Creator: Howard
Type: Neurological, Muscular, Respiratory
Ingredients and Background: Fear can have crippling effects on a person, it can leave them frozen unable to move, think or act. It can force them to see things, hear things, feel things that just aren't there. Anxiety, paranoia, and panic can force a person to waver or to simply give up, the poison itself revolves around the ability to weaponize fear in people. Shadow of the Bat is a poison that creates the emotional response of fear for those exposed to it. It forces them to see, smell, hear, feel, and taste their deepest darkest fear in great detail and at times to a crippling extent. A lot like the application of Killing Intent but physically so done through poison not chakra. Most of the ingredients manipulate the brain and the mind through something more tangible than genjutsu more deadly and more real causing it to create and send synapses. Some even force the brain to produce chemicals forcefully and without mental consent from the poisoned individual like dopamine.
Shadow of the Bat is a deep smokey orange poison that comes in two forms an orange liquid and an orange gas surrounded in a smokey black aura-like outline. While in it's liquid form it has two constituencies dense and sticky like tar, or light and watery like water. The first consistency is sticky to the touch and will stick to anything it comes into contact with for long periods of time drying out slowly and hardening. When in contact with the skin it breaks down the lipid bilayer passing right on through and entering the blood stream and then bypassing the blood brain barrier for fast and rapid effects. While in it's gaseous state it has a slightly earthy smell like petrichor due to the herbs found in the poison, when inhaled it has an almost cinnamon-like taste if ingested while liquid it has this same taste but no discernible smell. It's base is Dihydroxyphenylalanine an amino acid that is made and used as part of the normal biology of humans it is the precursor to Dopamine in the brain, Carbogen a mixture of thirty percent Carbon Dioxide and seventy percent oxygen, Corticotropin a peptide hormone and a neurotransmitter, Deadly Nightshade (Atropa Belladonna), Conium (aka Hemlock) both ground into a fine syrup, and Irukandji venom. All ingredients that induce; fear, anxiety, paranoia, panic and straight up terror. Each do this in their own way and have specific effects that end up compounding together to create the over all reaction that the poison causes.
Howard is immune to these effects and the poison itself and due to the oxygen found in it he can breathe it as if it were normal air, and even drink it in it's liquid form if he so desires. It is applied to all of his ninja tools and weapons as well as in a small vial around his neck for poison jutsu usage as well as being sealed in his Medical Summoning Scroll. This poison can also be applied to the fingernails to augment taijutsu usage through fingerjabs and the like and teeth for more animalistic applications akin to the injection abilities of a snake through bites.
Description of Effects:
First the hallucinogens Dihydroxyphenylalanine which also allows the body to produce extra dopamine, Atropa belladonna, and Hemlock. These three together create very vivid and very surreal hallucinations as soon as they become active on the opponent. They induce a mental reaction wherein the brain itself brings out it's most base, deepest, darkest fear bringing it to life through various hallucinations with aspects of visual, auditory, and even smell and taste stimuli. The brain creates these sensations by stimulating the parts of the brain related to these sensations. These hallucinations can easily be mistaken for genjutsu as they have a similar application and even seem to be in a similar vein as it but isn't a genjutsu. The hallucinations will seem real, the opponent will be able to, see, smell, hear and taste the object if the situation arises. They can actively interact with the opponent but aren't tangible in the sense that they have physical substance. This can make distinguishing reality nearly impossible making it difficult to fight. To anyone seeing the poisoned person react to these sensations they would merely seem crazy or delusional. These can range from small changes to what the poisoned individual sees to extreme world altering changes.
Inhalation, Consumption or Injection: The hallucinations begin immediately after inhalation, consumption or injection beginning in the same turn.
Skin contact or a wound: The hallucinations are slightly slower starting one turn after being poisoned in this manner.
Next the fear creators, Carbogen, Irukandji venom, and Corticotropin Corticotropin is a peptide hormone and neurotransmitter involved in the stress response. In such a high dose it creates an intense stress on the body making the body feel as if it were under severe physical and mental stress. Carbogen makes them feel as if they are suffocating unable to breathe which along with the Dihydroxyphenylalanine which becomes dopamine once the poison passes the blood brain barrier, floods the brain with dopamine usually dopamine makes you feel confident and happy but if it seeps into the wrong part of your brain, dopamine will arouse feelings of terror and dread. This is what happens, the brain is overtaken by this forced production of chemicals and the body responds with intense fear, fear that makes thinking harder and slows down the natural thought process. Irukandju venom just straight up creates feelings of dread and impending doom putting the effected person in a state similar to Killing Intent making rational thought impossible halving their reaction speed and making movement harder. When a summoning creature is exposed to the poison be they the wielders own creatures or an opponent's it makes them see their natural predator swarming around them much larger than they are and intimidating them excessively forcing the summoning creature to reverse summon or disperse.
Along with this intense fear the carbogen forces the poisoned being to feel as if they are always suffocating no matter what they do or how they react even mind clearing jutsu can't overcome this. This is an innate reaction that cannot be overcome no matter how hard the opponent tries to focus or look past it this is because when carbogen is inhaled, the increased level of carbon dioxide causes a perception, both psychological and physiological, of suffocation. The brain itself interprets an increase in blood carbon dioxide as a decrease in oxygen level, which would generally be the case under natural circumstances. Inhalation of carbogen causes the body to react as if it were not receiving sufficient oxygen: breathing quickens and deepens, heart rate increases, and cells release alkaline buffering agents to remove carbonic acid from the bloodstream as stated this is an innate bodily reaction something that can't be bypassed with thought, or any form of breathing exercises. The only way to bypass this is either a transfusion or nullifying and curing the poison and it's effects. This can also be done by removing the poison through normal means and nullifying the remainder. Additionally, normal shinobi are able to stop the spread of the poison by removing the afflicted limb/body part before the poison is able to spread, this won't apply if they inhale it nor if the wound isn't superficial on a limb or body part that cannot be removed. Nearly bleeding out and taking a Blood Replenishing Pill can have a similar effect as to a transfusion stopping this symptom but if exposed to the carbogen again the process just begins again.
Inhalation, Consumption or Injection: Fear is created immediately after inhalation, consumption or injection beginning in the same turn. This halves human reaction speeds due to the stress, anxiety, fear and panic that can at times feel crippling. If a summoning creature is exposed to the poison when the effects set in the intense fear forces them to reverse summon or disperse.
Skin contact or a wound: Fear sets in one turn after being poisoned in this manner it then halves human reaction speeds. For summoning creatures as soon as the fear sets in they reverse summon or disperse back to their homeland.
Finally the paralytics the Hemlock and Belladonna force the muscles to tense up becoming partially paralyzed. This eventually forces the muscle to begin to lock up completely which reduces the opponents speed halving it and limiting their reactions and tracking speed significantly. If undefended or not healed and nullified properly the untreated poison causes the person to become completely paralyzed unable to move their body locked in place as their muscles will not respond to the signals being sent to them. This eventually causes death due to the body being unable to inflate the lungs or move the diaphragm and bring oxygen into the body instigating physical suffocation and asphyxiation.
Inhalation, Consumption or Injection: Partial paralysis and muscle numbness begins immediately after inhalation, consumption or injection beginning in the same turn but doesn't cause any outward problems yet merely spreading from the point of contact. On the following turn the opponent's speed is halved as their muscles begin to lock up becoming unresponsive making movement harder and needing forceful action to move. Complete paralysis takes effect after two turns of not being treated (this means two turns after the poisoned person's speed is halved, the turn when speed is halved is counted as the first then there's a another turn where nothing new happens symptom wise) and leaves the opponent unable to move with a running speed of zero unable to perform hand seals, move their mouth, or lungs. This eventually ends in death by asphyxiation after three turns of being unable to breathe the only way to prolong a life past this point is Chakra CPR or nullifying the poison completely.
Skin contact or a wound: Everything is shifted one turn later. Partial paralysis begins the turn following being poisoned. Speed is halved the following turn as muscles begin to lock up becoming unresponsive. Complete paralysis follows two turns after that (this means two turns after the poisoned person's speed is halved, the turn when speed is halved is counted as the first then there's a another turn where nothing new happens symptom wise) reducing running speed to zero, making it impossible to perform hand seals, move their mouth or lungs. Asphyxiation takes place three turns after this the only way to prolong a life past this point is Chakra CPR or nullifying the poison completely.
Note: Samples can only be willingly given by Howard and the carrier risks exposure as only Howard is immune
Note: Can be applied to weapons, ninja tools, and smoke bombs by anyone given a sample
Note: Can be applied to the fingernails, hands, and teeth by someone with an immunity
Note: Since the poison is predominantly hormone and amino acid based it is resistant to heat and liquid once inside the body.