Hunt the Executioner (Genkumaru)

Your finger slides through the course stone opening in the door until you feel the hole stop. The tip of your finger gently brushes the backside of the stone door as you patiently wait for what is to come. An eerie silence befalls the area, your breath quickens, a bead of sweat drops from your forehead, and finally, something happens. The eyes of the skull begin to glow a deep red, as if by magic. The door shakes for a brief second as a demonic voice billows forth from the door.

"The Demon has found you worthy"

Then in an instant, without warning, a cold piece of steel slides across the opening of the hole, the very hole your finger is currently in. It happens so fast, you barely have time to react before the pain sets in, warm red blood pooling around the opening of the hole. The steel slides back, releasing your finger, only to reveal that it is no longer there. Blood begins to pour from the cleanly cut wound as the stone door shakes even more violently this time, sliding sideways into the earth revealing a dark hole boring its way into the earth.

A warm, dry and musty smell meets your nose as you slowly make your way into the tunnel. Its dark, all around you a stone corridor descends deeper and deeper into the earth, but you push forward. After a few moments the tunnel levels out, only to open up into a small stone room. It is incredibly dark, however a few beams of light can be seen from the ceiling, tiny cracks in the stone and ground allow for slivers of sun light to enter, giving you just enough light to help you see. The room is made of stone for the most part, and is a perfect square, twenty meters by twenty meters. You look around the room taking notice of the fact that it seems to be barren. Until your eyes see it, and stop.

Directly across the room from where you entered, against the wall is a massive stone statue. It depicts an evil looking man, his face covered and his eyes staring intently at you. In his hands, a stone depiction of the very blade you came here to find, The Executioner blade. On either side of this statue is a door, one on the right side and one on the left, shrouded in darkness. As you take in the awe of the statue, you notice a stone plaque at its base, with words etched into it. You close in on the statue to get a closer look, seeing that these words appear to be scratched into the stone.

"Here, the final resting place of a man with no name. Feared through out history, only to meet his demise by an emotion no one knew he possessed. Thousands of men slaughtered, cities cleaved, and nations shaken, only to be conquered by love. This is not the story of the Executioner, but the story of the woman who finally tamed him. For this tomb belongs to three souls, The Executioner, his wife, Vivian Stern, and the sword that coated this land in blood. Those who stumble upon this grave, take this as your warning, turn back, leave this cursed place alone. For the man who holds the blade is not the demon you must fear."

The words linger on your mind, unsure of what to make of what you just read. You take a moment to gather yourself, you now have one of three choices to make. Do you take head of the stones warning, turn back and leave the tomb? Or do you venture deeper, taking either the left or right tunnel, both that without a doubt take you on a surprising and unexpected journey.

You turn to the right, eyeing the right tunnel, that is the path you choose to take. As you make your way down the right tunnel, it gets harder and harder to see, as the light from the previous room slowly starts to fade away. Eventually you are engulfed in pure darkness, unable to see a single thing around you. You place your good hand against the tunnel wall, using it to guide you along, until the wall is no longer there.

Even though you can not see, you can feel the room open up, the air circulating around you. It is warm, dank and dry, however you can feel a light breeze coming from the other side of this darkened room, signaling an exit of some kind. You stand at the end of this tunnel, staring blankly into a pitch black room. You do not know its size, or what lies beyond, only that to venture further you must cross this room.

As the hallway continued to darken itself and plunged ever further into the abyss, eventually he could no longer see, and the guiding touch of the wall ended abruptly causing him to not want to continue moving, for fear of accidentally falling or worse. Inhaling deeply to center himself for a moment he decided on what he would do. He took out his bag of makibishi and held it aloft in his had before charging it with explosive energy through a flash charge. From here he would throw the makibishi aloft scattering them around the space in front of him, hopefully covering a large portion of the room before they exploded, causing a lighting effect in the room. The bag would remain on fire somewhere near the center of the room, if he threw correctly.

[Bakuton: Flash Charge x1 and bag of makibishi x1]
CP: 85/100
SP:100/100

As Genkumaru tossed his items into the room, they would begin to light up, giving off a light glow and allowing the man to see into the room. It was a stone room, 10 meters by ten meters, with an opening on the other end of the room, set into the stone wall. The floor directly beneath his feet was also stone, however five meters in front of him, the floor changed, going from solid stone to sleek shiny metal. The metal surface went from wall to wall, cutting off Genkumaru's advancement forward. It was slightly raised, sitting just a few inches higher up than the rest of the floor. It was shiny and gleamed in the dark room, giving the man his chance to decide what to do.

As he gained a visual of what laid in front of him he formulated a quick plan to cross the gap safely, believing the change in surfaces could be a trap. He charged some bakuton chakra into his feet and ran towards the other side of the room, releasing a propulsion strike from his foot to help him vault over that section of metal space and roll over to the other side, unimpeded hopefully, and without touching the change of surface material that bothered him so.

[Bakuton: Propulsion strike D-rank x1]
CP: 80/100
Sp: 95/100

With a giant leap, Genkumaru managed to clear the metal surface that was on the ground. He flew through the air just barely landing on the other side of the surface, his feet meeting solid stone. A light breeze could be felt blowing through the tunnel, the man now standing at the opening of yet another room. Taking a few steps forward, the man would see nothing once again, as this room was just as a dark, if not darker than the room before. Yet again, the man was faced with a dark room, not knowing its contents or its size.

As the new room was equally as dark as the room before, he decided on what he would do this time, realizing that he needed to conserve his chakra as much as possible just in case, he fought with himself but ultimately decided that no spending anymore chakra and instead using some of his personal resources was the best option. He took out a single Kunai and ripped off his dress shirt, wrapping the linen around the kunai and forming it into a makeshift torch. From there he would use his lighter and pour its remaining fluid all over the fabric soaking it, and then clicked the sparker to ignite it, hopefully covering a large portion of the room with a soft orange hue as he held the makeshift torch above his head..

[Shirt x1 and a Kunai x1]
CP: 80/100
SP:95/100

Entering the second room, Genkumaru would choose a more archaic choice over using explosive jutsu this time. He instead tore his shirt off and light it ablaze with the little resources he had left on him. The burning fabric would be enough to illuminate the room. The scene that unfolded before him was not one unlike the previous, a stone room, ten meters by ten meters. Using the torch light, Genkumaru would see that the room was incredibly barren. However, much like the previous room, the floor had more to offer. The stones were lined up in a grid pattern, with every other stone being marked with red paint, creating a checker board design. After scanning the floor, the mans eyes would shift towards the back wall, where three identical wooden doors rest, planted into the stone wall. The doors would be shut, and separated by a meter of space between the three.

Performing another propulsion strike assisted jump he would cross the gap, being wary of touching the floor to an extent. Upon landing he would look back at the puzzling tile choice in front of him and decided on the riddle meaning it must be the middle door he should open as it was every other block that was red. He would gently push upon the middle door attempting to open it.

[Bakuton: Propulsion strike D-rank x1]
CP: 75/100
Sp: 90/100

Genkumaru would fly through the air once more, choosing to completely avoid whatever was going on on the floor. He would land with a rough bump against the far wall, only to turn and attempt to open the center door. As he did so, a sicking feeling would enter his stomach as the door did not reveal the exit, but instead a solid stone wall, built directly behind the door. This one was not correct. In addition to the door being wrong, the room suddenly began to shake, as the sound of grinding stone could be heard from above, the ceiling appearing as if it was moving. Sand and dirt fell from the ceiling as the smooth stone surface began to lower its self down the room, inching its way towards the floor, and ultimately Genkumaru.

The ceiling continued to slide downwards, scrapping and grinding the stone walls as it made its descent. Genkumaru would turn and scan the room, using what little light he had from the makeshift torch to glean any info he could. The pattern was very simple, every other block being painted a deep red. It was obvious that these stones had been painted, and for a reason. Upon closer inspection, one could see that every red stone was slightly raised higher than the normal stones, as if they jutted up from the ground. All of the red stones save the three rows on the right side of the room, leading up to the right door way. While these stones were also painted red, they did not appear to be raised.

This door was correct, and as Genkumaru swung it open, a hole could be seen on the other side, opening up in the stone just beyond the wall. Quickly moving through the door way, the man jumped down the hole before the room had time to close in on him.

He would drop into a smaller, more dry room, sand at his feet this time. As he stood, Genkumaru would notice that he could suddenly see, a deep red glow filling the room around him. The room was a small five meter by five meter room, with no doors to be seen on any surface. What he did see however was another statue, almost identical to the one he saw in the first room. It was a large stone statue that depicted the executioner holding a stone version of his famed sword, another plaque at its base. As he approached the statue he would notice that the red glow was coming from the statues eyes, two red crystals implanted into the eye sockets. On the plaque read:

"Through the eyes of a demon, ambition was sought. Through the blade of a man, battles were fought, but by the heart of a woman, it was all for naught. To conquer the demon, you must destroy what conquered the man. "

Gen would inspect the statue and after a moment or two breathed in deeply before pulling his right arm back and striking the heart of the statue in front of him with a Propulsion strike, aiming to put his fist through the statue's heart area. If the woman made it all for naught then the woman is what conquered the man correct? So that means it was love and his heart that was to blame. Not to mention the very first plaque mentioned that love is what conquered the executioner.

[Bakuton: Propulsion strike D-rank x1]
CP: 70/100
Sp: 85/100

As the mans strike was jabbed into the stone chest of the statue, it actually gave way, a chunk of stone being pushed inward as if it was a loose pressure plate. A hidden button built into the statue where the heart would have been, now sliding inwards, only to click, releasing a contraption of sorts. The statue would shake and rumble, sliding side ways in the sand until it finally stopped, revealing a hole in the wall. Genkumaru would step through, only to be met with an oh so familiar sight, complete darkness. From the feel of it, this room was massive, and had the familiar cool breeze blowing through it. It was hard to tell the shape and size of this room, but it was the largest one so far that the man had entered.

Genkumaru would push forward with his torch, entering the hole in the wall to reveal the next room. It opened up into a large hallway with smaller hallways branching off from both sides. The main hallway extended straight down towards a solid stone wall. The wall had a slit in it, implying it was a door and could somehow be opened. On the surface of the stone door were four circular indents, where something like a coin or medallion could be placed. On either side of this main hallway, were two more hallways, making four extra passage ways in this area. The passage ways were not very long, but ended at dead ends as well. From the dim red glow Genkumaru could make out what appeared to be tables at the end of each hallway. A number marking each path on the stone walls.

Genkumaru would make his way down the hallway marked with the number one, using the torch to light his way. The tunnel was creepy, made of dark stone, with etchings of history across its surface. The walls appeared to tell a story, with various different depictions of war and battle. He eventually would make it to the end of the hall way to see a wooden table built into the wall. On this table rested four round tokens, like giant coins, and looked like they could have slotted into the holes on the wall back in the main chamber.

On the table would be an inscription that read:

"The lowliest of creatures, living beneath our floor boards, the final splinter in the board of death."

Beneath the writing would rest four tokens, each one being made out of a different material and would bear a different picture. There was:

-A wooden token bearing the picture of a rat
-A golden token bearing the picture of a snake
-A copper token bearing the picture of a hawk
-A silver token bearing the picture of a skull

Genkumaru would make his way down the hallway marked with the number two, still using the red stones to light his way. The tunnel was creepy, made of dark stone, with etchings of history across its surface. The walls appeared to tell a story, with various different depictions of war and battle. She eventually would make it to the end of the hall way to see a wooden table built into the wall. On this table rested four round tokens, like giant coins, and looked like they could have slotted into the holes on the wall back in the main chamber.

On the table would be an inscription that read:

"A winding brass road, deadly with each turn, the lowest of three, but a king of his realm."

Beneath the writing would rest four tokens, each one being made out of a different material and would bear a different picture. There was:

-A wooden token bearing the picture of a hawk
-A golden token bearing the picture of a rat
-A copper token bearing the picture of a snake
-A silver token bearing the picture of a skull

After taking in the etchings and the inscription he would take the snake token, assuming that is what was meant, and then would go down the third path to see what laid before him here.

Wooden Rat
Copper Snake

Genkumaru would make his way down the hallway marked with the number three, still using the red stones to light his way. The tunnel was creepy, made of dark stone, with etchings of history across its surface. The walls appeared to tell a story, with various different depictions of war and battle. She eventually would make it to the end of the hall way to see a wooden table built into the wall. On this table rested four round tokens, like giant coins, and looked like they could have slotted into the holes on the wall back in the main chamber.

On the table would be an inscription that read:

"The second brother of wealth, but still the king of the sky, a weaker foe to be preyed on"

Beneath the writing would rest four tokens, each one being made out of a different material and would bear a different picture. There was:

-A wooden token bearing the picture of a snake
-A golden token bearing the picture of a rat
-A copper token bearing the picture of a skull
-A silver token bearing the picture of a hawk