Chapter 2: Begin to Master the Ten Shadows Technique

Author's Note: I know childhood arcs aren't for everyone, but understand that I don't want to write a story with gaps.

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Author's POV

Sukuna had finished helping Sister Lily set the table for dinner and was currently watching her take care of the younger orphans.

"After a good day of training, I gotta eat!" yelled Asta after barging through the door.

And as usual, that earned him a scolding from Sister Lily.

"Look, you woke the baby up," she said, picking up the crying infant and trying to soothe it.

"Sorry Sister Lily," said Asta, clearly embarrassed by his previous actions as he scratched the back of his head.

"As they often say on Earth, 'seeing is believing'," thought Sukuna, amazed by Asta's stupidity.

When he reincarnated into Black Clover, he had been eager to see Asta and Yuno but unfortunately the current Yuno was a crybaby and Asta was useless without his Anti magic.

"I really don't understand why the villagers tolerate Asta but openly scorn me," thought Sukuna with unconcealed contempt.

He knew his slight contempt for Asta, Yuno, and the villagers could be the result of Sukuna's memories influencing him, but he didn't care.

Nothing mattered to the current Nagumo Hajime except power and pleasing himself, he wouldn't be the ordinary man he used to be.

"Hey Sukuna, why are you smiling creepily while looking at us?" said Asta, unable to read the hidden truth behind Sukuna's facial expression.

"None of your business, brat," he said, motioning for him to go away.

"You and your arrogance, you..." Asta launched into another speech about how Sukuna would be forced to admit he wasn't a brat and they were the same age and other useless things concerning his dream.

While Asta was still engrossed in his passionate speech that unfortunately wasn't just directed at Sukuna but also Sister Lily, Father Orsi finally arrived accompanied by Yuno.

"I see it's quite lively here," he said, clearly in a good mood.

"He must have received donations from the chief of Hage village," concluded Sukuna, observing Father Orsi's cheerful demeanor which was different from this morning.

"And that crybaby who can't even look me in the eye without wanting to cry," thought Sukuna with contempt for Yuno who hid behind Father Orsi when he saw Sukuna looking at them.

"Now that everyone is here, we can sit down to eat," said Sister Lily, completely ignoring Asta who was following her around talking about random things.

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"It's all well and good to have Sukuna's power but I really need to find a solution for shutting that kid up," he thought, lying next to the loudly snoring Asta much to his misfortune.

Although he had an irresistible urge to chop him into pieces, Sukuna felt a "slight" empathy for Asta since both were clearly "unwanted" by the people of this world and the original Sukuna had a similar childhood.

(Author's Note: Sukuna told this to Kashimo in the manga but in truth, we don't really have a lot of information about his childhood.)

"Sometimes I wonder if Sukuna's memories made me bipolar or gave me mental issues," he said, chuckling slightly at his contradictory feelings towards Asta.

"Maybe because of Sukuna's memories, I can't help but see Asta as a being similar to me?" he concluded before dismissing the thought since he sometimes had murderous urges when Asta was too "familiar" with him.

As he lay there, Sukuna couldn't help but play with his techniques to pass the time and hopefully fall asleep.

"For now, I have access to all of Sukuna's techniques shown in the manga but I can't deploy their full potential and I doubt I can subdue General Mahoraga with my current strength," he thought.

During the day, he had only used the slashing techniques and his domain since he didn't want to destroy too much of his surroundings or confront Mahoraga yet.

"Tomorrow, I'll subdue all the shikigami from the Ten Shadows technique but I'll keep Mahoraga for later and of course explore more of my abilities," he thought before falling into a deep sleep.

The next day, Sukuna did all his morning chores at the orphanage before heading into the forest.

"Even though I could live more comfortably elsewhere thanks to my current strength, I still prefer the tranquility of this place, for now at least," he thought, walking deeper and deeper into the woods.

"Here will be perfect," he said once he arrived in a large clearing amidst the trees.

Sukuna made the hand signs to summon the "two divine dogs" that a Ten Shadows user gets at the beginning.

"Indeed, original Sukuna isn't Megumi," he said with a smile as he looked at the pack of wolves surrounding him instead of just two like Megumi Zenin.

"Let's see if I can do what Sukuna did against Yorozu," he said, wanting to make the dogs semi-manifest.

If someone came across this clearing now, they would find a strange child with 4 red eyes bearing strange tattoos surrounded by shadowy silhouettes of various canines.

"I'll start the ritual now," he thought, making new mudras to begin the ritual.

"Oh! It's more impressive in person," he said, observing the enormous number of rabbits that had appeared before him.

The moment they manifested, the rabbits rushed at Sukuna and the divine dogs from all sides.

"You know what to do," he said indifferently to the divine dogs who were in a semi-solid shadow state due to Sukuna's partially completed summoning.

The shadows tore the rabbits apart ruthlessly and soon, little remained of them.

"They only had quantity on their side but that could be useful," he concluded after surveying the scene before him.

"Let's move on to the next one," he thought, performing the ritual again to summon the next shikigami.

This time it was a huge snake that appeared.

"Don't move, I'll take this one alone," the moment he finished speaking to the divine dogs, Sukuna made a powerful leap empowered by the cursed energy and slashed using "Cleave."

Unfortunately for the large serpent, it was shredded without even managing to touch Sukuna since he had dodged its tail.

"If the rest are this weak, then I can simply subjugate them all today."

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"That was easier than I thought, maybe I should try subduing Mahoraga?" he pondered before dismissing the idea.

Although he had defeated all the familiars today using just "the divine dogs" and "Cleave," Mahoraga was completely different from the other shikigami.

Sukuna only defeated mahoraga at the time thanks to a combination of his domain and these fire techniques, but the current Nagumo Hajime does not have as much overall strength as Sukuna did in Shibuya.

"If I fail to defeat him with the domain extension and fire technique, I am as good as dead," he concluded, rejecting the idea.

It is best not to bet his life for a power gain that he can easily obtain later.

Apart from the Ten Shadows technique, he had also tried various barrier techniques and vows.

Fortunately those seemed to be working perfectly for him.

While walking back to the village, Sukuna came across Asta and Yuno training, or more precisely Yuno helping Asta train by sending strong gusts of wind at him.

"Even though I know he'll become formidable later, I really don't understand his mindset right now," he said, leaving the area to continue on his way.