"Satoru! Go! Jo!!"
Utahime clenched her fingers as though she meant to crush the useless megaphone, glaring at the white-haired man through gritted teeth. "You rotten bastard!"
"Don't get mad. It's only a theory."
Watching the students begin moving on the screen, Satoru Gojo crossed his legs. "Anyway, Utahime, there's something I need your help with."
Utahime frowned, wariness written across her face. "What are you getting at?"
Gojo said, "I suspect someone at Jujutsu High is colluding with cursed spirits. I'd like you to investigate the Kyoto side."
Utahime was shocked. "How is that possible?!"
Gojo held his hot tea. "First, Yuji was set up to take on a special grade mission at the Juvenile Detention Center. Then some special grade cursed spirits that understood human speech and formed alliances showed up in front of me to get themselves killed..."
"And recently, Jiahao heard from two curse users that the Higher-Ups were involved."
"They knew exactly where I was going, and even my students were under surveillance. It's hard not to suspect a mole is tipping those cursed spirits off."
His analysis was well reasoned, and Utahime's expression grew more serious. "Why come to me with this?"
Investigating the students, colleagues, and superiors she saw every day gave her a headache just thinking about it.
Gojo openly glanced at Gakuganji in the back row. "Because you're the only person in Kyoto I can trust."
"Gojo... you..."
Utahime's gratitude lasted less than a second before Gojo continued, "After all, you're so weak, Utahime. You wouldn't have the guts to work with cursed spirits anyway!"
Bang!!!
Todo blasted through the forest leading to the center of the area, snapping whole swaths of trees in half!
Bare-chested and powerfully built, Todo barreled ahead like a Dayun truck speeding down a highway, smashing out a shortcut straight to Jiahao.
"Interesting!"
With the rousing anthem "Blue Bird" ringing in his ears, Todo gazed at Jiahao standing on a high branch nearby, fierce fighting spirit blazing in his eyes. "My last Goodwill Event is really heating up!"
Bang, bang, bang!
The Kyoto students hurried down the shortcut the Todo-brand bulldozer had plowed, their expressions grim.
Flying low on her Witch's Broom, Momo Nishimiya asked, "What do we do? Should we stop Todo?"
During the half hour allotted for planning their tactics, Principal Gakuganji had ordered them to assassinate Yuji Itadori and shared some information about Jiahao.
A Grade 4 Sorcerer with special grade strength!
That single sentence had put everyone from Kyoto on edge.
Everyone except Todo... who had only grown more excited.
Her blond hair tied upright, the petite, childlike Momo Nishimiya looked at Kamo. "Panda and the others didn't look like they were joking earlier. That sorcerer called Jiahao might be just as crazy as Todo!"
"Maybe even crazier!"
Mai added from beside her, "He refused promotion to special grade. That alone proves there's something wrong with him!"
Should they stick together and assassinate Sukuna's vessel first, or stop Todo from running wild?
After a moment's thought, Kamo ordered, "Stick to the original plan. Eliminate Sukuna's vessel first!"
"It's only a Goodwill Event, after all. Surely he wouldn't kill Todo."
Kasumi Miwa looked hesitant. "But Itadori..."
"That's different."
Kamo said, "As the vessel containing the King of Curses, he could lose control at any moment. If he does, countless innocent people will die with him!"
At the other end of the forest, Itadori skidded to a stop and looked up toward the center.
Maki stopped in her tracks. "What is it? Jiahao showing up isn't exactly a surprise."
Itadori's gaze fell on the trunk of the largest tree in the center, where the bare-chested giant Todo was charging toward the top with an excited expression.
"I'm not surprised Jiahao showed up, but should we stop that Kyoto sorcerer?"
"Jiahao might not hold back against someone who picks a fight with him."
Kugisaki rolled her eyes and snapped, "What are you, a saint reincarnated? If that guy wants to get himself killed, let him. It's not like we didn't warn them!"
"Respect people's choices and stop trying to save everyone!"
Fushiguro frowned. "You see them as comrades, but they might not feel the same."
Before Fushiguro's words had even faded, several arrows blazing with cursed energy shot down from above.
Clang!
Maki reacted first, stepping in front of Itadori and sweeping her spear through a web of slashes that knocked every arrow away.
"Didn't the file say she was only a Grade 4 Sorcerer? She seems really strong!"
Kasumi Miwa's surprised voice came from the team's left.
Bang, bang!
Maki knocked aside another two bullets fired at Itadori from the right.
Mai emerged from the dense forest, revolver in hand, her gaze fixed on Maki. "It's fine. Leave this failure to me."
Above them, Kamo crouched on a tree branch, drawing his longbow and aiming at Itadori.
Panda's massive frame stood before Mechamaru, whose palms were leaking specks of bright light.
The Kyoto students had rushed down Todo's shortcut, bringing the encounter forward far sooner than expected.
"Hey!"
Kugisaki surveyed their surroundings, her voice icy. "You guys really are trying to kill Itadori!"
Since this was a Goodwill Event, Kugisaki had only planned to use a relatively harmless inflatable hammer.
But at the sight before her, she pulled a steel hammer imbued with cursed energy from her waist.
"Hmph!"
Hovering above Itadori on her Witch's Broom, Momo Nishimiya snorted. "What's so strange about jujutsu sorcerers exorcising cursed spirits?"
"You're the strange ones for treating Sukuna's vessel as a comrade!"
"Don't be so harsh. Itadori's a victim too, you know."
Standing in Mechamaru's way, Panda was still hoping to resolve the conflict through conversation.
"I have nothing against him personally, but Sukuna's vessel is a nuclear bomb that could go off at any moment!"
"As a direct descendant of the Kamo Clan, I can't turn a blind eye."
Kamo narrowed his eyes, his longbow aimed at Itadori's head. "Can any of you guarantee he'll always be able to suppress Sukuna?"
"Do you really have to wait until Sukuna revives and causes a massive tragedy before you come to your senses?"
"If Satoru Gojo hadn't insisted on having his way, he would already be dead!"
While the two sides argued, Todo finally reached the highest point after racing up the tree.
Black hair, red eyes.
A solid black, high-collared short-sleeved shirt, with a red-and-white fan emblem on the back.
White bandages wrapped around both forearms, and ninja sandals that allowed easy movement.
Instead of the Hidden Leaf's emblem, his forehead protector bore a large character for "Hao."
Atop another tree, Todo froze for a moment. "Sasuke?"
That outfit, paired with the familiar anthem...
Had the Jujutsu Goodwill Event been turned into Naruto's Chunin Exams?
Interesting!
Todo grinned. "Hey, you're Wang Jiahao, the guy who refused promotion to special grade, right?"
Looking down at the fallen leaves swirling in the wind, Jiahao spoke coldly. "Where leaves dance, Hao's spirit lives on."
"Today, I'm not Jiahao. I'm Uchiha Zuohao."
"I don't care if you're Jiahao or Zuohao. Let's fight first!"
Todo stomped down hard, and the huge tree beneath him cracked with a thunderous sound, its branches shaking wildly!
Facing Todo's heavy punch coming up from below, Jiahao sighed softly. "You're not the one I'm waiting for."
"If you want to challenge me, defeat your best friend Itadori first."
As he spoke, Jiahao braced one hand against the trunk and lifted both legs into the air. Dodging Todo's heavy punch, he swept his right leg through a semicircle with a sonic boom!
Boom!!
Todo's pupils contracted sharply. He adjusted his body in midair, curling up and crossing his arms over his head to block and disperse the force.
Boom!!
A ring of turbulent air exploded before him. For an instant, Todo couldn't even feel his hands.
He might have looked like a brute, but Todo was actually a cerebral fighter with an IQ of 530,000.
Listening to the wind howl past his ears as he fell toward the ground, Todo calculated the answer in just 0.0001 seconds.
The kick he had just taken from Jiahao was roughly as powerful as an Italian Cannon fired point-blank into his face.
But... what was that about Itadori being his best friend?
Boom!!!
The bewildered human cannonball smashed a deep crater into the ground, landing directly between the two groups.
The argument over Itadori came to an abrupt halt. The Kyoto students stared in disbelief at Todo, whose arms hung limply as he lay in the crater.
They had braced themselves somewhat, but surely he had gone down far too quickly!
It had only been a few seconds, Todo!
"Hey, is it really that surprising?"
Kugisaki nudged Fushiguro with her elbow.
"It's different. Todo isn't your average Grade 1 Sorcerer."
Watching Todo slowly rise from the crater, Fushiguro said quietly, "Last year, the curse user Suguru Geto launched an unprecedented jujutsu terrorist attack-the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons!"
"Todo single-handedly exorcised five grade 1 cursed spirits and one special grade cursed spirit during the parade in Kyoto!"
"A special grade, all by himself?!"
Kugisaki turned toward the crater, surprise flashing in her eyes. "You wouldn't know it from looking at him, but that brute's pretty strong!"
As she spoke, Kugisaki's gaze couldn't help drifting upward.
"It's just that the freak up there is even stronger!"
P.S. Todo's IQ of 530,000 is self-proclaimed and has not undergone rigorous testing.
Before you continue