Inside the cave, within Hiroki's consciousness space, a faint Wi-Fi signal appeared—originating from "Namikaze Minato."
It shone like a lighthouse in the middle of a dark ocean—steady, bright, and powerful.
What's going on? Why is there a Wi-Fi signal? How is that even possible?
Hiroki's thoughts raced.
It couldn't be that Minato Namikaze had the same kind of "system" ability as he did… could it?
Then perhaps this wasn't a system at all—but something connected to Minato himself. After all, Minato was a sensor-type ninja, though he shouldn't have mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique yet.
In the original timeline, no one ever explained how Minato single-handedly rescued Kushina from the Cloud Ninjas—despite them being an elite squad led by high-ranking shinobi.
Maybe… the chakra-sensing signal Minato emitted was detected by my system and interpreted as a Wi-Fi signal?
Whatever the cause, that wasn't important now.
What mattered was simple—this signal meant that Kushina and I had a better chance to survive!
Without hesitation, Hiroki's consciousness moved like a command line executing instantly.
[Connecting to | Namikaze Minato – Secure Signal · Weak |…][Connected | Namikaze Minato – Secure Signal · Weak |]
Hiroki quickly opened his interface to check for any new system changes.
To his mild disappointment, the connection felt less like linking to the Internet—and more like establishing a remote desktop session.
A computer named Minato Namikaze.
Still, another active connection meant another potential ally. That alone boosted his confidence.
He immediately created a new text document:|Information about Hiroki Sawada and Kushina Uzumaki.log|
Typing rapidly, he wrote:
"I am Hiroki Sawada. I'm currently tied up in a cave with Kushina Uzumaki. We can escape at any time, but there are three Kumo (Cloud) ninjas here—likely a small team, with the leader possibly a Jōnin."
He clicked Save.
But to his surprise, an upload progress bar appeared.
—Remote transmission delay?!
Well, it made sense.
Meanwhile, deep in the forest outside the cave, a yellow blur darted between the trees like a phantom.
Minato Namikaze's usually calm face was etched with worry as he followed the faint trail of red hair strands scattered along the path.
Uzumaki-san… and Sawada-san…
They had been taken. But where?
Were they still alive?
Just as Minato prepared to expand his search, something strange happened—
A sudden thought flashed in his mind.It felt as though his own mind was speaking… yet the words weren't his.
"I'm Hiroki Sawada. Kushina and I are currently tied up in a cave. We can escape at any time, but there are three Kumo ninjas here. It seems they're a small team, and the leader is probably a Jōnin."
Minato froze mid-movement.
What?
That's… me? I'm Hiroki Sawada?
He looked around in shock, but there was no one nearby.
Who's transmitting thoughts directly into my head?
For the first time, the calm and analytical Minato Namikaze was utterly stunned.
But then, another line appeared in his consciousness:
"This is my newly awakened bloodline limit. It's similar to the Yamanaka clan's secret technique—I can send information directly into your mind."
Minato clenched his jaw.
Could this be real?
He quickly assessed the situation. If the other party truly had malicious intent, they could've used genjutsu or illusion to control him outright. But this transmission contained no chakra intrusion, no malice—just communication.
It was worth the risk.
He silently replied in thought:
"This is Minato Namikaze. Hiroki Sawada, please report your current position and surroundings. I'll move to support you immediately. I've already alerted the Anbu—they should arrive soon!"
Position and surroundings, huh?
Hiroki frowned. That was a fair request—but in his current state, paralyzed and weakened, how could he send such details?
Then I'll rely on Kushina.
After briefing her quickly, he opened Kushina's system disk and typed:
|Hongshu.log|
"Kushina, I've contacted someone—Minato. I need you to carefully look around. I'll try to send him what you see."
|Kushina_Shocked_Excited_Trust.log|
"Okay! I'll look around right now—see if you can pull the images from my mind!"
Just seconds later, a new file appeared:
|Cave Environment_21:44:51_Cloud Ninja preparing to rest.jpg|
A JPG file!?
It was the image cache!
Hiroki opened it immediately—
A dim, grainy window appeared in his consciousness, showing the cave interior from Kushina's viewpoint: the flickering firelight, two Cloud Ninjas settling down to rest, and their captain standing guard by the entrance, lazily polishing his kunai.
So Sakuchi left at some point?
Checking his connections, Hiroki realized the link to Sakuchi had indeed dropped—he'd missed the prompt during his frantic coordination with Kushina and Minato.
Still, this was perfect. He could send the image straight to Minato!
Within moments of uploading it, a new log appeared in response.
|Namikaze Minato's Reply – Maintaining Minimum Trust.log|
"I've been to this area before. I'll reach you in about five minutes. Please prepare in advance!"
"Success!" Hiroki grinned, resisting the urge to cheer.
Everything was in place. Soon, lightning would strike—and he'd shatter the darkness.
But then—
A new Wi-Fi signal blinked into existence.
|Samora – Safe Signal · Strong|
…What? Who's that?
The blood in Hiroki's veins went cold. Someone nearby—very nearby.
He connected instantly. This time, the proximity made it almost instantaneous. Diving straight into the other party's [Temp] folder, Hiroki froze.
A flood of new log files filled the directory:
|Perception_Abnormal Chakra Fluctuation.log|
|Tracing Source_Target_Imp.log|
|Is it a Spiritual Technique?.log|
Kumo Ninja?! They've detected me!
He opened the most recent log, and his heart nearly stopped:
"…Abnormal chakra detected—it's emitting some kind of signal! Just for a moment, but the source seems to be that unconscious kid! Could the earlier irregularities Sakuchi noticed also be from him?"
"Sakuchi was right. This brat's not normal! No—whatever this is, secret art or bloodline ability—it's too dangerous. It could compromise the mission. Even if it leaves traces, we must eliminate him immediately!"
They'd sensed his chakra during transmission.
His "data transfers" were leaking chakra signatures!
Oh no…!
There was no time to think. No time to warn Minato. His signal was weak, the data lagging.
The enemy would move now.
The only way to survive—was to strike first.
Hiroki's mind snapped into focus. His fear shut down like a terminated process.
He created a new file instantly, linking it to Kushina's system:
|Urgent_Update.log|
"Abort the plan! They've found us! We attack—now!"