The next morning.
"The graduation exam is about to begin. When your name is called, please proceed to the room next door. Today's test: the Clone Jutsu."
The moment Iruka announced the test subject, Naruto's face caved in.
"Of all the jutsu—why did it have to be the one I'm terrible at!"
The real Naruto didn't say a word, of course—but in the Stage's broadcast window, Hanabi had a front-row seat to every micro-expression of his breakdown.
Fairly entertaining.
The exam order matched the morning review. First up: Hanabi.
She still had two Daily Camera Cards. She used one immediately.
The first minute of episode one mattered more than the ten-minute climax of episode 500.
She wasn't about to be stingy.
The scene had apparently been flagged as "daily content," so the moment Naruto's mental spiral wrapped up, the camera cut to her.
"Pardon me. Examinee number one—Hyuga Hanabi."
The exam room was an empty classroom stripped down to basics: a podium at the front, Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei seated together behind it, a row of forehead protectors laid out on the table before Iruka.
"You may begin." Iruka gave her a nod—courteous regardless, even knowing she couldn't see it.
"It's already started~"
Another "Hanabi" stepped out from behind her.
"No seals? Seal-free ninjutsu?!" Mizuki blinked. He didn't know Hanabi well—the technique caught him off guard.
[Come to think of it—everyone else used hand seals, right? Has Hanabi ever once formed a seal?]
[Special effects. She just has special effects.]
[Hanabi: effects. I added effects.]
"Just a parlor trick, Mizuki-sensei." Iruka wasn't rattled. Probing a peer's technique was bad form. Whether the seal-free transformation was genuine, or whether Hanabi was running a concealment genjutsu over the whole process—that was her own business to keep.
In the shinobi world, information security was paramount. Iruka smoothly redirected the topic on his student's behalf.
What he was actually worried about was simpler: Hanabi pulling stunts during an official exam and tanking her grade.
He'd watched her perform Clone Jutsu before. But this time, something felt slightly off.
Was she using genjutsu to fake the clone? Right in the middle of the exam?
She wouldn't… would she?
"Of course not just one~"
Two more Hanabis stepped out.
One became two, two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen—splitting like a culture colony until Hanabis filled the entire room. A crowd of identically dressed, identically smiling beautiful girls staring back at Mizuki from every angle.
Each one beautiful. All of them smiling. The combined effect: deeply unsettling.
"Hmm…" Mizuki flipped through Hanabi's file. "Top of her year on written exams. Highly proficient in genjutsu. A Hyuga—though it seems her strongest suit isn't what you'd expect."
"Maybe I really did hide the seals with genjutsu~ Or maybe—" a voice materialized directly beside Mizuki's ear, "—this is genjutsu~"
She even blew a small puff of air.
Mizuki: —!!
He spun around. A phantom dissolved like morning mist.
He pulled his killing intent back with effort.
Unlike other students' clones—which dispersed with a cloud of smoke—Hanabi's "phantoms" evaporated into a fine mist and vanished.
[The teacher got got!]
[That white-haired one is sketchy—you see that killing intent?]
[Wait—was the transformation earlier also genjutsu? And the clones?]
[Honestly? Wouldn't surprise me.]
[The clones vanish like Tokisaki Kurumi's—that's a fun detail.]
[That little move Hanabi did just now—was that a little devil vibe?]
[Little devil Hanabi. I'm fine. I'm completely fine.]
"Alright, that's enough of the theatrics, Hanabi. This is an exam." Iruka sighed. "That said—you pass. Sixty-four clones. Most examinees clear it with three to five, so—actually, Hanabi." He paused. "That was Clone Jutsu just now, wasn't it?"
Iruka hadn't thought to question it before.
But looking back at Hanabi's movements—the way those phantoms had dissolved—he wasn't entirely sure anymore.
Had she run a genjutsu on the examiners and faked the whole thing without ever producing an actual clone?
"Who's to say~"
Hanabi gave no answer.
[Iruka: I don't know what I just witnessed.]
[So was it clones or genjutsu? I genuinely can't tell!]
[Neither can I! NEITHER CAN I!]
[Forget it, it's clearly genjutsu. Iruka literally said most people manage three to five—sixty-four is physically absurd.]
[Hanabi: effects. I put in effects!]
For the record: Iruka and Mizuki genuinely couldn't decide. Hanabi had the Sparkle card's genjutsu bonus at full potency—fooling ordinary chūnin was well within range.
After the exam, the Third Hokage and the students' families gathered outside the Academy.
"Father." Hanabi and Hinata's father, Hyuga Hiashi, arrived with the others.
"You both performed well." He gave them a brief nod. Then his gaze found Hanabi—and slid away.
After the kidnapping incident, it had been Hiashi who personally retrieved her.
When he'd found Hanabi with her eyes destroyed, cornering the Kumo ninja responsible, rage had overtaken him. He'd nearly killed the man on the spot.
Hanabi had spoken in time to stop him—which was also the practical decision. This particular Kumo ninja was chronically fragile. One full-powered strike from Hiashi in that state would have been fatal, and a dead hostage-taker was a political liability.
Per the reference materials, the man was arrogant and fierce in appearance but had a well-established track record of folding the moment things turned dangerous. In the original story he'd been one-shotted. Hiashi in a blind fury would have demolished him.
In the aftermath, Konoha had gained significant leverage over Kumo. The Hyuga clan had received reparations from the Hokage. But Hiashi had never quite forgiven himself.
Which was why he always looked away when he met Hanabi's eyes.
"What is it, Hanabi?" Hiashi noticed her attention wasn't on the family gathering.
"A friend of mine didn't pass the exam. I'm going to go check on him."
A scene like this doesn't come along every day.
"That's—"
Hiashi followed her gaze immediately to Naruto, sitting alone. Most of the adults in Konoha quietly steered their children away from him—but Hanabi was already moving, and Hiashi didn't stop her. He positioned himself nearby to watch, as he always did. Even during the arguments over Neji, whenever Hanabi pushed back against the clan, Hiashi had stood on his daughter's side.
Hopeless girl-dad. Classic case.
Clone Jutsu was elementary—nearly everyone passed. Which meant the only person who hadn't was Uzumaki Naruto, now sitting alone on a swing under a tree, the picture of quiet misery.
"That kid—"
"That one right there."
"Looks like he's the only one who failed."
"Serves him right."
"Someone like that becoming a shinobi—the thought alone."
"After all, that kid is—"
Two middle-aged women muttered from a distance, their voices layered with judgment.
[Classic setup. The protagonist is obviously hiding something from the start.]
[Standard Japanese story opener. I've seen enough to know where this is going.]
[With my years of anime experience, I'm calling it: Naruto is either the Nine-Tails itself, or someone who has the Nine-Tails sealed inside him.]
[It's not an Ultra series. He's not transforming into a kaiju for three minutes.]
[Maybe the old-man-powers route.]
"Pardon me."
A voice cut through both the gossip and the scene's momentum.
"Oh—it's young Miss Hanabi of the Hyuga."
The two women's expressions rearranged themselves immediately.
"Would you mind stepping aside? I'd like to check on my friend."
The women stiffened.
"I'm sorry, what did you—"
"I said: would you please move. You're in my way."
[Unfiltered. Absolutely unfiltered. I love her.]
[Honestly? For that kind of gossip, she got off easy. Two slaps would have been justified.]
[I expected her to be subtle about it. Apparently not!]
[66666666]
After being told off so directly, the two women went awkwardly rigid and shuffled out of the way.
Hyuga Hanabi wasn't the Hyuga heir—that was Hinata. But everyone knew Hanabi was extraordinarily gifted, and deeply favored by the clan head. The only reason she wasn't in line for succession was her blindness.
"Naruto."
Hanabi settled next to him.
"Oh—it's Hanabi."
Naruto managed a smile. Obviously forced.
On the other side, Mizuki—who had been waiting for exactly this window—ground his teeth. She'd beaten him to it.
"There's always next time. This exam was Clone Jutsu—maybe the next one plays to your strengths."
"Thanks." Naruto seemed to ease slightly.
"Are you free tonight? Ichiraku Ramen, my treat."
Naruto hadn't answered yet when Mizuki, further away, dug his nails into his palms. He'd been counting on Naruto's low spirits to set something in motion. This girl had walked right into the middle of it.
That was the point.
Wrecking the plans of someone who was about to make trouble—wasn't that just the natural order of things? Deeply satisfying.
"Ichiraku Ramen!" The offer visibly lifted Naruto's mood.
But then Naruto's eyes drifted—and found Hiashi and Hinata, standing together across the way.
Hanabi knew what he was seeing. The broadcast window had been showing exactly this.
She couldn't see it in person. But a loving family—a father and sister, present and warm—set against Naruto's solitude was a gap that didn't need to be stated.
"Actually—no." Naruto pulled back. "Maybe another time. You always treat, Hanabi—next time let me pay."
"Don't be like that. We're friends."
"Yeah—so I'll catch up to you. Just wait for me." He clenched his fist.
"I'm counting on it~" Hanabi turned away, replacing the fox mask.
"But… I want to graduate now. I want to be with everyone…" Naruto's head dropped the moment she was gone, the bravado dissolving.
He'd steadied himself only to keep his friend from worrying.
"Naruto." Mizuki, no longer blocked, finally found his opening. "You… want to graduate, don't you?"