"This feeling… something's not right with me."
That evening, Haruma had stared at his bowl and plates, rubbing his stomach, brows slightly furrowed.
He didn't feel full, not at all. It was as if he hadn't eaten a single bite yet his body wasn't hungry either. In fact, it felt warm and full.
The odd sensation made Harum think of the mysterious black hole that resided within his soul so he closed his eyes to try and sense it. It didn't take long for it to show itself, as black as obsidian and coursing through him in waves of warmth.
Their link told him everything he needed to know: the hole was evolving, beginning to take shape even, and so was his devourer ability.
Lifting his hand, Haruma suddenly saw a dark mist begin to swirl above his palm, much like the Logia-type Yami Yami no Mi from that world of One piece. His hand now cloaked in darkness reminded him of the great pirate and antagonist Blackbeard. His once human hand had turnt into a literal black hand.
He gently placed it on the table though the mist didn't spread or dissipate.
"...Picky, huh?" Haruma raised an eyebrow. Thanks to link he had to the mist, he knew exactly what it was—and what this hand could really do.
All he had to do was touch something with it, and he could devour it, but the ability didn't consume everything. Or more precisely, the black hole was incredibly picky. It only devoured things it deemed "tasty."
Aside from devouring by touch, Haruma could also devour through eating. Yes, his mouth had also become a "Devourer's Mouth" and to be more specific, his entire body had become a unique being, a "Devourer's Body".
His stomach? A bottomless pit.
No matter how much he ate, he'd never feel full. Never hungry either.
Anything he consumed was converted into a special kind of energy, nourishing both his physical and mental reserves. Only after this energy was fully depleted would hunger return.
"So basically... I'll never have to use the bathroom again?"
He couldn't control the way his face twisted into a weird expression.
"If I were a girl, I'd probably be some sort of fairy by now."
He muttered into the silence. Haruma dispelled the black mist and continued to clean up and before long he was sat down and trying to shape his own chakra
Chakra, as he knew, was the combination of both physical and mental energy and with his current devourer body, Haruma had an advantage nearly on par with the Sage's own abilities.
The more he ate, the more his chakra pool would grow.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was on the road to becoming a real life chakra nuke.
If only he had the money, he'd be hoarding meat like crazy right now, but he knew he couldn't rush things and until he could earn money and hunt for himself, he needed to manage his inheritance and monthly stipend wisely—to grow strong enough to enter the Academy.
Once enrolled, if he could learn the D-rank Body Flicker and Clone Jutsu, survival in the wild would be within reach.
Six months flew by quickly.
Haruma had successfully shaped his chakra.
It now swirled like a vortex in his palm. Small and still too difficult to control, but it was there.
He understood that without constantly training his control on chakra and hand signs, he wouldn't be able to manipulate it as much as he could. Only Jonins and shinobi of higher strength could use a single hand seal, or no seals at all, to use jutsu.
Unless, of course, he learned seal-less techniques.
At that moment, Haruma couldn't be more grateful his father had been a ninja and that their house hadn't been destroyed by the Nine-Tails.
He had left behind not only a scroll on the basics of chakra control but a collection of rank D to C jutsu.
To master medical ninjutsu, chakra control was essential and he was even luckier when he had found a B rank scroll inside his fathers cupboard, just behind where his old flak jacket hung. There were some notes here and there, mentioning how important chakra control was and even some training methods as well.
With all this and his chakra already having been shaped somewhat successfully, all Haruma had to do was work hard. He was confident and knew that once inside the Academy, he'd soar like Itachi Uchiha or Minato Namikaze.
No longer would he be just a civilian, he'd be a civilian prodigy.
Which meant…
He ate even more.
Until one day, something big happened in Konoha that had snapped him out of his usual training obsession.
The Hyuga Incident.
The hidden cloud village had sent envoys to sign a peace treaty with Konoha, but that very night, they attempted to kidnap Hinata Hyuga, just after her third birthday.
They failed of course. Hiashi Hyuga killed the kidnapper.
But instead of apologising, the cloud turned the tables—accusing Hiashi of murder and threatening war if Konoha didn't hand over his corpse.
And the Third Hokage caved.
The Hyuga clan, after intense deliberation, decided to send Hizashi, Hiashi's younger twin brother, in his place.
Branded with the Caged Bird Seal, his Byakugan could never be stolen and so he died as a decoy.
Haruma was intrigued.
That body, Hizashi's corpse, was extremely valuable.
Someday, he vowed to acquire a Byakugan of his own, which could potentially evolve into the Tenseigan.
But he didn't just want kekkei genkai.
No—his goal was beyond that.
He wanted something above a kekkei genkai and even beyond a kekkei tota.
a kekkei mora.
But for now, he was far too weak to even think about that, and so he watched as the cloud's party left with Hizashi's coffin, scowling with contempt at Konoha and its people.
In his past life, there was a saying: "Wealth never lasts past the third generation."
And in this world, it described Konoha perfectly.
Once home to the Senju, Uchiha, and Hyuga clans, The White Fang, the Sannin, the Yellow Flash, and a Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Even without Hiruzen and Danzo, the village boasted at least six Kage-level shinobi and countless elite jōnin.
Against that, not even four villages united could stand.
Yet now, just one village made a threat—and the Third Hokage had complied.
"How powerless do you have to be to cave so easily?"Haruma thought, only once Hiruzen and Danzo were dead, would the power that was Konoha finally begin to show again.
But for now, none of that mattered to him.