The Rotting: Part 1

[Katsumaru]

SPOILER: Click to show

The Rotting: Part 1
Rank: C
Repeatable: No
Description: The tumors have spread through Konohagakure at a frightening pace. It is not your duty to stop these tumors, but to investigate their cause. Reports say that once of the spots from which they originated was from a house within the common district.
Reward: 50 EXP and 1,000 Ryo

The quiet hum of the tumor’s rose into the night air, the sound truly unsettling – a combination of a scarcely audible whistle and a howl, creating an eerie, unearthly melody as the various tumors hummed at different frequencies, some scarcely louder. Thick clouds covered the dark sky, enshrouding the moon and casting a deep shadow over Konohagakure’s streets. A light wind blew, causing the tumors to sway broodingly from side to side, their rotting grasp reaching far and mercilessly.

Screams pierces the dark. Damnable riots cursed the streets, the citizen of Konohagakure erupting with bloodlust, the third for violence – a side effect of the tumors. Scores of buildings burned, their fires casting a bright light into the surrounding streets. Citizen mauled one another, striking furiously with fist or any improvised weapon they could wrap their calloused hands around. Over three dozen dead citizen sprawled the streets, their lifeless bodies trampled by the masses. Even children lied amongst the dead. The young were not resilient to the lust for blood – boys and girls younger than ten struck out with as much rage as their parents.

Within the common district stood a building at thirty feet high, much larger than the surrounding structures. This abode, bizarrely, was untouched by the rot, neither the wood nor the men within afflicted. Disturbingly, the tumors surrounded this house, some even clung to the walls, but the wood was not rotten. That alone was proof that something macabre occurred within, something in a way related to the tumors which have plagued Konohagakure.

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[Guyviroth]

It was a horrible sight for Helios to see as he peeked out from a top the window sill to the streets below. It had only been an hour since these weird flesh-like organisms encroached upon the village’s habitat, and its effects were already beginning to spread; he saw men, women and children fighting each other with whatever they could; makeshift weaponry or tooth and claw, it didn’t matter to these people what they were using as long as they got to draw blood and, if they were lucky, bring death.

Helios sighed as he saw fires burning only a few blocks away as blackened smoke began to rise above the roofs of buildings into the sky. However as he watched he noticed a strange tower he had not noticed before, a tower which rose high above any other building including the expansive Konoha Hospital. Tumours and growths stuck upon its darkened wooden walls like insects, and yet there was no rot or decay unlike the other buildings. Helios deduced that must be the place of origin for this mayhem.

There wasn’t much time, however, as Helios began to notice that his own house was starting to become afflicted by the rot; mould of blackened green color was starting to spread like a plague throughout the walls, eventually striking the floorboards and making its way to the boy’s feet. Quickly he made sure all of his equipment was picked up; chokuto, katana, smoke bombs, kakkou, kunai and tags were strapped to him or otherwise in his pouch before leaping onto the mattress of his bed and diving, arms held in front of his face, out of the dying structure before rolling safely onto the dirt path below. He had to try and put a stop to this somehow.

[Katsumaru]

SPOILER: Click to show

Looks as if no other Konoha nin is getting involved. So I’ll continue this with just you,

As you stepped close to the tumors, emotions most curious began to manifest within you; an intense anger, an unmatched fury, and a growing bloodlust that inexplicably came to the rise. The bizarre rot seemed to seethe in your senses, fill you not only with the fury and bloodlust, but an anxiety, a growing fear, and trepidation of the unknown. Intrinsically, deep within your mind, you understood that these tumors, that this rot was something truly and utterly vile. It was something beyond you, something whose origin you could not understand, but its existence was a true stain upon the world. That much was apparent.

You see something flicker in the distance, a family of three. The parents were young, scarcely in their late twenties, each with flowing hair and a physique hardened from daily toils. The child was a young boy, black haired and angular faced. Looking upon the three revealed the horror that befell Konohagakure. Their faces and bodies were partially rotten and decayed, with narrow cheekbones and shedding skin. Before the three could walk further, they fell upon the ground, lifeless.

The structure which you were sent to investigate was not far from your current position, but should you look into the direction, you will notice that you must pass a band of ravaging, furious citizen to reach the house which, surely, will provide answers.

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[Guyviroth]

The boy could barely hold onto his own thoughts the longer he stood outside within the deranged crowds of the Konoha villagers. His sight began to blur, his mind began to darken, and his thoughts began to manifest awkward and graphic imagery of him killing more and more people. It reminded him of the time when he spent the day training within the academy grounds, when he began to see flashes of various innocents carved down by his blade.

But that’s all he could see in front of him, more people for his blade to violently cut down and he didn’t know if he could control his urge, his lust, to kill again. Ever since those two missions where he managed to draw blood from various opponents he never managed to get over his craving for more violence, but it seemed that tonight he would get his fair share. As he turned to see three villagers fall down lifeless, their bodies and faces decaying as though through some sort of vicious disease, he realised that to satisfy his lust for death and yet his sanity that’s all he had to think about; how dead they already were.

The boy dashed into the fray with his sword held within the scabbard supported by a single hand, and as he entered the crowd his sword swung wildly, violently, precisely as he began to mow down the crowd that stood between him and his destination. He saw everything from old men to elderly woman to children no older than him and younger, but regardless of who they were they all met the shimmering flashes of his blade and the taste of its cold, bloodied steel.

Eventually the boy managed to pass through the crowd and near the building. His eyes scanned it once again and couldn’t help but feel as though it was beckoning him, or rather taunting him to attempt to take it on. Helios’ smirk accepted the voiceless challenge and he carved down the front door and stepping inside.

[くすり]

It was horrific.

The scene before Natsuko was nothing short of an epidemic, the rot-a physical manifestation of what seemed to be the malice of the world had stricken Konohagakure along with it's citizens; and its vile, corrupted, presence threatened to swallow everything within the jaws of oblivion. The kunoichi's face was shadowed by fear and distress, what exactly was this plague that she had been tasked with investigating?

Her breaths came in lows, muffled, gasps, dulled by the hoarse cries and the crackling of the crimson embers that scorched the rooftops and filled the village, now turned murder cesspool. Nothing was safe, children, homes, valuables... they were all lost in the swelling madness. Peaking from behind the blackened walls of the alleyway she could see the mauling of men, the beating of woman, acts of extreme violence, where no concern was shown for human life; it was saddening.

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[/ul] Tumors clung onto the eaves of buildings, the bodies of people and even the ground. It was an indescribable portrait, painted in fire and blood before her young eyes, a scene that would forever haunt her; however there was one place, one beacon of hope that somehow shined in the dark. A towering building sat within the epicenter, untouched by the chaos as if blessed by the Gods. With no other leads that was her point of interest, but getting there would prove difficult.

The crazed horde of irate villagers didn't seem as if they'd just let her walk through, but hurting them all wasn't quite something she wanted to do. Darting from her hiding spot, she stuck low and to the shadows, finding safety behind a worn market stand ravaged by tumors. Natsuko could feel a wicked, callous hand take hold of her mind, creeping along the inner walls of her conciseness.

[/i][/ul] Peering over, she couldn't help but eye a family of three, thin, and rotting with the tumor. They soon collapsed to the ground, lifeless, the sight made her heart sink within her chest, and her breathing became irregular for a short moment before she could get a hold of herself. While searching for a way around she noticed a fellow genin carving his way through the people of Konoha-their people. It was slaughter, and he seemed to not give one care.

It was a heartless, cold act that added to the midnight massacre. With no choice Natsuko sprang forward, sticking close to the her fellow comrade as he tore through the mad crowd of citizens. Her thin frame, coupled with lithe movements allowed her to easily weave through, using him as the spearhead. Bodies fell indiscriminately, splashes of blood danced under the wane of the ivory moon-a midnight, crimson serenade, an eternal nightmare.

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[/ul] If by now he didn't notice the young kunoichi, sticking to him like a shadow, he did now. Whatever they were in for was poisonous....

SPOILER: Click to show

sorry for the long post, but Its to make up for not being able to post earlier and the topic was just to interesting to ignore. Lets have fun.

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[Katsumaru]

SPOILER: Click to show

Sorry for the wait. I was a bit busy. Posting will now resume at normal speed.

The lifeless body of the three quivered. Broke into a spasm. Then the bodies rose again, their eyes lifeless as the rotten figures trotted forwards to the nearby crowd. The members of the mob looked upon the walking bodies with disgust, fear filled visage guiding their newfound range. In a flash, the mob swarmed over the three, various shouts ringing out. ”It’s a Risen!” One of them yelled, titling the unliving abominations with their new namesake. Mercilessly, the crows swarmed over the three, tearing into their flesh with nails and bitchfork, ripping limbs from their sockets and throwing them into the distance.

Little did they know that the rot was now infectious. The festering blight covered numerous members of the mob, spreading across their skin with frightening speed. ”No! No! No!” they yelled before the mob turned on them, damning them to the same fate as the three mutilated Risen. Unfortunately, here matters were slightly more horrid, for the infected were torn apart while still alive, their horrid yelps of pain high pitched and nauseating. This process was repeated again and again, one man after another infected only to be slain. The citizen were truly at a rage, unaware of the bloodlust that guided them.

One of the surviving members of the crowd grabbed a woman by her hair, lustful gaze upon his face, but before he could relish, a large and bulky man struck him onto the head with a club, splitting his skull, sending gray matter flying left and right. Even as the lifeless body fell upon the ground, the enormous, strong jawed man continued to strike the corpse again and again, bone crackling under the intense pressure of the blows. This event was truly miserable, and not the only scene of relentless fury. This occurred throughout all of Konohagakure.

Thankfully the crowd did not notice the two shinboi as they passed on by.

________________________________________________

When the body kicked down the door, a rather unpleasant scene awaited him. He stared upon a long hallway splitting into two paths, left and right, the structure, strangely larger on the inside than it appeared from the outside. Large footprints, visible even in the wood, lead into both directions. The rot spread within too, but here, the nature in which it sprawled was truly nauseating.

Three tumors grew, festering and oozing with and oozing with a yellow liquid. These tumors shook. No, they breathed, but this was not the unsettling spin to this situation – no, the reality upon which they glanced was so much worse. In each of these three growths was the body of a young child, the tumor flowing into their empty eyesockets, and the yellow liquid oozing from the ears. The boys gasped for air inbetween their miserable cries, obviously still alive as they so desperately clung onto their painful existence. They shook and raged, attempting to break free. Their resistance was to no avail. vBefore either of you could interfere, the three bodies erupted in synchrony, tumors rushing forth from their torn bellies in a wavelike fashion. They fell upon the grounds, blood-covered, guts sprawled out.

A voice rung through the structure, origin impossible to tell, for the voice echoed.

”T’was a dark dusk,”

”When the sinner rose,”

”T’was a sweet dawn,”

”When righteous fury struck upon them,”

”The rotting shall begin,”

”A punishment willed by the gods,”

”And handed out by me.”

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[Guyviroth]

The girl what out of her mind, Helios thought to himself as he pressed on inside the building; in a time of dire consequences like this she decided the best course of action was to sneak behind him. Instinctively, Helios drew his sword and swung behind to place the sharp blade of his chokuto an inch from her neck, staring into her eyes and figuring she was not one of them. He drew his sword back to its scabbard and sighed in an irritated manner. ”You’d think that in this state of Konoha, where it was kill or be killed, sneaking up on someone would not be the wisest of decisions.”

The boy would not let her speak, however, as he pressed on into the structure. What he saw could only be classed as horrific beyond anything that he had seen, heard, or read of before. Whatever the hell was going on here was on an entirely different level from the cult incident a month ago. Three children of unknown origin to Helios hung upon the wall that divided both paths as they cried out towards the two of them to free them.

Helios felt… hurt, saddened that he did not know how to help them and thus could not help them. His teeth gritted to the point that any more force he’d shatter them, gripping his sword tightly that he could swore he felt the handle crushed in his grip. No eyes, no stomach, and yet to yearned to live and break free. It was sickening to see them so dead and yet so alive.

Helios had no choice though, he had to kill them for their sakes and so he could press on. He dug into his pouch and withdrew a single explosive note; kneeling on the floor he began to fold it into the form of a paper airplane. As he finished he heard and saw small tumours burst from within the children’s empty bellies. Quickly he looked up with the plane in hand and tossed it gently. The plane hovered over the tumours splayed out on the floor before landing in the open cavity of the middle child’s body.

”… Release…”

It was painful to do so. It was more painful than those hard days of labour in the village. It was more painful than thinking back on memories of his parents. As the boy released a single hand seal the note exploded within the tumour, enveloping the other two in its consecrating flames. He had hoped that whatever he did worked.

[くすり]

Stopping dead in her tracks as the genin's blade was waved her way she only look as he spoke and begin to move on. She didn't think she'd caught him off guard but it was already done, so she shoved the thought away pressing forward as the giant door, buckled beneath his kick and collapsed to the ground, sending a dull rumble down the two outstretched corridors. Natsuko's eyes widened in disbelief, shock outstretching upon her visage as she witness the infectious blight cover the walls, secreting surely venomous liquid.

They pulsated, almost as if they had a heart that beat or lungs that breathed. It was a disgusting sight, one that churned the kunoichi's insides, then her eyes saw something completely vile. She reared back for a moment, her mind trying to process just what type of plague corrupted things to such a detrimental degree. Three boys were imprisoned inside the rot as it sent its essence into their body. What was worse was the painful cries for help that left they're lips, the hope that they'd be saved.

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[/ul]Lips trembling as she spoke she noticed the boy by her preparing a bomb he folded into a airplane. Did he plan on killing them? The grumbled cries bolstered and the tumors bursted from they're chest cavities, spewing forth onto the ground in a grotesque manner. Sadly there would be no hero to rescue them from they're unforgettably tragic plight. They'd soon quiet down to no more then a whimper before the flames of life left them, and the cold clutched of death ferried them away.

With her arm blocking her face, the boys paper tag had exploded over the mess sprawled upon the ground, as a dark, menacing voice called out from the smoke that choked Natsuko, and settled upon them filling the chambers of the room. "Who.... what are you?" Natsuko called out asking the ghost voice, her eyes scanned the entire room, but to no avail the smoke was simply too thick.

"Lets stick close together, I don't know whats going on, but that voice is definitely our ticket to answers!"

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[Katsumaru]

The exploding tag erupted, tearing the boys apart, sending their limbs soaring off into the distance. Not only their limbs, but the organs, too, flew into the skies and splattered onto the grounds. A liver landed on Helios’ face, and a spleen on Natsuko’s chest. A head rolled in-between the two, belonging to the middle boy, its eyes wide open and its neck flowing with blood. The head’s eyelids twitched before the life completely faded out of its eyes.

Natsuko’s inquisitive cry went unheard. The building began to rumble slightly…and each second, moment by moment that passed, the rumble grew more intense. Then, the door behind them collapsed – there was no more escape. There was only the path ahead through the torn apart bodies, wood covered in organs and blood.

Which way shall they go? Left or right?

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[Guyviroth]

(I'm really sorry, but just skip me until another week or so. I'm up to my ass and shitting assignment work all over the place that I have little time for anything else).