Hikari's emotional gravity was a bit beyond imagination.
Still, Hanabi quite liked this version of Hikari.
As long as she didn't actually take a knife and slice someone's stomach open, for a chaos-enjoyer like Hanabi, this kind of personality was pretty entertaining.
Mm... entertaining right up until things went off the rails.
"Does Hanabi want me to teach him?" Hikari asked. "The Uchiha clan is gone, so a lot of their ninjutsu must've been lost by now, right? So does Hanabi want me to train him?"
Hikari had already gotten used to thinking from Hanabi's perspective.
Since that Sasuke was Hanabi's subordinate (in Hikari's view), buffing his strength didn't seem entirely unreasonable.
It was just that this Sasuke fellow seemed rather... weak.
The two were close in age, but even without activating her Sharingan, even fighting one-handed, Hikari could probably flatten him without breaking a sweat.
"Mm, if you're willing, I'd like you to decide for yourself. I don't want you doing things you don't enjoy, Hikari," Hanabi said. "And I don't want you putting yourself in danger either."
"Okay! Then I'll observe him for a bit first."
The Uchiha clan was gone.
Taking revenge on a child would be meaningless. The chain of hatred no longer needed to continue.
Then, out of nowhere, Hanabi let out a snort of laughter.
"What? What is it?" Hikari asked urgently.
"It's not direct lineage, but if you think about it, you're technically Sasuke's great-great-great-great-grandmother, Hikari."
"I'm not that old!" Hikari protested.
And right then, Hanabi's mind leapt to Madara Uchiha.
Come to think of it, if Madara ever appeared in front of Hikari, would he also have to call her... Grandma?
The moment that thought crossed her mind, Hanabi felt an irrepressible wave of glee surging up from deep inside.
No way.
Such an entertaining scene absolutely had to be witnessed by audiences worldwide!
"Well then, I'll be off~" Hanabi made a clean getaway.
"Honestly!" Hikari pouted, but she still called out in a hurry, "Safe travels!"
After parting ways with Hikari, Hanabi arrived at the meeting point.
"Good morning, Sasuke~"
Sasuke was the first one there.
Ever since returning from the Land of Waves, Sasuke had been training relentlessly.
But even so, he still felt deeply unsatisfied.
That Naruto guy's strength had been growing practically every single day. At first, Naruto was clearly weaker than him, but now Sasuke felt like Naruto was almost at the same level!
And while Sasuke had awakened his Sharingan, he was completely alone—if he wanted to use the Sharingan, he could only figure it out by himself.
"Good morning." Seeing Hanabi, Sasuke greeted her with something clearly weighing on his mind.
At that moment, the Stage camera cut back to Hanabi.
[Wifey!]
[Where's Hikari? Where's my Hikari?]
[Someone's been watching the OVA too hard. This is the main series]
[This is obviously Team 7 assembling—outsiders definitely have nothing to do with this]
[Wifey's ropes, hehe, heheheh~]
[Am I the only one who wants wifey's bento box?]
[What bento box?]
[Don't ask that guy—he's from the Arknights forums. "Bento box" means shoes]
[F*ck (a type of plant)]
"Um, Hanabi." Sasuke found it hard to get the words out, because Hanabi couldn't see.
But thinking of Naruto, the pressure was overwhelming.
So he pressed on: "Do you know anything about training the Byakugan?"
"The Byakugan, huh." Hanabi tilted her head. "They say the Sharingan is actually a branch of the Byakugan. If you trace the Sharingan all the way back to its origin, apparently you arrive at the Byakugan."
[New lore!]
[I still think the Sharingan looks cooler]
[I prefer blue eyes. Is there a blue-eyed dojutsu?]
[Kakashi's eyes aren't even his own. Why not just go Byakugan in the left, Sharingan in the right?]
Hanabi's own on-screen popularity gains were actually lower than what the Naruto segment had brought in.
But there was an upside: the Naruto segment hadn't gained her any new fans, whereas now, with her doing commentary on-screen, her fan count was still climbing.
"But Sasuke, why are you asking me instead of Kakashi?" Hanabi leaned lightly against the railing—partly because she was tired, partly to strike a pose for the camera.
"That guy's always appearing and disappearing. Finding him isn't easy," Sasuke complained.
"Then let me teach you a trick." Hanabi raised one finger. "When you can't find Kakashi, just go to the Memorial Stone. He's actually there most of the time."
"As for dojutsu, the Byakugan and Sharingan have already diverged so much that any advice I give you might end up doing more harm than good," Hanabi said. "But if it's other areas, I can definitely teach you a thing or two."
Sasuke had previously learned Enten from Hanabi.
That technique was a fire-nature transformation Hanabi had developed based on the Rasengan.
But beyond Fire Style, Sasuke also had considerable talent for Lightning Style—and not a small amount either.
But that wasn't what Hanabi had in mind.
Because Sasuke had one more talent.
Kenjutsu.
Yes, kenjutsu. Sasuke would even go on to independently develop "Uchiha Style Kenjutsu" in the future, becoming the founder of an entire school.
"What is it? And what's it going to cost me?"
Sasuke didn't care what Hanabi wanted to teach him. He just wanted to get stronger.
"Cost, shmost. Aren't we friends?" Hanabi said.
[Holy crap, I get PTSD now every time I hear the word "friends"]
[The gravity is too strong...]
[What are you guys even talking about?]
[Go watch the OVA side story and you'll understand. What the hell—is that how the word "friends" is supposed to be used?!]
[This time it's the correct usage]
[But the person saying it is Hanabi]
Even Hanabi herself hadn't expected these goofball netizens to get PTSD from the word "friends."
A single OVA, and it could hit this hard.
Hanabi also admitted that the "friends" she'd said to Hikari and the "friends" she was saying to Sasuke now were not the same thing at all.
"Friends, huh..." Sasuke actually fell into deep thought over what Hanabi had said.
—Crap, Sasuke's an Uchiha too, isn't he?!
Fortunately, Sasuke was the most emotionally stable Uchiha in the entire clan, and he didn't develop any... alternative interpretations of Hanabi's words.
"Hanabi. If you ever need this friend of yours for anything, tell me."
—Because we're friends.
"Yo! Hanabi Sasuke"
Naruto came running up from the other side, bursting with energy.
Sasuke turned his face away in annoyance.
He couldn't help it.
Ever since they'd returned from the offshore island near the Land of Waves, Naruto's attitude toward him had clearly changed.
Sasuke's desperate, gut-wrenching cries of "Naruto!" "Naruto!" back then seemed to have softened quite a bit of Naruto's competitive hostility toward the "genius."
Hanabi watched Naruto with a smile.
In terms of emotional gravity, Hanabi reckoned Naruto far exceeded Sasuke—rivaling even Hikari herself.
If you swapped the two's bloodlines, Hanabi thought nothing would feel off at all.
"Yo~ Good morning."
Kakashi-sensei had arrived too.
On this day when Team 7 reunited, he had, for once, not been late. And today, the script for the Chūnin Exams was also about to begin.