"How ridiculous!"
"That's impossible!"
"It's treason! Outright treason! We have to execute him immediately!"
"Deploy the entire Jujutsu Sorcerer force to apprehend him! We must punish him for this absolute violation of tradition!"
"We have to make an example out of him to show the rest of society what happens when they try to break the rules!"
The very moment the official announcement hit the secure networks—stating that Suzuki Zenin had violently seized the seat of Clan Head by single-handedly defeating the entire Zenin military force, from the low-tier Kukuru Units to the elite Hei Vanguard, and even forcing the resignation of the former Clan Head, Naobito Zenin—absolute chaos erupted among the Jujutsu higher-ups.
The Elders, operating from their highly classified, traditional stronghold, immediately declared Suzuki an official "Curse User."
In Jujutsu society, a Curse User is defined as an evil human sorcerer who uses their cursed techniques with malicious intent against humanity.
Suzuki Zenin.
In the Jujutsu world, everyone was intimately familiar with Satoru Gojo, the untouchable, strongest man under heaven. But many were also familiar with Suzuki Zenin—the bizarre anomaly who had completely ignored his duties to the Jujutsu world to enroll at Kyoto University and had an ability to easily earn a PhD in physics at the best university and become a tenured professor!
In the eyes of normal, civilian society, Suzuki was an amazing, highly admired academic prodigy.
But in the eyes of the conservative Jujutsu world, he was a total lunatic!
How could someone born with a powerful, inherited supernatural technique just walk away to perform normal work in human society?!
If his secular job was somewhat normal—like Kento Nanami, who quietly worked as a disgruntled stockbroker to pay the bills—no one would really care. Still, Suzuki Zenin was actively teaching at one of the country's most prestigious academic institutions! He was engaging with human science!
This... this was incredibly dangerous in the eyes of the Elders. They absolutely refused to let anyone change the fundamental nature of the Jujutsu world. The system was currently built to keep them completely comfortable, and they had zero intention of losing their divine privileges!
Yes, privilege!
All of the Elders were entirely used to being pampered. They lived in absolute luxury, secretly funded by the blood and sweat of the Jujutsu Sorcerers who worked beneath them, heavily supplemented by massive, black-budget government funding.
The status quo of the Jujutsu World in Japan was clear: nothing changes. Ever. So, they immediately labeled Suzuki as a Curse User and drafted an execution order!
Yet... how exactly were they going to enforce it?
Weren't the Elders essentially just a group of frail, elderly men hiding behind traditional paper screens? They spent all day debating useless philosophies and maintaining strict bureaucracy. They possessed absolutely no real combat power within their own aging bodies. They couldn't magically glitch through reality like Suzuki, and they certainly didn't possess the god-like infinity of Satoru Gojo.
Yes, physically, they were entirely useless. Their only real powers were bureaucracy and controlling the flow of money. But under normal circumstances, that was enough. They held total political control over the "Big Three Families"—the Zenin Clan, the Kamo Clan, and the Gojo Clan.
Yet, was the situation really so simple anymore?
The horrifying fact that the Zenin Clan—arguably the strongest, most militarized Jujutsu clan in the country—had just been entirely dismantled by a single man sent shockwaves through the remaining families.
At that exact moment, the entire Kamo Clan was in a state of deep, suffocating panic!
"How did he do that?!"
"Hurry up! Search all of our intelligence files for combat records of his technique!"
"It's impossible! The fight happened too fast! We barely have any recorded data on him!"
If Suzuki Zenin had been an active frontline Jujutsu Sorcerer, the Kamo Clan wouldn't be panicking this badly. They would have been able to gather extensive intelligence on his speed, his destructive output, and his combat habits to prepare countermeasures.
But they quickly realized they had absolutely nothing on him.
When Suzuki had stubbornly forced his way into Kyoto University to study theoretical physics, the entire Jujutsu world had sneered. They disdained and mocked him, writing him off as a coward and a failure for not following his family's proud martial traditions. Because of this arrogance, the Kamo Clan—and the Elders—had completely ignored him for years!
Yet, who would have ever predicted that the academic maverick of the Zenin Clan—a family universally famous for breeding aggressive, bloodthirsty muscleheads—would be the one to mathematically dismantle the entire clan by himself and effortlessly claim the throne?
"The Elders at headquarters have formally contacted us! They are ordering us to mobilize and attack the Zenin compound immediately!" an intelligence officer shouted, running into the Kamo Clan's strategy room.
"....."
The room fell dead silent.
"W-What should we do?" one of the Kamo elders stammered, sweating profusely.
"S-Should we actually attack?"
"ARE YOU INSANE?!" another elder roared, slamming his fist on the table. "DO YOU WANT TO SEND OUR MEN INTO A COMPOUND FULL OF THOSE MAD DOGS?!"
"....."
Mad dogs.
It was probably the most accurate way to describe the Zenin Clan. Unlike the rest of the Jujutsu world, the Zenin were extremely toxic, completely merciless, and possessed the most heavily militarized, traditionalist estate in all of Japan.
More importantly, everyone knew the number one, unbreakable law of the Zenin Clan: Submit to the strongest.
The fact that Suzuki had physically defeated the entire clan meant that the entire, massive Zenin military force was now under his absolute control. They would follow his orders without question.
If the Kamo Clan actually decided to mobilize their sorcerers and attack Suzuki... wouldn't they just be marching straight into a meat grinder? They would be surrounded by the unified Zenin army, led by a monster whose personal combat prowess was enough to defeat that very same army single-handedly!
"Elders, what should we tell them?" the officer asked nervously.
"The Elders at headquarters are urgently pressing us for a timeline!"
"They ordered us to make immediate preparations to hunt down Suzuki Zenin!"
"..."
The elite elders of the Kamo Clan looked at each other. They were completely tied down by politics, yet their survival instincts were screaming. In the end, they made their decision.
"Tell headquarters... that our clan is currently dealing with a critical internal situation," the head Kamo elder said smoothly, wiping sweat from his brow. "Tell them we have to solve our own problems first, but assure them that once we finish, we will deploy our men to assist them as soon as possible."
What did they just do?
They completely chickened out.
To the outside world, the Kamo Clan might proudly boast of their flawless Blood Manipulation techniques. Yet, deep down, they knew perfectly well that compared to the sheer, unhinged barbarism of the Zenin Clan—who gladly allowed their own members to die so long as the clan achieved victory—it was infinitely better to play dead. They would lie low and let the corrupt Elders handle their own mess.
More importantly, the Kamo knew the Elders still held one ultimate trump card capable of resolving any crisis.
Yes. The strongest man under heaven.
The one and only.
Satoru Gojo.
"No way~!"
Satoru Gojo, standing casually in a hallway at Tokyo Jujutsu High, stuck out his tongue childishly as he blatantly rejected the panicked messenger from headquarters. "I don't wanna do it~!"
"But... Gojo-san!" the messenger pleaded, practically dropping to his knees. "The entire Jujutsu world is in a state of critical emergency! This man defeated the entire Zenin military force and forcefully took over as Clan Head! He's a dangerous Curse User!"
"Hahahaha!"
Gojo threw his head back and laughed uproariously, completely ignoring the man's panic. "Isn't that just absolutely hilarious?! A physics nerd took over the muscleheads! That's fantastic! I completely approve! Anyway, the higher-ups already gave me a mountain of boring jobs to do this week, so I'm incredibly busy! Gotta go! Sayonara~!"
Gojo didn't even wait for the messenger to argue. He casually raised two fingers and instantly vanished using his teleportation technique.
"..."
The messenger stared at the empty space where Gojo had been standing, completely utterly defeated.
"W-What are we supposed to do now?"
There was nothing the messengers could do except return to headquarters and deliver their humiliating reports.
As expected, when the reports came in, the grand council of Elders was completely, utterly stumped.
For centuries, the Jujutsu Higher-Ups had brilliantly projected an image of absolute, divine authority. But the harsh reality was finally catching up to them. They were just old men hiding behind paper screens. They only enforced their laws by utilizing the military muscle of the Big Three Families.
But right now, the board was completely locked.
They couldn't send the Zenin Clan to execute the Curse User... because the Zenin Clan now actively worked for him.
They couldn't send the Kamo Clan... because the Kamo were utterly terrified and refused to risk heavy casualties fighting a newly unified, hyper-efficient Zenin force.
They couldn't send Satoru Gojo... because Gojo absolutely hated the Elders and thought the Nerd's coup d'etat was the funniest thing to happen in a decade.
"W-What should we do?" an Elder whispered, the paper screen in front of him trembling slightly.
Who else could they possibly rely on?
Themselves? They couldn't fight.
The random, unaffiliated Jujutsu Sorcerers whose salaries they had been constantly skimming?
The "Windows"—civilians who could see curses but couldn't even throw a punch?
The "Clean-Up Crews" who just swept up the rubble after a fight?
Or the independent mercenary sorcerers, who definitely wouldn't sacrifice their lives for an execution order unless the payout was astronomical—money the Elders refused to part with?
They were completely out of pieces to play.
So, in the end, the Elders looked at each other, swallowed their immense pride, and made the only logical decision left to them.
"Send a formal summons," the head Elder gritted his teeth. "Tell this arrogant young man... to meet us."
They had no military power left to execute him, but they still had to project their prestige. They had to somehow mentally pressure this young man to remind him that he did not have total control over the Jujutsu world!