Right, so—here was the situation. The kiss scene absolutely had to be filmed, but because the male lead Sasuke and the female lead Naruto both categorically refused to perform such a brazen display of intimacy in broad daylight, the two declared themselves unable to cooperate.
Then there were the backup female leads, Sakura and Ino, who each insisted that only one of them could take the role—and neither would allow the other to have it.
Although Hinata was quite in favor of letting them duel it out, with the winner taking over the female lead, the two girls were too evenly matched. The fight would drag on forever, and if they ended up taking each other out, it would be a complete waste of time.
Finally, the one person whose role nobody dared contest—Hinata herself—declared that she had no interest in a weakling like Sasuke, and thus refused to play the female lead.
And so, everything circled right back to square one: aside from Sakura, Ino, and Hinata, every remaining member of the crew was a guy. Sasuke flatly refused.
"Ahh... what a pain... I really shouldn't have listened to my mom that day and come here to deliver lunch."
Propping his chin on one hand, mouth drooping at the corners, Shikamaru looked like a deflated balloon. But regret was pointless—once you were working for Hinata's crew, you finished whatever task came down from above.
Not to mention Shikamaru had a certain damning crossdressing photo in Hinata's possession. Rebellion meant certain death.
"Mm... the situation is dire. Every available option has been laid out, and none of them work."
Shino sat beside Shikamaru in the corridor, a twig in hand, scratching out names on the ground. Sasuke's name occupied the center, with the others arranged around it.
Naruto's and Hinata's names had already been crossed off. Everyone left was an unsuitable choice.
"No helping it... god, I hate using my brain..."
Seeing that ten minutes had already slipped by, the thoroughly miserable Shikamaru forced himself upright. He brought his hands together and closed his eyes—the signature stance he only assumed when he was thinking seriously.
After several dozen seconds, the pineapple-headed boy's eyes snapped open. "No choice! We'll have to do it this way! Shino, come closer—I'll tell you what to do next."
And after hearing the pineapple-head's plan, the sunglasses boy's face lit up with sudden understanding. He pushed the frames higher on his nose. "Understood! Then—let's begin."
Compared to the mental gymnastics Shikamaru and Shino had endured as a high-IQ duo, everyone else's contributions were purely physical labor. This episode's production values had been ramped up considerably, so setup alone was eating up extra time.
First came the set dressing: a massive quantity of flowers. To emphasize the extraordinary nature of the romance between Zuo Lin and the Fox Immortal—a love entangled across multiple lifetimes—Hinata had chosen the red spider lily, known by its other name, manjushage. If Ino's family hadn't owned a flower shop, gathering nine hundred and ninety-nine of them would have been no small feat.
Sakura and Ino were currently arranging the indoor manjushage one by one, while outside, Choji and the others handled the heavy lifting in the flower beds.
"Billboard Brow! Let me make one thing clear—I'm not giving up this chance! Not even if you cry!"
Carefully placing a pot of white manjushage on the windowsill, Ino addressed Sakura behind her in a tone of absolute severity. Her resolve was ironclad.
"Ino Pig! That's exactly what I was going to say! I'll back down on anything else, but not when it comes to Sasuke!"
Sakura smoothed out a carpet with meticulous care, firing back just as stubbornly. As if sharing one mind, both girls whipped around in a huff, locked eyes, and simultaneously let out a cold "hmph" before turning away.
When Shino appeared at the entrance to the main hall, he assessed the situation inside, then gave a small cough. "Sakura, come out for a moment. Regarding the female lead replacement—we need to discuss something with you."
"Huh? YES!! Got it!!"
After a brief moment of surprise, Sakura's face bloomed with two spots of excited color. She flashed a victory sign at Ino, then charged out of the hall, leaving the bewildered blonde standing there alone.
"How...?"
Ino stumbled back a step in shock, knocking over the pot of manjushage she'd just placed on the windowsill. Below, a startled voice rang out right on cue. "Whoa—Ino, you okay up there?"
It was Shikamaru, who had just walked beneath the window and caught the falling pot before it could shatter. One more second and that gorgeous manjushage would have been done for.
"SHIKAMARU!! What the hell did you do?!"
Seeing Shikamaru, Ino finally had a target for her frustration. The raging blonde executed a textbook tiger-leap through the window and seized him by the collar, hauling him off the ground. "We're supposed to be friends, right?! Why did you give the female lead spot to that damn Billboard Brow?!"
"Gwaah—let me explain—ow! Stop shaking me!"
Dangling off the ground, Shikamaru was uncharacteristically flustered. "That's why I came to find you, isn't it?!"
"Huh?! Spit it out! Sasuke's first kiss has to be mine!"
Ino dropped him and crossed her arms, fuming. "Otherwise, you and I are done! Friendship over!"
"Alright, alright, jeez... Look, Shino is Hinata's direct subordinate. He insisted on picking Sakura, and I couldn't overrule him."
Rubbing his neck, Shikamaru set the flower pot back on the windowsill. "But don't worry—I've already talked Hinata into doing a mock shoot. You know what I mean, right? We get the shortlisted candidates to do a test run, see whether you or Sakura is the better fit to pair with Sasuke."
"Huh? Really? You're not messing with me?"
Ino studied Shikamaru with deep suspicion. Something felt off—Hinata had never done any kind of mock shoot before.
"Fine, don't believe me. Then we'll just skip the mock shoot and let Sakura have it."
Hands behind his head, Shikamaru adopted a casual air and started walking away. Ino's eyes blazed, and she immediately snatched the small ponytail at the back of his head. "Wait!! I'll do it!"
"Ow ow ow—let go! You lovesick maniac—OW!"
An hour flew by in the blink of an eye, and soon the clock's hands reached the time Hinata had originally set.
"Time's up."
Sitting up from her daybed, Hinata lifted the cup of matcha before her and took a sip, then let out a long, slow breath. "Now then—I'd like to know: are the preparations for the shoot complete, my crew?"
"Yes, ma'am. There were some hiccups, but everything is ready."
Shino knelt on one knee before Hinata in a textbook ninja reporting posture. The meticulous sunglasses boy was clearly enjoying this particular brand of lifelike superior-subordinate roleplay. "If you'd care to proceed to the studio."
"Mm. I trust you've handled everything. Let's go, then."
Raising an eyebrow slightly, Hinata did feel a twinge of anticipation. Whether Naruto and Sasuke had broken through their psychological barriers and decided to cooperate, or whether someone else had stepped into Naruto's or Sasuke's role as a substitute—either way, it promised to be interesting.
Fox Tales, Act Three: Manjushage.
At the banks of the Wangchuan in the Yellow Springs, there grows a flower called the higanbana—the flower of the other shore. When it blooms, its leaves fall; when leaves sprout, its petals wither. Flower and leaf are born lifetime after lifetime, yet never once do they meet. Forever and always, they pass each other by.
Every soul traversing the Wangchuan sees nothing but the blazing scarlet of these manjushage. They are the guiding flowers of the dead. Their fragrance is said to hold a dark power: it can awaken the memories the dead held in life. Because they burn as red as fire, they are called "the Flame-Lit Road"—the only scenery and color along the long, long road through the Yellow Springs.
When a soul crosses the Wangchuan, it forgets all that came before. Everything that was is left on the other shore, and the departed follows the flowers' guidance down into the nether world.
But for Zuo Lin, this scenery of flowers along the Wangchuan was one he had seen many times before. And with each crossing, among the things he forgot, there always lingered the shadow of a figure he could not shake—the one who had once walked beside him.
[Have we... met before?]
Carrying that question, Zuo Lin spoke to the Fox Immortal standing before him. Her silhouette stirred in him a grief he could not suppress—the ache of a scar left by something forgotten.
[You need not dwell on it, young master. It is enough to know that here and now, we stand at each other's side.]
The Fox Immortal gazed at Zuo Lin with tender devotion. Yes—since their very first life, they had been lovers, had they not?
If the definition of a partner is sacrifice: then the Cowherd once traded his most precious bamboo flute for the little fox's life. Was that not sacrifice?
If the definition of a partner is devotion: then a little fox who endured a thousand years of bitter cultivation to find the Cowherd again in this lifetime—was that not devotion?
The manjushage. A symbol of hopeless love. A symbol of longing between parted souls. And also a vow: that in a place you cannot see, I will guard you forever. Perhaps this was the very flower of the love between Zuo Lin and the Fox Immortal.
Off to the side, Kakashi held his breath behind the camera. After a furtive glance around, the elite Jōnin quietly formed a hand seal. "Wind Style: Breeze Technique."
Under the jutsu's effect, a perfectly timed gust swept into the room. The lurid red manjushage on the windowsill swayed in the breeze. The gauze curtains billowed as if alive. And amid this dance of scenery, Zuo Lin and the Fox Immortal—standing at the center of the tatami room—finally drew each other into a tight embrace. They tilted their heads, as if trying to recognize their other half by the taste of each other's lips.
"Mm... it's perfect, no question. But... you've really made me curious."
Lying on her stomach in the corridor below, watching the scene unfold inside, Hinata furrowed her brows slightly. "I'd very much like to know who that deeply passionate couple actually is."
"That's not the point. The point is, we did it."
Watching the same scene from beside her, Shikamaru nodded with satisfaction. "Plan—success."
"Shikamaru, I brought back that thing you sent me to get. Hm?"
But just then—as if the universe wanted Shikamaru to know the price of scheming against people—Sasuke's cool voice drifted in from the main entrance. The young Uchiha stood in the doorway, tossing an umbrella up and down with a look of impatience. "Why does a shoot even need an umbrella? Anyway, have you picked your—hm?"
He trailed off mid-sentence, his gaze landing on the pair still locked in their embrace in the tatami room. "Did I... miss something?"