This year’s exchange event had been eventful, to say the least.
The resurrection of Sukuna’s vessel, whom everyone had believed dead, and on top of that, the combined assault on the exchange event by a special-grade cursed spirit and curse users.
There had been casualties, but in the end, stories of how the students participating in the exchange event had safely overcome the crisis spread through the jujutsu world by word of mouth.
Then an enormous bombshell dropped amid all that.
News that Zenin Daisuke, who had gone to Morocco for his promotion examination, had successfully completed his mission.
He had successfully executed—exorcised—a curse user who had fallen into becoming a cursed spirit.
The news that he had all but single-handedly exorcised a special-grade cursed spirit capable of using a domain spread in an instant, backed by the testimony of Okkotsu Yuta, the special-grade sorcerer who had overseen the mission.
As a result, Zenin Daisuke became the talk of the jujutsu world. Rumors compounded upon rumors, transforming him from a "promising newcomer rising in the jujutsu world" into "Okkotsu Yuta’s successor."
The names of the first- and second-year students of Jujutsu High and Kyoto Jujutsu High, who had distinguished themselves at the exchange event, were buried beneath all that attention. Naturally, they were somewhat disappointed.
"Uh, is that my fault?"
"No~ I’m just saying that’s how it turned out. Still, Yuta’s successor... He was one of the kids I had picked out as the next Gojo Satoru. If you think about it, doesn’t that make you my successor’s successor?"
"I’d gladly accept being Okkotsu’s successor, but being your successor sounds kind of awful, Gojo."
"Are you still holding that against me from last time? What a petty little guy~"
After returning to Japan and taking some time to recover, Zenin Daisuke was having a private meeting with Gojo Satoru.
Thanks to his latest mission, Zenin Daisuke had officially passed his promotion examination and advanced to semi-Grade 1. Once he completed just one more Grade 1 mission on his own, he would be promoted to Grade 1.
"But if that rumor hadn’t spread, who knows what might’ve happened to you by now?"
"What do you mean?"
Gojo Satoru relayed to Zenin Daisuke, the person concerned, what he had heard.
The survival of Itadori Yuji, Sukuna’s vessel, was an immensely troublesome development for Jujutsu Headquarters, which had wanted him dead. After all, they had pushed ahead with the matter despite accepting that they would have to concede some political ground to Gojo Satoru in the future.
Yet the mission itself had been carried out under a binding vow, and it was an undeniable fact that Itadori Yuji had been executed by Daisuke’s own hand. Unable to do anything about it officially, Jujutsu Headquarters’ elders sought to vent their anger through unofficial means.
They pressured the Zenin clan, to which Zenin Daisuke—the person who had carried out Itadori Yuji’s execution mission—belonged.
The Zenin clan had no objection to throwing one of their children under the bus if it meant getting Jujutsu Headquarters off their backs. Ordinarily, Daisuke would have faced punishment from the Zenin clan the moment he returned home.
However, news arrived ahead of his return, and Zenin Daisuke’s name became widely known throughout the jujutsu world. That changed the situation.
From the Zenin clan’s perspective, this generation’s rookies looked like this—
Megumi: Possesses an inherited technique, but is still a branch-family child with the blood of a troublemaker.
Maki Zenin: Ill-omened twin number one. A half-baked Heavenly Restriction, the very definition of ambiguity.
Mai: Ill-omened twin number two. A half-baked technique, and does not even make an effort.
Zenin Daisuke: A super rookie who single-handedly defeated a special-grade cursed spirit that could use domain expansion. Publicly branded as Okkotsu Yuta’s successor.
—That being the state of affairs, his value had risen too high for them to sacrifice him merely to indulge Jujutsu Headquarters’ childish tantrum.
That was the reason Zenin Daisuke’s punishment had been called off.
"When was it again that they threw him out for being a half-blood, even though he has an inherited technique? I seriously can’t figure out how those old geezers think."
"Oh, ‘old geezers’? I like that expression. I should use it too."
Watching Gojo Satoru crudely imitate a slang phrase from his past life that had slipped out by accident, Zenin Daisuke began to seriously worry whether a world where this man was the strongest was really going to be all right.
"Well, that’s enough catching up. So why did you ask to see me?"
"I’d like you to help me. At present, there’s no one in Japan besides you I can ask to do this, Gojo."
"Oho?"
-
The Jujutsu High training ground.
Normally, it was indistinguishable from any other school athletic field, but now, thanks to Kitano Minami’s advance preparations for a barrier technique, it had taken on an unusual atmosphere.
More specifically, it felt like an athletic field being prepared for a sports day.
The first-year trio watched the strange sight with their chins propped on their hands.
Megumi and Kugisaki Nobara, who had at least spent a fair amount of time in the jujutsu world, seemed to have roughly grasped what Minami was trying to do. But Itadori Yuji, a practical complete beginner, could not make heads or tails of it.
Tired of trying to read the room, Itadori finally asked a question.
"What are they doing?"
"You’re only asking that now?"
Kugisaki Nobara looked at him as though he truly had not understood a thing.
Megumi shook his head and answered the question.
"She’s preparing a barrier technique. It’s probably an extremely advanced form of jujutsu. At first, I thought I had a rough idea of what she was doing, but now even I don’t know."
"Hmm~ What’s this~? So you guys don’t know either. You were just standing here watching~"
"Huh? Don’t put us in the same category as you, idiot!"
Nobara flew into a rage at Itadori’s teasing words.
As another page of youth played out on the bench, the main character appeared.
Nobara noticed first and called out to Minami, who was deeply engrossed in preparing the barrier technique.
"Mina~mi~ Your boyfriend’s here~"
"Daisuke!?"
It was Zenin Daisuke and Gojo Satoru.
Leaving aside Minami, who was delighted like a puppy reunited with its owner, the first-year trio stared in confusion as Gojo Satoru appeared right after Daisuke.
"Gojo?"
"What’s going on? What are you doing here too?"
"This guy asked for my help~"
At those words, Itadori finally recalled what had happened a few days ago and figured out the purpose of the barrier Minami was preparing.
"Ah-ha! You’re going to do that thing from before?"
"That thing?"
"What thing?"
It had been three days earlier.
Not long after Daisuke and Minami returned to Japan.
With the new form of the Ten Shadows Garment, he had finally reached the starting point of being able to properly use his technique.
He had originally developed the cursed technique reversal because the Divine Dogs were too valuable not to use somehow. But after succeeding with the Divine Dogs, he naturally wanted more.
He researched a way to subjugate his remaining shikigami and decided to attempt the method that seemed most promising.
He would try conducting shikigami subjugation while maintaining the cursed technique reversal state.
Since he had no idea what side effects might result from incarnating an unsubjugated shikigami into his body in order to subjugate it, Daisuke began the experiment with Minami’s barrier surrounding him.
The result was a half-success. He confirmed that it was possible to proceed with subjugation while in the cursed technique reversal state.
As the subjugation ritual began, Daisuke’s consciousness sank into his innate domain. The ritual itself took place there as well.
And so, he successfully finished subjugating the Toad.
The problem arose after he regained consciousness.
More accurately, it had arisen.
"Last time, Daisuke transformed like one of those toad sages from Naruto and went berserk. I happened to pass by and saw it, so I helped Minami subdue him. I remember that much."
"I never imagined the barrier I set up would be torn apart so easily..."
"Went berserk? What does that mean?"
"Could it be...?"
Having apparently guessed something from the story, Megumi cautiously looked at Daisuke.
Daisuke confirmed his suspicion.
"I’m going to conduct a subjugation ritual. As you know, my Ten Shadows Technique is defective—I can’t bring out shikigami. But during that last mission, I awakened the Ten Shadows’ cursed technique reversal."
"The Ten Shadows’ cursed technique reversal?"
"Rather than summoning the shikigami, I incarnate it into my body. The subjugation ritual takes place inside my innate domain, but while that happens, it seems an unsubjugated shikigami takes over my body and runs wild. Last time, Itadori held me back until the ritual was over, so I survived..."
The Toad Zenin Daisuke had subjugated last time was not a shikigami focused on destructive power.
Even so, Minami’s barrier had been destroyed, and only with Itadori Yuji physically restraining him had they barely managed to subdue him until the ritual ended.
The hypothesis Daisuke himself formed afterward was this: "Subjugation conducted in the cursed technique reversal state is even harder to control."
A reversed technique fundamentally involves multiplying cursed energy, a negative energy, to convert it into positive energy. That meant the shikigami that took over Daisuke’s body and ran wild while he was in the cursed technique reversal state would run wild at the square of their original power.
"That’s why I brought in Gojo."
"Yup~ It’s Gojo Satoru~"
On top of that, Minami’s barrier technique had been reinforced to be even sturdier based on their previous experience, and they had prepared a binding curse as well.
But in case all those precautions were breached and Daisuke went wild, they had brought in Gojo Satoru—the strongest sorcerer of the modern age—as someone who could reliably subdue him.
"Yeah, if it’s Gojo, there’s nothing to worry about."
"Then, since we’re already here, you should all watch from over there. Especially you, Megumi. You might come up with a use for the Ten Shadows that you hadn’t known about."
"The Ten Shadows’ cursed technique reversal... Is that the technique you used to defeat the special grade in Morocco?"
"That’s right. I fought by incarnating the Divine Dogs."
He did not add that he had somehow caused the domain itself to collapse, and that he still had no idea why he had won.
"Daisuke! Everything’s ready!"
"Then I’m counting on you."
"Yes!"
"Go on without worrying~"
The ritual began.
-
His consciousness fell.
Beyond an abyss darker than darkness.
At last, his consciousness reached its destination. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of a deep, dark valley, where only a faint sliver of moonlight could barely reach.
"It’s my innate domain, but it gives me chills every time I see it."
A single Nue, radiating a murderous aura, looked down at him.
"I’ll finish this in two minutes."
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