Jujutsu Kaisen: Yearning to Become an Immortal God

He believed Junpei Yoshino could provide him with tremendous help. As it happened, Junpei Yoshino also wanted very much to speak with him. This was the time for mutual pursuit, so of course he would not hold back his knowledge.

Those thoughts took only an instant. The next moment, he began explaining to Junpei Yoshino:

"Before we discuss Cursed Spirits, there's something you need to know." Mahito and Junpei Yoshino walked along the sidewalk. Neither had anything else to do—in other words, they were both bored—so they had decided to wander around casually. "Everyone in this world possesses Cursed Energy, but only a tiny fraction can control it and become Jujutsu Sorcerers. Most people release their Cursed Energy into their everyday lives."

Before learning that this was the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, Mahito had not known this, since his research had not yet delved that deeply. But now that he knew this was Jujutsu Kaisen, such things—the world's "settings," so to speak—held no secrets for him. He could talk boldly and freely. Perhaps those old scholars researching Cursed Energy did not even understand its essence as well as he did.

"Cursed Spirits are collections of Cursed Energy that leak from humans. Even things that do not truly exist, as long as they possess a shared and terrifying image, can easily manifest as powerful curses," Mahito said. "For example, famous yokai or urban legends in this country."

Junpei Yoshino nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly asked, "What about you, Lord God? Were you formed from something similar to Cursed Energy?" Mahito looked at him in surprise. Although he had been explaining Cursed Spirits, he had never once told Junpei Yoshino that he himself was a Cursed Spirit.

In Junpei Yoshino's understanding, he was still a god.

Mahito asked with interest, "Why would you think that?"

"Because of all those light novel settings." Junpei Yoshino said awkwardly, "Monsters formed from fear, gods formed from faith... The real world seems similar. Cursed Spirits are formed from ordinary people's curses and take on concrete forms based on widespread images of terror. Then what about the reverse—positive energy? That should be able to create something else too. In most light novel settings, gods are formed that way."

Mahito truly did not know about that, but he knew such a thing did exist. Reverse Cursed Technique was precisely that kind of thing. To spirits formed from accumulated negative energy, Reverse Cursed Technique was practically their natural enemy. Yet for humans, it could save the dying and heal the wounded—an all-purpose medicine capable of regenerating flesh and bone.

As long as someone was not dead, they could be saved. That was Reverse Cursed Technique!

Aside from natural geniuses born capable of using Reverse Cursed Technique, this advanced form of Cursed Technique could indeed be mastered through other techniques. In other words, this form of Cursed Technique could be called a "skill."

A technical skill that was no weaker than, and perhaps even stronger than, most Innate Techniques.

This fascinated Mahito greatly. Once again, he became certain that he had to live long enough to achieve Incarnation, because only through Incarnation could he learn Reverse Cursed Technique. Reverse Cursed Technique surely hid even more secrets, and he wanted to uncover them.

"Though I would love to say that I am a god formed from humanity's beautiful wishes," Mahito said after thinking for a moment. He chose not to deceive Junpei Yoshino, but to be honest with him. "Unfortunately, I am only a special Cursed Spirit."

Junpei Yoshino was genuinely shocked. "Y-you're... you're a Cursed Spirit too? But... you said Cursed Spirits are formed by human curses. Logically speaking, Cursed Spirits born from humanity's curses must be humanity's enemies, because they are human curses. But you aren't like that. You chose to... um... help those who have fallen."

Mahito waved a hand casually. "You don't need to dress it up in pretty words. What I do is twist minds. I simply only target scum who do evil and violence, rather than randomly choosing innocent people. You should understand now why I can twist people's thoughts so easily."

"That is still incredible. You betrayed your instinct," Junpei Yoshino said. Mahito turned back to look at him. Junpei's eyes were wide, light flickering within them. He truly believed it. Even after learning that Mahito was a Cursed Spirit, even after learning that Cursed Spirits were a species absolutely harmful to humanity, he did not hold the slightest prejudice against Mahito.

He truly saw Mahito as his savior.

In the original story, Junpei Yoshino had been so easily manipulated by Mahito. Yet in the real world, this boy was still like this. Mahito truly did not know what to say.

And yet, Mahito understood him unbelievably well.

When the whole world was darkness, if a beam of light shone before someone, then no matter what that light was, the person in the darkness would surely seize it without reason or wisdom. Even if it was poison.

"I'm not finished, Junpei." Mahito looked at him. "You were right. Widely spread terrifying images like yokai and urban legends can indeed easily gather curses, and those curses are certainly powerful. Jujutsu Sorcerers call them Special Grade Imaginary Vengeful Spirits. But there are other things that have been more concrete and more terrifying than widespread yokai and urban legends since ancient times."

Junpei Yoshino froze, then suddenly thought of something. "You... do you mean Natural Disasters?"

"Earthquakes, volcanoes, forests, oceans," Mahito said in a low voice. "Compared to yokai and urban legends, these things, most of which have been granted divine status, are far more terrifying. If they became curses, then imagine how terrifying the Cursed Spirits born from them would be."

Junpei Yoshino stared blankly at Mahito, and suddenly his expression turned horrified.

He quickly lowered his head to hide his expression, his forehead trembling as he said, "You are not a Cursed Spirit formed from those Natural Disasters, are you?" Mahito asked with interest, "Why?"

"Based on what you just said, spirits formed from Natural Disasters must possess power comparable to those disasters. They are the manifested curses of Natural Disasters and should possess corresponding disaster-related abilities. But your ability is not like that. The only curse I can think of that matches you is one."

Junpei Yoshino took a deep breath and raised his head again. His forehead was no longer trembling.

Like a detective in a shonen manga identifying the culprit, he declared with certainty, "Humans. You are a curse formed from humanity's fear of humanity!"

How clever. Mahito praised him silently.

But he was not surprised. In the original story, Junpei had actually been very intelligent. When speaking with the original Mahito, he had been highly praised as a human capable of keeping up with Mahito's topics. Even Kenjaku, the thousand-year-old Curse User, had often been shocked by Mahito's startling words. And Jogo, such a proud Special Grade Cursed Spirit, had still been willing to regard Mahito as the King of Curses.

Anyone Mahito had taken a liking to was bound to possess something extraordinary. If it was not their Cursed Technique, then it was the person themselves.

And now, despite having known him for less than half an hour, Mahito completely understood why the original Mahito had regarded Junpei Yoshino so highly.

Of course, the original Mahito had also regarded Junpei Yoshino highly when he made his move against him. He had let Junpei experience what it meant for yearning to be the most distant distance from understanding.

Now Mahito instead felt fortunate that he had encountered Junpei Yoshino again, as if by fate. Having someone so stubbornly devoted... no, someone so loyal yet intelligent as a believer was truly Mahito's good fortune.

But this time, Mahito would not treat Junpei Yoshino as the original Mahito had. Junpei Yoshino deserved a better way to be used.

"Exactly. You guessed correctly. I am the fear formed from humanity's fear of humanity, so I was born with the ability to control humans." Mahito admitted it. He turned away and looked up at the sky.

He tilted his head forty-five degrees toward the sky and began spouting nonsense!

"Junpei, although I am a Cursed Spirit, my desire to become a god is completely sincere. Did you notice anything special in what I just told you?"

"That's right. Cursed Spirits are born from human curses. In other words, although my instincts constantly tell me that exterminating humanity is what I should do, in truth, if humanity were truly exterminated, the next moment would be the moment Cursed Spirits went extinct."

"As a Cursed Spirit, I should not harm people. On the contrary, I must save humanity—not for humanity itself, but for the continued existence of Cursed Spirits."

Mahito said sincerely, "I want to become a god. I want to save humanity. Those words come from the bottom of my heart."

"Just as you have experienced, humanity's cruelty toward itself far surpasses the harm Cursed Spirits inflict on humanity—"

"To say something that may make you uncomfortable, the harm Cursed Spirits do to humans is merely killing them. But how terrifying humanity's persecution of humanity can be, you must understand deeply."

Those words were indeed sincere, but they were sophistry.

Ultimately, no matter how humans persecuted one another, that was an internal human problem. It was like saying that no matter how difficult people's lives were within a country, it was still that country's own problem. Then suddenly suggesting that foreign powers enter the country to carry out political reform—what kind of proposal was that?

Any experienced political creature could easily see through this argument, but Junpei Yoshino, a second-year high school student, obviously could not. It was not that he was not clear-headed or intelligent; he simply lacked that experience. School had not taught him that.

Ultimately, this country's political environment had ensured that its people felt no resistance toward foreign forces moving in. After all, the country was now a semi-colony of the United States.

Considering this country's political environment, Junpei Yoshino had no psychological resistance at all to Mahito's words. That was the real reason Mahito had calmly confessed that he was a Cursed Spirit. Junpei Yoshino simply could not resist Mahito's words; his country's political environment determined his attitude toward Mahito.

Therefore, Mahito spoke without restraint. He shouted loudly:

"Therefore, I will become a god."

"So that humanity will no longer harm humanity. Therefore, I will become a god."

"So that Cursed Spirits may continue to exist."

"Therefore, I will become a god—an absolute supreme god, because only an absolute supreme god has the power to judge the entire world!"

"I will create a society where everyone can survive. I will create a paradise where Cursed Spirits can endure forever. I will become the shared god of humanity and Cursed Spirits, using my power to make humans and Cursed Spirits eternally coexist through mutual dependence—"

"In the end, I will make this planet... my divine kingdom!"

Mahito suddenly turned around and stared directly into Junpei Yoshino's eyes. He had always been a master of souls, and he had been researching an ability to fire Thought Seals from his eyes. Naturally, he had not succeeded, but he had already unlocked some of the prerequisite technology for Thought Seals.

Mahito could now convey intense emotions through his eyes. Even ordinary people could easily ignore it once they calmed down, but... calming down in a fanatical state was never something ordinary people could do.

Why were so many people willing to lose everything after joining a cult? Was it because they lacked intelligence? No. It was because once people became feverishly fanatical, they stopped caring about anything. Even selling their children, even dying for it, would not make them hesitate.

Mahito was now using the prerequisite technology of his Thought Seal. He amplified Junpei Yoshino's fervent emotions through his eyes... right? No, he did not.

The light in Junpei Yoshino's eyes told Mahito that he had already fallen into fanaticism. This guy had brainwashed himself!

Mahito knew that opportunity could not be missed, so he spoke decisively. "Junpei, are you willing to help me?"

Without even thinking, Junpei Yoshino roared in the middle of the street, seemingly using every ounce of strength he had. He shouted:

"Junpei Yoshino is willing to die for you!" Splendid, absolutely splendid! Excellent, he had him under control! Mahito nodded in satisfaction. Wait, did someone else's roar just sound the same as Junpei Yoshino's?

Mahito abruptly looked toward the street. On the other side stood a pair who seemed to have been observing him. No, more accurately, one was a Cursed Spirit and the other a Curse User.

The one whose roar had overlapped with Junpei Yoshino's was the Cursed Spirit.

"Roar, indeed." The other Curse User slowly settled his shocked expression and revealed an unpleasant, wicked grin. "I thought we would welcome a companion. I never expected... we would welcome a future god."

Jogo, the Cursed Spirit of the earth, and Kenjaku, the thousand-year-old Curse User, had appeared before Mahito without warning... Damn it, the final bosses had squatted outside the beginner village!

Idle Transfiguration!

Mahito's mouth felt dry and bitter. After learning Junpei Yoshino's name, he had known for certain that he would be watched. But he had not realized he had been watched so early. It seemed that if Jogo had not suddenly spoken, he would not even have noticed Jogo and Kenjaku following him.

But there was a problem here: why had Jogo appeared together with Kenjaku?

In the original plot, Kenjaku had proactively approached the Cursed Spirit Group. Before Kenjaku met with them, Mahito had already been the leader of the Cursed Spirit Group. When Kenjaku and the Cursed Spirits first appeared, Mahito himself had not shown up, but the conversation between Jogo and Kenjaku had revealed snippets about the Cursed Spirit Group's leader. Only after Jogo fought Satoru Gojo did Mahito formally appear.

But now it was completely different. Mahito had not yet met Jogo when Kenjaku brought Jogo to find him. This development was entirely beyond Mahito's expectations.

"I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Jogo, the manifestation of the earth's curse." Jogo stood before a fountain in the park, looking at the spraying water. Beside him stood Kenjaku, who maintained his smile throughout. Jogo introduced him as well. "And the Curse User beside me is Suguru Geto. He was the one who found me, then brought me to you."

Junpei Yoshino stood behind Mahito. Hearing that, he could not help murmuring, "The earth's... curse." Jogo glanced at Junpei Yoshino and suddenly asked, "Human, what is your name?"

"Ah, ah, yes, I'm Junpei Yoshino," Junpei Yoshino replied timidly. "You're a human, yet you wish to die for a Cursed Spirit?" Jogo asked.

Junpei Yoshino took a deep breath, trying to make his voice sound calm. "I only want a better tomorrow, and I believe that if no change occurs, that better tomorrow will never arrive. You can consider me a traitor to humanity, but I do not believe I have betrayed humanity. On the contrary, humanity is fundamentally evil. Such evil cannot be overcome by humanity itself. We humans need a god. We need an absolute supreme god to govern us, more so than humanity governing itself."

Junpei Yoshino stumbled a little at the start, but the more he spoke, the more impassioned his voice became. By the end, he was nearly roaring. The light of faith shone in his eyes. He truly regarded Mahito as a god, and himself as Mahito's believer. He was not merely blindly fanatical.

Rather, after deep consideration, he had decided that humanity could not save itself. That was why he fanatically worshipped Mahito, who wished to become a god.

To some extent, he would respect Mahito even more than Jogo did. It was a chilling kind of faith.

Jogo nodded thoughtfully and looked back at Kenjaku. "Is this also how you arranged your spy among the Jujutsu Sorcerers? Because that spy, too, despaired of modern humanity and thus wanted to bring about some unknown kind of change?"

Kenjaku gently shook his head. "No, I have another plan. Well, it was not fully developed before, but with Mahito's power, it will be foolproof."

Mahito remembered that Kenjaku's spy in the original story was Kokichi Muta, the Kyoto Jujutsu High student known as Ultimate Mechamaru. Due to his inborn Heavenly Restriction, his body was extremely frail and he could not move about in the outside world. Normally, he could only interact and fight through remotely operated mechanical bodies.

He desperately wished for a body capable of moving freely, so he made a Binding Vow with Kenjaku. He would act as a spy, while Kenjaku would heal the body afflicted by his Heavenly Restriction.

Just as Kenjaku had said, this had nothing to do with ideals or faith. It had merely been a transaction. Thus, after Kokichi Muta's body was healed, he immediately turned against them.

Mahito looked at Kenjaku without showing anything. "A Curse User taking the initiative to seek cooperation with Cursed Spirits is truly rare. You call yourself Suguru Geto?"

Kenjaku nodded lightly with a smile. "Because we share common interests. I want to restore the prosperity of Jujutsu Sorcerers from a thousand years ago, while Jogo wants to reverse the relationship between humans and Cursed Spirits. Both Jogo and I are dissatisfied with modern Jujutsu Sorcerers, which is why we cooperate."

Mahito calmly interrupted his nonsense. "You're lying." Kenjaku froze.

Mahito looked at him and repeated himself. "You lied."

Mahito was not bluffing. He had truly seen through Kenjaku's lie.

In the original story, Mahito could judge whether someone was lying through the fluctuations of their soul. The current Mahito could do so even more easily. It was not that he had surpassed the original Mahito; it was simply that compared to the original Mahito, he was better at controlling minds and better at detecting the fluctuations in a human soul when they lied.

Jogo looked at Kenjaku suspiciously. "What is going on, Suguru Geto?"

Kenjaku's expression remained unchanged. "I did not lie. I simply did not tell the whole truth. Like you, I find modern Jujutsu Society unpleasant to look at. I want to overthrow modern Jujutsu Society. Jogo, you feel the same, don't you? And Mahito. You want to become a god. Modern Jujutsu Society will certainly be your greatest obstacle."

What a skillful turn of phrase. Not a single lie, yet he had cleverly concealed his own agenda. Mahito narrowed his eyes and nodded. "That much is true."

Kenjaku pretended to wipe sweat away. In reality, there was not a drop of cold sweat on his forehead, and even his smiling face had not changed. "My, my. I never expected a Cursed Spirit capable of detecting human lies. That is an extraordinary ability. It seems I must be honest with you now."

Jogo snorted coldly. "You should have done that from the beginning."

Mahito curled his lips. "That is also a lie. You are thinking about how to use us while minimizing what you reveal, not how to be honest with us."

Jogo immediately glared at Kenjaku. Kenjaku raised both hands in surrender. "You can see even that?" "Mm, who knows?" Mahito said with a smile.

That was a lie. Mahito had not detected any soul fluctuation just then, because Kenjaku had sincerely meant what he said. An inexperienced person might have believed him, but Mahito, who understood the artistry of human language, was certain Kenjaku had a contingency plan.

After all, Kenjaku's objective fundamentally conflicted with the Cursed Spirit Group's desire to reverse the statuses of humans and Cursed Spirits. They could not possibly cooperate from beginning to end. No matter what Kenjaku said now, he would inevitably betray the Cursed Spirit Group in the end. That was beyond doubt.

Since that was the case, Mahito had to suppress his standing whenever possible. Only then would he not be sold off so easily.

Waves of heat radiated from Jogo. "Suguru Geto, what exactly is your purpose?" Kenjaku said seriously, "To overthrow the present Jujutsu Society."

Jogo looked at Mahito. Mahito sighed. "That is true, but I doubt that is his ultimate purpose."

"No matter what my ultimate purpose may be, our interests align in overthrowing modern Jujutsu Society. I can make a Binding Vow with you. Until modern Jujutsu Society is overthrown, I will be your most steadfast ally. Neither side may betray the other by any direct or indirect means. How about it?" Kenjaku said solemnly.

That was true. And if he made the Binding Vow, he would certainly obey it. In this world, Binding Vows were extremely serious matters. Even Ryomen Sukuna had to honor them. Over the past thousand years, Kenjaku had frequently made Binding Vows with others, and he had fulfilled every agreement.

Anyone in Jujutsu Society understood that principle, so Jogo no longer pressed him. He snorted coldly. "A Curse User with nothing but lies in his mouth."

Kenjaku looked utterly innocent as he lowered his raised hands. He already knew that once he had proposed a Binding Vow, they could not fight no matter what. At least, they could not fight until modern Jujutsu Society had been overturned.

Mahito looked between them and suddenly asked, "Jogo, have you already fought Suguru Geto?" Jogo was surprised. "How did you know? Yes, this guy does have some skill."

Mahito thought, Obviously. If you had not fought him, then as a Cursed Spirit, you would never tolerate a human wandering around in front of you.

When Jogo had first arrived in Tokyo, he had been arrogant enough to challenge Satoru Gojo head-on and confident enough to kill him. That showed that he had little understanding of modern Jujutsu Society and was certainly still in his overconfident phase. If a human had approached him at this point without some strength, Jogo would have already burned them to ashes.

"Please calm down a little, Jogo. Look, the Cursed Energy you are releasing unintentionally is making Yoshino sweat endlessly," Kenjaku said. He looked up at Junpei Yoshino and gave him a smile so terrifying that Junpei shuddered all over.

Jogo frowned, glanced at Junpei Yoshino, who was still sweating, and gradually calmed his emotions. The heat waves indeed began to fade, and Junpei Yoshino sighed in relief.

Kenjaku stroked his chin. "This will not do. Simply being able to see Cursed Spirits would at most allow him to perform logistical work for Jujutsu Society. He could not climb to the upper ranks. If that is all he can do, his usefulness to us will be limited. Mahito, what do you plan to do?"

Mahito said calmly, "Don't worry. I can make him valued."

Kenjaku nodded thoughtfully. Although he had kept smiling and remained outwardly composed, Mahito possessed eyes capable of seeing souls. He could tell that Kenjaku was very pleased at this moment.

This guy is probing my abilities, Mahito thought.

To be honest, Mahito was instead relieved by Kenjaku's probing. It meant Kenjaku knew the general characteristics of Mahito's ability, but did not know exactly what extent it could reach. He needed to understand Mahito better before confirming that Mahito was the key he wanted.

As the key, Mahito naturally hated that. But looking at it from the other side, as long as this key called Mahito grew beyond Kenjaku's expectations—far beyond the limits of what Kenjaku could control—then in order to achieve his ultimate goal, Kenjaku would instead become Mahito's support.

Their positions would immediately reverse.