Recaps

Sawada Hiroki’s long-delayed system finally activated when three Kumogakure ninjas ambushed him and Uzumaki Kushina in the forest. After he rushed through its setup, the attackers knocked him unconscious, leaving his fate unresolved.

• Sawada Hiroki followed Uzumaki Kushina into the forest after she ran away from throwing practice.
• Three Kumogakure ninjas ambushed Sawada Hiroki, and Kushina stepped out to defend him.
• The Cloud Ninjas identified Kushina as an Uzumaki descendant, knocked her unconscious, and decided to take Hiroki as well.
• Sawada Hiroki’s stalled progress bar reached 100%, and a system began its setup while time appeared to freeze.
• Sawada Hiroki completed the system setup, but time resumed and a ninja struck him unconscious.

After Cloud Ninja knocked him unconscious and carried him away, Hiroki used his computer-like Golden Finger to regain control of his consciousness and hide his condition. He discovered he could connect to the carrier Sakuchi’s system and began copying the ninja’s knowledge, but the transfer threatened to drain his life-supporting power within 23 hours.

• Hiroki opened Task Manager and ended Fear.exe, Dizziness.dll, and Neck_Pain.log, clearing his fear and pain enough to restart Body Control Panel.exe.
• When the Cloud Ninja threatened to hit him again, Hiroki activated Low Performance Mode, slowing his vital signs and making himself appear deeply comatose.
• Hiroki’s system detected Sakuchi through physical contact and established a temporary connection using the Chakra Communication Protocol.
• Hiroki copied Sakuchi’s files into a Ninjutsu Backup folder, including sword techniques, lightning-release training, and other ninja skills.
• The system estimated that copying 128,562 files would take 25 days and warned that Hiroki’s power would fall below the minimum needed to maintain vital signs in about 23 hours.

Hiroki abandoned his slow attempt to copy Sakuchi’s entire memory and used altered temporary thoughts to convince Sakuchi to argue against killing him. The Cloud Ninja captain agreed to keep Hiroki alive for now, giving him time to begin copying techniques that might help him escape.

• Hiroki canceled the full-disk copy and found a cached file showing Sakuchi suspected the captain might hog the credit for capturing Kushina.
• Hiroki duplicated and altered the thought file, then flooded Sakuchi’s Temp folder with copies to amplify his suspicion.
• Sakuchi stopped the captain from ordering Hiroki’s execution and argued that Hiroki might be a spy worth interrogating.
• The captain agreed to keep Hiroki alive under close watch, and Sakuchi carried him onward.
• Hiroki began copying the Rope Escape Technique, Lightning Release: False Darkness, and Cloud Style Taijutsu Basics from Sakuchi’s memory.

While captive, Hiroki learned the Rope Escape Technique and used a copied bodily signal to delay the Cloud Ninjas from killing him, but their captain grew suspicious. The group stopped in a cave with Hiroki bound to Kushina, and his system detected her as a new computer.

• Hiroki installed the Rope Escape Technique and decided to wait until he had copied three techniques or Konoha's pursuers arrived.
• When Sakuchi was about to kill him, Hiroki flooded Sakuchi's senses with urgent urination signals, forcing him to run to the bushes.
• The Cloud Ninja captain spotted Konoha Anbu pursuing them and ordered the group to carry Hiroki away, but questioned Sakuchi after noticing the coincidences.
• The captain checked Hiroki's pulse and eyes, then accepted that he seemed unconscious and ordered the group to flee at full speed.
• That night, the Cloud Ninjas rested in a hidden cave, where Sakuchi tied Hiroki back-to-back with Kushina.
• Hiroki's system detected Uzumaki Kushina as a new computer and asked whether to connect.

Hiroki secretly contacted Kushina through his unusual mental ability and devised a plan to escape their Cloud Ninja captors. As they waited for the right moment, a weak signal from Namikaze Minato appeared.

• Hiroki connected to Kushina and explained that he could communicate with her through his Kekkei Genkai.
• Kushina told Hiroki she had left strands of her red hair along the route as clues for rescuers.
• Hiroki installed Sakuchi's Lightning Style: False Darkness and learned he could use it once to fire three Thunder Spears.
• Hiroki and Kushina planned to attack at night, with Hiroki striking first and trying to control any surviving ninja.
• A weak secure signal from Namikaze Minato appeared in Hiroki's mental space.

Hiroki used his connection to Namikaze Minato to send information about the cave and arrange a rescue, but a Cloud Ninja detected the chakra fluctuations caused by the transmissions. The chapter ended with Hiroki warning Kushina to abandon the plan and attack immediately.

• Hiroki connected to Minato and sent him a message explaining that he and Kushina were captive in a cave with three Cloud Ninja.
• Minato received Hiroki’s message, contacted him mentally, and asked for their precise location and surroundings.
• Hiroki had Kushina observe the cave and sent Minato an image of the Cloud Ninja; Minato recognized the place and said he would arrive within five minutes.
• Hiroki connected to a signal named Samora-Secure-Signal and discovered that a Cloud Ninja had noticed his chakra transmissions and decided to kill him.
• Hiroki calmed himself, realized there was no time to alert Minato, and told Kushina that the plan was off and they had to attack.

Sawada Hiroki activated High Performance Mode and used Lightning Release: False Darkness to kill two Cloud Ninja and badly wound a third. Minato arrived and killed the wounded survivor, but Hiroki’s system battery ran out and he collapsed unconscious.

• Hiroki activated High Performance Mode as Samora attacked him.
• Hiroki broke free, dodged Samora’s kunai, and used Lightning Release: False Darkness to kill Samora and another Cloud Ninja while gravely wounding Sakuchi.
• Minato arrived and killed Sakuchi as the wounded Chunin tried to escape.
• Hiroki’s system entered sleep mode, and he lost consciousness.

Sawada Hiroki woke in Konoha Hospital after falling unconscious from a depleted battery and resolved to grow strong enough to protect Kushina from the future Nine-Tails attack. Namikaze Minato questioned him about the foreign jutsu used to kill the kidnappers, and Hiroki confirmed it was Lightning Style: False Darkness.

• Sawada Hiroki woke from his coma after his battery charged to six percent and realized low battery had caused him to pass out.
• Uzumaki Kushina rejoiced at Hiroki's awakening and said he had been unconscious for a day and a night.
• Hiroki resolved to get strong enough to intervene in the Nine-Tails' attack and noticed that his body had become skeletal.
• Namikaze Minato visited Hiroki and said he had found the kidnappers' bodies, both killed by the same technique.
• Namikaze Minato asked whether Hiroki had used Lightning Style: False Darkness, and Hiroki confirmed it.

Sawada Hiroki explained that a newly awakened Kekkei Genkai let him read an enemy’s thoughts, learn Lightning Style: False Darkness, and contact Minato. After accepting the explanation, Sarutobi Hiruzen rejected Danzo’s demand to place Hiroki under Root’s control and proposed an early graduation exam for Hiroki and Minato.

• Hiroki told Minato that his Kekkei Genkai let him learn the captured Cloud Ninja’s technique and that he attacked after the enemy discovered him.
• An Anbu Ninja reported Hiroki’s account to Sarutobi Hiruzen, whose investigations found no evidence contradicting it.
• Danzo demanded that Hiroki be placed under Root, but Hiruzen refused and argued that Hiroki was a child and a hero of Konoha.
• Hiruzen proposed that Hiroki and Minato graduate early after an exam to assess their abilities, and Danzo agreed to discuss who would examine them.

While recovering in the hospital, Hiroki tested his Golden Finger and learned that it could copy skills and knowledge from people he connected to, but the transfer required continuous physical contact. After a nurse left his range and interrupted the download, he considered whether WiFi connections could offer another way to copy ninjutsu.

• Hiroki overheard hospital staff praising him for defeating three Cloud Village ninjas and learned that the Hokage had ordered them to ensure his full recovery.
• When nurse Nakajima Aki changed his bandages, Hiroki connected to her and read her immediate thoughts and stored files.
• Hiroki copied five files from Nakajima Aki, including the Mystical Palm Technique and precise chakra control, but the transfer was too slow to finish before she left.
• Hiroki concluded that his Golden Finger required continuous physical contact and opened the list of nearby WiFi signals to explore another way to download skills.

Hiroki investigated the Wi-Fi signals and discovered Konoha's sensory ninja were monitoring him, while their mental defenses blocked him from copying their jutsu. Sarutobi Hiruzen then announced Hiroki's early graduation and a special exam, warning him to demonstrate abilities that seemed less dangerous and leaving Hiroki suspecting Shimura Danzō had taken an interest in him.

• Hiroki connected to Yamanaka Aya's signal and read files revealing that the Anbu suspected his Kekkei Genkai could read minds, copy jutsu, and communicate remotely.
• Hiroki tried to copy Yamanaka and Aburame clan techniques but was denied access because the ninja had mental defenses.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen visited Hiroki in the hospital and announced that he, Namikaze Minato, and Uzumaki Kushina would graduate early after a special exam.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen warned Hiroki that some villagers considered his Kekkei Genkai dangerous and urged him to show something less threatening during the exam.
• Hiroki wondered what Sarutobi Hiruzen meant and suspected Shimura Danzō was behind the village's scrutiny.

Sawada Hiroki interpreted the Third's warning as pressure to demonstrate useful but limited talent beyond his Kekkei Genkai. He devised a thought-overload technique and wrote two versions of a script, leaving him ready to test them on a target.

• Hiroki suspected the Third's warning was really about Danzo and feared the village would withhold resources and protection if he failed to show independent talent.
• Hiroki decided to exploit a flaw in hostile targets' temporary thought caches by copying their thoughts until their minds became overwhelmed.
• Hiroki reasoned that the technique would be powerful but limited because it required contact and caused only temporary confusion.
• Hiroki entered his consciousness space and began writing a script to multiply thoughts in a target's cache.
• Hiroki questioned whether his system used Chinese or familiar programming conventions, so he wrote the attack script in Chinese and planned to test it against a version in his original language.
• Hiroki saved the program as a .bat file and set out to find a target for testing.

After leaving the hospital, Hiroki tested his Brain Overload Script on Kushina and confirmed that it could temporarily disrupt her thoughts. Their conversation was interrupted by Minato, who announced that their graduation assessment would begin the day after tomorrow and be conducted by Jiraiya.

• Hiroki met Kushina at a dango shop and told her he needed help testing a new jutsu for the graduation assessment.
• At Training Ground No. 3, Hiroki connected to Kushina and ran Brain Overload Script, leaving her unable to think or move for several seconds.
• Hiroki stopped the jutsu and caught Kushina as she went limp; Kushina recovered and excitedly asked him to teach her the technique.
• Minato arrived and told Hiroki and Kushina that their graduation assessment would begin the day after tomorrow, with Jiraiya conducting it.

At the public exam in Konoha Martial Arts Hall, Jiraiya began a bell-grabbing test against Hiroki, Minato, and Kushina. Jiraiya's killing-intent genjutsu nearly immobilized the other two, but Hiroki cleared it and told them to help him touch Jiraiya once.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen defended holding a public test for Hiroki, Minato, and Kushina, while Shimura Danzō warned that Hiroki was an unstable factor.
• Tsunade questioned Sarutobi Hiruzen's decision and was surprised when Jiraiya appeared as the children's examiner.
• Jiraiya explained that the three had to work together to take one of his two bells, then announced the test had begun without warning.
• Jiraiya unleashed killing intent that left Minato and Kushina struggling to move, while Hiroki realized it concealed a genjutsu.
• Hiroki ended the fear and genjutsu processes in his mental space, regained his composure, and asked Minato and Kushina to help him touch Jiraiya once.

Hiroki helped Minato and Kushina break Jiraiya’s Genjutsu, then let them attack while he waited for a chance to trigger his Brain Overload attack. When Jiraiya grabbed his hand during a feigned ninjutsu attempt, Hiroki’s system connected to Jiraiya and launched the script.

• Hiroki sent Minato and Kushina a prompt telling them to use Genjutsu: Release, and both broke free of Jiraiya’s illusion.
• Kushina charged Jiraiya while Minato coordinated kunai and Body Flicker attacks, but Jiraiya dodged them and countered Minato with his white hair.
• Hiroki decided he needed Jiraiya to grab him so he could use his Brain Overload attack.
• Hiroki charged Jiraiya clumsily, threw a kunai, and began forming hand seals to make Jiraiya seize his hand.
• Hiroki’s system established a temporary connection to Jiraiya and launched Brain Overload Script.bat.

Sawada Hiroki made Jiraiya's Shadow Clone stiffen and vanish during the examination, while the real Jiraiya crashed into a women's bathhouse after his thoughts were overwhelmed. Danzo concluded Hiroki had used a dangerous mental attack and resolved to recruit him into Root.

• Jiraiya grabbed Sawada Hiroki during the examination, but his Shadow Clone stiffened and burst into smoke.
• At a women's bathhouse, the real Jiraiya lost control, fell through the roof, and was attacked by the furious bathers.
• Kushina praised Hiroki and asked whether his technique was their secret, while Minato wondered how Hiroki had affected Jiraiya.
• Tsunade realized Jiraiya had likely gone to the bathhouse again, and Sarutobi Hiruzen reacted with awkward disbelief.
• Shimura Danzo inferred that Hiroki had attacked Jiraiya's consciousness through touch and decided to bring him into Root.

Sawada Hiroki, Namikaze Minato, and Uzumaki Kushina passed Jiraiya’s exam and were promoted to Genin. The Hokage assigned Minato to Jiraiya and decided Hiroki and Kushina would wait for Orochimaru, leaving Hiroki unsettled by his future teacher.

• Sarutobi Hiruzen announced that Sawada Hiroki, Namikaze Minato, and Uzumaki Kushina had passed the exam and become Genin.
• Jiraiya praised Minato and Kushina’s potential and described Hiroki as a seasoned, tactical thinker.
• Jiraiya refused to take all three children because he had already promised to train Dekai and a boy from the Uchiha Clan.
• Shimura Danzō proposed taking Hiroki and Kushina into Root, but Sarutobi Hiruzen rejected him and chose to wait for Orochimaru.
• Sarutobi Hiruzen assigned Minato to Jiraiya and told Hiroki and Kushina they would become Orochimaru’s students when he returned.

After becoming Genin, Kushina worried that she had contributed little to the test and might never become Hokage. She tried to cheer up the quiet Hiroki by taking him for ramen, then asked him to teach her how to get stronger.

• Minato said goodbye to Kushina and Hiroki, then left with Jiraiya.
• Kushina reflected on Hiroki’s calm way of treating her red hair and wondered why he seemed troubled.
• Kushina compared her performance in the test with Minato’s and Hiroki’s, then worried that she was too ordinary to become Hokage.
• Kushina tugged Hiroki’s sleeve and asked why he was unhappy after passing the test.
• Hiroki said he was thinking about the future, and Kushina led him to a ramen shop, offering to treat him.
• Kushina asked Hiroki to teach her how to get stronger after they ate.

Hiroki considered how to use his Golden Finger to become stronger and help Kushina grow stronger, imagining ways to modify the information and systems in their brains and bodies. He recognized that energy costs and compatibility problems could make those experiments dangerous, and planned to study his system further at home before Orochimaru returned to the village.

• Hiroki reasoned that his Golden Finger could modify information in the brain and body to improve training, reactions, memory, and muscle growth.
• Hiroki considered copying ninjutsu files into Kushina and using his Golden Finger to control how others learned and performed techniques.
• Hiroki recalled that using Lightning Style: False Darkness had nearly drained his energy and wondered what rules governed the cost of running copied techniques.
• Hiroki questioned how Kushina could install and use transferred files, given differences in interfaces, bodies, chakra, and compatibility.
• Kushina pointed out that Hiroki's ramen was getting soggy, and he ate it before deciding to explore his system at home.

Hiroki planned experiments to use his computer-like consciousness to improve strength and transfer programs between minds, then successfully created a script to monitor his body. He found the system file for muscle control and opened a text copy, whose contents surprised him.

• Hiroki agreed to help Kushina become stronger and returned home to research a way to do it.
• Hiroki wrote an experiment plan covering bodily optimization, ninjutsu analysis, and transferring programs into another person’s mind.
• Hiroki created and ran a resource-monitor script that displayed his battery level, CPU usage, and memory in real time.
• Hiroki searched his system directories for the file controlling muscle growth and found Muscle Manager.sys in the Biological Drivers folder.
• Hiroki copied Muscle Manager.sys, changed the copy’s extension to .txt, and opened it, widening his eyes at what he saw.

Hiroki discovered that [Muscle Growth Manager.sys] controlled muscle growth and drafted a patch to trigger growth without exercise. He decided to test it on mice before considering how to help Kushina become stronger.

• Hiroki opened [Muscle Growth Manager.sys] and found its layered system for controlling movement, fatigue, and muscle growth.
• He drafted a patch that simulated fatigue and bypassed the usual exercise-related growth trigger.
• Hiroki added safety checks to limit growth according to protein and energy reserves.
• He considered using the technique on other people but decided to focus on testing it first.
• Hiroki rejected experimenting on himself and set off to catch mice in the forest.

Orochimaru returned to Root, where Danzō told him about Sawada Hiroki’s unusual Kekkei Genkai and considered shaping him into a replacement for the Uchiha. Meanwhile, Hiroki’s muscle-growth script produced a dramatically enlarged rat, but the test subject suddenly stopped moving.

• Orochimaru reported to Danzō after completing his mission, and Danzō explained Hiroki’s abilities and his plan to use the boy against the Uchiha.
• A Root shinobi reported that Hiroki had stayed home and caught two mice, prompting Orochimaru to suggest assessing Hiroki and the animals himself.
• Hiroki recorded that his script had caused a rat to gain 107 grams of muscle in a week, far surpassing the control rat.
• Hiroki’s experimental rat twitched, stopped moving, and left a pungent smell of urine in its cage.

Hiroki discovered that his muscle-growth experiment had killed a mouse through acute kidney failure, while Orochimaru investigated Hiroki’s unusual Kekkei Genkai. Orochimaru went to question Hiruzen so he could learn more about the boy and decide how to test him.

• Hiroki found Pointy-headed Mouse dead and realized its disappearance from his mental system meant it had shut down.
• Hiroki performed an autopsy and found that the mouse’s overworked kidneys had failed under the strain of continuous muscle growth.
• Hiroki concluded that he needed to lower the growth settings and planned to catch more mice for future experiments.
• Orochimaru reviewed Kushina’s and Hiroki’s files, noting that Hiroki’s sudden change followed the Cloud Village kidnapping incident.
• Orochimaru went to the Hokage’s office to ask Hiruzen for more information and consider how to test Hiroki’s Kekkei Genkai.

Hiroki and Kushina waited for Orochimaru to return, then were summoned to Training Ground 44 for an assessment. Before meeting them, Orochimaru inspected Hiroki’s animal experiments and grew suspicious of his unexplained knowledge.

• Kushina complained to Hiroki that Orochimaru had been away on a mission for two weeks, while Hiroki reflected on his progress with his Memory Disk and muscle-growth experiments.
• A family recognized Hiroki and Kushina at the ramen shop and asked them to sign their young son’s back, prompting the two to leave for the hills.
• An Anbu Ninja informed Hiroki and Kushina that Orochimaru had returned and ordered them to Training Ground 44 for a personal assessment.
• Orochimaru secretly visited Hiroki’s home and examined the control, failed-experiment, and successful-experiment animal groups.
• Orochimaru wondered where Hiroki had learned to conduct experiments and considered whether he might be a Cloud Ninja spy.

Hiroki and Kushina met Orochimaru in the Forest of Death, where his test triggered a strange attack that overloaded Hiroki’s System Resource Monitor. Hiroki’s sudden confession distracted Kushina, but a green snake emerged from his throat and strangled him, leaving his fate unclear.

• Kushina complained about the Forest of Death as she followed Hiroki to meet Orochimaru.
• Orochimaru appeared from the shadows and announced that their test had begun.
• Hiroki’s System Resource Monitor warned of an anomaly as its CPU and memory readings surged.
• Under the attack, Hiroki confessed his feelings to Kushina, who became flustered and asked to talk after the test.
• A green snake crawled out of Hiroki’s throat, coiled around his neck, and knocked him to the ground.