Sukuna! Pay the Rent!

Year 41 of Konoha.

After the Second Shinobi World War came a baby boom. At this point in time, a fresh batch of leeks was just entering the Ninja Academy.

Five-and-a-half-year-old Kakashi was already welcoming the new students as a student representative.

"Hey! Kakashi..."

Obito, in his childhood goggles-wearing form, leaned close to Kakashi, in his childhood dead-fish-eyed broom-hair form.

Kakashi shoved Obito away with visible disgust and snapped, "Idiot, stay away from me."

Usually carefree and boisterous, Obito now seemed to have something difficult to say. He fidgeted awkwardly, neither leaving nor speaking.

"Obito, is there something you want to say to Kakashi?" A girl with purple markings on her cheeks leaned closer.

This was Miss Rin Nohara, the only member of Minato's Team who would die in the future Third Shinobi World War.

"Idiot, hurry up and say it! The Hokage and the others will be here soon!"

The Ninja Academy did not have any particularly standardized system. Each semester lasted half a year, and new students were admitted every semester.

The length of study was also highly variable, generally depending on the situation on the battlefield.

If there was no war, you studied for a few more years. If war broke out, you graduated early and went off to fight.

After all, no matter how many beautiful words were used to dress up a place like the Ninja Academy, at its core...

It was still an institution for training killers.

As if he had made up his mind, Obito leaned close to Kakashi's ear and said:

"Kakashi... one of my clansmen will be enrolling today. He..."

"He's a really terrifying guy! He especially likes picking on me!"

"Don't let his appearance fool you. He's a really, really bad person!"

"And... I heard the clan is sending him to the Academy this time specifically to deal with you... Ouch!"

Tap...

A pebble rolled down from the back of Obito's head with a crisp sound.

"Goggles, talking badly about someone behind their back isn't a good habit."

If there had been some background music and falling cherry blossoms, it would really have felt like some melodramatic pure-love drama.

Sadly, there was none.

"Bastard! My name isn't Goggles! I'm Uchiha Obito!"

"Okay, Goggles. Got it, Goggles."

The boy speaking had short, curly black hair and bright, lively eyes. His smile carried an air of innocent purity.

"Goggles"... Obito instantly turned red with rage. If Rin Nohara had not been holding him back, he would have charged over to fight Kagami Uchiha to the death.

Kagami Uchiha was the boy's name, the same as the Second Hokage's subordinate.

He had originally been an orphan of the Uchiha Clan and had been adopted by Kagami Uchiha's wife.

To commemorate her deceased husband, she had given him that name.

Well... it had to be said that people here really did have that sort of hobby.

Just like Uchiha Sasuke in the future, who had also borrowed the name of Hiruzen Sarutobi's father, Sarutobi Sasuke.

In their tradition, this represented respect and remembrance.

Of course, when Fugaku did something like that, it was probably meant as an expression of submission.

Yes, Kagami Uchiha knew the course of the future. After all, the day before he transmigrated, he had spent all night arguing with someone on a forum over the "Konoha timeline."

In the end, both sides presented mountains of evidence, but neither managed to convince the other.

It was too chaotic. Impossible to sort out, utterly impossible to sort out!

They had originally agreed to rest for a day before continuing the battle, but Kagami Uchiha had broken the appointment.

Fine. I wanted to see just what the hell was going on with this timeline anyway!

Looking at the three childhood versions standing before him, Kagami Uchiha felt somewhat sentimental.

If he were merely an outsider, he could have made a joke about Obito Uchiha.

But as an Uchiha...

It was not funny.

If he had not known that the root cause of the Uchiha Clan Massacre was a problem left behind from the very founding of the village, and that killing one Runtu would not stop events from unfolding, Kagami Uchiha would have long since wanted to kill him.

"Kagami, don't bully Obito!"

An elderly woman held a baby whose nose already had the beginnings of that button-like shape despite his young age.

This baby was Kagami Uchiha's adopted younger brother, the future Body Flicker Shisui.

"Sigh~"

"Grandma, I just gave him a friendly nickname. Look at how fierce he is, like he wants to rush over and hit me on the head~"

"Ah!!! Rin! Let go of me! I'm going to beat him to death!"

"Pretty miss, let him go. I'd like to see how he plans to beat me to death."

Watching the two argue at the school gate, Kakashi helplessly shook his head.

"Kagami Uchiha, right? Be quiet and prepare for the entrance ceremony. The Hokage and the others will be here soon."

Children in the shinobi world really did mature differently. Children five or six years old in the original world had trouble even expressing a complete thought, while the quicker ones here had already started killing and setting fires.

Kagami Uchiha studied Kakashi with interest. "Dead-fish-eyed broom-hair Kakashi?"

Twitch—

A huge vein bulged on Kakashi's forehead as he clenched his fists tightly.

"I-am-Hatake-Kakashi!" Kakashi emphasized each word.

This had already crossed into nickname bullying, hadn't it?! That nickname was even worse than the idiot's!

Obito, who had been red with rage, now flushed a different shade of red.

"Hahahaha! Dead-fish-eyed broom-hair!! Hahaha... mmph—"

Rin Nohara covered his mouth, nodded at the others, and dragged away Obito, whose face was full of bliss.

Rage, excitement, happiness... Tsk, tsk. With a little more stimulation, he might even awaken his eyes.

Kagami Uchiha walked up to Kakashi step by step, patted him on the shoulder, and revealed a harmless smile. "Please take care of me from now on, Kakashi."

"Grandma, hurry up and take Shisui home, Ghana~"

Once all the children for the semester had arrived, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was not yet too old, stepped onto the stage and began speaking.

It was the same old Will of Fire, unchanged since the First Hokage: a vague, self-contradictory set of values.

The longer he listened, the more bored Kagami Uchiha became. He narrowed his eyes slightly and let his thoughts sink into his mental space.

--

Within the cube-shaped mental space, whose overall tone was dark crimson, a vermilion iron railing divided it into two halves.

A thick scent of blood drifted through the sealing bars.

Above countless withered corpses stood a god of slaughter soaring through a sea of blood.

"Ryomen Sukuna"

His name came from the imagined two-faced, four-armed demon god. He had once been a real human who, during the golden age of jujutsu sorcerers a thousand years ago, defeated every jujutsu sorcerer by himself.

He was the symbol of evil, the incomparably brutal King of Curses!

Now, two souls from different times and spaces had converged in the shinobi world.

"Good morning! Four-Arms!"

On the other side of the Seal, a colossal shadow flickered in and out of sight, while a pair of scarlet eyes burst with vicious light.

"Brat... I told you before..."

"Don't look up at me without permission!"

Terrifying darkness swept forth, yet it could not penetrate the Seal in the slightest.

Kagami Uchiha smiled and looked up, completely ignoring Sukuna's threat.

He had indeed been a little scared at first, but after trying a few times, Sukuna had still failed to break through the Seal and cut him down.

Wasn't this now Kagami Uchiha's familiar battlefield? Trading insults through a screen—what the hell was there to fear!

And as he grew older, he discovered that he had gained a certain degree of control over this Seal...

"You should be grateful that you get to hide inside my body. I heard they've already sent Kakarot to deal with you outside."

"Who is Kakarot?"

Kagami Uchiha raised his little hand and threw a punch.

"Someone who could blow up the Earth with a light punch like this."

Sukuna laughed in anger.

"Brat, there has never been such a powerful person from ancient times to the present. What nonsense are you spouting?"

"Short hair, short horizons." Kagami Uchiha curled his lip and waved a hand.

"Forget Kakarot. The people in this world have already taken turns beating you up."

"Do you know what that means? It means there's a whole group of people, every single one of whom could pick you up and beat the hell out of you..."

"Shut up!"

The original Sukuna would never have lost his composure so easily, but things were different now...

This damned Seal had left him without even the slightest possibility of taking over this brat's body.

He could not even sense what was happening outside.

Damn it!

He had only just killed Satoru Gojo and had not even had time to give his victory speech before being thrown into this godforsaken place!

Damn it, did Space Severance have such a huge backlash?!

In a corner of the Seal, Kagami Uchiha saw a wisp of black energy seep out, then sealed the space shut again.

With practiced ease, he picked up the wisp of black energy and swallowed it. Some techniques relating to slashing surfaced in his mind.

"All right, that's enough rent for today. I'll come back once I've digested it."

"Bye-bye~"

"Bastard! Get back here!!"

In the darkness, Ryomen Sukuna raged helplessly.