File Copy

25 days?!

When the glaring red warning text for [Low Performance Mode] surfaced in his consciousness, Hiroki almost couldn't maintain the composure forced on him by Task Manager.

You've got to be kidding me!

Forget 25 days—he wouldn't even survive 25 hours!

The Cloud Ninja captain had already given a clear order: as soon as they left the village's territory, they were to find somewhere to "dispose" of him.

The full-disk-copying approach clearly wasn't going to work. His computer's copying speed seemed far too slow! He had no idea how he could upgrade its hardware, either...

He had to abandon full-disk copying, that classic brute-force approach. It was the least efficient and stupidest method.

He needed to think of a way to survive first, then find a way out of this situation and escape with Kushina!

For example, he could first copy a ninjutsu that would free him from the ropes, then rely on his own abilities to try to delete all of their ninjutsu and Taijutsu, and then... No, he didn't have a ninjutsu that could kill in one strike. He'd also need to copy one of those before he could escape!

But even then, he could only guarantee that he killed one person. The other Cloud Ninjas hadn't made contact with him. How could he delete their files?

Hiroki forced himself to think as quickly as he could.

His top priority now was... to stall.

Stall until Minato arrived, as he had in the original story, or until Anbu caught up with them!

But what could a programmer do to buy time?

It wasn't as if he could install a Trojan horse in their heads, was it?

Wait...

A Trojan horse?

Hiroki saw a way forward, and his eyes flickered.

He should be able to delete the other guy's files, right?

...No, that wouldn't work. Even if he could erase all of this guy's memories and thoughts, he could only kill one person. The moment the other ninjas caught on, they'd kill him.

Was there anything else he could do?

Hiroki turned his intention into a mouse cursor and decisively clicked the [Cancel] button on the file transfer window. Then he reopened the window called [Sakuchi's Computer].

Hiroki looked through the files on the man's C Drive.

Where would a real programmer look first when searching for a system vulnerability?

The answer was obvious.

Hiroki's attention settled on an inconspicuous folder: [Temp].

The temporary folder.

All kinds of caches, logs, and temporary data produced while the system was running were stored there. It was disorganized, enormous, and easy to overlook, yet it was the place that best reflected the system's current state.

Hiroki's intention "double-clicked" to open it.

A torrent of tiny files instantly flooded his "screen." Their names were a jumble: footstep_sound_01.wav, leaf_shape_scan.jpg, task_priority_log.txt...

Still, Hiroki could tell from their naming conventions that these files contained information about the outside world received by the Cloud Ninja Sakuchi, whose mind he was inside, as well as fleeting thoughts that had crossed his mind.

Hiroki rapidly browsed through these "cache files," searching for any opening he could exploit.

Suddenly, a file name made him stop.

suspicion_captain_credit_distribution.log

Hiroki's heart gave a violent thump. He immediately "opened" the log file. Inside was just one short text entry:

|xx-19:07:35|

|"That kid from the Uzumaki clan is worth a fortune... The captain wouldn't try to hog all the credit for this mission, would he..."|

That was it!

Hiroki's mind raced faster than ever, and he couldn't help smiling.

No, he couldn't smile yet.

Hiroki opened Task Manager and quickly ended the process named "Joy." He still needed to stay calm. He hadn't confirmed whether his bold idea would work!

He was going to copy this folder—but not for himself. He was copying it for the Cloud Ninja Sakuchi.

He couldn't force an entirely new thought into the other man's mind. That would be too abrupt. But

he could take this existing "thought file," modify it, and amplify it, filling the entire [Temp] folder with a perfectly reasonable "flash of inspiration" that Sakuchi himself had supposedly come up with.

His intention turned into a keyboard, and he began typing at lightning speed.

He selected "suspicion_captain_credit_distribution.log" and pressed [Ctrl+C] to copy it. Then he pressed [Ctrl+V] to paste.

suspicion_captain_credit_distribution_copy.log

He renamed the copy "hostage_value_assessment.log."

Then he "opened" the new file and, after the original text, "...That kid from the Uzumaki clan is worth a fortune...," inserted a new "variable":

--I can't kill the unconscious kid next to me yet. What if the captain takes the others and runs off with the red-haired kid while I'm busy disposing of the body?!

Once he'd done that, Hiroki didn't hesitate for a moment. He selected the modified "thought file," then put all his strength into pressing [Ctrl+V] hundreds of times in Sakuchi's [Temp] folder!

In an instant, hundreds of identical "temporary thoughts" were forcibly injected into Sakuchi's stream of immediate memories, washing over his original thoughts like a tidal wave.

In the real world, the Cloud Ninja squad was moving at high speed and was about to emerge from the last stretch of woods. The captain glanced at the sky and spoke coldly. "We'll stop here. Sakuchi, dispose of the kid. Make it quick, and don't leave any traces."

"Yes!" The Cloud Ninja called Sakuchi answered automatically, tossed Hiroki off his shoulder and onto the ground, then drew the Kunai at his waist.

But just as he was about to act, a thought shot through his mind like an electric current, intense and crystal clear: This kid... should he really kill him just like that?

What if the captain took the others and ran off with the red-haired kid while Sakuchi was busy disposing of the body? Could they be trying to use the opportunity to hog all the credit?!

The thought seemed so reasonable, as if it were the conclusion he had reached after careful consideration.

"Captain, wait!" Sakuchi blurted out.

The captain, who had been about to keep watch, frowned and looked back in annoyance. "What is it? What's taking you so long?"

"Captain, I think there's something off about this kid!"

As he spoke, Sakuchi nudged the motionless Hiroki with the toe of his boot. "Think about it. He managed to sneak out of the Ninja Academy with that Uzumaki girl, and then the two of them just happened to run into us. It's too much of a coincidence. What if... he's the child of someone important, sent to secretly protect the red-haired girl?"

A flash of impatience crossed the captain's eyes. "Don't make wild guesses. He's a kid with barely any chakra. What value could he possibly have?"

"No, the fact that his chakra is so weak is exactly what makes him suspicious!" Guided by the "cache" Hiroki had implanted, Sakuchi's reasoning became exceptionally "clear." "It could be a disguise! Take him back and have the specialists in the village interrogate him. We might get some unexpected information about Konoha's defenses. That'd be worth a lot more than killing him outright! Even if he's useless, we can deal with him later!"

Seeing how insistent and even agitated his subordinate was, the captain fell silent.

He thought Sakuchi was making a fuss over nothing, but there was some sense to what he'd said.

The mission to kidnap the Uzumaki descendant was S-rank. Any little gain was worth pursuing.

Most importantly, time was short. He didn't have time to argue about whether some kid should live or die.

"All right," the captain finally said, waving a hand impatiently. "We'll keep him for now. But keep a close eye on him. If he tries anything, kill him yourself!"

"Yes, Captain!" Sakuchi felt a surge of delight, convinced that he had effortlessly seen through the captain's scheme to keep the red-haired kid for himself!

As Sakuchi hoisted him onto his shoulder again, Hiroki let out a long breath deep inside.

He'd won the gamble.

His first "junk data attack" had successfully changed his death sentence to a "suspended sentence."

But he didn't dare relax. A "suspended sentence" still meant death.

His most important task was still finding a way out of this predicament! He had tried the junk-file attack to buy time.

And the point of buying time was, naturally, to copy ninjutsu! Hiroki stared longingly at the ninjutsu in the other man's library... There was so much of it, but he could only copy a tiny bit...

What a waste.

But staying alive came first! Hiroki didn't hesitate any longer. He quickly selected three techniques.

Rope Escape Technique, Lightning Release: False Darkness, and Cloud Style Taijutsu Basics!

The Rope Escape Technique was essential for breaking free. The Taijutsu basics might let him make physical contact with the enemy in a future fight and find an opportunity to implant junk data in an instant. As for Lightning Release: False Darkness, it was the only weapon he had to kill a Cloud Ninja with his bare hands!

In the next moment, three new tasks appeared in his "download list."

[Calculating required time and space...]

[3 files in total, total size: 17.24MB]

[Copying files from another computer (Sakuchi), D1 Drive (Memory Disk), to My Computer (Sawada Hiroki), D Drive (Memory Disk): Ninjutsu Backup]

[Remaining files: 3]

|File name|Size|Estimated time|

|Cloud Style Taijutsu Basics.zip|5.6MB|About 1 hour 2 minutes|

|Rope Escape Technique.zip|640KB|About 7 minutes|

|Lightning Release: False Darkness.exe|11.0MB|About 2 hours 3 minutes|