Naruto: Cthulhu: Ch. 222

During their escape toward the village, Shikamaru kept glancing at their surroundings with his sharp eyes.

As night deepened, the once silent forest grew increasingly restless. A cacophony of strange animal cries blended together, making it impossible to distinguish which creatures were making the sounds. 

Some of these noises were from animals that he remembered as not being nocturnal, yet they too had joined the chorus of the night. 

It was as if these creatures were defying their natural instincts, shifting their activities from day to night.

The unsettling sounds inevitably heightened the tension among the three fleeing companions. It felt as though they were trespassing through the domain of some unseen malevolent force.

Beyond the sounds, the forest itself seemed to change. Shikamaru's heightened senses, sharpened by anxiety, picked up countless strange details.

The plants, which had appeared ordinary during the day, now emitted eerie colors. Some flowers, grotesquely mutated, bloomed in bizarre and unnatural hues, as if mimicking the distortions of the animals. 

By nightfall, these plants seemed to grow at an alarming rate. Grass that had been normal earlier had transformed into towering, dense thickets capable of hiding any trace of human passage. 

Amidst the towering, lush grass, it was impossible to discern if the chirping sounds came from actual insects or some other entities entirely.

Now, in the forest, aside from the sparse patches of green grass and leaves, it was difficult to find any normal colors. Everywhere were dense, prismatically mutated plants, growing with a sickly and unnatural intensity.

The strange plants, with their bizarre colors and shapes, combined with a faint lavender-pink mist hanging above them, created an unearthly and surreal landscape. 

What once symbolized life and vitality had now become ominous under the pollution of this lavender-pink mist. The mutated flora seemed to mockingly flaunt their twisted, grotesque beauty.

Fortunately, these bewildering colors and mutated plants posed no immediate threat to Shikamaru and his companions. By using ninja techniques, they could move across the treetops, avoiding the lavender-pink shrouded ground below. 

The trees, though not entirely unaffected, were less saturated with the mist. For now, this relative safety was enough for Shikamaru to cling to hope that they could reach Hoshi unscathed.

But as Shikamaru observed the faint lavender-pink creeping up the tree trunks toward the branches, he couldn't help but describe the phenomenon as "climbing," even though the color had neither a physical form nor substance. 

He wasn't sure why his mind had chosen such an unusual description.

In silence, the three endured the shocking transformations in the forest and the oppressive tension. Finally, they managed to escape back to Hoshi.

Landing on the ground again, Ino bent over with her hands on her knees, gasping heavily for breath.

Even though the distance from the forest's depths to Hoshi wasn't particularly long, and their ninja training should have been sufficient for such a journey, Shikamaru understood why Ino was so exhausted.

She had been struggling to suppress her fear and anxiety. Throughout the escape, she had relied solely on her willpower as a ninja to keep jumping from treetop to treetop without falling into the lavender-pink hell below.

However, returning to Hoshi didn't mean they were completely safe. The lavender-pink mist in the forest was spreading, and it was only a matter of time before it reached the village.

According to Shikamaru's hypothesis, these horrifying things had hitched a ride to this area via the meteorite's shell and then infiltrated the forest, causing drastic changes to the local environment.

Judging by the distorted, fused mutant animals, these changes were not positive. Instead, they represented irreversible mutations and degradation.

The side effects of this meteorite were even more terrifying than the one that arrived in Hoshi two centuries ago. Its damage to the surrounding environment extended far beyond harming humans who used it to train with special chakra.

Ideally, such changes should occur gradually, giving people time to react. However, the transformation from a normal forest to this "pink-purple hell" took no more than three days.

At this rate, it wouldn't take long for the people of Hoshi to be affected as well. 

Or had they already been affected? 

Shikamaru couldn't help but recall the tomato he had eaten earlier in the day. He immediately suppressed his spiraling thoughts and ran toward the village center to warn Akahoshi and the villagers about the forest's developments.

As the trio moved through the village's farms and homes, they noticed something strange.

"Shikamaru, why isn't there anyone on the streets?" Chōji's question was spot on. Although night had fallen and many ninjas had been sent out during the day, the streets shouldn't be entirely empty.

Shikamaru's expression turned grim. He didn't respond immediately. 

However, he stopped abruptly near a courtyard and peered inside.

It was the same courtyard where the trio had secretly eaten tomatoes earlier in the day. Now, the tomatoes, which had been plump and vibrant red, had withered astonishingly. 

The fruit's once-tempting red surface was now marred by a thick gray layer. Where they had been visually appealing but unpleasant to eat earlier, they now looked utterly revolting. Their taste, one could imagine, would be even worse.

Shikamaru reached into the bamboo fence and attempted to pick one of the tomatoes. The moment he held it, the tomato crumbled like a clump of compacted dirt with even the slightest pressure.

As the tomato shattered in his palm, a strange glow escaped from it again.

Looking around, he noticed that the roses, zinnias, and hollyhocks in the front yard had also taken on a grotesque, defiled appearance. Suddenly, Shikamaru understood.

This was wrong!

The pink-purple corruption wasn't spreading from the forest to the village; it was spreading from the village to the forest!

The process of mutation caused by this phenomenon had two distinct stages. The first stage involved rampant growth, causing plants to produce abnormal fruits, like the tomatoes they had seen earlier or the tall grass and multicolored flowers in the forest.

In the second stage, these overgrown plants would wither and appear lifeless, as seen with the current state of the tomatoes and the flowers in the yard.

This meant that it was already too late to warn the villagers!

---

Shikamaru climbed over the courtyard wall without hesitation and rushed into the house within. He pushed open the unlocked door, only to be greeted by a horrifying sight.

Although the room was not lit, the scene inside was clearly visible to him. The light illuminating the surroundings came from a vivid and otherworldly pinkish-purple glow emanating from the darkness, like a mist that had settled heavily on the room's floor.

This wasn't a gas, nor did it have any tangible form, so the breeze from him opening the door didn't stir the colors. Instead, they seemed to actively move toward his feet as if drawn by his presence.

Ignoring the strange phenomenon, Shikamaru dashed into the room, shouting to see if anyone was there. As he ventured deeper, he passed the dining area and noticed the sink along the wall.

The faucet over the sink wasn't turned off, but instead of clear water, a stream of pinkish-purple liquid was flowing out, its hue far richer than that of the pond water in the forest.

Even more striking was a luminous column of light rising from the narrow drain, bright and vivid even in the dim room. He realized this was not the color itself but a phosphorescent glow emitted by it. The intensity of the glow hinted at the sheer concentration of this bizarre substance in the dark depths of the drain.

Such a massive amount of color couldn't have accumulated in just a day. Yet Shikamaru was certain he hadn't seen any trace of it on the ground during the day, aside from those few peculiar tomatoes.

This meant the colors must hide in shadowy places during daylight—beneath ponds, underground reservoirs, or sewers—and only emerge at night. The glowing drain provided compelling evidence of this.

Many households in Hoshi sourced their water from underground. If people were drinking this contaminated water, what could be the consequences?

At that moment, Shikamaru heard a faint human moan from deeper within the house.

Putting aside the flowing colors for now, he immediately headed to the bedroom, followed closely by Ino and Chōji.

Upon entering, Shikamaru's eyes fell on a sight straight out of a nightmare—a horrifying figure on the bed.

No, it wasn't one person.

It was two people!

At first glance, he could barely discern human forms, unable to determine exactly how many were there. The two individuals were fused together in a grotesque and unnatural manner!

Judging by their features, they appeared to be a mother and child. However, the child's face was melded into the mother's shoulder, their arms emerging from her back, and their legs protruding from her left side.

This wasn't simply a case of conjoined twins but a chaotic and warped fusion. It resembled two pieces of shaped chocolate melted and reformed into a twisted, incomprehensible whole.

"Ah!"

Ino screamed and fell to the ground in shock, her body trembling violently.

Shikamaru and Chōji, while not as physically demonstrative, had their faces twisted in disbelief, their expressions betraying their horror.

The fused mother and child stared blankly ahead, their wide, glassy eyes devoid of focus. Their gaping mouths emitted low, guttural moans, though Shikamaru couldn't tell if they were attempting to communicate.

Under their paper-thin skin, the same strange color rippled like waves on water, shifting and flowing with an unnatural rhythm.

Shikamaru couldn't bear to look at the scene any longer and turned his gaze away, only to notice a man curled up in the corner of the room. 

The man was huddled entirely within a haze of shifting, vivid colors. He approached cautiously, momentarily disturbing the colors that were creeping toward the man's head.

The man's body showed little physical mutation, save for his arms, where the skin, exposed by rolled-up sleeves, appeared charred and cracked like dry, lifeless earth—or like withered tomatoes left to decay in a garden. It was clear that his vitality was slowly but steadily ebbing away.

The man sat with his hands resting between his knees, unresponsive to the intrusion into his home. Perhaps he had heard Shikamaru enter, but he showed no reaction.

Shikamaru crouched down and asked tentatively, "Hey, are you okay?"

There was no reply. The man remained motionless, while the grotesque amalgamation of the two bodies on the bed continued emitting low, guttural moans.

"This place is dangerous. You need to get up and come with us."

Shikamaru tried again, but the man still didn't respond.

It was clear to Shikamaru that the man wasn't dead—his body trembled faintly—but no matter what, he couldn't rouse him. 

Looking again at the grotesque form on the bed, Shikamaru guessed that the woman and child fused together were likely the man's wife and child. 

Faced with his wife and child turned into such monstrosities, it was no surprise the man's spirit had utterly collapsed. 

Shikamaru realized the man had lost all will to live. Even if he forced the man to leave, he'd just be dragging along an empty shell. Shikamaru decided not to push further. 

"Let's go," Shikamaru said softly.

"But, Shikamaru, these people..." 

Chōji hesitated, looking at the man and the monstrosity on the bed. He couldn't bring himself to just walk away. 

Though he appeared rough and rugged, he was the kindest-hearted among the Ino-Shika-Chō trio—so much so that some once questioned if he was suited to be a ninja. 

Shikamaru understood Chōji's reluctance. He stepped toward the bed and said, "It's too late. All we can do now is give them peace."

The bodies of the mother and child had been completely overtaken by the colors, their fusion irreversible even by the most advanced surgical techniques. Reduced to mindless creatures that could only whimper in anguish, they were undoubtedly enduring unimaginable suffering.

The only thing Shikamaru could do was put an end to their pain.

He slowly raised the kunai in his hand but suddenly froze. In the mother's eye, he caught a glimmer of something. 

A tear. Perhaps it was a tear of gratitude.

Just as Shikamaru was about to bring down the kunai and Ino turned her face away, a voice broke the silence from the corner of the room.

"Wait!"

The man, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke. He stood up slowly, his pale, twisted face turning toward Shikamaru.

"Let me do it. After all, we're family."

Shikamaru was momentarily stunned but then nodded in understanding. He handed the kunai to the man.

But the man shook his head and didn't take the kunai. Instead, he bent down and retrieved a machete from the pool of colors on the ground. 

"I already have this."

Shikamaru realized the man had long considered ending his family's suffering but hadn't been able to bring himself to act. Shikamaru's arrival seemed to have stirred a sliver of clarity in the man, giving him the resolve to finally do what needed to be done.

"Alright. We'll leave this to you. Once you've finished here, make sure to leave the village quickly."

"Yeah, thank you. I understand."

The man responded with a smile, but whether he would truly leave the village, Shikamaru couldn't say.