The remaining Konoha platoon ran through the forest with all the speed they could manage.
Some of them had tears in their eyes as they remembered their comrades who had sacrificed themselves to buy the group only a few extra minutes of safety.
Some of them had lost their own clanmates . Shinto had been a Nara and three of the fallen chunin had also carried the Nara name.
The two remaining Yamanaka in the group had lost Chizo who had been one of their own as well.
Mukai shouted without even looking behind them as with his byakugan fully activated, he could see even behind him without any difficulty.
"They are pursuing us! We have about a hundred and fifty Kumo shinobi on our tail!" His voice forced everyone to understand that the short lead they had gained was already disappearing.
The Kumo forces also showed no sign of giving up the chase when they were far away from the city.
Shinku muttered the conclusion that matched what many already feared. "They must have recognised Shunsui and want Shunsui's death before he could grow up to cause more trouble to them."
The S rank commander Toroi had clearly decided that the boy with the strange ability was too dangerous to leave alive.
Shunsui who heard this looked at his comrades and noticed that none of them even glanced at him with blame or anger.
They did not show any desire to leave him behind so that they could save themselves. Some of them even suggested in quiet voices that they should stay back and buy a few more minutes for Shunsui to run farther away.
The willingness to die for him settled into Shunsui's chest like a heavy stone. 'They are truly brainwashed by Hiruzen's Will of Fire. They consider my single life worth more than their own. I do not even have a family waiting for me at home but they have their wives, husbands, children, parents and siblings. I guess.....the village is really a family binded by this will of fire. Well then, it is time to show my own Will of Fire.'
He would not let their kindness become another list of names to mourn.
Shunsui was not someone who would simply sacrifice himself to save others. He was not that kind of person and he still wanted to enjoy his life as a shinobi.
He wanted the fun of having reality altering powers and the sharp enjoyment of life and death battles that tested every skill he possessed.
Therefore he was going to solve the present danger with those same powers. He would not let another person in this platoon die, at least not today. The choice settled firmly in his mind as he prepared to act.
'Yare yare, I have become too sentimental for my own good. Here I am running through the woods with a hundred and fifty angry Kumo ninja behind me and instead of thinking only about my own skin I am worrying about every last one of these fools who keep trying to throw their lives away for mine.'
'What a troublesome habit. If I keep this up I will end up as soft as a marshmallow left in the sun. Still, a man has to live with the heart he has. And right now this heart of mine refuses to watch another comrade fall while I still have chakra left to spend.'
'How annoying. I suppose I will just have to drag all of them out of this mess whether they like it or not. After all, someone has to be the adult here and it might as well be the one who can turn the forest into a children's game.'
He raised his voice so that the entire group could hear him clearly. "Alright listen to me. Any of the Yamanakas connect to my mind and connect my thoughts to everyone here. And stay right next to me or just beside me. Just follow my lead and the commands that I will give. Jump when I jump, turn when I turn, roll when I roll and stick near me."
The order was simple yet demanded complete trust towards a newly turned Chunin. Everyone nodded without hesitation because they had already seen what his games could do and they placed their lives in his hands once more.
Shunsui took a deep breath and activated the game known as Temple Run.
Soft energy spread outward from him and reshaped the forest according to rules only he fully understood.
As they continued running the trees around them suddenly grew thick roots that rose from the ground and formed large walls blocking the straight path.
Shunsui's voice echoed in the minds of those connected to him through the Yamanaka link. "Use chakra into your legs and jump!"
The group poured chakra into their feet and leapt over the rising barriers just as the roots closed behind them. A moment later the earth itself split apart in long deep cracks that threatened to swallow anyone who hesitated.
They jumped again and again following Shunsui's timing exactly.
Fire suddenly erupted from the ground in long streams that looked like giant flamethrowers sweeping across the path.
Shunsui called out the next command and the team dropped low to roll beneath the flames while the heat passed over their backs.
Every obstacle appeared only seconds before the team reached it but did not disappear after they have crossed the area or Shunsui's Shikai was not in range.
This left the Kumo shinobi behind to face the same traps without any warning or understanding of the rules.
Shunsui had to use his entire focus and all of his past life experience to play Temple Run as if he himself were the character on the screen rather than a distant controller.
At the same time he had to guide the others with clear and timely commands so that no one fell behind or mistimed a jump. The chakra consumption was enormous because the game kept creating new obstacles for as long as he continued to move.
Each new thirty metres of his Shikai ranhe drew more energy from his reserves. He was the only true player in the game just like the original Temple Run which had always been a single player experience.
The obstacles he created would last for at least half an hour before they finally faded, and the pursuing Kumo shinobi would have to suffer through every one of them.
The traps might not be able to seriously harm trained jonin and chunin, but they would buy the Konoha team valuable time through pure confusion and the enemy's complete lack of experience with the strange game.
Shunsui kept running at the front of the group with a small smile returning to his face despite the heavy drain on his chakra. 'Man, this game is pure nostalgia. I should have tried Subway Surfers instead but I do not even know what the version of trains would look like in this world or how that would work. Would the rails be made of chakra metal? Would the trains be pulled by giant summoning toads?'
-------Author Notes--------
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