A/N: Welcome to my latest story: Potential Man. Here we go with this one. Next two chapters are up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) already if you want to see them early. Had my birthday yesterday and got another year older (boo), so there's a discount on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) for the next week for anyone interested in that (yay)
"Do you have a minute, Megumi?" Itadori's voice drew me back as I was about to walk away from him and Shoko's room.
"Sure," I said, turning to him. I wanted to get back to work, but I also knew Itadori would only ask if it was something completely necessary.
"You're strong now," he said as I waited for him to reach me. I nodded, not taking offence to the implicit assumption that I used to be weak. Because I agreed with it. Well, it was Megumi that was weak and not me necessarily, but he didn't know that and would never be finding it out for any reason. I didn't reply because it was not a question he was asking.
"How can I get stronger fast?" he asked. I just looked at him, waiting for him to provide more context.
"Everyone says I should just give it time. I've figured out some blood manipulation and can use Dismantle and Cleave to some extent and even some basic Reverse Cursed Technique, but none of it feels like it would be enough," he said.
"Well, you're a backup to a backup. Gojo-sensei first. Then Okkotsu-senpai, and then Kusakabe-sensei and Higuruma-san before you and Panda," I said, laying down the terms of engagement we'd decided for if Gojo lost in the fight against Sukuna.
"I have a feeling that I will still face him. Just something in the air," he said. Of course it was. He was the protagonist here, after all.
"If you want to get stronger quickly, I can help you. For the next two days, I can train you to the limits of your ability and then give you the last day to rest."
"Wait. I just wanted some advice or something. You have a fight to prepare for," he said.
"You'll be helping me as well, to be honest. Choso-san does not leave you alone, so it's better if he comes along and I can pick his mind on Kenjaku's cursed techniques and his general fighting style. You know, the kind of thing he didn't really get to say when he was giving us the briefing," I said with a shrug. Besides, what I had in mind was forcing him to spar against Mahoraga over and over again. The more phenomena I got Mahoraga to adapt to, the more dangerous he would become against the variety of cursed spirits that Kenjaku would have up his sleeves.
Besides, it wasn't like physical training was going to add much more to my level of readiness. Now my best bet was figuring out Shoko's technique to rob him of the technique he used the most and force him to face me without one of his trump cards.
Itadori and I began our training sessions that very afternoon. He had stood waiting for Mahoraga in the middle of the training field. When the Divine General appeared, he braced himself and attacked. My instructions to the Divine General were simple. Keep the fight going for as long as possible. Itadori had a massive amount of potential within himself already— I knew that for sure. The training he had undergone in the last month had taken him to the level where he had the skills necessary to be knocking on the door of the Special Grade rank. All that he was missing was just the ability to put it all together in one single unique and comprehensive role. Blood manipulation, dismantles, cleaves, and a skill with hand-to-hand combat that went beyond mine meant that he was dangerous.
But hopefully, all of them together could be fused to make him deadly. He waited with his fists ready as the Divine General closed the distance. He blocked the first slash of the Sword of Extermination by concentrating cursed energy in his feet and avoiding the attack, jumping backwards and then hitting the ground before exploding forwards.
Oh, so that was what he was doing. What an interesting trick. Had to be Todo's idea, I figured. He was using his Divergent Fist, but with his legs instead.
He was applying cursed energy while jumping away, but the cursed energy did not take effect until he made the second bit of contact with the ground, making him explode out at his opponent with even more speed than he could manage on his own. Beyond the speed boost, there was the additional benefit of the attack being nearly impossible for anyone to anticipate. It mixed the unpredictable nature of the Divergent Fist with his penchant for quick, jerky motions.
It was a unique advantage in battle and that single sequence would probably have helped him get the better of any Grade 2 curse or sorcerer, and maybe even a few careless Grade 1s. But against the Divine General, he needed to try harder.
Mahoraga blocked the knee that he tried to smash into his head, tossing him backwards with the same hand that he had used for the block. Itadori landed, lurching to the side explosively and avoiding Mahoraga's follow-up before lashing out with a foot aimed for the Divine General's head.
"What do you think?" I asked Choso as we watched the fight build up.
"I think he's already stronger than I am. What a good little brother I have," he said.
"Uh huh? Sure. That works, but I meant what do you think of his chances against the Divine General?" I asked again.
"I think he has gotten stronger and should present a better match than he would have managed even just a few weeks ago."
"So you think he'll lose then," I surmised.
"Do you think he'll win?" he asked instead, turning the question around on me.
"Isn't it the job of a big brother to believe in their siblings?" I asked.
"This is training. It is the job of a big brother to be realistic during training so that his little brother can get better and better until he reaches such a point that he can hold his own outside, and when he faces a true threat, a big brother will then be able to trust in his little brother fully to understand and do what needs to be done," he said.
I nodded, not having anything to say to that.
"That Shikigami. The ability to adapt to any technique it gets hit with and then develop further and further until the technique has no effect on it whatsoever while having the speed and strength to compete with a Special Grade. It is a monster," he said.
I gave him a look of interest now. I'd never told him what Mahoraga could do.
"The fight with Satoru Gojo gave me the first hint, and then I have been able to watch it in your spars with Okkotsu Yuta. You used it for the first few days, and then after a week and a half, you did not bother bringing it out anymore. It went from being a tool to being near able to end the fight on its own. Most likely, because it had adapted to all of Okkotsu's cursed techniques to the point where none of them were even slightly effective against it," he explained.
"You pay a lot of attention," I said.
"That is the curse of a big brother," he said instead. I scoffed at that. What a tired gimmick. But I said nothing else. If it worked for him and Itadori, then they could keep going.
"I want to know about Kenjaku," I said, not beating about the bush anymore. The main reason for this was to get the chance to talk to Choso one-on-one more than it was about getting Mahoraga to adapt to Itadori's techniques. Of course, the latter was a nice bit of icing on the cake. Couldn't wait for Kenjaku to whip out his Piercing Blood or whatever and then be shocked to find it not taking any effect at all. Assuming he had Piercing Blood, of course.
"I already told all of you what happened when we faced Norotoshi Kamo. Beyond that, I have no other useful information to offer," he said.
"No. I don't want information or facts. I want to know what you feel. Your intuition is what matters to me now. It is the curse of a big brother to notice, yes? I want to see what you've noticed in the time you spent with him," I said.
"What do you want to know? Ask your questions and I will try to answer the best I can," he asked.
"We know he has at least three techniques for sure. One of them is Cursed Spirit Manipulation, which he uses primarily. The second is the gravity technique you mentioned, and the third is whatever he uses to swap bodies with his brain or whatever," I said, counting them off with my fingers.
"What is your question?" he asked.
"Why do we think three is his limit?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
"There is a limit to how many techniques can be engraved in a single brain, yes. But why should the limit be three? We don't know enough to say that for sure, and I like to overestimate my opponent rather than underestimate them," I said.
"So you wonder if there is another technique he holds in reserve," he said.
"Exactly," I agreed.
"There are a million things that could be true. He could have ten more techniques in reserve, actually. So why should it matter? You will find out when you face him and that will be it," he said.
"No. Not in this case. There are actually only a few more techniques he could have. My theory is that he can have at most two other techniques to make a total of five techniques in total. If he has more than those, his brain would collapse," I said.
"Why do you know that for sure? What if the limit is three? What if it is ten?" he asked.
"Do you know what happened to Norotoshi Kamo in that life?" I asked.
"He died. He was banished from the Kamo clan once his experiments were known," he said.
"I read the Zenin journals at night. I can tell you for certain that the other sorcery clans knew what he was up to for the most part. His experiments with curses and cursed techniques were well known and, while not celebrated, were ignored until he went too far. Do you know what he did that was considered too far?" I asked.
He didn't answer, but there was a sharpness in his gaze as it turned to me. Interest. Finally. I had wondered if this man was some sort of robot. We had been speaking for this long and he hadn't even shown a single iota of interest in anything I'd said, his full attention on Itadori as he tried and failed to weather the storm that was Mahoraga's unrelenting attack.
"He took children. Sorcerer children this time. He wanted to experiment with cursed techniques themselves. It took days before they were able to gather the requisite evidence to move against him. By the time they did, the children were already dead. Even the Kamo clan could not cover that up. Especially considering he had done it to the clans based out of Tokyo. His actions nearly caused a jujutsu civil war between the Tokyo and Kyoto clans," I said. He was hanging on to my every word as I spoke. Just as expected. No matter what he tried to assert, it was only natural for children to be curious about their parents or whatever, and Kenjaku was this man's father no matter whether he had been a good one or not.
"When it was eventually proven that Kamo had been the one to take them, he was raided. He himself had absconded, but the children themselves were dead. The Zenin clan were the premier clan of that age, under the leadership of my ancestor Zenin Jinpei, possessor of the Ten Shadows. A child with the Limitless and Six Eyes had not been born to the Gojo clan in a generation, so when the Zenin clan threw its weight around and decided that they would be the ones to keep the research Kamo had been conducting to ensure it never saw the light of day again, none had been able to question them.
And so I have some of his notes. Notes that say the most a brain can handle in terms of cursed techniques is five. If he genuinely was able to find that, my best guess was that he was trying to find how many techniques he himself would be able to keep at a time before frying his brain. It wasn't like he could do trial and error with his own brain on the line," I explained.
"So he has five techniques then," he said.
"Perhaps he does. He could also have four, to be honest. The research found five to be the limit, but by the time four was reached, the brain was already under considerable strain and five was essentially the breaking point. So I want to know which you think he went with. Five or four. Kenjaku, Kamo, whatever you know him as. What kind of man is he? Is he the kind of man who values his life too much to try to push for more than four? Or is he the kind of lunatic who would drive his brain right to the breaking point— the brink— and then leave it there just to prove that he can?" I asked.
"He is the latter more than the former. So he has two hidden techniques then," he said, looking shocked still.
"He could have them, but he might not. He might have decided that three was all he needed and not bothered to go beyond that for any reason."
"Possibly nothing up his sleeves, or possibly another two cursed techniques in his reserves," he said.
"Exactly. Now on to my next question. Do you think he has Blood Manipulation?" I asked.
"What?"
"Norotoshi Kamo inherited the main technique of the Kamo clan; the accounts from that period are clear in that respect. So that means that while he held that body, he had access to Blood Manipulation," I said.
"Hmm?"
"So do you think he has kept access to the technique?" I asked.
"You think he has?" he questioned me instead.
"I suspect that it is possible," I said.
"And that is why you have Yuji sparring with that monster of yours," he surmised correctly.
"Well, that and his own growth." As I spoke, there was a hush in the air itself as black sparks emanated from the point of impact as Itadori slammed a fist straight into the back of Mahoraga's head. The Divine General was sent reeling from the attack.
"Itadori grows best when exposed to adversity. He grows when he faces enemies that are stronger than him, and that is the role Mahoraga fills in this case," I said.
"Now back to my own question," I said.
"I think it is possible, but not likely," he said.
"Hmm. Why?" I asked.
"When I got him with my surprise attack, if he had been capable of Blood Manipulation, he would have used that to defend himself. Instead, he revealed a completely new technique. His gravity technique. If he had held that back as a trump card, he would have had an easier time defeating Tsukumo-san in the end," he said. I nodded. I guessed that did make sense somewhat.
"So you think whatever technique he is hiding cannot be Blood Manipulation then," I asked again just to be sure.
"It could be anything, but I do not think Blood Manipulation is the likely one," he said.
"Now to my next question. Do you know what other bodies he could have inhabited?" I asked.
"Norotoshi Kamo was guarded about his past. He never offered information that he did not need to. He only spoke about himself when he was pressed on the matter and had to offer something, but even then he wasted no time in turning the topic to something else. So no. I have no idea what other bodies could have been his across history. I can tell you that Norotoshi had an obsession with jujutsu. If there were bodies with access to the secrets of jujutsu, then it was likely that he would have taken them," he said.
"So that means I can expect him to possibly have a clan technique or two up his sleeves?" I asked. He nodded.
"The techniques might also end up being from much older. We don't know just how old he is. He could have had a functional eternity to perfect his process and master his techniques as well as add new ones," he said.
I nodded.
"So there could be anything up his sleeves?" I asked.
"Expect it to be powerful," he said, not really making matters better with that comment.
"If he has had so long, then he would be spoiled for choice when it came to techniques. That means any techniques he has chosen to keep engraved on his brain must have been something spectacular for him to keep access to them over the ages," he said. I nodded at that. It was true that someone like Kenjaku had too many options open to him to go with something weak.
And that made matters even worse. Because while I fought him with my life and the fate of all of Japan hanging in the balance— the former being the more important bit, of course— I would have to think about the chance that he could have a hidden technique capable of changing the landscape of the fight entirely.
"I have another question, Choso," I asked.
"What?"
"Do you think Tsukumo could have won the domain clash if she had opened her own domain?" I asked.
"I do not know Norotoshi Kamo that well, but one thing I can tell you for certain is that if he thought there was even a chance of him losing the domain clash, he would never have instigated one. In much the same way, if he felt that there was a chance of him losing the fight, then he would never have started it in the first place," Choso said.
I nodded at that, understanding what he left unspoken.
A/N: Chapter complete, guys. Next two chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early. Discount on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) so do check that out.