Metalworking in the Naruto world was actually quite sophisticated.
A lot of people assumed everyone in the ninja world wore mesh shirts, but that was a misconception—the animators had been lazy and drawn it as mesh, but in practice it was formfitting chainmail. Pay close enough attention in the source material and you'd occasionally hear the clink of metal on metal from those "mesh" layers.
That chainmail was thin. About as thin as a mesh shirt. The most remarkable part was that it could be worn directly against the skin without pinching.
Starting from that point, the material for a ninja-world ODM device had already been sitting there all along.
This week Hanabi attended another action class and completely mastered ODM gear operation—or more precisely, the movement mechanics that she needed to reconstruct it from scratch.
The rest of that was supplementary material anyway.
Back in the Naruto world, she had gathered everything she needed.
She had woven reinforced wire together with strips of fabric to produce a rope—tough as any blade, yet supple. She tested it with kunai, shuriken, even a broadsword and ninjutsu, and couldn't leave so much as a mark on it. The result was excellent.
"Even better than chainmail. If I weave it directly onto my body, I'd essentially be wearing rope armor—that's not a bad idea either."
These ropes could be fixed to her body.
The cables she'd use to anchor herself to buildings and pull herself were a different matter—they didn't need to be anywhere near as thick. Fine wire, almost invisible to the naked eye, would be sufficient.
Just as the titan world had its own impossible tech, the ninja world had its own: a single wire as thin as thread could bear a person's full weight.
And crucially, wire that fine was nearly impossible to spot.
"Though this kind of thing is consumable."
Unlike the thick, durable rope armor underneath, any gear that would be deployed in actual combat was better designed for quick-release—that way, if an enemy grabbed the wire, cut it, or anything else went wrong, she could swap it out in seconds.
"And I'll keep spares. Right—I can store them here." Hanabi picked up one of her bells.
She looked out the window. She was on the third floor, with a clear line of sight to the distant grove where Naruto and Sasuke had been doing tree-running drills.
At the start they'd barely managed a few meters before sliding back down, but now the two of them were sprinting up to the branches in full stride—they couldn't stop yet, but they were nearly at the crown.
Naruto's progress was especially striking. She was also maintaining her Transformation the entire time, which should have been a handicap, yet she was marginally pulling ahead of Sasuke.
From that angle, keeping Naruto in a transformed state really was helping her chakra control.
For the past week, Hanabi had kept Naruto in a short pink kimono. Perfectly functional for movement—completely unsuitable for a boy.
Once Hanabi had worked out Naruto's particular psychology—fine with being a girl while transformed, deeply opposed to being a boy in girl's clothes—she knew exactly which lever to pull to keep the Transformation active at all times.
Even during missions.
"Although, that's also because Kakashi-sensei has been accommodating."
This week's assignment was a long-cycle patrol route Kakashi had taken on. It was late autumn heading into winter, dry air and fire hazard season—forest fire prevention was genuinely important when your village sat nestled inside a ring of trees.
Hanabi still wasn't sure whether Kakashi had taken the assignment to give Naruto and Sasuke uninterrupted training time, or whether he was simply taking advantage of it to slack off.
Either way, the arrangement was: Naruto and Sasuke did patrol in the morning, trained in the afternoon, and Hanabi and Kakashi rotated in for the afternoon shift.
"The audience misses out, though~"
She felt a little sorry for them.
In the original story, episode six went straight into the Land of Waves arc. But with an extra slice-of-life episode inserted here, the actual main arc was still months away. Whether they'd insert another slice-of-life episode or jump straight into the main plot was anyone's guess.
"I'll go take a bath."
The guesthouse's hot spring had finally been cleared and cleaned. With Naruto and Sasuke still out training, she might as well enjoy it first.
The property had a spring, but only one—and as spacious as it was, sharing it with Naruto and Sasuke wasn't exactly on the table.
She rinsed off, then slipped into the warm pool.
Soaking in a hot spring on a deep-autumn afternoon. There were few better feelings.
The audience still couldn't see this part.
"If only I could soak here with my dear big sister."
Hinata in this world had already diverged considerably from her source material counterpart—the original Hinata who would blush furiously at the sight of Naruto. Hanabi's presence had changed things.
For one, she kept her long hair, the style she loved. And the butterfly effect from Hanabi's interference had erased the childhood encounter between Hinata and Naruto entirely.
When the neighborhood kids had cornered Hinata, it was Hanabi who'd gone out and beaten them senseless.
"Hanabi-sama." Natsu's voice came from outside the door. "Hinata-sama is here to see you."
"Oh my, big sister came~"
Speak of the devil.
She'd only just gotten into the pool, but the moment she heard Hinata was here, Hanabi was already climbing out.
She didn't bother changing back into her performance kimono. She threw on a casual yukata and went to find Hinata.
"Big sister~"
The moment she spotted Hinata, Hanabi went straight in for a hug.
"H-Hanabi..."
Hinata went tense.
This was one of the things Hanabi found most endearing about her. Every single time she got hugged, Hinata transformed into a startled small animal—visibly flustered, as if she still hadn't gotten used to it.
It happened every time, without fail, as though she could never quite adapt.
And Hanabi never got tired of teasing her for it.
She was too cute.
"Big sister, what brings you all the way here?" Hanabi asked.
"Because you haven't come home in days... I'd finish my mission and come back, and Hanabi wouldn't be there, and I just... felt like something was missing. So today after my mission I thought I'd come check on you..."
Hinata's voice dropped lower with each word, until by the end, only Hanabi's sharpened hearing could catch it at all.
"That big sister would go out of her way to worry about me—I'm so happy~"
Hanabi nuzzled closer.
But after seeing Hinata's face—looking like she was about to faint—she reluctantly let her go.
"I'm mostly here to help our Team Seven's two blockheads with their training," Hanabi said.
Hinata, now freed, took a moment to recover. She bowed her head, her index fingers touching, voice small: "...Mm. Hanabi... do your best..."
"Oh—wait."
Something had just occurred to Hanabi.
She took Hinata's hand.
"Big sister, I've been calibrating a new piece of ninja gear. Since you're here anyway, would you help me put it on~?"
Performance was work; Hinata was life. Since there was no filming in the intermission, a little time to deepen their sisterly bond—tease her adorable big sister a little—was a fun little game.