Escape Plan

Inside the cave, the firelight flickered, casting the shadows of the three Cloud Ninja against the rock wall like swaying ghosts.

In the consciousness space of Sawada Hiroki, that blue pop-up window remained suspended silently, as if it were the only beacon in the darkness.

[Detected another computer "Uzumaki Kushina", connect?]

Hiroki's consciousness transformed into a mouse cursor, and he "clicked" firmly on the sole [Yes] button.

Hum—

[Connecting to other computer "Uzumaki Kushina"...]

[...Connection successful...]

A window popped up, almost identical to the one he had seen when connecting to Sakuchi:

One header read [Uzumaki Kushina (C1:) System Disk], and below it was [Uzumaki Kushina (D1:) Memory Disk].

Inside the window, the same dense array of folders and files was listed, with the distribution and naming conventions exactly the same! By extension, perhaps the other Cloud Ninja, or even all other ninjas, were the same.

This was good news; it would save him a lot of time searching for files himself!

One had to know that what Hiroki lacked most right now was time!

Hiroki took a deep breath and began the most peculiar "instant messaging" session of his life. He immediately created a new file in this folder.

He named the file |A Message from Hiroki.txt|, then used his consciousness to rapidly "type" a line of text 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 shudder violently, and her breathing instantly became rapid.

Although he couldn't see the other person's "system processes," he could intuitively feel the intense reaction of her "hardware" through their physical contact.

"Mm..." A very faint, suppressed whimper came from behind him.

He immediately created another file: |Calm Down_This is my Kekkei Genkai.txt|, and explained inside: "This is a Kekkei Genkai that only awakens in our family during times of crisis, similar to the mental secret techniques of the Yamanaka clan. I can talk to you through my consciousness. We are safe for now, listen to my instructions!"

Then he followed the same format to quickly change the extension and save it.

This was the explanation he had prepared; in case they were rescued, it would be convenient to deal with the interrogators from the village later.

After "saving" this file, he held his breath and waited.

He didn't know if Kushina could understand this method of communication that transcended common sense, let alone if she would believe it. Every second of waiting felt like billions of empty cycles running on a CPU, agonizingly painful.

He didn't know how much time had passed—perhaps a second, perhaps ten—as countless files flashed by rapidly.

Suddenly, a file appeared.

|To Hiroki's words--Is this... real?.log|

Even the filename was filled with uncertainty and trembling.

Hiroki opened it, and the content inside was simple: "Hiroki? How... how is this possible? 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, faking unconsciousness. Those Cloud Ninja are very vigilant; we cannot make any rash moves. By the way, when you were captured, did you leave any clues?"

He had to shift Kushina's attention from "why is this happening" to "what should we do" as quickly as possible.

This time, Kushina's reply came much faster.

A file named |I left hair.txt| was returned almost instantly: "I did! I was secretly pulling out my own hair and dropping it on the ground the whole way! My hair is red; someone will definitely be able to find it!"

"Great!" Hiroki felt a surge of spirit.

At least the plot was still developing in its original way, so now he could look forward to Namikaze Minato catching up just like in the original story.

However, he still had to be careful and cautious, and be prepared for the possibility of himself and Kushina escaping on their own.

They could not pin all their hopes on Namikaze Minato, as no one could guarantee that the story would follow the original plot.

Hiroki continued to reply to Kushina:

"Yes, someone will definitely find the marks you left, after all, your hair is so conspicuous. But before that, we must prepare to save ourselves; we cannot pin all our hopes on others."

|Kushina's reply_How to save ourselves.log|:

"But we are both tied up... and there are three of them..."

This time, there was a long silence.

Hiroki also fell into silence; he didn't know how to save himself either.

No matter how he put it, no matter how well he could use his cheat, he was still just a programmer! A programmer who had never been on a battlefield in his life, nor had he ever seen a life-or-death struggle—what could a programmer do?

Silence...

Hiroki could feel Kushina's breathing becoming somewhat heavy.

It seemed to be because she hadn't received a response.

But just at this moment, [Ding-dong.]

"Install!" Hiroki did not hesitate.

This was the only way he could break the deadlock!

In an instant, a stream of sophisticated data, a hundred times more complex than the Rope Escape Technique and Cloud Style Taijutsu, surged into the depths of his consciousness like a bursting dam. The finger seals, the nature transformation of chakra, the resonance of his throat and mouth, and even every subtle tremor and coordination of his muscles during release...

Everything regarding this B-rank Lightning Style Ninjutsu, even the experience of Sakuchi releasing Lightning Style: False Darkness, was parsed into the most fundamental code and forcibly written into his [D Drive (Memory Drive)].

Hiroki was almost certain that if he were to release this ninjutsu himself, it would be no weaker than that Cloud Ninja.

Good news!

Even better news was that Lightning Style: False Darkness was an area-of-effect ninjutsu! It could split into multiple Thunder Spears simultaneously! If these Cloud Ninja were caught off guard, Hiroki had a real chance of killing them all!

But...

There was also some not-so-good news.

The chakra consumed by this B-rank ninjutsu was almost all of Hiroki's reserves. If he missed, Hiroki would be left waiting for death right there!

After a moment of thought, Hiroki immediately relayed this information to Kushina.

|Hiroki.log|: "I have a ninjutsu now that can fire three Thunder Spears in an instant. If they hit, I should be able to kill them. But I only have enough chakra to use it once!"

|Kushina_Shocked.log|: "Really!? You actually know a move like that? Weren't your grades in class just average? How do you know this?"

Hiroki did not answer the question. He took a deep breath and began to create the most important document of his life.

|Hiroki's Prison Break Plan.log|: "Kushina, we only have one chance! Rescue might come, but it might not! We must prepare ourselves! What time is it now?"

|Kushina_Shy_Ready_Excited.log|: "It's nighttime! We can wait until the second half of the night to launch the attack!"

Nighttime, huh?

|Hiroki's Prison Break Plan.log|: "I can't see the time. If you feel they are all asleep, you can remind me directly in your mind! I will try to release the ninjutsu at the fastest speed possible when the time comes!"

"Before I release the ninjutsu, I will notify you in the same way! If they have someone on watch, I will kill the guard first. If there are any ninja I don't manage to kill..."

"I will try to get close to the surviving ninja. My Kekkei Genkai should be able to control one ninja for a period of time! You look for an opportunity to kill the rest or escape!"

After a moment of silence, a file containing only one word appeared.

|Okay.log|

Inside the cave, a long silence fell, broken only by the crackling of the burning flames.

Hiroki could feel that Kushina's breathing had calmed down again. It was at this very moment that a Wi-Fi signal suddenly flashed!

|Namikaze Minato-Secure-Signal|