April 22.
Zen'in Naoya had already skipped school for ten days.
He ignored every call from the school, focusing solely on recovering from his injuries, until Yaga Masamichi personally came to the Zen'in estate to check on him.
The Zen'in clan had always welcomed powerful sorcerers and favored marriage alliances with those who possessed unique cursed techniques. Although Yaga Masamichi was already married, that fact was not yet publicly known. In the eyes of the Zen'in clan, he was still an exceptionally promising prospect.
Yaga Masamichi arrived at the courtyard where the youngest legitimate son of the Zen'in clan head resided. Despite the aftermath of the Star Plasma Vessel incident and the questioning from the Higher-Ups, the young man's standing within the clan had not been shaken in the slightest. He was still universally acknowledged as the Zen'in heir.
Surrounded by luxury, attended by countless servants, born to command—it was as though he had never known what worry was.
Zen'in Naoya emerged from around the corner wearing a short, wide-sleeved haori. His pale face showed no sign of frailty. He resembled a rattlesnake flicking its tongue, carrying the innate coldness and impatience of a reptile.
"My injuries haven't healed yet. I'm extending my leave."
"Young Master Zen'in," Yaga Masamichi said, "someone wants to say something to you."
Caught completely off guard, Zen'in Naoya watched as Yaga raised his phone. The screen clearly showed that a call was already connected.
"Come out and see me, Naoya."
Asou Akiya's gentle voice flowed from the phone.
Zen'in Naoya's pupils contracted violently.
The soul, the body, the true name—the two-way Binding between sorcerers wrapped around every part of his being. Tricked by Yaga into hearing the call, an overwhelming tide of regret and despair crashed over him.
Outside the gates of the Zen'in estate, Zen'in Naoya silently followed behind Yaga Masamichi and got into the car.
In the back seat, Asou Akiya had been waiting for some time. He sat with his head lowered, idly playing with his phone, not even sparing Naoya a glance.
After taking his seat, Zen'in Naoya deliberately kept his distance, pressing himself against the car door. His expression was so dark it seemed ready to drip with malice, as though Asou Akiya were something filthy that the noble heir of the Zen'in clan wanted to avoid at all costs.
Yaga Masamichi found the change utterly astonishing. The contrast in Zen'in Naoya's behavior before and after was simply too great.
If this counted as school bullying... then Yaga Masamichi could only say that this kind of bullying should happen a few more times.
Having fulfilled his duty of persuading a student to return to school, Yaga Masamichi started the car and drove back onto the main road.
"Akiya, are we taking the Zen'in heir back to school?"
"No. I have something important to discuss with him in private. I guarantee he'll be back at school on Monday."
Asou Akiya handed Yaga Masamichi the phone with the navigation already open.
"Sorry to trouble you, Yaga-sensei. Please take us here in Saitama Prefecture."
Yaga Masamichi glanced at the destination. It was dozens of kilometers from Tokyo, but it certainly didn't look like the sort of place people went to have a serious conversation.
Two hours later...
They arrived at a hair salon in Saitama Prefecture that enjoyed a solid local reputation.
Asou Akiya led Zen'in Naoya inside. One was dressed in modern clothing, refined and gentle; the other wore a traditional haori and hakama, radiating arrogance. Two people from entirely different backgrounds and social classes had somehow appeared together in the same place.
"The first thing I need you to do is change that old-fashioned look of yours."
Asou Akiya had already booked a hair-coloring appointment in advance. He promptly guided Zen'in Naoya into the chair.
"Tony."
He flashed the hairstylist a brilliant smile.
"Please dye his hair blond."
In the original story, the twenty-seven-year-old Zen'in Naoya had blond hair and multiple ear piercings, looking every bit like a delinquent. That meant those interests of his simply hadn't been brought out yet.
Asou Akiya intended to become the guide through Zen'in Naoya's rebellious phase.
Zen'in Naoya frowned in irritation.
"What are you planning to do to my hair?"
Zen'in Naoya was just about to lose his temper when Asou Akiya clamped both hands tightly onto his shoulders, holding him firmly in place.
Using a carrot-and-stick approach, Asou Akiya said, "Zen'in Naoya, if you sit still and let them dye your hair, I'll take you to meet your nephew."
Zen'in Naoya looked up sharply.
"You mean that?"
Asou Akiya eased his grip, patiently training him to obey one step at a time.
"As long as you behave."
Zen'in Naoya still couldn't understand the point of dyeing his hair.
[Is this guy insane?]
Asou Akiya sat down nearby, casually flipping through a salon magazine as he spoke.
"I know there's a part of you that wants to rebel too—to defy tradition. That's what people from the Three Great Clans are like... a hundred pounds of body weight, and a hundred and one pounds of rebellious spirit."
He turned to a page featuring a handsome blond man, held the magazine upright, and showed it to Zen'in Naoya.
"What do you think of this color? I think it'd suit you perfectly."
[Golden... hair?]
The glossy photo caught Zen'in Naoya completely off guard, making his heart skip a beat. Asou Akiya had hit the mark.
[Kamo wasn't lying. That hair color actually does look pretty cool.]
For as long as he could remember, Zen'in Naoya had been accustomed to black hair. No one in the clan dyed theirs, either. Yet on the very first day after placing that harsh Binding upon himself and being forced to obey, the first thing he was ordered to do was change his hair color.
[This is way too bizarre.]
"His hair is black, so we'll need to bleach it first before we can dye it a lighter color. It'll take some time."
Tony wheeled over his cart of coloring supplies and stood behind the chair. Taking a lock of Zen'in Naoya's short hair near his ear between his fingers, he explained the process to the two strikingly handsome young men.
"Get your—"
Zen'in Naoya tried to knock away the outsider's hand before it could touch him.
Asou Akiya's voice turned cold.
"Naoya, did you remember what you promised me? Or do you still think you're some pampered young master?"
Zen'in Naoya: "..."
Asou Akiya said, "Answer me with one word, are you dyeing it or not? Otherwise I can take you away right now."
Tony looked at the two of them in surprise as he listened to their exchange.
Under the threat hanging over his life, Zen'in Naoya reluctantly gave in.
"I'll dye it. But you can't go back on your promise, either."
Asou Akiya continued flipping through the magazine.
"If you dye your hair blond and end up looking ugly, I don't think you'll have the nerve to meet your nephew."
The jab at his appearance instantly set Zen'in Naoya off.
"How could I possibly become ugly?!"
Asou Akiya shrugged indifferently.
"Who knows~"
Zen'in Naoya shot Tony a vicious glare and barked,
"Hurry up. Use the best hair dye you've got."
Tony only shrugged.
Are kids these days playing some kind of role-playing game?
The dyeing process took far longer than anyone expected.
Zen'in Naoya dozed off in the chair. He had assumed Kamo would be the first to lose patience, but instead, the other boy simply kept pulling out one book after another, reading with complete concentration, as though watching someone get a haircut were endlessly fascinating.
However long it took Zen'in Naoya to dye his hair blond, Asou Akiya stayed with him for every single minute.
By the time they stepped out of the salon, dusk had already fallen.
Zen'in Naoya admired himself in the glass display window along the street.
Light blond hair. Jade-green eyes. Slightly upturned eyes. A face no bigger than a palm. Beneath the streetlights, his reflection shimmered in the glass, his golden hair glowing brilliantly around the handsome young man staring back.
He had finally bid farewell to that utterly unremarkable black hair and replaced it with a head of blond hair that would infuriate every old fossil in the Zen'in clan.
"Hahaha—"
Zen'in Naoya was the first to burst into laughter.
"We're not finished yet,"
Asou Akiya then dragged Zen'in Naoya into the nail salon next door, determined to scrub away another layer of his feudal-era image.
Facing the owner, who was just about to close for the day, Asou Akiya slid the payment across the counter and said gently,
"I made a reservation. Please pierce both of his ears—one on each side, low on the earlobes."
Click. Click.
After disinfecting Zen'in Naoya's earlobes, the owner raised the piercing gun. Under Asou Akiya's watchful gaze, she lined it up with the lower part of each earlobe and pulled the trigger.
It felt no worse than being nipped twice by an ant.
Tiny beads of blood appeared on Zen'in Naoya's earlobes, now adorned with a pair of silver studs.
The pain wasn't even enough to make him flinch.
Asou Akiya bought a handheld mirror from the shop and tossed it to Zen'in Naoya. Then he chatted with the owner about aftercare for men's ear piercings, deliberately giving Zen'in Naoya ten minutes to collect himself.
The longer Zen'in Naoya stared into the mirror, the more captivated he became.
His narcissistic side erupted in full force as he pricked up his ears to listen carefully to the aftercare instructions.
For the first time, he thought that blond hair and pierced ears made him look unbelievably cool.
Even cooler than Gojo Satoru with his white hair and blue eyes!
He was undoubtedly the most fashionable, the most rebellious, and the boldest member of the Three Great Clans—the one most willing to challenge the older generation's sense of aesthetics.
Kamo is unbelievable. Not only could he manipulate the fight between Toji and Gojo Satoru and reap the rewards afterward, he could even see through the deepest desires hidden in my heart. Is this what true wisdom looks like in everyday life?
At eight o'clock that evening, Asou Akiya stopped at a convenience store by the roadside and bought a bowl of oden.
The picky young heir of the Zen'in clan looked down on twenty-four-hour convenience stores. Paying out of his own pocket, he headed off to a high-end restaurant for a proper meal.
Fortunately, as a sorcerer, he valued efficiency enough not to dawdle for too long.
After Zen'in Naoya finished his meal and came back out, Asou Akiya was still sipping the last mouthful of broth from his bowl of oden. Standing on the edge between the bustling city and ordinary life, he moved at an unhurried pace, carrying none of the bearing one would expect from someone born into one of the great clans.
Zen'in Naoya became even more convinced that Asou Akiya was unloved within the Kamo clan. A mocking smile crept across his face. Aside from the status of being the legitimate son by blood, he probably had nothing at all. Such was the fate of every member of the Three Great Clans born without a cursed technique.
"Let's go."
Asou Akiya acted as though he hadn't noticed the contempt in Zen'in Naoya's eyes.
"We're going to see your nephew."
Those words instantly wiped the smugness from Zen'in Naoya's face, replacing it with wary caution.
Even if Kamo possessed nothing, he still held the key to Zen'in Naoya's fate.
Zen'in Naoya seethed inwardly. He couldn't stand Asou Akiya's calm composure. He had always enjoyed watching those beneath him suffer humiliation—not becoming the one everyone else looked down on.
Asou Akiya walked ahead without any glory to his name or overwhelming strength to rely on.
And yet Zen'in Naoya didn't dare provoke him now. Instead, he had to deliberately lower himself, afraid that Asou Akiya would choose to help his nephew instead.
"Kamo, if you want to order me around, then you have to help me kill him."
"Kill him? What's in it for me?"
Asou Akiya deliberately took several winding turns as they headed toward the Fushiguro family's home, teasing Zen'in Naoya along the way.
"I'll secure my position within the Zen'in clan. Naturally, you'll gain even more in return."
Zen'in Naoya stayed close behind him, trying to lure Asou Akiya with simple, straightforward promises.
Ten minutes later, they stopped in front of an apartment building.
Asou Akiya went no farther. Instead, he pulled Zen'in Naoya into the shadows with him.
Zen'in Naoya's faintly trembling breaths echoed in the darkness beside Asou Akiya as he said with a heart as venomous as a snake's,
"Don't tell me you've gone soft. Are you afraid to kill a child?"
Asou Akiya used his cursed energy to sense Zen'in Naoya's emotions. The malice radiating from him had grown thick and viscous.
"Naoya, I've thought about the consequences of killing someone. Have you?"
"What consequences? I only know that either he lives or I do! If he's around, there's no place for me!"
"He's only three years old."
"So what if he's three? He... three years old? Three?!"
Zen'in Naoya cried out in disbelief.
For Asou Akiya to have already detected traces of the boy's cursed technique at the age of three...
There was no question that his talent was extraordinary.
Not only had his cousin's son inherited the Ten Shadows Technique, but he had awakened his power even earlier than ordinary sorcerer children!
"I didn't awaken my technique until I was four," Zen'in Naoya admitted reluctantly, unable to hide the jealousy in his voice. "Though I don't know about Gojo Satoru. Do true geniuses really surpass everyone else in everything?"
"The Ten Shadows of this generation is destined to stand alongside the Six Eyes. Naturally, his talent is exceptional. They're fated to meet as rivals."
Asou Akiya was deceiving Zen'in Naoya, deliberately exaggerating Fushiguro Megumi's talent. At this age, Megumi could most likely only see cursed spirits; he almost certainly hadn't awakened his cursed technique yet.
Zen'in Naoya's expression suddenly sharpened.
"You're planning to betray me and Gojo Satoru and adopt him instead?"
Asou Akiya smiled.
"What are you laughing at? What's so funny?!"
"I did feel the urge to kill him once," Asou Akiya said. "It was only for a moment, and it was very faint, but I genuinely considered it."
Zen'in Naoya froze.
If the Ten Shadows Technique was truly that powerful, and its wielder was still so young, then any reasonable person would choose to adopt him, nurture him carefully, and use him to achieve their own goals.
Asou Akiya let out a quiet sigh. Beneath it lingered a murderous intent that had never fully left his heart.
"The Ten Shadows Technique is far too dangerous... far too difficult to control. If anything goes wrong, it could become an outright disaster."
In the original story, Fushiguro Megumi's character had failed to keep pace with his power, and in the end, he became a burden who held everyone else back.
Kill Fushiguro Megumi.
For Asou Akiya, that would be like pulling the firewood from beneath the cauldron—eliminating the root of the problem once and for all, with no future consequences.
Without the Ten Shadows Technique, Ryomen Sukuna would never be able to kill Gojo Satoru, who possessed the Limitless Technique. The so-called "World-Splitting Slash" would never even exist.
Asou Akiya spoke quietly.
"Naoya, he's too young. So young that if I killed him, I'd carry that guilt for the rest of my life. He's also so young that even if he died, another Ten Shadows user could still be born into this world, and that would create an even greater threat for us."
Asou Akiya and Gojo Satoru were sixteen years old, while Fushiguro Megumi was only three—a difference of thirteen years.
If Megumi died now, there was every possibility that the world of Jujutsu Kaisen would simply produce another Ten Shadows user as a newborn. In the future, that child could once again become Ryomen Sukuna's vessel. Even if Sukuna were only "twelve years old" by then, he could still become the greatest obstacle Gojo Satoru would ever face.
[The age gap...]
[Once I've firmly secured my position, it won't matter even if another Ten Shadows user appears!]
Zen'in Naoya's hunger for power flared at once, and he immediately came up with a solution.
"Then we'll raise him until he's ten before killing him!"
The thought of permanently eliminating the Ten Shadows Technique filled Zen'in Naoya's eyes with anticipation, as though he had finally found someone who shared his ideals. His murderous intent no longer bothered to hide itself.
"No, ten is too old. Seven would be perfect. We'll keep him alive until he's seven, then I'll kill him and get rid of the nephew who's going to steal my inheritance."
"No."
Asou Akiya's refusal was calm.
"Why?!" Zen'in Naoya shot back. "You've already thought this far ahead!"
"I said no, and I meant it."
Asou Akiya's answer left no room for argument.
"People can be despicable. They can be shameless. But they cannot live without a bottom line."
Those black eyes of Asou Akiya's, capable of seeing through human nature and calculating the hearts of others, were unfathomably deep—yet frighteningly clear.
"Raising him until he's seven and then killing him? Do you even understand what you're saying, Naoya?"
"You're raising livestock."
Standing on opposite sides was one thing. Killing was another.
But no one should raise another human being like an animal, only to slaughter them later.
If he acted with such reckless disregard, he would be no different from Kenjaku. He would lose his conscience completely.
If, someday in the future, Gojo Satoru learned the truth, what would he think of him?
Would Gojo Satoru want him to become a disgusting executioner in order to save him?
No.
Gojo Satoru wouldn't appreciate it.
He would only despise what Asou Akiya had done.
His heart...
...could not be allowed to fall.
"If you don't want others to know, don't do it in the first place."
With the wisdom that Zen'in Naoya could not help but fear, Asou Akiya delivered his conclusion.
"We're sorcerers—not curse users, not villains. Our goal is to gain what benefits us, not to leave behind filthy evidence of our crimes. The highest form of strategy is an open scheme, not a hidden one."
"...Kamo, was our wager last time one of your 'open schemes' too?"
"Yes. I used Toji as bait and maneuvered you into the position you're in today, where you have no choice but to obey me."
"..."
Zen'in Naoya trembled with rage.
"This time, I used the Ten Shadows as bait to draw you here." Asou Akiya turned around and calmly laid out the future he had planned for the hopelessly rotten Zen'in Naoya.
"Naoya, I'm going to adopt your nephew, Fushiguro Megumi."
"When he turns seven, I'll have him swear a Binding Vow to seal away the Ten Shadows Technique's ultimate trump card—the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) shikigami, Makora."
"You'll make the perfect shield for me. You'll find the house, hire the nanny, and keep the secret for the next five years... won't you?"
Five years.
That was enough time for Fushiguro Megumi to grow to the age of eight. By then, once the vow had been made, the Ten Shadows would no longer pose a future threat.
Asou Akiya had calculated every step with meticulous precision.
What he intended to eliminate had never been the Ten Shadows Technique itself, nor Fushiguro Megumi.
It was Makora—the final shikigami capable of adapting through battle to Gojo Satoru's Limitless Technique.
[Fushiguro Megumi... you are Fushiguro Toji's "blessing." You are the foster son Gojo Satoru cherished in the original story.]
[I don't want to betray my own humanity...]
[I want to give you, myself, and Gojo one more chance to truly know one another.]
Asou Akiya had already made up his mind.
Once he adopted Fushiguro Megumi, he would never allow him another chance to unleash Makora. Without that innate trump card that invited mutual destruction, Megumi's habit of resorting to suicidal gambles whenever a fight turned against him would also improve considerably.
Binding Vows were an incredibly useful tool.
Unfortunately, there were far too few people in the jujutsu world who truly knew how to make use of them.
Once again, it was a victory for brains over brawn.
Under Asou Akiya's flawless scheme, Zen'in Naoya felt a mouthful of blood rise and lodge in his throat.
"Damn you, Kamo!!!"
The spring air suddenly felt cold enough to seep into his bones. A chill spread through his entire body as he realized he had fallen into an even larger trap.
—
TL Note:
I chose to use the Japanese name Makora here instead of Mahoraga. While Mahoraga is the official English localization, Makora carries a layer of symbolism that's more fitting in the story.
In East Asian Buddhism, Makora (摩虎羅) is one of the Twelve Divine Generals who serve as protectors of the Medicine Buddha. Meanwhile, Mahoraga in Hindu and Buddhist mythology generally refers to a class of semi-divine beings with human upper bodies and serpentine lower bodies, rather than a specific guardian figure.