Sparkle carried Hinata in a princess hold and headed home.
The image is Pixiv 107571568. I don't think I can post the lower half. And this Hanabi Hyuga looks kind of like Mikasa...
Although she was Hanabi Hyuga, her appearance was actually somewhat different due to the influence of the Character Card.
If you have any interesting ideas or creative concepts, or different worlds and ways to play, feel free to share~
Thank you all for your monthly tickets, bookmarks, and recommendations. Thanks to Shuke 4922266, The Sun Still Rises, and other readers for the tips, meow~
~o( =∩ω∩= )m
Messing with people's heads is my specialty
The next day.
"Now, we'll begin the Graduation Exam. When your name is called, come to the classroom next door. This time, the test is the Clone Technique."
On the day of the exam, when Teacher Iruka announced the topic, Naruto wore a devastated expression.
"How could it be my weakest jutsu of all things?!"
Although Naruto said nothing in reality, Sparkle got to enjoy that devastated expression in the Dimensional Popularity Stage video.
It was pretty amusing.
The exam order was the same as the previous test order, so Sparkle was first.
She still had two everyday Camera Cards, so Sparkle used one immediately.
One minute of plot in the first episode was more important than ten minutes in episode five hundred.
So Sparkle did not hesitate and used a Camera Card right away.
This scene also seemed to have been judged as "everyday life," so after Naruto finished wailing, the image switched directly to Sparkle.
"Excuse me. Candidate Number One, Hanabi Hyuga."
The examination room was an emptied classroom. There was only a lectern, with Teacher Iruka and Teacher Mizuki seated behind it. Several rows of forehead protectors were laid out in front of Iruka.
"Begin." Iruka nodded at Sparkle. Though he knew she could not see, he still respected his student.
"It's already begun."
Another "Sparkle" walked out from behind Sparkle.
"No hand seals? A no-seal jutsu?!" Mizuki was unfamiliar with Sparkle, and her technique surprised him.
[Come to think of it, everyone else seems to need hand seals for their jutsu. Has Lady Sparkle never used any?]
[Special effects again?]
[Sparkle: Special effects. I added special effects.]
"It's just a sleight of hand, Teacher Mizuki. Sparkle, hurry and show your real skills. One clone isn't enough to pass."
Iruka was not particularly surprised. Probing into someone else's jutsu was impolite. Whether it was truly a no-seal jutsu or a trick concealed with magic or Genjutsu, that was the other person's own technique.
In the ninja world, intelligence was extremely important, so Iruka immediately helped his student brush past the subject.
Compared to that, he was more worried that his student would Create Buzz during the exam and fail because of it.
Iruka had seen Sparkle's Clone Technique before, but this time, he had the feeling that what Sparkle was using was not the Clone Technique.
Was she really going to use Genjutsu during the Graduation Exam to pretend she had made clones and fool the examiners?
Surely not...?
"Of course there's more than one."
Two more "Sparkles" walked out from behind her.
Two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen. Like splitting bacteria, more and more Sparkles appeared until they filled the entire classroom.
A whole crowd of Sparkles stood smiling before Mizuki. Sparkle herself was already a beautiful girl, but so many beautiful girls all smiling at once looked rather creepy.
"Hmm..." Mizuki flipped through Sparkle's records. "Student Sparkle ranked first in the written test and is also highly proficient in Genjutsu. She's clearly from the Hyuga Clan, yet I never expected this to be her specialty."
"Maybe I used Genjutsu to hide the hand seals~ Oh, and maybe this itself is Genjutsu too~"
Sparkle's voice suddenly came from beside Mizuki. She even blew lightly into his ear.
Mizuki: "--!!!"
He turned his head and saw a phantom gradually fading away. Realizing something was wrong, Mizuki immediately restrained the killing intent in his eyes.
Unlike other people's clones, which turned into a puff of smoke, Sparkle's "phantom" dispersed directly like water mist.
[Teacher got startled.]
[That white-haired guy just showed a vicious look. Something's off about him.]
[Her specialty is Genjutsu? Could her transformations before and these clones now all be fabricated with Genjutsu?]
[Don't say it, that actually seems possible.]
[This Clone Technique is the same model as Kurumi's.]
[Did Sparkle's movement just now seem a little like a bratty little girl?]
[Bratty little Sparkle? I'm sold~]
"Don't pull these fancy tricks next time, Sparkle. This is an exam." Iruka sighed. "Well, you passed, though. Sixty-four clones—normally, candidates pass with just three or five... Wait, Sparkle, you did use the Clone Technique just now, right?"
Iruka had not considered it before.
But Sparkle's actions earlier had completely thrown him off.
—Could she really have used Genjutsu on the teachers? Had she not used clones at all?
"Well, did I~?"
Sparkle did not answer.
[Iruka: I'm completely lost.]
[So did Sparkle use the Clone Technique or Genjutsu?]
[I can't tell! I can't tell!]
[Holy shit, there's Forgotten Path here too!]
[Can some expert analyze this?]
[Why even ask? It was definitely Genjutsu. Didn't Iruka say so? Normal people can only make three or five at most. That many must be fake.]
[Sparkle: Genjutsu. I added Genjutsu!]
Though they could not figure it out, Iruka and Mizuki... really could not tell.
Sparkle had a Genjutsu boost from the Character Card, enough to confuse ordinary Chunin.
After the exam ended, the Third Hokage and the parents also came to the school.
"Father." Hinata and Sparkle's father, Hyuga Hiashi, had also arrived.
"Mm. You both did very well." Hyuga Hiashi nodded. He looked at Sparkle, then quickly looked away.
After Sparkle had been abducted, it was Hyuga Hiashi who had rescued her.
At the time, the Ninja Leader from Kumogakure discovered that Sparkle had destroyed her own eyes, disrupting his plans. This prevented him from escaping Konoha and gave Hyuga Hiashi an opening to find him.
When Hiashi learned that his daughter had destroyed her own eyes to protect the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan, he had furiously prepared to kill the Kumogakure Ninja Leader with a single palm strike.
Only Sparkle's timely intervention spared the man's life.
But Sparkle had something to say about that: Come on, this guy's insanely fragile. In the original story, he died in one move. With Hiashi striking in rage now, he'd definitely die.
According to the setting guide, this Ninja Leader was arrogant and vicious-looking, but in reality, he embodied one principle: if you dared hit him, he dared die on the spot.
After that, Konoha gained the upper hand in negotiations with Kumogakure, and the Hyuga Clan received compensation from the Hokage. But Hiashi had always felt that he had wronged his daughter.
So whenever he interacted with Sparkle, Hyuga Hiashi could barely bear to look at her, always feeling guilty.
"What is it, Sparkle?" Hiashi noticed that Sparkle's attention did not seem to be here.
"My friend seems to have failed the exam. I'm going to comfort him."
This was a great chance to get some screen time.
"That is..."
Hyuga Hiashi immediately saw that the person sitting there was Naruto Uzumaki. The adults did not want their children associating with him, but Sparkle did as she pleased. Hiashi did not stop her, merely watching over her from the side. Even regarding Neji, when Sparkle argued with the clan, Hiashi had always stood by his daughter.
An old-fashioned doting-daughter father, that was what he was.
The Clone Technique was a very simple jutsu, and nearly everyone passed the exam.
But that did not mean they had truly graduated. Only after being assigned to teams and passing the test of their Jonin leader would they truly graduate.
For now, Naruto Uzumaki was the only one who had failed. He was sitting alone on a swing beneath a tree.
"Hey, that child."
"That one."
"He seems to be the only one who failed."
"He deserves it."
"It would be terrible if someone like that became a ninja."
"After all, that child is..."
Two middle-aged women were whispering disdainfully in the distance.
[You can tell from the opening that the protagonist definitely has a special identity.]
[Here it comes, the classic Japanese trope!]
[Based on my experience watching anime, Naruto is probably either the Nine-Tails from the opening or the human host sealing the Nine-Tails.]
[What human host? This isn't Ultraman, 2333.]
[Maybe the protagonist's cheat is transforming into Ultraman for three minutes.]
[I think it's actually the old-grandpa style.]
"Excuse me." A voice interrupted their conversation and brought this overly clichéd scene to an end.
"Ah, it's Miss Sparkle from the Hyuga Clan."
The two women immediately changed their expressions.
"You old hags, can you move? I'm going to see my friend."
The two froze awkwardly.
"Um, what did you say...?"
"I said, you old hags, get lost. Don't block the way."
[Simple trash talk, ultimate enjoyment, 2333.]
[Holy crap, Lady Sparkle is so direct.]
[You should be direct with gossipy women like that. Not slapping them twice was already merciful.]
[I thought Lady Sparkle would be more tactful. Didn't expect her to be this straightforward.]
[66666]
After being cursed at, the two women froze awkwardly and stiffly shuffled out of the way.
Hanabi Hyuga was not the heir of the Hyuga Clan. Her older sister, Hinata Hyuga, was the heir. But everyone knew that Sparkle was exceptionally talented and deeply favored by the clan head, Hyuga Hiashi. The only reason she was not the heir was because she was blind.
"Naruto."
Sparkle walked over to Naruto's side.
"It's Sparkle."
Naruto smiled, but it was obvious he was forcing it.