"Hey, did you guys hear me? Unrelated personnel—step back."
Naoya Zenin let out a long sigh, expression impatient, urging the students surrounding Yuji.
He'd originally thought these people could help wear down Yuji Itadori. Instead, they got instantly defeated the moment they stepped up.
How embarrassing.
However, this made Naoya more willing to face Yuji with 120% focus.
This kid is not simple.
Naoya Zenin only acknowledged three jujutsu sorcerers in his life.
The first was Toji Fushiguro. The second was Satoru Gojo. The last was his father, Naobito Zenin.
Growing up with a silver spoon in his mouth, he believed he stood above all other sorcerers except those three.
But the strength Yuji Itadori displayed made him reconsider.
This guy is the same type as Toji. Although he's not as good as Toji yet, if he's allowed to keep growing, he could at least reach... my level. Hmph. Sukuna's vessel is terrifying, but I won't admit he's enough to catch up to Toji.
Naoya spread his hands. "You're all just a hindrance. You've been busy this whole time and haven't even touched the hem of his clothes. You're just embarrassing yourselves."
"Get lost, all of you. I will kill Yuji Itadori."
Possessing such formidable talent—this child absolutely could not be left alive.
"..."
"Retreat! We're no match for him!"
Noritoshi Kamo also didn't want to keep losing face in front of Naoya. He led the group in a hurried retreat from the forest.
The noisy battlefield instantly fell silent.
Yuji raised his hand and cracked his neck, bones making crisp sounds. "Now it's just you and me."
"Exactly what I wanted. With those pieces of trash around earlier, I felt embarrassed to fight seriously."
Naoya revealed a frivolous smile. "Besides, you weren't fighting seriously either, were you? If you were, you could've taken their lives long ago."
"..."
Yuji didn't refute this.
"Hehe. Fools like you are born to be used by others. It's because of this personality that you'll never become Toji."
Whoosh—!
Naoya's voice echoed around, but his figure vanished.
"Toji this, Toji that. Are you gay or something?"
Although Yuji knew very little about Toji Fushiguro, based on what Maki had revealed in the future, he knew the man was Megumi Fushiguro's father and the first-generation Heavenly Tyrant.
"What do you know? Brat—the only person who can stand at the same height as Toji and Satoru Gojo is me!"
Naoya's voice seemed to come from all directions, making it impossible to pinpoint his exact location.
Yuji's eyes darted rapidly, tracking his movements. The blonde man had become a blue afterimage. With Yuji's position as the center, he continuously wove back and forth through the forest at a speed difficult to capture with the naked eye.
This guy...
Even if his technique hadn't stacked to its limit, Naoya's current speed had already reached subsonic levels.
Earlier, they'd had a brief initial clash. Naoya had tried to circle behind him and activate Projection Sorcery through touch, forcing Yuji to be frozen for one second—but Yuji had dodged.
Clearly, Naoya had learned his lesson. He wasn't rushing to attack. He was waiting. Maintaining high-speed movement didn't consume much energy for him, but tracking those movements kept the muscles in Yuji's eyes continuously tense.
Human eyes get tired.
Whether from the front, behind, the sides, or above—with Naoya's astonishing speed, he could launch an attack from any unexpected angle in an instant.
Time ticked by. As Yuji's eyes gradually grew sore, in the split second of a blink when he failed to capture the movement—
SMACK!
Naoya appeared beside Yuji like a phantom and lightly patted his right shoulder.
Projection Sorcery. The target touched by Naoya must move according to his preset movements—otherwise they'd be frozen for one second.
Yuji had absolutely no way of knowing Naoya's preset movements. He would definitely be forcibly frozen.
The next instant, under Projection Sorcery's effect, Yuji's body was stuffed into a "mirror" that appeared out of thin air—like a bug sealed in amber, completely unable to move.
One second was enough for Naoya to execute twenty-four movements. Within one second, he could throw a full twenty-four punches.
Naoya grabbed the top of the mirror with one hand while the other gathered cyan cursed energy flames.
BANG!
A punch smashed into Yuji's abdomen. The pink-haired boy's body shot out from the shattered mirror surface, flying backward like a cannonball.
The blood armor on Yuji's abdomen was shattered. His continuously flying body eventually crashed into a pine tree—
BANG!
The thick trunk snapped cleanly in the middle. Wood chips flew. The canopy crashed to the ground. But Yuji's body continued its momentum, flying further backward.
BANG—! BANG—! BANG—!
Countless old trees collapsed one after another like dominoes in less than a second. Wood chips and fallen leaves danced in the air. Before Yuji could even land, Naoya's speed was a step faster than him flying backward through mid-air.
The blonde man arrived in front of Yuji in an instant, then jumped and kicked the pink-haired boy in the abdomen.
BANG—!
To defeat Naoya Zenin—who possessed subsonic speed in his base state—Yuji had two methods.
The first was like Maki Zenin, the awakened Heavenly Tyrant: throwing punches in the gaps between Naoya's twenty-four movements.
But the prerequisite for the first method was being able to see Naoya's movements clearly and having physical attributes far surpassing his.
So Yuji chose the second method.
The second method was like his eldest brother Choso: first use some means to slow Naoya down, then use Supernova at point-blank range for a one-hit kill.
Piercing Blood required a specific hand sign to fire. Even if its speed matched the speed of sound, Naoya could easily dodge it.
To defeat Naoya, he could only look for an opportunity to get close and activate Supernova.
Yuji was certain Naoya couldn't withstand more than three of his attacks.
So now he needed to find an opportunity to close the distance.
BOOM—!
Yuji's body instantly crossed a hundred meters like a cannonball, his back smashing heavily against the rock wall of an artificial rockery at the forest's edge.
Rocks shattered. Dust filled the air. A crater several meters deep appeared. Before Yuji could adjust, Naoya arrived in front of him again.
BANG!
A heavy blow landed on the pink-haired boy's abdomen.
"Pfft!"
Yuji spat out stomach acid. He tried to struggle, to throw a punch in counterattack—but Naoya grabbed his wrist a step faster.
Projection Sorcery activated. Yuji turned into a mirror again.
"Unfortunately, my preset movements are all based on the premise of your counterattacks!"
Naoya grinned sinisterly. A storm of punches rained down on Yuji's body.
BANG! BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!!
The rocks behind Yuji continuously shattered, cracks spreading outward from his back. The entire rockery trembled. Rubble exploded. Dust filled the air. Blood splattered.
The sin of the weak is not knowing what true strength is!
So what if you have absolute talent? Yuji Itadori—you lack the self-awareness and spirit of a strong person. Ridiculously trying to pity those lowly weaklings.
"Useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, useless!!!!"
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!
The strong must ruthlessly humiliate the weak!
Naoya's punches continued. Every part of Yuji's torso became a target. The twenty-four-movements-per-second technique allowed him to throw twenty-four punches in one second. Naoya threw punch after punch, each one adding a new wound on top of the previous.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!
Initially, Naoya maintained his sinister smile. However, after several full minutes, his expression changed.
Wait. How is this guy so durable?
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!
The combo continued.
If it were an ordinary Grade 1 sorcerer using cursed energy to enhance their body, taking this many punches—they should've passed out long ago.
Naoya sensed something was wrong. But from the feedback of his strikes, he could confirm Yuji hadn't activated his blood armor. Hadn't used any means besides pure cursed energy defense.
BANG—!
With a right uppercut, Yuji's head jerked backward. He spat blood. His eyes finally began to roll back.
I see. So he's just purely durable? Nothing special about that.
"It's over, Yuji Itadori!"
Naoya felt relieved. The speed of his punches recovered somewhat. Since he was just purely durable, he'd just keep hitting until he lost consciousness...
SMACK!
In that instant, Naoya felt a gripping sensation on his arm. He looked down and found that Yuji—who should have been powerless to resist—was gripping his wrist.
"...?!"
Naoya was forcibly frozen for one second. At that moment, the pink-haired boy raised his other hand—which he'd kept tightly clenched—in front of Naoya's face.
He opened his palm. Inside was a blood orb that had been gathering through Convergence all this time, without leaking the slightest bit of cursed energy.
"You seemed to be having quite a bit of fun hitting me just now?"
The frozen Naoya rolled his eyes to look at Yuji. Only then did he realize that all the bruises and wounds he'd inflicted on the pink-haired boy's face had completely vanished.
The Yuji Itadori before him was completely unharmed.
"Impossible..."
"Supernova," Yuji said slowly.
SQUELCH—!
The blood orb exploded. Countless tiny blood clots sprayed out like a shotgun blast, enveloping Naoya's entire upper body.
Even if Naoya broke free from the restraint on his arm within that short second, the point-blank blood explosion left him completely unable to defend.
"Ah—!"
A short scream escaped Naoya's mouth. His torso suffered multiple piercing wounds from the tiny blood beads. Before his scream could fully leave his mouth, Yuji raised his right fist.
From the corner of his eye, the blonde man caught sight of the cyan cursed energy on the boy's fist—right in front of him—turning pitch-black.
Projection Sorcery... oh no, too late!
"Black Flash."
BANG—!
The sound of shattering bone echoed. Naoya's jawbone cracked under the impact. His teeth collided. Under the force of the punch, his eyes rolled back, and his unbalanced body flew backward.
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~ Evrey 150 PS = Bonus Chapter
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