No wonder I was the strongest a thousand years ago

"Hey."

That evening, before Itadori started training, Sukuna hesitated for a while, then opened a mouth to ask Gojo a question.

"Training like this alone isn't enough, right? Aren't you going to give Yuji some missions?"

Preferably ones that paid well!

"Hmm..." Gojo rubbed his chin. "If you don't mind Special Grade ones..."

His mission list contained only Special Grade cases and suspected Special Grade cases. Even Grade 1 missions were few and far between.

Sukuna: "..."

Should I say I mind or not?

He could handle Special Grades himself, of course, but wouldn't that expose the fact that he wasn't asking for missions for Yuji's sake...?

Being broke was something only I needed to know. How could I let anyone else find out!

"That's fine!" Itadori raised his hand. "With Sukuna here, there's no danger. I want to see a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, too!"

Gojo: "..."

I think you want to see how to cross the bridge to the afterlife.

You've gotten cocky after just a few days. Handling Grade 2 enemies is already good enough for you right now. A Special Grade would kill you instantly, you know? You wouldn't even have time to switch.

Itadori could now deal with Grade 2 Cursed Spirits on his own.

After his reserves of cursed energy had increased explosively, he had successfully learned to incorporate cursed energy into his hand-to-hand combat, developing a move called Divergent Fist.

One ordinary hit followed by a delayed burst of cursed energy-this unique double-impact technique had become Itadori's new weapon.

Grade 2, huh...

Gojo rubbed his chin.

Hmm... looks like I could ask whether anyone has more Grade 2 missions than they can handle.

"All right, I'll look around for you..."

Satoru Gojo took out his phone on the spot and called a certain money-loving jujutsu sorcerer.

"Hey, Mei Mei, got any spare missions involving Grade 2 curses?"

Mei Mei's languid voice came through the phone. "Calling me this late costs a pretty penny... Grade 2... is this for another one of your students?"

Gojo said, "Of course. I'm a good teacher who takes excellent care of his students~"

Mei Mei said, "Let me think... actually, I happen to have a Grade 2 mission I don't particularly want to do. Your student can have it. I'll send you the details in a bit. Remember to transfer the money, same as always."

"Okay, okay!"

After hanging up, Gojo made an okay sign at Itadori.

"All right! We'll head out in a little while."

Gojo waited a while, then received Mei Mei's message.

As he read it, his expression shifted subtly. He understood why Mei Mei didn't want this mission.

But for Yuji... it shouldn't be much of a problem... right?

"Come here, Yuji. I'll take you there."

"Okay~"

Itadori flopped into Gojo's arms with practiced ease, looking forward to tonight's mission.

Very soon, he regretted it.

Once they arrived, Itadori looked at the Grade 2 curse in the distance, then turned around and silently looked at Teacher Gojo, who had put a considerable distance between them.

After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Teacher Gojo..."

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure this is Grade 2?"

"Of course~ Mei Mei might be a little greedy, but she doesn't give out unreliable information."

"Then why are you standing so far away?"

Gojo: "..."

Take a guess.

At that moment, they were a full hundred meters away from the Grade 2 curse they were targeting.

A faint fragrance mingled with the stench of rotting corpses hung in the air.

After setting Itadori down, Gojo had swiftly retreated beyond the reach of that bizarre smell.

He left Itadori alone to gaze forlornly at the distant Grade 2 cursed spirit.

Rafflesia, also known as the corpse flower or man-eating flower, had enormous dark-red petals that could span over a meter when open. It was one of the largest flowers in the world.

Despite being called a man-eating flower, it didn't actually eat people-or even insects. During its brief four-day blooming period, it only released a powerful corpse-like stench to attract flies to pollinate it.

The odor, a mixture of corpses and feces, wasn't toxic, but it was exceptionally pungent, making all other creatures desperate to avoid it.

It was the sort of thing that did little damage but inflicted plenty of indignity.

...Little damage... really?

Even from far away, Itadori could see the densely packed sharp teeth inside the bloody maw at the center of the Corpse Flower curse, whose open petals spanned over five meters. He had his reservations about that claim.

A curse was a curse, after all. He had better not apply facts about real flowers to it.

Besides, if he could smell it from this distance, he could hardly imagine how intense the stench would be once he got close.

Great. Another night when Sukuna definitely wouldn't come out.

At that moment, he realized with absolute clarity that he would have to rely solely on himself to fight curses from now on. Of all the types of curses they had faced, there wasn't a single one Sukuna dared come out for!

Sukuna: Huh?

Sukuna: ...You're right.

Itadori took a deep breath, then immediately stopped and switched to shallow breaths.

With the resolve of a man marching to his death, he advanced toward the Corpse Flower curse.

Any smell became less noticeable after enough exposure. By the time Itadori was twenty meters from the Corpse Flower, he could still smell the stench, but it wasn't as terrible as he had imagined.

Any farther and he would enter the curse's attack range. That thought flashed through his mind, and he took his stance.

Blue-and-black cursed energy surfaced around his fists. Far denser than before, it flowed through his body as he pushed off the ground and charged at the curse.

Whoosh-

A vine as thick as an arm suddenly shot out from the base of the enormous flower, lashing toward Itadori.

It moved so fast it left only an afterimage, but Itadori keenly tracked its path and swiftly threw a punch. With a loud crack, the vine snapped.

More vines shot out like snakes, however. The boy twisted and dodged among them, breaking them one by one.

He soon discovered that the vines he broke grew back and continued attacking him.

-It can regenerate. At this rate, this'll never end.

[These regenerating cursed spirits all have a core. Find it and destroy it.]

Sukuna's voice rang out in his mind. Itadori immediately channeled cursed energy into his feet and rushed toward the center of the flower.

Since it's a flower, its core has to be at the roots beneath that bloody maw.

Sensing the threat, the curse slowly turned its flower toward him. Several thicker, mucus-coated tentacles suddenly extended from its tooth-lined mouth, which was over two meters wide. Their tips bore sharp spikes resembling hollow needles.

Waves of stench even stronger than before wafted from them, making Itadori's breath catch.

He abruptly stopped, his mind racing.

The fastest way to destroy the flower's core would probably be to enter that enormous mouth and punch through its base. If he were alone, that was likely the approach he would choose.

But he was certain that if he went inside and got any of that mucus on him, Sukuna wouldn't come out for three whole days!

Yep, it was that serious.

He changed tactics, abandoning the direct approach and punching one of the enormous scarlet petals instead.

-If I peel away the outer layers one by one, I should still be able to reach the core.

[Below you!]

Sukuna's voice suddenly rang out.

A vine skimming along the ground abruptly wrapped around Itadori's ankle, then yanked upward.

Itadori was lifted into the air. He swiftly kicked through the vine around his ankle, using the recoil to land quickly while dodging several spikes thrusting toward him.

There are so many-

He looked up and saw dozens of vines of varying thickness attacking from all around, with mucus-coated spikes mixed among them.

He immediately focused, fixing his full attention on the vines. Blue-and-black cursed energy surged around his hands as he prepared to swing with all his strength-

Bam-!!

A tremendous blow suddenly struck the back of his head, instantly leaving Itadori dizzy and disoriented.

Oh, crap-

Itadori's mind went blank.

-I forgot about the Doll on my back!

[Yuji!!]

Sukuna, who had been watching from inside him, saw the spikes about to pierce Itadori and the boy's swaying body. He immediately switched in without hesitation.

Reverse Cursed Technique surged forth, healing the blow to Itadori's head. At the same time, the mucus-coated spikes were already right before his eyes.

I'm done for...!

Sukuna stared at the spikes before him. Even if he used Dismantle to sever the vines now, the mucus on them would still splash onto him.

His Dismantle couldn't cut away the mucus along with them.

I wouldn't get hurt... but I'd stink!

An intense revulsion welled up through his entire body, right from the depths of his heart-

I don't want...

Absolutely do not want-

To get that mucus on meeeee-!

His overwhelming aversion even stirred the flow of cursed energy throughout his body.

Click-

A crisp, faint sound came from within him.

Everything before his eyes suddenly slowed to a crawl, as though time had stopped at that moment-

He felt as if something deep inside him had suddenly shattered, bringing forth a peculiar energy.

He instinctively opened his mouth, uttering unfamiliar syllables.

"■ Open"-

His cursed energy abruptly boiled as the syllables rang out!

In an instant-

Flames gleaming red, yellow, and purple suddenly ignited out of thin air, engulfing everything before him.

Neither the flower nor its vines had time to react before they disintegrated in the blaze.

The tricolored flames were exquisite and dazzling, dancing like butterfly wings as they devoured everything in an instant.

Sukuna stared at the sight before him, momentarily stunned.

Is this... fire?

Fire... that I produced?

-I can use fire, too?!

Isn't my cursed technique Dismantle? Do I actually have two cursed techniques?

...That's a little different from what Gojo told me...

Sukuna thought for a moment, then shook his head.

Gojo wouldn't hide something like this from him. Most likely, the records from a thousand years ago had never mentioned it, or that information had been lost over time.

...Come to think of it, cutting and fire...

-Could I really be a cook?

Not far away, Gojo hovered in midair, watching the battle. He was slightly surprised.

Fire?

Sukuna has two cursed techniques?

Normally, only one cursed technique was engraved within a person's body. Was Sukuna an exception?

Or... was this simply a different manifestation of his cursed technique?

Just like his "Red" and "teleportation," which looked like two different abilities at first glance but were actually different applications of Limitless.

Still, fire and slashing were so different that he couldn't immediately think of a cursed technique capable of producing both effects.

...Could Sukuna be like Yuta, able to use other people's cursed techniques?

If so, that would make him considerably more dangerous...

The curse was exorcised.

Sukuna stared blankly at the brilliant flames for a while, then withdrew them.

Descending from the sky, Gojo leveled the area with a small blast of Red, completely erasing the traces of flames tainted with Sukuna's cursed residue.

"An unexpected surprise."

He turned to Sukuna as he spoke, his gaze unreadable.

Finding Sukuna standing there in a thoughtful daze, Gojo raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"I was thinking..."

Sukuna raised a hand to rub his chin and said solemnly:

"...No wonder I was the strongest a thousand years ago. Healing, physical attacks, ranged attacks-and now I've got magic attacks, too. Add in Domain Expansion as my ultimate, and I'm an entire party by myself."

With such a complete toolkit, how could he not be the strongest?

Gojo: "..."

You've really got your gaming down, huh? Those three hours you log in every day are spent playing games, aren't they?

...Should he check Yuji's phone to see if any weird apps had been downloaded onto it?

But the curse had already been exorcised. Although Yuji hadn't defeated it, the mission still counted as complete.

Next time we deal with a curse, I'd better have Yuji take his backpack off first... This kind of assault on the soul from behind his head was even harder to guard against than an enemy.

Gojo called Mei Mei back and explained how the mission had gone.

Sukuna waited off to the side for a while, but the response he wanted never came.

...Hmm?

...What was going on?

Gojo, aren't you forgetting something?

Where's my mission bonus? Where's that great big mission bonus of mine?

He stared at Gojo's back for a long moment, then simply logged off and switched back to Itadori.

[Go ask him for the bonus!]

Itadori: "..."

He really felt like he couldn't bring himself to ask. He wasn't the one who had dealt with the curse...

"Ahem, Teacher Gojo..."

Itadori coughed awkwardly a few times, his gaze wandering, before finally asking in a roundabout way.

"Sukuna was curious and asked me just now whether there's a bonus for completing this mission..."

Sukuna: *[...]*

*???*

You sold me out that fast?

Gojo froze too.

Could he really tell them that he'd actually paid Mei Mei 100,000 yen out of his own pocket to buy this mission?

"..."

So that was it...

He suddenly realized-

So that was what was going on!

He'd been wondering why Sukuna would suddenly ask him for a mission...

-He'd actually forgotten to give Itadori and Sukuna pocket money!

What an oversight, what an oversight. He hadn't done a good job as their guardian.

"...Of course there is!"

He quickly pulled out his wallet, took out ten 10,000-yen bills, and handed them over.

"I'll find you two some more missions in the future."

He spoke with a face full of emotion.

-He'd buy a few more missions so he'd have more excuses to hand out pocket money!~

Watching Itadori accept the money and put it away, Sukuna felt thoroughly pleased.

Sure enough, earning money through his own abilities was a joy.

Hmm, he'd have to do more missions and earn more money from now on. He also needed to improve Itadori's strength so they could take on Grade 1 missions sooner!

Sukuna mapped out his grand vision for a wonderful future in his mind~