Awakening

The smell of disinfectant, the rough feel of the bedsheets.

And the aching heaviness in his limbs, as if every last bit of strength had been drained from him.

When Sawada Hiroki's consciousness resurfaced from the depths of darkness, the first thing he saw was a prompt in his mindscape.

[Warning: Battery level below 5%. System has been forced into sleep mode.]

[Recommendation: Connect to a power source immediately.]

[Power source connected. The power adapter supplying the current computer does not provide sufficient wattage. Performance may be restricted to prevent battery drain.]

[Charging...]

Insufficient wattage?

Hiroki's consciousness gave a wry smile. Why did every prompt sound so much like a computer? He glanced at them; they seemed to be the previous prompts.

His battery level had now recovered to around six percent.

That seemed to be why he had woken from his coma.

—So the pseudo-coma from Low Performance Mode meant he could wake up at any time, but sleep mode from low battery meant he had actually passed out?

He'd have to be careful from now on. No matter what, he needed to make sure his battery never got too low.

Hiroki struggled to open his eyes. The white ceiling of Konoha Hospital came into view. Beside him, an IV bag hung from a stand, its tube connected to the back of his hand.

He was on a drip. That was probably the low-wattage power adapter.

Soft sunlight streamed in through the window, and the hazy feeling of just waking up made Hiroki instinctively raise a hand to shield his eyes.

"...Hiroki?"

A voice heavy with a nasal sniffle, full of surprise and delight, sounded beside him.

Hiroki turned his head and saw Uzumaki Kushina slumped by his bedside, tear tracks still on her face.

She seemed to have cried herself to sleep. Now, his slight movement had startled her awake. Her swollen red eyes were first clouded with confusion, then filled with overwhelming joy.

"Hiroki! You're awake! You're finally awake!"

Kushina sprang to her feet. Her abrupt movement knocked the chair over, and it clattered loudly to the floor. But she didn't even notice. She gripped the edge of the bed with both hands, her body trembling with excitement as tears welled up again despite her best efforts.

"You scared me to death... The doctor said you'd only run out of chakra, but you were unconscious for a whole day and night... I..."

Watching her stumble over her words, crying with relief, Hiroki sighed, though a warmth spread through his heart.

In his previous life as a wage-slave programmer, who besides his parents had ever worried about him like this?

Whether he liked it or not, whether he admitted it or not, he and Kushina had formed a bond that couldn't be severed. He couldn't stand by like an outsider and watch her have the Nine-Tails extracted from her in the future, indifferent to her death.

Even if he didn't want to, his original plan to "live a quiet, uneventful life like a plant until old age" had been completely scrapped.

He had to get stronger.

Strong enough, at the very least... to intervene in the Nine-Tails' attack caused by Uchiha Obito!

"I'm fine," Hiroki rasped. He was so weak he couldn't even lift a hand. "I'm just... a little hungry."

Hungry. Very hungry.

"I'll get the doctor! I'll get you something to eat!" Kushina roughly wiped her face and turned to run out.

"Sorry for the trouble," Hiroki called after her, stopping her. "By the way, I haven't thanked you yet. You've been here a long time, haven't you?"

She'd said he'd been unconscious for a day and a night. She must have been keeping watch, which was why she'd noticed the moment he woke up.

Kushina stopped in her tracks. She turned back and looked at the pale but clear-eyed boy on the hospital bed, her cheeks inexplicably flushing. She shook her head hard and puffed out her chest, trying to regain her usual bravado. "Y-you idiot! What are you talking about? I'm the one who should be thanking you! You... back then... you were amazing... Hmph! I-I'm going to get you something to eat!"

Her voice grew quieter with every word. When she saw Hiroki smiling, she gave a disgruntled snort and hurried away, almost as if she were fleeing.

Hiroki shook his head with amusement and looked down at his body.

Kushina stopped in her tracks. She turned back and looked at the pale but clear-eyed boy on the hospital bed, her cheeks inexplicably flushing.

Hiroki shook his head with amusement. Kids really were something. Then he lowered his gaze and examined his body.

His body, which had been fairly well-proportioned before, now looked almost skeletal. The little fat he'd had was nearly gone without a trace.

Only a thin layer of skin remained stretched over his muscles and bones, making him look ghastly, like a dried corpse.

Kushina hadn't mentioned it while she was complaining just now. Maybe she'd been trying to spare his feelings.

This might have been a side effect of his Golden Finger. Battery power, taken literally, was what powered a computer. If his body was like a computer, then the thing powering it seemed to be fat.

So battery drain turning into fat loss seemed reasonable. He'd never have to worry about getting fat again.

But why had his battery drained so quickly?

—What kind of computer couldn't last even a minute in High Performance Mode?

Hiroki was puzzled, but then he guessed it might have been a problem with Lightning Style: False Darkness. Perhaps the technique he'd copied had a bug that caused the battery to drain rapidly while he used it.

As he pondered this, someone knocked softly on the hospital room door twice.

"Come in," Hiroki called.

The door opened, and a blond head peered inside.

Namikaze Minato, his blond hair bright, stepped into the room. When he saw Hiroki awake, relief spread across his gentle face. "That's wonderful, Hiroki. You're awake."

His expression was complicated. Hiroki couldn't tell what feelings lay behind it. He seemed a little envious, along with something else.

Minato sat down after a moment's hesitation, his expression and feelings still conflicted. He leaned forward slightly, his bright blue eyes fixed on Hiroki. "There's something I'm not sure I should ask you..."

"Go ahead." Hiroki nodded, waiting for him to continue.

He knew Minato hadn't come all this way just to visit him. After all, his relationship with Namikaze Minato wasn't nearly as close as the one he had with Kushina.

"I followed the trail of hair Uzumaki left behind... By the time I reached the cave, the fight was already over." His voice was soft and gentle, almost girlish.

"I examined the two bodies. Both had been pierced by the same technique. It killed them instantly."

He paused, seeming to watch Hiroki's reaction. Then he asked the key question, one word at a time:

"That was Lightning Style: False Darkness, right? A B-rank jutsu from Kumogakure. I read about it in a book."

Here it comes.

Hiroki looked at Minato. He wasn't sure whether Minato had noticed the problem on his own or had realized it because of some other factor. Either way, he was certain that Minato was watching his response.

—Why could a student from the Konoha Ninja Academy use an advanced secret technique from an enemy village?

Hiroki took a deep breath and met Minato's gaze. Minato still looked conflicted, but there was hope in his expression too, as if he wanted Hiroki to deny it.

After all, a student from the Konoha Ninja Academy shouldn't know a foreign village's jutsu. The only explanation would be that he was a Cloud Ninja spy, which would account for his use of Lightning Release, his capture alongside Kushina, and his eventual escape.

But under Minato's expectant gaze, Hiroki slowly opened his mouth.

He said:

"Yes. That was Lightning Style: False Darkness."