Pain was his last memory.
The sharp agony at the back of his neck felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his skull. Hiroki's consciousness plunged into darkness in an instant.
He felt his body collapse like a puppet with its strings cut.
When his awareness returned, Hiroki found himself floating in an endless deep blue space.
Before him was the familiar loading screen that had tormented him for nine years, but now it looked completely different. A clean desktop had replaced the eternal progress bar. In the upper left corner were several clear icons: My Computer (Sawada Hiroki), Recycle Bin, Network.
So this was the true form of the cheat that had screwed him over for nine years? A personal computer built into his soul?
What the hell was he supposed to do with a computer?
Before Hiroki could complain about the ridiculously retro interface, muffled voices reached his consciousness through some kind of channel.
"...Move faster! Konoha ninja could catch up any moment!" a harsh voice said.
"What about this brat?" another voice asked.
"What do you think? We'll dump him at the border and get rid of him. Can't leave any witnesses. Kid's just dead weight."
The Cloud ninja! Ice-cold dread gripped Hiroki's consciousness.
They were going to kill him! He frantically tried to regain control of his body, like desperately shaking a mouse to wake up a frozen computer screen.
But all his efforts only got him a system message:
Control Panel is not responding. Would you like to wait for the program to respond?
Huh?
Control Panel not responding?
What did that mean?
Damn it! Hiroki forced himself to stay calm. This newly activated "computer" was his only lifeline now.
Wait—what if his cheat system was treating his body like an actual running computer?
Hiroki mentally "clicked" on My Computer. A window popped up showing several disk partitions: C: Drive (System), D: Drive (Memory).
But they were mostly empty—no useful applications in sight.
Shit.
But his theory was getting some confirmation. The D: Drive (Memory) looked like it stored his memories.
His cheat system seemed to be treating him as a literal personal computer.
So what? How could this help him regain control of his body?
Hiroki didn't have time for a detailed inspection. He frowned and immediately focused on the taskbar at the bottom of the desktop. He needed a more powerful tool. He remembered the function that had saved him from countless computer crashes in his past life.
"Ctrl+Alt+Delete!"
He mentally screamed the sacred key combination with all his might.
Whooom—!
The deep blue desktop instantly switched. A clean, efficient window popped up.
Sawada Hiroki - Task Manager
In the window, under the Processes tab, rows of data were rapidly refreshing:
Fear.exe - CPU: 75% | Memory: 2048MB | Status: Running
Severe_Pain_Neck.log - CPU: 15% | Memory: 512MB | Status: Running
Body_Control_Panel.exe - CPU: 5% | Memory: 1024MB | Status: Not Responding
Dizziness.dll - CPU: 3% | Memory: 258MB | Status: Running
Survival_Instinct.sys - CPU: 1% | Memory: 64MB | Status: Running
Conscious_Awareness.bat - CPU: 1% | Memory: 32MB | Status: Running
Found it! Hiroki's consciousness became clearer than ever.
Right, his guess was correct. His cheat system had turned his body into a computer, breaking down all his functions into various programs.
Which meant he should have absolute control over his own body.
Hiroki quickly scanned through the Task Manager. The problem was obvious.
The process called Fear.exe was eating up almost all his "CPU" resources, causing the Body_Control_Panel.exe to crash into a "Not Responding" state.
Meanwhile, processes like severe pain and trembling were constantly draining his "memory," making his thinking sluggish.
He couldn't wait any longer! He had to manually optimize the system and reclaim control!
Then regain control of his body.
Hiroki's mental cursor precisely selected Fear.exe.
"End Process!"
Are you sure you want to end the process 'Fear.exe'? Ending this process may cause system instability.
"Yes!"
No hesitation whatsoever.
The moment he clicked Confirm, a cool stream seemed to flow from the depths of his soul, instantly washing over his entire being.
The heart-pounding panic, the blood-freezing terror, the overwhelming dread of death—all of it stopped instantly, like an appliance with its power cord yanked out.
In its place came an absolute, almost frightening calm.
CPU usage plummeted from 99% to under 20%.
"It works!"
Energized, Hiroki immediately applied the same treatment.
Select Dizziness.dll → End Process → Confirm.
The disorientation and headache from the blow disappeared.
Select Severe_Pain_Neck.log → End Process → Confirm.
The skull-splitting agony in his neck was blocked. The pain signals were still being sent, but the program processing them had been shut down, so they couldn't affect his core consciousness anymore.
Now for the last and most crucial one.
Hiroki's mental pointer hovered over the "Not Responding" Body_Control_Panel.exe. He took a deep breath and selected End Task.
Attempting to end this task...
The deep blue space instantly turned pitch black. All sensation—the feeling of being carried on someone's shoulder, the wind rushing past his ears, the rough fabric against his skin—vanished completely.
He felt stripped of everything, sinking into endless void.
But the blue system interface still floated before him. External signals and control of his body seemed temporarily severed.
Desktop Window Manager has stopped working and has been closed
Hiroki took a deep breath. If he was right, then restarting the control panel should give him back control of his body!
Starting 'Body_Control_Panel.exe'...
Bit by bit, faint sensations began to return like pixels lighting up in darkness.
He could feel himself being carried on someone's shoulder, bouncing violently with their running. The rough vest fabric scraped against his cheek, somewhat painfully.
He could hear the wind and the somewhat labored breathing of the Cloud ninja carrying him.
"That guy... did he just move?" The ninja carrying Hiroki suddenly spoke.
"Impossible. I hit him hard enough to keep him out until tomorrow morning," another voice replied from nearby—clearly their leader.
"Probably just involuntary twitching from the bouncing. But to be safe..." The lead ninja's voice turned cold. "Next chance we get, hit him again harder. Make sure he doesn't wake up and cause trouble."
Hit him again harder?!
Hiroki, who had just reconnected to his body's control systems, felt alarm bells going off in his head. He'd been ready to mobilize what little strength he had left, even if just to twitch a finger and look for an opportunity.
But their words were like ice water dumped over him.
If he opened his eyes now or made any resistance, the only result would be getting knocked out even harder—or possibly killed outright. These were experienced ninja, and he was just a student who couldn't even use basic techniques properly. He had zero chance against them.
What could he do?
Hiroki made his decision instantly. His consciousness dove back into the system.
Generally speaking, computers had power management! And in power settings...
Start Menu → Settings → Power Options
A familiar window popped up.
◎ Recommended: Balanced (Automatically balance performance and power consumption)
○ High Performance (Prioritize performance but consume more power)
● Power Saver/Low Performance (Save power by reducing system performance)
That's it!
Could low performance mode help him fake being unconscious? Hiroki wasn't sure, but it was the only option he could think of!
Hiroki activated Low Performance Mode without hesitation.
After switching to Low Performance Mode, the system will close non-essential background activities, limit maximum CPU frequency, and reduce sensory input/output refresh rates to maximize runtime. Confirm?
"Confirm!"
Before the ninja carrying him could stop to check his condition, Hiroki completed the switch.
In an instant, his entire "system" seemed to enter standby mode. His heart rate was forced down to an extremely low level, his breathing became faint and barely detectable.
All commands trying to move his muscles were automatically blocked by the system as "high power consumption activities."
From the outside, he looked like someone in deep unconsciousness with weak vital signs—even more convincingly "out" than before.
"See? Nothing wrong," the lead ninja checked Hiroki's pulse and breathing impatiently. "Stop being paranoid and pick up the pace! We need to be out of Fire Country before dawn!"
Crisis temporarily averted.
Hiroki's consciousness lurked in the deepest parts of his system like a ghost, calmly observing everything. He couldn't control his body, but his mind was sharper than ever.
In Low Performance Mode, the only things he could do were think and receive information.
As his body bounced along, his arm was pressed tightly against the back of the ninja carrying him.
Just then, an unexpected popup appeared in the bottom right corner of his consciousness desktop.
Ding~
Detected connectable computer 'Sakutchi', established temporary connection via 'Chakra Communication Protocol'.
Open and view files?
Hiroki's consciousness jolted.
This... actually worked?!
Physical contact was being treated as a data cable connection by the system?!
Was 'Sakutchi' the name of the ninja carrying him? He could see the guy's real name?
His hands practically trembling, he mentally selected Yes.
A new window popped up titled "Sakutchi (C1:) System Drive" with another labeled "Sakutchi (D1:) Memory Drive" below it.
Inside the window, countless folders and files were listed, their names making his breath catch:
Folder: Cloud-Style Swordsmanship Notes
Folder: Lightning Release Training Journal
Folder: Assassination & Stealth Techniques
File: Chakra Nature Transformation (Lightning) - Beginner to Expert.zip
File: Cloud Ninja Taijutsu.zip
File: Lightning Release - False Darkness.exe
File: Sensory Ninjutsu.dat
...
This... this was a Cloud ninja's lifetime of accumulated knowledge! The foundation of a ninja's entire existence!
Hiroki's heart—no, his lurking consciousness—began racing wildly. If he could copy all of this, couldn't he transform from a ninja academy washout into a Cloud ninja overnight?
The hope for survival was right in front of him!
Without hesitation, he mentally pressed Ctrl+A to select all, then Ctrl+C to copy.
Next, he opened his own D: Drive (Memory), created a new folder called "Ninjutsu Backup," and firmly pressed Ctrl+V to paste!
A file transfer progress window immediately popped up.
Calculating required time and space...
Total: 128,562 files, Total size: 3.2GB
Copying files from Other Computer (Sakutchi) D1 Drive (Memory) to My Computer (Sawada Hiroki) D Drive (Memory): Ninjutsu Backup
Files remaining: 128,562
Transfer speed: 1.5KB/s | Time remaining: About 25 days | Estimated power consumption: 1285.7%
Below the progress bar, a line of glaring red warning text made his heart sink.
WARNING: Currently in 'Low Performance Mode', data transfer speed severely limited. Transfer process will continuously drain core power. System power estimated to drop below minimum 10% threshold for maintaining vital signs after 23 hours. Please operate with caution!
Twenty-five days?! Are you kidding me! He wouldn't even survive twenty-five hours!