Jujutsu Kaisen: Yearning to Become an Immortal God

He had a pair of beautiful heterochromatic eyes, purple on the left and green on the right. His long black hair was combed into neat bangs and horn-like side locks, with only the hair at the back hanging loose. Perhaps due to his Cursed Technique, there were four prominent cross-shaped piercings beneath his lips.

Though he was such a beautiful person, unfortunately, he was a man—officially certified as such. Mahito suddenly smiled. "You want to become a woman. Completely and perfectly." "Can you do that?" Expectant starlight gleamed in Kirara Hoshi's heterochromatic eyes.

He got up and moved closer to Mahito, brushing against Jogo and Hanami. Jogo shot him a disgusted glare, and he immediately moved away carefully. "Easily," Mahito said.

Kirara Hoshi was so delighted he could barely stop himself from jumping.

Kinji Hakari said flatly, "Kirara hopes to become a complete woman, without any flaws. The first time she heard about you was through a warning from Mr. Gojo. Among Jujutsu High's incoming students, someone had been perfectly sex-changed by you. Ms. Ieiri personally confirmed that your transformation was so perfect it would put every modern medical expert to shame."

He used a feminine form of address for Kirara Hoshi. Mahito noticed that.

Although officially certified as male, Kirara Hoshi had obvious feminine traits in the original work. Rumors online claimed that Kirara Hoshi had already undergone sex reassignment surgery. Now, it seemed those rumors held some credibility.

Mahito asked curiously, "You knew I was coming?"

"The news of a Cursed Spirit cooperating with Curse Users was the first news of your appearance. You were recognized by Jujutsu Society as the first intelligent Cursed Spirit. Before you, there had never been a precedent for intelligent Cursed Spirits in the entire history of Jujutsu Society. Your appearance shook the whole Jujutsu Society, so information about you naturally became a top priority. I was informed because Mr. Gojo knew I could receive firsthand news from the Curse User community."

Kinji Hakari sat up from the sofa with interest. Looking at Mahito, he continued:

"Since I knew you wanted to cooperate with Curse Users, I understood that you would definitely come here sooner or later. This is one of the few places where Curse Users can gather openly. If you wanted to find Curse Users, there was no better place than this. From then on, Kirara had been looking forward to your arrival... I just didn't expect you to come so soon."

"Soon?" Mahito asked.

"You would only dare appear here once you had the power to challenge Mr. Gojo. That isn't just my judgment. It's Mr. Gojo's as well."

Kinji Hakari found something strange about that. He asked curiously:

"I watched your fight with Jiro Awasaka. It was impressive, and your learning ability is exceptional—but right now, you are nowhere near a match for Mr. Gojo. What gave you the nerve to appear before me? Do you not know I'm a suspended third-year student at Jujutsu High? Or do you think being suspended means I no longer have ties to Jujutsu High?"

Mahito laughed.

"Let me get straight to the point," he said. Kinji Hakari extended one hand. "Please."

"Kinji Hakari." Mahito placed both hands on the table as though resting them on an emperor's desk. "The current Jujutsu Society must be quite an eyesore to you, isn't it? Would you be willing to join me... and completely smash this dull, rotten shell of a Jujutsu Society?" Author's Note

Ancient Leaf's Author's Note:

Sorry, my sleep schedule was completely reversed yesterday, and I got my timing mixed up. I thought I had already updated. In fact, I only just woke up and was told that I forgot to update yesterday.

I'll make up for it with two updates today! I'm truly sorry.

Should We Give It a Try?

In the original work, only four Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers appeared openly. Jujutsu Society recognized that Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers were far stronger than Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers, but just how large was that gap?

Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers actually had a clear classification, spoken by Kenjaku himself in the original work.

Every Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer possessed the power to conquer a country alone—and that country included the United States.

A Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer only needed to guarantee they could defeat a Special Grade Cursed Spirit. In the literal sense, they were worlds apart.

The four Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers who appeared openly in the original work were:

Yuta Okkotsu: He possessed Cursed Energy at the strongest level in all of Jujutsu Society, with even more power than Satoru Gojo. His Innate Technique was Copy. As long as he fulfilled the conditions, he could use any Innate Technique. He was described as possessing endless Cursed Energy and unconditional Copy.

Suguru Geto: His Innate Technique was Cursed Spirit Manipulation, allowing him to control any Cursed Spirit without limit, including but not limited to Special Grade Cursed Spirits or entities akin to Cursed Spirits. There was no limit to the number of Cursed Spirits he could control. One man was an army. Kenjaku, using Suguru Geto's body, claimed he could conquer the United States and did not even care about nuclear weapons.

Yuki Tsukumo: Her Innate Technique, "Star Rage," could grant herself Virtual Mass. She could freely raise her own density, making the force of her punches equivalent to a falling meteor, while she herself could move without regard for that mass. She was the ultimate stat monster. Before dying, she lifted her restrictions and created a black hole in hopes of perishing together with Kenjaku. If not for Tengen's barrier and her own will, that black hole could have compressed Earth into a two-centimeter glass sphere.

Finally, there was Satoru Gojo:

A sorcerer who had awakened both the Six Eyes and the Limitless Cursed Technique—nothing more needed to be said. He was simply the strongest of the modern age. You called them humans?

Could such monsters be considered human?

Mahito did not think his current self could fight any of those four. Forget his current self—even Mahito at his peak in the original work would only be instantly killed if he faced any of the four Special Grade powerhouses.

Kinji Hakari's judgment was correct. Under normal circumstances, Mahito should have waited until he had developed enough to contend with Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers before coming out to stir up trouble. Showing himself while he was still in the digital egg stage was simply reckless, practically waiting for a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer to come wipe him out—in accordance with general theory.

The original Jujutsu Kaisen ran for nearly three hundred chapters. It seemed long, but if one carefully examined the transmigration timeline, one would be shocked to find that the story only spanned half a year.

Half. A. Year.

The manga gave the story's starting date as June 2018, and it also made the ending date perfectly clear—

December 24, 2018.

Whenever Mahito thought of that time span, he felt like ants were crawling all over him. How could he not work hard to improve himself? How could he dare stop moving forward? Forget stopping—he was afraid he was not leveling up fast enough and would not even qualify as cannon fodder half a year later!

Mahito's research had now hit a bottleneck, and he had no time to accumulate techniques. He needed to grow at the fastest possible speed.

Since normal accumulation and growth could not keep up with his pace, he would use crooked methods. Special Grade templates!

Grade 1s no longer had any value to him. He had thoroughly researched the four great disasters, including himself. Now, he was desperately longing for Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers—

Kinji Hakari was his target.

Just as the Four Heavenly Kings always had a fifth member, if there were four Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers out in the open, there had to be another one in secret.

Kinji Hakari was that extra one: an uncrowned Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer. Just how strong was he? Two Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers had evaluated him:

Satoru Gojo: "Kinji and Yuta are sorcerers who will one day stand beside me." Yuta Okkotsu: "If Hakari-senpai is in good condition, he can beat me."

What did you think he relied on to manage this underground Boxing Arena? This was not some legitimate business. Curse Users came here constantly, including many like Jiro Awasaka, Curse Users capable of rivaling—or even faintly surpassing—Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers.

Management skills alone?

No. He relied on his fists!

Mahito wanted him too badly. Compared to Jogo, Hanami, and Dagon, Kinji Hakari was far more capable. Intelligent Special Grade Cursed Spirits were loyal and had no ulterior motives, but their minds were too rigid. They could serve as generals charging into battle, but not as marshals.

If he wanted to develop, he could not lack marshals. Kinji Hakari, this uncrowned Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer, was the marshal Mahito had chosen.

As for Kenjaku? He would kill him sooner or later. Most importantly—

He was the only Special Grade Mahito currently had confidence in defeating!

It was not because Hakari was weak. Quite the opposite: his Cursed Technique combined with Domain Expansion made him practically invincible. Even Mahito at his peak in the original work would have been beaten to death by him.

But the current Mahito was not the Mahito of the original work—he was confident that he could easily handle Kinji Hakari. This was attribute suppression! That was why he was sitting here.

The advantage in raw power gave him the ambition to recruit the man. Mahito was brimming with confidence and determined to obtain Kinji Hakari!

Kinji Hakari slammed his fist onto the table. "Are you looking down on me, Cursed Spirit?" As expected.

Jogo could no longer hold back. He stood behind Mahito as a guard, then suddenly stepped forward.

"Watch your tone, old human!" Jogo shouted arrogantly. "Before you stands a candidate for godhood, one capable of allowing both humans and spirits to evolve! If you don't want to be abandoned by the new world, you'd better—"

Mahito raised a hand. Jogo swallowed the rest of his words. His expression twisted with struggle, but in the end, he shut his mouth.

Kinji Hakari did not spare Jogo even a glance. He merely glared fiercely at Mahito, his voice like a tiger's roar while hunting:

"I do dislike the current Jujutsu Society, but I have not fallen so low as to oppose my teacher. Do you think I am a Curse User simply because many Curse Users come here? Don't underestimate me! I was suspended from Jujutsu High, opened an underground Boxing Arena, sheltered Curse Users who came here to make money, ignored Jujutsu Society's rules by openly telling my guests that Jujutsu Sorcerers exist, and was even put on a wanted list."

He enunciated each word. "But I am still a legitimate Jujutsu Sorcerer of Jujutsu Society. A Cursed Spirit wants to discuss cooperating with me to overthrow Jujutsu Society? How absurd!"

He called it absurd, but there was no smile on his face. His gaze remained fixed on Mahito, Cursed Energy boiling around him as though he might leap up and kill at any moment.

That was right. Although Kinji Hakari had indeed been wanted and had done so many things that violated Jujutsu Society's prohibitions, he truly was not a Curse User. His warrant merely ordered that he be brought back and confined. He believed he had done nothing wrong, so he refused to comply—the so-called wanted order was really just that. It was not the same as a traditional Curse User warrant.

He really was a legitimate Jujutsu Sorcerer!

Mahito had already prepared to start fighting within five seconds of meeting him, because those words had indeed carried a lofty condescension, especially toward someone like Kinji Hakari, who dared defy Jujutsu Society's traditionalists. But he had not expected Kinji Hakari to endure it without attacking.

His first thought was that Kinji Hakari had taken Kirara Hoshi's wish into account and endured it for his companion's sake. But he quickly sensed the fluctuations of Kinji Hakari's soul—Hakari was putting on the appearance of being ready to erupt at any moment, but he did not want to fight at all.

This was not restraint. It was a scheme. He was bluffing.

This was the first time Mahito had encountered true verbal blades. Before this, even Kenjaku, that old fox, had never done this... Right, Mahito suddenly understood. Kinji Hakari had no idea Mahito possessed eyes that could see through souls, so he was probing Mahito in his own way, trying to obtain more information.

Should I play with him? Mahito thought.

Clink, clink, clink. As though he had not noticed the tense atmosphere, Kirara Hoshi casually poured drinks. He took out two glasses and placed them before Kinji Hakari and Mahito, then raised the bottle and poured with practiced ease.

As though nothing was happening, he asked, "Then, if I ask you to use your Cursed Technique on me, what would you need?" After thinking for a moment, he added:

"Oh, right. If you say you want me to whisper in Akkin's ear and change his mind, I'll refuse. I'm looking forward to your Cursed Technique, but Akkin matters more to me than my wish. Every decision Akkin makes, I support unconditionally."

Mahito glanced at Kirara Hoshi and smiled. He said to Kinji Hakari, "You have a good woman." Kirara Hoshi looked smug.

Kinji Hakari frowned. Did the bluff not work? Or does this Lord of Shell Spirits really have confidence he can defeat me? Or does he simply not understand my abilities? But that doesn't make sense. I rarely step into the ring, and every time I do, I'm confident I leave the opponent traumatized. Yet those Curse Users craving evolution would never keep my abilities secret.

Mahito interlaced his fingers and rested his arms on the table, using the backs of his hands to support his chin.

"Kinji Hakari. Unknown Cursed Technique, suspected to be related to luck or gambling. Compared to your never-publicized Cursed Technique, your Domain Expansion is more widely known. Domain Expansion: Idle Death Gamble. It is based on Pachinko, a legal gambling game. As long as you gather three matching symbols, you win the Jackpot, and winning the Jackpot grants some kind of additional reward."

Kinji Hakari stayed calm and did not make a sound. Mahito continued with interest:

"The rules themselves are simple, but the reward is not. Since it is a gambling game based on Pachinko, its odds should be the same as Pachinko's. Yet you can use your unknown Cursed Technique to alter those odds, allowing yourself to obtain the additional reward one hundred percent of the time. Your Jackpot is—"

Mahito paused, then said each word distinctly, "Infinite Cursed Energy."

Jogo and Hanami, standing behind Mahito, both let out quiet cries. Mahito was not finished:

"For four minutes and eleven seconds from the moment you hit the Jackpot, you gain infinite Cursed Energy. At the same time, if you are injured during that period, you automatically activate Reverse Cursed Technique to repair your body. In other words, for the four minutes and eleven seconds after hitting the Jackpot, you are invincible. When the four minutes and eleven seconds end, your Domain stops expanding. But because you had infinite Cursed Energy during that time, you retain enough power after the Domain Expansion ends to expand your Domain again.

"A nested Domain Expansion. It is something even Satoru Gojo and Ryomen Sukuna cannot achieve! Yet Kinji Hakari can."

Jogo and Hanami were completely speechless. Jogo even felt a lingering chill of fear.

No wonder this man had not spared him a single glance from beginning to end. Jogo had thought it was arrogance, but it was not arrogance—it was confidence. He was confident that a Special Grade Shell Spirit like Jogo was no different to him than a stone at the roadside or an ant by the lake.

They were truly on different levels.

Wasn't that, in the literal sense... invincibility? How was one supposed to fight an enemy like that?

Kinji Hakari leaned back on the sofa again, a smile curling onto his lips.

"It seems you know my Cursed Technique very well, so I won't need to waste words explaining it. King of Curses, you are still in my Boxing Arena. I will abide by the rules I set. You have not affected me or my Boxing Arena, so I will ensure that you are not harmed here."

He folded his arms across his chest and spoke calmly.

"But I will not ignore your offense because of that—I'll give you one chance. Use your ability to fulfill Kirara's wish, and I will spare your life and let you leave this place."

Jogo wanted to angrily question his arrogance again, but this time, Hanami quickly grabbed him before Mahito needed to stop him.

Before this, Jogo and Hanami had not actually investigated the owner of this Boxing Arena. In fact, they had never believed an individual human could threaten them, so they had followed Mahito here without knowing anything.

Just as they had known nothing when Kenjaku tricked them into going after Satoru Gojo. If Mahito had not appeared out of nowhere, they would still have been foolishly following Kenjaku. Now that they had Mahito, there was even less reason for them to concern themselves with such trivial matters.

And now, that "trivial matter" had become something potentially fatal. They could only leave the decision to Mahito.

Mahito suddenly asked, "Should we give it a try?" Kinji Hakari froze.

Mahito slowly extended a hand, palm facing upward, and placed it on the table.

He said, "Try it. See whether my ability works on you." Mahito looked up, his gold-and-blue heterochromatic eyes seeming able to illuminate the human heart.

Idle Transfiguration: Heterochromatic Eye Projection: Emotion Ignition! Kinji Hakari's heart pounded fiercely!

His eyebrows rose like two blades stabbing into the heart. He stared straight into Mahito's eyes, both hands itching to move. His heart stirred, but not because of Mahito's "evolution" ability. In truth, he did not believe in evolution at all. A sorcerer who had reached his current level possessed limitless confidence in their own potential. Even if evolution truly existed, Kinji Hakari was confident he could reach it through his own efforts without Mahito.

What stirred him was learning the true nature of the King of Curses' ability. This was a good opportunity.

But that unnaturally powerful confidence did not make his head spin. Before Mahito came here, he already knew Jiro Awasaka's fate. He knew Jiro Awasaka was still lying in the infirmary. His external and internal injuries were clearly not serious, yet he would not wake up. That had to be Mahito's Cursed Technique.

He did not want to blindly touch such a strange technique.

"What's wrong? Are you worried my Cursed Technique will affect you?" A faint glow appeared in Mahito's heterochromatic eyes, like starlight in the night sky. The corner of his lips lifted slightly as he said calmly, "Then I'll take another step back... I'll allow you to use Domain Expansion. If you can touch me even once, I'll agree to your request."

Silence.

Jogo and Hanami both broke into a cold sweat.

Kirara Hoshi handed Kinji Hakari a glass. He took a deep breath, accepted it, and drained it in one gulp.

This is provocation. I can't fall for it. I need to stay calm. Calm, calm, cal—fuck it!

"I'll rip out your tongue, King of Curses!"

He formed a hand sign and roared in fury, "As you wish, this is the Domain Expansion you've been waiting for—Idle Death Gamble!!"

War on Two Fronts

A train suddenly appeared before everyone. The people who should have been in the cramped surveillance room had somehow been swallowed into an unknown space. "Domain Expansion: Idle Death Gamble!" This was a train station. An illusory man stood anxiously at the entrance, peering into the station.

Under the sure-hit effect, the rules of Kinji Hakari's Domain and Cursed Technique were directly revealed in Mahito's mind—Private Pure Love Train.

The signboard would randomly display seven types of characters: Female Lead No. 1 through No. 3, Male No. 4, Female No. 5 and Female No. 6, and finally the protagonist, No. 7.

Once the animation demonstration began, it would randomly select from No. 1 to No. 7. If two selections showed the same character, it was called "Riichi." Its rules were exactly the same as Japan's national game, Pachinko.

Mahito glanced at the signboard. Female Lead No. 1, Female Lead No. 1.