No sooner said than done.
Hinami locked the door and windows, drew the curtains tight, and sat cross-legged on the bed. Closing her eyes, she shoved the disgusting strip of meat into her mouth.
It didn't have a foul smell, and its texture—somewhere between chicken and fish—was quite novel. However, the sensation of it constantly writhing and struggling more the more she chewed made Hinami furrow her brows.
Gulp.
After a few casual chews, she swallowed it whole.
At first, there was no change. Hinami didn't dare relax; her Byakugan remained fixed on her stomach, monitoring the mangled meat as it was corroded and dissolved by gastric acid.
Until it dissolved completely.
Whoosh!
In a daze, Hinami seemed to hear the sound of rushing water.
The Three-Tails' flesh, now digested into liquid, turned into a surging tide. It seeped out from her stomach and spread throughout her body, leaving a trail of icy coldness in its wake. Hinami shuddered.
The Three-Tails' chakra had invaded her pathways. This uncontrollable, foreign chakra rampaged through her system, wreaking havoc on her internal circulation in just a few breaths. If left unchecked, her chakra pathways would likely shatter.
Hinami's hands formed the Rat seal.
Invisible spiritual energy mixed with physical energy, and deep blue chakra surged from her heart, rushing through her pathways to surround the water-like Three-Tails' chakra.
However, her chakra volume was roughly equal to the amount of Tailed Beast chakra within her. The result of her "encirclement" strategy was her own chakra being scattered instantly by the onslaught. Seeing the Tailed Beast chakra charging toward the "Chakra Seed" in her heart, Hinami realized she was in trouble.
If her Chakra Seed were destroyed, her path as a ninja would end right there.
Forgetting about being a Jinchūriki, she desperately mobilized her chakra, gathering it before her heart to collide head-on with the Three-Tails' power. Hinami let out a muffled groan as blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
The collision within her pathways created a pressure that ruptured the surrounding capillaries. The high-quality Three-Tails' chakra pushed Hinami's own energy right back to her heart.
The same volume, yet such a massive gap in quality?
Is this the power of a Tailed Beast?
Hinami's heart burned with excitement. It truly lived up to its reputation as a top-tier "cheat" in the world. But the more powerful it was, the more she wanted it. If she could tame this energy, her strength would at least double.
The ashen gray in her eyes intensified as her ocular power descended, and her flesh, pathways, and blood vessels were activated by an invisible force. Ocular power, physical vitality, and chakra joined forces to strangle the rampaging Three-Tails' energy.
Sensing danger, the Three-Tails' chakra grew even more frenzied. The liquid-like energy began to freeze into sharp ice, piercing toward her heart. The flesh along its path turned white from the cold, and the flowing blood crystallized into red icy slush.
Ice Style??
Hinami's Byakugan narrowed. She didn't remember the Three-Tails having such an ability.
Her pathways automatically snapped and reconnected, forcing the terrifying Ice Style chakra to bypass her heart and be guided into a new circulation loop. Her flesh pulsed. Densely packed pathways extended and wound around, creating a loop that stretched the icy Three-Tails' chakra to its limit.
Now!
Hum!
Deep blue chakra suddenly lunged out, severing the tail end of the Three-Tails' energy. The frozen, rigid pathway snapped.
Her own robust chakra wrapped around a small segment of the Three-Tails' energy, trapping it. No matter how it thrashed, it couldn't break through Hinami's seal. She manipulated her chakra again to isolate and break down that segment. Then, the gray ocular power of the Byakugan appeared, branding itself onto the shattered Three-Tails' energy, forcibly seizing control.
Gradually, the Three-Tails' chakra lost its defiance. The Byakugan's power led Hinami's energy deep into the core, crushing it completely. The foreign fragments decomposed and merged with her own chakra.
Under Hinami's delighted gaze, her deep blue chakra darkened, taking on a unique quality belonging to a Tailed Beast.
She had no time to investigate further. A large portion of the Three-Tails' chakra was still rampaging, its icy coldness spreading through her body, nearly turning her into an ice sculpture. Hinami quickly manipulated her new chakra, devouring the remaining Three-Tails' energy bit by bit. As her chakra grew stronger, the consumption process accelerated. Eventually, their natures seemed to align; the Three-Tails' chakra stopped resisting, allowing the new flood to swallow it whole.
In the dimly lit hotel room, a cold wind blew.
The silver-haired girl sat cross-legged on the pure white bed, motionless as an ice statue. Her exquisite features looked like clay molded by a master craftsman; there wasn't a hint of life in her.
After a long silence, an abnormal sound of flowing water suddenly emerged in the quiet room.
Gurgle! Gurgle!
Semi-transparent red bubbles detached from the surface of Hinami's body. Deep blue, foreign chakra enveloped her frame. The curtains in the room moved without wind, and her silver-grey hair fluttered as a phantom red cloak manifested over her snow-white skin.
She opened her eyes.
Silver hair, red cloak, Byakugan with gray pupils. Behind her, a single red tail, half-real and half-phantom, appeared. She looked exactly like a fox immortal from legend.
Withdraw!
With a thought, the Tailed Beast Cloak retracted into her body. The deep blue chakra—which had nearly doubled in volume—ebbed back to the Chakra Seed in her heart. Hinami felt a strange sense of fullness.
As the altered chakra decomposed back into spiritual and physical energy, it was visible that both pure energies now contained a certain blue "impurity." This foreign Tailed Beast energy followed Hinami's original pathways into her cells and soul.
Hum!
An indescribable sensation came from the depths of her being. It was like an electric shock. Her bones felt tingly, her flesh rejoiced, and even her brain experienced a pleasurable shiver that shook her very soul.
The pleasure came fast and left even faster. Before Hinami could fully process it—the feeling as if her life was about to evolve and leap forward—it vanished. It left her feeling a bit lost.
Oh well. Greed is a bottomless pit.
The harvest today was already massive. If there had been any more Tailed Beast chakra, she might have been blown apart by the surge or frozen into ice dust. She hadn't expected the Three-Tails to possess Ice Style abilities.
Hinami comforted herself internally. She stood up to stretch, closing her eyes to perceive the strange changes after devouring the meat.
She hadn't inherited the Ice Style she hoped for. No physical changes were apparent yet; the small piece of meat wasn't even enough to fill a tooth gap, and Tailed Beasts don't inherently boost the physical body much. She simply felt more energized, with better stamina.
In contrast, the change in her chakra was enormous.
She inspected herself. The chakra in her pathways ebbed and flowed like the tide. First, the volume had doubled—she was now extremely close to Jōnin levels in terms of raw chakra. Second, the quality was several times stronger. Though she didn't know any Ninjutsu yet, she could imagine the terrifying power this high-quality chakra would produce.
But that wasn't all.
Hinami looked at the water cup on the table. Deep blue chakra surged from her palm. Under the control of the Byakugan, the form and color of the chakra shifted. The phantom deep blue transformed into a semi-transparent red tentacle. With a thought, the tentacle extended like a spring, grabbing the cup.
She toyed with the cup using the chakra limb. Not a single crack appeared on the fragile glass.
After merging with the Tailed Beast chakra, her own energy had taken on some of its properties. It could be extended, reshaped, and mimicked at will. As long as her chakra volume kept up, she could theoretically use her Byakugan's control to simulate even the Wood Style: True Several Thousand Hands.
Her heart throbbed. Physical and spiritual energy merged; the newly born deep blue chakra was as profound as the ocean.
Devouring the Three-Tails' flesh hadn't made her a Jinchūriki in the way she expected. Instead, it had fundamentally transformed her body. From now on, any chakra she synthesized would carry Tailed Beast properties, yet it was completely different from a normal Jinchūriki's chakra.
It wasn't borrowed; it was hers. More harmonious, more natural, and more fluid.
With a thought, the humid air in the room suddenly turned dry. The moisture in the atmosphere became as submissive as a sheep before her new chakra, obediently gathering in the center of her palm. The mist solidified into an ethereal serpent, slithering between her fingertips.
Shikotsumyaku activated.
A small "mouth" opened in the skin of her palm. Blood dripped onto the floor, only to be given life and vitality by the terrifying foreign chakra. It gathered together, leapt into the air, and burrowed back into the wound. The "mouth" closed, and the blood flowed back. Everything returned to normal.
Hmm...
For some reason, Hinami felt she was drifting further and further away from the word "human."