Six years later.
In the Gojo Clan's dojo, two small figures raced beneath the blazing sun.
"Satoru, hurry up! I've already lapped you thirty times!"
Gojo Satoru watched his older brother, Gojo Sawa, pull farther ahead and felt like crying.
"B-Brother, slow down... It's so hot. I feel like I'm about to burst into flames!"
"What? Satoru, you feel it too? That's right—our youth is burning bright!"
Gojo Sawa was drenched in sweat, yet his small body already held tremendous strength.
"Come on, Satoru, shout it out with me! Hard work!!! Struggle!!!"
"Hard work! Struggle!"
"Louder! I can't hear you!"
"Hard work!! Struggle!!"
"I can't hear you! If I can't hear you, then I can't hear you! With a voice that quiet, you think you can become the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer?"
"Hard work!!! Struggle!!!"
"Good! That's the spirit!"
The Gojo Clan elders watched the scene, their aged faces breaking into satisfied smiles.
Though still young, Gojo Satoru had already shown signs of a wild, unruly, and lazy personality.
Fortunately, his older brother, Gojo Sawa, had been mature and steady since childhood. As soon as he was old enough to understand, he had begun training like a demon.
And training himself wasn't enough—he dragged Gojo Satoru along, too.
They worked on everything, from the most basic physical techniques to the study of Limitless and the development of the Six Eyes.
Their relentless efforts had already led the two of them to break the Gojo Clan's training records, despite their young age.
At just six years old, they had already mastered the "absolute defense" of Limitless and learned Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue!
Gojo Sawa, in particular, could deftly use Blue to teleport over long distances.
The younger generation was truly something else!
"Good! Three hours of full-speed running, complete!"
At Gojo Sawa's shout, Gojo Satoru collapsed onto the ground behind him.
"Huff... huff... huff..."
Gojo Satoru panted heavily, looking utterly hopeless.
"Don't sit on the ground right after exercising. Get up and walk a little!"
Gojo Sawa stepped forward and reached out, pulling Gojo Satoru to his feet.
Gojo Satoru looked at his so-called big brother with a resentful gaze and asked the same question he'd already asked eight hundred times.
"Brother, do you really have to push yourself this hard?"
Of course he did!
Gojo Sawa rolled his eyes and thought to himself.
My foolish little brother, do you think your big brother wants to just lie around and slack off?
That old schemer Kenjaku is sneaking around in the shadows, while the big boss, Ryomen Sukuna, is watching us like a hawk.
Your big brother can't even sleep soundly at night!
Whenever he thought of Gojo Satoru getting cut in half in the future—and the possibility that he himself might meet the same fate—Gojo Sawa felt so anxious he could barely eat or sleep.
He felt like he was about to be depressed!
Only by rapidly increasing his strength and truly reaching the level of "the honored one in heaven and on earth" could he put his mind somewhat at ease.
Maybe this was what they called firepower insufficiency anxiety!
Looking at Gojo Satoru beside him, Gojo Sawa said sternly, "Satoru, you don't think you're invincible just because you've learned Limitless, do you?"
Gojo Satoru froze. "Isn't that right?"
"..."
Gojo Sawa looked at him as if he couldn't live up to his expectations. "At the end of the day, Limitless's absolute defense is still a Cursed Technique powered by Cursed Energy. What if something can ignore Cursed Energy or disrupt the structure of the technique?"
Gojo Sawa knew the story well, and he was aware that there were quite a few ways to counter Limitless.
First, there were special Cursed Tools, such as the Inverted Spear of Heaven and Black Rope. They could ignore Cursed Energy and nullify Cursed Techniques.
Then there were special techniques, such as Simple Domain. By forming a tiny domain around the body, the user could use its sure-hit effect to neutralize Limitless's defense.
The second method was much harder, of course, since it required the user to learn Domain Expansion first.
And shrinking a Domain Expansion until it clung to the body required an extremely high degree of Cursed Energy control.
Hearing Gojo Sawa's words, Gojo Satoru fell into thought for once.
But a moment later, he flashed a confident smile.
"It's fine. I've already learned to use Blue for short-range teleportation. Even if an enemy can break through Limitless, they won't be able to catch me!"
Seeing that Gojo Satoru was already displaying the arrogance and stubbornness of Greasy Satoru, Gojo Sawa said no more.
Some people just had to hit a wall before they'd turn back.
In that case, let Toji Fushiguro teach you a proper lesson in the future!
My foolish little brother!
Gojo Sawa shook his head. "If that's how you feel, then get some rest. I'm going to practice my physical techniques!"
The physical style he currently practiced was the Gojo Clan's True Martial Style, a family system that combined swordsmanship, boxing, palm techniques, kicks, sumo, and more.
This system had evolved over hundreds of years, refined and improved by countless predecessors, and was highly effective in actual combat.
Gojo Satoru, however, wasn't very keen on it.
Some parts of the True Martial Style training required wearing a fundoshi to practice shiko squats. It was way too embarrassing and didn't fit his image as Greasy Satoru at all!
"Oh, right, Satoru. I forgot to tell you: I passed the True Martial Style disciple examination two days ago. I've reached Kaiden!"
"Huh?"
Gojo Satoru was completely dumbfounded.
Martial arts schools generally divided their students into ranks such as Kirigami, Mokuroku, Kaiden, Menkyo Kaiden, and Shinsin Grandmaster.
Kirigami referred to beginners, who usually only practiced the basics and weren't allowed to learn the school's signature techniques. Mokuroku meant that someone had officially joined the school and could begin learning its arts.
Kaiden meant that someone had mastered the school's techniques to a high level and could announce their school's name when sparring with others.
At Menkyo Kaiden, one's skills had reached perfection. They no longer needed permission to teach the school's arts to others and could establish their own branch.
Shinsin Grandmaster meant improving upon the school's existing techniques to a level beyond that of one's predecessors. Such a person could be called a martial arts grandmaster.
At just six years old, Gojo Sawa had already reached Kaiden—a feat that took other members of the Gojo Clan more than a decade to achieve.
As for Gojo Satoru... he was still only at the Kirigami level.
"Brother, please, I'm begging you—stop overdoing it!"
Looking at his brother, Gojo Satoru burst into tears.
He felt like he'd always been living in his big brother's shadow.
Gojo Satoru rushed over and clung to Gojo Sawa's leg, gazing up at him pitifully. His expression seemed to say, If you keep pushing me, I'll just die!
The Gojo Clan elders came over to try to talk him out of it, too. "Young Master Sawa, too much of anything can be harmful. Training should be balanced with rest. Why don't you go out and enjoy yourselves today?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
Gojo Satoru's head bobbed like a bell.
Gojo Sawa sighed. "Fine, fine. We'll take it easy today!"
"Long live!"
Gojo Satoru wept with joy.
The future suddenly looked bright!
"Gensou, you're responsible for Young Master Sawa and Young Master Satoru's safety!"
The elder entrusted the task of protecting the brothers to Gensou Gojo, one of the clan's outstanding Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers.
The three of them changed into casual clothes, left the Gojo Clan estate, and headed to the bustling Akihabara.
Before you continue