Inside Marunomi’s stomach, Temari found herself completely constricted and covered with digestive fluids. Rubbing up against her, aside from Marunomi’s stomach walls, were the two orbs that used to be Tenten and Ino. Steadily, she maneuvered her hand within the incredibly confined space and reached for her kunai. Once she had it, she attempted to stab and cut through Marunomi’s stomach. However, weapon proved to have no effect, merely sliding or bouncing off Marunomi’s slippery and rubbery stomach walls. Temari then made various hand signals to create a wind jutsu; a risky move that could damage her and Tenten and Ino, but she had to take it. The jutsu burst forth from her body, creating a large gust of sharp wind that momentarily expanded the space of Marunomi’s stomach, but then dissipated allowing the stomach to retract, unharmed. Angered, Temari simply began to punch and kick against the walls, but she knew it was no use. She was fully and completely trapped. Before long, she would slip into unconsciousness.
---
Outside, little lumps sporadically rose and fell on the surface of Marunomi’s engorged stomach as she felt the sand ninja writhe within. The wind jutsu had caused Marunomi’s belly to balloon out even further and made her let loose a burp, but, other than that, she was completely unaffected.
“My, my, your friend is making quite a fuss,” Marunomi said, rubbing her belly. “Unfortunately for her, I have a cast-iron stomach, so there’s no chance of her escaping. But she’ll tire herself out eventually and then she can digest in peace.”
Trying to ignore her words, Sakura and Hinata stared at their opponent intensely, and Marunomi stared right back at them. As they tried to think of a strategy, Sakura and Hinata’s eyes were intermittently drawn to Maruomi’s outstretched stomach; the enormous blob that had already taken their friends and now threatened to consume them as well.
“Foolish little girls,” Marunomi said abruptly. “You should’ve run away when you had the chance. Now you’re just going to be two more meals for my hungry belly.”
She let out a sigh and then slowly began to approach them.
“You know, you two have really inconvenienced me,” she said. “The Behemoth’s Tongue was my literal meal ticket to the greatest feast imaginable, and now it’s gone! It was the only way I could cast the Melting Pot! Do you know how long it will take me to find a way to replicate that jutsu, if I ever do find a way?!”
Marunomi continued to approach, her voice growing harsher. Sakura and Hinata slowly backed away.
“So what will we do about that, hmm?” Marunomi said. “I’m going to eat the two of you, of course, but do you really think that will be enough?! Maybe I should go to your village! Maybe I should eat your friends! Your family! Your loved ones! Hell, maybe I’ll eat the entire village, one-by-one!”
Marunomi stopped and clenched her fists, letting loose a powerful aura. A wave of energy surged past Sakura and Hinata, pushing against them. The energy then subsided, as did Marunomi’s temper.
“Yes…I think that’s exactly what I’ll do,” Marunomi said with a sadistic smile. “But first, you two have a date with my stomach.”
A bit disturbed by Marunomi’s outburst, Sakura and Hinata, nevertheless, maintained their composure. Having finally come up with something of a plan, Sakura decided to take charge and turned to her teammate to instruct her.
“Hinata,” Sakura said. “I’m going to engage her and see if I can find any weaknesses in her defense. While she’s busy with me, use your Byakugan to see if you can find anything. She must have a weak point of some kind, and between the two of us we have to discover something.”
“Sakura…” Hinata said concernedly. “…are you sure you can…”
“I’ll be fine,” Sakura said. “With her increased size, she must be a lot slower now. Maybe she’s even a bit more vulnerable. Now, can you do it?”
“A…alright. Leave it to me,” Hinata said.
Without wasting another second, Sakura began her assault. “HYAAA!” she cried as she charged at Marunomi. She decided to try the direct approach and start with Marunomi’s bloated sphere of a stomach. Elastic skin or not, Marunomi’s stomach surely had at least come close to reaching its capacity. Perhaps one powerful could cause her to spit Temari and the others back out. Sakura reeled back and delivered a devastating punch smack dab into Marunomi’s enormous stomach. Her hand sunk into the skin and she continued to push as hard as she could, but, sure enough, Marunomi’s belly won out and repelled her, flinging her into the air. Sakura landed on her back, but quickly picked herself up.
Marunomi then began to rub her stomach, feigning discomfort. “Oh please, don’t be so rough on my tummy,” she said. “I just ate, after all.”
Sakura growled at her angrily.
“What? Did you think you could get me to spit your friends back up, little lady?” Marunomi asked mockingly. “Sorry, but, as you can imagine, I have a pretty strong stomach. Your friends are there to stay. But don’t worry, you’ll be with them soon.”
Sakura rushed at her once again. She punched and kicked and attacked every way she could, desperate to find any sort of weak spot that Marunomi might have. But, with each attack, she was met with the same repulsion.
Meanwhile, Hinata activated her Byakugan and observed Marunomi as she battled it out with Sakura. What caught her eye first was the contents of Marunomi’s stomach, which were two large bright orbs and the compacted body of Temari. It was a disturbing sight to be sure, but it seemed, for now at least, that her teammates were still alive. Refocusing her attention, she observed Marunomi’s chakra pathway system; the network that distributed chakra throughout the body. She wondered if she could target one of the nodes and strike Marunomi while her defense was down, disrupting her chakra. But what Hinata saw astounded her. The chakra system and the nodes were all there, but it seemed that they were all being protected by some kind of buffer; presumably the jutsu that had given Marunomi her rubbery skin. There was no way that Hinata would be able to hit the nodes with the buffer protecting them. It truly seemed that Marunomi had the ultimate defense. But still, Hinata pressed on, looking all around Marunomi’s body for any possible weakness. And then she found it. One spot where there was a chakra node and the buffer wasn’t protecting it. The problem though, was where it was located.
Sakura’s movements were beginning to become sluggish as she desperately flailed at Marunomi. It appeared that Sakura’s theory about her becoming slower and more vulnerable were completely unfounded. Growing tired of her attempts, Marunomi simply punched her, flinging her across the clearing. She landed far away from Marunomi and Hinata and lied motionless.
“Sakura!” Hinata cried.
With Sakura out of the way, Marunomi turned her attention to the Hyuga girl. She saw that Hinata had her Byakugan activated. ‘How rude’, she thought. ‘Another naughty girl peeking where she doesn’t belong.’ She sprinted towards her and, in an instant, Marunomi was right before the Hyuga girl. Hinata was startled by Marunomi’s sudden appearance and could only stand still, trembling a bit. Marunomi smirked. She looked down at the frightened girl and then looked her over.
“Mmm,” she muttered. “You are a scrumptious looking girl.”
*What does Marunomi do?
