There are roughly three kinds of people who stand at the summit.
The first kind are born with nothing, and so they believe their mission is to pursue power and authority. They pour everything they have into the only thing they can do, and then, at the end of the road, they are consumed by a fate that was always inevitable.
The second kind are born with everything, and so they believe their mission is to possess all that the world has to offer. They accept whatever fortune delivers without question, and then, as they gradually lose it all, they plunge into an abyss of anguish, howling amid the nothing that remains.
And the third kind...
Hinata's footsteps stopped. The pale-eyed girl raised her head to look at the cherry tree in the Hyuga compound's courtyard, a peculiar curve touching the corner of her mouth. After a moment of silence, she turned to look back at Hanabi, still standing in the room. The younger sister stared at her older sister, and a sudden, stark panic descended over her.
"Hanabi, you didn't come to stop me."
Those words hit Hanabi like a physical blow. Her body jerked, and in that instant she understood exactly what Hinata meant.
"So. You get it now, don't you?"
Saying it softly, Hinata turned away and walked out of the Hyuga compound without another pause. Behind her, Hanabi's face went white as paper. Her legs gave out and she dropped to the floor with a dull thud, sitting there in stunned silence.
If gaining was life's blessing, then loss was the curse woven into that blessing—inescapable, indelible. It would carve away at the heart, piece by piece, until all that remained of that thing called "heart" was a bloody, hollow cavity. And what was left would be nothing but a husk called "madness."
To guard against that curse, you had to choose carefully what you allowed yourself to gain. Acquire with restraint, and you could lose with preparation. That was the secret to standing at the summit without being devoured by madness.
Of course, most of the time you didn't need to agonize over the selection. A simple test—like the one just now—and you'd know which things could stay by your side and which were nothing more than fragile illusions.
"In the end, she was only Hyuga Hinata's sister. Not mine."
Murmuring it aloud as if to confirm it to herself, Hinata shook her head and left the street behind. Today was not a day she could afford to be idle.
SKREEEEE!
With a sound like spinning blades, the cascading waterfall burst open as though struck by something invisible, only to snap back into its thundering downward rush a heartbeat later. The deafening roar continued unabated.
"Hah... hah... At this rate... it's nowhere near enough..."
Naruto knelt before the waterfall, gasping for air. The searing pain in both arms—like being cut with knives—told him he was in rough shape.
This was what he'd been doing: training the Sonic Hand Blade.
The scroll fragment Hinata had given him described the technique in clear terms. In principle, it was relatively straightforward: cross both arms inward in a crescent-arc embrace, concentrate chakra into a crescent-shaped chakra blade, and launch it. Because the arms moved in opposing directions, the two streams of chakra meshed like interlocking gears, spinning outward under the force of both arms to slash the target.
Of course, anything sounds easy when you're just talking about it. Doing it was another matter entirely.
"Damn it! At this rate it'll take forever! Hmm... I know~!"
His eyes lit up, and a mischievous grin spread across Naruto's face. "Yeah~ How'd I forget about that~?! I've got the numbers advantage over Hinata and Sasuke! Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
With an eruption of smoke, the ground below the waterfall filled with Naruto's Shadow Clones. Raising one arm triumphantly, he declared with supreme confidence: "All right, boys! Tonight, we're cutting through that waterfall! Let's go!!"
Meanwhile, in the Uchiha Compound, Hinata's crew was holding its weekly meeting.
"Based on last week's figures, art-book sales continue to climb. And now that we've relocated the publishing house back inside Konoha, we only need to pay Konoha's taxes—all remaining funds go directly into the company."
Shino held a report and was delivering his findings with meticulous precision. This was technically Shikamaru's job as well, but his enthusiasm for it was... lacking.
"Staffing for the publishing factory is essentially complete. The first batch of equipment is in place, and the second shipment will be delivered tomorrow. After that, we move into normal operations."
Asuma, seated next to Shikamaru, rose to report on his area of responsibility. Since Hinata and the others were too young to legally manage a business, Asuma was currently the Publishing Factory's official head. The Third Hokage had specifically reduced Asuma's recent mission assignments in order to give the factory time to stabilize.
"Negotiations with the figure merchandisers are also essentially finalized. However, this means we need to add more story characters as quickly as possible. The next installment needs: one onmyōji, one major demon to debut, and assorted supporting characters. Any good candidates?"
Hinata nodded, satisfied with her team's efficiency. Whether it was routine administrative work or large-scale operations, the disciplined nature of shinobi meant she could delegate with confidence. That left her own responsibilities: casting and expanding the production's roster.
"For the onmyōji, we still have three males available internally: myself, Choji, and the cameraman. No need to recruit externally for now. But what kind of character is this new major demon supposed to be?"
Shino showed the most investment in Hinata's scripts. Nodding, Hinata voiced her concept with a note of uncertainty: "Hmm~ Since we've decided to drive the figure product line, this demon needs to be the bishounen type. I want him to project the aura of a cold, noble, otherworldly great-demon—like the scion of some ancient demon lineage."
Knowing that the Naruto world ran on bloodline supremacy, and that figures were the kind of product that needed attractive character designs to sell, Fox Tales was positioned from the start as a bishounen idol drama. That much was non-negotiable.
"A demon scion sounds fun, but if it's someone without a distinguished family background, they probably can't convey that kind of presence, right?"
Kakashi chimed in with his usual easygoing smile. "So, personally, I'd suggest picking from the scions of Konoha's clans."
Right. Drag one more person in, and that's one more layer of insurance down the line.
With a faint smirk, Hinata nodded decisively. "Good idea. But~ considering that the lead character Ahri is a fox who took human form, what kind of demon would naturally clash with a fox?"
"Huh? That's easy. The animal that chases foxes is a dog, obviously~"
Sakura answered with cheerful certainty, and the response immediately drew unanimous agreement.
"Yeah, yeah~ If the demon character is a dog who took human form, then a species rivalry with Ahri makes perfect sense."
Ino nodded along, arms folded. Beside her, Shino adjusted the bridge of his glasses. "From a zoological standpoint, dogs aren't technically a fox's natural predator, but the common perception is that dogs chase foxes. That's a perfectly workable premise."
"Is that so~ Then we need to find someone from a Konoha clan associated with dogs. And if that's the case, I believe we already have one in our class. Don't we?"
Hinata narrowed her eyes. She knew exactly who she meant. Strictly speaking, there were two Konoha clans associated with dogs. One was the Hatake Clan, whose most prominent member was, naturally, the white-haired somebody currently playing cameraman in this very room—as evidenced by his mastery of the Eight Ninken.
But that clan had one fatal flaw: there was practically nobody left. In canon, it was down to roughly one and a half people. The one was obviously Kakashi, and the "half" was Sakumo Hatake, who only appeared in flashbacks.
The other needed no introduction: the Inuzuka Clan—specifically, Kiba Inuzuka, the last remaining member of the Konoha 12 who shared a class with Hinata's group. Unlike the Hatake Clan, where ninken served an auxiliary role, the Inuzuka Clan's entire combat capability revolved around their ninja hounds. Akamaru, the little dog Kiba carried everywhere as both pet and weapon, was essentially his signature tool.
And of course, Kiba had been assigned to the same squad as Hinata in the original storyline. Apparently, the inertia of fate struck again.
"Kiba, huh? True, he's in our year, and he's definitely the person who knows dogs best."
Choji spoke through a mouthful of potato chips. "But what's this dog-demon's role supposed to be?"
"Oh~ that~"
A smile that boded no good for anyone spread across Hinata's face. "Zuorin's... love rival."
"Urk—!"
The announcement detonated the atmosphere of the entire room. After a long, stunned silence, Sakura—face slightly green—was the first to stammer: "I see~ Deliberately adding a suitor for the heroine to heighten the romantic tension between the leads. Hey, Naruto, did you hear that?"
Only then did everyone notice something was off with Naruto. Normally, he'd have been the first to leap out of his seat at a bombshell like this.
"Hm? Yeah, Naruto's been awfully quiet today. Upset stomach?"
Shikamaru, sitting across from Naruto, spoke with a faintly amused lilt. At least his character, Lady Higan, didn't currently have any suitors. Might as well enjoy the schadenfreude while he could—no telling when his own turn would come.
Wait. Could it be...?
Watching the silent Naruto, Hinata's white eyes narrowed. And right on cue—with a poof and a puff of white smoke, the Naruto sitting there dissolved into nothing. A Shadow Clone. Obviously just a stand-in.
"What? A Shadow Clone?"
Even Sasuke frowned. And then a thought struck him: If he'd known such a convenient jutsu existed, why was he still wasting his time sitting here?
For the sharp-minded Uchiha, the current partnership with Hinata clearly benefited his goal of reviving the Uchiha Clan—rebuilding required enormous amounts of money and connections, both of which he could acquire through Hinata's operation.
But as someone who found these mundane meetings thoroughly tedious, Sasuke also instinctively resented them. He could be spending this time practicing shuriken.
Now, Naruto's stunt struck Sasuke as genuinely admirable. After all, the clone would relay everything it heard back to the original, so nothing important would be missed. The only thing Sasuke found pathetic was that Naruto's clone had collapsed halfway through—sloppy.
"That's outrageous! That little slacker! He's probably out pulling pranks again!"
Sakura shook her fist. Her mental image of Naruto was still stuck at the stage of the village's number-one troublemaker. After using a Shadow Clone to blow off the weekly meeting, who knew what he was up to now?
But looking at where the clone had vanished, Hinata only frowned.
No... that's not right. Normally, a Shadow Clone persists until it takes a hit or runs out of chakra. And however idiotic Naruto might be, chakra reserves were the one thing he was never short of. This clone couldn't have dissipated from running dry.
Which meant... something had gone wrong on the original's end.
"All of you, with me. We're going to find that idiot."
Rising to her feet, Hinata instinctively tightened the straps on her Sacred Fist Gauntlets. She had a bad feeling. Based on the current timeline, the early-story miniboss Mizuki was already half-paralyzed and locked up in Konoha Prison. Pain and company should be busy producing figures and accumulating capital. Orochimaru was presumably off courting the Fourth Kazekage for the Konoha Crush. There shouldn't be any external threat.
That left only one possibility: the idiot had overtaxed his own chakra, and the rather unfriendly tenant in his belly had decided to poke its head out.
"I have a feeling tonight is going to be a long one."