Breaking Through

Madara lay on the ground, his back pressed against the scorching earth. His chest felt as though it were on fire, and every breath tasted of blood.

Madara had not used his full strength-or rather, he could not use his full strength.

He needed to force out his potential. He needed to step toward a higher realm!

The impact of that palm strike had penetrated Susanoo's defenses. Though most of it had been canceled out, the remaining force had still injured his internal organs.

He gazed at the sky, dyed red by the setting sun, his thoughts racing through the pain and dizziness.

(I have to learn Reverse Cursed Technique and Domain Expansion.)

The thought lodged itself in his mind like a nail.

(Without those two things, there's basically no way forward. Reverse Cursed Technique can heal injuries, and Domain Expansion is the pinnacle of jujutsu-without them, I'll never reach that level.)

(But... what should I do?)

(Madara Uchiha was a combat genius. He could learn countless ninjutsu, use all sorts of forbidden techniques, and even awaken the Rinnegan. But I'm not a genius. I'm just an ordinary person thrown into this world, fighting with someone else's memories and experience.)

(There's less than a month before Megumi Fushiguro joins Jujutsu High, which means Yuji Itadoru swallowing Sukuna's Finger isn't far off either. The Shibuya Incident, the Culling Game, Sukuna's resurrection... those plot events are hanging over my head like a countdown.)

(I have to fully develop my abilities. I need enough strength to change those damned plot events, to protect the people I want to protect, to bring this fucked-up world to a slightly better ending... no matter what.)

His thoughts surged like a tide. Anxiety, urgency, frustration, resolve-all those emotions erupted in an instant, then settled just as quickly.

(I don't want to live a meaningless life.)

(I don't want to lie on the ground, helpless, like I am now.)

(I don't want to become a useless pawn that anyone can control on a whim.)

Despite all those thoughts, not even a second had actually passed.

Madara's eyes snapped open.

Deep within his pupils, something shattered and reassembled.

He braced himself against the ground and slowly stood.

His movements were slow. Every joint groaned, and every contraction of his muscles brought searing pain.

But he stood up, his back straight.

Then he entered a certain state.

Professional athletes called it the "Zone"-heightened concentration, an empty mind, complete reliance on bodily instinct.

His five senses reached their limits, his perception of time warped, and the world became both clear and blurred.

Madara's breathing steadied, his heartbeat turning slow and strong.

Every distracting thought-anxiety about the future, hunger for power, fear of failure-vanished.

Only one thought remained.

(Hit him.)

Satoru Gojo's pupils contracted slightly.

He saw it.

The aura emanating from Madara had changed.

Like a blade that, after countless rounds of honing, had finally revealed its sharpest edge.

It was a state free of distraction, the utmost concentration that came from discarding every stray thought and devoting body and mind entirely to the present.

And that state was often-

"This is!?"

The corners of Satoru Gojo's mouth lifted into a smile of delight-ecstasy, even.

He recognized it.

This was the precursor to Black Flash.

Black Flash-a spatial distortion that occurred when cursed energy and a physical blow landed within 0.000001 seconds of each other.

When a jujutsu sorcerer entered that state of extreme concentration, there was a chance of triggering a critical hit that raised the attack's power to the power of 2.5.

As a teacher, he naturally had to give his student a chance to grow.

Rather than retreating, Satoru Gojo deliberately took a step forward.

He wanted to let Madara "hit," to let him experience the tangible sensation of "connecting," to let that state of concentration erupt fully.

"Come on, Madara."

He spoke softly, anticipation in his voice.

Madara stepped forward, as though he were not moving, but space itself were pushing him ahead.

His Mangekyō Sharingan activated in an instant, and Susanoo's skeleton and arms emerged from the void-but this time, faster.

"Susanoo!"

The enormous blue arm clenched its fist and swung.

Along the fist's trajectory, space began to warp.

First came tiny cracks, like shattered glass.

Then pitch-black, lightning-like patterns spread from the front of the fist, tearing through air, light, and every law of reason.

Black Flash.

BOOM-!!!

The fist slammed down in front of Satoru Gojo.

This time, the fist "grazed" the edge of the barrier, and Black Flash's power-the spatial distortion that raised the attack to the power of 2.5-struck the barrier squarely.

The shock wave shattered the ground beneath Satoru Gojo's feet.

A hemispherical crater five meters across appeared out of nowhere. Satoru Gojo hovered above it, looking down beneath his feet, then back at Madara, his smile growing wider.

"Not bad."

Madara stood there, Susanoo still holding its punching pose.

His mind was blank.

No, not blank-it was another, peculiar kind of clarity.

The sensation of that punch, the path of his cursed energy, the instant space warped-every detail, every insight flooded his mind.

(I felt it...)

(It feels like I'm about to touch it!)

(The threshold!)

In Satoru Gojo's eyes, after throwing that strike, Madara seemed to enter some deeper state.

His gaze was vacant, his breathing suspended, his body motionless in its punching pose-but cursed energy surged wildly inside him, like a volcano about to erupt.

That was Black Flash's aftereffect, and its reward.

A jujutsu sorcerer who triggered Black Flash would enter a state of "doubled growth."

Their cursed energy control would become finer, their understanding of their cursed technique deeper, and the coordination between their body and cursed energy would reach a new level.

And that state would often last until the next attack.

Sure enough-

Madara's Susanoo arm rose again.

Pitch-black lightning appeared once more, coiling around the massive blue arm like twisting venomous snakes.

A second Black Flash.

The instant the slash fell, black rifts tore through space, stretching more than ten meters and "severing" everything in their path.

Satoru Gojo remained suspended in the air, but this time, he deliberately moved half a step back.

He made room for the strike, allowing Madara to unleash it fully.

Then came the third.

The Susanoo arm swept sideways, black lightning lashing the air like whips and leaving spatial fissures that lingered.

The fourth.

The arm clenched its fist and swung upward from below. The ground was ripped up, and black lightning surged toward the sky like a waterfall flowing backward.

The fifth.

Madara pressed his hands together before his chest, and the Susanoo arms mirrored him-both palms clapping together toward Satoru Gojo.

The instant the palms met, black lightning spread like a spiderweb, covering the entire area.

Space groaned under the strain, and the ground sank again, this time forming a massive crater ten meters across.

Five times.

Five consecutive Black Flashes.

In the distance, Panda's mouth hung open. He did not even notice the popcorn slipping from his paws.

"No way! Seriously?! Madara used Black Flash five times! Five times in a row!?"

Even Inumaki's collar had come loose, revealing his shocked expression. "Mayonnaise!!"

Maki tightened her grip on her naginata, her knuckles turning white.

Watching the boy standing at the edge of the enormous crater, black lightning coiling around his entire body, she truly understood the meaning of "genius" for the first time.

"He's just... a genius."

The ground had completely collapsed. The once-level Training Ground now looked as though a meteor had struck it, riddled with craters and cracks.

Satoru Gojo stood on a barely intact patch of footing and brushed the dust from his uniform, his smile dazzlingly bright.

"Well, Madara?" he asked, undisguised admiration in his voice. "Did you feel it?"

Madara slowly lowered his hands.

The black lightning around him gradually dispersed, and Susanoo's arms dissolved into points of light.

He stood there, head lowered, looking at his hands.

Then he raised his head.

His Mangekyō Sharingan had deactivated, but something new shone in those black eyes.

"Yeah-Gojo-sensei." Madara's voice was calm, far too calm for someone who had just triggered five consecutive Black Flashes.

"I felt it."

He drew a deep breath and slowly brought his hands together before his chest, interlacing his fingers to form a complex hand sign.

The instant he completed the sign, the world fell silent.

The wind stopped, the birds fell quiet, and even the sound of Panda and the others breathing in the distance disappeared.

Madara's eyes changed again.

The black faded, replaced by a deep purple.

Across his irises, concentric rings slowly emerged, like symbols of reincarnation.

Deep within his pupils, a faint lavender glow flowed.

The Rinnegan.

Madara had not deliberately activated it. It had activated on its own, as though it were a prerequisite.

"Domain Expansion."

Madara spoke those words with utter calm.

In an instant, heaven and earth changed.

In the eyes of Panda, Inumaki, and Maki, the area containing Madara and Satoru Gojo "disappeared."

No, it had not disappeared. It had been enclosed within some invisible spherical domain, completely cut off from the outside world.

Inside the domain-

Satoru Gojo found himself standing in a world of pure white.

The sky was white, the ground was white, everything was white.

There was no sun, no cloud, no shadow-only even, gentle white light spilling down from every direction.

Then the white ground began to rise.

White stone pillars emerged from beneath the ground, arranged in a circle around Satoru Gojo.

Their surfaces were smooth as mirrors, engraved with spiral patterns.

Each pillar stood dozens of meters tall and more than three meters in diameter, like silent gravestones, or enormous columns holding up heaven and earth.

They rotated slowly, their movement unhurried but carrying an irresistible pressure.

"Heavenly Imperial Pillars."

Madara's voice echoed through the white space.

He stood atop a stone pillar, his purple Rinnegan looking down at Satoru Gojo below.

At that moment, he seemed to have become one with this world, its ruler and its rules.

Satoru Gojo looked up at him, the rotating stone pillars and Madara's figure reflected in his Six Eyes.

He showed no surprise, no tension-instead, he smiled.

It was a heartfelt, radiant smile, even touched with a hint of emotion.

"You did it, Madara."

He spoke softly, his voice exceptionally clear in the white space.

Madara stood atop the stone pillar, the purple light in his Rinnegan flickering faintly.

He could feel that this domain was still incomplete-the stone pillars, the white light, all of it was only a rudimentary form, mere fragments of the "complete domain" in his mind.

But he had indeed expanded a domain.

With his own will, his own cursed energy, and his own cursed technique at its core, he had created this space that belonged to him alone.

"Yeah." Madara's voice sounded somewhat distant. "Thank you, Gojo-sensei."

Without Satoru Gojo's pressure, without the insights those Black Flashes had brought, without that state of nearing his limits-he might have needed to feel his way forward for a long time before touching this realm.

Satoru Gojo spread his arms, as though embracing the domain.

"Then I'm afraid I'll have to expand my domain too. Otherwise, your domain's rules will suppress me-"

"No need."

Madara cut him off.

The light in his Rinnegan began to flicker unsteadily, the pillars' rotation slowed, and cracks began to appear in the white space.

"The domain isn't complete yet... I can't hold it for long..."

Before he had finished speaking, the entire domain began to collapse.

The white peeled away like a fading canvas, and the stone pillars crumbled from the top down, dissolving into motes of light.

The world returned to the pockmarked Training Ground. The setting sun reappeared in the sky, and Panda and the others came back into view in the distance.

Madara felt his vision go dark.

All his strength drained away in an instant. His Cursed Energy was depleted, his mind exhausted, and his body crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.

So tired...

His potential had been drawn out, but it had also consumed an extraordinary amount of energy.

Although he was forcing his growth, Madara had no choice. There was little time left.

The Rinnegan deactivated on its own, reverting to ordinary black eyes.

The world spun, and the ground drew closer-

Just as he was about to fall, a hand caught him.

Satoru Gojo had appeared beside him at some point and held him steady.

That hand was strong, but its touch was gentle, as though he feared breaking something fragile.

"Thanks for all your hard work."

Satoru Gojo's voice was gentle, so gentle that he hardly sounded like himself.

Madara barely managed to raise his head. His vision was blurry, and he could make out only Satoru Gojo's indistinct outline and those azure eyes.

"No..." he panted, his voice as faint as a thread. "It was nothing."

Then his consciousness sank into darkness.

Satoru Gojo caught Madara as he passed out completely and lifted him into his arms.

His movements were careful, as though he were holding a precious piece of porcelain.

Panda and the other two ran over from the distance, their faces full of worry.

"Gojo-sensei! Madara-"

"He's fine," Satoru Gojo interrupted, looking down at the boy's pale face in his arms. "He's just exhausted. Five consecutive Black Flashes, plus forcing an incomplete domain to expand-it's already remarkable that he held out this long."

He raised his head and looked at the Training Ground in the distance, wrecked beyond recognition, then looked back at Madara in his arms. A smile surfaced again.

"This kid really is an incredible monster."

The sun sank in the west, stretching their shadows long.