi got all serious. She's been running the male lead's playbook!]
[Why does she kinda look like she could be Sasuke's relative?]
[Hold up—a Sasuke stand-in?]
[Sasuke never stood a chance, alright? Hanabi-sama only ever gets cuddly with other girls]
Hanabi stepped forward and gently brushed the dust away.
The camera angle shifted entirely, transitioning into something resembling a montage sequence.
This segment was actually Hikari Uchiha's memories.
Stripped of her name. Brainwashed and remade. Deployed as a weapon.
That had been her brutal life.
Hanabi hadn't expected the recorded footage to include Hikari's mental flashback—her life racing before her eyes—but the material slotted perfectly into this moment.
Like a sleeping princess from a fairy tale, the girl slowly opened her eyes.
"Rise and shine, my dear Sleeping Beauty."
"I'm not a princess..."
Her eyes opened slowly. Her face was blank, her gaze hollow—like a broken doll, discarded and used up.
Hanabi, by contrast, was the meticulous restorer, carefully lifting the girl, wiping away the scars, stitching her back together piece by piece.
[New waifu acquired]
[That broken expression is incredible]
[But if Hanabi wants to survive, doesn't she need to... kill her?]
[Oh no, they're really going for the emotional gut-punch!]
Hanabi silently gave props to the moderators deleting spoilers.
Without spoilers, the narrative's dramatic tension was fully preserved—the story had more impact, more suspense, and the audience felt a genuine unease about the protagonist's predicament.
What came next was Hanabi enthusiastically trying to befriend Hikari—only for Hikari to frown.
A woman who'd appeared out of nowhere was suddenly acting this familiar.
It was the kind of behavior that screamed ulterior motives.
Of course, that impression was partly the editing's doing. Hikari had just emerged from her seal—mentally drained, still in a daze.
[She's sweet on the outside and sinister on the inside, isn't she]
[Oh no, don't tell me Hanabi really is a bad girl...]
[Hanabi, please, you can't be like this!]
The audience was starting to panic.
"Because I'm Hikari's friend!"
But the moment Hanabi's next line landed, the audience did a complete one-eighty.
[She's after her body, isn't she?!]
[She wants to be her "fri—WIFE—end"]
[Wait—my waifu... wants my other waifu... to be her waifu?]
[The tongue-twister above is somehow exactly right]
[Oh my GOD, my waifu is trying to make my other waifu into her waifu!]
[Hinata: "Oh, how noble of you. How wonderful."]
[Hinata: "There's something I'd like to say, if I may."]
[It's fine—even so, they're both still my waifus]
There was no denying it. Between the buildup, the editing, the background music, and the visual effects, this scene had these chaos-loving shitposters hooked, line and sinker.
And Hanabi's popularity and fanbase were growing steadily...