Though Sakura and Temari were able to leap out of the way, Hinata was unable to react in time and was struck by the beam. The glowing energy wrapped around her like a rope, completely binding her. Hinata struggled to break free, but to no avail. She screamed as a strange energy enveloped her entire body, making her glow like the beam itself. Then, strangely, her body began to distort and condense to a smaller shape. Before Sakura and Temari's eyes, Hinata had been reduced to a small glowing sphere, about the size of a small melon.

"Hinata!" Sakura cried.

Grinning victoriously, Marunomi pulled her arm back, reeling in the glowing beam. The Hinata orb, which was still attached to the beam, was pulled in right along with it. Marunomi caught the orb in her hand and the beam vanished inside the Behemoth's Tongue. Marunomi gazed at the orb and chuckled.

"You naughty girls," she said. "You shouldn't have tried to sneak up on me like that."

"What have you done to Hinata?!" cried Sakura.

"It's the power of the Behemoth's Tongue," replied Marunomi. "The ability to turn any living being into pure condensed chakra. Don't worry though, she's still alive." Marunomi licked her lips. "But she won't be much longer. Not after I digest her."

"What?" said Temari with a hint of terror in her voice.

Suddenly, Marunomi opened her mouth wide and engulfed the glowing orb. With one big gulp, Marunomi swallowed the entire orb, sending it down her throat, like a snake swallowing an egg. The orb traveled all the way down her esophagus and finally entered Marunomi's stomach, causing her belly to bulge out.

"Hinata! No!" cried Sakura.

Content with her meal, Marunomi caressed the curve of her belly and moaned in delight.

"Consider that a preview of what's to come," she said. "Both for the village and for you. But first, I'm itching for a fight, so what do you say we get to it?"

Marunomi leapt over to a nearby clearing, the perfect arena for a battle. She raised her hand and beckoned the two kunoichi towards her. Seeing no other option, Sakura and Temari obliged and followed her to clearing, standing opposite her.

Temari observed the Behemoth's Tongue on Marunomi's arm. She knew now that she would have to decide to save it or just destroy it outright. And with them down one team member already, it would be a difficult call.


*What does Temari decide?