Jujutsu Kaisen: Yearning to Become an Immortal God

Kenjaku narrowed his eyes and asked, "How was it, Mahito? Did you get what you wanted?"

Mahito sighed in satisfaction. "The results... exceeded even my expectations." "Oh?" Kenjaku was about to ask more.

"I did it—I succeeded!" Haruta Shigemo suddenly roared. He stood up and casually swung his arm. Massive Cursed Energy wrapped around his fist, whipping up what seemed like a storm with every movement. As he roared and unleashed his curse, any Jujutsu Sorcerer watching would have seen a storm of Cursed Energy nearly reaching the sky, forming around Haruta Shigemo.

"This, this isn't just double! This isn't just double!" Haruta Shigemo was so excited that he could barely speak coherently. He moved his body freely, as though he were discovering himself for the first time. "I'm too strong! I'm so strong! I've become the strongest! I'm ten times stronger than before! Ten times!"

He raised both arms high, his face twisted. At this moment, this bizarre man actually carried a faint air of dominance. He roared at the sky, "From this day forth, I am invincible beneath the heavens!"

Kenjaku had no choice but to swallow his question and congratulate Haruta Shigemo instead. "Congratulations, Shigemo." "Ah. It's Suguru Geto. Why are you still here?" Haruta Shigemo glanced at Kenjaku and spoke absentmindedly. Kenjaku froze for a moment.

Mahito could barely suppress his laughter. Just moments ago, Haruta Shigemo had still called Kenjaku Lord Suguru Geto. Now that he possessed immense Cursed Energy, he had even dropped the word "Lord."

Kenjaku shrugged. "Can't be helped. I still need to send you back later, Shigemo. By the way, since you've gained such tremendous power, why not find someone to test it on?"

Haruta Shigemo asked with interest, "Test my blade? Mm-hm, mm-hm, sounds good. I'm interested. Where are you planning to send me?"

"How about Tokyo, where Satoru Gojo is? Or perhaps you could just attack Jujutsu High?" Kenjaku asked. Haruta Shigemo's delighted expression suddenly stiffened. After a while, he forced a smile back onto his face.

"Lord Suguru Geto, you really know how to joke." Well, now it was Lord Suguru Geto again.

It seemed he had not been confused by his explosively increased Cursed Energy. He still understood that even if he was ten times stronger than before, Satoru Gojo could still kill him in an instant.

Though it had been said many times, Haruta Shigemo, this Curse User, was truly good at reading the situation. Kenjaku kept smiling, his face full of amusement.

He said, "I'm not joking—Lord Haruta Shigemo?" He deliberately drew out the final syllable.

Haruta Shigemo's expression went from elation, to imposing majesty, to utter arrogance, to self-awareness, to deep confusion, to terror—all in less than five seconds, through only a few exchanges.

Now, Haruta Shigemo wore a mournful face.

"Lord Suguru Geto... please, please be merciful."

The Episode That Best Understands Muzan's Heavenly Nature

Kenjaku watched with narrowed eyes as Haruta Shigemo walked dejectedly into the spatial gate. Kenjaku had not lied to him. The gate led to Tokyo, where he was to attack Jujutsu High.

Of course, Haruta Shigemo had been a loser before. Kenjaku had only required him to launch a sneak attack if he could, and if he had no opportunity, merely drawing some attention would count as completing his mission. But now things were different. Kenjaku decided to put him under some pressure and make him shoulder a more important task. Surely he would be happy about it himself, considering he had just declared himself invincible beneath the heavens.

Since he was invincible beneath the heavens, he could go clash with the truly invincible Satoru Gojo. Kenjaku was looking forward to the collision between the two.

"Hmm, am I late? What a pity I didn't get to see Mahito's Idle Transfiguration." A voice suddenly rang out. A Cursed Spirit appeared above the shore.

With an old man's voice, an old-fashioned floral kimono, and a head resembling an erupting volcano, Jogo slowly made his way over from the coast. Behind him followed two new Cursed Spirits, one at his back and one at his side. Mahito looked toward Kenjaku's rear with interest.

This was a Cursed Spirit with a strange aura. His entire body was pale, and his bare upper body was covered in black patterns. The patterns slowly stretched along his muscles like living branches. Two black markings extended downward from his eye sockets, yet what grew from those sockets were not eyeballs, but branches—antler-like branches.

His left arm was wrapped in white cloth, leaving only his muscular right arm exposed. His fingers were black as ink, like the claws of some beast.

As he walked over barefoot, even though Mahito could see him, he could barely sense the Cursed Spirit's Cursed Energy. In terms of concealing his presence alone, he was even more skilled than the thousand-year-old Curse User Kenjaku.

"—" He made a sound. Though no one knew what he was saying, its meaning appeared in everyone's minds. He was introducing himself.

Hanami, a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, an intelligent Cursed Spirit, born from humanity's hatred and fear of forests.

Mahito broke into a broad smile and opened his arms to welcome him. No, it should not be him. Though her overall appearance was closer to a grotesque aberration, her motherly gentle personality and soft tone meant she should be called she.

"Hanami, it's nice to meet you. Thank you for coming. I've been looking forward to meeting you for a long time."

Mahito meant those words sincerely. To him, Hanami was perhaps the most special Cursed Spirit in this world. Though she was still classified as a Cursed Spirit, compared to Cursed Spirits, she was more like a spirit. She lacked the obvious malice of other Cursed Spirits.

All Cursed Spirits possessed an instinct to kill. Even Mahito, an outsider to this world, could not completely control his instinct to harm others, let alone the other Cursed Spirits. As for them—yes, them, not people—some low-grade Cursed Spirits had no thought process at all and acted purely on instinct. Even if Jujutsu Sorcerers rated them as Special Grade, they could never be mentioned in the same breath as intelligent Cursed Spirits like Mahito and Jogo.

But Hanami was different. She did not even have the desire to harm people. Her every thought was devoted to one thing—protecting nature.

And her reason for killing humans did not come from instinct, but rational thought. She hated humans because she believed nature and humanity could not coexist. To protect all things, humanity had to be eliminated.

That was simply too special. So special that Mahito could hardly wait to study her seriously!

Perhaps Hanami's existence could allow Mahito to break through into a new realm. He had high hopes for it. In a sense, Hanami was an indispensable research subject if he wanted to advance to the next level. Naturally, he would treat her with great favor.

When the Cursed Spirit at Jogo's side approached Mahito, he jumped up and leaped into Mahito's arms. Mahito widened his eyes and looked at the Cursed Spirit, whose mouth kept muttering incomprehensibly.

It was an oddly shaped Cursed Spirit that looked very weak. He was only the size of a child, dressed in a white dumpling-like outfit, with a red octopus-like face and big watery eyes. His mouth was constantly moving, but if one listened closely, it sounded more like simple chewing.

"Dagon, don't do something so dangerous. Honestly." Jogo complained.

He was a curse born from humanity's fear of the ocean. Like Jogo, Hanami, and Mahito, he was an intelligent Special Grade Cursed Spirit formed after the ocean, long feared by humans, absorbed an excessive amount of Cursed Energy.

Mahito was not as interested in him as he was in Hanami, but that did not mean Dagon lacked research value. Quite the opposite—Dagon was the only Special Grade Cursed Spirit capable of permanently maintaining a cursed womb state. Only when he himself wished to mature would he grow. That was his special trait.

It was merely that, compared to Hanami, Dagon's uniqueness was less conspicuous.

Mahito opened his arms and easily caught the little creature. He watched the tiny Cursed Spirit with interest. It was hard to imagine that a Cursed Spirit so small and delicate could transform into the curse of the sea. He had not yet fully matured, and Jogo and Hanami had both been caring for him attentively. Now, he had welcomed a new family member—Mahito.

"You must be Dagon. Jogo told me about you. Please take care of me as well." Mahito smiled brightly.

Jogo slowly walked over to Mahito and Kenjaku. He glanced at Dagon, who was constantly wriggling in Mahito's arms, but paid it no mind. Seeing Mahito's beaming smile, he asked with great interest,

"Judging by your expression, was the experiment successful?"

The experiment Jogo spoke of was strengthening Curse Users. Mahito kept poking Dagon with his fingers as though teasing a kitten. He enjoyed himself immensely, like a child who had found a fun new toy.

He answered casually, "It was very successful. And I figured out quite a few things."

Kenjaku added from the side, "The Curse User I brought was indeed strengthened by Mahito's ability. Though I don't know the exact extent of the increase, according to the Curse User himself, he became roughly ten times stronger. But I doubt it was that exaggerated."

Mahito said calmly, "It really was not that exaggerated. At most, it was around three times. That was only because this Curse User was exceptionally weak to begin with, allowing him to be strengthened to that extent. If it were a Curse User who was already strong, it would be impossible to enhance them so much at once."

To be precise, Mahito had not yet figured out what powerful Jujutsu Sorcerers were like. The reason Junpei Yoshino had been enhanced so drastically was that the direction of Junpei Yoshino's transformation had not been toward becoming a Jujutsu Sorcerer at all—it had been toward becoming a Cursed Spirit.

Mahito himself was a Cursed Spirit, so naturally he understood how to transform Junpei Yoshino in the direction of a Cursed Spirit. But Haruta Shigemo was different.

Haruta Shigemo was a pure Jujutsu Sorcerer. Mahito did not want to waste such material, so the transformation had been directed toward the traditional Jujutsu Sorcerer route—naturally including an enhancement to the speed and intensity with which he released negative emotions. That was probably why he had suddenly become so inflated.

From this perspective, all powerful Jujutsu Sorcerers were inevitably inflated, without exception. It was simply that Satoru Gojo stood above them, so every Jujutsu Sorcerer could clearly recognize that they were far inferior to him. Thus, Jujutsu Sorcerers all possessed a clear sense of their own limits. They might be swollen with pride, but they could still view themselves rationally.

In a sense, Satoru Gojo truly served as the pillar holding the sea steady. It was hard to imagine how chaotic the entire Jujutsu Society would become if Satoru Gojo suddenly died.

Jogo praised him. "That is still remarkable. I never expected Idle Transfiguration to possess such power. When the time comes to attack Jujutsu Society, even these trash-like Curse Users will be able to serve as sufficient fighting power."

Kenjaku narrowed his eyes, still smiling brightly, and shook his head slightly. "It does have some use—just a little."

Jogo glanced at him, somewhat impatient. "Are you going to tell me about Satoru Gojo again? Is that guy really so strong?" Kenjaku's smile faded, and his expression turned serious.

His gaze swept around the area. Before him stood:

The curse manifested from humanity's fear of the earth: the Special Grade Cursed Spirit, the intelligent Cursed Spirit, Jogo. The curse manifested from humanity's fear of forests: the Special Grade Cursed Spirit, the intelligent Cursed Spirit, Hanami. The curse manifested from humanity's fear of the ocean: the Special Grade Cursed Spirit, the intelligent Cursed Spirit, Dagon. And the final piece of the puzzle:

The curse manifested from humanity's fear of humanity itself: the Special Grade Cursed Spirit, the intelligent Cursed Spirit, the most special Cursed Spirit whose wish was to become the god shared by humans and Cursed Spirits—Mahito.

It would be no exaggeration to say that if this lineup still could not overturn Jujutsu Society, then the era with Satoru Gojo could never be overturned.

Therefore, now was the best opportunity.

Kenjaku knew that he had to show true sincerity—the specific plan for overturning Jujutsu Society.

Kenjaku slipped both hands into his long sleeves and smiled as he said, "Then let us discuss how to overturn Jujutsu Society." Those words made every Cursed Spirit grow serious—correction, except little Dagon. He was still carefree in Mahito's arms. He seemed to especially enjoy Mahito's petting, to the point that he barely wanted to come down.

Jogo was the most interested in this subject. He spoke first. "Can we finally talk about it? Does that mean you believe all the pieces needed to overturn Jujutsu Society are now in place? As expected, Mahito's ability has greatly increased our combat power?"

Kenjaku rubbed his chin and nodded with a smile. "That is part of the reason."

Hanami made a quiet sound, urging Jogo to be patient.

Jogo said impatiently, "Ah, you're such an irritatingly indirect guy! And Hanami, stop always telling me to be patient! I've been patient enough!"

Kenjaku laughed twice. His slightly narrowed eyes opened a little, revealing pupils as black as an abyss.

"Then let me make one final confirmation regarding our Binding Vow. Though our ultimate goals differ, our interests at this stage are the same—overturning the current Jujutsu Society. Before that objective is achieved, none of us may betray the others in any form."

Jogo was about to speak, but he caught sight of Mahito's thoughtful expression from the corner of his eye and immediately changed his words. "I'll listen to Mahito."

Hanami also made a quiet sound, indicating that she too would follow Mahito's decision.

Dagon chirped happily. He already seemed to be Mahito's little fan.

Kenjaku's mouth curved downward as he sighed helplessly. "Honestly, Mahito joined last, yet he seems to be the king most supported by the Cursed Spirits—no, allow me to correct that. He should be... the future god, should he not?"

Jogo said evenly, "It is because I realized that my old ideas were too childish. After hearing Mahito's ideals, I recognized my own mistakes. Mahito is different. He is intelligent, and his ambition is unmatched. I acknowledge him."

Those were Jogo's sincere feelings, because before this, he had truly wanted to eliminate all humanity.

Before this, Jogo had always believed that humanity's underlying nature was formed from lies, and that every positive emotion or action displayed on the surface must have some ulterior cause. Because of that, humanity's negative emotions—hatred and killing intent—were the truth they could never escape. And from that truth, Cursed Spirits were born.

Following that logic, Jogo concluded that Cursed Spirits were the pure, true humans. Humans themselves, meanwhile, were defective products, corrupted products, and should be eliminated.

That idea—well, it could only be said that Jogo's understanding of himself was indeed accurate. His thoughts were truly immature, the sort of ideas born from the condition that made human children suddenly develop a second-year middle schooler's delusions. There was a kind of innocence and childish charm to them.

The greatest logical flaw was that even he knew Cursed Spirits were brewed from humanity's curses. If humanity were truly wiped out, would Cursed Spirits not go extinct as well? What future would there be for Cursed Spirits then? You would have killed the very root of that future.

Before this, Jogo had never doubted his ideals. Only after hearing Mahito's ideals did he realize the logical flaw in his own. The reason he was so convinced by Mahito had nothing to do with strength. Their intellects were simply not on the same level. Jogo might not have much of a brain, but he had enough self-awareness to know that he should listen to someone who did.

Therefore, he steadfastly supported Mahito. Even though Mahito was still weaker than him in terms of raw power, he had never minded it.

Hanami sighed softly without speaking.

Her thoughts were even more extreme than Jogo's. Unlike Jogo's innocence and childishness, her views had been carefully considered. She believed that only by eliminating humanity could nature be restored. Even if she herself had to be sacrificed in the process, she believed it would be worth it.

If sacrificing herself alone could restore nature, then naturally she would not begrudge her own life. But if that sacrifice included Jogo, Dagon, and even Mahito, whom she had only just met, then she fell into hesitation and confusion.

Eliminating humanity was equivalent to eliminating Cursed Spirits. In other words, if she truly eradicated all humans, then her family would be eradicated alongside them.

The conflict between her ideal of protecting nature and the reality of her family left her completely at a loss.

That was also why, upon learning of Mahito's existence, she had rushed here without delay. She hoped to use Mahito's wisdom to find a solution that satisfied both sides.

Or perhaps something even more extreme—after helping Mahito ascend to godhood, she could use a god's power to solve this dilemma. As for Dagon—

He—he—

Well, he had no thoughts about it.

Having noticed Jogo and Hanami's thoughts, Kenjaku understood who the primary target of the Binding Vow should be. He turned his gaze toward Mahito.

"Then, Mahito, do you have any questions about the Binding Vow I proposed?"

Mahito did not speak immediately. Instead, he gently put Dagon down, then faced Kenjaku with his heterochromatic eyes. Kenjaku remembered that as long as Mahito stared directly at someone with those eyes, they could not lie. Even leading questions could be seen through. They were the bane of old foxes.

And now, those heterochromatic eyes were fixed directly on Kenjaku. Mahito suddenly asked an unrelated question.

"You have been emphasizing Satoru Gojo's power, telling us that we must find a way to deal with him. But I have a question—Cursed Spirits theoretically have no lifespan limit, while humans, no matter how powerful they are, cannot extend their lives unless their Innate Technique is suited to it. So since overturning Jujutsu Society at this stage is extremely difficult because of Satoru Gojo—"

He asked:

"—why don't we wait until Satoru Gojo dies of old age before we act?"

Seamless Cooperation

Kenjaku was stunned.

No matter what, he had never expected a Cursed Spirit to ask such a question. It was not that the question was unreasonable—quite the opposite. Being able to ask it showed that Mahito already possessed a fundamental understanding of humanity as a species. It even showed that he had gained some understanding of Jujutsu Sorcerers, humanity's special group.

That might have sounded ordinary, but it raised a question that sent chills down Kenjaku's spine—how long had Mahito existed?

No, more precisely—how long had he been growing?

If he continued to grow, just what heights would he reach?

Even Kenjaku felt a tremor at that moment. He was somewhat afraid of it, yet at the same time, he looked forward to it. He looked forward to Mahito's continued growth, to the future Mahito described, to the turning of the great wheel.

He could not help laughing. "Good question. A truly good question. The fact that you can ask that shows you already have a deep understanding of humanity as a group."

"Should that really count as a deep understanding? Even though I have existed for less than a month and a half, old people and children are everywhere on the streets. All I need to do is listen to them talk for a while, and I can learn quite a lot. Even if I am too lazy for that, I can read books written by humans and reach similar conclusions."

Mahito wondered if something was wrong with Kenjaku's head. How could such a basic question be considered profound? Yet he was using his soul-piercing heterochromatic eyes to observe Kenjaku's soul, and he was astonished to discover that Kenjaku's words came entirely from the heart.

Kenjaku genuinely believed that merely knowing humans had limited lifespans counted as a "deep" understanding of humanity for a Cursed Spirit.

Kenjaku laughed again, but this time it was a mocking laugh.

He opened his eyes slightly and glanced at Jogo and Hanami nearby. Mahito followed his gaze toward the other two intelligent Cursed Spirits—Jogo's enormous single eye was, for some reason, turned toward the sea, where several seagulls were flying above the water and had deeply captured his attention; Hanami remained silent, merely standing there blankly like a wooden figure.

As for Dagon—Dagon—

—he was spacing out without a care in the world.

Mahito's mouth twitched unconsciously. He let out a deep sigh. "Fine, you don't need to say it. I understand. I'm the abnormal one." Compared to the other three intelligent Cursed Spirits, Mahito had to admit that he really was the abnormal one. And he finally understood why, after Satoru Gojo had taught Jogo a lesson and Jogo had clearly realized Satoru Gojo was unbeatable, he had still never considered using his own lifespan to defeat Satoru Gojo.