Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto, while songs and song lyrics belongs to Ice Nine Kills. All the references in this story all belong to their rightful owners.
Leaf News Flash: A boy at the age of five had gone missing for almost over seven years. The village has been quiet ever since it happened, though guilt ran through their blood. However, strange but unknown murders started occurring nation-wide. Those murders included village traitors, spies and general missing ninja that hunters found dead with the mark of 'IX' on their forehead, glowing with strange blood magic, their bodies mutilated in strange and violent ways. This lead to the strange beliefs and rumours of the child cursing the villages for his own mistreatment. Some even worship this new devil that unexpectedly struck, forming a cult known as the 'Psychos', trying to imitate this unknown murderer. At the same time, a new village had been erected from the ground up out of nowhere; the most famous film industry that is known throughout the world. For those allied with them would be an honour, however, that village hides dark secrets, as some spies uncovered, returned mutilated in body bags. These terrifying mysteries, and cuts would then be famously known as… 'Welcome, To HorrorWood'.
The Tale Of HorrorWood
Chapter I – Lights, Camera, Action
Horākagure
Screams. That is the essence of their power. Horākagure is a place of horrifying events. Anyone is welcome to stay, as long as you're on your guard at all times; it is either kill or be killed in this city. There is nothing more terrifying then the fear of death. Everyone wants success, and they would do anything to get to the top of the ladder of fame. Lights, camera, action… those famous three words are the ones that cause harm to those that are not careful. There are those days that any kind of murder is not permitted, however, when the red alert switch is pressed, then all hell breaks loose, and the purge begins. This city is run on souls, doesn't matter what type they are: innocent, evil, angel or demon. There is no escape once you enter, and the terrifying events that happen there gave it the famous slogan 'There Goes The Neighbourhood'. Infamous possessions, disturbing escape rooms, chainsaws… all those people think that they are just incredibly well-done special effects. However, what they do not realise, is that all these sacrifices were made behind the scenes. All those silver screams… were not acts, they were the joy and pleasure of those with knives.
Horākagure, Overlook Mansion
One-man controls all of it. He resides up in the mountains up in Overlook Mansion, anyone would do anything to meet him. The most powerful man in the city knows as Mr. HorrorWood. Nobody knows his true identity, or his real name. Well, it is kind of an exaggeration, but the description of an 'early matured child' would fit the case. The mansion however, models itself out of a horror movie, looking more like a medium-large hotel more than anything. There is a large downstairs living area, a big kitchen, a back garden with a pool, and the place itself has three floors. From time to time there would be servants, but not just any particular servant; they were trained in the arts of ninja and combat, to be able to defend themselves against any unexpected intruders. The mansion is decorated well with old paintings, red carpet on the floor, and massive chandeliers that light up the place.
The office of the mansion resides on the top floor, as well as the man himself, wearing a full-on tuxedo, a red tie and a white business shirt underneath, has black neat and greased back hair, and cold ice blue eyes. He is at the moment sitting at his desk, having a full view of his city, staring at it through his six large monitors that are situated on the wall, switching view every couple of seconds. A red button lies on the table closed called 'purge'. When the man stared at it for a second, he shook his head in a negative, knowing it is not the time yet. HorrorWood just simply sighed, smiling to himself as he finished the last of the paperwork for the day, before drinking a glass of red wine.
"What business do you have with me today, my faithful spirits?"
"HorrorWood-sama, we have made the selection of chunin hopefuls for the chunin exams" one of them notified in a monotone.
The man evilly chuckled "Call them in, I want in on this as well…"
"Understood, HorrorWood-sama" The spirits bowed in sync and vanished away from sight.
"Lights, Camera, and Action… let the games begin" He whispered, while having an evil smile grow on his face.
Hidden Leaf Village, Hokage Tower, Office
The Hokage, known as Hiruzen, sat in his office, sighing, tired from the latest chaos "How long has it been… since he disappeared?"
A sad look appeared on the man that entered through the window "Seven years… sensei"
"I see… for sure, I have failed" The old hokage admitted as he looked down in shame.
"We all have… the entire village is filled with shame and regret" The student of the hokage agreed.
"Bullying a child to potential suicide, the cause of his disappearance is still unknown, though I bet they are all hoping for him to one day return here" Hiruzen looked out of the window at the entire village.
"How low this place has fallen… I don't think that the kid would want to return here, if he was still alive that is…"
"Yes, you're right, Jiraiya… though, would he want revenge for his mistreatment?"
"It is a possibility, though, I don't think he would go that far" Jiraiya hoped.
*Play Song – Welcome To HorrorWood*
Ink fills, the page…
An anbu appeared, bowing, before straightening up again, speaking in a slightly frantic tone "Lord Hokage! A dead body has been found in the middle of the streets… just happened so fast and unexpected, how is unknown!"
"Understood! Lead the way! Looks like the killer has decided to make his move…" The hokage said, growing serious, as all present in the room went to the crime scene.
Konoha, Red Light District, Main Street
The citizens present were gathered, trying to get a better look, though the anbu gathered were preventing any sort of approach to the scene.
"What is happening here?! Let us through!" The Hokage shouted his orders, and the anbu complied.
What they witnessed were one of the more disturbing murders yet; The body seemed to be twisting in impossible directions, while its eyes were gouged out, a hole punched through the body, making some of the intestines spill out. It is barely recognisable, since it was covered in blood, but a guess, that it seemed to be a man, aged in his mid-thirties. A symbol of 'IX' was shown to be imprinted with strange magic on his forehead.
"What kind of violence is this?!" Hiruzen didn't show it out in the open, though he was sick to the bone.
"Whoever this murderer is, surely is brave to do it out in the open like this" Jiraiya said, with a scowl on his face.
"It is because whoever she or he is, knows what they are doing" Hiruzen replied, with the same scowl showing.
"We don't accept this kind of hostility to our village! Scout the places where the murderer can possibly hide! You three! Take the body back to the hospital, tell the forensic analysts what to do! Go!" The hokage ordered.
A chorus of "Hai!" was heard, and all anbu disappeared in a flash.
"All of you! Get out of here and don't get involved!" The old hokage shouted at the civilians gathered, who complied immediately and scattered back to their normal routines.
'Why does this have to happen before the chunin exams…' Was the hokage's last thought before he and Jiraiya went back to the office to discuss more plans of action.
Hidden Sand, Kazekage Office
"Lord Kazekage, you have to come and see this" A sand jonin appeared in front of the Kazekage to bring him the horrible news.
"What Baki? This better be worth my time" The kazekage, known as Rasa, said calmly.
"It is, though you better come, and quick" The now known Baki promised.
Main Streets, Sunagakure
"What is this madness?!" The kazekage shouted out as he witnessed the mangled body hanging from a lamppost, the rope holding it up.
The body was done up horribly; Blood coming out of its mouth, tongue cut off, on the floor. A leg and an arm were sliced clean off and there was the mark of 'IX' on the unknown ninja's forehead. Though, by the looks of it, it was an older man in his late fifties.
"Was it Gaara again?" Rasa asked, quite furiously and demanding, to which the jonin shook his head in a negative.
"This isn't Gaara's doing, sir" Baki answered nervously, as he pointed to the symbol on the dead man's forehead. By this time, a couple of bystanders have come to view what's going on, and the anbu stationed around are here to prevent it.
"I see… whoever did this, is brave. Out in the open… like this. Scout the hidden sand for the murderer's potential hiding places, take the body back to be analysed" The Kazekage ordered calmly, and all the anbu went to do what was asked.
'Right before the chunin exams… clever' The leader sighed as he did a sand shunshin to get back to the office.
Hidden Cloud, Main Streets
"What in the world is going on?!" The Raikage, known as Ay, roared as he jumped out from the window of his office.
"Lord Raikage! A body has been found in the middle of the streets! Please hurry!" An anbu shouted at the top of his voice, as they came across just a pool of blood, body parts scattered around in a circle, a pentagram drawn in the blood, while the mark of 'IX' sits in the middle of the star. An electric current seemed to run throughout the entire thing.
"What in the fucking hell…?" Ay's shock was completely understandable, as he never seen a murder this horrible.
"What is it bro?" A muscled dark-skinned man came down to meet the raikage.
"Bee, you're here… what do you think?" Ay said seriously, disgust laced in his voice.
"What in the… who done this yo?!" Bee's shock was next to be expressed.
"It's brave of him to kill in the open like this, but undetected… how?" Ay, tried to think, but couldn't come up with an answer.
"I don't know, big bro" Bee shrugged.
"We'll figure this out in the office! Anbu! Clean this mess up! Scout everywhere within this vicinity of the village! Take the body parts back to be analysed! GO!" Ay shouted, and a chorus of 'Hai!' was heard, before they disappeared to do their jobs.
Land of Water, Unknown Lake
"What do you say, Mizukage-sama?" A jonin asked, bowed to their leader.
"Hmm, impressive and bold I should say… whoever done this is clever, once we figure it out, send them an invitation of an alliance" The Mizukage, known as Yagura, calmly said with a confident smirk, as he watched the lake of blood, as it had the mark of 'IX' drawn on it, not even wavering.
"Are you certain of this?" The jonin uncertainly stood up and witnessed the horror with his leader.
"Yes, I am" Yagura stoically stated, before they went back to the city.
Land of Water, Rebel Side
"What is all of this… horror?" Mei described her shock, as three dead bodies floated down a river, staining it with red, the bodies twisted and broken in many ways, blood pouring out of tiny holes in their skin. If you could look closely, there are a few flesh-eating insects crawling out of them, the mark of 'IX' was etched carefully onto the foreheads of the bodies.
"Take them to be analysed immediately! Whoever this murderer is must be punished! Scout the area for potential threats!" She ordered, as anbu suddenly appeared in a shunshin, before carefully putting them in body bags, before vanishing out of sight back to base.
"I have never seen anything so… disturbing in my life" A man said with an eyepatch, known as Ao, was standing beside the rebellion leader, watching the river run red.
"They're bold whoever did this, even though we thought us, The Mist itself was violent" Mei sighed in exasperation.
"Looks like someone decided to outshine our cursed lands this time" Ao finished, as they started walking away from the scene.
"Indeed, we all have seen a fair share of violence, but this takes it up by a mile" Mei finished with a sigh, as they went back to base.
Hidden Stone, Tsuchikage Office
The Tsuchikage, a small stubborn old man. His name; Onoki, just sitting in his office doing his paperwork. A bane of his existence. Suddenly, the door to his office burst open, the hidden anbu poised to attack at any given moment. Although, it was just a fellow Stone shinobi that is panicking about something, sweating as he was holding his neck as if trying to breathe. The mark of 'IX' was shown to be glowing a radiant blood red on his forehead. That was when the leader of the village became serious.
"Please, tsuchikage-sama! You've got to help me! I feel as if my body is being-" Suddenly, he choked on his own blood, spilling on to the floor.
"Just spit it out already! I have no time for your shit!" Onoki shouted aggressively.
"Please, just… don't do this to me! I swear I'm innocent! I've done nothing wrong!" All of a sudden, the man started talking to himself.
'This man needs to be taken to the insane ward…' The old man thought to himself with a sigh, as he watched his fellow shinobi lose it.
The man's eyes suddenly started to gain red lines, frantically panting for air "I beg of you, believe me! My body is being taken ov-"
The bones in his body suddenly cracked all at once, before the man's body dropped to the ground completely, blood oozing out of his mouth and eyes at the back of his head.
"My god… what a way to go" Onoki shook his head in disbelief at the display, before looking at the mysterious symbol on the man's forehead.
"What is this sorcery? Anbu! Take this man's corpse to be analysed fully, don't leave any details out! Find whoever did this! Go!" The tsuchikage ordered, and all the anbu present went to do their jobs.
'It's like the man was killed by an invisible force… just what is going on here?' Onoki thought and sighed again in exasperation, as he prepared for more paperwork.
Horākagure, Overlook Mansion
"That was marvellous, marvellous!" A pale white genin said, wearing a full clown costume complete with a smiling clown mask, a headband with the symbol of a skull with two knives going through it in an 'X' shape, and was holding in his hands a red balloon.
"Yes, indeed, lord horākage. Though, I must say… should we get moving?" Another pale genin said in quiet whisper, wearing a white strange mask, coveralls and the same headband with the horākage symbol. The genin was always itching for his butcher's knife, ready to kill.
"Yes, yes… of course, just, let me first get dressed" Mr. HorrorWood grinned evilly and went off to his room.
"Of course, my lord, take your time" The pale genin wearing the clown costume evilly chuckled.
End of Chapter
So, this was the preview for the story and the first chapter of course. Welcome to horrorwood ladies and gentlemen, I hope you all enjoy your stay. As you can see, there will be more to come and this one takes place before the chunin exams. Tell me what you guys think in the reviews! Songs from Ice Nine Kills will be used as references, so, listen to them while reading the story where applicable! I always wonder how far my stories will go…That's all I needed to say folks! Please write how I can improve in the reviews, thank you! One more thing, Horākagure stands for 'Horrorkagure' in Japanese if you wanted to know what it means, you're welcome. I have no clue what genre to mark this as as well, so... I guess it is a combination of a few; Mystery, maybe angst, adventure and action.
See all in the next chapter!
Ja Ne!
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Read on people!