Itadori Yuji was many things: a subpar sorcerer who stumbled into the world of Jujutsu, a child with no true sense of attachment to life, one that was all too comfortable with his death. Even for sorcerers, who should always be ready for their death, Itadori Yuji was an anomaly. Yet for all his faults and disadvantages that came from both his twisted mindset and his short but brutal introduction to Jujutsu, Itadori Yuji had his advantages.
When it came to his danger sense and instincts, few could surpass the pink-haired kid. Jiki had not needed to tell him what was going on. He had not even alluded to anything. Itadori Yuji felt the danger, saw it a split second after waking up, but there was no surprise, no hesitation.
Yuji's second fist shot up, slamming into Mahito's jaw with a solid thwack and forcing it into an unnatural angle that would've meant death for most. Unfortunately for the boy, he faced a special grade curse, and the curse simply staggered, more surprised than hurt. A follow-up, well-placed kick to the curse's midsection sent it sprawling back, this time clearly hurt as Yuji dropped to the ground, gasping for air with a still-unconscious Todo beside him. Mahito rubbed at his chest with a frown, and Jiki smiled. The pink-haired kid had used his new and improved Divergent Fist with the kick.
The moment Yuji landed, he wasted no time in lunging forward, putting Todo behind him as his fists blurred into motion, flying after the curse.
That was all the respite Jiki was allowed before a prickling along the back of his neck made him refocus back on Kenjaku. The body-hopper had made distance between them, and beside him was a copy of Mahito, his hand resting on Kenjaku's back. Jiki watched Kaori Itadori's features return, all the damage that Amaterasu had accomplished reversed in real time. Then Kenjaku smiled once more, rotating his arm as he flexed new muscles, then he side-eyed Mahito behind him, unwilling to turn away from Jiki completely.
"Go and take care of Kashimo. Now that you're here, he can pull out his trump card. If we manage to Kill Jiki here, then our original contingency for Satoru can still work." This time, he turned his full focus to Jiki, his hands clasped in front of himself again as he pointed toward him. "I might not be a match, but he has been fighting for so long already. I can hold him off long enough before Itadori kills your clone." Mahito nodded and dashed to the side.
Jiki moved to intercept, but a quick lance of blood put a stop to that, so he refocused on Kenjaku. "I told you you'll have to work for it, didn't I?" Jiki didn't bother with a response; he simply blitzed forward, his feet eating up pace as he shortened the distance between them, ignoring just how broken and desolated the ground had become. The battlefield was a ruined canvas, with pockmarks filling the ground, and Kenjaku stood straight amidst the smoldering. He grinned at him, like this whole thing was fun. His hands clasped in front of him, watching as Jiki drew closer.
"Blood Manipulation again?" Jiki wondered as he crossed the distance, watching the cursed energy coalesce around Kenjaku's palm. It was the same technique Kenjaku had used to bind him. However back then, Kenjaku had two advantages that had slowed his reaction time: the raised sand and debris alongside the thrown cloth as a distraction.
His eyes narrowed. Kenjaku was not stupid. That wasn't blood.
Kenjaku's sweet smile widened, twisting Kaori Itadori's face grotesquely as he unleashed another technique the moment Jiki got close. Jiki smiled.
Kenjaku's technique didn't manifest as blood but as a dark, undulating mass that moved like it was alive cursed energy given liquid form, a writhing, corrosive ooze. Instead of shooting forward like the previous attack, it sprayed outward like an octopus spilling ink across water to blind its foe. But Kenjaku was no octopus, and Jiki recognized the technique.
He had read up on as many of the accessible higher-ups that he could find, and in that folder was a very interesting higher up. Kenjaku's previous body before he switched to Kaori. The man's technique was an ink spray that could melt skin and flesh off the bone if it so much as touched him.
Jiki didn't bother with a hand seal, not when he could do the jutsu while half-dead. He raised an arm, breathed in an act that involved kneading cursed energy once more and moving it from his stomach to his lungs then he breathed out, sparking the cursed energy to life at the same moment. "Fire Release: Great Fireball."
A massive orb of fire burst to life in front of him. For a simple C-rank jutsu, the Great Fireball was not to be underestimated. It slammed into the spray of acid, and the two techniques countered each other like water vs. fire. There was a huge explosion as a chain reaction between the two techniques occurred, spreading a dark-colored mist that smelled acrid and nauseating.
Kenjaku took a step back in surprise at the counter, while Jiki, without any hesitation, dived into the mist. His eyes stung the moment he entered; his skin itched and grew irritated. There was still some poison in the mist, but it didn't matter. It was not nearly enough to slow a dedicated Gojo Jiki.
He burst out of the other side and beheld an extremely surprised Kenjaku. Before Kenjaku could lash out, Jiki moved in a flicker of motion, a single sidestep that brought him just outside the reach of Kenjaku's reflexive jab. Then he lunged forward, his fist flying through the air like a tetsubo club, catching Kenjaku across the jaw with a blow that echoed like a thunderclap.
Kenjaku's head snapped to the side, spittle and blood arcing through the air as Jiki followed up with a brutal knee to the solar plexus. Kenjaku's breath left him in a rasping wheeze. Jiki didn't let up, as he lashed out in a flury of blows, each strike delivered with clinical precision ending with a closed palm strike to the throat crushed the windpipe.
Kenjaku staggered. Jiki was about to unleash another barrage when he felt a sudden spike of cursed energy behind him. He had learned his lesson; give Kenjaku an inch, and he would take a mile.
Without hesitation, Jiki caught Kenjaku's free hand, spun behind him, and slammed a knee into the back of his leg, forcing him to the ground. Only when he was sure Kenjaku was neutralized did he look up.
Kashimo was rising to his feet, lightning trailing off him like smoke, his eyes wild with fury. Mahito staggered, gave a thumbs up, and ran.
"Gojo Jiki!!" The reincarnated sorcerer called out with a scream, his completely undamaged and healed body emitting so much cursed energy that even the clone Mahito and Yuji paused their brawl. The reincarnated sorcerer walked past them without a single glance until he was almost past clone Mahito, and then he snatched an item out of the special-grade curse's arm.
Kashimo twirled the strange weapon in his arm, and his expression easily shifted from anger to a more subdued smile as he twirled the weapon. That simple act amplified the lightning crackling along Kashimo's form.
That was when Jiki noticed it. In Mahito's hand, the cursed tool had remained dormant, but now the weapon thrummed with power, a low hum that filled the air as Kashimo twirled it once, then pointed it directly at Jiki. The air itself tightened as a heavy, electric charge began to build between them.
"You're in my way," Kashimo started with a smile that was all teeth.
Jiki's eyes narrowed at the new variable. His mind went to work as he catalogued his memories and searched through them to identify the cursed tool. "And you're wasting my time." He finished.
There was a muted boom in the distance. Kashimo and Jiki didn't glance away from each other, but Kenjaku suppressed as he was looked.
Kenjaku's eyes darted to the distant skyline, and his eyes widened. There was a purple glow in the distance, one that intensified, swelling like a second sun. His jaw clenched. "Kashimo! We need to leave!"
"I'm not done yet," Kashimo growled, electricity dancing across his skin.
"You idiot!" Kenjaku snarled. "Your target isn't him, it's Sukuna!"
"I don't care about Sukuna anymore." The lightning coated sorcerer admitted with a wide grin. "This bra- no. Gojo Jiki is just as interesting."
"We had a deal! Have you lost your vaunted honor and pride because of this bastard? Keep to your word, Kashimo!"
Kashimo's jaw clenched, eyes flashing with fury. But then, reluctantly, he let out a calming breath, even though everyone present could feel his fury still simmering beneath the surface. With a snarl of frustration, he raised the weapon high, the weapon crackling with immense power.
That was when the memory clicked. Special-Grade Cursed Tool: Kamotuke.
"I hope you survive this, Gojo Jiki!" Kashimo bellowed, slamming Kamotuke into the ground. That same instant, Kenjau's hand exploded forcing Jiki to flinch back in Surprise. The body hopping sorcerer had used blood manipulation to destroy his own limb to allow himself break free. Kenjaku lunged forward as the sky split open above them with a thunderous crack.
A surge of static electricity rippled through the air, and every single hair on Jiki's body stood on end. He remembered this feeling, the sensation of death from the sky. It was one of the last things he had felt before he died but somehow more amplified. His eyes tracked the curse energy gathering in the sky and they widened. The scale of the strike would be wide.
He immediately dashed forward, ignoring Kenjau as the sorcerer ran, instead he moved faster than he had ever moved. The world blurred around him as he hurtled toward Mahito. In a split second, he was beside the special-grade curse. Mahito barely had time to widen his eyes before Jiki's foot slammed into his neck, a thunderous impact that sent the curse flying like a ragdoll.
Jiki landed in a crouch beside Yuji and the still-unconscious Todo. Yuji's eyes were wide, breaths coming in shallow, disbelieving pants.
"What's happening?" Yuji managed to squeeze out before it happened.
The heavens tore open.
Lightning erupted from the sky in a blinding, furious explosion, arcs of electric fury branching out like the roots of a world-shattering tree, converging directly above them. The air vibrated with the force of a storm unleashed, and the ground trembled beneath the sheer magnitude of Kashimo's attack.
Jiki spread his arms, fingers splayed as he locked his gaze on the descending bolt of blinding blue plasma, time seeming to slow as it fell. He took a deep, shuddering breath, Sharingan spinning furiously. His voice was a cold, deadly whisper.
"Susanoo."
A colossal, spectral ribcage erupted around Jiki, forming a protective barrier of translucent, ethereal bones. red light pulsed through the ribs as the first arc of lightning struck, the force shuddering through Jiki's entire frame. The ribs splintered under the relentless onslaught, fractures spider-webbing through the construct as each successive bolt hammered down, each one carrying enough force to vaporize a lesser sorcerer.
The barrage continued, lightning crashing into the Susanoo like a storm made flesh. Jiki gritted his teeth, muscles straining, as he poured every ounce of cursed energy into reinforcing the construct as it grew. The more it grew, the more the susanno grounded the attack. Then his curse energy output began to patter out, unable to sustain even an incomplete Susanoo so soon after loosing his domain.
The still-forming armor was the first to go, followed by the ephemeral musculature, but the lightning was beginning to lose its power. Finally, as the ribs began to crack and splinter, the lightning barrage finally came to a stop.
Jiki kept what was left of the Susanoo up as the smoke finally cleared, but as he peered past it, Kashimo and Kenjaku were gone. His eyes drifted up as his senses tracked another cursed energy signature flying, a bird. Mahito? The patchwork special grade was flying away with his ill-gotten loot held in taloned feet, and fast.
Catching up was a pipe dream, but the thought of allowing him to get away with anything sent a pang of... displeasure through him. He immediately let the Susanoo drop, his chest heaving, sweat beading along his brow and trailing down his jaw. The battlefield was deathly silent, they were in the middle of a deep crater and the only sound was the quiet crackle of dying embers and the ragged breaths of Yuji and Todo. Every other thing had been obliterated in the lightning strike.
He focused, eyes wide open as he calculated the distance, the velocity of the falcon like creature Mahito had turned into, the estimated weight of the satchel in his feet, the trajectory he followed mid flight, the curvature of the earth. He took everything into account, then called out in a whisper, a split second before the bird got out of range.
"Amaterasu."
A coincidental wind shifted Mahito's form, and instead of catching his bird form full brunt, the attack hit the satchel. The black flames of Amaterasu came to life, eating at the satchel in an instant. Mahito let out a shriek of shock in bird form, but he didn't stop flying. Fortunately, not before things began to slip out.
Jiki watched as multiple things tumbled out of the still burning satchel before Mahito broke line of sight and disappeared.
Jiki looked down at the two unconscious boys at his feet as what remained of his Susanoo began to dissolve and break down into cursed energy. He checked his internal reserves and felt a frown come upon his face. He was not sure exactly what had knocked Yuji out, but he shrugged anyway.
He was low on curse energy. Not so low that pursuing Kenjaku was a risky option if the sorcerer was alone. However, it was low enough that tangling with Kashimo with the Kamotuke in hand was more dangerous than it was worth. Another lightning strike like that, and he was not sure even his Susano could take It.
While his cursed energy efficiency was high and on par with anyone bar Satoru, the Susanoo remained a cursed energy devourer. A technique to use at a critical moment, even for the likes of Madara, at least before the ghost of the Uchiha enhanced himself up with Hashirama's cells.
His eyes shifted into the distance, where he could feel them disappear into, and he let out an uncharacteristic "Tch". None of them were a match for him alone.
Kenjaku's only true threat remained his domain, but with his eyes returned, Jiki was confident in holding his own even inside the sorcerer's domain. Kashimo's biggest threat remained the Kamotuke and, the trump card he never got to reveal, yet Jiki was confident in taking him on. Mahito… He was going to guess that the curse was the one that created the transfigured humans.
He had glimpsed Itadori Yuji's fight with the patch-faced curse and had watched it twist and reshape its body into different shapes and forms with disgusting ease. If it could apply that same feat to other people, it was clear that he was the obvious culprit. However, he was even less of a danger than Kashimo and Kenjaku, owing to his age if nothing else.
Speaking of Yuji Itadori and the revelations that had come with the fight, Jiki's eyes drifted down to the unconscious boy once again. Yuji had a very important purpose in Kenjaku's plans. Important enough that Kenjaku was inclined to recruit him gently instead of making a straightforward attempt at a kidnap. Sukuna no doubt. However what was the connection?
He began piecing the facts together, connecting dots he hadn't made much sense before.Kenjaku had been inhabiting Itadori's mother. Given the age of the body and Kenjaku's prolonged access to it, the conclusion was unavoidable: Kenjaku was Itadori's mother. And Itadori himself? A perfect vessel.
But perfect vessels didn't just occur randomly. They were made. Crafted. Shaped for a purpose. That meant Itadori wasn't a coincidence, he was a creation. Kenjaku had designed him as a container from the start to hold Sukuna's power and presence.
FInally, Kenjaku had maintained close proximity to him for an extended period. No one had noticed. The question was why, and more importantly, how.
They had to have been meeting outside the school, out of the range of both Tengen and Satoru. While the two sorcerers were powerful especially in Satoru's case the Six Eyes was not infallible, and if he was not completely focused he could loose track of things happening. He had alot of things to discuss with Satoru but first he had to secure them.
He let out a sigh as he crouched, lifting Itadori onto his shoulder while he carried Todo in the other arm. The two boys were ridiculously heavy. Dense with muscles and stronger bones but he hauled them along with ease. His destination was clear. He had sent out his cursed energy in a pulse-like wave to observe Kenjaku's retreat, and while he had done that, he had picked up other cursed energy signatures.
Most importantly, Shoko Ieiri. The nurse and Jujutsu High alumina was in her clinic somewhere in the middle of the school and in one of the most protected places. He also picked up a couple of other cursed energy signatures, as well as dozens of the transfigured humans he had fought at Kenjaku's base.
He could sense Maki, Emi, Toge, and even Nobara fighting against the transfigured humans, alongside other unfamiliar cursed energy signatures the Kyoto Technical students. Todo's classmates. He could also sense the teachers, as well as the rest of the student body, but they were all occupied.
All fighting. Fights that were happening farther away from him. Around him, the school was half-buried in silence now a silence earned through violence. No doubt everyone had sensed his fight and simply left it to him. He was no Satoru, but they were confident in his strength all the same.
He leaped out of the crater and began to move quickly, his destination remained Shoko, but he had to make a quick stop along the way. He moved through walkways and corridors half-lit by dying barrier lamps, each step avoiding the pulses of cursed energy from the transfigured humans crawling closer. He had no interest in fighting with two deadweights on him, even if the transfigured humans were not particularly difficult opponents.
They were spread thin across the campus, meandering like aimless ants without a queen. Mahito hadn't left them orders, or perhaps he had and they were simply too broken to carry them out. Still, they had a purpose in a way a distraction and deterrent. They couldn't just leave the mass of transfigured humans roaming free to hunt down the fleeing Kenjaku without exorcising every one of them first.
He came to a stop beneath a tree. Then, without any hesitation, he buried his feet into it, hard enough to shake the cherry blossom tree and send pink flowers drifting to the ground alongside a bound scroll, with suppression seals wrapped around it. He raised a brow as he gently dropped the duo before picking it up. His hands moved, unwrapping it slightly, and a glimpse at what it held froze him for a second before he let out a low chuckle. The next second, he slipped the package into his clothes, lifted the two boys, and began to walk again.
He adjusted Todo in his grip as they passed a broken road. The Kyoto student had barely lost blood; his injuries were mostly surface-level bruises, a fractured forearm, a concussion. Most importantly, a broken spine, judging by the way his body had gone limp mid-fall. Yuji was in a marginally worse shape deep tissue trauma along the chest cavity, potential internal bleeding.
His fight with Mahito had not been easy, but his gamble had paid off. Kenjaku had ordered Mahito to be more careful with Yuji, forcing the curse to hold back once again proving just how important Yuji was to their overall plan.
Jiki didn't say a word, but his grip on Yuji tightened just slightly.
He reached the clinic's outer door. This part of the school was shielded by multiple overlapping barriers most of it was Tengen's old latticework; others were installed by Shoko herself and overlapped the immortal sorcerer's work. The invisible barrier flickered, responding to his presence like a nervous dog sniffing for its master's scent. He let a fraction of his cursed energy leak out in a controlled pulse and the barrier accepted it.
He pushed the door open with a slight kick and took a step inside.
Shoko stood inside, eyes already narrowing. She took one look at the boys in his arms and moved without speaking. Gloves snapped on.
"They're hurt, badly," Jiki said flatly.
"I'm going to fix that," she replied, not even looking up. Instead, she pointed at the two tables in the room before moving off to get something from a cabinet.
Jiki placed the duo down on the tables. He set Todo down on one cot, Yuji on the other. He didn't have any intention to linger.
"You're not staying?" Shoko asked, already hovering a hand over Yuji's chest.
Jiki's eyes and all his focus were already elsewhere, on the clinic wall, specifically, what lay beyond it. Fleeing enemies, transfigured humans, and Tengen's cursed energy signature.
"No. There are still too many out there. The transfigured ones scattered across the southern part of the school. I'm going to clear a path, check on the other students, and finally, Master Tengen."
He could hear her frown, even with her focus on the two people he had brought her. "That's reckless, kid. You're running low."
"I've enough to take care of this."
Shoko looked at him then. Really looked. He turned back to face her. The older woman's gaze wasn't medical anymore it was personal. Tired. Accusatory. Made all the more so by the dark circles beneath her eyes.
"I'm not going to hold you back, Jiki. I know you Gojos better than most… still, be careful."
He gave her the barest hint of a smile, then he turned toward the exit and began to walk only to pause at the threshold.
"When they wake up, tell Yuji I have questions. And tell Todo... nothing. He'll want to talk anyway to know who beat him up so hard and so fast. I'm sure the whole school would want to know. It's a good thing we've finally got answers for them."
Shoko snorted softly, already working.
Jiki stepped back into the hallway. The silence outside wasn't complete anymore. There were noises now wet dragging sounds, the faint shuffle of unnatural feet on broken tile, the low clicks of inhuman throats testing vocal cords that didn't belong to them.
They had followed him. He had not tried very hard to avoid them.
He walked. Not fast. Not slow. He let them come.
He would need to end them before they could come.
The first transfigured human rounded the corner ahead. Its torso was inverted, limbs extending like branches from a tree. No eyes, just a wide-stretched mouth, gaping open in an eternal scream.
It lunged.
Jiki didn't even slow down. He stepped into its unformed guard and sent a straight blow into its blue-colored chest. It barely had time to feel its chest cave in and crack before it was sent flying from the force of the blow.
More were coming, and he welcomed it. Welcomed their arrival.
He needed the distraction. Not just to think, but to feel. The Black Flash still lingered in his memory a taste of something larger, deeper than Jorogumo's explanation of cursed energy from the view of a curse.
It hadn't just been an attack or a blow it had been a breach, an opening. A rupture in the thin membrane between potential and mastery. If he could touch that again, if he could hold it longer…
He needed to feel it again that moment when cursed energy and intent aligned so completely they bent space itself. A technique shaped not by tradition or even skill, but by will alone.
He thought back to Kenjaku's expression when the blow landed. Surprise. Not just fear, but concern. The kind of look you give an apex land predator that had somehow grown wings. A monster that had become a greater threat.
He stepped over the corpse of another transfigured human and moved deeper into the school, cursed energy pulsing softly under his skin, sharpening with every kill taking him closer to that moment once again.