"Is it really possible?"
Suguru Geto showered alone in a public bathhouse, bracing his hand against the wall and resting his head limply on it.
"Could Ze's dream really create a world without cursed spirits?"
"What if all humans became jujutsu sorcerers? Or if non-sorcerers were forced to evolve..."
A chill settled in Suguru Geto's heart. That extreme idea had surfaced again, but he immediately pushed it out of his mind.
He returned to his off-campus home and lay down on the large bed.
He weakly lifted his eyes toward the group photo on the table, then drifted into a deep sleep.
The next day, Suguru Geto accompanied Yu Haibara and Nanami to their mission site.
Suguru Geto easily subdued the cursed spirit born from faith in the Earth God, saving Yu Haibara, who would otherwise have died in this incident.
"That thing was a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit?!"
Yu Haibara looked at Suguru Geto with admiration. "Thank goodness you were here, Geto!
"Otherwise, we might both have died here! Right, Nanami?"
The young Nanami remained silent.
"Shouldn't you be thanking Ze?" Suguru Geto smiled gently. "He was the one who asked me to come along with you."
Without Ze's warning, both of them might have lost their lives.
Suguru Geto looked at the cursed spirit orb in his hand. This time, he swallowed it without the slightest hesitation.
Tasting that familiar, revolting flavor again, Suguru Geto felt deeply conflicted.
With his friends keeping him company from time to time, Suguru Geto had not yet reached the point of no return.
Being a sorcerer is a long marathon. If the road ends in mountains of my companions' corpses and rivers of their blood, what am I supposed to do?
Ze, Gojo, what's happening to me?
A month later, it was September 23, 2007.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Suguru Geto stood before a makeshift cell, his brows furrowed.
Looking at the two little girls trembling in each other's arms, he kept rubbing his brow with his right hand.
"Those two aren't right in the head!"
A fat man beside Suguru Geto stared at the girls with disgust. "They're always attacking the villagers with their freakish powers!"
"I've already eliminated the culprit behind these incidents..."
"My grandson was nearly killed by those two, too..."
A woman failed to notice Suguru Geto's increasingly grim expression and shouted at the two little girls.
"That was because he..." Nanako summoned her courage and shouted back.
"Shut up, monsters!"
The woman snapped at the two girls, "Your parents were just the same! We should have killed you the moment you were born!"
Suguru Geto's heart was torn. Were the non-sorcerers he had always protected truly this ugly?
Non-sorcerers wanted Riko assassinated, so I sent her abroad... and now non-sorcerers are abusing two innocent children who awakened their talent as sorcerers, treating them like demons. Are these really the people I've been protecting?
Sorcerers exorcise cursed spirits. Sorcerers protect non-sorcerers. Non-sorcerers produce cursed spirits. Cursed spirits kill sorcerers...
At that moment, Suguru Geto seemed to understand something. He fell silent for only a moment.
Let it out... these two children suffered because of these people's ignorance. I can't stand by and do nothing.
Suguru Geto turned toward the two villagers with a gentle smile. "Everyone, why don't we step outside?"
"Where are you planning to take them, Geto?" a cold voice asked. "Or are you planning to get rid of them?"
Suguru Geto's eyes widened. He stared at the figure in disbelief, then smiled bitterly.
"Ze, I really can't anymore..."
"Who the hell are you?" the fat man shouted at Ze Zenin.
"..."
Ze Zenin said nothing. He teleported in front of the man and drove his lightning-cloaked hand through his heart.
"Ah!"
Before the man could even finish screaming, he slowly collapsed.
"You... how dare you kill him?!" The woman beside Suguru Geto panicked.
Frowning in disgust, Ze Zenin instantly activated his Rinnegan's illusion. Within it, his purple figure pierced the woman's chest.
Ze Zenin was by no means someone who enjoyed killing.
If he killed merely to vent his anger or because someone had offended him, how would he be any different from Sukuna?
After all, Sasuke had turned on Orochimaru not only because he refused to surrender his body, but also because he despised Orochimaru's disregard for life.
But that did not mean he had no temper. Anyone who treated two children so cruelly was no better than a beast.
The vicious woman collapsed to the ground. She would spend the rest of her life bedridden and mindless, no different from being dead.
"Let those two children out. Let's go outside and have a proper talk."
Ze Zenin pointed toward the door and spoke calmly.
Suguru Geto said nothing, nor did he blame Ze Zenin for killing someone, because that was precisely what he himself had intended.
He summoned a cursed spirit to destroy the cell, then took the two little girls by the hand and followed Ze Zenin.
Neither man spoke along the way.
Ze Zenin and Suguru Geto stood in a wide, open area outside the mountain village.
Looking up, they could see the splendor of the sky in all its glory.
"Could you two wait for us over there?"
Ze Zenin crouched down and smiled at Nanako and Mimiko. "We just need to talk about something small. We'll come get you soon."
"Okay..." The two little girls nodded blankly, glanced at Suguru Geto, and went off into the distance.
Ze Zenin and Suguru Geto stood facing each other.
Eventually, Suguru Geto broke the silence first. With a bitter smile, he said, "Ze, you've been following me these past few days...
"Haven't you? I know your cursed energy so well, but somehow I completely overlooked it these past few days."
"That's right."
Ze Zenin did not deny it. He simply looked into the distance and nodded.
"I started noticing it after the Star Plasma Vessel Incident. Your mindset was slowly changing..."
"Non-sorcerers interfered with sorcerers and indirectly murdered them. Little by little, the principles you held to began to change."
"So I deliberately rounded everyone up to keep you company that day and ease your loneliness.
"I asked Gojo to spend more time with you on missions and had you join Haibara and Nanami on theirs, so you could save them from potentially dying..."
In the end, he could only sigh helplessly. "I still never imagined you'd end up wanting to go on a killing spree. Was it to vent your anger?"
"Yes..."
Suguru Geto's heart stirred. He found himself unexpectedly moved.
"I couldn't let these murderers keep getting away with it, so I..."
"So you were willing to risk becoming a curse user?" Ze Zenin asked calmly.
"Have you ever thought about how Gojo would feel if you became a curse user? How I would feel?"
Ze Zenin's words seemed to move Suguru Geto. Unable to meet his eyes, Geto quietly asked,
"Then did you come today specifically to stop me from falling into darkness?"
Suguru Geto knew that if Ze Zenin had not stopped him in time, they would all have regretted it for the rest of their lives.
"More or less." Ze Zenin looked up at the sky. "I once knew someone who had no one to confide in. He carried everything alone and fell into darkness. In the end, someone even took over his body..."
Suguru Geto remained silent. He did not know how to respond to Ze Zenin.
"Come to think of it, since we met at Jujutsu High three years ago, we've never actually fought, have we?"
Cursed energy gathered in Ze Zenin's hand. "Since you're determined to act like an idiot, let me beat some sense into you..."
"Today, let's fight!" Ze Zenin took a fighting stance.
"Fight?"
Suguru Geto stared blankly at Ze Zenin. Now that he mentioned it, Geto really had never fought Ze before. He had only ever sparred with Gojo...
"Come on!" Suguru Geto showed no fear. "I want to know just how strong you really are!"
As he spoke, Suguru Geto shaped his hand like a gun, and several Gunfish cursed spirits shot from his fingertips.
"Chidori Stream." Lightning flashed around Ze Zenin's body, shattering every incoming Gunfish.
"Looks like I'll have to overwhelm you with numbers."
Suguru Geto's expression grew serious. Countless centipede cursed spirits surged toward Ze Zenin like a tidal wave.
Ze Zenin leaped high into the air and rapidly formed hand seals. "Great Fireball Technique."
An enormous fireball crashed into the ground like an apocalyptic meteor, burning Suguru Geto's cursed spirits to ashes.
The two immediately closed the distance, trading punches and kicks.
"So all this time, you've still been thinking about killing every non-sorcerer to build a world without cursed spirits, haven't you?"
Ze Zenin punched Suguru Geto in the face.
"No..."
Suguru Geto took the punch, then kicked at Ze Zenin's stomach, only to hit empty air.
"I realized it wasn't realistic. It would be too difficult, with too much resistance... I could never defeat you and Gojo!"
"But I think if I were you or Gojo, I could definitely do it!"
"So I think the most realistic goal, the one that might actually be achievable, is your dream, Ze."
Suguru Geto rubbed the mark left by the punch on his face as he spoke through the pain.
This guy... he really isn't holding back!
Before you continue