**No hesitation.**
Hikari locked the door and windows, drew the curtains, and sat cross-legged on the bed.
Eyes shut, she shoved the revolting strip of flesh into her mouth.
The meat had no distinct odor—its texture, somewhere between chicken and fish, was almost novel. But the way it writhed and squirmed the more she chewed made her grimace.
*Gulp.*
After a few perfunctory chews, she swallowed.
At first, nothing happened.
But Hikari didn't let her guard down.
Her **Byakugan** remained fixed on the dissolving mass of flesh in her stomach, watching as stomach acid corroded it into sludge.
Until it melted completely.
*Splash—*
A phantom sound of rushing water echoed in her mind.
The liquefied **Three-Tails' flesh** surged like a tidal wave, seeping past her stomach and spreading through her body in an icy rush.
Hikari shivered.
The **Three-Tails' chakra** had invaded her chakra pathways, rampaging like a wild beast. In mere moments, her once-orderly chakra network was thrown into chaos.
If this kept up, her pathways would rupture.
Hands forming the **"Ram" seal**, she focused.
Mental and physical energy merged as sapphire-blue chakra surged from her heart, encircling the Three-Tails' watery chakra.
But her chakra reserves, though equal in volume, were no match in density. The beast's energy scattered her blockade effortlessly, charging straight for her **"Chakra Seed"**—the core of her heart.
*Damn it!*
If that was destroyed, her life as a shinobi would be over.
Forget becoming a **jinchūriki**—she hastily rallied her chakra, forming a barricade before her heart.
*Boom.*
The collision sent a shockwave through her veins. Hikari gasped, blood trickling from her lips.
Capillaries ruptured under the pressure. The Three-Tails' superior chakra crushed hers, driving it back into her heart.
*This difference in power…*
*So this is a tailed beast's strength?*
A thrill shot through her.
No wonder tailed beasts topped the "cheat-tier" rankings.
But the more formidable it was, the more she craved it.
Taming this chakra would double her power—at least.
Her **Byakugan's** ashen hue deepened as **pupillary power**, **physical energy**, and **chakra** united against the invader.
Sensing danger, the Three-Tails' chakra grew frenzied.
The liquid chakra crystallized into jagged ice, surging toward her heart. Flesh paled under the cold; blood froze into crimson shards.
*Ice Release?*
Hikari's Byakugan sharpened. *Since when could the Three-Tails do that?*
Her chakra pathways **split and reconnected**, rerouting the icy chakra past her heart into a new loop.
Flesh pulsed.
A labyrinth of veins stretched, thinning the Three-Tails' chakra into a fragile thread.
*Now.*
*Buzz—*
Her blue chakra severed the thread's end.
A fragment of the beast's energy was trapped, thrashing against her containment.
Relentless, she shattered it further, branding the remnants with her **Byakugan's** will.
Slowly…
The chakra stilled.
Her **pupillary power** dominated it, dissolving the fragments into her own.
The blue of her chakra darkened, now tinged with the tailed beast's essence.
No time to marvel.
Most of the Three-Tails' chakra still raged inside her, spreading frost through her veins. She was turning into an **ice statue**.
Hikari hurled her enhanced chakra at the remnants, devouring them faster with each passing second.
Finally, the beast's energy relented, merging seamlessly into her own.
---
**Outside.**
The dim hotel room was silent.
The silver-haired girl sat motionless on the bed, pale as porcelain.
Then—
*Gurgle. Gurgle.*
Translucent red bubbles oozed from her skin as **indigo chakra** cloaked her body.
The curtains billowed. Silver hair lashed like wind-whipped threads. A **phantom crimson cloak** flickered over her skin.
Her eyes snapped open—**silver hair**, **red shroud**, **Byakugan**, **gray irises**. A single **chakra tail** swayed behind her like a spectral fox's.
*Withdraw.*
The **tailed beast cloak** receded. Her chakra, now twice as potent, flooded back into her **Chakra Seed**.
A strange **fullness** settled in her chest.
The altered chakra dissolved back into **mental** and **physical energy**, now tainted with an azure hue.
The foreign energy seeped into her cells—her very soul.
*Zap.*
A jolt shot through her core.
Bones tingled. Flesh sang. Her mind buzzed with ecstasy—**a fleeting glimpse of evolution**.
Then, just as suddenly, it vanished.
*Tch. Greed's a poison.*
Today's gains were already monstrous. Any more, and she'd have **exploded into ice dust**.
Still… *Ice Release?* That was new.
Hikari rose, testing her body.
No **Ice Release** manifested. No drastic physical changes.
But her **chakra**—
*It's like a tidal wave now.*
Her reserves neared **jōnin-level**, and the **quality** had skyrocketed. Even without ninjutsu, this density would make any technique devastating.
And that wasn't all.
She eyed a glass on the table.
Indigo chakra pooled in her palm—then **morphed** into a translucent red tendril. With a thought, it snatched the glass midair.
Not a crack.
Her chakra had inherited the tailed beast's **malleability**. With enough control (and her **Byakugan's precision**), she could mimic even the **Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands**.
Her heart pounded.
This wasn't borrowed power.
It was **hers**.
Harmonious. Natural. *Alive.*
A thought dried the humid air.
Moisture bowed to her will, condensing into a **water serpent** that coiled around her fingers.
Next, she activated **Shikotsumyaku**.
Her palm **split open**. Blood dripped—only to **leap back** into the wound at her chakra's command.
The flesh sealed shut.
…
Somehow, she felt herself drifting further from the word **"human."**
And there was no turning back.
---(◕‿◕)