78. White Princess

"This issue actually has two more beautiful faces. Looks like she's planning to expand production."

Kakuzu, holding an abacus, was sitting right at the entrance of this basement, tapping away rapidly as he calculated some data. The tall, long-lived rogue ninja squinted his eyes with satisfaction. Not bad—according to his calculations, by the next release event, they should be able to produce 40,000 figures. Divided into four different quality levels: Supreme Edition, Platinum Edition, Gold Edition, and Deluxe Edition. According to the new figure art book Hinata sent for this issue, the two new characters, the Onmyoji and the Art Princess, could also be added.

"Tch~ So relying on just two people to handcraft them isn't a solution, right? And having to go through the trouble of gathering materials using the Transformation Technique? I'm already getting tired of it!"

Hidan grumbled unhappily from the side. As someone who loved killing, his recent work only involved capturing live targets, which annoyed him greatly.

"Endure it for now. Once the actual situation appears at the release event in two months, we won't have to do this work anymore."

Since this was an Akatsuki meeting, Pain's Deva Path was naturally here as well. Recently, the missions Akatsuki took had greatly decreased. First, Sasori and Deidara had to make the figures themselves, and their personally crafted figures were the highest priced and most exquisite Supreme Editions. The clones made with the Transformation Technique produced lower quality and priced versions.

Because the Transformation Technique required living material, Akatsuki's main task recently was to capture usable rogue ninja as materials.

"What do you mean? We won't do it after two months?"

"No, according to my calculations, we will at least secure one hundred million in funding at the release event in two months. Plus what we've already saved, we can consider officially opening a factory. Suigin Tou said her money-making plan is just getting started."

Kakuzu calmly tapped his abacus, clearly looking forward to the big payday in two months.

"Exactly. Akatsuki needs a stable income source. Only then can we level the playing field against those great ninja villages backed by nations."

Pain nodded slightly too. As leader, he knew a stable financial base was the root of a ninja village's strength. Though controlling the Hidden Rain Village, he lacked the means to develop it further. With Hinata's money-making plan, maybe he could achieve that.

"But, boss~~ I've found something not so good~~"

Suddenly, Zetsu spoke up from the side. With countless clones, his surveillance ability was unmatched.

"Seems the high profits from the figures have led to counterfeiters impersonating us, selling fake figures privately."

Zetsu's words were always clear and concise. He then pulled out a very poorly made figure. It was obvious some rookies had crudely mass-produced it. Although it roughly looked like Sakura, the rough clothes and distorted face were a far cry from Deidara's craftsmanship.

"What?! Who dares insult my art?!"

Furious, Deidara snatched the fake figure from Zetsu's hands and gave it a rough inspection, his anger flaring: "Such disgusting junk, don't they feel any shame?"

"No~ I think they really don't. They even claim these fakes were made by the figure artist from the release event."

White Zetsu chuckled teasingly: "So~ it seems quite a few people are buying them~"

"Indeed~"

Black Zetsu calmly added: "And those who bought them and curse you behind your back, probably countless already~"

"Those! Bastards!!!"

Deidara's face quickly turned crimson with rage, then to a furious dark blue. He clearly understood these counterfeiters were basically ruining his reputation.

"Heh~~ Humans are truly ugly creatures. Well then, I leave this matter to you, Deidara."

Pain smirked disdainfully. Knowing Deidara's personality, he knew exactly what kind of order this impulsive artist needed.

"Clean out those pests. Akatsuki doesn't need anyone else competing with us in the figure business."

---

"Pirated figures? Hmm~~ Looks like greedy lowlifes are everywhere, no matter where you go."

Hinata shook her head indifferently while holding a low-quality figure. Her right hand tightened slightly, and the poor figure quickly melted into a pile of colorless residue.

"But isn't it bad to just ignore them? I heard quite a few people bought them."

Pouting, Naruto crossed his arms unhappily. His usual goofy stance of standing with feet wide and arms crossed seemed a bit less dumb now, as he was wearing women's clothes and a short skirt with safety shorts underneath. Instinctively, his legs were tightly closed, giving him a somewhat tsundere vibe instead of his usual annoying self.

"Don't worry, the figure manufacturer is well-connected. I believe they can handle it themselves, so~"

Hinata's tone suddenly turned a bit sinister: "Naruto, I didn't ask in front of others before, but now you should explain yourself—how do you know the Sonic Blade?!"

No doubt, Hinata hadn't forgotten this. Remembering Naruto's Tail Beast transformation last time and how he used the Sonic Blade, combined with his previous behavior, the clear conclusion was: this idiot had been training the Sonic Blade overnight using multiple Shadow Clones, but spent too much chakra and couldn't convert all Nine-Tails chakra in time, leading to the transformation.

So the question was, how did this idiot know the Sonic Blade ?

If it were someone else, like Kakashi or Sasuke, genii who might create their own moves, Hinata might believe it. But Naruto? No way this guy invented a move.

"I do remember I didn't give you that fist manual, right?"

Hinata coldly stared at Naruto and glanced meaningfully at the nearby cliff — the exact spot where Jiraiya originally left Naruto to train summoning techniques. Choosing this spot for their talk was obviously intimidating.

"Well... um..."

Naruto stammered, sweating. Though he was usually thick-skinned, his instincts told him if he answered wrong, today might be his last day.

"Dark Sweep!!"

Suddenly, Hinata's long hair behind her moved as if blown by wind. With a swift spin and wave, a fierce red spark rushed along the ground toward Naruto a few meters away!

"Yikes~!"

Startled, Naruto rolled left to avoid the attack. Hinata showed no intention of stopping and took a deep breath, unleashing three more Dark Sweeps along different trajectories at the flustered Naruto. She clearly didn't want to waste words—time for some Russian-style repair.

"Wait~ Hinata~ I'm just..."

Forced to roll continuously by the first two attacks, Naruto realized he was being pushed toward the cliff. With the third Dark Sweep rushing in, the blond youth crossed his arms suddenly, releasing a faint blue wind blade from them—Sonic Blade! The chakra techniques collided violently in midair and exploded into sparks.

"Speak."

Hinata slowly raised her hand. Standing with her back to the sun, her face was shaded by bangs, making her white eyes look even colder: "Tell me, who gave you that fist manual!!"

"Sorry... it's my fault~~"

Naruto put his hands together and bowed deeply with a pained face, his tone unusually shy: "It's because... last time I snuck into Hinata's room and found a few torn pages in the trash bin... so~ I wanted to practice~~"

"..."

Hinata hesitated slightly, unusually uncertain.

After all, Naruto was still a teenage boy, naturally curious about a girl's room. Given his prankster nature, sneaking around her room didn't seem impossible.

And she hadn't properly burned the fist manual that day. If he happened to find some torn pages, it wasn't impossible.

Could it be... she had overthought it?

Slowly relaxing her clenched fists, Hinata frowned deeply, also thinking of something else.