[Sincerity is the ultimate finishing move]
[The ultimate finishing move is sincerity]
[Got it—genuine feelings are the hard counter to bratty girls]
[First time seeing Director Hanabi take an L]
[You really wanna see her eat a loss? Go watch the OVA—she was one step away from a total wipeout]
[Hinata's time bomb is still ticking, feels like it could go off any second]
[I want to see blood in the streets.JPG]
The audience seemed eager to watch Hanabi crash and burn.
Unfortunately, that was the one thing Hanabi couldn't deliver.
After meeting Iruka, Hanabi had nothing else on her plate.
"Time to prepare."
Hanabi opened all the shot card packs she'd accumulated.
After taking stock, she now had 12 Daily Shot Cards and 15 Close-Up Shot Cards.
Daily Shot Cards could only be used during slice-of-life segments—they couldn't be activated during "key story arc" moments. Close-Up Shot Cards, on the other hand, could forcibly redirect the camera to her.
These had been very useful early on, but by now they were just icing on the cake.
Still, once she had a "new account," shot cards would come in handy again.
One shot in the first three episodes mattered more than three shots later on.
As for a character theme song, Hanabi couldn't make up her mind, but fortunately the Stage allowed bidding—she didn't have to choose one herself. The downside of bidding was a longer turnaround.
She'd shelve Biology for now. In this Naruto world where everyone was basically "plant people," it was anyone's guess whether the normal world's biology even applied here.
Since the course was lengthy, Hanabi planned to try it later.
"Good afternoon, Sasuke, Naruto~"
On the day of the Chūnin Exams, when Hanabi met Sasuke and Naruto, both had undergone some transformation.
Naruto hadn't fully mastered the Adamantine Sealing Chains, but his chakra sensitivity had improved by more than a full tier.
As for Sasuke, his biggest change was the short blade now strapped to his lower back. His entire aura had become sharper.
"Yo, Hanabi!" Naruto greeted her enthusiastically the moment he saw her.
"Let's go." Sasuke held his chin high—probably feeling himself after the power-up.
Whether it was Naruto or Sasuke, they were still just twelve-year-old kids. Getting a little cocky after leveling up was perfectly normal.
And this was precisely the moment when someone needed to step in and deliver a reality check—a whack upside the head to bring them back down to earth.
Sometimes Hanabi wanted to give herself a pat on the back for being so selflessly dedicated to helping her teammates stay humble despite their gains. Truly, she was a saint.
"Now then—it's all up to how big bro Neji and the others perform~"
When Hanabi's trio entered the Academy, the building was already packed with examinees.
Up in the hallway, some kind of incident seemed to be unfolding.
Hanabi had already seen it through the Stage's video feed.
On-screen, Rock Lee had been roughly shoved out by two gate-guarding ninja.
"With skills like that, you want to take the Chūnin Exams?"
"You'd be better off not participating, kiddos."
The ones who'd knocked Lee to the ground were the two Konoha ninja standing guard at the classroom entrance.
These two weren't Genin—they were Chūnin disguised as Genin.
The legendary gatekeepers of Konoha, holding a rock-solid top-three spot in background-character screen time across all fan works: Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane.
They'd swapped the second-floor room sign from 201 to 301 on the spot, testing the newcomers.
Of course, it wasn't as simple as just changing the sign.
Getting to the second floor only took one flight of stairs; the third floor required another. Anyone with a shred of common sense wouldn't mix them up.
The reason everyone had gathered here, instinctively treating this room as 301, was because of genjutsu—Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique. It made people subconsciously misidentify their location.
But anyone even slightly familiar with genjutsu wouldn't fall for it.
Case in point: Neji's team, currently putting on a blatant act right here.
"Please, just let us through..."
After Lee went down, Tenten put on her best squeaky helpless voice and begged pitifully, but the two guards blocked her as well.
Hanabi tilted her head.
What was this, the bargain-bin Oscars?
"Listen up—not letting you through is actually our kindness. The Chūnin Exams are brutal," Kotetsu said, narrowing his eyes at the gathered examinees.
"We've seen plenty of people who took the exam and were so crushed they could never recover."
Quite a few spectating examinees were watching nearby.
[My waifu's smile looks so weird]
[That's her scheming smile]
[Grass, that's the smile she makes when she's watching chaos unfold]
[What's there to enjoy here?]
[Go watch the specials—those two are big bro Neji's teammates]
[So those two were acting? Figures]
[That squeaky voice was obviously fake—I'm cracking up too]
Lee and Tenten had appeared in the OVA previously. Hanabi hadn't given them much screen time then—they'd just popped in when Hanabi went to find Neji, said a quick hello, and stayed in the background. But they hadn't looked anything like this at the time.
Meanwhile, Izumo, disguised as an examinee, was also chiming in with a grin: "For people who can't pass, getting rejected at this door—what's wrong with that?"
"Fair point. But I'm still going through." Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets and walked ahead, all swagger. "And undo this genjutsu barrier already—I'd like to get to the third floor sometime today."
Sasuke was, fundamentally, a normal person, so he wanted to show off a little too.
"Honored~ Elder~ Brother~" Hanabi sidled up beside Neji.
Neji, who had been enjoying the show of his own teammates acting like fools, went completely stiff the instant he heard Hanabi's voice.
"H-Hanabi..."
[LOL, brother-in-law's daily cringe through the earth's core]
[I want Hanabi to call me "big brother" too—actually, onii-chan would be even better, hehehe~]
[In your dreams, that's my waifu]
The audience chattered on.
And naturally, Neji immediately understood why Hanabi had suddenly cranked up the awkwardness.
Because Hanabi had previously asked his team to pressure-test her teammates—to make sure Naruto and Sasuke didn't get too full of themselves.
Neji had also wanted to use the pre-exam opportunity to size up the so-called genius of the Uchiha clan.
What he hadn't expected was that his team's blatant little performance would be witnessed by his dear little sister. Now things were awkward.
Over on the other side, because Sasuke had seen through Kotetsu's genjutsu, Kotetsu had already dropped the illusion and was about to trade blows with Sasuke.
Neji flash-stepped in and positioned himself between Sasuke and Kotetsu.
"Neji, this isn't what we agreed on!" Lee, still lying on the ground, couldn't help but call out when he saw Neji intervene.
[LOL, brother-in-law's tactical retreat]
[Big bro seems all serious and proper, which makes moments like this extra funny]
[The flash of a lifetime]
[Dude, ninja Body Flicker is spammable]
[Dude, that's a meme]
Neji's method of avoiding accountability to Hanabi was to proactively step in and defuse the situation. He turned to face Sasuke and Naruto.
"So you two are my little sister's teammates."
Lee's suggestion to "keep a low profile" could be thrown right out the window.
Time to execute his sister's plan first.
First things first... rough these two up, then we'll talk.