Mount Hida

He remembered thinking, when he first transmigrated, that Kenjaku or a group of other Jujutsu Sorcerers would join forces to kill him two years later. Only after integrating the memory fragments did he learn that it was all to set this thousand-year plan in motion.

And, more importantly, to cross a thousand years of time.

Sukuna climbed onto Heian-kyo's low city wall. Honestly, it was only a little taller than he was.

Looking back, he saw that the enormous statue of Yuki commissioned by the Emperor-oh, no, the former Emperor-to curry favor with him was still unfinished.

For some reason, this wasteful project that drained both the people's labor and their wealth had not been halted.

Beside Yuki stood a stone statue of him, carved in a cross-legged sitting posture. It bore roughly a seventy-percent resemblance to him.

Tengen, even if you killed the Emperor and the clan heads, you couldn't change what already happened. At the very least, all those dead Barbarian People and ordinary citizens can't come back to life. Sukuna glanced back one last time, then left with Uraume.

Mount Hida was where Sukuna had been born. No one knew who had given birth to him, not even Sukuna himself.

If I wasn't born from a human, could I have been born from a Cursed Spirit? Sukuna rubbed his chin. It was possible, after all. Wasn't there a perfect example a thousand years later?

Wasn't Choso created by Kenjaku using Kamo Kenwa's body?

And he was the product of a union between a human and a Cursed Spirit.

Oh! Wait, why did that thought suddenly occur to me? This body of mine is absolutely, one hundred percent human. There's no question about that. Sukuna shook his head, shaking the thought away.

It must be because I'm about to return to modern society. I've been thinking about all sorts of nonsense lately. What a mess.

He was actually questioning whether he was human. He had never entertained such a thought before.

This is getting dangerous. I'd better hurry up and go to sleep. Everything will be fine after a good sleep.

On the way to Mount Hida, Sukuna went through this little inner drama, adding a bit of amusement to an otherwise boring journey.

Fortunately, Uraume could not hear his thoughts. Otherwise, the persona Sukuna had worked so hard to establish would have collapsed.

They arrived quickly. Traveling at the height of his power, Sukuna's speed was easy to imagine. Besides, little Japan hardly had much land to begin with.

Even by car, one could tour the entire country in a day and still have plenty of time to spare.

"My lord, we have arrived. There are only three months left until our appointed time. I'm afraid you'll have to make do with resting in the cave until then."

Despite her words, Uraume, who combined grace, beauty, and culinary skill, had already prepared plenty of things during her previous visit.

There might not have been any ingredients, but there was at least a soft tatami mat.

Anything else they lacked could simply be stolen from the nearby villages. In her eyes, that was all those people were good for anyway.

Sukuna waved a hand. He had not come here on vacation; how could he not understand that? "It's fine. You've already done very well. Now we only need to wait for time to pass."

Mount Hida looked quite distinctive from the outside. There were no other peaks around it, making it a solitary mountain, and very few trees grew on its slopes-just a handful scattered here and there. From a distance, the entire mountain looked black, a color the Japanese regarded as an ill omen.

The two soon found the enormous cave.

Although it looked like an ordinary cave, it had once been a limestone cavern long ago.

But after choosing this place, Sukuna had used flames to evaporate all the moisture inside, and Uraume had completely frozen every flowing water source with Frost Calm.

After a long period of change, the place had taken on its present, distinctive appearance.

That was merely a flattering way of putting it. A perfectly good cave had been burned pitch-black. No matter how much they tried to make it look nice, there was only so much they could do.

Uraume entered the cave first. By the time Sukuna stepped inside, she had already cleaned the tatami mat.

I see, I see. When it comes to looking after someone, Uraume really is the best.

"Uraume, I'll spend the remaining three months dividing my soul. I'll leave you to guard me through this final stretch."

Sukuna offered a few simple instructions that hardly needed saying. Uraume would have taken care of everything even without being told.

She knew that this would be Sukuna's weakest period. Nothing could be allowed to go wrong.

If anyone dared try anything at such a critical moment, she would show them all just how powerful she was as the Special Grade Sorcerer "Frozen Star"!

Sukuna had already seated himself cross-legged on the tatami and closed all four eyes. His four hands formed hand signs, and throughout this process, he could perceive nothing of the outside world.

Seeing that Sukuna could no longer sense his surroundings, Uraume quietly approached and knelt before him, extending a slender, delicate hand.

As a Special Grade Sorcerer, she had never feared anyone in her life. Yet as she reached out, her fingertips trembled slightly.

"Phew..." Uraume let out a long breath, her gaze growing resolute. She placed her hand against Sukuna's face and gently stroked it.

Emotion surged in her eyes like waves crashing against a boulder. At that moment, she could no longer restrain her feelings.

She inhaled sharply. Her hand slid gently downward until both arms were wrapped around Sukuna's neck, her face buried against it as she greedily breathed in his scent.

Her normally frosty face was flushed, and her eyes gradually grew hazy. She looked even more intoxicated than Yorozu had back then.

Amid a soft rustling, Uraume placed one hand on her own body while the other kept caressing Sukuna.

For everyday convenience, Uraume wore a men's kimono, with a white inner layer and a black outer robe.

The kimono she normally kept so neat was pulled open by her own hand. One hand slipped into her collar and traveled downward, a touch that would ordinarily have been unremarkable.

Now, however, wherever that hand touched brought a series of spasms, and soft whimpers occasionally escaped her lips.

She had also rumpled Sukuna's kimono with her caresses. Her restless hand kept roaming over his body, and every so often, Uraume leaned closer to breathe in his scent deeply, each breath adding a hint of satisfaction to her expression.

Uraume's kimono had been pulled completely open, leaving the front of her body fully exposed. Unfortunately, no one was there to appreciate it.

(Ten thousand words omitted here!)

Forcing herself past the weakness and soreness in her body, Uraume still went over to Sukuna and carefully straightened his white kimono. A close observer would have noticed that a few of her fingers seemed somewhat different.

Even after fixing his kimono, Uraume could not restrain herself. Her hand lingered on Sukuna's body for a long, long time.

She did not know how much time had passed. To Uraume, it felt like a century. Forcing down the boiling emotions in her eyes, she picked up her Samurai Sword and walked toward the cave entrance.

During this time, Sukuna belonged to her alone. She would never allow anyone near him.

"Hiss! So this is what it feels like to tear apart your soul?"

Within his Innate Domain, Sukuna's soul was being torn apart continuously. More precisely, he was using his own Cleave to forcibly divide it.

Each time he split off a piece of his soul, a finger fell from the four hands forming hand signs, and the soul fragment drifted into it.

Gradually, even the pain turned to numbness. He no longer knew how much time had passed, as though he had lost the ability to perceive its passage. This, too, was a consequence of his incomplete soul.

Outside, Uraume held Sukuna's body tightly. Each finger that fell was stored in a wooden box she had made from nearby timber. There was nothing special about those boxes, let alone anything that could conceal Cursed Energy or Cursed Residue.

Over all those days, she had lost count of how many Cursed Spirits she had exorcised after they followed the scent there.

Time ticked by, and before long, a full two and a half months had passed. Eighteen of Sukuna's Fingers had fallen off, right on schedule.

"My lord, we're almost there. I look forward to our next meeting!"

Uraume leaned quietly against Sukuna, spending that final half month with him.

All of Sukuna's Fingers had fallen off, leaving his four hands bare. A layer of corpse wax had naturally formed over his entire body.

[Immortality]

Uraume looked at Sukuna one final time. Then she closed her eyes, and this body, too, lost its life.

Uraume had undergone Incarnation directly within this body. Once her soul left it, the body naturally died.

So that she could remain beside Sukuna even after death, she died pressed almost tightly against his back.

Time passed in silence, and Sukuna's Fingers remained stored within the cave.

Until a young girl entered, glanced at the two lifeless bodies, and lightly waved her hand, taking out all twenty perfectly preserved Sukuna's Fingers.

After she had gone far away, Sukuna's body suddenly seemed to move again. And yet, perhaps it had not moved at all.