3: First steps, First encounter
"Say ah! Come on, say ah!"
Lazy green eyes looked at the woman trying to feed him with boredom.
The woman pouted at his refusal and put the wooden spoon down on the plate, sighing as she watched the small child, no more than 2 years old, take the spoon himself and begin to calmly eat the baby food.
"Mu! Sukuna-chan won't let me feed him!"
She looked with tearful eyes at a man sitting beside her, the poor guy laughed helplessly and tried to console her.
"Come on, he's a big boy now, the time when you used to feed him is over, isn't it, Sukuna?"
Being suddenly called, the child looked up from his plate, his "innocent" green eyes gazing at the two adults before confidently smiling and nodding enthusiastically.
It was a good act and neither of the two adults in the room thought there was anything strange in his behavior.
The man laughed and reached out his hand, ruffling the already messy pink hair of the child.
The woman sighed, looked at her baby, and couldn't help but complain.
"They grow up so fast, at this rate he'll start throwing kunais and practicing jutsus before we even notice."
The man stopped his hand and his smile faded a little.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, just because other kids do things like that doesn't mean we should expect the same from him, that would be putting too much on his plate."
They weren't a clan, maybe once they had been shinobi, but that was in the past, now they lived different lives.
The woman stayed silent for a moment, looked at her son, and nodded in agreement with her husband's words.
"Yes, Sukuna-chan can choose to be whatever he wants."
Sukuna, for his part, ate slowly; the baby food wasn't that bad.
Even so, he would kill to try some meat.
Metaphorically, of course, he wasn't a maniac.
He watched his "parents" chat cheerfully, Kizashi Haruno and Mebuki Haruno.
They were an... interesting duo, civilians but clearly something more than that, at least in the past.
From the brief conversations and information he had managed to overhear, they had served as genin during their youth before retiring once the Third Great Ninja War ended.
That made sense with what he sensed using his superior senses. The amount of chakra in them was weak, a little better than the chakra of common people, but that was all. Combined with their weak and fragile spirit, Sukuna could say without much doubt that they were weak.
There wasn't much to learn from them, so for the most part, he ignored them and pretended to be a normal child, or at least he tried his best and seemed to be quite good at it because so far they hadn't suspected anything.
Maybe it was cruel; after all, he had taken their "son" from them.
But he wasn't going to replace him. He was an adult, at least in mind, and had no interest in playing the role of a child for a pair of adults. That would be too pathetic.
Besides, they could have another child; he had verified that. Both were healthy and both were fertile, and if they couldn't, he would have done something to fix it for them.
Hey, he might not replace their son, but he wasn't ungrateful.
Setting aside the matter with his "parents," he focused more on his new energy.
Controlling chakra was becoming easier every day.
It was a different energy governed by different rules, but in the end, it served the same purpose as cursed energy.
To empower something, to create an effect.
Only now, there were additional steps.
"Come on, Sukuna-chan, today will be a very productive day."
Mebuki took him in her hands once he finished his meal and got him ready.
He looked at the woman carrying him with slightly furrowed brows, wondering who names their child Sukuna? It didn't even match the surname.
'Well, at least it's not something related to flowers.'
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Some time later
Konoha was a large place. He didn't know if it had always been like this or if something had changed.
He didn't remember enough of "Naruto" to make a proper comparison.
Even so, the reason these thoughts came to his mind was that despite having been in this place for a little over three years, he still hadn't found any "familiar" faces.
Of course, for the most part, he spent his time "confined" to his house and its surroundings. Once he could walk and put in some effort, his parents began to take him to the family business.
His parents were merchants. They had a simple shop that sold many varied things.
They were not rich or anything like that, they still had a good life and sometimes it was entertaining to watch them work.
Of course, he didn't forget to train. He mainly experimented with chakra. His body was special, after all, and his type of training was different. Thanks to having devoured the King of Curses, he could now modify it to a certain degree. Combined with Itadori's special physique and the fact that he had devoured his three "brothers," this made it so that, even without a vast amount of chakra, his physical strength alone was monstrous. It was clear to him from the beginning that his physical strength would never be a problem.
Of course, having talent in something shouldn't exclude training it. He had already been thinking about how to do it but decided to postpone it until he resolved a small problem.
Carefully, he examined his chakra networks. They were something strange that he had never dealt with before, and "playing" with them could be dangerous. He could fix any other type of injury or physical imperfection if necessary by instinctively activating his reverse cursed technique, but the chakra networks were something beyond the physical.
He didn't know how his reverse cursed technique would affect an organ he had never had before, much less one that was both physical and spiritual. If he made a mistake, he could end up with an irreparable injury, which was why he was postponing his physical training.
In summary, until he had a good medical book in his hands that explained their function more clearly, he wouldn't mess with them beyond using them to move chakra.
And moving chakra was quite fun.
Unlike cursed energy, where you needed to constantly channel your negative emotions and maintain strict control over them, chakra came in any mental state.
You could be bored, sad, happy, angry—it didn't matter. As long as you had the slightest control over chakra, you could draw it to you and use it.
It was a change that might not sound significant, but for Sukuna, it was.
Forcing yourself to suppress your negative emotions at every moment becomes quite exhausting over time.
His mental state had grown rather cynical and bitter because of it, and even though he no longer needed to do it, he had grown so used to living that way that now he didn't know how to live any other way.
While those thoughts unfolded in the back of his mind, a more active part of himself focused intently on the tip of his finger, and at his will, the chakra he had been gathering there began to shift—causing, in the span of a second, a small flame to ignite, dancing over his skin in a flickering manner but radiating a clear heat.
"This is different."
Creating fire with cursed energy and doing it with chakra also felt strange.
He could still use the divine flame, but he could also use "fire" without it, simply by manipulating the chakra to adopt its properties.
Something almost impossible to do with conventional cursed energy unless you had some innate technique.
Chakra, by definition, was more "controllable and moldable." Cursed energy was like electricity, volatile and difficult to control, its properties almost fixed, easily capable of harming oneself if not careful.
Proper control was always necessary to use it correctly.
Chakra… Even if you didn't have great control, it was fine. Your own chakra wouldn't harm you unless you intended it to.
Of course, this could give the illusion that chakra was safer, but that notion couldn't be further from the truth.
Sukuna pointed his finger, and a weak, thin thread of fire was shot at high speed, forcefully breaking through the air and hitting a large rock in the distance. The thread pierced through it easily as if it were a piercing projectile. Then the rock began to glow red-hot in less than a second, and in the next instant, it exploded into a thousand pieces.
Sukuna looked at his finger more closely again.
"This energy is more destructive." He didn't know if it was because it was a combination of physical and spiritual energy or maybe something else, but the point was that its potency was much greater than that of cursed energy.
The fire shouldn't even have been able to pierce that rock. It was fire; melting the rock was fine, which was what he intended to do in the first place, but passing through it? Making it explode? Where the hell did that kinetic energy come from?
"Throwing nuclear explosions around like firecrackers, huh?" It made more sense now. If chakra could increase the destructiveness of something as simple as fire, then more advanced techniques and moves would undoubtedly be beyond this.
Not only that, the amount of energy needed was much less. Right now, he was still using the energy reserves his new body was born with, reserves so pathetic that his parents seemed like strong beings in comparison.
But despite that, Sukuna felt he could continue using this improvised, unnamed technique at least eight more times.
He did some basic calculations and a conversion based on what he knew so far.
"If this were my old world and my chakra were cursed energy, then I would currently have less than a quarter of the cursed energy of an average adult."
In his previous world, such an amount of energy was trash; it wouldn't be useful for anything.
"How interesting," he thought. How strong were the ninjas, really?
He made sure the fire didn't spread and began to return to the backyard of his parents' shop, where they had left him to play alone for a while.
Another different thing in this world was the treatment of infants. Who the hell leaves a little over 3-year-old child completely alone? Well, apparently, such a practice was normal in this place.
When he reached the yard, he heard some commotion in the streets of Konoha. Interested, he entered the shop and looked through one of its windows.
Listening to the idle chatter of people passing by on the main street, he learned what it was all about.
It seemed that ninjas from another village had arrived in Konoha to sign an agreement. He began to probe his mind until a name reached the tip of his tongue.
"Kumo?" He savored the name in his mouth; there was something about it, something he should remember.
"Kidnapping" Some images came to his mind, and then he had a vague idea that ended up disappointing him.
"How boring," He wasn't interested in a matter that would resolve itself.
Sure, if he allowed things to unfold as they were meant to, then a child would grow up without a father. Unfortunately, that fact alone wasn't important enough to tempt him into intervening.
His knowledge of future events was limited, and risking that knowledge to alter the course of history without anything to gain in return wasn't the best decision. Of course, Sukuna didn't always let himself be guided by what was considered the wisest choice.
As long as he felt there was something to gain—no matter how small or insignificant—it was certain he would act.
Being that selfish was precisely the reason he had become strong enough to kill the King of Curses.
That, and a great deal of ambition. But ambition was something he lacked right now.
Especially because he still had no idea what he wanted to do with this new life.
He had no goals. Sure, there was the matter of defeating Mahoraga a few years down the line, but beyond that, there wasn't any meaningful objective that excited him like before. His new life felt devoid of purpose in many ways.
"What am I supposed to do?" he asked himself.
The fate of this world… Should he interfere in it?
He looked up at the blue sky, thoughtful. He would meditate on it a little longer.
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Night.
Sukuna adjusted the wooden mask on his face; it was a bit big, but it would have to work for now. He looked at the full moon in the sky and settled into his position, one that gave him a clear view of the Hyuuga clan compound.
He wasn't here to interfere but to observe. He hadn't yet decided if he would change anything; he really didn't care if things remained as they should, but what he was interested in was answering one of his doubts.
How strong were the ninjas?
He deliberately chose a tall house with several inhabitants and suppressed his chakra as best he could. Finding the place had been both easier and harder than expected; with how big the village was, he had to go far from his home, so if he had to run, he couldn't return quickly.
Therefore, the best option was to pretend to be one of the local inhabitants. He was just a child with "little chakra"; who could suspect him?
"Should be fine, right?" he couldn't help but wonder. He didn't remember everything about the Hyuuga clan, but he knew the basics, their special eyes being one of those things.
360-degree vision, seeing through objects and bodies, and long-distance vision of at least hundreds of meters or several kilometers.
He was missing details, but that was all he could recall about them at the moment.
The problem was that long-distance vision. He didn't know how it worked, which was why he didn't get any closer.
"Oh, it's starting," he settled into his spot and watched while he seriously focused on his sixth sense, spiritual perception.
In his previous world, spiritual perception was something all sorcerers needed in one way or another. It allowed them to see cursed spirits while also perceiving cursed energy.
Sukuna had worked hard on this ability to the point of turning it into a sixth sense that he could use actively when needed. And although it was now chakra and not cursed energy, it didn't make it any less effective.
"Eh, it's quite strong," he saw the Hyuuga clan member stepping out and standing in front of the kidnapper, who now carried the clan's princess.
Another very useful ability he possessed—one that might also be considered an extra sense in its own right—was his capacity to gauge the strength of others. It was somewhat vaguer than a traditional sense, but it was almost always accurate, and thanks to it, he could tell the kidnapper was going to die quickly.
Disappointing.
Sukuna patiently waited for the moment, and when it came, he had to blink several times.
He almost missed it. In an instant, the distance between the two ninjas was closed, and the kidnapper died in less than a second.
Sukuna couldn't follow the movement with his eyes, only with his spiritual perception, and barely at that.
"Interesting," he could say it was due to his current weakened state. Special body or not, he was still an infant just over three years old.
But his perception ability wasn't limited by his physical state.
'First grade? No, too low—more like special grade, at least in terms of speed, maybe more.'
He hadn't seen enough to make an exact assessment, but he had seen enough to know that not intervening had been the right choice.
'Chakra doesn't just make techniques stronger—those who use chakra to enhance and power up their bodies are also far stronger because of it.'
Although the way they used chakra to enhance their bodies was less efficient than how a sorcerer would do it using cursed energy.
He couldn't pinpoint exactly what the issue was—everything had happened too quickly—but something was definitely being done wrong. If the Kumo ninja had properly reinforced his body with his chakra, he might have survived a few more moves.
The same applied in reverse—if the Hyuuga clan member had used his chakra for more than just a momentary burst of speed, then he could have defeated the Kumo ninja without needing to kill him.
"Seems like I need to go to school," he needed to learn and understand all aspects of this world better, especially the ninjas.
Without further thought, he turned around and started to leave. He had seen everything he needed.
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"Ninja school?" Mebuki blinked and looked at her little son with uncertainty—where had this idea come from?
"I heard it from some kids at the park, I want to be a ninja," Sukuna was straightforward. There was no need to beat around the bush. Mebuki didn't know what to say, so she turned to look at her husband, who also had a worried look on his face.
Maybe at another time, they would be less concerned, but Konoha was not peaceful at the moment. The death of the Kumo ambassador had caused tensions between the two ninja villages to skyrocket.
There was talk of another war, even though no one wanted one.
If their son embarked on the path of a ninja now...
"It's a bit early for that, Sukuna-chan. You're still very young. Enrollment doesn't start until age five," his father spoke kindly, trying to persuade him.
Sukuna remained silent. Well, he had forgotten that part. Wasn't there supposed to be a guy who graduated at 5 years old? How do you graduate at the same age you enter?
Interpreting his silence as stubbornness, his mother knelt down to look at him and spoke with comforting words.
"Don't worry, Sukuna-chan. The academy isn't going anywhere. For now, you can keep having fun. I heard they finished building a new, big park in the center of the village. Why don't you go there and play with the other kids?" his mother offered, and Sukuna could only sigh and nod. He said goodbye to them, not without getting his "allowance" first.
As he left his house, he looked at the village streets, pondering his next actions. He couldn't force his way into the academy, so he could only use his Plan B.
Find out where the library is and steal what you need.
Although that might be a bit difficult since Konoha was on high alert after the incident with Kumo.
"I wish I had kept sleeping," being a kid sucked.
Well, this would work too. It was time to try out these chakra exercises he remembered: walking on trees and walking on water. He would see how difficult they were; at least they would be useful skills.
He walked to the newly built "park," and when he arrived there half an hour later, he couldn't help but feel disappointed. It was more of a playground for children than a real park.
He thought he saw some familiar faces but decided to ignore them for now. Instead, he headed to a more secluded spot.
"There must be a place around here where I can practice," he muttered as he began walking among the trees, heading deeper into one of the many forests surrounding the village.
Konoha truly was a hidden village among the leaves; there were trees and forests everywhere, offering plenty of places to find privacy.
As long as there wasn't a ninja nearby, of course.
Just to be sure, he began using his spiritual perception at full capacity. When not used actively, his sixth sense functioned more like a passive sensor—far less detailed and with shorter range, mostly focused on the visual aspect. If he truly wanted to sense distant things with extreme precision, he had to concentrate.
Which was why it wasn't until this moment that he noticed the massive chakra signature located more than a dozen meters away.
'How strange,' he thought, frowning. Since he had awakened in this world, he had sensed and seen many chakra signatures: some small, like those of his parents, and others much larger, belonging to chunin and jonin he had come across by chance.
This one, however, was the most perplexing he had encountered so far. It felt dense—definitely as large as that of an average jonin—but at the same time, it was contained… much like that of a civilian.
'Not a ninja,' he concluded, surprised.
It's important to understand that once chakra begins to be used and trained, it starts to leave traces outside the body, subtly and almost imperceptibly affecting the environment around the ninja.
On the other hand, chakra that has never been actively used remains more hidden and confined—just like this unknown signature, despite its immense size.
Noticing that fact might be difficult for others. But since, in addition to sensing it, Sukuna could also see chakra—no matter how minuscule—it only took a bit of attention to his surroundings for him to notice it.
His curiosity was piqued. He wondered what kind of person could have such a large chakra signature without being a shinobi—and as he pondered it, something else began to brush against his senses.
"Negative emotions?" And a great deal of them, too.
Without a second thought, he moved. His figure blurred as he vanished from where he stood, and in the next instant, he reappeared on the branch of a large tree several meters away, his gaze settling on what had caught his attention.
It seemed he had finally found the first interesting thing in this place.
The sound of muffled crying, which had been filling the small hidden clearing, suddenly stopped. A pair of sky-blue eyes lifted, focusing in his direction.
Had he been noticed? Of course, he hadn't been suppressing his chakra. Even so, it seemed the target's perception was much sharper than expected. A unique ability, perhaps?
"H-how did you get up there?" the shrill voice was a little annoying, but not unbearable. Crossing his arms, Sukuna replied indifferently:
"Because I can fly."
The already large eyes widened even more in astonishment.
"Really?!"
"No."
The small blond child froze at his response.
"Y-you!" and now, there it was: a bit of anger.
Sukuna jumped, landing effortlessly on the ground not far from his target.
"Woa!" the child shouted in surprise.
Sukuna was about to say something else but stopped, noticing something strange. He looked more closely at the child—more precisely, at their face. The eyelashes were just a bit too long, the features much more delicate than they should have been. Something was off here.
"Why are you a girl?" he asked, puzzled.
Wait, what was his surname again? Only now did Sukuna begin to recall the most useless and annoying character that ever existed, at least in his opinion.
Remembering the pink hair, green eyes, and the insignificant amount of chakra his body currently had, he couldn't help but curse inwardly, realizing what had happened.
"Hey! What do you mean by that!" The girl stood up, looking more angry than before and pointing her finger at him.
Well, this changed things; in fact, it made things more interesting. What else had changed?
"Hey, what's your name, brat?" he asked directly.
"Eh?" The girl blinked; this was the first time a boy her age had asked for her name. Still angry but mostly confused, she introduced herself directly.
"Naruko, Uzumaki Naruko."
Sukuna studied her for a moment. Were all the children in this world strange, or had he simply not interacted with enough kids in his two previous lives?
"Your name," she suddenly said, drawing Sukuna's attention back to her.
She had introduced herself, so he should do the same, right? At least that's what the girl thought.
"Sukuna, just call me Sukuna." He didn't like his last name; it didn't even go well with his first name.
Just Sukuna? Naruko didn't think much of it and simply accepted it. She was about to say something else but suddenly went quiet. What came next? This was the first time she had gotten this far.
"Why are you here?" Sukuna asked suddenly. Wasn't she supposed to be someone super important? You know, she had that giant fox that almost destroyed the village sealed inside her stomach. There should have been at least a dozen ninja guarding her safety, right? So then, why was she alone?
Naruko frowned at his question, her expression darkening as she recalled what had driven her to wander so deep into the forest.
"No one wants me around…" she said quietly, and that was enough for Sukuna to piece together the rest. She probably came to see the new park, but the other kids' parents must have made them exclude her or something like that, which ended up driving her away.
Even he had occasionally heard the villagers' complaints about the "demon brat." Though he mostly ignored them, since they had nothing to do with him.
Sukuna focused a bit more, extending his senses as far as his current state allowed. There wasn't a single trace of ninja guards nearby, which, in truth, was convenient for him—he preferred not to have to deal with those types.
Even so, he couldn't help but wonder where they were. Was the village really that lax in its duty to protect its most powerful weapon? That didn't seem right. His instincts told him there was more going on here, but he didn't think about looking into it at the moment—it wasn't his business to worry about what the ninja did or didn't do.
Walking toward the girl, Sukuna extended his arm and placed his hand on her head, ruffling her untamable blond hair. It was much softer than it looked.
"I see. Then ignore them. Ants are just pests you should crush if they get in your way." Deliberately, he began to use a bit of his ability to absorb negative emotions—just enough to avoid hearing any more crying… or risking another part of his body turning to stone.
"Ants?" she asked, looking up to meet his eyes. She didn't try to move away. It was the first time anyone had ever patted her head, and it felt strangely soothing. For some reason, the sadness she'd been feeling began to fade.
"Uh... ignore that for now. Looks like you're hungry." Right after Sukuna said that, a loud growl came from the girl's stomach.
Naruko's eyes widened, and she blushed slightly, wrapping both hands over her abdomen. Only now did she remember she hadn't eaten all day.
"Come on, there should be a river nearby." Thanks to his heightened senses, Sukuna had picked up the scent of water and fish coming from somewhere deeper in the forest, so he started walking in that direction.
The girl stayed where she was, looking confused. Had he just told her to go with him?
Sukuna stopped and glanced over his shoulder when he noticed she still hadn't followed.
"What are you waiting for?"
Her eyes widened in surprise as she realized that, yes, he actually wanted her to come with him! She quickly set off, almost stumbling as she ran to catch up, a huge smile forming on her face.
Seeing that expression, Sukuna froze for a second before averting his gaze and continuing to walk.
He still didn't know what his plans or goals in this world would be—beyond surviving and living however he pleased. But if there was one thing Sukuna was certain of, it was that he would never die in such a pathetic way again.
No matter what it took, he would seize every advantage this world had to offer. And if the world had decided to hand him its "protagonist" on a silver platter, who was he to refuse?
After all, having a superweapon by your side was always the winning move.
He'd deal with the possible consequences later.
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Note:
I underestimated the effort it would take to explain some things. I could simply say, "It works," but that feels too empty. The childhood arc will probably last a bit longer since there are still things I want to write before getting to the start of the series.