The sudden disturbance on the operating table startled Shigaraki Tanuki, who had been watching tensely from the side.
He stumbled back several meters, staring in horror at the chunk of Hashirama Cells on Hyuga Yu's fingertip, afraid that Hyuga Yu would explode on the spot like the previous test subjects who had received Hashirama Cell transplants.
He hurriedly demanded in a loud voice, "Hyuga Yu, what happened?!"
"Did the surgery fail?"
"No." Hyuga Yu raised a brow as he looked at the chunk of flesh on his fingertip. It clearly had no brain, yet possessed "emotions" because of Chakra.
"It seems... it succeeded."
"It... succeeded?" Shigaraki Tanuki looked over in disbelief.
The veins around Hyuga Yu's eyes bulged as he examined the chunk of Hashirama Cells through the vision of his Byakugan.
Through the Byakugan's vision, he could see:
The elongated, Chakra-absorbing mouthparts formed by the Hashirama Cells had already developed "meridians."
In other words, the surgery had been a success. The Hashirama Cells had easily digested and recombined Zero-Tails' genetic material. While transforming into another form, they had enhanced their original ability and gained a new one.
The chunk of Hashirama Cells—no, it should be called the prototype of "Nue."
It had plainly demonstrated its future ability to [Absorb Chakra]—using its "tail," namely the tail-like mouthpart it had formed, to clamp down on Hyuga Yu's index finger and draw out the azure Chakra that even Hyuga Yu himself had yet to fully analyze.
At this point, "Nue" had not yet been cultivated into a complete form. In theory, something without a brain should have been incapable of possessing emotions.
However, after swallowing a drop of Hyuga Yu's blood, fully absorbing it, and separating spiritual energy and physical energy from the azure Chakra, Hyuga Yu's "will" and spiritual energy temporarily