As the last of the sound fades, the scene ends with it.
Everyone stares at the screen.
“Damn. What was that? How can anything look that grand?”
“Anomalous Containment Facility? What even is that?”
“I’m a jonin. What could possibly make *me* feel fear?”
“Heh. Anomalies? A Great Fireball Jutsu would handle it.”
**Konoha — Hokage’s office**
The Third Hokage draws a long puff from his pipe and strokes his chin.
“Protecting humanity from the dark…”
As Hokage, he knows this world holds things they still do not understand.
But what is an “anomaly”?
Shorthand for unknown creatures?
From what they have seen, the Anomalous Containment Facility looks like an organization that locks those things away.
On the surface it seems like a force for good.
Where it is based, no one can say.
**Sunagakure**
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, frowns at the text on the light screen.
Unlike the others, after the video ended he saw something they did not.
At the very end: a lizard-like thing, eyes full of indifference and disgust.
And then countless shapes he could not name—shapes that made fear crawl up his spine.
The creature was there for only an instant.
Rasa still trembled.
He swears he will never forget that gaze.
While the ninja world is still turning it over, the black screen lights up again.
**Anomalous Object Inventory**
**Anomalous Object — 049: Plague Doctor**
The image changes.
A figure in a black robe appears, bird-beak mask over its face, a huge surgical bag slung across its back.
“Plague Doctor? What’s that supposed to be?”
“Looks like some kind of doctor.”
“A ninja who knows medical ninjutsu, maybe?”
**Konoha**
The Third’s brow knits tighter.
Plague Doctor?
What *is* this thing?
If the light screen is to be believed, anomalies can tear heaven and earth apart.
How does something that looks like a doctor do that?
A jonin steps in.
“Hokage-sama. We found nothing on the Anomalous Containment Facility.”
From the moment the screen appeared, the Third had his people dig.
After a long search, they had not turned up a single record.
“Not one scrap of data?”
The Third’s frown deepens.
Then the voice returns.
“Anomalous Object — 049: Plague Doctor. Description: SCP-049 is a humanoid entity whose appearance matches that of a medieval plague doctor. Though it looks like a beaked physician in a black robe, the garments and mask appear to have grown from within its body. Testing has shown that its skeleton remains human.”
The Third stares.
His expression twists.
Clothes that are part of the body—but a human skeleton underneath?
Why does this Plague Doctor remind him so much of Orochimaru?
The same kind of existence?
If so, he will have to rethink whether this thing is ally or threat.
New text rolls across the screen.
“Under ordinary conditions, SCP-049 shows a high degree of goodwill toward humans and cooperates readily with the Anomalous Containment Facility. Once it perceives what it considers ‘the Pestilence,’ however, the subject becomes violent. Toward anyone it judges infected, the Plague Doctor displays intense hostility. It typically attempts to kill the individual. Death occurs instantly on contact.”
The ninja world explodes.
“It kills the second it senses plague? No survivors?”
“Why do I suddenly feel cold? That write-up is terrifying.”
“Instant death by touch? Even the Hokage doesn’t have that.”
“What *is* the plague it’s talking about, anyway?”
**Konoha**
“It kills with a touch?”
The Third’s pupils shrink.
Looked at from any angle, this Plague Doctor is not a good thing.
A doctor whose first instinct is not to treat, but to kill the patient.
What kind of doctor is that?
And yet the file says it is full of goodwill toward humans.
Unless—
The “plague” it means is not the plague ordinary people know.
The Third draws a sharp breath.
More text appears.
“After the kill, SCP-049 often expresses remorse.
Then it takes surgical tools from its black medical bag and operates on the corpse.