12 years old!!!
Did that mean...?!
Nawaki would die this year??
And quite possibly during a mission in the near future?
Hiroki's eyes widened in shock. This was the second plot event he had encountered since his transmigration. Compared to the first, the Cloud Ninja invasion, this event's impact was much more immediate.
—Death.
If the only effect of the Cloud Ninja invasion and Kushina's abduction in the original story was to give Kushina a reason to fall for Namikaze Minato, then Nawaki's death in this event heralded the coming of a war.
The Second Shinobi World War.
This was a very unusual Shinobi World War! Hiroki hurriedly searched through his memories, flipping through all the information he could recall.
First of all, the Second Shinobi World War's direct consequences were that the Sannin became famous, Nawaki and Dan Katō died, Tsunade developed hemophobia, the White Fang became famous, and Sasori lost both his parents.
Then, just three to five years after the war ended, the Third Shinobi World War began, sparked by Sasori's assassination of the Third Kazekage. It was even more brutal!
...There wasn't much time left.
For the first time, Hiroki truly understood the gravity of the situation.
But there was nothing he could say right now. Could he tell them a war was about to begin? He had no way to explain how he knew.
Besides, Konoha had probably realized that war was coming, too...
Still, talk was just talk. They still had to carry out their mission.
They had to find "Tora," the pet cat that had gone missing from the Land of Fire's daimyo's wife. It seemed to be a mission that had appeared in the original story, too. But Hiroki found it hard to believe that the daimyo's wife Naruto and the others had encountered in the original story was the same woman he'd met.
There might not even have been just one cat, since Hiroki had never heard of a cat living for twenty or thirty years.
The one they were looking for was a calico cat with golden fur and a silvery undercoat. Its stripes resembled a tiger's, hence the name Tora.
It hadn't been long since Orochimaru explained the mission when they spotted the cat.
"Found it!"
Nawaki pointed at the large, multicolored cat on a wall at the street corner and announced confidently, "Hmph! Even if it's just finding a cat, I'm still the first one on our team to spot it!"
The tabby looked like trouble. It was sprawled lazily atop the wall, gazing down at the three of them with the scornful look of someone watching fools.
"So what if you found it? It's way up there. How are we supposed to get it down?" Kushina retorted, unconvinced. She looked up at the wall, which was at least three meters high, and frowned.
Orochimaru stood silently to one side. Only after both children turned to him for help did he speak slowly. "One of the most basic abilities of a ninja is chakra control. By concentrating chakra in the soles of your feet, you can adhere to a surface and climb vertically."
As he spoke, he stepped onto the vertical wall as casually as if he were out for a stroll, then walked up it step by step until he was standing securely on the wall.
"The principle is simple. Try it yourselves." Then he remained there, watching them quietly.
"Wow! That's amazing!" Nawaki's eyes lit up at once. He charged forward first, imitating Orochimaru. With a shout, he gathered chakra beneath his feet and rushed at the wall.
"Thud!"
He managed about two steps before his chakra wavered and dispersed. He slid down awkwardly and landed hard on his backside.
"Hahaha, what a loser!" Kushina teased. Then she took a deep breath herself and carefully coated the soles of her feet with chakra.
She was steadier than Nawaki and managed to stand on the wall, but her chakra control was still too rough. She put too much force into her feet, leaving a shallow dent in the bricks, and the recoil sent her flying back down.
Neither of them would give up. They tried again and again, failing each time. Soon, the wall was covered in a mess of footprints and dents.
Hiroki didn't rush to try.
He simply stood there with his eyes closed, as though he were sensing something.
In reality, he had quietly entered his mindscape and opened Windows.
As a programmer, Hiroki figured he'd get the hang of it faster by writing code than by charging in and hoping to master it through trial and error.
He remembered that Sasuke Uchiha, hailed as a genius in the original story, and Naruto Uzumaki, who was also a genius, had both taken about a week to learn tree climbing.
He didn't want to spend that much effort.
As it happened, he had copied the Shadow Clone yesterday. When he got home, he'd tried to have a clone help him unpack the newly copied [Vacuum Sphere]. He'd actually made some progress.
The Vacuum Sphere template was roughly divided into the following components.
—Code Framework—
├── Core Execution Module │ ├── Chakra Collection.bat │ ├── Wind Nature Conversion.bat │ ├── Compression and Formation.bat │ └── Launch Control.bat ├── Parameter Configuration Module │ ├── Chakra Flow Rate.config │ ├── Wind Release Conversion Rate.config │ ├── Pressure Threshold Settings.config │ └── Trajectory Calculation.config ├── Physiological Interface Calls │ ├── Lung System Interface.dll │ ├── Throat Control Interface.dll │ ├── Meridian System Interface.dll │ └── Balance Perception Interface.dll └── Feedback System ├── Chakra Flow Perception.dat ├── Ninjutsu Formation Tactile Feedback.dat ├── Success Confirmation Signal.dat └── Failure Warning Mechanism.dat
—Code Framework—
Hiroki had confirmed that the file for sensing chakra flow could be reused directly. The same code appeared in Lightning Style: False Darkness, and the two were almost identical.
The [Chakra Collection] code, however, was a little different.
This was a good opportunity to mention something about chakra.
Chakra might look a lot like inner energy, but it was very different from the inner energy and true qi of martial arts stories. It was drawn out and used in real time. Any chakra not used immediately dissipated quickly and went to waste.
So, since the two techniques differed in whether they used Wind Release or Lightning Release, and were also different in size, the parts of the body used to gather chakra differed as well.
But that didn't stop Hiroki from reusing the code.
Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V!
Hmph~ Creating a ninjutsu wasn't so hard after all~!
Hiroki snorted as lines of code appeared in an instant.
—Code—
// Chakra control core extracted from Vacuum Sphere // Original target: throat → lungs → mouth // Modified target: lower abdomen → legs → soles of feet function PreciseChakraOutput(targetPart: string, outputPower: float) { // Original code: call throat meridians // if (targetPart == "throat") { // throatMeridians.open(); // setFlowRate(outputPower); // } // Modified: call foot meridians if (targetPart == "left sole" || targetPart == "right sole") { footMeridians.open(); setFlowRate(outputPower * 0.3); // Lower the power to avoid damaging the wall like Kushina } } function MaintainStableOutput() { // Original code: maintain continuous Wind Release chakra output while (ninjutsuNotFinished) { currentChakraLevel = detectCurrentOutput(); if (currentChakraLevel < targetValue * 0.95) { increaseOutput(adjustmentAmount); } if (currentChakraLevel > targetValue * 1.05) { decreaseOutput(adjustmentAmount); } wait(10 milliseconds); // Check every 10 milliseconds } } function EmergencyShutdown() { // If chakra control fails, cut off output immediately footMeridians.close(); clearChakraCache(); }
—Code—
But just after copying and writing the code, Hiroki suddenly realized there was a very important problem.
How much chakra should he output to stick to the wall without damaging it?
And what were the units for chakra?
At that thought, he couldn't help looking toward Orochimaru.
Before you continue