The Hyuga Luke was the first to high-five the half-demon Luke.
After sharing memories and talents, he muttered,
“If I’d been born into the Nara clan with their secret shadow techniques, the talents shared by the Jujutsu Luke and half-demon Luke would probably be incredibly useful.”
The Hyuga Luke sighed.
He had been born with the Byakugan bloodline of Konoha’s Hyuga clan—and worse, into the weakened Branch Family.
Shadow-related talents brought him very little benefit.
Everyone knew the Hyuga Luke was about to be sent into the bloody Second Shinobi World War.
If he couldn’t gain enough strength before entering the battlefield, his situation would certainly be worrying.
At that moment, one of the Lukes spoke.
“What if you try joining the medical units?”
The speaker was the Jujutsu Luke.
After sharing abilities with the half-demon Luke and obtaining knowledge of Good Chi magic from the Jackie Chan Adventures world, he offered the Hyuga Luke another possible path.
“I’ve recently started figuring out Reverse Cursed Technique, and I’m already seeing some results. The Good Chi magic provided by the half-demon Luke works on a fairly similar principle to producing positive energy through Reverse Cursed Technique. Once I fully master it, I might be able to strengthen everyone’s healing abilities.”
“With the Hyuga clan’s Byakugan giving you practically all-around X-ray vision, it honestly feels like a waste to use it only for close-range Gentle Fist instead of surgery.”
The Jujutsu Luke couldn’t help commenting on the irony.
The Hyuga Luke paused, thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Now that you mention it, Konoha’s higher-ups are expanding the number of medical-nin to prepare for the war. Tsunade, the First Hokage’s granddaughter, is also involved in building up the medical system.”
He explained the recent developments in the Naruto world.
In most eras, medical personnel were valuable and highly specialized units.
At the very least, they usually wouldn’t be the first ones thrown onto the front lines as cannon fodder.
The problem was that training medical-nin had extremely high requirements.
At minimum, a ninja needed exceptionally precise chakra control, vast amounts of medical knowledge, and a considerable amount of time devoted to training.
The Hyuga Luke wasn’t worried about learning the necessary knowledge.
With the talents of nine Lukes stacked together, having a near-photographic memory had already become normal.
He seriously considered the possibility.
“I can definitely give it a try. But if I can’t demonstrate exceptional talent for medical ninjutsu, those old-fashioned elders in the Hyuga clan probably won’t approve.”
As a Konoha ninja born into the Hyuga Branch Family, he had to take the clan’s opinion into account.
More importantly, the Main Family controlled the Caged Bird Seal and effectively held the power of life and death over Branch Family members.
Members of the Branch Family had practically become guards whose purpose was to protect the Main Family.
Without a sufficiently good reason, the Main Family wouldn’t allow one of them to abandon that responsibility.
The clan’s system was extremely feudal and rigid.
Knowing the Hyuga Luke’s situation, the Jujutsu Luke sighed.
“Ancient clans in these anime worlds really are all similarly rotten and authoritarian. Their systems suppress their own people’s potential and are obviously primitive and outdated, yet they still cling to those traditions no matter what.”
He thought of the Zenin clan he himself had been born into.
Aside from a tiny handful of exceptions, almost everyone in the Zenin clan was difficult to understand in one way or another.
Still, the Jujutsu Luke’s situation was much better.
Seeing that the Hyuga Luke was still concerned about his clan, the Jujutsu Luke smiled and raised his right hand.
“Come on. Let’s share abilities and see whether Reverse Cursed Technique from the Jujutsu world can work in the Naruto world.”
The Hyuga Luke nodded slightly, and their palms met.
All of the Jujutsu Luke’s insights and experience regarding jujutsu-based healing were shared with the Hyuga Luke, giving him some immediate gains.
“I’ll test it when I get back.”
There was now a little more expectation in the Hyuga Luke’s voice.
After that, the other Lukes also high-fived the half-demon Luke and shared his new talents.
“If I’d eaten the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, these abilities would probably strengthen my Devil Fruit too. Unfortunately, the Celestial Dragons fed me an ordinary Zoan.”
The One Piece Luke sighed.
His appearance already carried clear beastlike traits.
His current situation was terrible.
After transmigrating into the One Piece world, he had been captured by the Celestial Dragons and reduced to a slave, becoming little more than entertainment for the World Nobles as a gladiator in their arena.
To make the fights more interesting, the Celestial Dragons had force-fed him a Devil Fruit.
Devil Fruits were a unique source of supernatural power in the One Piece world.
In exchange for becoming cursed by the sea, the person who ate one gained a special ability from the fruit.
The One Piece Luke had been forced to eat a Zoan-type Devil Fruit.
Quite a few Celestial Dragons enjoyed watching humanoid beasts like him tear each other apart.
Unfortunately, the Devil Fruit he had eaten was weak.
It was nothing more than an ordinary Zoan known as the Lizard Fruit.
His upper limit in that particular area was essentially fixed.
Knowing how bad the One Piece Luke’s starting situation was, the Hyuga Luke encouraged him.
“Even an ordinary Devil Fruit user can still become strong. You’ve got physical training, swordsmanship, Haki… the One Piece world has plenty of paths available. My Naruto world has a lot of taijutsu too. I’ll see if I can get my hands on a few techniques and share them with you later.”
The One Piece Luke gave a helpless smile.
For now, all he could do was endure, survive, and wait.
The other Lukes stuck in similarly bad situations also hadn’t gained any special talents particularly suited to their own worlds yet.
Although they were somewhat disappointed, everyone still had high hopes for the Hyuga Luke, half-demon Luke, and Jujutsu Luke, hoping their growth would eventually create new opportunities for the others.
…
After leaving the shared space, the Jujutsu Luke opened his eyes inside the Zenin clan estate.
The moment he returned, he noticed that something had changed.
“It feels like I gained more than just knowledge of Good Chi magic from the Jackie Chan Adventures world. My cursed technique seems to have changed too…”
Luke focused and activated the Ten Shadows Technique again.
Every shadow in the room seemed to come alive.
They twisted, churned, and stretched wildly.
The normally intangible darkness instantly condensed into something thick and viscous like ink.
Across the floor, in the corners, and between gaps in the furniture, large masses of shadow boiled and expanded like a rising tide.
Thin, sharp sounds of displaced air echoed through the room.
One crimson eye after another lit up within the impenetrable darkness.
Cold.
Bloodthirsty.
Then sharp claws gleaming with a cold metallic sheen suddenly reached out from the depths of the shadows.
Their fingertips carried an edge that looked capable of slicing through steel with ease.
The darkness continued condensing and taking shape.
Tall, grim black figures slowly emerged halfway from the shadows.
These were not shadow shikigami summoned by the Ten Shadows Technique.
They were the Shadowkhan from the Jackie Chan Adventures world.
Using Luke’s cursed energy as a medium, they had been born within the Jujutsu Kaisen world.
Luke moved his thoughts slightly.
The half-emerged Shadowkhan immediately saluted him in unison, responding to the general who had summoned and commanded them.
After confirming that he had control over them, Luke became highly interested.
He intended to study these Shadowkhan created through cursed energy in detail.
It seemed that summoning them in the Jujutsu world might allow him to avoid the corrupting effects of demonic Black Chi altogether.
At that moment, he heard movement outside.
Someone was coming.
The thought had barely crossed Luke’s mind when a crimson eye appeared within the shadow beneath the eaves outside his door.
The Shadowkhan shared their vision with their general.
Luke immediately saw Naobito Zenin approaching.
“That’s pretty convenient…”
With a thought, he ordered the Shadowkhan to sink back into the shadows.
A short while later, there was a knock on the door, followed by Naobito’s voice.
“Luke, are you using jujutsu right now?”
Outside the door, Naobito frowned slightly.
A moment earlier, he had sensed a powerful and unusually deep fluctuation of cursed energy coming from the room.
It was unmistakably Luke’s cursed energy, but there was something different about it now.
It felt colder, more aggressive, and more oppressive than before.
The door slid open.
“Yeah, I was using cursed energy. What do you need, old man?”
Luke opened the door and looked at him.
After a moment of silence, Naobito chose to suppress his questions for the time being and get to the main issue first.
“It’s about your status as a Grade 1 Sorcerer. Brat, your abilities have already been recognized by the Zenin clan, but the higher-ups still have doubts. They want you to show results that justify the rank—in other words, complete several difficult Grade 1 missions.”
Ever since Luke had decisively defeated Naoya Zenin, the clan’s attitude toward him had changed from viewing him as a disgrace to seeing him as a rising star.
Of course, outside the Zenin clan, Luke had yet to produce enough achievements to erase his reputation as the “disgrace of Grade 1 Sorcerers.”
Luke raised an eyebrow with some interest.
“What kind of mission?”
He did need an opponent to test the effects of his new ability.
Naobito answered,
“Retrieve one of Ryomen Sukuna’s fingers, a Special Grade cursed object.”