Jujutsu Kaisen: Yearning to Become an Immortal God

Ever since his transmigration, Mahito had been researching the Thought Seal. Now, he could finally put it to use. While Kinji Hakari had been unconscious, Mahito had already planted a Thought Seal within him.

Although Kinji Hakari had not noticed it yet, his way of thinking had already begun to lean toward Mahito's major criminal organization. For instance, he might have believed he came here after leaving his own territory to monitor Mahito, but judging from his actions—

The moment he had settled the miscellaneous affairs in his territory, he came here to report to Mahito. That was plainly the behavior of a fiercely loyal subordinate.

His thinking had already begun to change, yet Kinji Hakari himself had gained nothing from it. That was the Thought Seal.

Although Kenjaku did not know why Mahito trusted Kinji Hakari so much, since Mahito had already spoken, he went along with it and repeated their previous conversation.

Kinji Hakari listened carefully, his brows tightly furrowed.

"So, your current Vessel is limiting your potential? You need a body completely compatible with your soul, but you don't want to use Kenjaku's method and eat your own 'brother'?" he asked.

Mahito nodded.

Kinji Hakari turned to Kenjaku. "Compared to a Cursed Spirit, I think you're more like a curse than Mahito! You can casually come up with methods like eating your own 'brother.' It's hard to imagine just how evil you are. Are you really Suguru Geto?"

Kenjaku smiled without saying anything.

"Oh, you didn't know about this yet." Mahito said casually, "He isn't Suguru Geto. He's merely a sorcerer using Suguru Geto's corpse. He calls himself Kenjaku, a cursed sorcerer who has lived for a thousand years."

Kenjaku covered his eyes. "Is this really okay? My information is important if we want to deal with Satoru Gojo. You're just telling Hakari?"

"Oh, because Hakari is worthy of that much trust." Mahito said with a smile. Kinji Hakari's heart stirred slightly, and he felt inexplicably moved.

Though Mahito was a Cursed Spirit, he truly possessed considerable personal charisma in the way he conducted himself. Even humans probably would not trust someone as full of obvious flaws as Kinji Hakari so easily, yet Mahito, a Cursed Spirit, could hold nothing back. That only proved Mahito's magnanimity.

If Mahito became the god who ascended the divine throne and ruled the world, perhaps that would not be so bad? A thought flashed through his subconscious. Kinji Hakari scoffed. "Don't worry. I won't tell Mr. Gojo. No matter what happens, I believe Mr. Gojo—

—can handle it. Back to the subject at hand. Mahito, you need a perfect Vessel, right?"

"Do you have any good ideas?" Kenjaku said indifferently. He did not believe that if even he had no solution, this guy would have one. Kinji Hakari indeed did not, because from the perspective of jujutsu, Kenjaku's method was the orthodox answer.

The knowledge of a cursed sorcerer who had lived for a thousand years far surpassed Kinji Hakari's.

There was only one difference.

That was—his understanding of the modern age.

Kinji Hakari asked, "Have either of you heard of cloning?"

The words were like a thunderclap that woke them from a dream!

Kenjaku did not care much. "I'm not some old fossil stuck in tradition. I am quite willing to accept new information, so I understand what cloning is.

"But Vessels and cloning are two different things. Cloning requires the target's DNA, but where would a Cursed Object or Cursed Spirit that needed Incarnation get DNA? Not to mention that medical development has not yet fully achieved cloning living beings. Even if it had, it might not be as perfect as the Vessel I carefully sculpted."

Kinji Hakari put on his beach sunglasses. "Is that so? Looks like I was mistaken. Mahito, what do you plan to do?" "This is the best method." Kenjaku said with a smile.

Mahito looked at Kenjaku. This cursed sorcerer who had lived for a thousand years seemed to be looking forward to him doing it.

This was probably not because of some special jujutsu significance. It was simply this sorcerer's twisted hobby, much like how he eagerly anticipated creating Great Cursed Spirits and making all humanity evolve alongside Tengen into a higher form of life. He did not care about the consequences afterward. He merely wanted to see what would happen.

"I won't do that," Mahito said. "Why?" Kenjaku asked.

"Too time-consuming," Mahito said.

"Time-consuming?" Kinji Hakari lifted his sunglasses slightly. "You're still in your growth period. Spending time to create a body completely compatible with yourself should not be a problem, right? You sound as though some enormous crisis is driving you forward, forcing you to grow as quickly as possible."

"As expected of Hakari. Sharp as ever," Mahito praised.

Kenjaku was disappointed, but did not continue persuading him. "Mahito's judgment is correct. Preparing a perfectly compatible body according to my plan would take at least ten years. There truly is no time. Mahito, do you have another idea?"

Kinji Hakari fell into thought but did not press further. He judged that he had already learned a huge secret. Although Mahito trusted him, this thousand-year-old fox might be laying a trap for him. There was still time, anyway. The remaining secrets would eventually be revealed to him.

"I'll make a body myself," Mahito decided.

Kenjaku was not surprised. He merely said, "Indeed, your current body is not compatible with you. It cannot compare to reincarnation, but if you make a body yourself, it will still suit you better than the body you are currently using. But you should understand that this is not the best choice. It is a choice born of necessity."

Because Mahito was a Cursed Spirit, no matter how he altered a human body, it could not adapt to a Cursed Spirit's soul. Mahito already understood that principle.

"No, there is a way," Mahito said with certainty. Kenjaku looked at him with interest. "Please, explain."

After thinking for a moment, Mahito asked, "Have you heard of Human Transmutation?" Kenjaku and Kinji Hakari both froze.

What Mahito intended to use was the black box of Construction.

Among all techniques, Construction was one of the most unique. It was one of the few techniques capable of ignoring all conditions and creating anything its user imagined. Once created, the object could exist permanently and would not vanish as Cursed Energy faded.

In the original work, its representative users were Mai Zenin and the ancient sorcerer Yorozu.

Mai Zenin could be set aside for now. She had used her own life to recreate Cursed Tools, which could barely still be considered reasonable. But the ancient sorcerer Yorozu was different. Inspired by insects like butterflies and bees manipulating the energy within their bodies, she created the heavy biological armor known as Insect Armor. Its absurdity far surpassed Mai Zenin's.

At least Mai Zenin had seen the process before. The ancient sorcerer Yorozu needed nothing but her own "delusions."

That was Construction. You could not refuse to accept it. Of course, mere wishful thinking was not enough.

Because Kenjaku had taught him without reservation, Mahito also understood Construction quite well. There was a reason he had never considered using Construction to create his own body before Kinji Hakari brought up the concept of cloning.

No matter how outrageous Construction was, it could not escape one crucial element—imagination.

Construction could not create something the user could not imagine.

The ancient sorcerer Yorozu's ultimate creation was a sphere called the Perfect Sphere. It possessed infinite pressure and could crush everything it touched along its path. This sphere was a concept Yorozu had learned during her education. She completed that concept, thereby constructing the sphere.

This perfectly illustrated the characteristics of Construction.

It was not enough to casually imagine something and construct whatever you wanted. You had to possess the most basic understanding of what you wished to construct before you could draw out the elements you needed from that understanding. Only then could you begin creating it.

If you could not imagine such a thing, you could not construct it.

For example, an indestructible sword. If you could imagine that sword cutting through steel, cutting through mountains, even splitting a planet in two with a single strike, then you could truly use Construction to create that sword.

But could you imagine that sword cutting away the concept of lifespan and granting people immortality? If you could not, then the sword could not do that, and you could not create it.

Likewise, Kenjaku had previously concluded that a human body could never adapt to a Cursed Spirit's soul. No matter how Mahito modified a human body, he could not create a Vessel perfectly compatible with his own soul. Therefore, Construction could never create Mahito's perfectly compatible Vessel.

That was why Mahito had never considered using Construction to make his own Vessel. He could not imagine it.

But after Kinji Hakari mentioned "cloning," Mahito's perspective suddenly broadened.

Of course, not cloning. Kenjaku had already clearly explained why cloning could not succeed. What mattered was the line of thought.

Construction was a technique of imagination. With sufficient imagination, even biological armor could be realized, even a theoretical Perfect Sphere could be constructed.

So imagine it. Imagine a body of his own.

"Human Transmutation is the transmutation of a person using flesh, soul, and spirit. In other words, as long as those things can be transmuted, a human can be born without relying on a mother's womb," Mahito said.

Kenjaku frowned deeply. "I have never heard of such a thing."

If even a cursed sorcerer who had lived for a thousand years had never heard of it, then it truly did not exist in this world.

"It is a concept from a manga," Mahito said. "Fullmetal Alchemist. It should be quite famous in this country." It was indeed famous. The current year was 2018, and Fullmetal Alchemist was still popular.

"How can something from a manga be taken seriously? Reality isn't a manga." Kinji Hakari put his beach sunglasses back on and complained loudly.

What nonsense was a character from a manga saying? Mahito could not help laughing. That was right. This was Mahito's ultimate move.

Even now, Mahito still felt that he was living inside a manga. Everyone around him seemed so vividly alive, and Kenjaku had even told him ancient secrets never revealed in the original work. By all rights, Mahito should have recognized reality long ago.

But once a first impression took root, it could not be changed in a short time. Everything and everyone around him told him this was reality. Rationally, he acknowledged that it was reality, yet some subconscious part of him still told him that he lived in a manga and had become a manga character.

Normally, that thought was neither here nor there. As he spent more time in this world, that small sense of dissonance would probably disappear soon enough.

But now, that dissonance was still there. And indeed, it could become an ultimate move.

Mahito said meaningfully, "Although it is a concept from a manga, if I believe it is real—does that not make it real?"

"What are you even talking about?" Kinji Hakari complained forcefully. "No, wait. It might actually work," Kenjaku said.

"Huh?" Kinji Hakari turned to Kenjaku as though looking at an idiot.

"Techniques are a world of cognition. They are things that change alongside human understanding." Kenjaku raised a hand and pointed to his forehead. "A sorcerer's technique is engraved in the sorcerer's brain, roughly here. Because of that, techniques respond to human thought and undergo enormous changes. Hakari, isn't your technique an example of that?"

Kinji Hakari froze, frowning deeply. "You mean my Domain Expansion?"

Kinji Hakari's Domain Expansion was worlds apart from traditional Domain Expansions. If one did not consciously understand it, no one would imagine that the two were actually the same thing.

In truth, techniques developed alongside civilization. Kinji Hakari was only one example; other exceptions existed as well. One could imagine that as techniques continued to develop, exceptions like Kinji Hakari would only become more common, eventually becoming not exceptions, but common sense.

Kenjaku nodded. "I know a modern sorcerer whose technique requires her to use her phone to take photographs. Such a technique could never have appeared a thousand years ago, because phones did not exist a thousand years ago.

"You are the same, Hakari. Your Domain Expansion recreates a high-speed train rushing toward you. You do not think high-speed trains existed in Japan a thousand years ago, do you?"

More than that.

When Kenjaku initiated the game in the later stages of the original work, all kinds of absurd techniques emerged: courtrooms, airplanes—concepts that could only appear in modern times. Such techniques could not have existed in ancient times.

Just as Kenjaku said, the development of civilization also promoted the development of techniques. Techniques that manifested in response to their era would only flourish more vigorously as time passed, eventually developing from one-in-a-million exceptions into commonplace norms.

Because the essence of techniques was humanity's self-cognition!

Kinji Hakari had truly never considered this. He irritably scratched his chin and asked, "What does that prove?"

"It proves the importance of deeply believing, Hakari." Kenjaku smiled faintly and pointed at Mahito. "If Mahito truly deeply believes it, then he can truly use Construction to make a Vessel with a one hundred percent compatibility rate."

Once his thinking had opened up, Mahito had even more ideas.

He said, "Not only that. I might be able to recreate even more things."

Kinji Hakari admitted that he was beginning to lose track of the conversation. "Such as?" he asked.

"I can recreate Kamen Rider," Mahito said solemnly.

"Huh?" This time, not only Kinji Hakari—even Kenjaku was dumbfounded. Mahito was somewhat surprised. "Kenjaku, you know Kamen Rider?"

"Japan's long-running tokusatsu series. Even an old fossil like me knows it!" Kenjaku suddenly became animated. "Don't underestimate me. When it comes to understanding Kamen Rider, you might not even know more than I do."

Kenjaku was indeed a strange person, and his knowledge was indeed broad. Near the end of the original work, he could even put on a wonderful manzai performance with a professional comedian, effortlessly catching every joke and reference.

Still, the original work had never said he knew tokusatsu shows. This had never appeared in the original work.

Then again, even Satoru Gojo was a loyal Digimon viewer, capable of casually mentioning SkullGreymon as an incorrect evolution. What exactly were these jujutsu sorcerers doing in their private lives? That was hard to say.

Kinji Hakari had a headache. "Wait, why have we moved on to tokusatsu? Mahito, what kind of Vessel are you trying to create?"

"Do you understand my Reverse Cursed Technique?" Mahito suddenly asked.

"Soul Creation." Kinji Hakari had specifically looked into it. After all, that was the move that had defeated him, so naturally he had to carefully understand exactly how he had lost.

Because of the Thought Seal, Mahito trusted Kinji Hakari greatly. When asked, Mahito barely thought before telling him. "You can record the souls you have touched and simulate some of their characteristics for use. The most important application is recording the Innate Techniques of those souls.

"Although you can only use one simulated soul at a time, there is no limit to how many you can record. In theory, as long as you have touched someone, you can use any Innate Technique they possess.

"You defeated me with the Innate Technique of someone named Haruta Shigemo... Wait, don't tell me you recorded my Innate Technique too?" Kinji Hakari's expression changed drastically.

"Isn't that obvious?" Mahito nodded proudly. Kinji Hakari's face darkened, and he fell silent.

Kenjaku was genuinely amazed. Mahito's Soul Creation was simply too powerful.

Over the past thousand years, Kenjaku had encountered many special techniques that could produce multiple effects despite being a single technique. The most representative of them was naturally Copy.

That was right—this was not the first time Kenjaku had seen Copy.

When Kenjaku evaluated Yuta Okkotsu, he had once said that although Copy was powerful, it was still far inferior to Suguru Geto's Cursed Spirit Manipulation. Suguru Geto had died at Yuta Okkotsu's hands not because he lost in a clash of techniques, but because he had not used all his strength against Yuta Okkotsu. Had Suguru Geto gone all out, Yuta Okkotsu would not have stood a chance.

That proved Kenjaku understood everything about Copy. Otherwise, he would not have been so certain. Yet even Copy could not compare to Mahito's current Soul Creation.

Copy still required a piece of the copied sorcerer's body, whereas Soul Creation did not even need that. In terms of efficiency for wielding multiple techniques, it vastly surpassed Kenjaku's understanding.

It could be said that simply because Soul Creation existed, sooner or later Mahito would certainly ascend the throne of king of the world, even if not as a god.

That was why Kenjaku was being so obedient.

For now, he could indeed easily control Mahito. But as time passed, the gap in their strength would only grow wider. Yet they had already entered into a Binding Vow, preventing him from acting. By the time he could act, he would no longer have any room to resist.

"If my prediction succeeds, Soul Creation will definitely rise to an even higher level." Mahito could not suppress his excitement and laughed. "What exactly are you going to do?" Kinji Hakari asked.

"Kamen Rider belts can load multiple cartridges," Mahito said meaningfully. Kinji Hakari's pupils contracted, and he suddenly shuddered. He understood what Mahito meant.

"The Vessel you're going to make can use multiple Soul Creations?" he asked with difficulty. It felt as if he had sunk into the deep sea, with pressure squeezing him from every direction and suffocating him.

Mahito turned to Kenjaku. "Is it possible?" he asked.

"This exceeds the theoretical knowledge I have accumulated over a thousand years." Kenjaku took a deep breath, unable to suppress his excitement as well. "I don't know. I truly don't know... But it is worth trying. Your Idle Transfiguration, your Soul Creation—where exactly does the road you are walking lead? This truly is, this truly is—"

It makes me so excited I could pitch a tent!

His growth was too fast. Kinji Hakari was secretly afraid. If this continued—

Mr. Gojo, can you truly handle everything?