Summer, 2006. Half a year after Sakurada Niji enrolled.
Over those six months, Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, and Sakurada Niji had successfully become Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers, thanks to recommendations from Grade 1 Sorcerers affiliated with the Gojo Clan.
Sakurada Niji knew the Hidden Inventory Arc would probably begin that year, so he had never let up. With Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto as his sparring partners and Shoko treating his injuries, he had kept developing his Cursed Technique.
He had also made great strides in close combat. Getting beaten up every day would do that.
Besides that, he had learned the New Shadow Style's basic swordsmanship, Simple Domain, and sword-drawing techniques. Although he would not encounter opponents capable of Domain Expansion at this stage, he still wanted to devote every ounce of his energy to improving his combat strength.
Last month, through the Gojo Clan's connections, Sakurada Niji had bought his first Cursed Tool to complement the sword-drawing technique he had developed based on the New Shadow Style.
After setting aside the money he sent his parents, he had saved around one hundred million yen.
He had borrowed two hundred million yen from Satoru Gojo before he could afford [Skyward Support], which cost three hundred million yen even after the discount.
Of course, he had named it himself.
[Skyward Support] was a short, straight sword sixty centimeters long. Its blade was matte black, with a frosted texture that reflected no light. The hilt was wrapped in black stingray skin, slightly rough to the touch.
Its special ability allowed it to ignore most resistance when swung, and as long as Cursed Energy was channeled into it, it would never slip from his hand.
The weapon's ability was an excellent match for Sakurada Niji's newly developed sword-drawing technique.
The abilities Sakurada Niji had developed but not yet fully mastered would remain a secret for now.
What he had fully mastered were extension techniques, Cursed Energy Binding Vows, Cursed Energy diffusion, and a series of other skills essential to a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer.
He could now impose a Binding Vow on himself, sacrificing his technique's scope for a set period-meaning he could no longer fix "all things" in place-in exchange for stronger control over one specific thing.
After using it, Sakurada Niji would specify one kind of thing to fix in place next. Both the duration and strength of his technique's hold on it would rise to roughly 150 percent of their original levels.
Combined with the effect of Revealing One's Hand, this allowed Sakurada Niji to gain a substantial boost in combat strength for a limited time.
That night, Sakurada Niji lay in bed, irritated by the ceaseless chirping of cicadas outside his window. Just yesterday, the notice announcing Masamichi Yaga's promotion to principal had arrived.
That meant the Hidden Inventory Arc was about to begin.
He kept turning over every possibility. Too much time had passed, and he could not be sure the information he remembered was still accurate. Besides, many events in the original story had no specific dates. That robbed him of the initiative, leaving him no choice but to prepare as much as he could in advance.
Even though I've done everything I can to improve, facing Toji Fushiguro-the Heavenly Tyrant, unique even among those with Heavenly Restriction-feels like reaching the end of my life. I wonder whether my technique can control him.
After all, the author described Toji as someone who transcended Cursed Energy.
Sakurada Niji could only go over every piece of information he remembered, trying to find the best possible solution.
Buying Toji Fushiguro off and getting him to abandon this job sounds pretty simple. But there's a very strong chance Kenjaku is the one behind it.
To fulfill his thousand-year-old wish, Kenjaku needs Tengen's assimilation to fail, the Six Eyes to be sealed away-he already has the Prison Realm-and a body with Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
According to Tengen in the original story, "The Cursed Energy system follows some unseen law. But through the power of his restriction, which left him with absolutely zero Cursed Energy, Toji escaped the cycle of cause and effect. His intervention shattered the fate connecting Tengen, the Star Plasma Vessel, and the Six Eyes."
Judging by the outcome, Kenjaku benefited the most from the mission to assassinate the Star Plasma Vessel. It caused Tengen's assimilation to fail, made Satoru Gojo the strongest, and shattered Suguru Geto's convictions. This 'accident' handed Kenjaku almost every condition his plan required.
And of all that, the only thing Kenjaku didn't anticipate was Satoru Gojo grasping Reverse Cursed Technique on the brink of death.
Toji getting his hands on the Inverted Spear of Heaven is suspicious, too.
Here's a bold guess: Kenjaku was the mastermind behind Toji's assassination of the Star Plasma Vessel. The original story mentioned that Kenjaku killed the Star Plasma Vessel several times, but whenever Tengen needed to assimilate, a Star Plasma Vessel would appear, and the assimilation would succeed.
So this time, he found Toji Fushiguro, who was free of Cursed Energy's constraints, and incited or controlled the Time Vessel Association to hire someone to assassinate the Star Plasma Vessel. He even found a way to put the Inverted Spear of Heaven in Toji's hands to deal with the Six Eyes.
As we are now, we're nowhere near strong enough to match Kenjaku, who's lurking in the shadows and colluding with more than half the Jujutsu Association.
The worst-case scenario is that Satoru Gojo doesn't grow stronger, and we can't stop Kenjaku, who controls more than half of Jujutsu Society. The ending would become this: Satoru Gojo, without having awakened Reverse Cursed Technique, faces the four great Special Grade Cursed Spirits, and once Sukuna emerges, no one can hold him off for even a moment.
At this point, I have every reason to suspect that Kenjaku planted the convictions Geto has held all this time.
I wonder whether Geto has noticed anything wrong. I have to talk to him. There's too little I can do alone.
But how do I explain where my information came from? I can't exactly say I was flipping through a book for fun and suddenly discovered Kenjaku's existence...
But I can't be sure what Tengen said was right, either...
Sakurada Niji felt he had wracked his brains as hard as he could. Unfortunately, he was no master strategist. All he could do was make his choices through a simple process of elimination.
"So what I need to do now is follow the plot for the time being. I don't know what I'm really capable of as an 'outsider,' or how far I can go."
After thinking for who knew how long, Sakurada Niji drifted off without realizing it.
The next day, Sakurada Niji abruptly sat up, pressing a hand to his chest as he felt his heart pounding.
I dreamed about Geto with stitches across his forehead and Gojo with only half his body left again...
"When will these days finally end...? My hair..." Sakurada Niji stared at the large clump of hair that had fallen out into his hand.
"Even if I successfully stop Toji, what good will it do? Gojo and Geto won't let Tengen assimilate Riko Amanai. Following that logic, does it mean the Six Eyes, who's also part of that fate, can break it too? And that in this particular fate, Tengen's assimilation is bound to fail?"
"Ugh, this is so frustrating. I'll just let things take their course... Everything's destined in some unseen way, anyway."
An hour later, Sakurada Niji trudged into the classroom with dark circles under his eyes. Looking at the three people laughing and fooling around inside, he seemed to realize what he should do.
"Morning..." Sakurada Niji greeted the three listlessly.
"...Niji, what's wrong...? You need to get enough sleep..." Shoko came over and patted his head.
"Shoko~ Clearly, Sakura-chan's suffering from a lack of sweets! Here~ Have a bite~" Satoru Gojo picked up the edamame cream daifuku he had already bitten into and looked ready to stuff it into Sakurada Niji's mouth.
"Niji, is there something you can't figure out?" Suguru Geto recalled the sound of someone pounding on a wall the previous night.
"Thanks, everyone. I've just had too much on my mind..."
All three were a little bewildered.
With a rattle, the classroom door slid open. Masamichi Yaga entered and assigned the four of them a mission-the very mission Sakurada Niji least wanted to hear.
"Mei Mei and Utahime from Kyoto Jujutsu High lost contact during a Jujutsu Sorcerer assessment mission. Two days have passed, and we still haven't heard anything from them. You'll be taking over this mission now."
Before you continue