5: Reverse Cursed Technique

"So that's what it's about," Sukuna lowered the thick book that his small hands could barely hold and closed his eyes, recalling every word. Then he opened them again and read the entire book once more to make sure everything was imprinted in his mind to the letter.

Finding the information he needed turned out to be more difficult than he initially expected. Konoha had several public libraries, but for the most part, their content was barely adequate.

It seemed that civilian medicine and ninja medicine were quite divided.

The civilian part focused on the knowledge Sukuna already had about the human body, so it was useless to him. Entering one of the shinobi libraries was too risky, and he might not find what he was looking for there either.

So, he sneaked into Konoha's main hospital.

Going unnoticed was a small challenge, but nothing he hadn't done before. In fact, it served as a good express training that helped him verify how much of his stealth abilities had been lost with the body change.

In short, none. In fact, being a child gave him an unexpected advantage due to his size—something that wouldn't last forever, but as long as he could, he would use it to his advantage.

Perhaps the most annoying thing was dealing with the Hyuuga clan. Sukuna used to wonder what it would feel like to have their gaze on him; now he knew, and thanks to that, he was able to get a better idea of how to avoid that gaze.

After all, the Hyuuga weren't "omniscient." Sure, they had a 360-degree vision, but it was limited in distance in the form of a sphere. The average range was unknown to him, but thanks to his research, he deduced that it wasn't more than a radius of about 5 or 10 meters with their bodies as the center. Of course, this measure varied depending on the individual strength of each person, but in general terms, most of the white-eyed clan ninjas he had encountered maintained the same range of vision.

Then there was their telescopic vision, which allowed them to see at great distances. Sukuna had felt it while he was looking for a way to get inside the medical facilities. The sensation could only be described as being illuminated by the headlights of a car or a flashlight in the middle of the night—something strange, but he didn't think there was a better comparison. And like the headlights of a car or a flashlight, you just had to stay out of the path of the beam of light to avoid being seen.

Easier said than done, as the Hyuuga were quite perceptive to chakra and could quickly shift the direction of their gaze if something caught their attention.

It was fortunate, then, that Sukuna could suppress his currently insignificant amount of chakra quite well—something that would undoubtedly be much more difficult once he unleashed all the reserves hidden within him.

With that said, once he figured out how to bypass the Hyuuga's surveillance, it was fairly easy for him to slip in during the night and start reviewing the medical files and books at the facility. Of course, there were also scrolls, but when Sukuna inspected them, he realized that many had unfamiliar seals that prevented anyone from opening them. He wasn't about to tempt fate by messing with something he didn't understand yet, so he mostly set them aside.

Fortunately, the information he sought wasn't in those scrolls.

Sukuna looked at his left hand and, without hesitation, activated Dismantle on himself. His arm, from the elbow joint, was instantly severed, flying through the air with a clean cut. But the blood that would normally gush out stayed within, not spilling a single drop.

"The Kamo clan technique always comes in handy," he thought. Blood manipulation, an ability he gained by eating his "brothers," something that had saved his life many times.

He caught his severed left arm before it hit the ground and set it aside safely. Then, he looked at his stump and focused, beginning to activate his Reverse Cursed Technique.

Using the new information he had obtained, he began the reconstruction. First, the bone grew rapidly, forming the skeleton of his severed hand. Then came the blood vessels, and normally the next step would be the formation of nerves, but this time he added an extra step. As the blood vessels began to form, something else did as well—a network of chakra that started to extend through every present cell like a web of fine threads.

To aid this, Sukuna continued the process, making the nerves, muscles, tendons, and ligaments grow. He took his time to ensure everything was in order, and once he had his hand back, though without skin, he clenched his fist to test the sensation.

"It seems I succeeded." Once he felt the chakra flowing through his arm without any issues, he allowed the skin to regrow, completing the regeneration entirely.

The chakra network turned out to be much less complicated than he had expected. Sure, it was a new kind of "organ," but an organ nonetheless. Once he understood its structure, how it was built at the cellular level and distributed throughout the body, it was a piece of cake for him to incorporate that information into his Reverse Cursed Technique. Of course, it would take some time to make it intuitive again; for now, he had to manually guide the technique to avoid mistakes. But with practice, it would once more become automatic.

He moved his new left arm, stretching it until he was satisfied, then looked at his previous arm, now resting on the ground. He had kept it in case things got complicated—after all, reconnecting a severed part was a thousand times easier than growing a new one. If he hadn't been able to regenerate a new arm optimally, he could have simply reattached the old one.

But since he had succeeded, he no longer needed it.

With a thought, the limb flew into his palm. There was something strange about holding an old limb with the new one—probably a bit morbid if you asked some people.

Sukuna extracted all the blood from the arm, causing it to dry up until it resembled a brittle twig. Then, flames came to life, quickly consuming what was left until it turned to ashes that dispersed in the wind.

The pink-haired boy then looked at the floating ball of blood in front of him, about the size of a small football. Using "Convergence," he compressed the sphere to its limits, condensing it into a small drop.

"Let's see how this works." Normally, a member of the Kamo clan would have to bring both palms together to use the Piercing Blood technique. Sukuna had managed to simplify the method, adapting it to his style.

Extending his arm, he clenched the small drop of blood into a fist, then aimed forward, extending his index and middle fingers while raising his thumb.

The air shattered as the supersonic explosion sent gusts of wind around him. The blood shot out like a high-pressure stream, piercing through everything in its path. The phenomenon lasted only a few seconds, as there wasn't much blood, and Sukuna didn't have enough chakra to keep feeding the technique. Even so, it was enough to bring a smile to his face.

"Quite a bit faster than it should be." Yes, chakra seemed to make everything several times more "potent." It was a good thing that after robbing the hospita, he had taken his spoils to a fairly isolated part of the village.

Of course, he now needed to return what he had taken. If anyone noticed some things were missing, the ninja would undoubtedly get involved, and although Sukuna had ensured he left no trace behind, he preferred not to take any chances.

Before leaving, he gathered the remaining blood, compressing and condensing it again, storing it inside himself in case he ever needed to use it. Sure, the Kamo clan's blood techniques weren't his favorite in combat, but they could always be useful in other ways.

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Once Sukuna resolved the issue with his Reverse Cursed Technique and was now able to use it without restrictions, he decided he could start some light training.

Naturally, he began by testing the chakra control methods he remembered.

Walking up trees was absolutely easy. His first step was a bit unsteady, but the second was firm, and after that, he continued walking until he reached the top of the tree he had chosen without any difficulty.

He might have called it talent, but the truth was that chakra was much easier to manage than cursed energy. As a result, when he began playing with it, not caring now if his chakra network might get damaged, he was able to gain excellent control almost immediately.

Next, he tried walking on water.

Of course, he managed to do that on the same day.

"I don't think I lack chakra control at all," he mused. It was interesting; he had been holding himself back out of fear of damaging his chakra network and being unable to repair it. But now that that fear was gone, and with it the need for caution, Sukuna could take full command of this new energy, shaping it to his will with ease.

You could say the only thing he was lacking now was quantity.

Fortunately, that also had a solution. He just needed to make his body strong enough to withstand all the "sealed" energy within him without exploding into a thousand pieces—no small feat when you're a three-year-old brat.

Sukuna stepped out of the water with four fish in his hands and looked up at the sun high in the sky. It seemed the time had come. Using his chakra, he ignited a fire and began cooking the fish he had caught.

Soon, he sensed a familiar presence approaching, and from behind the bushes, a small blonde figure emerged, almost tripping. Her eyes searched the area with uncertainty until she found him. Her blue eyes lit up, and a big smile spread across her face.

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"Hey!" she shouted exuberantly in his direction.

"Yo," he greeted her casually.

If anything had changed in these past few days, it was that Sukuna now had something of a routine: feeding a gluttonous little blonde girl.

After their first encounter, Sukuna returned to the park the next day to meet her again. It was a risky move, as there were sometimes ninja watching over her from a distance. Of course, there were also days when those ninja were conspicuously absent, something odd and random, but Sukuna didn't care much. In fact, it was better when there was no surveillance nearby; having to act was annoying.

"Hey, look at this!" Naruko approached him excitedly, pulling something out from behind her back. When she held it up in front of him, Sukuna noticed it was an old, rusty kunai.

Its edge was worn, and the metal had long since lost its shine, but it mostly retained its sharp shape.

"A kunai? Where did you find that?"

"They throw a lot of these away with the trash. Usually, the other kids at the orphanage grab them all, but this time I managed to get one," she said as if it were a great achievement.

Sukuna took the kunai, playing with it. It was a bit large for his hands, but he could still hold it firmly. He'd never used kunai before; weapons weren't really his style—he preferred his fists. Still, he knew a thing or two about throwing sharp objects, thanks to the teachings of a certain green-haired woman who was quite skilled with all sorts of weaponry.

"Tell me, do you want me to teach you how to throw this?" His question caught the girl by surprise as she was already munching on one of the fish Sukuna had been cooking.

Her eyes sparkled with excitement when her brain processed what he meant.

"You know how to throw kunai?!" she asked in awe. She had always watched the other kids at the orphanage practice and wanted to learn too, but no one was willing to teach her, which had been bothering her a lot.

"My parents were ninja. They taught me a little," he lied easily.

Then, quick as lightning, his arm swung, sending the kunai flying skillfully through the air in a perfectly straight line.

He didn't use too much force in his throw, but even so, the kunai struck a tree, piercing through it and embedding itself deeply in the wood.

Naruko stared in amazement at the feat. Even the older kids at the orphanage, who were about to enter the ninja academy, hadn't shown the ability to throw a kunai so skillfully. In fact, most of the time, their kunai ended up bouncing uselessly off their targets.

"How cool!" she exclaimed excitedly, running towards the tree with the kunai embedded in it. Sukuna was about to stop her, but the words failed to come out as he watched her grasp the handle of the kunai and pull forcefully. It took some effort, but the girl was still able to extract the metal deeply buried in the wood.

'More strength than she looks' looking at the girl's slender arms. Sukuna had to admit that he was taken by surprise this time.

From that day on, Sukuna dedicated himself to teaching the girl how to throw kunai.

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Time can pass quickly when you have a routine. Sukuna still didn't know what his place in this world was, but if he knew anything, it was that he would prefer to avoid its destruction. After all, he lived in it now.

He didn't remember much about the end of the story, but one thing was clear: the term "Rabbit Goddess" was etched in his memory. He didn't know if it referred to a literal god or just someone too full of themselves, self-titled in that way.

Whatever the case, it was clear that his previous peak strength needed to increase if he wanted to surpass this "goddess." He needed to become stronger.

For that reason, he leaped, dodging a claw the size of a grown adult, and looked at the enormous bear, at least 4 meters tall, roaring in his direction.

Sukuna, now 5 years old, pulled his hands out of his pockets and clenched his fists. If there was something interesting in this world, it was its fauna. Chakra seemed to make everything non-human grow to colossal sizes. Of course, not all animals did so—only those born with much more chakra than usual.

It was like the difference between civilians and ninjas. The civilians in this world were not physically much different from normal humans on Earth, but ninjas could easily move at speeds faster than sound and crush metal with their hands.

A notable difference.

"How should I kill you?" It had been a while since he had tasted bear meat.

In response to his question, the beast roared and lunged at him with great force and a speed far too high for its colossal size.

Sukuna easily dodged its charge with a hand sign that caused a small puff of smoke to erupt, leaving a rock in the spot where he had been. Confused, the bear smashed the rock to pieces and looked around, searching for the small figure with pink hair that had intruded into its territory.

Out of the corner of its eye, it saw him approaching and quickly counterattacked, but its instincts screamed at it when it was already too late—its claw passed through the ghostly figure of an illusory bunshin.

Then, a powerful blow struck its head, causing its body to crash to the ground with force.

Sukuna landed not far away, watching the trembling bear with some disappointment. The beasts had started to become useless for training.

He stomped the ground and stepped forward, a kunai appearing in his hand, ready to kill the beast, but his movement had to change course when he heard the wind whistle. He quickly raised his hand, sparks flying as he intercepted a shuriken that had been sent his way.

"I was wondering who had been killing the beasts in the forest. Finally, I find you, little demon," a female voice called out, and a teenage girl with mid-length purple hair tied in a ponytail appeared in a blur, looking at him with clear annoyance.

Sukuna wasn't surprised by her arrival. In fact, he had sensed her presence approaching. Normally, when a ninja appeared, he tended to escape to avoid dealing with them, but this time he decided not to for several reasons.

"Calling me a demon is a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think? I was just training," he said, putting away the kunai.

"Training? Wait, how old are you, brat?" The teenager took a good look at him for the first time, her eyes widening as she realized he didn't look very old. She had expected to find a genin or an academy senior, but the pink-haired kid in front of her was far from that.

"Old enough, though calling me a brat is a bit exaggerated too. How old are you, ten?" he asked, causing the girl to bristle a bit.

"You should watch who you're talking to, kid. I'm Mitarashi Anko, a Chunin of Konoha, and I'm 12!" she said proudly, pointing to the green vest she wore.

"Eh, it looks like anyone can be a ninja now." he said stoically, causing the smile on her face to fade. She looked at him with a frown—was he trying to annoy her?

Anko might not have been the most skilled when it came to dealing with others, but she could still tell that there was no real disdain in his eyes or words. She would know—she was quite familiar with that feeling, after all.

"I don't know what you're after, brat, but you'd better scram. I don't care what kind of training you're doing; this area is off-limits." If he were a genin, she would have made him pay for all the trouble he'd caused her over the past few months, but he was most likely just a student. And as much as it irritated her, a student was still a civilian until they graduated. Her already terrible reputation would only get worse if she messed with a civilian, something she definitely didn't want.

"Eh, seems like you're a lot more cautious than I thought."

Anko's left eye twitched. She swore that once this brat became a genin, she would track him down and teach him a lesson in "caution."

As for Sukuna, he couldn't help but ponder what to do next. His plan to provoke her into attacking him didn't seem to be going as planned.

Sukuna had been thinking about this for a while now. The beasts were no longer useful for training; he needed something stronger, something wiser and more intelligent—a ninja.

But it couldn't be just any ninja. It had to be someone who could keep the strength he showed against them a secret, either voluntarily or because they didn't have many people to tell. Another requirement was that they could take a hit, so they also needed to be somewhat strong but not too strong, or they'd be difficult to deal with if things went south.

Above all, it needed to be someone no one would miss if they mysteriously disappeared one day... metaphorically speaking, of course.

With that list in mind, it was obvious what he was looking for.

A pariah. And while he had Naruko, the girl was still too weak to be useful in real training, so he thought of another option.

One that he actually knew where to find and could easily contact.

Mitarashi Anko. He had heard of her from time to time through the village gossip. If Naruko was hated for the fox inside her, then anko was hated in almost equal measure because of her teacher.

The Sannin Orochimaru, the traitor.

His betrayal had hit a still-reeling Konoha hard, and the people's resentment had been simmering for a while. Any scapegoat was eagerly accepted by them, even if they hadn't really done anything wrong.

Anko's only sin was being assigned to Orochimaru's genin team.

With all that said, her existence was exactly what Sukuna had been searching for. Although he hadn't started training in the Forest of Death because of her, it was fortunate for him that she had been assigned as the caretaker of the place long before he began training there.

It saved him the trouble of finding an excuse to meet her.

"So? Are you going to leave, or do I have to drag you out by the ear?" Seeing him stand there in silence, Anko spoke up again as she landed on the ground and approached the still-stunned bear.

"You know, I put a lot of effort into hunting that bear. I wouldn't like to leave just like that."

That made the purple-haired girl scoff.

"Oh yeah? Sorry to disappoint you, bubblegum head, but the hunt is over. As long as I'm here, that bear isn't going anywhere," she said, crossing her arms and looking at him as if to say, 'What are you going to do about it, kid?'

Sukuna smiled.

"I guess I'll have to go through you, then."

At those words, Anko was stunned for a moment before she burst out laughing. Sure, the kid was strong—few could hunt a bear of that size or roam casually in the outer parts of the forest she guarded—but she was a chunin! A real ninja! If he really wanted a fight, she'd have to show him the difference between them and knock that arrogance out of him. Of course, she wasn't going to attack him first again—she still remembered he was a civilian and didn't want to get into trouble. But if he attacked her first, she could come up with a good excuse for why she roughed him up a bit.

The two stared at each other, Sukuna with a simple smile and Anko with a mocking grin. The bear, not far from them, felt the tension in the air and instinctively began to back away slowly.

"Don't blink," Sukuna said, confusing the girl slightly. But the next moment, her pupils shrank as the pink-haired boy's figure blurred, vanishing from his previous spot.

With great speed, her arm shot up, blocking a kick. The impact between leg and arm made the air explode, sending powerful gusts of wind rippling through the surrounding underbrush.

Anko's smile vanished as she felt a slight tingling in her arm. The force behind that strike was insane!

Even so, she was still a ninja. Without blinking or hesitating, she moved with great speed and agility. Her arm twisted as she tried to grab the leg that had struck her, but Sukuna pulled back and quickly launched another attack with a punch, which she deflected to the side.

Seeing her elbow heading toward his stomach, Sukuna twisted, dodging the blow and striking with his knee, attempting to hit her. But she was agile and blocked the attack with her leg.

"What do you think? Am I not a bit strong?" Sukuna asked as they both maintained the awkward position they found themselves in.

"Don't be arrogant, brat," Anko replied, but she had to admit to herself that, yes, this boy was indeed strong. She wasn't using her full strength, of course, but it was still surprising that he could exchange a few moves with her.

After all, there were real genin who couldn't even withstand one of her hits.

"Tell me, who's teaching you?" she couldn't help but ask. Geniuses—she'd heard of them and even seen a few. They were usually quite famous, but she didn't recall anyone mentioning one with pink hair.

"My parents were ninja. They're retired now, but they've been training me for when I enter the academy," Sukuna didn't entirely lie. In fact, his parents had begun teaching him a few things; from them, he learned the three basic jutsus as well as the academy's taijutsu katas.

Anko couldn't help but be a bit surprised to hear that he wasn't even an academy student yet. At the same time, a twinge of resentment arose within her.

Ninja parents—aside from being in a clan, having ninja parents was the second biggest advantage someone could have in a village, something that orphans and common civilians greatly envied.

"Well, I guess they won't get too mad if I kick your ass hard, right?" If they were ninjas, they should be much more understanding. In fact, the fact that they'd trained their son to this point told her they were probably tough on him, so maybe she could be a bit tough too.

"Who knows? Maybe I'll be the one kicking your ass," Sukuna said mockingly, making Anko smile.

Alright, it was time to teach this brat a lesson.

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Note:

Another chapter done. At first, I hesitated about making such a big time skip, but honestly, there wasn't much to cover during those two years that couldn't be explained in a few paragraphs, and I'd rather get to the good stuff soon.

By the way, I think I didn't mention it, but if it wasn't obvious already, this is a Naruto-AU (Alternate Universe). Some things will be slightly different but still follow the general framework of the series.