Today was... a Sunday.
The moment he saw the date on his calendar, Naruto shot upright in bed and shuddered violently. It wasn't from the cold—early autumn had barely begun, and even sleeping naked wouldn't have been uncomfortable.
No, the real reason Naruto shuddered was what this particular day meant, and what he was obligated to do on it.
By all rights, there shouldn't have been anyone or anything in Konoha capable of scaring Naruto. Aside from his instructor Iruka, virtually every person in the village—adults and children alike—kept him at arm's length.
"Arm's length" was putting it politely. The truth was that the villagers regarded Naruto with a loathing laced with fear, and that cocktail of emotions made it nearly impossible for them to intimidate him. At most, their avoidance left him with a simmering resentment and a quiet sadness.
And so, Naruto's pranks reigned supreme throughout the village—from defacing the sacred Hokage Rock with paint to peeping on the women's bathhouse, and everything in between.
Offenses that would have landed an ordinary ninja in a holding cell for a nice long chat with ANBU earned Naruto nothing worse than a tongue-lashing from Iruka, or a thorough beating from the furious women at the bathhouse. This near-total impunity had, over time, turned him into someone almost pathologically thick-skinned. He might not have understood why the villagers shunned him, but he'd slowly come to realize one thing: nobody in this village could make him afraid.
Which made whatever had him shuddering this morning decidedly unusual.
But deny it as he might, Naruto still had to go do this terrifying thing. After dawdling through getting dressed, chugging a carton of milk from the fridge, he leaped straight out his bedroom window and bolted toward the designated meeting spot.
Konoha was a large village, and a scenic one at that. Racing against the clock, Naruto sprinted clear through the market district and arrived at a remote, deserted corner. This area had once been a residential compound, but years of neglect were written across every surface—overgrown roads, crumbling houses, all of it screaming abandonment. Only a half-visible clan crest on a cracked, weather-beaten wall—shaped like the upper half of a paper fan—whispered of former glory.
Weed-choked paths, pitch-dark ruins, the oppressive silence of total emptiness. The kind of place that practically begged you to imagine it crawling with monsters. Naruto, already on edge, felt the six whisker marks on his cheeks scrunch up tight, his hair standing so straight it pushed his goggles up off his forehead. "Bristling with dread" would have been an understatement.
"You! You're late!"
A vicious voice erupted behind him without warning. Naruto, already teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown, let out a shriek and instinctively hit the ground, arms over his head, groveling for mercy.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry~! Please spare me~! I really don't know my way around here~!!"
"Hmph!"
Crisp footsteps approached, and a pair of feet in ninja sandals stopped right before him. The toes were slender and pale, carrying the kind of delicate prettiness that belonged to a young girl. But the voice that came from their owner was ice-cold.
"Same rules as always—you know how it works. I told you: every minute late means ten more minutes of labor. You've already wasted quite a lot of time today!"
"Uuugh~!"
Clinging to a nearby utility pole, trembling from head to toe, Naruto stared at the figure before him. There was no question about it—this was the source of his overwhelming terror.
The figure was unmistakably a child around his age. A fair, delicate oval face that radiated an innate sweetness. Short hair with strands framing each side of her face that gave her a quiet, bookish look. Her clothing was simple and conservative—just a plain jacket and long pants. No accessories, no dyed hair, none of the things girls her age chased after. Just an air of natural calm and serenity.
From those features alone, that was exactly what she seemed.
But the moment you looked at her eyes, all of it twisted into something else entirely.
The girl's irises were extraordinary—not ordinary human eyes, but a pair of pure, unbroken white eyes. Where pupils and irises should have been, a film of pristine white covered everything, like a pair of impossibly pale contact lenses.
Those pupil-less eyes, backlit by shadow, radiated a terrifying viciousness and cutting intensity. Framed by the surrounding decay, she looked less like a schoolgirl and more like something possessed by a vengeful spirit.
Hyuga Hinata.
That was the girl's name, and she was Naruto's classmate at the Ninja Academy. Academically, she was middling at best. She never initiated conversation with anyone in class, seeming easy to overlook and entirely harmless.
But roughly two weeks ago, Naruto had had the privilege of discovering what truly lurked beneath that harmless exterior.
So while those eyes were the purest white, to Naruto they were unmistakably the eyes of someone consumed by darkness—eyes hiding an ocean of pitch-black malice. They filled him not just with fear, but with a suffocating sense of inescapable doom.
"Hmph~!"
Dark Hinata fixed Naruto with a cold stare as he clung to the utility pole, then reached into her jacket pocket and rummaged around. The gesture alone was enough to make Naruto squeeze his eyes shut in near-despair. He had no idea what kind of instrument of punishment she was about to pull out this time.
Thwap~!
A thick stack of something smacked him on the head, nearly launching his overwound nerves into orbit. After several seconds of trembling, tears threatening to spill, the boy peeled his eyes open and looked down at the object that had landed in his lap.
"Huh?"
Against all expectations, it wasn't some horrifying implement. It was a thick wad of cash—large-denomination bills in units of a thousand ryō. A rough glance told him there were at least a hundred bills. A hundred thousand ryō.
In the shinobi world, currency values were roughly equivalent to Japanese yen. A hundred thousand ryō was a staggering sum. Naruto's monthly orphan stipend was a mere fifteen hundred ryō. Confronted with this much money, he looked up with something closer to awe than fear, completely baffled as to what his terrifying classmate was getting at.
"That's your share—a seventy-thirty split in my favor. I told you, didn't I? The two of us working together would rake in the cash."
Hinata lifted her chin triumphantly. From this angle, the smooth, swan-like column of her pale neck was visible from below. But her words stopped Naruto cold, and he stammered out a response.
"Y-you... y-y-y-you... actually sold those photos?"
"Obviously. Where else do you think this pile of money came from? Quit yapping and get ready—we need to finish the second round of photos today! The last album sold like wildfire!"
Grinning wickedly, Hinata unzipped the small backpack she was carrying and tossed a garment at Naruto.
"Put it on. Today's collection is The Fallen Shrine Maiden Imprisoned in the Desolate Shrine. We've only got two hours, so the schedule is tight!"
"Uuugh~ You promised... you wouldn't show those photos to anyone..."
Naruto was genuinely crying now—tears streaming down his face. He might have been fearless about most things, but that didn't mean he had nothing to worry about. For instance: discovering that photos of himself crossdressing had been compiled into an album and sold to the public. That particular revelation had him wishing for the sweet release of death.
"What the hell are you worried about?! Those photos only sold because you were using your Sexy Technique! One more word out of you and I'm showing that photo to Sakura—you know what that means, right?!"
Hinata barked at the blond boy, and even the whites of her eyes seemed to visibly curdle with malice.
"Hurry up. You love the Transformation Technique so much, don't you? With talent like that, and you're making this much money—what do you have to complain about?"
"Uuugh~ Waaah~ ...Fine, I get it..."
Wiping away his tears, Naruto rose to his feet, his eyes still brimming. With crushing reluctance, he formed the hand signs for his signature technique.
"Sexy Technique!"
A puff of smoke exploded outward. In Naruto's place stood a tall, naked, golden-haired woman—unmistakably the product of his Transformation Technique. Her skin was smooth and carried a healthy light-bronze tone. Long, straight legs like carved ivory. Slender arms crossed shyly over her full, bare chest. Two heartbreaking tear tracks still traced down her exquisitely lovely face, and the occasional hiccup of lingering distress gave her the air of a wounded fawn.
Yes—the Sexy Technique.
Once upon a time, Naruto had been enormously proud of this unique jutsu. It was the product of countless bathhouse peeping sessions and extensive study of adult magazines, distilling the very essence of feminine allure into a single transformation. Its core principle was simple: become an irresistibly gorgeous woman and deliver a devastating psychological strike to any man with impure thoughts. Its power defied description—on its very first deployment, it had instantly floored his instructor, the Chūnin Iruka.
But now, Naruto bitterly regretted ever inventing the technique. Because his nightmare had begun exactly two weeks ago, the moment he'd demonstrated it in class.
"Perfect~ Now put on the shrine maiden outfit I gave you. We're starting the shoot!"
Hinata pulled a high-end camera from her backpack, licking her lips with an eerie grin. The sight of that pink tongue made Naruto shiver. With no other choice, he unfolded the red-and-white shrine maiden robe and tearfully put it on. At least, compared to the scandalously revealing fishnet outfits from the last two sessions, this one technically qualified as clothing.
Watching Naruto finish changing, Hinata raised her camera, her voice dropping to a lewdly suggestive purr.
"Very nice~ Very nice. Look this way. Do your intro. Na~ru~to~kun~!"
The way she drawled his name sent a full-body shudder through Naruto. But in the end, he forced a smile, mustered his energy, and struck a pose brimming with peppy enthusiasm. Combined with the red-and-white shrine maiden outfit, the whole image radiated main-character energy.
"Um~ Hi everyone~! I'm your good friend, a bundle of energy~ Daidai the Fox Shrine Maiden~~"
"Today! We're gonna do our best to vanquish all the wicked demons, okay~!"