The Power of the Planet... in the Palm of my Hand

As previously stated, the System will not grant any chakra capacity upgrades for cup sizes the Host has already achieved. The Host's historical maximum size is O-Cup, which means there are three more thresholds to cross before the Host may receive additional System rewards.

"That's not what I meant!" said Sakura crossly, folding her arms under her chest. "My Manyuu abilities allow me to steal other women's breast chakra and increase my own, and it even works on civilians who haven't unlocked their chakra. Why isn't it working properly?"

Unknown.

Technically, Sakura's Breast Flow transmuted breast flesh into breast chakra by harnessing the power of the Nyūmyaku, the omnipresent breast energy that pervaded the universe and connected all womankind. She would then reabsorb this breast chakra and reconvert it back into flesh within her own breasts, which accounted for the small losses between transfers.

More cells equaled more stamina, which meant more chakra capacity, etc., etc. So, if her breasts had grown bigger, why hadn't her chakra grown too?

"I doubt it's this Gelel stuff's fault," Sakura murmured to herself. "As far as I can tell… Gelel stones are just pure life energy— crystallized Natural Energy. The breath of the planet itself, condensed into a gemstone…"

Earlier, Ranke had transformed into some kind of great ape. Most likely, she had drawn too much Natural Energy from the Gelel Stone embedded in her chest and lost control over the balance of energies in her body, causing her to undergo an animalistic transformation— just like an imperfect Sage Mode.

"Sage mode, but without chakra," said Sakura, thinking out loud. "Without chakra… could it be?"

It was said that during his lifetime, the Sage of Six Paths had travelled the world, spreading the good word of Ninshū and sharing his chakra with everyone he came across. As a result of having their physical and spiritual energies united, humanity had developed new organs and structures to adapt to the foreign energy source— in essence, mankind had evolved to become more like the Ōtsutsuki in order to reach a higher level of existence.

However… what if the Sage of Six Paths had missed a spot?

A continent on the other side of the world, unreachable via the technology of his time and out of his flying range… filled with people who had never even heard of chakra, and who had had next to no opportunities to breed with those who had!

It would explain why Sakura's humanity had increased, and why the new breast flesh that had taken root within her chest couldn't grant her any chakra. Those cells weren't able to connect to her Chakra Pathway System, so there was no way for her to extract any physical energy from them— thus, no chakra!

Still, even though she was now carrying a whole lot more dead weight on her torso, stealing Ranke's breasts hadn't been a total loss: Sakura's Lightning affinity had greatly increased, which would make it much easier for her to learn Lightning Style Jutsu!

As for why… Sakura had a few ideas, but no concrete answers.

Chakra was both spiritual and physical energy, so perhaps she had only properly absorbed Ranke's spiritual side. Affinity could be increased slightly through dedicated training— a case of mind over matter— so it wasn't just a matter of talent… or at least, not completely.

At the end of the day, bloodlines and natural talent were still a major part of a ninja's potential. In this world, the only way to overcome pure natural talent was to train single-mindedly like Might Guy and Rock Lee… or to use artificial means to seize talent for oneself, like Orochimaru and Hiruko.

And speaking of which…

Sakura spotted a lump in Ranke's breast, which was quite apparent now that she was flat-chested. Using the Chakra Scalpel Jutsu, Sakura carefully cut into the woman's skin and retrieved the egg-shaped turquoise stone buried in her flesh, between two ribs. Sakura stared dreamily into its depths, feeling very much as if she were gazing at the starry night sky…

Warning! Powerful Natural Energy source detected! The Host should avoid absorbing this type of energy until they have attained enough chakra to balance out its power, to avoid DNA corruption!

Sakura had no intention of absorbing the stone now— if it truly held the power to halt ageing, then she would be stuck in a thirteen-year-old brat's body forever! No, perhaps it would be better to wait until she was at least seventeen, by the start of the Fourth Shinobi World War, just to be safe.

At any rate, it's not as if she could have implanted the Gelel stone without the royal family's bloodline, even if she had wanted to…

"This woman doesn't have the royal family's power," said Sakura in disappointment, feeling no previously undiscovered special powers awakening within her. "I'll have to keep looking…"

It would be troublesome if the royal descendant was either Hyde or Temujin, because then, she'd have to turn them into women. And that was a long way off, considering the requirements to unlock the Yin-Yang Gender Reversal Jutsu from the System…

In any case, perhaps there would be an answer in the thick grimoire she had seen in Hyde's possession. Maybe borrowing the power of the royal family's bloodline would be easier than she thought!

A shrill scream snapped Sakura out of her musings— Kahiko had just come to, and finding himself suspended in the air a great distance from the ground, he was none too pleased!

=============================================================

Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke were fighting for their lives, encircled by Hyde and two of his female knights. Or rather, Naruto was doing the encircling part, seeing as he had managed to make thousands of Shadow Clones— though the enemy was making quick work of them.

"Kamira!" shouted Hyde angrily. "What's the situation with Temujin and Ranke? What is taking them so long!?"

"Temujin is on his way back, but I've lost contact with Ranke, sir!" Kamira replied. "She engaged the female enemy in combat, but she could not ascertain whether she'd obtained the information we require!"

Kamira's brow furrowed in concentration— she kept trapping Naruto's doppelgangers in illusions, but they just kept coming at them. Her illusions didn't seem to be able to affect the original through his duplicates, and without identifying the original, there was no stopping this Zerg Swarm rush…

"All right!" cheered one Naruto among the sea of orange and yellow. "There's no way Sakura-chan would go down that easily!"

"…"

"THAT'S THE REAL ONE!"

"Naruto, you moron," said Sasuke with a sigh.

Fugai, the third female knight, grinned wolfishly. Her face started elongating, and she slowly began increasing in size, thick fur growing all over her body. The boy's scent was all over the place, but now that she knew which one was the real one, there was no escaping her fangs! …uwu.