"First—both of you must use Transformation Technique to disguise yourselves. Here are Soldier Pills; maintain the transformation for at least two hours. Second, whatever you see from here on out, no objections and no acting on your own. Understood?"
Without looking back, Hinata barked instructions at Sakura and Ino behind her while frowning at the script in her hand. Not bad—while The Fox's Tale was essentially a high-end knockoff of Legend of the White Snake, she had at least decided to make some sensible changes.
For instance, swapping out the spineless, wet-noodle scholar for a rakish, devil-may-care nobleman. Sasuke did have a playboy persona in the movie-verse's alternate timeline, after all, and dressing him the part would cut at least fifteen percent of the hassle.
"Transformation? That's fine... We don't exactly want to be recognized either."
Grumbling under their breath, Sakura and Ino had no issue with this requirement. Female shinobi were naturally more precise with their chakra control—which translated, in practical terms, to roughly a forty percent increase in the duration of sustained techniques like the Transformation.
"Good. Now study this script carefully. You'll be playing the nobleman's fiancée and her handmaiden. Ino has more poise, so she plays the young lady. Sakura, you're the handmaiden. Familiarize yourselves with the scenes."
Handing the script to Ino, Hinata activated her Byakugan and confirmed Sasuke's situation. Good—both he and Naruto were home. At least these two had enough professional awareness to be waiting at the agreed-upon time and place.
The three girls quickly traversed the desolate Uchiha streets and arrived at Sasuke's front door. The courtyard gate stood open, and Sasuke leaned against a pillar with his eyes closed and arms crossed in a classic pose. The moment he heard Hinata's footsteps, he cocked his head away with a sharp "hmph"—the very image of the brooding heartthrob that set schoolgirls swooning.
Hinata immediately felt the ambient temperature behind her spike several degrees. No need to guess—Sakura and Ino's maiden hearts had just detonated.
"So slow~ Hinata~"
Unfortunately, crouching beside the heartthrob like a toad with a droopy face was Naruto, and that rather killed the mood. Sakura and Ino's romantic fantasies were promptly doused with cold water.
"Quit whining. You two look like you actually pulled through. Well?"
Hinata regarded the pair with mild displeasure. Both were putting on airs—one playing cool, the other playing dumb—but neither could hide the smugness radiating off them. That said, bandages wrapped Sasuke's hands and shins, and a bandage still covered one of Naruto's cheeks. The training had clearly put them through hell.
"Hmph~ I cleared five hundred volts the day before yesterday. Didn't expect you to take this long."
The corner of Sasuke's mouth lifted. His tone and expression made it abundantly clear: he was insufferably pleased with himself.
"Tch~ You cocky jerk~ I cleared the waterfall the day before yesterday too~ What are you so smug about?!"
Naruto shot back irritably, and a vein twitched on Hinata's forehead. A nameless surge of irritation flooded through her. So they'd both completed their training the day before yesterday, had they? While she'd only barely finished hers yesterday afternoon?
"Hm? Who are these ladies?"
Then Naruto spotted Sakura and Ino behind Hinata. Both girls had transformed, taking on the appearance of young women in their late teens—completely unrecognizable.
"Supporting actresses. They'll be playing Sasuke's fiancée and her handmaiden. They're just women from out of town picking up day work in Konoha. Don't worry about them."
Hinata said this without batting an eye. But for Ino and Sakura, it struck like a thunderbolt.
Sasuke's fiancée?! Am I dreaming?!
No way! How can Ino-Pig play Sasuke's fiancée! I object~!
"They'll cooperate fully. No unauthorized improvisation. So, Sasuke, don't be too cold to them, all right?"
Hinata's light but loaded remark snapped both love-struck girls back to reality. Right—now wasn't the time to squabble over the title. Paying off Sasuke's debt came first.
"Hmph... I'll try."
At the mention of filming, Sasuke's expression soured, but defying the pale-eyed girl wasn't exactly an option right now.
It wasn't just that she held the continuation scrolls for the Nanto Holy Fist. The electrical-burn medicine she'd left at his doorstep every day for the past two weeks had stirred something in the perpetually lonely Sasuke—a warmth that faintly echoed a life he'd once known.
"All right, everyone transform. We're out of funds. If we don't start earning, we can't continue training either."
Producing a camera from her bag, Hinata had a point. Her training regimen was essentially the "work them half to death" variety—without daily doses of precious medicine to heal and temper them, these past two weeks could literally have been fatal.
"Ah, right. Transform!"
Sasuke and Naruto understood this perfectly. Both formed hand signs simultaneously, and with twin puffs of smoke, two entirely different figures replaced them.
"EEEEK~?!"
Before Hinata could speak, two shrieks from behind nearly blew out her eardrums. Ino and Sakura gaped in slack-jawed horror. Sasuke's transformation was predictable enough—a dashing playboy persona, every inch the polished rake. That was exactly the selling point.
But Naruto—according to the script—was now a fox spirit who'd cultivated for a thousand years, powerful enough to take human form. So his appearance could no longer be the cute little fox. Instead, he'd transformed into a bewitching, breathtaking fox maiden.
And oh, it was good. Female Naruto, draped in a stunning oiran-style kimono, the golden twin-tails now restyled into an elegant white cloud-swept updo—combined with the feminine wiles he'd painstakingly studied while perfecting his Sexy Technique—was the very embodiment of alluring, effortless seduction.
"Wh-what... How... Why is he... like that?"
If moments ago Ino and Sakura had been over the moon about sharing a scene with Sasuke, now feminine intuition was screaming an uncomfortable truth at both of them.
"Hm? What's wrong? You've already figured it out, haven't you?"
A rare mischievous grin crossed Hinata's face as she turned to study the two girls' expressions. Perfect—both wore the exact same nauseated, food-poisoning look. Pure, capitalized horror.
"You said... we're playing... ahem, the young master's fiancée... meaning supporting actresses... then the leading lady is... this... this person?"
Lips quivering, Ino and Sakura felt their skin crawling. No no no no! There had to be some mistake!! The female lead couldn't possibly be the dead-last with the least connection to Sasuke in the entire class!! But if Sasuke was unwilling, then even Hinata couldn't have forced him to— So did that mean...
"That's right~~ This was entirely mutual between Sasuke and Naruto~~"
Hinata beamed at them with the tender compassion of a saint. Both girls instantly petrified. If someone had queued up a mournful erhu ballad at that moment, it would've been textbook tragedy.
"Hmph~ Sasuke, I'll make you transform into a woman next time!"
Playing with a strand of hair, female Naruto huffed in annoyance. But because of the transformation, she looked exactly like an imperious young noblewoman throwing a petulant fit—the sort of image that would melt any straight man on sight.
Sasuke coolly flicked his head, his mature transformed appearance lending real weight to the expression: "Hmph~ Only someone like you, who wastes time studying that useless jutsu, is fit to play a woman. I will never play a female role."
"Enough. One more word from either of you and we lose the daylight~! Shut up, both of you! Positions—we're rolling!"
Hinata cut off the bickering. She'd seen enough of this dynamic in the anime.
No need to scout new locations—the Uchiha compound would serve perfectly. Ino and Sakura, still reeling in their grief, had no choice but to tearfully accept the brutal reality: their prince didn't need either of them as the leading lady. He'd chosen the blond dead-last instead.
Damn it~!! That dead-last will pay for this someday!
Silently seething and blinking back tears, the two girls steeled themselves to get into character per Hinata's directions.
"Right then. The Fox's Tale, scene one: Long ago in the old capital, there lived an infamous young nobleman named Salin. He was devastatingly handsome, gifted with a silver tongue that could charm the heart of any maiden, and renowned throughout the city as the most notorious playboy."
Narrating from the sidelines, Hinata waved the cast into position.
In the spacious Uchiha hall, Sasuke reclined on a low couch in a half-open kimono, eyes drowsy with feigned inebriation. Ino knelt beside him, attentively serving dishes, while Sakura knelt on the other side with a sake pitcher. Composition-wise, it was a picture-perfect tableau of aristocratic decadence.
Cut to: a small white fox hiding outside the window, its blue eyes quietly studying the man within. Without question, this was the little fox from a thousand years ago—the one who had trained for a millennium to gain human form, all to see the reincarnation of the shepherd boy who'd kept her company in death.
But a thousand years had passed. The world had changed beyond recognition.
The shepherd boy who'd once held the dying fox close was now this rakish philanderer, no longer lacking for companions. For the little fox, this presented a wrenching dilemma.
Should she still repay his kindness? Or should she simply slip away in silence?
After a moment's hesitation, the fox spirit made her choice: no matter what the shepherd boy had become, she still wished to be with him. So the little fox leapt to the ground, and with a burst of the arts she'd spent a millennium perfecting, she vanished in a swirl of smoke—and reappeared as a woman of staggering beauty. Hair and skin like cherry-blossom snow, eyes as clear and bright as the sea. To win the heart of her beloved, she had made herself the most beautiful songstress in the world.
"Cut! Good! Yes, exactly like that! Hands above your head, left foot kicked back, and— Mm~ Dreamier expression. Perfect! GOOD!"
Directing female Naruto into a celestial-dancer pose, Hinata snapped the shutter with satisfaction. Between the seductive entrance and the alluring form, this volume alone would sell for at least a third more than the last one: "That's a wrap for today~ The first meeting between our leading lady and leading man is plenty. We want to build the suspense gradually."
"Tch~~ Hinata's such a schemer~!"
Releasing his transformation, Naruto grumbled, while Sasuke—still transformed—shoved Ino and Sakura aside with an expression of pure irritation and marched forward, arms akimbo: "I did everything you asked. So when do I get the second-stage manual?"
"Hold your horses. Until we've earned enough capital, I'm not handing over the stage-two manuals. So focus on earning money~! Once there's enough for the second stage's medicinal supplies, I'll let you know."
Adjusting her camera, Hinata was about to say more when a lazy voice drifted over: "Ahh~ And here I thought you were up to something. Turns out it's just this."
"Who's there?!"