The emotional reunion between the two brothers did little to move Kashimo.
He stared down at Julian, voicing a question that had lingered in his mind for centuries.
“Why go to all this trouble?
What is Kenjaku actually after?”
Back when Kashimo was still young, Kenjaku had approached him to propose a contract.
But Kashimo had never trusted the monk.
He couldn’t decipher the man’s motives and refused to become a blind pawn on his board.
Only when his natural lifespan neared its end did Kashimo finally agree to the terms, preferring a second chance at a grand battle over dying in a bed.
Few ancient sorcerers had signed Kenjaku’s vows out of loyalty or shared vision.
Most were simply out of time.
Kashimo had initially assumed Yuji’s status as Sukuna’s host was a bizarre accident.
But learning that Kenjaku had literally inhabited the boy’s mother proved otherwise.
Every step was calculated.
Julian shrugged casually.
“Nothing mysterious.
He wants to force the evolution of humanity by merging the population of Japan with Master Tengen.”
Yuji stiffened.
He hadn’t yet met Master Tengen in person, but hearing Julian lay out Kenjaku’s objective sent a chill down his spine.
He knew what sorcery was.
To force the entire civilian population into a chaotic, uncurbed state of energy evolution was absolute madness.
“Why?” Yuji asked, his voice trembling slightly.
“What does he gain from doing that?”
Julian scratched his cheek.
“Gain?
Honestly?
I don’t think he has a grand noble goal.
He just thinks it’s interesting.
He’s lived for a thousand years and wants to see something he can’t control.”
Just because he’s bored?
Yuji felt a surge of cold fury.
A monster was plunging the entire nation into a bloodbath simply because he was curious?
Kashimo, however, found the explanation entirely plausible.
Yuji forced his breathing to steady, looking back at Julian.
“If it wasn’t an accident…
why me?
Why did he target my family?”
“It starts with your grandfather, Wasuke Itadori,” Julian said.
“My grandfather?” Yuji blinked, taken aback.
Kashimo tilted his head.
“Was your grandfather some hidden master?”
“No, completely normal civilian,” Julian shook his head.
“You all know Sukuna’s true form has two faces and four arms, right?”
The group nodded.
That monstrous anatomy was legendary.
“There’s a reason for that,” Julian continued.
“A thousand years ago, Sukuna was born as a twin.
In the world of jujutsu, twins are considered an omen because cursed energy treats them as a single individual, splitting their potential in half.
While still in the womb, Sukuna devoured his twin brother so he could absorb his complete energy reserves and reach his peak.”
Choso’s jaw tightened.
Devouring one’s own brother for power was a sin beyond forgiveness.
“However,” Julian said, his voice dropping, “the soul of Sukuna’s twin didn’t vanish into nothingness.
It drifted through the cycle of reincarnation for a thousand years until it was reborn in this era as your grandfather, Wasuke Itadori.”
Julian pointed directly at Yuji.
“Wasuke carried the soul-lineage capable of holding Sukuna.
That’s why Kenjaku targeted your father, Jin, and possessed your mother’s body to bear you.
He engineered a physical vessel specifically built to cage the King of Curses without being consumed by him.”
Julian grinned faintly, adding a light note.
“So, strictly speaking from a soul-lineage standpoint…
Sukuna is basically your uncle.”
Nobody laughed.
Yuji stared blankly down at his own hands, the sheer weight of his engineered lineage settling heavily on his shoulders.
His entire existence was the product of a thousand-year experiment.
Suddenly, a slit opened along the side of Yuji’s neck.
A mouth lined with sharp teeth peeled back into a cold smile.
“Who are you, brat?” Sukuna’s voice echoed directly from Yuji’s flesh.
“How do you know these details?”
Yuji’s suppression was powerful, but unless he actively concentrated on suppressing Sukuna’s voice, the curse could manifest small mouth slits on his skin. Find the original chapter at novelping . com.
From inside Yuji’s innate domain, Sukuna could perceive everything happening in the outside world.
Even as the King of Curses, Sukuna was unaware of the exact mechanics Kenjaku had used to engineer his host.
He certainly hadn’t realized that the old man who raised Yuji carried the soul of his devoured twin.
Hearing an ordinary human lay out his personal history with absolute precision sparked a dangerous thread of curiosity in the ancient curse.
Julian flinched, taking a involuntary half-step back behind Kashimo.
“Lord Sukuna…
when did you pop out?”
Facing Kashimo was one thing; facing the King of Curses was entirely different.
Sukuna possessed zero restraint when it came to slaughtering non-entities.
Kashimo, on the other hand, began to tremble with visceral excitement.
The blue electric aura surrounding his body flared violently, cracking the concrete pavement beneath his boots.
“Sukuna!” Kashimo shouted, stepping forward with his staff raised.
“Finally!
Manifest and fight me!”
Sukuna didn’t even glance at Kashimo.
In his eyes, only one modern sorcerer possessed enough weight to warrant a serious clash—Satoru Gojo.
An ancient relic like Kashimo was nothing more than roadside static.
Still, Sukuna enjoyed provoking the desperate.
“Sure,” Sukuna’s mouth smirked from Yuji’s neck.
“Give the boy full control to swap with me, and I’ll tear you apart.”
Yuji snapped out of his shock, his hand instantly slapping over the mouth on his neck.
“Shut up, Sukuna!” Yuji snarled.
“I am never letting you out again!”
As Yuji focused his mind, the mouth on his neck struggled, then slowly melted back beneath his skin.
Sukuna let out a faint, mocking laugh before his presence receded back into the depths of Yuji’s soul.
Kashimo watched the mouth disappear, his eyes narrowing as static arc across his knuckles.
He didn’t look at Yuji’s face.
His voice dropped into a low, terrifying register.
“You can forcibly take control for sixty seconds using a Binding Vow, can’t you?” Kashimo said, addressing the dormant curse inside.
“If you don’t swap out right now…
I’ll kill your vessel where he stands.”