Hanabi had been running around like a headless chicken on her side, but over on Naruto and Sasuke's end, neither had to deal with anything this complicated.
The next morning.
For Hanabi, a single night had passed. For the audience, it was just a screen transition—and then the anime skipped ahead to the following day.
The training ground's morning mist had yet to clear, and the early-morning village still held a trace of tranquility.
Then golden chains sliced through the air, their hum startling a flock of birds into flight.
"So you dragged me out here at the crack of dawn just to show me this?"
Yesterday's Naruto had been dead asleep from Chakra exhaustion, yet here he was the very next morning, alive, kicking, and hauling Sasuke out to "practice some moves."
Were Jinchūriki constitutions really this absurd?!
Sasuke was starting to regret this.
After dropping Naruto off to rest the night before, he'd crashed on the empty bed next to him, only to get shaken awake at dawn.
Sasuke leaned against a tree trunk with his arms crossed, watching as twenty Naruko shadow clones got tangled up in chains and flung into the bushes, wrapped up like zongzi.
"The Chūnin Exams might've been suspended, but my ninja way won't be! Besides, I just learned this and I'm still in the groove! Gotta lock it in while the muscle memory's fresh."
Naruko was clearly thrilled. Her jacket was set aside, and she wore the ninja outfit Hanabi had given her.
[Why's he transforming into Naruko to train?]
[Go check the earlier episode—Naruto's mom's line. Naruto's Adamantine Sealing Chains pull his mom's Chakra out using his own, so at its core it's still his mom's technique. When he uses it, his body changes, but it's not as drastic as when his mom takes the wheel directly]
[Both of them are mama's boys—Gaara's mom is in the sand, Naruto's mom is on his body. Life really isn't fair, huh]
A dozen-plus clones poofed out of existence, and the remaining Narukos scrambled to untangle the chains from the original.
"Can't you just pull back your Chakra and make the chains disappear?"
Sasuke was beyond exasperated.
"Oh, right!" The Narukos all had the same epiphany at once.
As Naruko withdrew her Chakra and the chains faded, she finally freed herself from the bindings.
"Hah… it went so smoothly before. Why is it so hard now…"
Against Gaara, Naruto had even woven the chains into a net.
But now she couldn't pull it off.
Sweat beaded at Naruko's temples, catching the morning light. The collar of her ninja outfit had gone askew, exposing half a mesh-covered collarbone that rose and fell with her heavy breathing.
Sasuke caught himself staring.
And then a voice drifted over: "That's because someone else was helping you before. For you right now, Naruto, controlling twenty chains woven into a net is still too early."
Naruto's success last time had been with Kushina assisting from within.
But now it was just Naruto practicing alone.
Kushina didn't approve of Naruto using her power casually. The only reason she wasn't stopping him now was that the clash between their Chakras would cause even more harm if she interfered.
"Oh—Hanabi! You changed your outfit."
Naruto's eyes lit up, and she moved to rein in her Chakra.
"Wait, don't change back yet." Hanabi called out suddenly.
"Huh? O-okay."
Naruto didn't understand, but she listened to Hanabi.
Hanabi had adopted a new look today—a summer ensemble befitting the season. Zhuixia was wound down to its minimum state, clinging only to her torso, leaving even her limbs uncovered.
From the audience's perspective, the camera swept upward from below. The first thing that appeared on-screen: Hanabi's geta.
Hanabi's wooden sandals clacked across moss-covered stones, the teeth sinking into damp green cushions as morning dew seemed to crawl up the lacquered wood grain toward her bare feet.
[New outfit!]
[Where are the white stockings?! Where are my white stockings?!]
[Not me though—bare feet, saikou!]
[Hell yeah! This is the good stuff!]
Swapping to a different outfit had dropped Hanabi's attention levels a bit compared to before.
But an occasional image change could stimulate the audience's senses.
Not a bad trade.
Worth using that Close-Up Shot Card.
The camera continued upward.
Her bare calves—no tabi—were luminously pale, like milk.
A breeze stirred.
Golden threads rustled along the ginger-yellow yukata, and the crimson patterns flowed like living flame. The wide sleeves rippled in the current, light as butterfly wings.
The yukata hung loosely on Hanabi's frame, cinched tight at the waist by a sash that accentuated a girlish slenderness. A vermilion cord-knot dangled against her bare calves, swaying with her steps.
Not bad.
Hanabi had recreated the original Hanabi Hyuga's look from The Last: Naruto the Movie.
With a few tweaks, it became her current ensemble.
Yesterday, Hanabi had released all of her Cursed Binding, unleashing her full power.
Part of that power had converted into a permanent boost. The rest needed to "recharge."
But before the recharging began—a little indulgence wouldn't hurt.
An idol with only one look? Unacceptable.
Hanabi crouched lightly atop a mossy boulder.
Black hair spilled like ink-soaked silk to her waist, the tips sweeping across the grass below, scattering dewdrops into tiny silver shards.
Eyes closed, the girl spoke: "Although Naruto can make the Adamantine Sealing Chains appear, he isn't truly the one casting this technique."
[Naruto might be able to use Adamantine Sealing Chains, but it's not really possible for Naruto to use Adamantine Sealing Chains]
[Okay, the production team definitely has a Chinese person on staff—how else would they come up with a meme like that]
[Hanabi-san has personally contributed fifty percent of Road to Ninja's memes. I hereby crown her the Meme Queen]
[What's that a reference to?]
[Meme kids, go away!]
"Huh?" Naruto was lost.
"Naruto, the one who can actually use the Adamantine Sealing Chains is a different Chakra. Not your power, but someone else's." Hanabi continued.
"Would it be dangerous for Naruto to keep using that power?" Sasuke asked.
"Not at all. It'll actually improve Naruto's talent and physical abilities. It's just that the other person's Chakra is stronger than Naruto's, so if Naruto keeps forcing it… well, the 'Naruko' thing might become permanent."
"Oh…" Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief.
No danger was good.
Wait—"become Naruko permanently"? What?
"Huh?" Naruto himself, the person most directly involved, looked even more confused.
"I see, the body really has undergone significant changes. It's different from the Transformation Technique too. It's definitely the Chakra's influence… hmm, actually, it feels a bit like Senjutsu?"
Jiraiya's voice arrived.
Once he understood what was going on, Jiraiya immediately spotted the anomaly.
Naruto's situation—didn't it resemble the way senjutsu encroached on the human body?