At the center of the ruins, in the lobby of the school building,
Dust drifted through the moonlight like fine snow.
Ryomen Sukuna, pinned into the gravel and broken concrete, let out a savage roar that seemed ready to tear his throat apart.
His face, marked with black tattoos, twisted with a fury and humiliation he had never experienced in a thousand years.
As the King of Curses, he was accustomed to standing above all living things, to shredding any who resisted with invisible slashes.
But now, before this human who did not even use Cursed Energy, he was nothing more than a lowly creature, crushed beneath a foot.
"Bastard… I'll kill you! I'll carve you into pieces!"
Sukuna frantically gathered the Cursed Energy from the single finger within him, attempting to activate Cleave or Dismantle.
But under Rin's overwhelming, godlike suppression, even moving his body was nearly impossible.
What terrified him most was the faint, icy fluctuation of a higher-dimensional energy emanating from the foot pressing down on his head.
It was a pressure that transcended the system of Cursed Energy entirely, something capable of crushing not just the body, but the soul and even causality itself.
"Kill me?"
The Six Tomoe Rinnegan in Rin's eyes turned slowly, his voice filled with undisguised disdain.
"Save your strength. Looking like this, worse than a stray dog, you don't even interest me enough to kill."
Rin lifted his boot from the back of Sukuna's head.
The moment the pressure vanished, Sukuna's frenzied struggle came to an abrupt halt.
The black markings on his face receded like a falling tide, and the rage twisting his features faded away.
The tyrannical presence of the King of Curses was forcibly suppressed in less than two seconds by another human will.
"Cough, cough… That hurts…"
With a violent fit of coughing, the boy who crawled up from the rubble rubbed the back of his head, which had nearly been crushed, and let out a pained groan.
Itadori Yuji.
The pink-haired boy, hailed as the strongest vessel in a thousand years, had miraculously regained control of his body after swallowing a Special Grade cursed object, relying solely on his monstrous willpower.
"Back already?"
Rin looked at the boy who had returned to normal. Although he already knew how things would unfold, witnessing an ordinary high school student suppress Sukuna's soul with sheer willpower was still intriguing.
Itadori Yuji looked up at Rin, who stood before him in a black trench coat.
His memory was still frozen at the moment he swallowed the finger and his body began to change.
Taking in the lobby, which looked as though it had been struck by a missile, Yuji swallowed hard and scratched his head in confusion.
"Um… big brother, did you save me? What happened to this building? It just suddenly collapsed…"
"Not just the building. I nearly crushed your head a moment ago," Rin said calmly.
"Huh?!"
Yuji flinched and instinctively touched his face. "No wonder my whole body feels like it's falling apart! I'm sorry. If I turned into some kind of monster and caused trouble, I apologize!"
As he spoke, the straightforward boy actually bent down into a deep ninety-degree bow.
"Interesting kid."
Rin kept his hands in his pockets and said nothing more.
At that moment, a casual whistle drifted in from the night sky outside.
"Yo! Looks like I made it just in time. Or… maybe a bit late?"
Along with the unmistakable voice,
a tall figure descended lightly from above, like a feather untouched by gravity, landing at the edge of the ruins.
Striking white hair, a black blindfold covering most of his face, and the high-collared uniform of Jujutsu High. In one hand, he even carried a bag of sweets marked with the "Kikusuian" logo.
The strongest modern jujutsu sorcerer, Gojo.
"Megumi! What happened to you? This isn't like you at all."
Gojo first glanced at Fushiguro Megumi, who was struggling to crawl out of the collapsed stairwell nearby. Without hesitation, he raised his phone and snapped a photo.
Click.
"This is a rare piece of dark history. I've got to show this to the second-years later."
"Gojo-sensei… what are you even doing…" Fushiguro Megumi said, his face full of exasperation as he endured the sharp pain from his injuries.
After taking the photo, Gojo turned his attention to Rin and Itadori Yuji standing in the center of the lobby.
Even through the blindfold, his Six Eyes had already taken in everything that had happened here.
The lingering traces of Sukuna's awakening, the destruction that had torn through the building from the fourth floor to the first, and the terrifying Special Grade curse now suppressed within the pink-haired boy…
All of it was clear to Gojo.
But what made his heart stir the most was the black-haired young man standing across from the boy.
After not seeing him for some time, this man's presence had become even more unfathomable.
"Yo, if it isn't Uncle Rin."
Carrying a bag of sweets, Gojo walked forward as if greeting an old acquaintance and stopped a few meters away.
"Long time no see, and your temper hasn't changed at all. You came into my student's territory and tore the whole school apart. If I'm not mistaken, Sukuna inside this kid came out just now, and then you gave him a beating?"
His tone was light, almost teasing, but behind the blindfold, his gaze was locked firmly on Rin.
"A beating? He's not worth that."
Rin glanced at the bag in Gojo's hand. "At most, I stepped on him. Since you're here, I'll leave this mess to you."
"Don't be in such a hurry to leave."
Gojo suddenly reached out, blocking his path.
The smile on his face faded slightly, replaced by the arrogance and battle intent of the strongest.
"To be honest, I've always remembered that debt from twelve years ago in Okinawa. Back then, I had just learned Reverse Cursed Technique and didn't perform very well."
He pointed at himself, then at Rin.
"Now that we've run into each other again, Uncle, how about another fight? In these twelve years, I've become somewhat ridiculously strong."
Hearing this challenge, Fushiguro Megumi and Itadori Yuji both widened their eyes.
In Megumi's understanding, Gojo stood at the absolute peak of the jujutsu world. Yet now, he was actively challenging someone with no Cursed Energy. From his tone, he had even lost to this man twelve years ago.
Faced with Gojo's provocation,
Rin stopped and turned his head.
In his pitch-black eyes, a faint ripple of the Rinnegan flickered for an instant.
He looked at Gojo's confident expression, the corner of his lips curving into a faint, knowing smile.
"Fight me?"
Rin suddenly laughed.
"Gojo, you've indeed grown stronger. After twelve years of refinement, your Limitless has become far more refined. But…"
Rin's figure blurred.
Swoosh!
Just as Gojo's Six Eyes locked onto his movement and he prepared to fully activate Limitless,
Rin's fingers had already pierced through the layer of infinite space surrounding him, the very barrier that should have halted all attacks, without the slightest resistance.
His index and middle fingers stopped right in front of Gojo's throat.
Less than a millimeter away.
If Rin wished, those fingers could have pierced his trachea again, just like twelve years ago.
Silence fell.
The smile on Gojo's face froze completely.
A bead of cold sweat slid down his forehead.
How was this possible? In that instant, the opponent hadn't used any spatial displacement at all. Then how had he bypassed the laws of distance imposed by Limitless and directly touched his body?
"Surprised?"
Rin withdrew his fingers and slipped his hands back into his coat pockets.
"Your so-called 'infinity' is nothing more than the mathematical paradox of Achilles and the tortoise. As long as speed does not exceed light, nothing can ever truly reach you. It's a defense grounded in physical laws."
His voice echoed softly through the ruined building.
"But unfortunately, when power transcends dimensions, those so-called physical laws are no more than a thin sheet of paper, easily torn apart."
"The 'strongest' you speak of… will always be nothing more than a joke to me."
With those words, Rin turned away, ignoring the stunned Gojo.
A swirling Kamui vortex formed in his right eye.
His figure vanished into distorted space, leaving behind only a trace of coldness in the night air.
Gojo stood there for a long time before slowly letting out a breath.
He adjusted his blindfold and looked at the spot where Rin had disappeared, a helpless, bitter smile forming on his lips.
"He really doesn't give anyone any face. What on earth did that uncle grow up eating? He's completely unreasonable…"
Shaking his head, he turned and looked at Itadori Yuji, who still stood there in a daze.
"Forget it. Let's not worry about that monster."
Gojo walked over and handed the dessert bag to Fushiguro Megumi.
"Here. Zunda Cream Daifuku from Kikusuian. I waited in line forever to get it."
Then he turned his attention to Itadori.
"Kid, the fact that Sukuna came out just now means you've already swallowed that Special Grade cursed object, right?"
Yuji nodded honestly. "Yeah. I ate it to save people."
"To still maintain your sense of self after that… your body is something special."
Gojo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
According to the strict rules of the jujutsu world, anyone who becomes Sukuna's vessel should be secretly executed immediately.
But recalling Rin's earlier words about breaking rules, Gojo's thoughts began to shift.
Rules were meant to be broken.
"In that case, you're coming with me."
Gojo patted Yuji on the shoulder and grinned.
"From today onward, you're a first-year at Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School."
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