Just like before, Rei closed his eyes in the white void, and in a single blink, the familiar, suffocating sensation of helplessness washed over him once again.
SNAP.
Darkness. Total, pitch-black nothingness.
He was back inside his physical shell, but he still couldn't feel his fingers, couldn't open his eyelids, couldn't speak, and couldn't even take a conscious breath. He was just lying there, trapped inside a sensory-deprivation cage of his own broken body, waiting helplessly for time to pass.
Every single time his consciousness returned here, it felt like being thrown into a solitary confinement cell at the bottom of the ocean. Previously, no matter how hard he tried to flex a muscle or push his chakra through his coils, nothing worked. His brain signaling pathways were completely dead locked.
But this time, things were different.
This time, there was a tiny, burning flicker of hope.
Rei took a deep mental breath and turned his attention inward. As he searched his soul, he suddenly felt a brand-new reservoir of energy sitting right alongside his usual chakra pathways.
It felt fundamentally different from chakra. While chakra was a physical and spiritual blend crafted from healthy living cells, this new energy felt lighter, less dense, and almost entirely composed of raw spiritual force driven by emotion.
Cursed Energy.
Alright... let's see if this actually works, Rei thought, his soul practically humming with excitement.
He remembered Megumi's memories. To summon the Ten Shadows shikigami, sorcerers usually had to form specific hand signs—even Sukuna had to make shadow puppets with his fingers to pop out a shadow. But in Jujutsu Kaisen, hand signs were ultimately just a medium for mental visualization and output efficiency. High-level proficiency and sheer intent could bypass the physical movement, operating much like a silent spell or an internal binding vow.
Besides, his physical body was lying flat on a bed. If he had to wait until he could physically form a hand sign, then he had already woken up; why did he need to summon that dear then!
'I don't need my hands... the shadow is already right under me!' Rei roared internally.
Focusing every ounce of his newly acquired Cursed Energy, Rei bypassed his dormant physical brain entirely and channeled the energy directly from his soul into the shadow surrounding his physical body.
He mentally pictured the divine, massive four-eyed beast from Megumi's memory.
'Come out, you giant four-eyed Bambi! Output that sweet Reverse Cursed Technique right now!'
To his absolute delight, the Cursed Energy in his body actually responded.
Konoha General Hospital — ICU Room
Inside a quiet, sunlit private room on the top floor of Konoha General Hospital, Tsunade stood beside a medical bed, staring down at the sleeping boy in front of her.
The legendary Sannin's face had completely lost its usual bright, fierce glow. Her golden hair was slightly unkempt, and thick, dark, purplish circles hung heavily under her tired hazel eyes.
"Lady Tsunade..." A young medical nurse standing behind her spoke up timidly, holding a clipboard to her chest. "With our current level of medical ninjutsu, we've already stabilized his vitals as best we can. The rest is entirely up to his body's natural recovery. You losing sleep and collapsing from exhaustion won't make him wake up any faster... I beg of you, please go get some proper rest."
"How can I rest?!" Tsunade snapped, though her voice lacked its usual booming power, sounding raspy and worn out.
She turned her head to glare at the floor, her hands trembling slightly as she squeezed them into tight fists.
"He was on his way home that day," Tsunade muttered bitterly, her voice thick with guilt. "I was the one who dragged him out to the training grounds! I was the one who insisted he stay a little longer! He got struck by that damn freak flying right in front of my eyes because I brought him there!"
Ever since she had met Rei, Tsunade had secretly come to view the brat as a genuine friend—someone who didn't look at her like a broken, gambling-addicted disgrace. He was just a sharp-tongued, chaotic kid who made her laugh.
And because her lingering guilt convinced her that his coma was 100% her fault, she had refused to leave his side.
For the past twenty days, Tsunade had been treating him day and night. When her existing medical jutsu proved ineffective at waking his brain from its dormant state, she immediately threw herself into high-level research. She stayed up for seventy-two hours at a time, digging through ancient Senju medical scrolls, barely eating, and surviving purely on willpower.
No matter how many chief medics or ANBU commanders tried to persuade her to take a break, she hadn't budged an inch.
Sighing heavily, Tsunade rubbed her temples and stepped closer to the bed. "I'm going to run another cycle of Yang-release chakra through his nervous system to keep his muscle tissue from decaying, and then—"
Before she could finish her sentence, an uncanny, unnatural event occurred.
Because Tsunade had specifically requested Rei's bed be placed directly beside the large bay window to give him natural sunlight, a long, dark silhouette was cast across the floor beneath his bed.
And suddenly, that dark silhouette began to move.
Wobble... ripple...
Tsunade froze instantly, her sharp eyes darting down to the floor.
The dark shadow under Rei's bed wasn't just shifting with the sun—it was churning like a pool of black ink, rising and bubbling violently against the wooden floorboards!
What the hell?! Tsunade's brain immediately went into threat-assessment mode. The Nara Clan?!
The thought flashed through her mind, but she instantly discarded it. According to all hospital records and background checks, Rei had zero blood connections to the Nara clan. Was some Nara kid sneaking around outside the window pulling a sick prank on a comatose patient?!
An unprecedented wave of rage surged in Tsunade's chest. If some Nara brat is messing with my patient, I swear to God I'll smash their skull through the floorboards!
She flared her chakra to sense the intruder, but her brow furrowed in utter confusion.
There was no chakra signature. Zero. None. Whatever was happening in the shadow wasn't being driven by chakra at all!
Is it a dynamic Kekkei Genkai awakening?! Tsunade thought, forcing herself to calm down and observe. It's not entirely unheard of for a shinobi to awaken a latent bloodline limit when facing a life-and-death trauma... but this feeling...
The shadow's movement grew exponentially more violent, thrashing like a trapped sea monster until it suddenly shot straight up toward the ceiling!
BOOM!
A thick, liquid-black substance erupted upward from the floor, defying gravity entirely. The shadowy mass expanded rapidly, surging upward until it towered nearly ten meters high, completely blotting out the sunlight coming through the window and casting the entire hospital room into pitch darkness.
As the black liquid stabilized, it rapidly condensed, taking on a definitive, breathtaking physical form.
It was a colossal, majestic deer.
The creature possessed four distinct, glowing white eyes set into its sleek head, and its crown was adorned with massive, sweeping, intricate antlers that lightly scraped against the high ceiling. It radiated an ancient, bizarre, and immensely heavy pressure that filled every square inch of the room.
"GET BACK!" Tsunade barked, instinctively stepping in front of the dumbfounded nurse and raising her glowing green fists, taking a low combat stance.
The nurse shrieked, dropping her clipboard as she cowered behind Tsunade's back, trembling violently at the sight of the giant four-eyed monster that had literally walked out of the shadows.
Tsunade braced herself to launch a mountain-shattering punch at the beast's head the second it made a hostile move.
However... three seconds passed, and no attack came.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes, her nostrils flaring. Now that the creature was fully manifested, she realized something astonishing—she didn't feel a single shred of hostility, malice, or wild aggression coming from it.
In fact, the creature emanated a deeply soothing, serene, almost holy aura.
Slowly, gracefully, the towering Round Deer bent its long neck downward. It completely ignored the battle-ready Tsunade and the terrified nurse, lowering its massive, regal head straight toward the hospital bed.
Tsunade held her breath, her muscles tense, ready to intercept if it snapped its jaws.
Instead, the Round Deer gently, softly pressed its wet, dark nose directly against the center of sleeping Rei's chest.
HUMMMMMM...
The very next second, a brilliant, blinding wave of pure, warm white light erupted from the point of contact. The soft, radiant glow flooded the dimly lit room, instantly drowning out the dark shadows and wrapping Rei's motionless body in a blanket of comforting warmth.
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