Jujutsu Kaisen: Yearning to Become an Immortal God

What Mahito wanted to exploit was precisely this gap in timing!

Mahito turned to Junpei Yoshino. He believed Junpei was the key to breaking the deadlock—or rather, what he intended to make Junpei do was.

He placed a hand on Junpei's head and gently stroked it. As he did, the power of Idle Transfiguration had already seeped deep into Junpei's brain. An immature Thought Seal slowly yet firmly altered his mind, ensuring he could never again harbor the thought of betraying him.

In the past, Mahito had merely used his power to reshape souls, never giving the ability a name. Before this, he had thought it was divine power. And since it was divine power, it naturally needed no other name. But now he knew it wasn't divine power. He needed a name for it.

Idle Transfiguration.

From this moment on, his ability to reshape souls would be called Idle Transfiguration.

"Junpei, from this moment onward, you are my eyes. Everything your eyes see will become my nourishment. I will turn you into half of my avatar, and you will enter Tokyo Jujutsu High as one of the many contaminated people persecuted by Cursed Spirits. I need you to gather any knowledge you can learn, the characteristics of any companion's abilities, or any tools that can strengthen you."

Junpei Yoshino's expression had originally been tense, but as Idle Transfiguration activated, his bright eyes gradually became vacant. His expression unconsciously relaxed. His eyes rolled upward, exposing the whites, while his body trembled faintly. Layer upon layer of Cursed Energy gathered and circulated within him, eventually becoming a surging river that filled his body.

Mahito was turning Junpei Yoshino into a Jujutsu Sorcerer.

This was easier than he had imagined. Although he had yet to meet other sorcerers, he had experimented long ago with how to "transfer" his divine power to others. In fact, the starving old man from his first experiment still carried traces of Mahito's Cursed Energy. It was simply so sparse that it was almost impossible to detect.

But now was different. He intended to turn Junpei Yoshino into a genius Jujutsu Sorcerer, a body extremely suited to Mahito's own Incarnation. Yes, he intended to transform Junpei's body into his Vessel!

Mahito softly told him, "From this moment on, you will become a genius among Jujutsu Sorcerers. You will possess an immense amount of Cursed Energy. This power will constantly reshape your body, allowing it to continuously adapt to Cursed Energy of greater intensity.

"I will alter your brain, maximizing your focus, comprehension, and logical reasoning. As you develop yourself further, your intelligence will improve even more.

"You will have the finest learning ability, as well as a capacity for casting jujutsu that others cannot reach.

"I will preserve your natural talent—despite awakening Cursed Energy at such a late age, you possess talent that ordinary Jujutsu Sorcerers lack. You have your own Innate Technique.

"I won't tell you what your Innate Technique is, because you are about to enter Jujutsu Society as an outsider. Outsiders shouldn't know so much. You only need to understand one thing.

"In Jujutsu Society, talent accounts for eighty percent of a Jujutsu Sorcerer's upper limit. Hard work is merely an accessory to talent, and you happen to possess the finest talent of all—"

If he could, Mahito would have loved to transfer his own Idle Transfiguration to Junpei as well. But he couldn't. He still couldn't fully understand himself. Not only could the current Mahito not do it—even Mahito in the later parts of the original story couldn't accomplish it. That Mahito had understood souls well enough to turn humans into avatars connected to his mind, yet he still couldn't allow those avatars to use Idle Transfiguration.

Innate Techniques truly had a black box. Throughout the entire work, there were only three ways to crack it. Unfortunately, Idle Transfiguration was not yet capable of doing so.

Mahito already had ideas about that, but now was not the time to put them into practice. Aside from an Innate Technique, he gave Junpei Yoshino everything a genius possessed.

This was also preparation for learning the Reverse Cursed Technique. Mahito was a Cursed Spirit and couldn't learn Reverse Cursed Technique, but Junpei Yoshino, who was effectively his avatar, could. Over the past month, Mahito's understanding of the human brain had become unquestionable. Junpei had already been smart enough, and after Mahito's alterations, he would reach an even higher level.

The moment Mahito decided to send him to Jujutsu High, he had decided Junpei Yoshino had to become a genius. He would have to comprehensively learn some common jujutsu—not only Reverse Cursed Technique, but basic shikigami manipulation, Barrier Technique, Simple Domain, and even cursed tool crafting. As long as it wasn't an inborn talent, Junpei had the ability to learn it.

The more jujutsu Junpei Yoshino learned and the stronger his learning ability became, the more it would all eventually return to Mahito.

Just as everything learned by a god's believers ultimately returned to their god. And now, Mahito was Junpei Yoshino's god!

From the corner of his eye, Mahito caught a fleeting flicker of hesitation on Kenjaku's face. But it wasn't fear. On the contrary, it was delight. The key Kenjaku needed was exactly this: the ability to freely alter the degree to which another person's body could be used as a Vessel. Mahito had perfectly demonstrated that ability, and Kenjaku was ecstatic.

And now, it was time for Mahito and Kenjaku to race against time.

Either Mahito's growth would prove insufficient, and Kenjaku would ultimately turn him into a key—or their positions would reverse, and Kenjaku would have no choice but to crawl at Mahito's feet to accomplish his ultimate goal.

Kenjaku couldn't help saying, "What are you planning to do? Cut off one of Junpei Yoshino's arms? That alone won't be enough, will it? Jujutsu Society won't believe that merely losing an arm would make a Cursed Spirit like you spare a human."

"Of course, one arm or one leg won't fool those people in Jujutsu Society," Mahito said calmly. "But if I turn him into an object of my perverse amusement, then those Jujutsu Sorcerers will naturally be reassured."

Jogo and Kenjaku exchanged a glance. Kenjaku asked, "A toy? What are you going to do?"

Mahito looked down at Junpei Yoshino. Junpei was completely relaxed at the moment, allowing Mahito to manipulate him as he pleased. He smiled, and that smile was as gentle as a spring breeze.

He said, "Very simple. I'm going to turn him into a woman." "...Huh?" Kenjaku and Jogo questioned him at the same time.

Junpei Yoshino suddenly shuddered. His completely relaxed body abruptly tensed. His eyes widened, bloodshot veins spreading through the whites like crimson spiderwebs. He began screaming, "Wait, you still haven't forgotten about that shrine maiden? I don't want to be a shrine maiden! I refuse! I refuse—!

"How can you do this? How can you do this to me?!"

"Junpei, isn't this the best solution?" Mahito said gently. "At your level, there's no way you could escape pursuit by Cursed Spirits like us. Theoretically, death is your only possible outcome. Any other result—even losing an arm, a leg, or an eye—couldn't be explained away as mere luck. You wouldn't be able to gain Jujutsu Society's trust."

He spoke slowly. "But becoming a girl is different—"

Mahito smiled without showing his teeth, looking exceptionally gentle and kind. Yet his words were like a demon's whisper.

He said softly, "—This is my perverse amusement. You can simply complain about it to the other Jujutsu Sorcerers. No, you don't even need to complain. Turning a boy into a girl—even if you say nothing, those people in Jujutsu Society will assume it was my perverse amusement and won't suspect you. I believe that's far more convincing than you losing half your life, isn't it?"

Junpei Yoshino roared with all his strength, "No! Absolutely not! No, you can't do this to me! You can't do this to me! You can't! You can't—!"

He didn't notice that, in less than five minutes, his voice had changed from male to female.

He had become she.

No Lies

Satoru Gojo looked at the boy in the file. A photograph was attached inside it. He took out the photo and studied the image carefully. It was a teenage boy. The file stated that he was only a first-year high school student. He came from a single-parent family; his parents were divorced, and he was raised by his mother. He had once founded a film club at the start of the school year, but for some reason it quickly declined, and the club had since been disbanded.

The boy in the photograph smiled foolishly. He had medium-length hair, with parted bangs revealing his face.

His name was—Junpei Yoshino.

After confirming the file, Satoru Gojo raised his head. Pfft.

"You laughed! You definitely laughed!" The girl shot him a fierce glare, like an injured beast. It should have been an intimidating gaze, but with tears still in her eyes, she only looked more pitiful and adorable.

"You bastard—!" the girl screamed, not at all like the foolish boy in the photograph. No, rather, she could no longer become the foolish boy from that file.

She was an exceptionally pitiful-looking girl. Her side-swept bangs hid one eye and nearly half her face. She looked at Satoru Gojo with the other, uncovered eye. Tears pooled layer after layer within it, like a spring about to overflow. She wore a boys' high school uniform, but it didn't fit her at all. The shoulders sagged loosely, and the sleeves nearly covered half her hands.

She hugged her knees in the corner of the bed, her head almost buried between them. She had only raised her head after hearing someone approach. Anyone could tell she was already on the verge of a breakdown.

Satoru Gojo tried hard to hold back his laughter. He tried, and tried, and tried—but how could he hold back something this funny?

"Pfft, hahahahaha! What's going on? What the hell is going on? Cursed Spirits have this kind of perverse amusement too? Instead of hurting people, they gender-swap them? How could... how could something be this weird? Ahaha, ahahahahaha!"

Satoru Gojo laughed loudly, but inwardly, he became intensely wary of the girl before him.

No, wary wasn't the right word. To Satoru Gojo, no person or Cursed Spirit in this world could make him truly wary. He had been invincible for so long that he had nearly lost the vigilance expected of a Jujutsu Sorcerer. That was why, even facing this abnormal situation, he still laughed so casually.

He shouldn't have laughed. Whether as a specialist or an adult, he shouldn't have laughed. But he couldn't help himself, so he did.

As his laughter continued, terrifying power erupted from the girl before him. Even Satoru Gojo's dulled sense of vigilance twitched unconsciously in the face of that power. It was like long-absent killing intent stimulating him, telling him to keep his eyes on the girl, telling him to be ready to kill her at any moment.

Before she killed him, kill her.

The reason was simple: Cursed Energy. Powerful Cursed Energy. Astonishing Cursed Energy.

—Cursed Energy vast enough to nearly blot out the sky.

Before Satoru Gojo even entered the police station, he had sensed that enormous Cursed Energy. Even ordinary people without the slightest talent for jujutsu could feel the cold air brushing their skin. A Jujutsu Sorcerer like Satoru Gojo could see nearly tangible power spreading out in every direction from the girl, like an enraged volcano doing everything it could to spew out lava.

If Satoru Gojo hadn't confirmed that the girl before him was truly human, he would have thought she was a Cursed Spirit—a Special Grade Cursed Spirit without question.

Her total Cursed Energy even surpassed Satoru Gojo's. Yes, only in terms of total Cursed Energy, but she was stronger than even him. Her reserves reminded Satoru Gojo of Yuta Okkotsu.

Even in the entire history of Jujutsu Society, Yuta Okkotsu was a human who could be called number one among humanity in terms of Cursed Energy. The girl's Cursed Energy hadn't reached that level, of course. But strictly speaking, Yuta Okkotsu was Satoru Gojo's distant relative. The relation was extremely distant, but no matter how distant it was, Yuta still carried the bloodline of Jujutsu Sorcerers.

Yet the girl had no Jujutsu Sorcerer bloodline.

In Tokyo, many people had their lives interrupted after suffering persecution by Cursed Spirits. Naturally, there were also many people like this girl who had been persecuted yet luckily survived. Most of them could gain slight control over the Cursed Energy in their bodies after the stimulation caused by Cursed Spirits, but that was all. Most could only spend their lives as logistical staff for Jujutsu Sorcerers, capable of using only the simplest Barrier Techniques.

Only the girl was special. She had no Jujutsu Sorcerer bloodline, nor had she been born with immense Cursed Energy, yet she now possessed such massive reserves.

Though she hadn't reached Yuta Okkotsu's level, even now, her Cursed Energy could absolutely rank among the top five humans... perhaps even the top three. Satoru Gojo suspected it was a Binding Vow.

She had traded her entire body for immense Cursed Energy. Though it couldn't compare to Yuta Okkotsu's, this power could easily stack the girl's reserves to the level of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit—no, correction. Even among Special Grade Cursed Spirits, her power would rank near the top.

That was why Satoru Gojo was standing here. No one else could handle her.

With such immense Cursed Energy, even a single sentence from her could give birth to a new curse. If the girl died during this time, a new Special Grade Cursed Spirit would surely be born.

Indeed, only Satoru Gojo, also a Special Grade Sorcerer, could deal with her.

Satoru Gojo pondered inwardly, but his mouth showed no mercy. He laughed for a full half-minute before finally stopping in fits and starts. He carefully observed the girl across from him. Although enormous Cursed Energy was erupting around her, theoretically she only needed the slightest control to curse him. Satoru Gojo had already prepared his Limitless technique to deal with the danger before him.

But there was nothing. Not even the faintest trace of a curse.

Seeing how angry the girl was, it was clear that if she had the ability, she would certainly retaliate. Yet she didn't. Satoru Gojo could think of only two possibilities.

The girl was simply too kind. Even in her current state, she couldn't bear to hurt anyone else—well, that possibility could be ruled out. Looking at those watery eyes, if she had even a little ability, her Cursed Energy would probably already be slapped across Satoru Gojo's face.

Which left only the other possibility—

She truly didn't know how to use any Cursed Energy techniques. She was a complete jujutsu outsider. In other words, she wasn't a spy sent by Cursed Spirits... was she?

Yes. Another reason Satoru Gojo had come here was to determine whether Junpei Yoshino, the boy turned into a girl, was a spy sent by Cursed Spirits. It sounded ridiculous. Before this, no one in Jujutsu Society would have considered such a possibility, because according to common sense, Cursed Spirits were merely beasts that harmed people. In terms of intelligence, they weren't even as smart as dolphins. How could they understand the concept of sending spies?

But things were different now. According to this girl, Junpei Yoshino, Cursed Spirits had developed intelligence. And not just one of them. They even knew how to cooperate with Curse Users, intending to overturn Jujutsu Society.

That sounded alarmist. Satoru Gojo believed that as long as he was alive, Jujutsu Society could never be overthrown. But those old fossils among the higher-ups had moved with lightning speed as though a cat's tail had been stepped on, and one of their actions had been specifically sending him here to see this girl with her shocking claims.

"Pfft, hehehehe... Um, s-sorry. I'm really sorry." Satoru Gojo barely stopped laughing, though his shoulders still shook nonstop. "C-can you tell me what you were thinking? Coming to the police station to find us, I mean."

The girl's eyes became dead fish eyes. "Isn't that obvious? If unexplained supernatural phenomena truly exist in this country, the government couldn't possibly have no response. The most direct solution I could think of was going to the police, because the police are on the front line when it comes to these supernatural events. If I wanted to find you people, was there any other option besides the police?"

Satoru Gojo rubbed his chin. "Mm-hm, very logical. You really are talented. Just a shame about your face—"

"You're still laughing?!" the girl shouted.

Yes, they were inside the police station right now. The moment the girl entered, she had said the words "Cursed Spirit." The officer who received her initially suspected she was mentally ill, or perhaps that a condition usually unique to second-year middle schoolers had somehow relapsed after she entered high school. But after listening to the girl's serious explanation, the senior officer suddenly became tense and took her to—

—a temporary holding cell.

Yes, the senior officer had directly brought her to a temporary holding cell. As for the reason—

Satoru Gojo coughed twice and finally stopped laughing.

"Then I'll be direct," Satoru Gojo said, looking at the girl with a faint smile. "The people above want you dead." The girl's eye twitched, leaving her speechless.

"You came to the police for help after surviving an encounter with a Cursed Spirit, which proves you're smart. If you were merely an ordinary person harmed by a Cursed Spirit, coming to the police station for help would undoubtedly be the most correct choice. Just as you said, we jujutsu specialists work closely with the police. But precisely because of that, they understand more than ordinary people do. For example, they understand you."

Satoru Gojo paused, maintaining his smile as he spoke softly.

"You survived being altered by a Cursed Spirit, and not only that, you possess an immense amount of Cursed Energy. You—are the first case. Before you, there had never been a precedent of a Cursed Spirit transforming an ordinary human into a powerful Jujutsu Sorcerer.

"Too much is hidden within that. The most fatal point is this—if Cursed Spirits can freely turn ordinary people into powerful Jujutsu Sorcerers, then without exaggeration, the current Jujutsu Society, ruled by a very small number of sorcerers, will be overturned. More than that—human society as a whole may be overturned."

One major reason Jujutsu Sorcerers didn't rule humanity now was because there were far too few of them. Most Jujutsu Sorcerers also feared modern firearms. A single bullet could be fatal to most sorcerers. On top of that, Cursed Spirits existed, so Jujutsu Sorcerers simply had no spare energy to rule Japan, much less the world.

But if even ordinary people could become Jujutsu Sorcerers—and Jujutsu Sorcerers with immense Cursed Energy like this girl—then things would be impossible to predict.

Therefore, this was an exceptionally serious matter. Naturally, Satoru Gojo understood that too.

Satoru Gojo looked seriously at the girl before him—the first human altered by a Cursed Spirit, Junpei Yoshino.

"Junpei Yoshino, let me ask you one question—are you on humanity's side?" The girl took a deep breath, climbed down from the bed in the temporary holding cell, and stood before Satoru Gojo.

Her bangs were so long that they covered one eye. She had a pitifully adorable face, and the depths of her other eye seemed forever filled with tears. The men's clothes she wore hung loosely on her body, as though they might slip from her shoulders at any moment.

Pitiful as she looked, she worked hard to keep a straight face and stared seriously at Satoru Gojo.

Satoru Gojo slightly raised the blindfold covering his eyes and observed her with the Six Eyes. He watched the flow of her Cursed Energy, the beating of her internal organs, the electrical signals in her nerves, and even the faint tremors of the muscles on her face.

As long as they were human, no one could lie beneath Satoru Gojo's serious Six Eyes. And now, Satoru Gojo was watching the girl with those Six Eyes. If she showed even the slightest sign of lying, then no matter how regrettable he found it, he would kill her.

It had nothing to do with whether she was innocent. If the girl had strayed from humanity's path and been seduced by Cursed Spirits, then she had to die. This was a war between species. There was no room for mercy.

The next instant, the girl spoke.

She said, "I'm human. I swear I will always stand on humanity's side." She was not lying.

Satoru Gojo was certain. Beneath the Six Eyes, the girl had not lied. What she said came from the depths of her heart. Satoru Gojo smiled.

"Very good, Junpei-chan. Then I'll announce your sentence." The girl swallowed nervously.

"You're being changed from a death sentence to a suspended death sentence," Satoru Gojo said with a smile. Whew. The girl let out a long breath.

"Hahaha, your reaction is so funny," Satoru Gojo laughed. "That nervous look suits your cute little face perfectly, Junpei-chan."

The girl's eyes instantly became dead fish eyes again, and the relief she had just felt vanished somewhere entirely.

After catching her breath, she said, "But is that really okay? The people above sent you to kill me, right? Let me guess—they wanted to squeeze every bit of information out of me, then kill me to eliminate future trouble? It might not be my place to say it, but didn't you just decide on your own to suspend my death sentence?"

Satoru Gojo lowered his blindfold again and shrugged. "Can't be helped. It'd be a little too wasteful to let you die like this." "Wasteful?" The girl frowned.

"You might not know it yourself, but after being altered by a Cursed Spirit, although you were gender-swapped, the Cursed Energy in your body is completely real. Honestly, before this, I'd only seen one other person with Cursed Energy reserves as immense as yours. I don't know what your Innate Technique is—well, because you were altered from an ordinary person, maybe you don't have an Innate Technique at all—but based on your Cursed Energy alone, I can confirm that you can become a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer."

After thinking for a moment, Satoru Gojo added, "If, on top of all that Cursed Energy, you also happen to possess an Innate Technique, then becoming a Special Grade Sorcerer should be easy."

Satoru Gojo wasn't lying. Though her Cursed Energy couldn't compare to Yuta Okkotsu's, the girl's reserves were already terrifying. With so much Cursed Energy, even the most useless Innate Technique would surely produce tremendous results. Becoming a Special Grade Sorcerer was practically guaranteed.

"Mm... That sounds like a pretty impressive rank," the girl said.

"Very impressive," Satoru Gojo said casually. "For now, there are only three Special Grades in Japan." The girl's eyes flew wide open.

Satoru Gojo snapped his fingers. "Exactly. That's why I called it wasteful.

"If someone with Cursed Energy as abundant as yours doesn't join the ranks of Jujutsu Sorcerers and is instead directly executed, it'd hurt my heart to see such a waste.

"You may not know this, but Jujutsu Sorcerers are an incredibly, incredibly tiny fraction of humanity. Every sorcerer is run off their feet. If a new Special Grade can share the burden, that's a wonderful thing."

Satoru Gojo truly meant what he had just said. Perhaps it was because of this girl, but he felt as though a storm was on its way.