4.- Training and the expected meeting.

After the statement he had made, Megumi couldn't just sit idly by, so he immediately set out to continue his training. This time, he decided to explore the spatial aspect of his gift.

According to the manga, he could store things in his shadow as long as he could bear their weight with his body, so he intended to do physical training by taking advantage of this aspect of his technique.

"Alright, I need to put things into my shadow to start my physical training, but..."

"What should I place?"

"There's nothing heavy in the house that I can put in, and besides, if I place a lot of light things into my shadow, Tsumiki or her mother might notice they're missing, which would make them ask me, since I'm the one who spends the most time at home, as I'm neither studying nor working yet."

"That would definitely be a hassle," Megumi frowned.

"Well... I guess that's a problem for future Megumi," Megumi said, relaxing a bit as he decided to leave the problem for later.

"Now, let's move on to the more interesting aspects of that strange space possessed by the users of the Ten Shadows." Megumi's expression shifted 180 degrees; he was undoubtedly excited for what was coming next.

"I'll start by remembering what my first goal is: I want to achieve a technique that is essentially the same as Obito Uchiha's Kamui from Naruto."

"Obito's Kamui, better known as the defensive Kamui, is a technique that involves transporting parts of the user's body to a different dimension when someone tries to attack you, so that you can't suffer any damage."

"I think I could replicate Obito's technique by transporting parts of my body to my shadow space. My belief is based on the manga, where it was clearly shown that Megumi could immerse a large part of his body in the shadows to attack his enemies by surprise. So, I don't think it's impossible to use the technique in this way."

"Although..." Megumi added, rubbing his chin, "If I want to submerge my head in that space, I have to keep in mind that there is no oxygen in it."

Ding

"Wait..." Megumi's face twisted.

"HAHAHAHA!!!"

"It was so obvious!!!!" Megumi exclaimed between laughs.

"I can't believe I didn't think of it! I just killed two birds with one stone!"

His joy was contagious, so much so that if anyone saw him, they wouldn't be able to resist smiling. Megumi had thought about filling his shadow with air so that he could breathe inside it, and at that moment, he realized what he needed to put in his shadow to help with his physical training.

After all, air had weight, it wasn't visible to the naked eye, and no one would notice its absence if he placed some in his shadow. Without a doubt, air was the best resource he had at the moment. And the best part was that it was free.

Moreover, he was already imagining the immense possibilities of absorbing gaseous elements into his shadow. He imagined absorbing CO₂ and using it as cover to attack, imagined how incredible it would be to absorb harmful, colorless gases and poison his opponents stealthily while he had the antidote in his veins. The possibilities his technique offered were becoming more and more apparent. Without a doubt, the Ten Shadows technique was a goldmine.

Leaving his fantasies aside, Megumi set out to put his theory into practice. He started by submerging his entire body into his shadow to understand the sensation of being in the shadow and to later try replicating it on a smaller scale.

"Damn... Another drawback of this technique is that I'll lose vision if the part of my body I transport to the dimension is my head."

"Well, I guess I'll have to train like Mirio from MHA or find a way to solve the vision problem," Megumi thought as he emerged from his shadow. With that idea in mind, he set out to practice transporting smaller sections of his body into his shadow inventory, achieving moderate success.

"Hmmm, this technique still can't be used in fights, since I don't control it well enough. I'll need to train more if I want it to be viable." Letting go of the mass of shadows covering him, Megumi prepared to finish his training with his final objective.

"If this works, cursed energy will no longer be a problem in the future," Megumi knew that one of the main issues with the original Megumi was his limited amount of cursed energy, and although he theorized that he had more cursed energy than the original Megumi because he had somehow absorbed it, it was always better to be cautious.

Megumi's goal was based on a theory he had since discovering that he could store things in his shadow. From the anime, he knew he could store matter in his shadow, and anyone could assume that he could only store matter, but what if that wasn't the case? What if he could store other things, like cursed energy?

The mere possibility that his theory could be true filled Megumi with excitement; he was undoubtedly enjoying this new opportunity. Not wanting to waste more time and eager to test his theory, Megumi summoned his shadow and proceeded to inject cursed energy into it.

"Ugh, what crap." Megumi's face twisted in disgust.

"I really thought it was going to work," Megumi's disappointment was visible on his face. He had been so excited that his theory would be true, but seeing that his shadow only grew when imbued with more cursed energy left him disheartened.

'Well... This technique was already too good to become even better, and just because Mechamaru was able to store cursed energy and use it doesn't mean I can do the same,' Megumi thought, resigned, before his expression suddenly shifted to one of excitement as he crouched down to touch his shadow. "But what if I…"

In a last act of faith, Megumi thought to plunge his hand into his shadow and deposit the energy directly inside, instead of indirectly pouring it into the shadow. Megumi believed that this way, he could avoid the shadow growing and achieve his goal.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!" Megumi laughed euphorically for the second time that day, having succeeded once again.

"In heaven and on earth, I alone am the honored one," he said dramatically, striking poses with his arms.

"Phew…" Megumi exhaled, gradually calming himself down.

"Well, I guess that's enough improvisation for now. I should focus on mastering the powers I have and maybe tame a few more Shikigami until Gojo arrives," Megumi calmly reflected. Although he had more ideas to improve his cursed technique, many of them were not viable at the moment or were too difficult to carry out.

Besides, knowing how dangerous this world was, his priority was to become strong enough to protect himself and those close to him.

—[TIME SKIP: Three months later]—

Three months had passed since Megumi began training. During that time, his control over cursed energy had improved greatly, and his mastery of techniques had become very fluid.

Megumi hadn't neglected his physical training either, which is why he was now strong enough to carry an additional 30 kg with his full-body strength and still move at the speed of a normal adult man.

Currently, Megumi was in an abandoned warehouse with the goal of taming some of his shadows to expand his repertoire.

"Alright… Let's start with the toad Shikigami," he said, then made a series of hand signs, summoning a huge toad from his shadow. As soon as it fully materialized, it attacked him with its tongue.

"Whoa, that was close!" Megumi exclaimed after dodging the toad's strike. He then extended his shadow to restrain the Shikigami's movements.

Once the toad was immobilized, Megumi manifested the heads of the Divine Dogs within his extended shadow and commanded them to bite the toad, destroying it.

"One down, two to go," Megumi said as he manipulated his shadow to form a perfect sphere about 2 meters in diameter.

"Alright... preparations are ready." Megumi formed a hand sign resembling a rabbit. Immediately, a rabbit began to materialize inside the sphere. Just as the summoning was complete, Megumi didn't allow it to multiply and compressed the sphere down to the size of a grape, fully exorcising the Shikigami.

"Two out of three, now for the cherry on top," he thought, then made a hand sign resembling a bird.

From his shadows emerged another strange red beast with an avian shape and a mask on its face. As soon as its eyes locked onto Megumi, the bird let out a loud screech and charged at him, wrapped in what seemed like purple electricity.

Unfazed by the sudden attack, Megumi reacted by erecting a shadow spike that extended towards the strange bird and pierced it completely.

—[Nine months later]—

We find ourselves in an uninhabited forest on the outskirts of the city. At this moment, Megumi can be seen high in the sky, riding on the back of Nue, his reliable flying Shikigami.

Looking down, he saw the ground surrounded by an ocean of cursed energy. He extended his hands, as if checking the height and distance. Once satisfied, he made hand signs that resembled a snake. Immediately, his shadow extended, and from it emerged a large snake that shot forward.

Once summoned, the giant snake attempted to attack Megumi, only to realize that it was in the air, plummeting towards the ground. Desperately, the snake tried to move in midair, but the more time passed, the closer it got to the ground.

THUD!!!

The dry sound of the giant snake hitting the ground echoed, and with that, another shadow was tamed. The same process was repeated with the "piercing bull."

"Well... I guess only Dumbo is left. This is too easy," Megumi said with a confident smile as he descended to the ground on Nue's back.

After descending to the ground, Megumi made a strange hand sign and shouted, "[Piercing Bull]!"

After the summoning, Megumi commanded it to run in a straight line through the forest. He waited a few seconds for the power to build up and, with a reinforcement of cursed energy, quickly ran and summoned the ultimate elephant right in front of the piercing bull, exorcising it the moment they made contact.

"Well, job done. Now there are only 3 left out of ten," he said, smiling.

—[6 months later]—

Thud!!

"Ouch"

"Ugh"

"Ooo"

"Damn it!! Why is this so hard?" The sound of blows echoed as Megumi continued training.

"Mirio and Obito made it look so easy, damn it!" Megumi shouted in frustration. He had been training for a long time to use his [Shadow Inventory] the way Obito used his Kamui dimension, but even to this day, it was still very difficult for him to switch quickly from intangible to tangible, causing constant collisions with everything.

"Phew," Megumi groaned in exhaustion and collapsed onto the ground. "Damn it, if only I could make a binding vow to learn this crap faster."

Megumi couldn't understand why he couldn't perform binding vows. He had tried everything repeatedly, but still had no success, which puzzled him since he had mastered his other abilities at a terrifying speed.

The reason for his inability was his silent struggle against the world, a battle he was unaware of. He believed that the pain he felt on the day of his reincarnation was due to the fusion of his soul with the original Megumi's. However, the truth was that the world had tried to anchor him to the web of fate, causing that pain. It was he who broke that connection at that moment, making it impossible for him to perform binding vows, an ability granted by the world.

"Pff, no matter, I just have to keep training if I don't want Sukuna to take my body or some special-grade curse to kill me."

—[6 months later / Present Day]—

'Phew, I'd forgotten how annoying kids can be, school is a drag, but it's important. Well, at least I finally mastered intangibility after all this time.'

'Anyway, I need to plan my schedule well; the school environment robs me of the valuable free time I used to have,' Megumi thought as he continued on his way home.

'?' At that moment, Megumi sensed a massive cursed energy just a few meters behind him, but he kept walking without showing any sign of awareness.

'I guess today's the day. I'll finally enter a new world with new possibilities,' Megumi thought as the source of cursed energy drew closer and closer.

Tap

Tap

Tap

"Hello, kid!!!, Are you Megumi Fushiguro?"