"Let’s see... this’ll do. Come at me one at a time first. I want to see everything you’ve got. And remember—go all out!"
On the training field, Satoru Gojo rolled up his sleeves and addressed the five standing opposite him. For some reason, that lazy tone of his was incredibly irritating.
Maki was the first to step forward, her gaze sharp. "I’ll go first!"
Gojo shifted his stance and stood there with his hands in his pockets. Maki swept every stray thought from her mind, gripped her wooden staff, and launched herself at him.
In the blink of an eye, she had reached Gojo—but she abruptly twisted to change direction. At the same time, her staff tore through the air as it smashed toward his upper body.
The blur of staff strikes, nearly merged into one, suddenly froze as it was firmly caught in a long, well-defined hand.
Gojo’s leisurely, vacation-like voice rang out again. "Maki, did you use up all your strength in training earlier? And didn’t I say to go all out?"
"Part of the reason for this training is the upcoming Goodwill Event. But I hope you’ll learn something you can put to use on future missions too."
As he spoke, a faint smile curled Gojo’s lips. His sunglasses slid down slightly, exposing part of his eyes. Those sky-blue, ocean-blue irises now carried a trace of seriousness.
"So... treat me like a real enemy. Give me everything you have. I’ll be happy to teach you."
Gojo laughed. "Don’t worry about your teacher! After all... I’m invincible."
"We’re invincible!"
For an instant, Gojo’s thoughts drifted. Then a blur flashed before his eyes. Maki had seized the opening, unleashing a sweeping strike, and Gojo barely managed to bend backward in time to evade the staff.
He planted one hand on the ground, spun with a sweeping kick that forced Maki back as she changed her attack, then sprang to his feet in a flash. His fists and palms came down on her in a counterattack.
Driven into a disadvantage, Maki felt utterly frustrated. It did not feel like she was fighting one person—the dense barrage of attacks felt like several people striking at her at once.
But once her fighting spirit truly ignited, she gradually had no time to think about that. Every move she made was nearly instinctive now, and she wielded the long staff with breathtaking mastery.
Yet it was no use. Whenever she was about to hit Gojo, he would shift ever so slightly from his original position. It was like he was blinking from place to place; she could only see where he began and where he ended up, never the process in between.
In truth, even if Gojo stood still and let Maki strike him, now that he had made his technique passive, the wooden staff would never truly touch him.
Every wave of Maki’s offense was dismantled by Gojo. As he did so, he kept pointing out the openings she exposed or casually telling her how she should have attacked instead.
Though Gojo’s counterattacks looked casual, they hurt like hell when they landed. It seemed he had made up his mind to let his students experience the loving affection of a raging storm.
But they had all been through several curse-related missions, and injuries were hardly rare in ordinary training. For someone as ruthless in close combat as Maki, these minor wounds only made her desire to attack burn even hotter.
They exchanged dozens of moves in a rapid flurry. Then Gojo slapped Maki on the forehead, knocking her down, and declared her eliminated.
Kaito Kamishiro sighed from the sidelines. "He’s even using his technique. How are we supposed to play this?"
Panda clasped his hands together and rolled his shoulders. "Isn’t that better? I’m up!"
Not long afterward, Kaito watched Panda, already in Gorilla Mode, get hurled back headfirst. Over there, Gojo was stretching his body as though he were merely warming up.
As an abruptly mutated Cursed Corpse, Panda differed from other Cursed Corpses, which possessed only a single core. Panda had three cores—or, in other words, three personalities.
There was Panda, his usual form, which prioritized balance; Gorilla Mode, which prioritized strength; and his third form, the shy "Sister," which prioritized speed and rarely appeared.
In Gorilla Mode, Panda also had a signature move: the Unblockable Drumming Beat. Put simply, ordinary defenses were ineffective against it—it had tremendous armor-piercing power.
But none of that helped. Panda was beaten straight back into his balanced form, lying on the ground bruised and battered.
"Okay! Next student, please!"
Gojo beamed brightly, but his eyes were fixed on Kaito. Knowing there was no escaping it, Kaito could only pick up a wooden sword and walk over.
"Seriously, Gojo-sensei, isn’t there no point in me going? I can’t break through your Limitless right now. Wouldn’t this just be me getting beaten up one-sidedly?"
Gojo waved a hand. "Don’t say that, Kaito. It’d be good for your teacher to see your real strength right now too..."
Boom!
The air exploded with a thunderous crack. Everyone present saw a blur. Kaito, who had just been standing there leisurely, instantly appeared a short distance in front of Gojo—except his body was flying backward.
The wooden sword in his hand had already shattered into tiny fragments. While airborne, Kaito abruptly vanished, only to reappear farther along the path of his flight.
Kaito rubbed his wrist and complained, "Gojo-sensei, that’s way too unfair."
Gojo stroked his chin with interest. "Kaito, you’ve mastered your technique to this extent already? That was a Cursed Technique Reversal just now, wasn’t it?"
Kaito grinned. "Gojo-sensei, how about we make a deal? Let’s have a hand-to-hand match. I won’t use my technique to speed myself up, and you don’t use yours to bounce me away. Sound good?"
Gojo continued smiling calmly. Then he heard Kaito provoke him: "No way, no way! Is invincible Gojo-sensei seriously going to refuse?" He could not help laughing. "You little punk."
"Fine. I accept."
Kaito’s expression gradually settled, his eyes becoming intensely focused. Holding his wooden sword, he closed in on Gojo. Though he was not using his technique to reinforce himself, his speed was still incredibly swift with Cursed Energy alone.
Maki, Panda, Yuta Okkotsu, and Toge Inumaki watched with utmost concentration. Kaito’s inexplicable earlier attack had left them completely confused. Before they had even seen it clearly, one exchange had already ended.
Maki recalled the mission they had carried out together, thoughts churning through her mind. Was it speed? But speed on that level was just ridiculous. Could anyone really defend against it?
Then she looked toward Gojo, who had already defended against it once. The two were now trading blows. Kaito seemed intimately familiar with the general locations where Gojo would blink into existence. He could always shift his target in time or block Gojo’s attacks.
Still, judging by Gojo’s condition and expression, he was fighting Kaito more as instruction than a genuine battle. None of the places he blinked to were especially tricky.
Kaito dodged, blocked, and counterattacked in a slightly ragged state, but every punch he threw was deadly serious. He had said he would not use his technique to accelerate himself, and he naturally intended to keep his word.
Without his technique’s assistance, he was now trying to find the feeling required to land a Black Flash. As long as he could successfully land one and force Gojo back even a little, he had already planned every step that would follow.
So although he remained at a disadvantage, Kaito kept holding on while searching for an opening to counterattack. Gojo, meanwhile, seemed to be deliberately stringing him along—keeping the tension taut without immediately knocking him down.
"Kaito, it seems like you’ve got some trump card giving you a lot of confidence. Why not use it already? No way, no way—are you not going to manage it before I knock you down?"
Hearing Gojo throw his own taunt back at him nearly threw Kaito off rhythm. After raising an arm to block Gojo’s effortless sweeping blow, Kaito took half a step back, gathered his strength, and threw a vicious punch.
"This feeling! It’s coming!"
Black Cursed Energy flared. Only then did Gojo’s expression shift slightly. Now this was getting interesting.
"Black Flash!"
Maki cried out in realization, recalling how Kaito had landed a Black Flash during that mission and descended from the sky to exorcise the Cursed Spirit. At her side, Yuta asked curiously, "What’s a Black Flash? Is it that black Cursed Energy? It looks really dangerous."
Maki paused, then explained Black Flash to him. Meanwhile, after Kaito unleashed his Black Flash, Gojo caught the terrifying surge in one hand, locking down every ripple created by the collision of their immense Cursed Energy. His other hand clenched into a fist and shot forward viciously.
While Maki continued her explanation, the others watched as Kaito’s Black Flash appeared to accomplish nothing. Gojo caught it, then immediately punched Kaito away.
"My dear student, you need to be careful when you get knocked into the air!"
Without allowing the off-balance Kaito to pull away, Gojo blinked after him at even greater speed. His smile was dazzlingly bright, as though he had already foreseen Kaito being brutally tossed around like a punching bag.
"That’s it! If I use my technique directly on Gojo-sensei, given the actual gap between us, there are too many things to account for if I want to reverse him to a specific point in time—his Cursed Energy, his technique... The final conclusion is that it would most likely fail!"
"So... the real plan is—"
Off balance, Kaito slowly revealed a smile. He clearly saw the smile on Gojo’s face, now close enough to touch, gradually gain a hint of confusion. Then Kaito activated his technique.
"[Cursed Technique Reversal: Wheel of Time—Reversal]."
Everything before Kaito’s eyes abruptly changed. Gojo, who had been attacking him moments ago, was now replaced by Yuta and the other three, staring at him in astonishment. Feeling the Cursed Energy surging within him, Kaito smiled. The fist he had thrown turned, guided by his prior preparation, and struck behind him—where Gojo now stood wide open!
Black Cursed Energy blazed once more. Kaito had specifically chosen this moment for the reversal to land this Black Flash. He had anchored this instant, shifted positions, and then reversed back—this was precisely the moment before he landed a Black Flash!
Pseudo Double Black Flash.
But when Kaito turned, he saw Gojo wearing a triumphant grin. Before Kaito’s own smile could even stiffen, Gojo repeated the same trick, catching his attack in one hand. The shockwaves produced by their clashing Cursed Energy were tightly contained in his grip.
Then Gojo’s fist slammed into Kaito’s abdomen. Only one word had time to flash through his mind—damn. His insides churned, all strength leaving his body, and Kaito collapsed to the ground. He still struggled to look at Gojo and ask, "Gojo-sensei, how did you notice...?"
Gojo whistled. "Your teacher knows your technique, Kaito. And didn’t you just show off the effect of your Cursed Technique Reversal? I thought you were going to use it on me. Besides, did you forget that the Six Eyes give me a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree field of vision with no blind spots?"
Gojo pulled his sunglasses down slightly, revealing those brilliant eyes full of amusement. Kaito slammed a fist into the grass and cried out indignantly, "That’s cheating! You’ve got a full-map wallhack!"
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