Highlights
- The 10 Shadows Technique is a powerful inherited technique that allows the user to summon up to 10 different powerful shikigami, making it incredibly overpowered.
- Sukuna's use of the 10 Shadows Technique created numerous problems for Gojo, including the summoning of overpowered shikigami and the formidable Divine General, Mahoraga.
- Sukuna's victory over Gojo relied heavily on the 10 Shadows Technique, as it allowed him to bypass Gojo's Infinity and ultimately cleave the entire world, including Gojo. Without the technique, Gojo was dominant and close to killing Sukuna.
The 10 Shadows Technique is an inherited technique that is passed down the members of the Zenin Family in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen. Currently, this technique belongs to none other than Megumi Fushiguro. Fans know that this is an incredibly powerful technique that has helped Megumi go from strength to strength and made him an incredible sorcerer. In the current arc of the manga, Sukuna is currently in possession of this technique, as he is in control of Megumi's body as well.
During his fight against Gojo, he made use of the 10 Shadows Technique extensively and used it to create all sorts of problems for the strongest sorcerer of the modern era. Of course, Gojo was still able to keep up with him and dominate him throughout the fight, however, the question remains as to how this battle would have turned out if the 10 Shadows Technique was not in possession of Sukuna.
What Is Ten Shadows Technique?
The 10 Shadows Technique is a powerful Inherited Technique that allows the user to use shadows as an intermediary to summon up to 10 different shikigami. These shikigami are incredibly powerful and all have different functions. Upon birth, the user of the 10 Shadows Technique is granted two Divine Dogs. From there onwards, they have to exorcize different shikigami by using an exorcism ritual and after they are defeated, they can be added to the shikigami arsenal of the user. This is the biggest strength of the 10 Shadows Technique. The user can also manipulate shadows to some extent and do things such as hide in them or store things in them. However, whatever they do store inside the shadows must be carried by them.
While a technique that allows a user to summon different shikigami does not seem all that impressive at first, the power and versatility of this technique are so incredible that even Sukuna wanted it for himself. So far, fans have seen quite a lot of powerful shikigami being used, some even capable of injuring the likes of Special Grade Curses and others being even stronger than that. By all means, the 10 Shadows Technique is extremely overpowered. In fact, at one point in the past, the user of the 10 Shadows Technique from the Zenin Family fought against the user of Six Eyes and the Limitless from the Gojo Family.
Both ended up killing each other and the battle ended in a tie. This just goes to show the incredible potential of the 10 Shadows Technique and the power that Megumi was blessed with. However, with Megumi out of commission, this power now belongs to none other than Sukuna and he certainly used it greatly to his advantage in his fight against Gojo.
The Problems Caused By Ten Shadows For Gojo
The 10 Shadows Technique was used by Sukuna extensively in his fight against Gojo. It created all sorts of problems for the strongest sorcerer of the modern era, right from the get-go. For one, Gojo was up against his own student and he certainly did not want to kill Megumi. This meant that he already had his hands tied behind his back from the very beginning of the battle. Even though Gojo explained that he did not worry about Megumi at the moment and was solely focused on Sukuna, killing Megumi would still be necessary in order to get rid of Sukuna as well.
If that wasn't enough, the 10 Shadows Technique proved to be almost like a cheat code for Sukuna. For one, he could summon different shikigami in battle on top of his own cursed technique that he could fully utilize. Secondly, the shikigami that he could use were extremely overpowered. For instance, he created a fusion shikigami called Agito which had tremendous power and the ability to heal using Reverse Cursed Technique.
Gojo had to plan quite a lot in order to get rid of this powerful shikigami. However, by far, the greatest problem created By the 10 Shadows Technique came through the Divine General, Mahoraga. Fans know that Mahoraga has the ability to adapt to any and all phenomena. Gojo possessed the incredible Limitless technique and the Infinity that came with it protected him from anything that Sukuna threw his way. However, with Mahoraga, Gojo certainly faced quite a lot of trouble as his techniques could get adapted to and pave the way for Sukuna to kill him easily.
Mahoraga's Adaptation And Gojo's Death
That is precisely what ended up happening in Jujutsu Kaisen, as Mahoraga slowly adapted to Gojo's technique. Once hit with Blue, it started the adaptation process and, in no time, it had gotten used to Infinity. Mahoraga used its incredible power of adaptation to change the nature of its cursed energy. This change in the nature of cursed energy allowed it to simply bypass infinity and deal damage to Gojo. However, as Sukuna revealed, once it adapts to a particular technique the evolution does not stop. Mahoraga keeps analyzing the cursed technique and coming up with new ways to bypass it. As such, in time, Mahoraga came up with another technique that allowed it to bypass Infinity and that was by changing its target from Gojo to the entire world. This way, Mahoraga was able to cut off Gojo's arm and this moment is exactly what Sukuna was looking for.
By using this as a model, Sukuna was able to copy this technique and use his Cleave technique in a very similar manner. Instead of targeting Gojo, Sukuna targeted the entire world and the space itself. He then launched this powerful attack to cleave the space apart and, thus, all things that existed within the world also got cut, including Gojo. The Infinity that stood between them also got cut, which, although makes little sense, is what happened in the story. That is precisely how Sukuna managed to win over Gojo and it is quite clear that his victory required for him to be extremely reliant on the 10 Shadows Technique.
Could Sukuna Have Defeated Gojo Without Mahoraga
The question of whether Sukuna could have defeated Gojo without the 10 Shadows Technique or not is still a very valid one. In the afterlife, Gojo himself claimed that he wasn't sure if he would be able to defeat Sukuna even if he didn't have the 10 Shadows Technique. However, fans who have read the manga themselves know for a fact that this is not true at all. Even with the 10 Shadows Technique, Gojo was extremely dominant in the fight and he had the upper hand for the vast majority of it. Sukuna was embarrassed time and again throughout the entire fight and it was shown that Gojo was actually more than worthy of keeping up with him.
If that wasn't enough, Sukuna was not able to come up with any method of bypassing Infinity by himself. That is precisely why he relied on the 10 Shadows Technique. At the end of the day, it all comes down to whether Sukuna would have been able to figure out a way to cleave the entire world by himself without Mahoraga or not before Gojo ultimately killed him.
From what the fans have seen in the story so far, this clearly would not have happened at all. Gojo was extremely close to killing Sukuna even with facing obstacles due to wanting to avoid adaptation. And, if the 10 Shadows Technique did not exist, it would maybe have taken one or two more attacks from Gojo to finish things off. At the end of the day, Gojo still has a very strong shout for being the strongest ever in Jujutsu Kaisen, and that will always be the case.
Jujutsu Kaisen is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of JJK, Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 237, is set to be October 1, 2023.