Test the Ninjutsu

Hiroki completed the discharge paperwork and walked out of Konoha Hospital.

The air outside smelled much better than the hospital room, carrying the scent of soil and plants.

The Third's words were still on his mind, but he knew that just sitting around thinking wouldn't help. He had to take action.

Whether the Brain Overload Script he'd developed actually worked, and how effective it was, needed to be tested on a target.

He couldn't use anyone else in the village. The risk was too great.

After thinking it over, there was only one suitable candidate.

Hiroki wandered around the street and eventually found Uzumaki Kushina at a dango shop. She sat there alone, eating one skewer after another, quickly, but without much joy on her face, as if she were venting something.

"Ah! Hiroki!?"

When Kushina saw him, her eyes lit up. She swallowed the dango in her mouth before asking, "You're discharged? Why didn't you rest another day?"

"Because I've recovered pretty well." Hiroki walked over and sat down across from her. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Of course! You're my lifesaver, after all, Hiroki~!" Kushina thumped her chest and gave him a thumbs-up!

"You know about the graduation exam, right!? The Third said we're graduating early and have to prepare for an assessment." Hiroki ordered some tea. "If I stay cooped up in the hospital, I won't come up with a good way to make a strong impression."

"Hmph! I'm going to become Konoha's first female Hokage! I'm not going to let a little thing like that bother me!" Kushina proudly lifted her chin, but soon lowered her head again. She took a bite of dango and looked at Hiroki curiously. "What have you come up with to make a strong impression?"

"Would you mind telling me about it?" Stars twinkled in Kushina's eyes.

Hiroki smiled.

That saved him the trouble of steering the conversation toward the graduation assessment.

"The plan I came up with for the graduation assessment is a new jutsu." Hiroki looked at her. "You know I just awakened my Kekkei Genkai, so I developed a new jutsu based on it. I need someone I trust to help me test it."

At the words "new jutsu" and "someone I trust," Kushina immediately puffed out her chest. She finished the last skewer, clapped her hands, and said, "Leave it to me! What do you need me to do?"

Her reaction was exactly what Hiroki had expected—direct and decisive.

That was the main reason he'd come to her! Kushina was such a straightforward person, after all~!

The two of them found an empty Training Ground No. 3.

"This jutsu of mine is a little unusual," Hiroki explained. "I need to make physical contact with the target to activate it. And it might make your mind... a little muddled. But don't worry, it's only temporary. It won't be dangerous."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Stop fussing!" Kushina impatiently waved a hand and held out her wrist. "Come on! Let's see what you've come up with!"

Hiroki nodded, reached out, and grasped her warm wrist.

The moment he did, a pop-up appeared in his mindscape: [Another computer, "Uzumaki Kushina," detected. Connect?]

He selected [Yes].

Connection established.

Hiroki took a deep breath and used his thoughts to launch the Chinese-logic program Brain Overload Script.bat, as if double-clicking a mouse.

In an instant, Kushina's body stiffened.

The curious, expectant expression on her face froze. The light in her eyes quickly faded, leaving them vacant and unfocused, like a doll whose power had been cut.

What Kushina herself experienced was far more terrifying.

A moment ago, she'd been thinking, "Hiroki's hand is pretty strong."

The next moment, the thought began repeating uncontrollably in her mind.

"Strong hand... hand is strong... strong hand, strong hand, strong hand..."

Then more jumbled fragments of thought were forcibly crammed into her mind, like the snowy static on a television, instantly filling all her thoughts.

She tried to think, but couldn't grasp a single complete thought. She tried to move, but her body wouldn't obey.

Her mind was blank... No, blank wasn't the right word. It was more like a pot of boiling porridge, filled with countless tiny bubbles and wisps of steam, along with all kinds of ingredients tumbling around, ready to burst through the lid!

"Kushina?"

Hiroki's voice rang out like a clap of thunder, cleaving through the chaos in her mind.

He let the program run for only three seconds before manually stopping it.

Kushina suddenly sucked in a sharp breath. Her body went limp, and she nearly fell, but Hiroki caught her. She gasped for air, her eyes refocusing. Her face was filled with shock and admiration!

Th-that was an incredible jutsu!!

"J-just now... What... what did you do to me?" She grabbed Hiroki's arm, her voice trembling. "My brain... My brain stopped working just now! Did you see it!? Did you see it!?"

"I saw it!" Seeing her reaction, Hiroki nodded with relief. He had a good idea of how it worked now. The jutsu was even more effective than he'd expected.

If he hadn't stopped it in time, she might have kept zoning out, stuck in a state of mental shutdown!

"What is that, anyway?" Kushina's face brimmed with shock and curiosity. She circled Hiroki twice, as if he were some kind of monster. "You just touched me, and suddenly I couldn't think? What kind of Kekkei Genkai is that? It's amazing!"

She couldn't understand how it worked, but that didn't stop her from recognizing its value in battle. As long as you could touch an enemy once, you could turn them into a sitting duck.

It was practically cheating!

"Teach me! Please, teach me!"

Teach her? That might be a little tricky, but it didn't seem impossible. In theory, he could copy the program to someone else. But even if he copied it to Kushina, did she have a computer? Did she have a Windows window? How would she launch the program, and how would she use it?

As Hiroki looked at Kushina's astonished, admiring expression, he was just about to explain when an urgent voice called out from nearby.

"Hiroki! Kushina! There you are!"

They both turned around. It was Namikaze Minato. He came running toward them, wearing an unusually flustered expression, his breathing slightly ragged.

"What is it, Minato?" Kushina asked.

Minato reached them and braced his hands on his knees to catch his breath. Then he hurriedly said, "The assessment! Lord Hokage just sent someone to tell us that our graduation assessment... starts the day after tomorrow!"

"I heard... I heard the ninja conducting it is Lord Hokage's student, Jiraiya!!"