Inside the cave, the firelight flickered, casting the shadows of the three Cloud Ninjas onto the rocky walls—twisting and swaying like restless ghosts.
In Hiroki's mind, a faint blue pop-up window floated quietly in the darkness, the only light in the void.
[Another computer detected: 'Uzumaki Kushina'. Do you want to connect?]
Hiroki's consciousness turned into a mouse cursor. Without hesitation, he clicked the only available button—"Yes."
Buzz——
[Connecting to external system 'Uzumaki Kushina'…][…Connection successful…]
A familiar window appeared, almost identical to the one from when he'd linked to Sakuchi earlier.
At the top, it read:[Uzumaki Kushina (C1:) System Disk]and beneath it:[Uzumaki Kushina (D1:) Memory Disk]
The same densely packed folders and files filled the screen, following the exact same layout and naming conventions.By deduction, maybe the same applied to other Cloud Ninjas—or even every ninja in existence.
That was good news. It meant less time spent searching for data.And right now, time was the one thing Hiroki lacked most.
He took a deep breath and began the strangest "instant messaging session" of his life.
[Right click → New → |Text Document.txt|]
He named the file |A message from Hiroki.txt| and quickly typed with his mind:
"Kushina, don't be afraid. Don't make a sound. It's me—Hiroki Sawada."
Then, just in case, he changed the file's suffix to .log:|A message from Hiroki.log|
The next moment, Hiroki felt the warm body behind him tremble violently, her breathing suddenly sharp and uneven.
He couldn't see her "system process," but through physical contact, he could clearly sense her body's intense reaction—the "hardware" going into overdrive.
A muffled, panicked whimper escaped her lips.
Hiroki hurriedly created another file:|Calm down_This is my bloodline limit.txt|
"This is my bloodline limit," he wrote quickly. "It awakens during times of crisis—something like the Yamanaka clan's mind techniques. I can talk to you directly through my consciousness. We're safe for now, so follow my lead!"
He saved it, renaming it to match the pattern:|Calm down_This is my bloodline limit.log|
That would serve as a reasonable explanation later—useful if he ever had to deal with Konoha's interrogators after being rescued.
Then he waited.
Would Kushina understand this unconventional way of communicating?Would she even believe it?
Every second of silence felt like his brain's CPU running a million empty loops—a torturous eternity.
He didn't know how long it had been. One second? Ten? Then suddenly, new files began to flash rapidly across the shared folder.
And then—
|To Hiroki——Is this… real?.log|
The uncertainty trembled even in the filename itself.
Opening it, Hiroki read:
"Hiroki? How… how is this possible? Is this real?"
He instantly replied, creating another file:|It's true_We need cooperation.txt|
"It's real. I've been awake this whole time, pretending to be unconscious. These Cloud Ninjas are cautious, so don't act rashly. Did you leave any clues behind when you were captured?"
He needed to shift her focus away from 'why is this happening' to 'what do we do next.'
This time, the reply came almost instantly.
|I grew my hair.txt|
"I left a trail! I kept pulling out strands of my red hair and dropping them along the way. Someone will notice!"
"Good job!" Hiroki exhaled in relief.
At least things were following the original timeline. If everything went right, Minato should pick up the trail and come for them soon.
Still… it was dangerous to rely entirely on the "plot."He had to be ready to save himself—and Kushina—just in case.
He sent another message:
|We can't just wait.txt|
"Someone will definitely notice your hair, but we can't depend entirely on that. Let's prepare to rescue ourselves too."
Kushina replied soon after:
|How to save ourselves.log|
"But we're tied up… and there are three of them…"
Silence.
Hiroki fell quiet as well. He didn't know the answer.
No matter how clever he was—no matter how many "cheat codes" he had—he was still just a programmer.A programmer who'd never been on a battlefield, never fought for his life.
Silence pressed down on them like a heavy blanket.He could feel Kushina's breathing grow heavier again.
Then—
Ding Dong.
[File '|Thunder Release: Pseudo-Darkness.exe|' downloaded. Install now?]
"Install!" Hiroki said without hesitation.
It was the only option left.
In an instant, a torrent of exquisite data—hundreds of times more complex than any Rope-Release or Cloud Flow technique—flooded his mind. The sequence of hand seals, chakra control, throat resonance, muscle synchronization… every intricate detail of the Lightning Release: Pseudo-Darkness jutsu was broken down into pure code and forcibly written into his [D Drive (Memory Disk)].
[Program 'Thunder Release: Pseudo-Darkness.exe' installation complete.]
Hiroki could tell: if he unleashed this jutsu, he wouldn't be any weaker than that Cloud Ninja.
Good news!
Even better—Lightning Release: Pseudo-Darkness was an area attack.It could split into multiple lightning spears at once!If the enemy wasn't ready, he could wipe them all out in one strike!
…but there was bad news too.
The chakra cost for a B-rank jutsu like this was enormous—enough to drain him dry.If he missed, he'd die instantly.
He took a moment to think, then informed Kushina.
|Hiroki.log|
"I've got a ninjutsu that can fire three lightning spears instantly. If they hit, we're free. But I only have enough chakra for one shot."
|Kushina_Shocked.log|
"Really? You can do that? But your grades in class were only average! How—?"
Hiroki ignored the question. He exhaled slowly and created another file—the most important one yet.
|Hiroki's Escape Plan.log|
"Kushina, we only get one chance. Rescue might come—but it might not. We have to be ready to act ourselves. What time is it now?"
|Kushina_shy_excited.log|
"It's nighttime! We can strike later, when they're asleep!"
Nighttime… perfect.
|Hiroki's Escape Plan.log|
"I can't tell the time, so if you think they're asleep, just alert me mentally. I'll attack as fast as I can. I'll go for whoever's on watch first. If anyone survives, I'll try to control one using my bloodline ability. You take the chance to finish the others—or escape."
After a brief pause, one short reply appeared:
|good.log|
The cave fell silent again, save for the crackling of fire.
Hiroki could feel Kushina's breathing return to calm.
Then suddenly—a faint Wi-Fi signal appeared.
|Namikaze Minato—Safety Signal·Weak|