Megumi had already left the underground basement. He'd gotten what he came for.
His reason for not pursuing Orochimaru was simple: the snake would help kill the Third Hokage in the future, and then Megumi could kill Orochimaru himself.
Killing two birds with one stone.
Returning home, Megumi first buried his mother, then immediately began creating a massive number of shadow crows.
"The crows look much better now. Maybe if I keep refining this technique, I can create the perfect crow."
Megumi proceeded to kill the crows and create new ones until morning arrived.
The new crows he'd created looked remarkably real. Their only disadvantage was lacking blood. They could eat and stand among normal crows without anyone suspecting they weren't genuine.
"It's already morning?"
He was surprised he hadn't noticed until sunlight reflected through his window.
Megumi sensed no ANBU or Root near his property or the Inuzuka clan compound.
After his normal routine, Megumi headed outside and cracked his knuckles.
"Let's do this."
---
"With this secret treasure, I summon Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General."
"Mahoraga."
Shadows appeared beneath Megumi. Beside him, toads lined up in formation like servants welcoming royalty. A howl echoed. A cocoon appeared, wrapped in wires. Wings emerged.
A white humanoid being stood eight feet tall. A wheel adorned its head, and the cursed energy radiating from this creature was so powerful that without Megumi's reinforced barrier, it would have shattered easily.
Mahoraga towered over Megumi, grinning.
"Good. I can use you to control my maximum output and strength, avoid killing someone accidentally."
Megumi launched the first attack, jumping toward Mahoraga's face and striking with a punch that pushed the Divine General back several feet.
The wheel on Mahoraga's head spun.
Mahoraga surged forward, throwing a punch that Megumi blocked with his palm.
Mahoraga attacked relentlessly. Megumi appeared behind him, grabbed the wheel, and slammed the Divine General into the ground as if it were weightless.
"This is not good."
Megumi looked at the cratered ground. If they continued, he'd be homeless before nightfall.
"Domain Expansion: Chimera Shadow Garden."
His only option was entering a closed domain, which pulled Mahoraga inside.
Having adapted to the shadows attempting to drag him down, Mahoraga stood tall, waiting for the next attack to adapt to.
"Good. Very good. Now I don't have to worry about destroying my property."
Megumi began creating clones in the domain, attacking Mahoraga with the guaranteed-hit effect.
Megumi didn't participate in the assault directly but coordinated the attacks, planning and learning to use multiple perspectives simultaneously.
At the start of the assault, he struggled to coordinate. Having many perspectives made executing his planned strategy difficult.
"Hey, Alex, why can't my body keep up with the output I want it to generate?"
He addressed the system he'd abandoned, not wanting to repeat past mistakes.
**[Greetings, Host. After analyzing your complaint, I discovered your body can only handle a fraction of what it could do.]**
**[Your bones aren't strong enough for the actions you're performing. If you weren't immortal with sealed emotions and senses, you wouldn't just feel pain—you would die.]**
**[Host needs to stop these actions, eat healthy meals, and get sufficient rest.]**
"Didn't you just call me immortal with emotions and senses gone? Now you're telling me to sleep and eat?"
Megumi stopped talking to the system and focused on Mahoraga, who now had the upper hand. The Divine General was using his blade cloaked in Reverse Cursed Technique, destroying clones faster than ever before.
He decided to let Mahoraga take more punishment. His hands formed the Divine Dogs' seal. He merged them together and created multiple Divine Dog clones while withdrawing his own clones back into the shadows.
The massive wolves dealt considerable damage to Mahoraga before the tables turned. He healed and killed them, making their attacks meaningless.
"Nue."
He summoned the bird to generate lightning, wanting Mahoraga to adapt to electrical attacks as quickly as possible.
Megumi didn't allow Mahoraga to breathe. When he saw the Divine General had adapted to Nue's attacks and started growing larger, he acted immediately.
"Great Serpent."
A long white snake appeared from nowhere, five times larger than Mahoraga.
It grabbed the Divine General in its jaws and began wrapping itself around Mahoraga's body, squeezing hard until the Divine General burst into a spray of blood.
Mahoraga reappeared whole, spine crackling. Using his blade, he cut through the snake and finally killed the Great Serpent.
Mahoraga's face never stopped grinning, as if enjoying every moment of the battle.
"Toad."
After performing the hand signs for the summon, Megumi extended his hand into the toad's mouth and withdrew his cursed tool: the shape-shifting dagger.
He wanted to learn all possible shapes it could take and have the system catalog them.
"Hey, Alex, how many shapes can my cursed tool perform?"
**[The first is the Inverted Spear of Heaven, then Playful Cloud, Soul Split Katana, a normal katana, and a handgun.]**
"Can you explain how the gun works here when bullets can't be found in this era?"
Megumi transformed the dagger into a handgun, temporarily forgetting Mahoraga was still waiting.
**[The gun works by compressing cursed energy in a pressurized form, similar to Blood Piercing technique, but it only functions within the gun's mechanism.]**
"Oh shit. I get it. I'll try it out now."
Megumi positioned the gun, gathering cursed energy into it, then pulled the trigger.
*Bang! Bang!*
He fired two shots at Mahoraga. The cursed bullets struck but caused no damage after the Divine General's adaptation to the previous shikigami's heavy-hitting attacks.
Megumi wanted to test his last two shikigami.
"Max Elephant."
Mahoraga was pressed into the ground by the elephant's immense weight.
Megumi used Piercing Water to attack Mahoraga from long range. The Divine General regenerated from Max Elephant's surprise attack after Megumi kept interfering in their match. Max Elephant wasn't a combat summon.
Before the Divine General could finish Max Elephant, an unknown force slammed him away. Turning his head, he saw an ox beside Megumi, pawing the ground with smoke billowing from its nostrils.
"I think that's enough for today. We'll continue another time."
Megumi's purpose in using shikigami against Mahoraga wasn't just to master their abilities but to determine which one to give Hana.
He didn't trust Mahoraga not to kill Hana if the Divine General noticed she was weaker than him.
Mahoraga only bowed to the strong. So Megumi would keep Mahoraga for himself.
---