“Oh ho ho, no wonder Ijichi’s reports have been saying these few blocks have been unusually quiet lately…” “Turns out there’s been a good Samaritan cleaning up in the shadows the whole time~” “And pretty efficient, too.” “Not bad at all~” Every single muscle in Uchiha Ayato’s body locked up the instant that voice hit his ears.
Every hair stood on end.
His heart blew straight past its comfortable operating range and started hammering like a war drum.
Can’t run.
The gaze on his back had no physical weight, yet it pinned Uchiha Ayato to the spot like a mountain had just landed on him.
Uchiha Ayato slowly turned his head.
The glow of a streetlight was split in half by a tall silhouette.
The figure standing there was well over 190 centimeters.
A black turtleneck uniform traced the lines of an athletic build.
The most eye-catching thing about him: snow-white hair that stood out even against the dark of the night, and a pure-black blindfold covering his eyes.
Satoru Gojo.
Special-grade jujutsu sorcerer.
Title: The Strongest.
His very birth had shifted the balance of the entire jujutsu world — and inadvertently triggered the gradual strengthening of modern curses.
Cursed spirits and curse users alike feared him.
A monster.
An absolute monster.
Sure, laughing along with jujutsu memes online was fine, but if you actually ran into the man in real life, who wouldn’t want to turn and sprint in the opposite direction?
The tomoe were spinning like mad in his eyes.
Through the Sharingan, the energy flowing around this person looked like an ocean suspended directly overhead — vast enough to flatten the entire block without breaking a sweat.
What this world called “cursed energy” had formed a warped vacuum around him, bending the laws of physics.
Everything that got close to him slowed down infinitely.
He just stood there — yet somehow, on a physical level, felt completely unreachable.
Uchiha Ayato drew a slow breath, shut the Sharingan down, and got his breathing and body back to baseline.
Then, same as always, he put on his easy, laid-back smile.
“Hey there, mister.
Showing up behind someone in all black in the middle of the night without a word is seriously scary, you know?” “I think I just lost a few years off my life from the shock.” “Oh, my bad, my bad~” Gojo stuck both hands in his pockets and stepped forward, shoes grinding through the ash the cursed spirit had left on the ground.
He stopped three paces away from Ayato, studying the black-haired kid in front of him from behind his blindfold.
“Uniform, you know.
But still…” Gojo tilted forward just slightly, bringing his face a little closer.
That aura of absolute overwhelming presence pressed down on Ayato directly.
“Your cursed energy residue is interesting.” “And those eyes of yours…
they went red just now.
Looks like an Innate Technique.
Yeah?” Gojo snapped his fingers.
“Middle of the night, a Grade 1 cursed spirit one-shotted by an unlicensed operative who looks like a middle schooler — and has the kind of face that gets girls’ attention…” “Hm!
Kid, you got any plans for high school?” “Come join our school.
Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College.” The second Gojo’s words landed, the system jumped instantly — [Career Mission: Accept Kakashi Hatake’s invitation.
Join Team 7.] [Mission Reward: Three-Tomoe Sharingan] Uchiha Ayato: …
Kakashi has entered the chat.
Isn’t that a little disrespectful to the man?
I mean, the guy is literally the most powerful sorcerer alive, and Kakashi is…
well…
Okay, to be fair though — white hair, eye covering, laid-back energy.
The resemblance between Gojo and the Copy Ninja was genuinely hard to ignore.
Classic system behavior.
It had pegged Gojo Satoru as Kakashi Hatake.
Next time Gojo pulled something resembling a space-time technique, it’d probably reclassify him as Minato Namikaze.
Ayato clowned on it internally, but the reward the system was dangling was enough to make him genuinely consider it.
That said, he obviously wasn’t going to agree on the spot.
Joining a jujutsu school meant selling his labor.
And if he was selling labor, he needed to sell it at a good price.
Who in their right mind kills themselves working for pocket change?
But there was another reason — the most important one.
When it came to the jujutsu world, Uchiha Ayato was a casual viewer at best.
He’d watched the first season of the anime, but by the time he’d found the show, the internet was already talking about Hazenoki turning into a mango.
Whatever had happened in between, he genuinely had no idea.
Step into the jujutsu world and he’d be facing a mountain of unknowns.
So — time to stall.
Alright people, watch your Uncle Ayato handle Gojo Satoru.
“No.” Uchiha Ayato turned him down clean.
“Eh?” Gojo paused.
“That fast?
What’s your reason?” “Technical college?” Uchiha Ayato shook his head, a languid, slightly contemptuous smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
“Just the name alone sounds low-rent, mister.” “Look, I don’t know what kind of hidden institution you’re running over there, but with ‘technical college’ in the name — what, is the graduation certificate gonna have the Prime Minister’s seal on it?” Ayato raised a hand and pointed at the glittering street beyond.
“You see all those lights out there?
I have a very detailed, very ambitious life plan.” “Oh yeah?” Gojo’s grin got wider.
“Let’s hear it.
Are you trying to become the guardian of all those lights, or trying to put them all under your boot?” “Neither.
I’m saying — look at all that glitter and glamour.
How could anyone not get completely sucked in?” Uchiha Ayato said it without a trace of shame.
“I’m going to Tokyo University.” “Make something of myself before third year.
Hit every mixer I can, use this face to filter out the top thirty richest daughters in all of Tokyo.” “Then deploy the necessary social maneuvers to make her fall hopelessly in love with me.” “Move in, sign the papers, spend every day sleeping in at some big house until I wake up naturally.
That’s the plan.
Simple as.” Gojo Satoru: ???
A few seconds of silence.
“Pffft…” Gojo grabbed his stomach, shoulders heaving.
“HAHAHAHAHA!
Move in with her?!” “You’ve got this kind of ability and you’re planning to live off a woman?!” “Don’t knock it.” Ayato stepped around the man who was currently folded over laughing, and started drifting toward the wider street.
“Maintaining the looks and the mental state needed to attract wealthy women requires adequate sleep and absolute personal safety.” “The kind of job where you’re brawling with things that smell like a backed-up sewer?
Whoever wants that, they can have it.” “If there’s nothing else, I’m going home to catch up on sleep.” Gojo stopped laughing.
A beat later, that tall white-haired figure was already leaning against a telephone pole at the intersection, one hand casually tossing his phone up and catching it.
“The live-in plan does sound genuinely solid, I’ll give you that.” Gojo said it breezily.
“But our college has great benefits too, you know.
And if you’re interested, I can personally introduce you to the daughters of the actual Big Three sorcerer families.” “Also, haven’t introduced myself yet.” “I’m Gojo Satoru.
First-year supervisor at Tokyo Jujutsu High.” “By the way — I have a very low tolerance for being turned down.” [Name: Kakashi Hatake Chakra: 8,884,841 / 8,884,844 Rank: Hokage (Transcendent)] Ayato stared at the tall figure blocking the end of the alley and went quiet for a few seconds.
Then he sighed.
“Low tolerance for rejection?
That’s too bad.” “But honestly, mister — can you blame me?” Ayato pointed at Gojo’s blindfold.
“Wandering around in a pure-black blindfold in the middle of the night like some kind of ghost?
A little respect for other people goes a long way, don’t you think?” “If you actually wanted a real conversation, you shouldn’t be hiding your face.
That’s basic.” “Why would I hand over my future to some weirdo who can’t even show me his face?” Gojo let out a quiet laugh at that.
His fingers went to the edge of the blindfold.
“Bold little guy.
Picky, too.” Then he pulled it down.
Pure sky blue.
It was a color like someone had compressed the entire heavens and poured them into two eyes.
Threads of cursed energy pulsed and danced deep in those pupils.
The instant the blindfold slid away — the moment their eyes met — Uchiha Ayato’s black pupils flooded red.
Black tomoe shredded themselves into rings of afterimage in the crimson glow.
Gojo’s breath stopped.
That easy smile froze on his face.
Those sky-blue pupils dilated.
He stood absolutely motionless, like he’d taken a lightning strike to the chest.
“Doesn’t matter how strong you are.
Staring into these eyes, you’re done either way.” “That’s just reality.
Too bad.” Uchiha Ayato stepped around Gojo and walked out into the moonlit street ahead.
“I’m walking my own road.
Stay out of the way.” “Pass~” But the next second, a large, firm hand landed on his shoulder.
“No cursed speech.
No hand seals.
No Domain Expansion…” “Just one second of eye contact, and you bypassed all the senses and force-fed my brain a hallucination?” Gojo’s voice was buzzing with excitement.
“Fascinating.
Absolutely fascinating!” “You crafty little punk — I got completely played there, didn’t I?!” Uchiha Ayato: …
“Look, can we call a truce or something?” To be continued…