Inside the cave, firelight flickered, casting the shadows of three Cloud ninja on the rock walls like dancing phantoms.
In Hiroki's consciousness space, that blue popup still floated quietly, like the only beacon in darkness.
New computer 'Uzumaki Kushina' detected. Connect?
Hiroki's mental cursor slammed down on the only "Yes" button.
Whooom—
Connecting to other computer 'Uzumaki Kushina'...
...Connection successful...
Almost identical windows to when he'd connected with Sakutchi popped up:
One titled "Uzumaki Kushina (C1:) System Drive" and below it "Uzumaki Kushina (D1:) Memory Drive."
Inside the window, the same dense collection of folders and files was listed, with identical distribution and naming conventions! By extension, perhaps other Cloud ninja—even all other ninja—were the same.
This was good news—it would save considerable time searching for files!
Time was exactly what Hiroki lacked most right now!
Taking a deep breath, Hiroki began the strangest "instant messaging" session of his life. He immediately created a new file in this folder.
Right-click → New → Text Document.txt
He named the file "A Message from Hiroki.txt" and mentally "typed" a line inside: "Kushina, don't be afraid, don't make a sound, it's me, Sawada Hiroki."
Then he quickly changed the file extension to .log—"A Message from Hiroki.log"
The next second, Hiroki clearly felt the warm body behind him tremble violently, breathing instantly becoming rapid.
Though he couldn't see her "system processes," he could directly sense her "hardware's" intense reaction through physical contact.
"Mmm..." An extremely soft, suppressed whimper came from behind.
He immediately created another file: "Stay Calm_This is My Kekkei Genkai.txt," explaining inside: "This is my family's kekkei genkai that awakens only in critical moments, similar to the Yamanaka clan's mental techniques. I can communicate with you through consciousness. We're temporarily safe now—follow my lead!"
He quickly modified the extension using the same format and saved it.
This was his prepared explanation—if they were actually rescued later, it would help with any interrogation from village personnel.
After "saving" the file, he held his breath and waited.
He didn't know if Kushina could understand this reality-defying communication method, much less whether she'd believe it. Each second of waiting felt like billions of empty CPU cycles—absolutely torturous.
After an eternity—maybe one second, maybe ten—countless rapidly flowing files flashed by.
Suddenly, a file appeared.
"About Hiroki's Words—Is This... Real?.log"
Even the filename was full of uncertainty and trembling.
Hiroki opened it. The content was simple: "Hiroki? How... how is this happening? Is this real?"
"It's real," Hiroki immediately created a new file "It's Real_We Need to Cooperate.txt" to reply. "I've been awake the whole time, pretending to be unconscious. Those Cloud ninja are very alert—we can't make any rash moves. By the way, when you were captured, did you leave any clues?"
He needed to quickly shift Kushina's attention from "why is this happening" to "what should we do."
This time, Kushina's reply came much faster.
A file named "I Left Hair.txt" appeared almost instantly: "I did! I've been secretly pulling out my hair and dropping it along the way! My hair is red—someone's bound to notice!"
"Excellent!" Hiroki's spirits lifted.
At least the plot was still developing according to the original story, so he could hope for Minato to catch up as in the original timeline.
Still, he should remain cautious and prepare for both he and Kushina to escape on their own.
They couldn't pin all their hopes on Namikaze Minato—after all, no one could guarantee the story would follow the original plot.
Hiroki continued replying to Kushina:
"Yeah, someone will definitely notice the trail you left—your hair is so distinctive. But before then, we need to prepare for self-rescue. We can't put all our hopes on others."
"Kushina's Reply_How to Self-Rescue.log":
"But we're both tied up... and there are three ninja..."
This time came a long silence.
Hiroki also fell silent. He didn't know how to rescue themselves either.
No matter how much he could do with his cheat ability, he was still just a programmer! A programmer who'd never been on a battlefield or seen life-and-death combat. What could a programmer possibly do?
Silence...
Hiroki could feel Kushina's breathing becoming somewhat heavy.
Probably because she hadn't gotten a response.
But just then—
Ding.
File 'Lightning Release - False Darkness.exe' download complete. Install immediately?
"Install!" Hiroki didn't hesitate.
This was his only possible breakthrough strategy!
Instantly, a data stream a hundred times more complex than Rope Escape Technique and Cloud Taijutsu flooded into his consciousness like a bursting dam. Hand seal techniques, chakra nature transformation, throat and mouth cavity resonance methods, even every muscle tremor and coordination during release...
Everything about this B-rank Lightning Release jutsu, even Sakutchi's experience using Lightning Release: False Darkness, was parsed into base-level code and forcibly written to his D: Drive (Memory).
Program 'Lightning Release - False Darkness Activation.exe' installation complete.
Hiroki was almost certain that if he used this jutsu, it wouldn't be any weaker than that Cloud ninja's version.
Good news!
Even better news was that Lightning Release: False Darkness was an area-of-effect jutsu! It could split into multiple lightning spears simultaneously! If these Cloud ninja weren't prepared, Hiroki could potentially kill them all!
But...
There was also some not-so-good news.
This B-rank jutsu consumed almost all of Hiroki's chakra. If he missed, he'd be left waiting to die!
After thinking it over, Hiroki immediately shared this information with Kushina.
"Hiroki.log": "I now have a jutsu that can fire three lightning spears in an instant. If they hit, it should be able to kill them. But I only have enough chakra for one use!"
"Kushina_Shocked.log": "Really?! You actually know this? Your grades in class were just average though—how do you know it?"
Hiroki didn't answer that question. Taking a deep breath, he began creating the most important document of his life.
"Hiroki's Escape Plan.log": "Kushina, we only get one chance! Rescue might come, but it might not! We have to be prepared! What time is it now?"
"Kushina_Shy_Ready for Battle_Excited.log": "It's nighttime! We can wait until late night to launch our attack!"
Nighttime?
"Hiroki's Escape Plan.log": "I can't see the time. If you think they're all asleep, alert me directly in your mind! I'll try to use the jutsu as fast as possible!"
"Before using the jutsu, I'll notify you the same way! If they have guards, I'll kill the guard first. If any ninja survives my attack..."
"I'll try to get close to the survivor. My kekkei genkai should be able to control one ninja for a while! Then you look for a chance to kill the rest or escape!"
After a moment of silence, a single-character file appeared.
"OK.log"
The cave fell into prolonged quiet, with only the crackling of flames.
Hiroki could feel Kushina's breathing calm down again. Just then, a WiFi signal suddenly flickered!
Namikaze Minato - Safe - Signal: Weak
----------
Powerstones please.