Insights from the Notebook

Page One.

Without rushing to read its contents, Kana Shizumi first turned his gaze to the footnotes.

Sure enough... there were handwritten "timestamps" left by Kenjaku here.

Kana Shizumi blinked thoughtfully, then flipped through a few more pages... and discovered that the contents had basically been arranged according to those entries.

"Keio era, Year One"

"Bunjō, Year Two"

"Meiji Era, Year Thirty-Five"

"Showa Era, Year Six"

"Taisho Era, Year Five"

With standards like these listed at the front, Kana Shizumi's expression immediately turned strange.

He realized there was a problem.

—Kenjaku's notebook didn't seem to have been arranged according to the passage of time in the first place. Even the dates in it were out of order...

What about the contents, then?

After giving it a quick read-through, Kana Shizumi found that there was nothing wrong with the account itself. Even with the dates reversed, the descriptions still connected seamlessly, causing no difficulty in reading whatsoever.

Kana Shizumi realized it a moment later.

"I get it. Kenjaku probably recorded his insights and understanding during specific years."

There was nothing strange about a researcher leaving traces of his work, and Kana Shizumi could completely understand that from a behavioral standpoint.

After all, just as Kenjaku himself had stated, one couldn't view things too one-sidedly.

If one wanted to find the true answer, one had to approach it from multiple angles, reconsider and reflect on it repeatedly. Only then could one find the right line of thought...

Different times, different states of mind—when facing the same problem, entirely different ways of thinking would inevitably arise. So from a researcher's perspective, Kenjaku's ability really was the greatest possible aid.

Living long enough to see plenty of interesting things was part of it too.

But if that were all, it would still be understandable.

What was truly deranged was what came afterward... Kana Shizumi couldn't help scratching his head after skimming through it.

If nothing unexpected had happened, Kenjaku must have reorganized the contents of these notebooks after entering the modern era. Like a revised translation, he had altered and criticized his former insights and writings from multiple angles.

Because it was obvious that there were all kinds of footnotes and criticisms written over the handwritten text.

For instance, he would cross out an entire sentence and write beside it, "What the hell was I thinking? This kind of wild fantasy makes me want to puke." Then, every now and then, he would erase those later evaluations and write something new in their place...

"What was I thinking in Taisho Era, Year Three? Why did I criticize this idea? Completely incomprehensible!"

There were countless instances of this kind of left-brain-versus-right-brain brawl.

He truly was the Jujutsu Society's foremost Mendel. When he got ruthless, he even cursed himself out.

After roughly sorting out the book's general logic, Kana Shizumi rubbed his face and tried to brace himself before continuing to read.

All right, one more time.

The first thing Kana Shizumi saw was Kenjaku's hypothesis regarding "Cursed Objects."

If that were all, there would certainly have been no need to record it specially. From the original story, one could tell that Sukuna had already mastered the method of condensing cursed energy into his fingers and severing them to turn himself into Cursed Objects during the Heian Era, allowing him to regain the ability to act a thousand years later.

In other words—

When it came to the question of how to create a "radiation source," both Kenjaku and Sukuna had plenty to say. At the very least, both of them were professor-level figures.

What mattered were the derivative thoughts that followed.

"Simply creating Cursed Objects holds no meaning for me. I can live for a very long time without relying on such a method.

What I need is something that can break the balance between humans and Cursed Spirits... Right, perhaps something located at the midpoint would work as well?

Half-human, half-Cursed Spirit... It might be a worthwhile hypothesis."

Shaolin kung fu plus soccer—was there any potential in that?

If nothing unexpected had happened, this should have been the formative concept behind the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings.

The contents that followed detailed the entire process through which Kenjaku brought it into reality. It had to be said...

Now that he had seen the specific execution process, even Kana Shizumi, who had viewed Kenjaku with caution and even fear, felt a measure of admiration for him.

The other party had poured an enormous amount of effort and time into his research. Since there had been no reference to follow, he had essentially been feeling his way across the river by stepping on stones.

Countless attempts and failures had left behind declarations in the notebook that sounded like someone completely breaking down and giving up.

The varying pressure of the strokes also revealed shifts in his emotions... It seemed that even someone as detached as Kenjaku could feel genuine happiness at the progress and changes in his experiments.

Kenjaku in the original story had always remained calm and composed. Even when Okkotsu ambushed him and blew his head off in the end, he never let out that classic villainous roar of rage after breaking down.

Instead, he seemed to accept the fact quite calmly... which was why Kenjaku's presence and bearing had never diminished.

After all, people with no desires were the hardest to predict.

And now, Kana Shizumi had more or less come into contact with that unknown side of him.

But was that useful?

Holy shit, am I supposed to have a heart-to-heart with this thousand-year-old monster or something... No way!

While sighing inwardly, Kana Shizumi suddenly stopped flipping through the pages because he saw a description concerning himself.

"Form of Purity...

This was a unique realization based on the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings.

I originally intended to break the gap between humans and Cursed Spirits, attempting to create a more powerful individual.

But the facts proved that my line of thinking was probably wrong... The fusion of the two did not give birth to an entity beyond all standards. If I merely wanted to refine something truly powerful, this attempt itself held no meaning."

So the ultimate goal of handcrafting these half-human, half-Cursed Spirit things was to create a world boss?

Kana Shizumi scratched his head.

Wait, according to the original storyline, hadn't that goal already been achieved?

As everyone knew, jujutsu sorcerers and Cursed Spirits were inherently in a mutually competitive relationship. If one side grew stronger, the other would produce even stronger individuals to maintain the balance.

Satoru Gojo's birth had changed the world's balance, causing modern curses to grow stronger as well.

What about Yuji, then...

He ate his Cursed Womb brothers and became half-human, half-Cursed Spirit. Then he exploited a bug by using his left foot to step on his right, forcibly holding back for sixty-eight years before unleashing a world-shaking Dismantle.

At that moment, Kana Shizumi achieved enlightenment.

Kenjaku's thinking hadn't been wrong in itself—the problem had been with the execution!!!