Chapter 170: Seed of Power

Chapter 170: Seed of Power

After being struck by Shukaku's massive tail, Mizuki's external injuries were minor—but the internal chaos was another matter entirely. A storm of foreign energy erupted within him, beginning to rampage wildly. In particular, Shukaku's chakra, which had been lying dormant in Mizuki's body, suddenly awakened. With the tailed beast itself now physically present and in direct contact, the once faint connection between them became frighteningly clear.

"Borrowed power without repayment… and no interest, either. I guess it's time to pay the debt?"

Feeling the internal turbulence growing worse, Mizuki desperately tried to stabilize the balance of power within. But it was already too late. Having enjoyed the benefits of tailed beast chakra—especially how it made sensing and absorbing natural energy easier, enabling him to master Sage Mode—he now had to shoulder the consequences of its backlash alone.

With Shukaku's chakra flaring out of control, Mizuki's body involuntarily began drawing in vast amounts of natural energy from the surroundings. The unrestrained influx shattered his internal equilibrium. Left with no other choice, Mizuki forcefully increased his personal chakra output to compensate. If he wanted to maintain Sage Mode, he had no choice but to burn through every reserve he had, even the ones he'd kept for emergencies. If he let himself be consumed by natural energy, or allowed Sage Mode to collapse, his only future—facing Kakuzu, Hidan, and Shukaku at once—would be a swift death.

He'd always known that borrowing tailed beast chakra to aid in his Sage training might come with long-term risks—but he never imagined the price would arrive so soon.

Surrounded by such a desperate situation, Mizuki had no room to ignore the threats around him. Shukaku hovered close by, roaring and swiping its claws in an attempt to snatch him up. Mizuki, despite the agony and mental strain wracking his body, kept dodging, unwilling to give even a sliver of ground. The beast's wildly swinging tail kicked up thick clouds of dust, making visibility terrible and severely impacting Mizuki's sensory abilities. Every contact with Shukaku was a new crisis: each strike transferred more of its chakra into his already fragile body, further destabilizing his condition—and Mizuki had no real way to stop it.

Finally, a heavy blow from Shukaku's massive sand-formed body sent Mizuki flying. At that moment, the internal balance completely collapsed. The Shukaku chakra he'd been managing so carefully surged out of control. Without restraint, it tore through him—and in doing so, it created a bridge between Mizuki's body and the outside world. Natural energy came flooding in.

Most of it was immediately absorbed by the tailed beast chakra, rapidly amplifying its power and fueling an even greater hunger for more energy. A smaller portion was taken in by Mizuki's own body to sustain Sage Mode. But a trace amount—overlooked until now—was devoured by an old, half-dormant Curse Mark embedded in Mizuki's body. The sudden stimulus reawakened it. Crimson-black cloud-like patterns began spreading from Mizuki's arms, quickly crawling across his entire body.

With three unstable energy types simultaneously active within him—Sage chakra, Tailed Beast chakra, and Curse Mark chakra—Mizuki's body became a living powder keg. A battlefield of conflicting powers. His Sage chakra, representing his own will, was the strongest and most stable force—but it was now overburdened, forced to both fight off the taint of the Curse Mark and keep the beast chakra from running wild. The support from his Chakra Suppression Technique helped delay a total breakdown, but his reserves were running dangerously low. And that was before even factoring in the two immortal enemies circling like vultures nearby.

Thankfully, the effort he put into maintaining all this chaos did have a payoff: his external power surged.

The Sage chakra—the largest and most stable of the energies—broke past his prior control limits. His Sage transformation could no longer be hidden or suppressed. Gone were the subtle shifts of earlier. His eyes turned a deep, haunting crimson. His hair, once lightly shimmering, now flowed freely behind him with a glossy brilliance, trailing strands of flickering energy in the air with every motion. It didn't behave like mere hair anymore—it responded like a living extension of himself, hinting at a latent power Mizuki had yet to fully understand.

Even in agony, Mizuki clenched his fists and roared to the sky, a guttural cry of defiance against the pain that threatened to tear him apart. If he hadn't been mentally tempered by months of battle and near-death experiences—if he hadn't already felt the excruciating pain of Amaterasu's flames—he might've lost consciousness on the spot.

This scenario was Mizuki's nightmare: three high-level energy systems running rampant within his body. For most ninja, mastering one would make them an elite. But he had all three—each powerful, unstable, and nearly incompatible with the others. No one could say how this would end. Perhaps it would forge a new power within him… or maybe it would tear him apart.

Meanwhile, Shukaku was finally satisfied after pummeling Mizuki repeatedly. It had vented its rage, but the bigger problem remained: it still hadn't retrieved the pieces of its chakra and consciousness that Mizuki had intercepted and sealed away.

Though Mizuki was far from fit to fight, he wasn't helpless either.

Among the chaotic energies inside him, Shukaku's chakra was the most volatile, but also the smallest. It wasn't doing as much damage as the Curse Mark, but it completely destroyed Mizuki's ability to maintain internal balance. The Sage chakra, still dominant, was doing its best to hold things together and suppress the invasion from both the beast and the Curse Mark. For now, the Chakra Suppression Technique kept him functional—but it was clear this couldn't last.

Still, all this chaos had granted one benefit: Mizuki's power had grown. In both aura and raw might, he now stood well beyond the average jonin.

His transformation was no longer subtle. His crimson eyes glowed with a strange luster, and his flowing silver hair flickered like firelight with every movement, giving off bursts of energy like ripples on a pond. It was clear to all: this was not an ordinary shinobi.

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