Chapter 445: Upper Rank Two — a Major Chat Group Update
So Admin-sama really did know which demon had killed her sister, Kanae Kochō!
Shinobu didn't doubt Ryū for a second, didn't question a word the group's Admin had told her.
There was simply no reason for him to lie about something like this.
No reason for him to deceive her at all, in fact.
Which meant her sister...
Had died at the hands of Upper Rank Two.
A flicker of pure hatred burned in Shinobu's eyes. She trudged unevenly through the snow, one hand gripping her sword hilt in a death grip, her teeth clenched hard.
The hand wrapped around the hilt had already gone pale, tinged faintly blue — partly from the brutal cold, partly from how hard she was gripping it.
"Upper Rank Two..." Shinobu took a deep breath, forcing down the rage boiling inside her.
She knew that anger alone wouldn't accomplish anything.
Would getting angrier bring her sister back?
Clearly not.
Truthfully, Shinobu had carried, from the very start, a hope she herself knew was probably naive — that once she grew powerful enough, she might somehow bring her departed sister back to life.
Pull a soul that had already crossed over into the land of the dead, back into the world of the living.
Maybe that didn't account for what the departed soul itself might actually want.
But Shinobu wasn't in a position to worry about her sister's own feelings on the matter.
She knew this goal was what she was fighting for — the driving force behind her own growth.
Insect Breathing: Thank you so much, Admin-sama!!
Insect Breathing: I'm endlessly grateful!!
RawrSoFierce: Just like that, you believe it? Don't you want to double-check whether what I said was even true?
Insect Breathing: Admin-sama is genuinely powerful — there's no way you'd lie to me about something like this!
Insect Breathing: I'll always trust you, Admin-sama!
Crazy Diamond: And there it is — another newcomer girl falling under Admin-sama's spell. sob When's it going to be my turn to find someone, being perpetually single and all?
Edward Newgate: Gurararara, Josuke, want me to introduce you to a girl sometime?
Crazy Diamond: I'll pass on anyone from your world, old man — not sure I could handle it, honestly...
Edward Newgate: Oh? Looking down on girls who stand eight or nine feet tall and weigh a few hundred pounds, are you?
Eternally Seventeen: The topic's gone off the rails, everyone!
Eternally Seventeen: Discussing this kind of thing in front of so many underage girls is genuinely shameful.
Eternally Seventeen: Ugh, a young thing like me really doesn't want to get corrupted by the rest of you.
Kaguya-sama: Y-young thing?
Eternally Seventeen: Hm? Darling little Kaguya, surely you don't doubt I'm actually seventeen?
Kaguya-sama: You're Eternally Seventeen!
"..."
Sure enough, the Dimensional Chat Group's conversations rarely held a single topic for more than ten-odd minutes — the moment some lurker surfaced to say hello, the whole thing would go careening off in another direction entirely.
Watching her senpais' lively back-and-forth unfold in the chat —
Shinobu found the anger that had been building in her, fueled by hatred —
Already starting to fade, if only somewhat.
"If I could actually bring my sister back... maybe I'd feel this happy too, someday." Shinobu felt the weight of everything she was carrying, and found herself, in a small way, wanting that same freedom — to chat idly in the group, happy and carefree.
To get to know her fellow members across countless worlds. Maybe, someday, even meet some of them in person.
After all, the Dimensional Chat Group did have a world-crossing feature, didn't it?
Not that Shinobu had ever actually used it herself.
But right now, she had so much weight on her shoulders. Avenge her sister. Bring her sister back. Cut down the demon responsible. Defeat Muzan himself.
And then — just then —
A notification window suddenly popped up in the Dimensional Chat Group.
Shinobu froze.
Because this was a genuine system notice.
"A major chat group update?!" Seeing the sudden announcement, Shinobu murmured to herself, bewildered. "This update will take 12 hours. Updates include: [Red Envelope feature optimization], [World-crossing feature optimization], [Chat interface optimization], [Group Files optimization]; [New: Group World feature]; [Group Quest feature changes]..."
A dense wall of optimizations, additions, and changes left Shinobu's head spinning.
She genuinely couldn't make heads or tails of what any of it actually meant.
Had no idea what this "new feature" was even supposed to do.
Then, to her shock, she realized —
She couldn't open the chat interface anymore.
A progress bar appeared in front of her, reading: 01%!
Inching forward at an agonizingly slow pace.
02%, 03%, 04%...
"Does the chat open back up once this bar finishes loading?" Shinobu had to admit she'd felt a small jolt of panic, finding herself suddenly locked out of the chat.
Nobody who had something as extraordinary as the Dimensional Chat Group in their life wanted to give it up.
And certainly nobody wanted to be abandoned by it, either.
Shinobu was no exception.
She'd only just learned, through the group, who her true enemy actually was. Only just gained strength far beyond what she'd ever had before. Only just found a real chance at bringing her sister back.
If all of that — her hopes, her opportunities, everything — got stripped away all at once...
Shinobu genuinely couldn't say whether she'd be able to keep her composure.
Meanwhile, in the Naruto world, Konoha —
"A major chat group update?" Seeing the same notice, Ryū blinked, mildly surprised, though nowhere near as rattled as Shinobu had been.
The Dimensional Chat Group had rolled out major updates plenty of times before, after all.
Every update brought some feature optimizations, some new additions, some general improvements.
This one looked to be no exception.
"Twelve hours for this one, huh." Ryū's mouth twitched slightly, watching the painfully slow progress bar crawl forward.
That speed was genuinely abysmal — like watching a 2G connection struggle along.
He remembered that, back before he'd transmigrated into the Naruto world, Earth had already been well on its way to rolling out widespread 5G coverage.
This chat group really hadn't kept up with the times.
The minutes ticked by, and the twelve hours passed in the blink of an eye.
For some of the group's more dedicated chat-addicts, though, those twelve hours had been genuine agony.
Eternally Seventeen: Finally, the chat's back open! Unbelievable, making this one wait a full twelve hours, unacceptable — by the time it's done, all the flowers I've been growing will have withered away! Finally, update's complete!
Edward Newgate: Gurararara, witnessed another major update, have we. A new "Group World" feature this time?
My True Form Is Cola:pops in!! The quest feature's been changed? Let me go take a look~
Wandering Little Planet: So many features optimized again this time!
Wandering Little Planet: Admin-sama, give us a rundown, would you!
Secretary Chika: Standing by!
Hero for Fun: Standing by, eating some monster meat while I wait.
"..."