The Plan Exposed

Inside the cave, within the consciousness space of Sawada Hiroki, that Wi-Fi signal originating from Namikaze Minato shone like a lighthouse in a dark ocean—stable and powerful.

What is going on!? Why would a Wi-Fi signal appear, and is there any difference between a Wi-Fi signal and a physical connection?

Sawada Hiroki's mind raced.

He did not believe that Namikaze Minato also possessed a system cheat like his own.

Then, he could only analyze this from Namikaze Minato himself. Namikaze Minato was a sensory-type ninja, and at this point in time, he should not have learned the Flying Thunder God yet. In the original story, no one knew how he had managed to rescue Uzumaki Kushina from the Cloud Ninja all by himself—one had to remember that there were jonin among the Cloud Ninja.

Perhaps his chakra sensory signal was being identified by his own system as a Wi-Fi signal?

Regardless of the principle, that was not the point right now.

The point was that this signal meant there was a higher chance for him and Uzumaki Kushina to escape!

Sawada Hiroki did not hesitate for a second; his intent transformed into a command, and he selected [Connect].

Soon, Sawada Hiroki tried to open the system to see if connecting to the Wi-Fi would bring any new changes, but to his slight disappointment, it was less like connecting to the internet and more like remotely accessing a new computer.

A computer named Namikaze Minato.

But being able to connect remotely meant that having one more person was at least one more chance of success.

Sawada Hiroki immediately took action. He created a new text document and named it | Information on Sawada Hiroki and Uzumaki Kushina.log |.

He typed rapidly into the document: "I am Sawada Hiroki. Kushina and I are currently tied up inside a cave. We can break free at any time, but there are three Cloud Ninja here. I estimate it is a squad, and the leader might be a jonin."

Then, Sawada Hiroki clicked save.

But the next moment, an upload progress bar popped up, causing Sawada Hiroki to freeze.

--Remote transmission, does it actually have latency?!

But that was also reasonable.

In the forest outside the cave, a yellow figure darted through the trees like a ghost.

Namikaze Minato's gentle face was filled with anxiety. He had followed those sparse, almost imperceptible red strands of hair all the way here.

Uzumaki-san... and Sawada-san...

They had been abducted!

Where are they?

Could they have already been killed?

But just as Namikaze Minato prepared to investigate further, something incredibly clear flashed through his mind—something that felt like his own thought, yet absolutely could not have been his own thought!!

"I am Sawada Hiroki. Kushina and I are currently tied up inside a cave. We can break free at any time, but there are three Cloud Ninja here. I estimate it is a squad, and the leader might be a jonin."

This, is this my own thought? Am I Sawada Hiroki?!

Namikaze Minato looked around in shock, but he did not see anyone.

Who is it?

Who projected thoughts into his head?

Namikaze Minato's footsteps came to an abrupt halt, and he almost fell from the treetop, his face showing a look of mixed shock and confusion for the first time.

What is this?

But just as Namikaze Minato was puzzled, a new message appeared.

|This should count as a Kekkei Genkai I just awakened; it seems somewhat similar to the secret techniques of the Yamanaka Clan. I can use this method to transmit some information to you...|

Namikaze Minato gritted his teeth.

Could this be true?

Should he believe it?

He had reason to believe it! Namikaze Minato thought quickly and assessed the situation! If the other party could project words directly into his mind and really wanted to do something harmful to him, they could have completely controlled him with genjutsu, and he would have had no ability to resist at all!

The next moment, Namikaze Minato tried to recite a message silently.

"Hello, I am Namikaze Minato. Sawada Hiroki-kun, please tell me your specific direction, specific location, and the surrounding environment. I will provide support immediately! Furthermore, I have already notified the Anbu, and I believe they will provide support very soon!"

Specific location, surrounding environment?

Sawada Hiroki thought silently. This was indeed a necessary requirement, so how should he transmit the information? He was currently in a low-performance state, and his body still felt as if it were unconscious.

He could only rely on Uzumaki Kushina.

After briefly informing Uzumaki Kushina, Sawada Hiroki quickly opened Uzumaki Kushina's system drive, searching for the corresponding file.

|Hiroki.log|: "I discovered that someone is looking for us. I have already made contact with him. I need you to carefully observe the surrounding environment; I am going to try to send what you see to him!"

|Kushina_shocked_excited_worshipful_trusting.log|"Okay! I'm looking around as hard as I can right now, see if you can read those images from my mind!"

Found it!

Just one or two seconds after Kushina gave her response, a new file quickly appeared.

|Cave_environment_21:44:51_Cloud Ninja preparing to rest.jpg|

It was a .jpg file! This was an image cache!

Hiroki opened it immediately to take a look!

In an instant, a window popped up in Hiroki's consciousness.

The image inside the window was somewhat blurry and dim; it was the scene inside the cave from Kushina's perspective—the flickering firelight, the two Cloud Ninja preparing to rest, and the Cloud Ninja squad leader on watch, who was facing the cave entrance and wiping a kunai in boredom!

So, he didn't know when, but had that Sakuchi already left?

Hiroki checked the connection, and sure enough, the connection with Sakuchi had already been severed, but the notification box had been buried in his conversation with Kushina and Minato, so he hadn't noticed.

But regardless, this meant he could pass the information to Minato, right!

Hiroki immediately uploaded this file to Namikaze Minato.

Within a few seconds, he received a reply from Namikaze Minato.

"Success!" Hiroki felt a surge of joy in his heart and quickly checked Minato's reply!

|Namikaze Minato's reply to Sawada Hiroki_maintain_minimum_trust.log|:"I've been to this place! I'll arrive in five minutes at most! If possible, please prepare in advance!"

Beautiful!

Hiroki instinctively wanted to shout "Nice!" out loud. Everything was ready, waiting only for the thunderous strike; when the time came, he would shatter the darkness with his Thunder Spear!

But just at that moment, an unexpected change occurred!

In Hiroki's mental space, a brand-new Wi-Fi signal suddenly flickered into existence!

|Samora-Secure-Signal_Strong|

!!

Who is this? Someone is in their vicinity!?

Alarm bells rang in Hiroki's mind, and he immediately attempted to connect. This time, perhaps because they were in such close proximity, the connection succeeded almost instantly. He dove directly into the other party's [Temp] folder.

Rows of newly generated log files made his blood run cold.

|Sensing_abnormal_chakra_fluctuation.log|

|Searching_for_source_target_brat.log|

|Is_it_a_mental_secret_technique?.log|

It's a Cloud Ninja!?? They discovered him!?

Sawada Hiroki didn't even have time to be shocked; he immediately clicked on the latest log, and the content within made his soul tremble with fear:

"...Abnormal chakra, it seems like something was sent out! It lasted for almost an instant! The source seems to be that unconscious brat?! So the previous anomalies Sakuchi mentioned were caused by this brat!?"

"Sakuchi's guess seems to be correct; this brat is indeed not simple! No! This thing, whether it's a secret technique or some kind of Kekkei Genkai, is too dangerous! It's too likely to affect this mission! Even if it leaves a trail, he must be killed immediately!"

This Cloud Ninja was actually able to sense the chakra fluctuations when he transmitted information!?

There were actually chakra fluctuations when he transmitted information and images remotely!?!?!??

Damn it!

He had to attack him before he could attack!

Hiroki quickly opened the task manager and terminated his own fear, which brought his brain to a state of absolute calm.

He made an immediate judgment: there was no time left to notify Minato to change the plan. Minato's signal was weak, information transmission took time, and the enemy would strike in the next second!

The only way to survive was to launch a forced attack before the enemy could act!

With the fastest speed possible, Hiroki immediately created a document within his connection to Kushina!

"Plan aborted! They found out! Do it now, attack immediately!"