As the most prosperous and stable ninja village among the Five Great Nations, Konoha's commercial district was impressively well-stocked. Beyond the usual general stores, there were shops specializing in home video and all manner of books and magazines. As a point of trivia, this particular bookshop was where Naruto had often snuck in to study adult literature while researching his Sexy Jutsu.
Not that he'd had the courage to set foot inside ever since his debut photo collection—The Fallen Shrine Maiden of Kannazuki—went on sale there.
"Ahh, Lady Hinata~! You're finally here! The last volume of The Fallen Shrine Maiden of Kannazuki received rave reviews—absolutely exceeded all expectations! The higher-ups say they're very much looking forward to the new issue!"
A middle-aged man with a scar across his face was enthusiastically leafing through a photo album behind the counter. It was, without question, the fruits of Hinata and Naruto's labors at the Uchiha compound ruins the day before: one hundred photos of Naruto in female form in every conceivable pose and angle, plus a short audio tape of breathy, saccharine-sweet voice acting. Grade-A otaku merchandise.
"Before we get to that—who are you? You're not the owner I dealt with before."
Hinata's gaze carried a faint edge. The previous three transactions had been with a different shopkeeper, but this scarred fellow was clearly an ex-ninja—a loose kimono draped over his frame, a pet squirrel perched on his shoulder, contentedly gnawing a pine nut.
"Ah, right~ I haven't introduced myself. Call me Squirrel. Former Konoha Chūnin—retired now. As for the shop, I acquired it through perfectly legitimate means. Which is to say, from now on, I'll be the one handling the sale of your albums. Pleased to work with you."
The man who called himself Squirrel tucked away the album with a satisfied nod, then produced a small chest from beside his feet and slid it across the counter. "Per our agreement, only half of the 400,000 ryō was supposed to be paid up front. But Lady Hinata is no ordinary client, and these photos are genuinely premium quality, so I went ahead and paid the full amount."
A soft scoff. Hinata tilted her head slightly, a knowing curve forming at the corner of her mouth. Just as she'd predicted—otaku culture in this world was criminally underdeveloped. If a purely text-based series like Make-Out Paradise could achieve widespread acclaim, then photo albums featuring Naruto's female form in various cosplay getups had no reason not to command top prices.
And clearly, whoever was behind the distribution had recognized they were sitting on a goldmine—hence replacing the original shopkeeper with this man, and paying in full up front as a show of goodwill.
"I don't particularly care who handles it, as long as I get paid what I'm owed. Though I will be counting this."
Hinata opened the chest, and the veins at her temples surged. The Byakugan's penetrating vision wasn't limited to combat—it had plenty of everyday applications, such as examining currency by seeing straight through to the watermarks and metallic threads embedded inside each bill. Saved her the trouble of a counterfeit detector.
Watching her work, Squirrel struck up conversation with evident curiosity. "Come to think of it, Lady Hinata is the young lady of the Hyuga clan, isn't she? What brings someone of your standing to this kind of side work? Though I'll admit, the product you're bringing in is genuinely impressive. It's only been on shelves for two weeks and it's already outsold the latest volume of Make-Out Paradise across the entire Land of Fire."
"When it comes to making money, it's best to rely on yourself. And besides..."
Having confirmed the chest contained the full 400,000 ryō, Hinata raised her head slightly. Her pale blue-white eyes made Squirrel instinctively step back. The former ninja's instincts had picked up something unmistakable: a sliver of killing intent from this girl.
"You do know that the more you learn, the sooner you die?"
She left that frost-laced remark hanging in the air and walked out of the bookshop without looking back. Only after her silhouette had completely vanished did Squirrel behind the counter let out a long, involuntary breath. He mopped the cold sweat from his brow, the former Chūnin muttering under his breath with sour annoyance: "Honestly, retiring was definitely the right call. What kind of monsters are about to become ninja these days?"
Even after walking a considerable distance from the shop, Hinata still felt a flicker of anger she couldn't quite suppress. She knew its source. Despite having been in this world for two and a half months now, certain realities remained hard to swallow.
"...'The young lady of the Hyuga clan.' What a miserable title."
Why did it have to be this pushover of a woman—practically indistinguishable from a doujinshi heroine? That was the primary source of Hinata's frustration.
Across the entire Naruto series, the girl called Hyuga Hinata had existed as though she were a prepackaged add-on for the protagonist Naruto. A requisite admirer standing behind every hot-blooded shōnen hero.
She padded the hero's charisma stat. She got dragged out at critical moments so the villain could cut her down, handing the protagonist a legitimate excuse to power up. If she died, she was worth tears. If she survived, she was worth more style points for the lead. A human catalyst, through and through.
Even knowing that her own transmigration had already rewritten this character's role, a deep, incomprehensible resentment toward the whole absurd situation still smoldered inside her.
Still—what's done is done. This world was actually rather to her liking. At the very least, as long as she accumulated enough power, she could do whatever she damn well pleased.
The current timeline placed them roughly six months before graduation from the Ninja Academy—the start of the final semester. By Hinata's reckoning, she'd arrived two and a half months ago. The initial shock had been considerable, but she'd more or less gotten her bearings by now. Once she graduated, she'd be grouped into a team with other students from her year, assigned a veteran ninja as squad leader, and sent on missions until she could stand on her own as a full-fledged shinobi.
One thing was certain: the class graduating alongside Hinata was nothing short of a protagonist-tier lineup.
Naruto might be an idiot, sure, but his pedigree was unimpeachable—the Fourth Hokage's only child and the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, the single most important strategic asset in the shinobi world.
Sasuke needed even less elaboration. Being the last surviving Uchiha alone made him a person of interest to every major power.
And the other students graduating alongside them—with the sole exception of Sakura—were practically all scions of Konoha's most distinguished clans.
To summarize:
The Fourth Hokage's posthumous child and Nine-Tails Jinchūriki: Uzumaki Naruto.
Last survivor of the Uchiha clan: Uchiha Sasuke.
Heirs of the Ino-Shika-Chō triumvirate: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Chōji.
Heir of the beast-taming Inuzuka clan: Inuzuka Kiba.
Heir of the insect-wielding Aburame clan: Aburame Shino.
And the eldest daughter of the Hyuga clan: Hyuga Hinata.
Anyone with even a passing knowledge of Konoha's clan structure could see how absurdly stacked this graduating class was. It was essentially the next generation of every major power bloc in the village, concentrated into a single cohort.
In canon, Episode 4 had Kakashi spelling it out explicitly: Naruto's year had twenty-seven graduates in total, but only nine would ultimately be recognized as Genin. And the nine who made the cut were, of course, these very students—every last one of them representing the cream of the Ninja Academy.
In other words, eighteen cannon-fodder scrubs were weeded out, leaving behind nothing but the elite of the elite.
Naturally, the Jōnin qualified to mentor these three squads had to match their pedigree.
Hatake Kakashi: Konoha's elite Jōnin, a prodigy who'd reached Jōnin rank at twelve—arguably the strongest all-around Jōnin in the entire village.
Sarutobi Asuma: the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen's own flesh and blood. Strength aside, his bloodline alone crushed all competition.
Yūhi Kurenai: Konoha's foremost genjutsu specialist among kunoichi, and Asuma's fiancée—making her, in effect, the Third Hokage's not-yet-official daughter-in-law.
Between these three graduating squads, the sheer concentration of pedigree and potential made protagonist status practically inevitable. So the fact that they'd go straight from graduation to the Chūnin Exams, followed by one power-up after another until they were blowing things sky-high? Not surprising in the slightest.
These three squads were anything but ordinary Genin. From their pedigrees to the Jōnin assigned to guide them, they represented the concentrated essence of Konoha's generational strength. An ordinary Genin would never dream of receiving instruction from the Copy Ninja or the Third Hokage's son and daughter-in-law.
So all that "hot-blooded shōnen" nonsense was just bait for the gullible. These protagonists were bona fide aristocrats with impeccable bloodlines. The only ones without the golden-spoon glow were Sakura, Lee, and Tenten.
And the proof was in the pudding: Lee, Tenten, and Neji's squad hadn't even qualified for the Chūnin Exams in their first year. They'd trained under Guy for a full year before joining the nine rookies in the exams the following year.
After all, in the wider shinobi world, most candidates who had the strength to pass the Chūnin Exams were already in their twenties or thirties. That much was obvious from the other examinees in canon.
Taking the exam at age twelve was a privilege reserved exclusively for protagonists.
"Which means I need to get as strong as possible in the next six months. Because once we graduate, we'll be thrown straight into genuine, life-or-death combat."
Murmuring to herself, Hinata slowed to a halt. She'd arrived at the designated meeting point, and the blond and the dark-haired boy ahead of her had clearly been waiting a while. Both looked up as she approached.
"Sorry—processing yesterday's photos took longer than expected."
Looking at Sasuke and Naruto, even Hinata's mouth softened into a rare smile.
At the very least, she had a plan now. Take these two for example—the male lead and the deuteragonist of the original story. They were the perfect cash cows and... test subjects.