In Low Performance Mode, Hiroki's consciousness felt like it had sunk into the deep ocean, where everything from the outside world became sluggish and distant.
The only thing that let him perceive the passage of time was that slowly climbing progress bar. It was his only lifeline hanging over the cliff—each pixel forward meant he was one step closer to hope of survival.
Fear hadn't disappeared.
Task Manager could forcibly end the "Panic.exe" process, blocking the physiological reactions of heart palpitations and cold extremities, but it couldn't erase his soul's deep recognition of "death" as the ultimate concept.
It was a cold, rational, constant threat like system-level code.
Every ten to twenty minutes, he could see that process called "Fear.exe" pop up again in Task Manager, repeatedly consuming massive CPU and memory.
All Hiroki could do was manually end it over and over, not letting this threat crash his system. He forced himself to become an emotionless machine with only one supreme directive: survive.
Ding.
A pleasant notification sound rang out—the progress bar for Rope_Escape_Technique.dat had finally reached 100%.
File 'Rope_Escape_Technique.zip' download complete. Install immediately?
"Install!" Hiroki didn't hesitate.
Instantly, a complex and intricate data stream flooded his consciousness.
He felt like he'd personally lived the life of someone imprisoned by bondage experts for decades. Every type of rope material, every binding method, every principle behind dead knots was dismantled, analyzed, and reconstructed in his mind.
His nervous system began simulating optimal muscle force angles when restrained. His brain could clearly "see" the weak points in the knots binding his body.
It was a strange feeling—his body couldn't move, but his soul had already mastered the method of freedom. He could untie the ropes and break free at any moment now.
But it wasn't time yet—Hiroki told himself. Breaking free now wouldn't let him kill these Cloud ninja. He still needed to wait.
As for when exactly... he didn't know.
At least until he finished copying all three jutsu and either ANBU or Minato caught up.
...
"Stop!"
The Cloud ninja captain's voice, like death's verdict, reached his consciousness through "external audio."
"We've reached the border. This place is remote—perfect for disposing of him. Sakutchi, do it."
So fast?!
Hiroki instantly frowned!
The "death with reprieve" he'd just earned was about to be forcibly executed so soon.
He could "feel" undisguised killing intent covering him.
What now?!
His brain raced frantically.
The cache files about "the captain wanting to hog credit" seemed to have been cleared by the other party. Using them again so soon definitely wouldn't be as effective and might even trigger suspicion!
He had to find a new vulnerability—something deeper, more irresistible, rooted in biological instinct!
Physiological instincts...
Wait, got it!
Hiroki's consciousness shot like lightning back into Sakutchi's "system," with a clear target—physiological control!
He rapidly browsed the opponent's "system folders," skipping all areas related to thought and memory. Finally, he found a core directory locked by the system: BIOS_Physiological_Sensations.
He rushed in and found what he wanted in a subfolder called Bladder_Control. There were no complex programs here, just countless temporary cache files recording bodily sensations.
Hiroki's gaze locked onto a file named Urgent_Urination_Signal_Critical.tmp.
This thing seemed very useful!
And now, Hiroki needed to manually copy this signal to see if it could save him in a pinch!
His mental intention became the most precise command. He selected the file and pressed Ctrl+C. Then, using all his mental strength, he frantically pressed Ctrl+V in that folder!
In an instant, hundreds of "critical urination" signal caches were forcibly copied and pasted, instantly flooding Sakutchi's sensory processing center like a spam storm. At this moment, his brain received only one message—I'm about to explode!
Sakutchi, who'd been raising his kunai to strike, suddenly froze, his whole body rigid as if struck by lightning.
A sudden, overwhelming virtual urge to urinate instantly swept through every nerve. The feeling was so real, so intense, that he couldn't help but clench his legs together, his face showing painful and twisted expressions.
"Uh... Cap... Captain..." Sakutchi's voice trembled, practically squeezed out through his teeth. "I... I can't... gotta... gotta relieve myself!"
The captain and another team member maintaining watch both turned around. Seeing Sakutchi's barely-holding-it expression, they both showed disdainful looks. The captain's brow furrowed, suspicion flashing in his eyes.
"Useless! At a crucial time like this!" He cursed under his breath but still impatiently waved his hand. "Go quickly! You have thirty seconds!"
In the precious few dozen seconds while Sakutchi scrambled toward nearby bushes like his life depended on it, the captain, who'd been maintaining high vigilance, suddenly changed expression! He instantly looked up toward the direction they'd come from, eyes sharp as a hawk's.
"Not good! Pursuers! Moving fast—Konoha ANBU!"
"How did they catch up so quickly?"
"Don't worry about that!" The captain made a decisive call, his voice filled with determination. "No time to deal with this brat! Bring him along! Full speed ahead—get out of Fire Country territory!"
Before he finished speaking, Sakutchi, having just finished his business, rushed out in panic. He scooped up Hiroki from the ground and hoisted him over his shoulder again. But the moment he lifted him, the captain's voice rang out again: "Wait!"
His sharp gaze locked deadly onto Hiroki on Sakutchi's shoulder.
"Don't you think it's too coincidental?" the captain said coldly. "Outside the village, you suddenly thought this brat had value. Now, just as I'm about to order his death, you suddenly get so urgent you nearly wet yourself. Sakutchi, coincidences happen once by luck, twice... that's a problem."
Hiroki's alertness shot to maximum.
What he'd feared most was happening—this captain was far shrewder and more suspicious than he'd shown!
Hiroki immediately checked his status.
Good, still in low performance mode!—He could only pray not to be exposed! After all, he had no other way to disguise or hide.
The captain walked up to Hiroki, bringing a smell mixed with blood and sweat. He extended two cold fingers and precisely placed them on Hiroki's carotid artery.
Hiroki's body faithfully maintained the minimum heart rate of deep unconsciousness. Any normal person sensing a death threat couldn't possibly have such a stable heartbeat.
The captain felt that weak but steady pulse, brow furrowed, seemingly not entirely convinced. His other free hand suddenly pried open Hiroki's eyelid.
Sunset light filtered through mottled tree shadows into Hiroki's eyeball, but his pupil showed no signs of contraction—dead still, like an inorganic glass bead.
After a long moment, the captain finally let go.
"Seems I was overthinking," he muttered to himself, though the suspicion in his voice hadn't completely faded. "Maybe really just a lucky ordinary brat."
He turned to command the cold-sweating Sakutchi: "Either way, full speed ahead!"
The three became blurs again, rushing toward Fire Country's border without looking back.
Hiroki's heart relaxed a bit.
There was still a chance.
Wait for Lightning Release: False Darkness to finish copying, wait for ANBU or Minato to catch up... wait for the right moment...
Hiroki silently pondered.
Nightfall came, and the continuous extreme flight had exhausted even the three Cloud ninja. They finally stopped in an extremely hidden cave for brief rest.
Perhaps feeling they'd entered deep into Lightning Country territory, they relaxed their guard. For easier supervision, Sakutchi used rope to tightly bind the unconscious Hiroki and Kushina back-to-back, placing them beside himself, even resting one foot on Hiroki's body.
The rough rope chafed painfully, but Hiroki didn't care at all. Because the moment his arm made contact with Kushina's back, a new popup with soft blue light quietly appeared in the center of his consciousness desktop.
Ding.
New computer 'Uzumaki Kushina' detected. Connect?