Chapter 53: The Nutritious Shukaku.

Standing inside Shukaku's body, Hanma held a flame in his hand to carefully observe his surroundings.

"Tailed beasts are truly fascinating," Hanma marveled at the internal structure of Shukaku.

Tailed beasts are peculiar "creatures." They can be aggregates of chakra and also possess physical bodies like animals. The horn of the Eight-Tails can be cut off, placed in a petri dish for cultivation, and the One-Tail can turn into yellow sand, having no physical form.

Hanma extended his hand, gently stroking the stomach wall of Shukaku. The sensation felt no different from normal flesh and blood.

"It feels like pig kidney."

This was an important step for Hanma to explore the ninja world. These so-called tailed beasts were sub-bodies of the Ten-Tails, divided by the Sage of Six Paths using Izanagi. For studying the Otsutsuki clan, they were extremely important original materials.

In fact, if this ninja world only had Kaguya, the difficulty level would be much lower. The Sage of Six Paths was very cautious in dealing with his mother, making him the most filial son in the ninja world. 

Even without relying on the reincarnation of Indra and Ashura, as long as there was an information gap, reaching the strength of a "kage" could provide countermeasures. For example, using the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique to seal the jinchūriki in an unknown other space, or timing the killing of a particular tailed beast to delay time, awaiting the growth of a savior. 

Even figures like Black Zetsu and Madara Uchiha would find it troublesome. This is the advantage of information gaps. However, the future visitors made Hanma give up on the idea of taking shortcuts. These aliens were not easy to deal with.

Shukaku was still laughing heartily, feeling extremely joyous for defeating a strong enemy, shouting loudly:

"Grand Shukaku's magnificence has not waned one bit from the past!"

The Konoha ninja fell into a panic once again, but Sakumo Hatake squinted his eyes, sensing something off.

"With Hanma's speed and strength, he couldn't have been swallowed so easily."

Shukaku was swinging its massive body, ready to frolic further. Suddenly, it felt an unbearable pain in its abdomen. At this moment, Hanma was surveying the flesh inside Shukaku. He exerted force with his arm, tearing off a big chunk and putting it into his mouth to taste.

"A mild flavor of smoked meat... and a hint of dried meat. Quite tasty."

However, extracting chakra this way was too low in purity. The blood armor on Hanma's body slowly disintegrated, transformed into thick blood energy, starting to erode every piece of flesh inside Shukaku. The blood energy generated by the Predatory Domain is a multi-functional talent. Diluted blood energy can cover a vast battlefield, acting as a sensory tool. Or it can cover oneself as armor, enhancing Hanma's strength and defense, improving close combat ability. The ability to devour chakra attached to the blood energy was not often used by Hanma, mostly serving as a sensory supplement.

Because the jōnin could control their chakra flow well, Hanma always regarded it as a skill for clearing out small fry. But at this moment, Shukaku's soft body, full of chakra, turned into the best restaurant for blood energy. Strands of thick blood energy, like termites devouring wood, frantically gnawed at Shukaku's flesh and chakra.

Hanma blissfully felt the mad influx of chakra, but a trace of doubt arose in his heart. The chakra of the tailed beasts was characteristic of brutality and chaos but wasn't particularly difficult to absorb. In reality, in the ninja world, some children could withstand tailed beast chakra. For example, Chiriku's son from the Fire Temple, who could transform into a small Nine-Tails at a young age.

The existence of the "world furnace" allowed Hanma to remove impurities while absorbing chakra. But the chakra of Shukaku at this moment unexpectedly carried a peculiar resistant emotion. Regarding chakra, Hanma always held a conservative attitude. After all, it was something brought by the Otsutsuki clan. Can one expect invaders to bring any good stuff?

Hanma shook his head, stopping his thoughts on this matter. For now, the Otsutsuki were too far away for him. Shukaku squatted in pain, the giant tanuki squatting on the ground comically, gagging madly, trying to vomit Hanma out. But no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't get rid of that hateful human, only able to impotently rage, slamming the ground weakly.

Sakumo Hatake felt a strange sense of déjà vu as he watched Shukaku. 

"Why does this look so much like when my wife was pregnant…"

Hanma was still controlling the blood energy, continuing to devour Shukaku's flesh. He had become addicted to this rapid improvement. Shukaku's body began to collapse rapidly, shrinking to only thirty meters tall, with the patterns on its body gradually fading. Shukaku took a reluctant look around, gave a roar, turned into a pile of yellow sand, and returned to Bunpuku's body. It had a premonition of unease; if it let that human inside its stomach continue, it might really die! 

Hanma regretfully watched the blood and flesh in front of him turn back into yellow sand, no longer containing that deliciously sweet chakra. Bunpuku appeared on the battlefield again, but he had merely recovered enough to move. The heavy punch from Hanma earlier was unbearable for his frail body.

Seeing Bunpuku's weak appearance, Hanma showed a smile of respecting the old and cherishing the young. Before Bunpuku could speak, Hanma instantly appeared in front of him, crushing his heart with a big hand, freeing him from the suffering of the mortal world.

"Ah, I am truly a merciful person."

Taking out a sealing scroll, Hanma carefully collected Bunpuku's remains. Bunpuku's Celestial Absorption Technique was very similar to the adamantine chains of the Uzumaki clan and had excellent defensive power. The reason he didn't die immediately from Hanma's sudden attack was that the secret art's mighty power was protecting him.

If he let Kushina master this secret art, the Nine-Tails would surely have an interesting expression when faced with two different colored chains. As for whether Kushina should accept the power of the Nine-Tails, Hanma had no decision. After all, the Nine-Tails was the most ferocious tailed beast, and Naruto could obtain its power not merely through the so-called "talk no jutsu." Who is Naruto? He is the reincarnation of Ashura, the Sage of Six Paths' most favored youngest son!

Theoretically, the Nine-Tails could be considered his young master, and they might have played together in ancient times. But if Kushina really wanted to acquire the Nine-Tails' power, as her teacher, Hanma would do his best to help her, provided that her position aligned with Hanma. Otherwise, Hanma would not foolishly provide secret arts to an enemy.

Hanma still relished the rich nutrients of Shukaku's chakra, regretting he didn't eat more. Internally, he couldn't help but sigh, "High-quality chakra often requires the simplest method of absorption." The entry "World Furnace" had begun to shine brightly, a sign of imminent advancement. Hanma smiled contentedly but did not rush to upgrade the entry. Evolving an entry usually required a special catalyst to mutate into the most powerful ability.

For example, when Hanma evolved "Savage Domain" to "Predatory Domain," he used Sharingan chakra. As an Uchiha by blood, awakening the Sharingan wasn't difficult, but why hadn't he opened his eyes yet? Because Hanma provided the special chakra for awakening the Sharingan to the entry instead.

Thus, the blood energy from the Predatory Domain gained a trace of the Sharingan's sensory and hypnotic abilities, mutating into the predatory effect.

For the ninja world, mid-level evolution didn't meet Hanma's combat requirements. Hanma pondered various rare entities in the ninja world, preparing to find a catalyst with "devouring" traits to evolve the "World Furnace" to its maximum potential.

"Hanma-kun, emergency! The jinchūriki from Kumogakure have entered the battlefield!"

Sakumo Hatake hurriedly arrived, anxiously calling Hanma, interrupting his thoughts.