Meeting Satoru Gojo

On campus.

Satoru Gojo appeared silently beside Fushiguro, both hands tucked into his pockets, looking effortlessly cool. He was also carrying souvenirs he had bought for his students.

Watching the two locked in a fierce battle, he turned to the injured Megumi Fushiguro beside him.

"What's going on?"

Only when he spoke did Fushiguro notice his arrival. "Mr. Gojo, what are you doing here?"

"I wasn't planning to come. But it's a special grade cursed object, and the higher-ups would never stop nagging if it went missing, so I thought I'd have a look around."

"So, did you find it?"

Fushiguro helplessly pointed toward the battlefield.

"Itadori already ate Ryomen Sukuna's finger. The other boy appeared out of nowhere. He doesn't have a trace of cursed energy, but he's terrifying. His fighting style is incredibly wild."

Gojo rubbed his chin, studying Araki Itsuki and the sinister giant scythe in his hands with curiosity.

"No cursed energy at all, yet such terrifying physical abilities. Judging by his weapon, he looks more like a cursed tool maker."

Cursed tools were weapons that carried curses and cursed energy of their own. They were effective against curses and could injure cursed spirits without being infused with cursed energy.

Fushiguro shook his head. "This is my first time seeing one, but there's no way the weapon in his hands is a cursed tool."

Gojo gave Fushiguro a surprised look. He was about to ask why when a savage, bloodthirsty demonic voice rang out.

"Witness the great wheel rolling onward! Witness Rhaast!"

Gojo instinctively lifted one corner of his black blindfold, revealing a brilliant blue eye as he stared uncertainly at the sinister giant scythe.

"A scythe... is talking?"

Fushiguro nodded with a wry smile. "That's right. That weapon is alive. We've never encountered anything like this before."

Gojo smiled confidently. "It's fine. Leave it to me."

Fushiguro hurriedly stepped in front of him, then explained that Yuji Itadori could suppress Ryomen Sukuna's soul and control his own body.

"Even if he can serve as a vessel, jujutsu regulations still call for Itadori's execution. But I don't want him to die."

"Personal feelings?"

Fushiguro recalled Yuji Itadori leaping down from the building without hesitation, fighting a cursed spirit to save others. He answered firmly:

"Yes, personal feelings. Please find a way."

Gojo laughed and agreed without the slightest concern for what the higher-ups might think. "Since my dear student is asking, leave it to me!"

Then he asked about Araki Itsuki.

"What about the boy with the giant scythe?"

Fushiguro hesitated. "He was helping others too. Sorry for the trouble, but please find a way for him as well."

"They're fighting now because Araki wanted to see what the King of Curses was made of."

"What a crazy kid. He might turn out to be another special grade sorcerer."

Meanwhile, on the battlefield.

Araki Itsuki noticed Gojo's arrival and knew the fight was about to end.

He took back control of his body and launched one final, ferocious assault.

"Giant Scythe Sweep!"

Araki Itsuki surged forward, then twisted at the waist. His giant scythe traced a crescent and slashed toward Ryomen Sukuna in an instant.

The surrounding buildings were sliced clean through the middle, their upper sections sliding off.

Somewhat speechless, Ryomen Sukuna hurriedly used his cursed technique to block the slash.

"Dismantle!"

He had already figured it out. Araki Itsuki's combat skills were worse than those of some idle street punk. He was just flailing around like a complete amateur.

It wasn't that Araki Itsuki hadn't wanted to dodge his earlier attacks. He didn't know a damn thing about fighting and couldn't predict the direction or trajectory of Sukuna's attacks. All he could do was take the hits head-on, then strike back.

Right now, Sukuna felt like a seasoned master being battered by a strong young man's wild punches.

And the brat had even claimed that trading flesh-and-blood blows was a man's world. Being bad was being bad. Why make excuses?

Yet just as Ryomen Sukuna was about to hand control of the body back to Yuji Itadori rather than waste any more time on this pointless fight-

"Hahahaha!"

Araki Itsuki suddenly threw back his head and laughed, his expression delighted and arrogant.

"With attack power like that, you've earned my recognition!"

"Of everyone I've fought, no one can rival you in jujutsu. I, Araki Itsuki, declare you the strongest!!!"

The entire battlefield fell silent.

Ryomen Sukuna's expression instantly turned cold. Praise from a weakling was an insult to him.

One of his defining traits was his hatred of people who overestimated themselves or tried to order him around without knowing their place.

Especially brats like this, who had no combat skills and could only throw wild punches.

"I'll kill you."

Ryomen Sukuna formed a hand sign before his eyes and immediately unleashed his domain, intent on tearing Araki Itsuki into pieces.

"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!"

A murderous aura instantly flooded the battlefield. A demonic shrine built from the bones of countless creatures appeared behind him, and thick blood enveloped the entire space.

Fushiguro looked deeply shocked, while Gojo's expression turned intrigued.

"An open domain?!"

Modern jujutsu sorcerers all used closed domains. While imposing a sure-hit, sure-kill effect, they continuously reinforced the barrier technique from within, which left those domains extremely easy to break from the outside.

Although an open domain had no outer barrier shell, it still covered a defined area, and its caster could adjust that area at will.

The instant the domain expanded, countless slashes appeared all around Araki Itsuki. There was no escape, nowhere to dodge. They were poised to cut him into a thousand pieces.

And yet.

Araki Itsuki gave a mysterious smile. "You've already been marked."

Rhaast let out a vicious laugh. A savage red radiance flared, enveloping Araki Itsuki before instantly transforming him into a mass of red light that could neither be stopped, targeted, nor harmed!

Ignoring every slash, he plunged into Ryomen Sukuna's body.

"Rift Shadow!"

Rhaast could invade the body of someone he had injured, become untargetable, then inflict damage.

Before Gojo and the others' eyes, the building beneath Araki Itsuki's feet was instantly slashed apart, exploding into countless fragments that filled the air.

Araki Itsuki, however, transformed into a mass of red light and brutally forced his way into Ryomen Sukuna's body, deftly avoiding all damage.

Splurt!

Countless rays of red light shone from Ryomen Sukuna's body. His entire chest was torn open, and Araki Itsuki leaped out of the ruptured cavity, drenched in blood and holding his sinister giant scythe.

"Those two have terrifying abilities. Sir, can you..."

Gojo rubbed his chin and said calmly, "Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one."

"I'll win."

Boundless confidence lay beneath his calm tone.

Elsewhere.

Ryomen Sukuna had already healed his body. The brat before him couldn't possibly use that untargetable move indefinitely, and he was preparing to attack again.

Araki Itsuki waved a hand. "Itadori, switch back. We're done."

Ryomen Sukuna's expression instantly twisted with fury. "Damn it, we're not finished!"

"I can't take over. Just who is this brat called Itadori?!"

His sharp, pointed black nails vanished, along with the tattoos on the crown of his head, down his cheeks to his chin, across his nose, from his chest over his shoulders to his back, on his abdomen, in rings around his wrists, and the numerous markings on his shoulders.

The guileless Itadori returned. "Oh, Araki, are you okay?"

"Of course. I've got a clear idea of how strong I am now."

Gojo appeared beside them in an instant with Fushiguro, then circled Itadori with keen interest.

"You really can control it."

Itadori rubbed his head. "He's a little noisy, but I can switch control of my body freely."

Meanwhile, Araki Itsuki was also sizing up Gojo.

The strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the modern age, the first-year homeroom teacher at Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu High School, a special grade sorcerer born into the Gojo Clan of the Three Great Families, and the clan's de facto representative.

"Hey, hey, hey. Being over 190 centimeters tall is a little unfair, isn't it?"

Gojo was certainly handsome, but which of you readers wasn't just as dashing and debonair?

With both hands in his pockets, Gojo smiled confidently. "I do feel like I stand head and shoulders above the rest."

Seeing that neither had any intention of fighting, Rhaast fixed his sinister single eye on Gojo and grumbled, "I want to tear open his flesh and taste his blood."

Araki Itsuki gave an awkward smile. As a good person, how could he say nasty things about someone right to their face?

"All right, all right, Rhaast. You'll get your fill of violence. Go back for now."

Ignoring Rhaast's protests, he sent him back to the Void Realm as though shooing away a child, leaving him with the other slumbering Death Omen Stars.

"Mr. Gojo, I want to join Jujutsu High, just like Itadori."

Gojo smiled faintly. "This brat became the vessel for a special grade cursed object. He's facing execution."

"Oh, come on. A good teacher like you wouldn't give up on a prodigy who only comes along once in a thousand years. Not only can his body withstand it, he can easily maintain his sense of self even against Ryomen Sukuna."

Gojo stared at the smiling Araki Itsuki. How does this kid know what I'm thinking?

When Fushiguro had pleaded for Itadori, Gojo had already decided how to handle him: placate the higher-ups by using him as a vessel to collect Ryomen Sukuna, then bring him back to Jujutsu High.

A living cursed tool, strange abilities, tremendous strength.

Everything about Araki Itsuki was something Gojo had never seen before. As the strongest, with a personality that followed his own whims, he looked forward to something new.

"But why do you want to join Jujutsu High?"

Araki Itsuki patted his bloodstained chest, his expression brimming with righteousness.

"To save lives and protect this planet, of course!"

Fushiguro's mouth twitched. Looking at the devastated campus, which had practically been razed to the ground, he couldn't help retorting, "You haven't protected a damn thing!"

Naturally, Gojo didn't believe him either. "Tell the truth."

Araki Itsuki licked his lips, his predatory gaze locking onto Itadori-or rather, Ryomen Sukuna inside him.

"The negative emotions on ordinary cursed spirits are like noodles boiled in plain water. They taste awful. But Ryomen Sukuna was the King of Curses a thousand years ago, a being who slaughtered his way through the entire golden age of jujutsu."

"The cursed emotions he gives off are intense, pure, and utterly undisguised."

"Just one finger tastes this good. I'm so high I can barely stand it!"

A savage gleam shone in Araki Itsuki's eyes, and even Itadori instinctively stepped back.

Then Araki Itsuki declared wildly, "I'm going to help Ryomen Sukuna find all twenty fingers, then savor that pure, exquisite flavor!"

After just a brief clash, the negative emotions of ordinary cursed spirits had nearly made Araki Itsuki retch. They were simply too foul and crude, as tasteless as chewing wax.

Unless he was desperately hungry, he could hardly stomach them.

But following Itadori's path would bring countless delicious cursed spirits right to his doorstep. What could be better?

He rubbed his chin and wondered aloud, "Can only special grade cursed spirits excite me?"

Gojo was also someone who did whatever he pleased. Finding this amusing, he laughed.

"I'm in."