Yuji Itadori followed Satoru Gojo along a path that felt like a deep mountain forest.
Ancient trees rose on both sides. Sunlight filtered through layers of branches and leaves, casting dappled shadows on the moss-covered stone path. The air was fresh with the scent of earth and grass. In the distance, occasional birdsong could be heard—it was quiet, nothing like Tokyo, more like some remote rural shrine.
"Is this… really a school?" Itadori couldn't help but ask, stepping on the slippery stone steps, which made a soft click sound.
"Of course it's a school~" Satoru Gojo walked ahead of him, hands in the pockets of his uniform, his steps brisk as if he were out for a stroll. "The Tokyo Jujutsu High has a long history, a great atmosphere, strong teachers, and a handsome and influential teacher like me—isn't that great?"
Itadori looked at the increasingly primitive scenery around him and couldn't connect this place with "school" at all. There were no school buildings, no playgrounds, not even telephone poles. There was only a stone staircase winding upward, flanked by endless forest.
"What about… classrooms? Dormitories? The cafeteria?"
"Everything's at the top," Satoru Gojo waved his hand without looking back. "Don't worry, it has everything you need. It's just more… traditional. After all, the profession of a sorcerer hasn't changed much from ancient times to the present."
Itadori's heart tightened. "Will I be able to enter the Jujutsu High?"
"That depends on whether the principal agrees."
"Ah… what if he doesn't? Will I be executed?"
"Pfft."
A soft sound came from his right cheek.
Itadori instinctively raised his hand to touch it. Instead of smooth skin, his fingertips met a warm, grinning crack. His eyes widened in horror.
On the right side of his face, a mouth was slowly opening. The lips were dark purple, the corners of the mouth grinning all the way to the base of his ear, revealing a mouthful of sharp, inhuman teeth.
"I see," this mouth spoke, its voice low and hoarse, with a malevolence forged over a thousand years. It was Sukuna. "The rules of this era aren't based on strength? The leader isn't the strongest? How boring."
Itadori's scalp went numb. He reached out to cover his mouth. "Shut up! Don't come out!"
Smack!
His hand hit his own face, but the mouth disappeared the moment his hand came down. Just as Itadori sighed in relief, he felt the back of his hand grow warm—
Looking down, a mouth was slowly appearing on the back of his right hand, grinning in a mocking arc.
"Fool," Sukuna's voice came from the back of his palm. "I'll speak wherever I want. This body will be mine sooner or later."
He paused, then his "gaze"—though he had no eyes, Itadori could feel a cold, malevolent stare—turned toward Satoru Gojo. "And this white-haired brat… I'll kill you sooner or later!"
Satoru Gojo stopped and turned around. He had his hands in his pants pockets, tilted his head slightly, and aimed his black blindfold at Itadori—or rather, at the mouth on the back of Itadori's hand.
"Oh, I'm honored to be remembered by Sukuna-sama~"
"Gojo-sensei," Itadori hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "is Sukuna… really the King of Curses?"
"Oh? You finally got around to asking?" Satoru Gojo stopped and turned around. The sunlight filtering through the gaps in the leaves fell on his white hair, making it seem to glow—although most of his face was hidden by the black blindfold.
"It was so chaotic yesterday, I didn't have time to ask…" Itadori said. "I only remember that he suddenly appeared in my body, then you two fought, and I passed out. When I woke up, I was in that room full of talismans."
"Then listen now," Satoru Gojo raised a finger, his tone uncharacteristically serious. "Ryomen Sukuna. The 'King of Curses' who dominated the Heian period. Four arms, two faces, and cursed energy so immense it made the entire jujutsu world tremble. In his time, there was only one sorcerer who could match him—"
"Zen'in Genji!"
Itadori followed Satoru Gojo, hesitating for a moment, but still asked, "Gojo-sensei, who is this… 'Zen'in Genji' you just mentioned? Is he like Sukuna… a King of Curses?"
"King of Curses?" A deep voice sounded mockingly directly in Itadori's head, full of outright contempt.
Before Satoru Gojo could say anything, the back of Itadori's right hand burned. The dark purple crack opened again, and Sukuna's mouth burst forth, spitting out cold, malevolent syllables:
"Shut up, brat. A hairy kid like you, who doesn't know his place and doesn't even know where the entrance to the jujutsu world is, dares to judge the name 'Zen'in Genji'?"
Itadori was stunned by this sudden angry reprimand and the strange sensation on the back of his hand. Sukuna's voice continued, each word seeming wrapped in a thousand years of wind, frost, and blood, pressing down heavily:
"That man… is not someone you or any random cat or dog in this era has the right to judge."
The air seemed to freeze for a moment. The rustle of the mountain wind blowing through the forest was especially clear. Itadori could feel Sukuna's consciousness seething violently within him—a state mixed with extremely complex emotions, not just hatred, but rather a fury triggered by touching some area that could not be desecrated.
"You care a lot about him," Satoru Gojo said.
Satoru Gojo stopped. He turned slightly, and his black blindfold seemed to "look" at the mouth on the back of Itadori's hand, representing the King of Curses, rarely showing his usual playful expression. He was silent for two seconds, as if considering his words, and then spoke slowly and clearly in a solemn tone Itadori had never heard before:
"Ah, that's right," Satoru Gojo nodded, confirming Sukuna's words. "Sukuna is right. Zen'in Genji… is not really an existence that 'just anyone can judge.' In that era, the Heian period a thousand years ago, he was almost the embodiment of the concept of a 'god' in this world."
He paused, as if painting that distant picture in his mind, and continued:
"According to the few reliable records passed down through generations, as well as the top-secret archives sealed by the Jujutsu Headquarters, in that era—when cursed spirits and curse users were far more prevalent than now—Zen'in Genji single-handedly suppressed the dark side of the entire era with his unparalleled strength and wisdom."
"His power allowed him to rewrite the rules of the jujutsu world of that time. Chaos ended because of him. His majesty was so great that even the emperor—the pinnacle of secular power—bowed to him multiple times with the most solemn ceremonies on official occasions, not as an ordinary sorcerer or noble, but as a 'living god' who protected the country, prayed for his power to ward off evil spirits."