The Higher-ups Shut Up

After Chiyo Shin finished demonstrating his cursed technique, an awkward silence settled over the group.

After thinking it over, Chiyo Shin decided it would be best if he spoke first to break the ice.

"Um, I still don't know your name, senpai," Chiyo Shin asked tentatively.

"Oh! Oh? Maki already has someone she likes, you know. Trying to chat her up won't work, junior." As an Okkotsu-and-Maki shipper, Panda responded to Chiyo Shin with a cheeky grin.

Maki was still absorbed in the ability Chiyo Shin had just demonstrated.

Hearing Panda's words, she froze for two seconds before roaring, "Panda! Do you have a death wish?"

"You're getting embarrassed and angry because I hit a nerve," Panda said smugly.

"Salmon," said Toge Inumaki.

"Huh? Inumaki, why are you being just as annoying as Panda?" Maki snapped.

"Even Inumaki agrees! Chiyo, join the Okkotsu-and-Maki shipping club!" Panda wiggled around where he stood, his tone infuriatingly smug.

"Panda!"

Unable to settle their differences with words, Panda and Maki started fighting again.

"You all get along so well," Chiyo Shin remarked.

"Salmon," said Toge Inumaki.

Jujutsu Headquarters.

Zenin Bing: "Satoru Gojo bypassed headquarters to apply for Special Grade Sorcerer status for a boy."

Kamo Yi: "A complete breach of protocol!"

Gojo Jia: "You're making far too much of this. So what if he's Special Grade? If Satoru Gojo acknowledges his strength, he can't be weak."

Zenin Bing: "He still shouldn't have bypassed headquarters! Where does that leave our authority? This is far too reckless!"

Gojo Jia: "Then what do you suggest? Can you actually punish him?"

Kamo Yi: "..."

Zenin Bing: "..."

After a busy morning, Chiyo Shin returned to his dorm from the training field.

Chiyo Shin had learned a little about his second-year seniors: Maki, an expert with cursed tools, and Panda, who was cheeky but incredibly strong.

There was also the calm, composed Inumaki, and Okkotsu, whom he had yet to meet.

They all have such distinct personalities.

I'm liking this place more and more.

Lying on his bed, he drew First Generation Moon. He knew nothing about using cursed tools, so he would have to find some time to ask Maki for advice.

While Chiyo Shin was leisurely enjoying his afternoon, someone appeared out of thin air in his dorm. Sure enough, it was Satoru Gojo.

The sudden arrival startled Chiyo Shin. Once he recognized the intruder, he snapped, "You blindfolded bastard!"

"Hey, hey, don't get mad, Chiyo. Come out with me for a bit." Satoru Gojo was as flippant as ever.

After calming down, Chiyo Shin asked, "What for?"

"The higher-ups at headquarters have doubts about your Special Grade status. They want me to bring you over to prove yourself. It's simple-all you have to do is beat three Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers," Satoru Gojo said casually.

"Oh, I see. Let's go, then." After hearing the basic explanation, Chiyo Shin agreed.

"Hahaha, not a moment's hesitation! Keep that spirit up, Chiyo." Satoru Gojo was delighted.

Satoru Gojo stepped forward and placed a hand on Chiyo Shin's shoulder. The two vanished instantly.

Beneath headquarters.

Kamo Yi asked his servant, "Is everything ready?"

The servant immediately replied, "Yes, sir. The talismans have all been handed out."

"Hmph. I refuse to believe he can emerge unscathed against three Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers," Kamo Yi said darkly.

"This place is huge!" Chiyo Shin, unfamiliar with such sights, looked around everywhere.

Satoru Gojo merely smiled at Chiyo Shin's reaction.

After they walked roughly two hundred meters through the underground space, the view suddenly opened up.

Five raised pavilions surrounded an open area in the center. Looking up, he saw five screens above the pavilions.

Satoru Gojo patted Chiyo Shin's shoulder. "Teach them a proper lesson. No need to hold back. I'll head up first."

His loud voice carried through the space.

"Yes, sir," Chiyo Shin replied firmly.

Once Satoru Gojo went up,

Zenin Bing slowly said, "Then let us begin. Whether you live or die is of no concern."

As his words fell, three people jumped down from pavilions in different directions.

One was bald, one had a mustache, and the third was a middle-aged woman.

Chiyo Shin watched the three begin moving their lips as soon as they landed, each speaking to themselves.

He immediately sensed trouble. They were revealing their cursed techniques-the binding vow created by revealing a technique would greatly increase its power.

But why weren't any of them making a sound?

Puzzled, Chiyo Shin searched through his memories from a thousand years ago for any mention of this, but unfortunately found nothing. Had this effect only appeared after the head of the Qin family died?

While Chiyo Shin was still puzzling over it,

Satoru Gojo saw everything clearly from above. They were Silencing Talismans: they allowed the users to reveal their techniques without letting the intended listener hear them. Satoru Gojo looked coldly at the higher-ups. These people would be better off dead.

But the situation on the field changed in an instant, leaving Chiyo Shin little time to think.

The bald man's attack was already upon him-a massive fireball roared toward Chiyo Shin.

A wave of heat blasted his face.

"Annihilation!"

Cursed energy instantly coated Chiyo Shin's hands. With a light sweep, he destroyed the enormous fireball before him.

But his opponents gave him no chance to catch his breath, exploiting the brief moment he had spent dealing with the fireball.

The mustached man had already reached Chiyo Shin's left side, both hands shaped like guns and aimed at his head.

Danger!!

Chiyo Shin instantly stomped down hard. The earth fractured into chunks, and the ground rippled outward in waves, sweeping the mustached man away amid tumbling clods of dirt.

But before Chiyo Shin could regain his balance, a heavy punch sent him flying. It was the middle-aged woman.

"Fuck, you sneaky bastards!"

Chiyo Shin still had too little actual combat experience. Struggling to withstand their relentless attacks, he swore in fury.

Whoosh, whoosh.

Two jets of water struck the airborne Chiyo Shin from a tricky angle.

Unfortunately for his attackers, they did little damage. The moment he was knocked away, Chiyo Shin had enveloped his entire body in the Collapse Cursed Technique. Anything that approached him would be destroyed, no matter what it was.

"You almost dragged me into your rhythm."

Chiyo Shin steadied his mind, and his figure vanished the next instant.

When he reappeared, he was already in front of the mustached man. Putting all his strength into it, Chiyo Shin slammed his fist, packed with compressed vibrations, into the man's body. A teeth-grating crack of breaking bones echoed throughout the underground space.

A fist-sized hole now pierced the mustached man's body. His bones were shattered, and he was barely breathing.

"You two are next."

Chiyo Shin vanished again.

After witnessing the mustached man's gruesome state, the bald man released flames in a ring around himself, shielding himself within layer upon layer of scorching heat.

His flames burned so hot that the ground had begun melting into magma.

But mere flames could hardly stop Chiyo Shin.

The Collapse Cursed Technique kept working around Chiyo Shin's body, allowing him to walk through the flames step by step until he stood before the bald man.

"Hah! You fell for it, brat!"

As the bald man spoke, a blazing light burst from his hands and instantly engulfed Chiyo Shin.

"Hahaha! I won! The million is mine!"

"Idiot."

A voice came from within the light.

"How is that possible?" The bald man's composure crumbled.

Chiyo Shin pushed through the light and approached the dumbstruck bald man.

"Annihilation!!"

A single hook imbued with Annihilation obliterated the bald man's head.

"One left!" Chiyo Shin slowly walked toward the remaining woman.

"I'm done! I'm done! I don't want the money anymore! Let me go!" Seeing Chiyo Shin approach, the middle-aged woman dropped to her knees, sobbing and screaming.

"You should've come prepared."

Chiyo Shin stopped walking and punched through the air. Rolling waves surged through the ground in the direction of his fist and struck the woman. Her cries cut off abruptly.

Clap, clap, clap, clap. "What a show!" Satoru Gojo applauded and cheered, utterly ignoring the higher-ups' ugly expressions.

"Well? Does he qualify as Special Grade?" Satoru Gojo asked, still clapping.

"Yes. How could he not? You can leave. Headquarters acknowledges his status." Kamo Yi had the ugliest expression of all, but he had no choice but to say it.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to do that from the start? Chiyo, let's go." Satoru Gojo flashed to Chiyo Shin's side and vanished with him.

After the two left, curses rang out from behind all five screens.