“Ah~ so you saw through it~” Uchiha Ayato tilted his head and threw out a little bear-style shrug, palms spread: “So, like, what’re you trying to say?
Calling people out is a real good way to get yourself disliked, you know.” Before the words had even finished, his figure vanished from where he stood.
Sukuna’s pupils contracted sharply.
The wind of a fist burst in from his right—Ayato had already closed in against his flank, a heavy punch driving straight for his face.
Sukuna instinctively jerked his head aside to dodge, his right arm sweeping across in a counter at the same time, five fingers hooked like claws, slashing toward Ayato’s throat.
Unfortunately, Sukuna’s fingertips came to a halt mere inches from Ayato’s neck, unable to advance another fraction.
That “Infinity” had stopped him.
The concept of Infinity blanketed the whole of Uchiha Ayato’s body, infinitely reducing the speed of anything that approached toward zero.
Sukuna’s fingers were like something mired in a muddy swamp—every inch they pushed forward slower than the last, never able to touch that layer of skin.
“…Interesting.” Sukuna withdrew his hand and retreated to put distance between himself and Ayato, a sharp glint flashing across all four of his eyes.
[Chakra: 600k/700k (↓10k/10s)] At the same time, Ayato’s Chakra reserves were dropping rapidly as well.
The operational precision of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was certainly sufficient, but it still couldn’t reach Gojo Satoru’s level of effortless mastery; Ayato had to devote more attention to maintaining the technique’s operation.
To complete the system’s mission, he’d need to keep playing with Sukuna a while longer.
Sukuna gave Ayato no more time to think; black cursed energy erupted from the face of his fist, an invisible slash tearing through the air, hurtling straight for Ayato’s chest.
That was Ryomen Sukuna’s technique—”Cleave.” The cutting force ground across the inviolable barrier, giving off a piercing, high-frequency vibration.
This move of Sukuna’s happened to play right into Ayato’s intentions.
The Tomoe in his pupils suddenly spun faster, the Sharingan beginning to analyze Sukuna’s technique.
And precisely because of this divided focus, the precision with which Ayato maintained the Limitless dropped considerably.
Fifty seconds left.
The battle pressed on.
Sukuna no longer tried to break through the Limitless with fists and kicks, instead unleashing “Cleave” again and again, battering the barrier around Ayato with dense slashes from different angles and at different frequencies.
Every “Cleave” was a perfect sample for Ayato’s Sharingan to gather data from.
But Sukuna was adapting too.
He noticed that Ayato’s Limitless was no longer flawless—when he maintained the inviolable barrier while moving at high speed and counterattacking at the same time, the Limitless would experience brief fluctuations.
He began deliberately releasing “Cleave” in the gaps of those fluctuations; several slashes grazed past Ayato’s cheek and arms, leaving blood-lines fine as strands of hair.
“Your defense really is a thing of beauty.” Sukuna remarked even as he kept striking: “But you’re not skilled enough—you’ve still got a long way to go, brat.” Ayato didn’t answer; he sidestepped a sweeping “Cleave,” swiftly closed in, and slammed his knee hard into Sukuna’s gut.
Twenty seconds.
Sukuna’s body arched backward, but he didn’t give ground—instead, seizing that interval, he grabbed Ayato’s ankle with his other hand and hurled him viciously toward the ground.
Ayato braced one hand against the ground and flipped to neutralize it, kicking out at the same time, striking Sukuna square on the chin.
Sukuna staggered a step, spat out a mouthful of bloody froth, wiped the corner of his mouth, and sneered: “Not bad—so you’ve got something of your own after all, eh?” Ten seconds.
Just about there.
After landing, Ayato didn’t charge in again, but stood where he was, looking straight at Sukuna, slowly lifting a smile brimming with wicked mischief.
“Hey, Ryomen Sukuna.” Ayato raised his hand, index and middle fingers pressed together, pointing at Sukuna across the gap: “Before the curtain call, here’s a little gift for you.” The next second, an invisible slash surged out from Uchiha Ayato’s fingertips.
“Cleave.” In a mere three minutes, the technique belonging to the King of Curses had been copied, intact and unaltered, by Uchiha Ayato.
A thin, slender incision ran diagonally from Sukuna’s left shoulder to his right flank; the skin split open, dark red beads of blood seeping out along the wound.
The wound wasn’t deep—compared to the destructive force of Sukuna’s own “Cleave,” this strike had at most a tenth of the power.
But at this moment, the magnitude of the power wasn’t the point at all.
Ryomen Sukuna froze for a beat, then burst into near-manic laughter: “Ha!
Hahahahahaha!!!” “You little brat!” Sukuna clutched the wound on his shoulder, an unprecedented blaze burning in all four of his eyes—the wild rapture of a gourmet who’d stumbled upon a peerless delicacy in the wilderness: “You actually dared to use my own technique…” His laughter cut off abruptly the next second.
Itadori Yuji’s body went suddenly rigid, the black markings receding from his skin like an ebbing tide.
Two of the four eyes on his face closed; the visage once brimming with killing intent was instantly replaced by bewilderment and confusion.
Three minutes were up; Itadori Yuji had reclaimed his own body.
[Combat Mission: Engage the Nine-Tails in battle and maintain suppression for three minutes.] [Mission Status: Complete.] [Reward Pending Collection: Total Chakra x3] Uchiha Ayato: Sweet!
Ayato didn’t claim the reward right away—after all, there were still people watching nearby, and having his “cursed energy reserves” suddenly triple would be a bit too outrageous.
“…Eh?” The pink-haired boy looked down at the still-bleeding diagonal wound across his chest, then looked up at the black-haired boy beaming with delight before him, then turned to glance at the dumbstruck Fushiguro Megumi beside him: “How did I get hurt?” “Relax, relax—I held back my strength, there’s no danger to your life.” Uchiha Ayato chuckled softly as he reassured Itadori Yuji, his pupils returning to a calm black, then turned his head toward Fushiguro Megumi at his side: “Fushiguro.” “…What?” Fushiguro Megumi still hadn’t recovered from the cognitive shock just now; staring at Ayato’s eyes, now returned to normal, his head was piled high with question marks.
“This Itadori fellow standing here…” Ayato jerked his chin in Itadori’s direction: “He’s most likely capable of becoming Ryomen Sukuna’s vessel.
Just now he had control of his own body taken away for three minutes, and then he snatched it back right on schedule.
That kind of restraining power—an ordinary person couldn’t pull it off.” Fushiguro was silent for a moment, his gaze shifting from Ayato to Itadori, then back again: “…I know.” “Then you should also know…” Ayato slid his hands into his pockets and gave a shrug: “This is no longer something you and I can decide on our own.
Contact Teacher Gojo—have him come…” “No need to go to all that trouble~” A breezy voice drifted over from the direction of the rooftop entrance.
Fushiguro Megumi’s body tensed for an instant, then relaxed again.
Gojo Satoru leaned against the doorframe, an ice pop held up in his right hand, his left hand stuffed into his pocket, his posture as loose and easy as if he’d come on a sightseeing trip.
“Teacher Gojo…” Fushiguro Megumi said with a frown: “When did you…” “Just got here—about thirty seconds ago?” Gojo Satoru took a bite of his ice pop: “I figured I could show off a little in front of you all, but it turns out Ayato-kun’s already stolen the entire spotlight.” He walked straight up to Ayato’s side, leaning his body slightly forward: “What a delightful surprise, Ayato-kun.” “Sorcerers who can mimic techniques—it’s not as though I’ve never seen one, but you…” “Your total cursed energy has more than doubled since the last time we met—now that’s something I’ve never seen before.” Having sized him up, Gojo Satoru revealed a playful little smile: “Honestly, I’m looking forward to your future performances more and more.” Hearing this, Fushiguro Megumi grew all the more doubtful of this world.
Cursed energy reserves were innate, impossible to increase through any acquired means.
This was an iron law of the jujutsu world: however much cursed energy a person had at birth was however much they’d have when they died.
Doubled?
How could it possibly double?
Ayato didn’t take up Gojo Satoru’s thread, instead switching topics: “By the way, Teacher Gojo, weren’t you planning to be the hands-off type and leave it all to others?
How come you’ve shown up again?” “For you, of course.” Gojo Satoru drew a ticket from his coat, lightly pinched it between his index and middle fingers, and held it out before Ayato’s eyes: “Here—the sumimi Sendai-stop CD autograph lottery ticket you wanted.” “The moment I got your message, your teacher had Ijichi go pull some strings to procure it right away, you know.” “By the way, so this is the type of girl you go for?
Sparkling, dazzling beautiful-girl idols?” [Investigation Mission: Complete Hatake Kakashi’s commission.] [Mission Status: Complete.] [Reward Issued: Ninjutsu · Four Symbols Seal] Uchiha Ayato, who up until then had been keeping up the air of a master, felt an astonishing brightness burst into his eyes the very instant he laid eyes on the ticket.
With a speed too swift for the ear to catch the thunder, he snatched the ticket away in one motion and guarded it tightly against his chest, bliss practically overflowing from his face: “Thank you, thank you!
You’ve been a huge help, Teacher!” “Who could possibly refuse the chance, after a grueling mission, to go red-faced and breathless to catch a beautiful-girl idol’s live performance?” On the other side, Fushiguro Megumi and Itadori Yuji exchanged a glance, each seeing deep bewilderment in the other’s eyes.
The Uchiha Ayato who, moments ago, had gone toe-to-toe with Sukuna without giving an inch was now, of all things, wearing an expression like this over a single ticket to a beautiful-girl idol’s meet-and-greet…
What in the world was going on here?
____ Danmachi: Summoning Ruri Gokou, And oth 👻🔥Whant more?: Walnut-chan🔥👻 🔥 New history: Uchiha Reborn in Jujutsu Kaisen: The System Thinks I’m in Konoha, but I’m Not Let’s reach these milestones together: