Chapter 42

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Choji and Lee were still stuck inside the maze of tunnels. Both boys had been taking on blunt shots from steel shells, rolling blades that cut deeply, and needles that came with a prickling sensation of dread. Lee had ended up activating plenty of traps that hurt Choji, while Choji had not. The chance of hitting a weight motion sensor was lightly lower than a tile sensor. Everything was going according to plan.

"Are you alright, Choji-san?" Lee called back to him.

"Hang on," he answered, panting hard. They didn't have any food or water left, and their last break was forty minutes ago.

"Of course." Lee didn't speak as much as he usually would, trying his best to preserve energy. However, he still gave himself silent pep speeches in his head and threw Choji confident smiles and encouraging thumbs up.
"Right, let's go."

They encountered several more traps, earning plenty of damage before Lee shouted, "I think I see the exit!"

"Really?!"

"Yes! Onward towards youth!" They exchanged a weak high-five and crawled their way to freedom.

Or so they thought. The second Lee crossed a special trip wire (he would have been unable to get past it even if he noticed it), the hidden execution blade dropped right down on him, severing his body in two pieces. Blood dripped from the blade as the execution blade lifted up, showing Choji the clear distinction of Lee's severed body.

"L-LEE!" Too scared to move and risk his life, Choji remained in his spot, staring at his companion's dead corpse.

While Choji was in shock, Naruto had recently learned how to tie a basic wound knot from Ino. With (surprisingly) patient instructions, Naruto had her left arm wound patched up from the spike trap they had encountered.

"Good job," she said approvingly. "Let's keep going."

"Yeah! I promise to save you, Sakura-chan! Believe it!"

"And the rest of them. Hopefully, they will be alright," Ino sighed. "Naruto."

"What?"

"Do you think you will survive?"

"Yeah! I'm going to beat this game and become Hokage! Just you wait! I'll beat even Sasuke," He said proudly, crossing his arms.

"Right, right," she waved his claims aside. "But are you going to sacrifice my life to get what you want?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Do you know what the point of this game is?" Naruto shook his head. "Aisu...she wants to kill everyone here. That's why she separated us and cut our connection. She lowered our chances of survival.'

"So? All we have to do is escape, right?" Ino reached over and tapped his bracelet.

"And there's this. Some of our rules are connected to one another. Remember what happened to Hinata?"

Naruto's face fell when he heard a dead comrade's name. "Yeah."

"That's one of the ways to kill one another. We could be killing someone this minute and not even know. Or, we don't know if someone else will kill us." She shook her head sadly. "Never mind. We'll think later. For now, let's get out of here."

They stood to their feet and headed down another hallway, filled with sleeping gas traps. Naruto quickly activated one and both were fast asleep.

"Now then, who will escape this tragic story?" I whispered, leaning back.

Number of Survivors: 7

12 hours left

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