Night wind swept ash and unease through the air.
The smell of blood and cursed energy hung heavy and metallic.
Fushiguro Megumi was braced and ready, hand seals formed for a shikigami summon, black cursed energy crackling at his fingertips like open flame, both eyes locked on the figure in front of him.
Yuji Itadori stood directly across from him, his face a picture of blank confusion.
“So…
what’s happening right now?” A casual, unhurried voice cut through the tense standoff at just the right moment.
Fushiguro’s head snapped sideways.
Uchiha Ayato was already standing beside him — no one had seen him arrive — looking like he’d just strolled back from a walk.
But those eyes…
There was no mistaking them.
Tomoe spinning like whirlpools in crimson pupils, even the air carrying a palpable weight under that unsettling gaze.
At the same time, the system was refreshing its display in a frenzy — [Name: Uzumaki Naruto (Nine-Tails jinchūriki) Chakra: 5k (800k) / 5k (800k) Rank: Academy Student / ANBU Level 3 (Lower Than Dirt / Slightly Below Par)] [Social Mission: Earn the friendship of the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki.
Reward: Flying Thunder God Technique] [Combat Mission: Fight the Nine-Tails and maintain suppression for three minutes.
Reward: Chakra capacity x3] Not bad at all for a King of Curses from a thousand years ago.
Even at one-twentieth of his power, the readings were terrifying.
And equally, the mission rewards attached to him were just as generous.
Three times the chakra.
Three times!
Farewell, Little Sister Anon.
Once you’ve felt what doubled-up chakra is like, Uncle Ayato could never go back to hoarding it the stingy way he used to.
Oh yeah.
Gonna feast on chakra today.
Once Uncle Ayato unlocks the Mangekyō, he won’t even bother with an umbrella on rainy days.
He’ll just walk the streets of Tokyo in full skeletal Susano’o glory and become the most brooding person in the entire city.
Fushiguro’s brow knitted hard.
He spoke fast.
“He swallowed the Special Grade cursed object.
Ryomen Sukuna is parasiting him now.” “The situation is critical.
He needs to be exorcised immediately.” “Did you handle yours?” “He swallowed the object, huh…
that explains it.” Uchiha Ayato nodded like this was completely expected, still perfectly relaxed.
“Don’t worry, my side’s wrapped up.
Easy work.” Then he turned to look at the thoroughly bewildered Yuji Itadori with genuine curiosity.
“Hey, Itadori — can you still control your own body?” “Or better yet — can you swap out with whoever’s living in there?” “Huh?” Yuji Itadori looked down at his own hands, made an experimental fist.
“Probably?” Fushiguro felt a very bad premonition.
He looked at Uchiha Ayato, something approaching alarm flickering in his eyes.
“What are you trying to do?” “Relax, relax~” Uchiha Ayato waved a hand, completely undisturbed by Fushiguro’s look.
“I just want to personally get a sense of how powerful the King of Curses actually is.” He met Yuji Itadori’s eyes directly, his voice taking on a soft, coaxing pull.
“Try talking to him.
Ask him to come out and play for three minutes.
That’s all.
Just three minutes.” Yuji hesitated for a moment — then looked at Uchiha Ayato’s expression, all confidence and ease, and ultimately decided to trust him.
“Alright.
Three minutes…
I’ll give it a shot!” The boy closed his eyes, pushing his consciousness down into that dark abyss.
The next second, black tattoo patterns bloomed again across the exposed skin of his upper body.
That massive surge of cursed energy flooded back.
“Ha!
Another little punk with a death wish!” The scornful words came up from Yuji’s throat, loaded with contempt.
“Those eyes of yours…” “Tch.
I hate being seen through like this.
First thing after I kill you, I’m gouging those eyes out and pickling them in wine.” “If you think you can — go right ahead.” Uchiha Ayato’s expression didn’t flicker.
He treated Sukuna’s threat like background noise.
Then he raised his right hand toward Ryomen Sukuna, blue light exploding from his palm.
“Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue.” Under Blue’s effect, the concept of distance imploded instantly — as if an invisible giant hand had seized Sukuna’s body and crushed the space between them.
Sukuna’s body pitched forward.
Both feet carved deep furrows into the concrete as he was dragged, unstoppably, toward Ayato.
All four of his eyes went wide.
His body had no time to react.
Ayato’s right fist swung and connected — dead center on his face.
The punch landed with a crack.
Blood and broken teeth sprayed from the corner of Sukuna’s mouth.
He was blasted clean off his feet, spine crashing through a concrete pillar, rubble spraying like shrapnel.
From the moment Blue activated to the moment the fist landed — a few breaths at most.
“!!!” Fushiguro stared at Ayato’s right hand, and forgot to breathe.
That hand was still crackling with faint blue energy.
The surrounding air still held the shuddering aftermath of warped space.
He’d seen this before.
That unique, unmistakable spatial manipulation — making “infinity” itself physically real…
How?
Fushiguro’s mind went into freefall.
The Limitless was the Gojo clan’s inherited technique.
There was exactly one person in the world who could wield it with true mastery — the man with the black blindfold who spent his days laughing and buying sweets.
But now Uchiha Ayato…
Gojo-sensei’s secret kid?
No.
Ages don’t line up.
A secret pupil?
No, that’s wrong too.
The Gojo clan’s technique is inscribed in the body itself — it can’t be taught to anyone else…
Then what in the world— There was no question about it: what Uchiha Ayato had just used was Gojo Satoru’s Limitless.
Here’s the thing — after reincarnating, the Sharingan’s copy ability had been massively enhanced, and that included replication.
On the very night Gojo had strong-armed him into joining Jujutsu High, Ayato had quietly copied his Limitless on the spot.
As for the Six Eyes normally required to run the Limitless at full capacity?
Not a problem.
The operational precision of a Three-Tomoe Sharingan wasn’t far off the Six Eyes in practice.
The only gap was that Ayato hadn’t yet grasped the core of cursed energy, and hadn’t watched Gojo use Reverse Cursed Technique, so he couldn’t fire off Red yet.
Otherwise he’d have thrown a Hollow Purple just for the fun of it.
Now — cursed energy came from human negative emotion, making it fundamentally a form of spiritual energy.
Chakra, on the other hand, was the fusion of spiritual and physical energy.
Stretch the analogy and there was, in fact, a conversion pathway between the two.
So Ayato had found a way to exploit the glitch: He could brute-force his chakra to function as cursed energy.
And then, the moment an opponent developed some ability to nullify techniques, he’d just say he was using chakra all along.
Pure two-faced scheming.
Was it underhanded?
Oh, it absolutely was.
Uncle Ayato was insane.
First he says it’s jujutsu, then he says it was ninjutsu.
Take your pick.
From the far end of the rooftop, a low laugh rolled out from the rubble.
Sukuna hauled himself out of the wreckage, the tattoo patterns rippling across his skin, black cursed energy seeping from his pores like boiling tar.
He wiped the blood from his mouth with a thumb, licked it clean, and all four eyes burned with genuine delight.
“Not bad at all.” He worked his dislocated jaw back into place with a crack, an amused smile spreading across his face.
“It’s been a while since someone hit me in the face.
This body’s garbage, but there aren’t many people who could send me flying with a single punch.” He stepped out of the rubble, each footstep leaving spiderweb cracks in the concrete beneath him.
“But…” Sukuna stopped.
Tilted his head.
His gaze locked onto Ayato’s right hand with the look of a connoisseur examining a rare artifact.
“That technique just now.” “Attracting gravity to implode space — crushing the concept of distance into a negative number…
a genuine masterpiece.” “There’s just one thing that bothers me…” Sukuna’s mouth split into a wide, dangerous grin.
“You were a little sloppy with it.” “That technique — it’s not yours, is it?” To be continued…