Floating above Jujutsu High, Gojo Satoru looked down at the rising clouds of dust and Ryoumen Sukuna bouncing between buildings like a rubber ball. He couldn't help but question if what he was seeing was real.
The next second, he caught a glimpse of a slim figure and a massive white beast chasing after Sukuna in a flash.
"Yukinoshita and… Mahoraga!?"
The white-haired man's mouth fell open, his usually handsome face twisted in disbelief as if he had just seen a ghost.
After staying frozen in shock for a moment, Gojo Satoru pulled at his blindfold and shook his head with a chuckle. "Man, students these days sure know how to surprise people."
Who would've thought that among the students he trained, one would turn out to be a monster-level fighter?
"Things seem stable here for now, so next…"
After making sure Yukinoshita Yukino was fine for the time being, Gojo Satoru's eyes scanned the battlefields across Jujutsu High before settling on a certain spot in the forest.
"As expected, this is the top priority."
He clasped his hands together, and his tall figure vanished instantly.
…
"A long time ago, you failed to merge with the Star Plasma Vessel, Amanai Riko. Because of that, your body evolved under the influence of the Immortality Technique, and you are no longer human. You've become a higher life form."
Kenjaku smiled at Tengen, whose appearance now strangely resembled Patrick Star. "A life form that's closer to a cursed spirit."
Tengen remained silent, staring at the man wearing Geto Suguru's face without denying his words.
"In other words, you can now be a target for Cursed Spirit Manipulation." Kenjaku's grin widened, revealing a row of gleaming white teeth. "And I can absorb you."
Seeing his old friend still silent, he felt a bit bored.
Even though Tengen's evolved body had reached a level where he could be absorbed using Cursed Spirit Manipulation—making him completely powerless against Kenjaku—Kenjaku had hoped that, as old acquaintances from a thousand years ago, Tengen would at least say something before the end.
What exactly did he want to hear? Kenjaku wasn't sure himself. He just felt a little let down.
Oh well. They were on different paths, and there was no point in talking anymore.
The black-haired man reached out toward Tengen, and Tengen's form immediately began to distort. Kenjaku half-closed his eyes and said, "Tengen, do you know the biggest difference between us?"
"I have personally experienced the world of curses—centuries of endless battles, alliances, and betrayals."
"You're too weak, Tengen."
As his words fell, Kenjaku looked down at the glowing blue sphere in his hand, his face expressionless. A complicated and indescribable emotion flickered in his eyes.
After a brief moment, he lifted his head and smiled. "You're a little late, Gojo."
"Geto Suguru" turned around and waved casually at the white-haired man behind him. "Yo, long time no see."
Gojo Satoru stared blankly at the black-haired man before him—his hair tied up in a bun, dressed in the robes of the Gojo clan. Even though he had mentally prepared himself, actually seeing him in person still made him freeze for a moment.
An imposter?
A transformation technique?
He reached up and pulled off his black blindfold. The glow of the Six Eyes shimmered faintly beneath his falling bangs, reflecting the image of Geto Suguru in his eyes.
No, it was really him!
The memories and emotions stirred by the strange dreams he had been having recently erupted in full force. Scenes from their three years as students at Jujutsu High flashed through his mind like fleeting summer daydreams.
Kenjaku watched as the white-haired man stood there in a daze and let out a deep sigh, feeling a genuine sense of regret.
According to his original plan, Geto Suguru's body should have been used only after Gojo Satoru had exhausted himself fighting Jogo and the other special-grade curses. Then, he would have made his move and sealed him with the Prison Realm.
But now, Gojo Satoru was at full strength. Even if his friend's body triggered memories and made him lower his guard, there was still a chance that Gojo could react in the instant the Prison Realm was activated and escape its range before the sealing technique took effect.
The Prison Realm was one of Kenjaku's trump cards—his key strategy against Gojo Satoru. If he wasn't absolutely certain of success, he didn't want to gamble with it.
After all, while this cursed tool was extremely powerful, its activation conditions were too strict. It was only useful as a surprise attack.
If he failed once, Gojo Satoru would be on guard, and this trump card would be worthless.
Gojo finally snapped out of his daze, his sharp gaze locking onto the man standing before him—the man wearing his best friend's body. "So, who the hell are you?"
"What are you talking about? I'm Geto Suguru." Kenjaku smiled, his eyes narrowing.
"No matter if it's cursed energy or the physical body, my Six Eyes are telling me that you are Geto Suguru."
The white-haired man stared at Kenjaku, who stood before him with arms crossed. Suddenly, his face twisted with rage.
"But my soul is telling me otherwise!"
A crimson glow flared in Gojo's hand as he pointed his fingers at the black-haired man in front of him.
"Tell me! Who the hell are you!?"
"Damn…"
Kenjaku let out a helpless chuckle, then reached up and grabbed the stitches on his forehead.
Without hesitation, he peeled back the top of his skull, revealing a brain with a grotesque mouth. A strange liquid trickled down, dripping over his face.
"How can you even see through this?"
Gojo Satoru's pupils shrank sharply.
"This is my cursed technique," Kenjaku explained calmly. "As long as I swap brains, I can take over different bodies."
"Of course, I can also use the techniques imprinted in those bodies."
"I wanted his technique and this exact situation. You didn't let Shoko Ieiri take care of Geto Suguru's remains, did you? You really like paying attention to weird little details."
Kenjaku adjusted the top of his skull back into place and stitched it up again. "Thanks to you, it was easy for me to take this body."
"But unfortunately, because of all kinds of unexpected events, my encounter with you didn't play out as I had originally planned."
"Oh, is that so?" Gojo Satoru chuckled.
Then, as if speaking to someone else entirely, he said, "It's about time you woke up, don't you think?"
The soft blue glow of the Six Eyes locked onto Geto Suguru's own eyes.
"How long are you going to let yourself be used like this, Suguru?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Geto Suguru's right hand suddenly trembled.
Then, breaking free from Kenjaku's control, it reached up and clamped tightly around his throat. The veins on the back of his hand bulged, his grip so strong it was as if he were trying to strangle himself to death.
A flash of panic crossed Kenjaku's face. His mouth instinctively fell open as his airway was crushed.
But in the next moment, his lips curled into an excited grin, and even through his choked breathing, he let out a raspy laugh.
"Cough! Ha… hahaha! Amazing! I've never seen this happen before!"
Kenjaku reached out with his left hand and pried off the fingers gripping his neck one by one. Grinning, he said, "Mahito, that special-grade curse who died, once said that the soul exists above the body. But in the end, the soul is the body, and the body is the soul. Otherwise, what's happening right now wouldn't make any sense."
Gojo Satoru's face remained cold as he aimed at the dimming red glow on Kenjaku's fingertips. "I don't care about that."
He shook his arm, then suddenly vanished from Kenjaku's sight.
Kenjaku simply smiled and raised his hand, blocking the strike aimed at his forehead. "No need to rush."
"If I take your head off, it's over for you, right?" Gojo Satoru said coldly. "If possible, I'd rather you not struggle—I don't want to damage Geto's body."
"That won't do. I still have things to take care of," Kenjaku said as he pushed Gojo's arm aside. With a light tap of his foot, he leaped backward.
Without making a sound, he positioned himself at the center of the underground chamber—the very core of the dome's barrier formation. "Don't be so hasty. Now that I've absorbed Tengen, I control Tengen's barrier. Are you sure you want to kill me right now?"
"Tengen's barrier?" Gojo Satoru tilted his head slightly. "What do you plan to do with it?"
"It's not about using it," Kenjaku said, crouching down and pressing his hand against the center of the formation. The corners of his mouth curled up. "It's about destroying it."
The intricate symbols covering the space suddenly lit up with a bright white glow.
At the same time, outside the Tomb of the Star, a massive glowing formation appeared in the sky.
"What's happening!?"
Zenin Hayato, who was locked in battle with the curses, looked up in shock at the sudden change in the sky.
Just after finishing surgery on Nanami Kento and Ino Takuma, Ieiri Shoko stepped out of the infirmary for a smoke—only to witness the same glowing formation spreading across the sky.
"This is…!?" Beside her, Fushiguro Megumi and Yoshino Junpei's eyes widened in disbelief.
"This… is Master Tengen's barrier," Ieiri Shoko murmured, momentarily frozen, unable to grasp what was happening.
"Tengen's barrier?" Fushiguro Megumi suddenly pieced it together. "That man in the monk's robes—he entered the Tomb of the Star! Did he do something!?"
It wasn't just Jujutsu High. The massive formation had appeared over the entire sky of Japan. Every jujutsu sorcerer in the country could sense the immense shift.
Even ordinary people with slight spiritual sensitivity could see the glowing white formation etched into the heavens.
They instinctively took out their phones to capture it—only to realize the formation wasn't visible through their cameras.
Before everyone's eyes, the formation suddenly shattered into countless glowing fragments, drifting down like a shower of white stars—beautiful and surreal.
Over at Kyoto Jujutsu High, Gakuganji Yoshinobu had just finished his evening walk and was preparing to rest when he looked up at the collapsing barrier. His long eyebrows trembled.
"The jujutsu world… is about to change."
Inside the Tomb of the Star, Gojo Satoru, with his Six Eyes and heightened senses, didn't even need to be outside to feel the shift.
Something… had changed.
He immediately turned to Kenjaku, who was still smiling, his eyes sharp with scrutiny. "What did you just do!?"
"I told you, didn't I?" Kenjaku stood up, spreading his hands. "I just destroyed the barrier that Tengen set up a thousand years ago."
"The barriers protecting Jujutsu High's bases, the ones reinforced by auxiliary managers—those all relied on Tengen's barrier for their strength. And now, that reinforcement is gone." Kenjaku explained with a grin.
"But that's not the most important part. Do you know why there are so few jujutsu sorcerers and curses outside of Japan? It's because Tengen's barrier sealed nearly all the cursed energy within this country. It created a monopoly on cursed energy itself, which is why overseas, both sorcerers and curses are scarce."
"But now, that barrier is gone. I've lifted the restrictions on cursed energy worldwide!"
The black-haired man before him had an eerie gleam in his eyes—anticipation for what was to come in the jujutsu world.
He spread his arms wide, as if embracing the entire world.
"A new era is about to begin." Kenjaku's face lit up with fanatic excitement, like a devoted follower witnessing a miracle. "The jujutsu world is about to reach a peak far beyond the Heian era!"
"I don't understand," Gojo Satoru frowned, staring at Kenjaku as if he were looking at a crazed believer. "Why do this? What do you gain from destroying Tengen's barrier?"
"Why?" Kenjaku chuckled. "Isn't opening the door to a new world reason enough?"
It seemed that after venting his excitement, Kenjaku's expression gradually returned to calmness, and a faint smile reappeared on his face.
"Chaos will be born in the new world. This time, how will humanity change?"
"I'm really looking forward to it," he said sincerely.
"Alright, alright." Gojo Satoru sighed helplessly. "But sorry, no matter what happens in the future, you probably won't be around to see it."
"You think a sneak attack is enough to hurt me?" he said, tilting his head slightly. His gaze, looking down from above, carried a hint of disdain.
From the very beginning, Kenjaku had been secretly summoning a tiny black Uzumaki behind him. His movements were subtle, but the flow of cursed energy was impossible to hide from Gojo Satoru's Six Eyes.
The pulse of cursed energy was always the sign of an attack.
"No." Kenjaku smiled slightly.
He suddenly waved his hand, and a curse spirit shot out from the black ripples in his palm, flying toward Gojo Satoru.
Then, right in front of him, the curse spirit rapidly expanded, transforming into a massive wall of flesh that separated him from Gojo Satoru.
A flash of brilliant blue light streaked across.
The flesh wall only lasted for a brief moment before a huge hole was blasted through it.
But Kenjaku had already turned around and stepped into the expanding black Uzumaki.
"Don't worry, we'll see each other again soon, Satoru."
"Let me think... oh, right, Christmas Eve is in two months. That should be a good time."
December 24th, Christmas Eve—that would be the day to seal Gojo Satoru.
Gojo Satoru's eyes reflected Kenjaku's smirking side profile as he left.
And in that moment, he realized—
So that cursed energy pulse was just a trick to fool my Six Eyes?
It made me think he was preparing for an attack, but in reality, it was just a distraction so he could escape.
Tch. What a cunning old fox.
...
…
(End of Chapter)
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