The Yuri Manga Artist

Since he had left a thought body deep in Hinata's consciousness, the moment he heard the call, Wang Yan appeared before her in the blink of an eye.

"A new future..."

Wang Yan's gaze seemed to fall on Hinata, yet also seemed to land on the void itself.

He pierced through layer upon layer of mist and saw countless possibilities for Hinata's future.

Now, the timeline he favored had clearly thickened a bit, its probability of occurring also rising—clearly, during this period, Hinata had solidified her inner convictions and thoughts, finding what truly belonged to her pursuit.

The day her fate was completely rewritten, Wang Yan's Resource Points would increase accordingly.

"Um..."

Hinata pressed her index fingers together, almost as if talking to herself, "I... I've run into trouble."

"Tell me about it."

Wang Yan didn't rush her, simply waiting quietly for her response.

Hinata was like a housewife at home; her personality was far too introverted, not really suited to being a ninja.

After a bit of conversation, Hinata finally managed to sort out the whole matter.

"I see." Wang Yan gave a slight nod.

It wasn't anything terrifyingly huge. With the Three Ninja about to return, Konoha was in turbulent times. Genin like Hinata had been told to rest at home and stand by, awaiting the Hokage's wartime summons.

With her reserved nature, Hinata simply holed up at home and started chasing a dream she'd only recently conceived—creating manga!

As a beginner, her drawing skills and fundamentals were far stronger than Wang Yan had expected. Whether it was the background scenery or the character designs, she depicted them all with delicate brushstrokes.

Yet when she sent her painstakingly crafted first draft to the publisher, it was rejected outright.

"I... I don't know what to do next. I don't think I have any talent."

Hinata's small face was full of confusion.

She was the eldest daughter of the Hyuga Clan, but ever since her younger sister Hanabi was born, she'd become the person who was neither here nor there in the family.

Neji, as a branch family member, was currently filled with hatred for all the main family members. There was no way he would comfort or help her.

At times like this, Hinata could only seek help from Wang Yan, this "Ancestor."

"When in doubt, seek the Ancestor. Good child, you did the right thing."

Wang Yan's tone was gentle as he patted Hinata's little head. "First, let me take a look at the story you've created."

"Huh?"

Hinata blinked adorably, a bit at a loss.

This was her dream—how was she supposed to take out her manuscript and show it to the Ancestor?

Before she could figure it out, Wang Yan had already reached a conclusion.

"I've seen your work."

After reading Hinata's memories, Wang Yan smacked his lips and commented, "The story's not bad, and the literary foundation is deep. But that's exactly your flaw!"

Hinata froze.

Was that really a flaw?

Did that mean people who read less were better suited to being manga artists?

"Your story is too profound and obscure, too hard to digest. People won't read it because they simply can't understand it. Even if they could manage to understand it, it would drain too much energy and leave readers mentally exhausted."

Wang Yan gave her a knowing half-smile. "A story that's easy to understand and enjoyable—that's a good story."

"What does 'obscure and hard to digest' mean?" Hinata sincerely sought advice.

"Some people who create stories think they're highly talented, so they deliberately show off their literary skill, making their stories convoluted and hard to grasp, twisting and turning so much that readers can't understand a thing. That's roughly what it means."

After receiving Wang Yan's answer, Hinata's pure white pupils, lacking any iris, flickered slightly.

"A story that readers enjoy is a good story. I understand. Thank you, Ancestor!"

A sweet smile spread across Hinata's small face.

"Alright, I'm off."

With a thought, Wang Yan vanished from her dream.

Sunagakure, Land of Wind.

Wang Yan slowly opened his eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

Before leaving, he'd taken one more glance at Hinata and seen something he probably shouldn't have.

"What kind of brain does this girl have? How did she come up with the idea of writing a story like that?"

Her debut work had been a perfectly serious, literary-minded piece—fresh and clean, with pretty good story value. So why had her second work suddenly changed style?

"Wait... she's not treating her new friends as her readers, is she? I wonder what Sakura and Ino taught her..."

Wang Yan didn't delve deeper into Hinata's other memories.

As a master of the mind, manipulating, altering, deleting, and twisting others' memories was a simple task. But reading memories could easily cause changes in one's own personality.

Especially for a young man like Wang Yan, not even a hundred years old, with limited life experience. Absorbing too many memories from others would more easily lead to negative effects.

So Wang Yan usually only skimmed the surface thoughts of others.

In that last glance, Wang Yan saw that the new manga opening Hinata had thought of was a forbidden yuri romance between two young girls.

"No matter. It's a trivial thing in the end."

"Heterosexuality is only to reproduce; true love lies between the same sex. What's wrong with girls liking girls? It's perfectly normal..."

Wang Yan shook his head, telling himself this.

"Counting the time, Rasa and Gaara still have two days to struggle in the game 'Shadow Breaking the Firmament.' For the next two days, I'll give Naruto and the others a temporary break."

After a moment's thought, Wang Yan's Spiritual Power instantly enveloped the entire Sunagakure, implanting a subconscious command in all the villagers to ignore any anomalies in the village for a short time.

With both the Jinchuriki and the Kazekage missing simultaneously, without advance preparation, chaos would surely follow.

Planning ahead was a good habit.

Hyuga Hiashi had been up to his neck in work lately.

First, the sudden exposure of Naruto Uzumaki's true identity, with the Hokage faction's higher-ups giving no response at all.

Their behavior forced one to wonder deeply—was this a trap or not?

As the head of Konoha's largest clan, every decision he made was like walking on thin ice.

How glorious had the Uchiha Clan once been? How arrogant? In the end, only a rogue ninja and an orphan of about ten years remained.

Hiashi didn't want to follow in the Uchiha's footsteps.

But every time he probed the Konoha higher-ups for their views on this matter, those old men and women acted as if they couldn't hear him, all playing deaf and dumb.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzō, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu. These elite ninjas, who had once dominated the battlefield, had all suddenly come down with senile dementia at the same time?

Hyuga Hiashi found this joke a bit cold.

As for the idea that someone had used a Genjutsu like Kotoamatsukami from back then to hypnotize them all simultaneously, he believed that even less.

"No one can do such a thing."

Hiashi muttered to himself, as if to reinforce his own conviction: "It must be their conspiracy!"

One couldn't blame the Hyuga Clan head for being paranoid; the truth was that Konoha's higher-ups had too many skeletons in their closet, using too many dirty tricks, and their credibility was long bankrupt.

"The Three Ninja are about to return. Which side do I stand on?"

Hyuga Hiashi understood that the entire clan was on the brink of life and death. One wrong step, and they would face annihilation!

Third shift! Please collect! Please vote for recommendations!