"Out of the way. You should understand what this fight means, right?"
Toji frowned, glaring at the figure of Jinsuke as he spoke loudly.
"So what?"
Jinsuke turned around, his eyes calm as he looked back at him.
For dignity? Or just to make those people regret?
Of course, he knew exactly what Toji was thinking. But… even if he defeat Gojo, then what?
If the only goal was to make the Zenin clan regret, what he did back then was already enough to make them regret for a lifetime.
Looking at Jinsuke's composed expression, Toji froze. The Inverted Spear of Heaven, spinning rapidly in his hand, slowly came to a halt.
The thought of his past actions made the fighting spirit that had just ignited vanish without a trace.The moment he sought to respond to the Zenin clan and the jujutsu world's rejection of the two brothers by defeating Gojo, he had already lost.
At some point, he had started wanting to reclaim the dignity he'd abandoned long ago.
"Tch. Always sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."
Putting away his cursed tool, Toji left without another word. Though he understood why Jinsuke had stopped him, it still irritated him. After all, Jinsuke was only a year older, yet always acted like some kind of elder.
Seeing this, Jinsuke let out a small sigh of relief. Denying the entire jujutsu world isn't something you can prove by just defeating one Gojo.
"Oi, oi, oi! You're just going to leave like that? Isn't that a bit rude?"
Hovering in the sky, Gojo blocked their path.
Sure, right now he was more interested in savoring this "I alone am honored" feeling, but for the two of them to just walk away in front of him… wasn't that treating him a little too lightly?
"..."Jinsuke paused, noticing Gojo's blood-stained figure and slightly unhinged expression. He'd almost forgotten about this guy.
"I alone am honored… Gojo, right?"
"Riko Amanai isn't dead. You and us have no real grudge. If you're not letting us leave… what, do you want to invite us out for a meal instead?"
Jinsuke asked back calmly. The conflict between them had started because of Riko, but since she was still alive and well, he felt there was no longer any reason to fight.
It wasn't like sorcerers and curses meeting, where one side had to die.
"Hmm..."
Gojo thought for a moment, then realized,
"So little Riko didn't die? But… he just now nearly killed me. Doesn't that count as a grudge?"
What, was he not allowed to avenge himself?
Hearing that, Jinsuke suddenly chuckled. "So did you die? Not only are you alive, you awakened Reverse Cursed Technique because of it. And… that's not the only thing you gained, is it?"
"Remember this favor well. One day, you'll have to pay it back."
Waving as he left, Jinsuke disappeared, leaving Gojo stunned in place.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Gojo watched the two figures walking away. He raised his hand, readying a stance, but no further action followed. He stood there until they vanished from sight.
"The hell? So, if anything, I should be thanking them instead?"
Finally, Gojo came back to himself from that strange mental state. Landing slowly on the ground, he rubbed his chin, lost in doubt.
"Come to think of it… who the hell were those two, anyway?"
No matter how he tried, Gojo couldn't figure out who those brothers really were, though he had a nagging feeling he'd seen them somewhere before.
What he didn't know was that, as a child, he really had met the Zenin brothers once. But that was more than ten years ago.
Not long after, Geto and Riko found Gojo.
"Satoru, are you alright here?"
Seeing the blood on Gojo's body, Geto's face filled with worry.
Riko glanced at Gojo's calm eyes and suddenly felt he looked a little unfamiliar.
"Did something happen here?"
"Nothing much. Just ran into some interesting people."
Gojo looked at Riko and let his usual expression return.
"Since little Riko showed up here, I guess you've decided to leave. Hah… bratty kids really are troublesome."
Hearing that, Riko instantly puffed up in anger. They were the ones who had given her a choice, and now he was mocking her for it?
On the outside she looked mad, but inside her heart was warm. At least from today onward, she had plenty of time to enjoy her youth.
"Gojo, things are going to get troublesome from here on out."
Because of Riko, Master Tengen—or even the whole jujutsu world—was bound to come after the two of them.
"Geto, don't tell me you're scared?"
"Don't be ridiculous. We're the strongest."
The three of them walked forward in the setting sun. Their shadows stretched across the ground — two long, one short—carrying a strangely gentle air.
...
...
"Oi, so you've been living off women all these years?"
Jinsuke looked at Toji with a serious face.
"A man with hands and feet should never live off someone else. Toji, you've fallen way too far."
"I already told you, that was in the past. I'm married into the Fushiguro family now."
Toji felt helpless. Why did Jinsuke always have to harp on that? It wasn't like he didn't make money.
"Married in, huh? Well, that's fine. I hear you even have a son. You'll have to take me to meet him someday."
Jinsuke remembered that his "dear brother" was now a family man, and for the moment forgave the years of sponging.
"Megumi, huh? Haven't seen him in years..."
Clearly, Toji wasn't much of a father.
He did feel guilt toward Megumi, but he had no idea how to make it up to him. So instead, he sold him off to the Zenin clan.
"But now, it's your turn to explain, isn't it? Why did you leave without a word back then?"
Toji stared at Jinsuke. The resentment in his heart had mostly faded, but unless he knew the truth, he couldn't be at peace.
He didn't know all the details of what had happened back then — only that the two brothers had always been despised in the Zenin clan, constantly mocked and looked down upon.
His brother Jinsuke always acted indifferent, as if he didn't care.But then one day, he changed completely, going on a bloody rampage through the clan.
Toji never knew the exact details, only that after that day, nearly a third of the Zenin clan was dead.
And from then on, his brother vanished from the jujutsu world. When the Zenin clan saw him again, their gazes carried not just mockery, but also a trace of fear.
After a moment of silence, Jinsuke finally spoke.
"Didn't the old man ever tell you?"
Then he slowly recounted the truth of those years.
In short, even if the entire Zenin clan looked down on him and mocked him, he didn't care. It wasn't like it cost him anything.
Besides, he knew the strength of Heavenly Restriction. He was too busy developing it to waste time caring about the jeers of those "cursed energy monkeys".
But some in the Zenin clan went too far. Because he and Toji were born without cursed energy, they targeted their mother — the only person in that family who had ever given him warmth.
When she was harmed, Jinsuke lost all restraint and, in a rage, slaughtered many.
If not for their mother begging him in tears, and Naobito stepping in to stop him, the Zenin clan would have lost even more people that day.
Even so, when his mother pleaded on the clan's behalf, the young and reckless Jinsuke couldn't understand. After a bitter fight with her, he left the Zenin clan behind and began a life of decadence abroad.
He thought about many things during those years and gradually came to terms with much of it—but he never knew how to face his mother again.
Until Naobito pulled strings to find him, bringing the news of her death.
After that, Jinsuke fell into a period of depression. It was during that time he met Yuki.
As time passed, the confusion in his heart faded, and he began to live more freely. Until Toji's situation eventually brought him back here once again.
His only regret was never seeing his mother one last time in this world.