Disease

Contagion

Epidemic. Definition: The rapid spread of infectious disease to a large number of people in a given population within a short period of time.

The peaceful days after the war were gone, at last.

After years of prosperity and innovations in the ninja world, people were once again dying. Villagers and ninjas, elders and children, rich and poor; they were all succumbing to the newest threat that took over the streets of the village hidden in the leaves. A threat that was not human nor a divine power or even an animal. It was smaller than a nail, yet with a wider range than a cannonball. Through any path it took, the ending was always the same: death. A massive number of corpses that even after being buried would still contaminate the soil and any possible plantation that grew nearby. It was contaminating the fields, the crops, the water, the animals, and slowly, it was extinguishing all of human kind. That invisible assassin had arrived with full strength in Konoha. And not even the specialists could take care of that disease.

The merciless intruder was soon discovered to be a virus that, once inside the human body, would slowly and painfully degenerate its insides. It would start with the airways, passing to the stomach and finally messing with the inner temperature, causing the person to literally boil inside. The blood pressure would reach its extreme and all the water would evaporate, causing internal burns through the whole body and the agonizing sensation of melting. For those strong enough to survive after that, their eyes would have the immense pleasure of seeing the partial disintegration of the putrefied skin that would only stop when the bones were finally exposed. After that moment, death was inevitable. The body would rot completely and the life that was trapped inside of it would be taken away in one of the most horrible ways known by humanity. No one was safe from it and no future was certain anymore. Death was striking hard and the only ones that could do something were brutally failing. Humanity was being destroyed and the only ones who could stop that massacre were the respected medical ninjas of the Leaf. They were holding countless lives in their hands. However, those healing hands also belonged to imperfect human bodies.

Not even after Pain's attack the central hospital was so full. Hordes of the infected were constantly crossing the entrance door every day and the only kind of organization that could be found in the building was a certain division of people depending on which stage of the disease they were found at. The ones feeling breathless remained in the first and second floors of the hospital, with all the possible oxygen tanks disposable for them. The ones who were already being dried up from inside were occupying the third floor and saline solutions were being constantly injected in their veins as if to try to hydrate them back. Last but not least, the ones suffering from the last stage of the disease were being held on the last floor of the hospital. Those were the ones in the worst conditions and the medics taking care of them were considered to be the best around the whole Fire country. They had to be strong physically and emotionally to take care of those on the verge of death. They had to be the best for they were those patient's last resort. They had to save lives. And more than most of them, the pink haired medic knew what was at stake.

" Sakura! Hurry, mend that man's skin before it's too late!"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama!"

Glowing green lights could be seen everywhere in all of the rooms of the last floor. They were mending skin, lowering temperatures, loosening arteries and healing all kinds of internal wounds in order to prevent focal hemorrhages. Many were the medics trying and many were those reaching their limits without any positive result. That virus was fighting against the whole medical squad and the only ones who seemed to be surviving against it were the Slug Princess and her talented apprentice. Unlike the others, master and student weren't being completely beaten by the circumstances. However, it didn't mean they were winning.