Outside the Juvenile Detention Center, Fushiguro Megumi was anxiously waiting.
He looked up at the lead-gray sky where light rain was drizzling down, drenching his entire body.
“The veil has been lifted for some time now, but why haven’t Rin and Yuuji come out?” Fushiguro recalled sending a signal to Itadori Yuuji through the White Dog. “Could they be fighting Sukuna?”
The worry began to gnaw at him. The concern wasn’t for Rin, but for Yuuji.
Rin’s strength should be comparable to that of Teacher’s, so he wouldn’t lose in a battle with Sukuna. But Rin did not know Yuuji and didn’t recognize him, so if he were to mistakenly kill Yuuji…
Noticing a surge of curse energy moving toward him, Fushiguro looked up and saw Yukinoshita Yukino riding a huge white wolf rapidly charging towards him. His eyes widened in shock.
White Wolf!
Didn’t the White Wolf get destroyed by that Special Grade Cursed Spirit? How could it be here… No, this couldn’t be my familiar!
More importantly, he couldn’t see Yuuji anywhere.
Where was Yuuji? Had he really been killed?
Questions piled up in his mind, threatening to fry his already frazzled brain.
Yukinoshita Yukino approached Fushiguro quickly on the wolf, and he opened his mouth to speak but hesitated before finally asking the question plaguing him, “Where is Yuuji?”
“Yuuji… You mean Sukuna? He is currently battling Rin inside,” Yukino said awkwardly. Her worries mirrored his.
The girl still remembered Rin’s self-introduction when she first appeared, being the first person to state so clearly that they were bad, yet never having committed any evil after that. It felt as if the introduction was made only to frighten her.
Crucially, Rin had mentioned that they could call him Ryomen Sukuna.
If Rin was Ryomen Sukuna, why did Yuuji refer to Sukuna as Sukuna then?
Yukinoshita Yukino naturally witnessed the black patterns and an extra pair of eyes on Yuuji’s face, identical to her own.
Could this mean that there were truly two Ryomen Sukunas? Was the one on Rin and Yuuji’s bodies fraternal twins?
So many mysteries remained. Speculating alone was futile without answers. Only time and explanation from Rin would resolve them.
Assuming he was willing to explain.
“Fushiguro, you have caused me much trouble with your techniques,” a deep and mellow voice suddenly sounded behind Fushiguro and Yukinoshita Yukino. The White Wolf quickly reacted, carrying Yukinoshita away from the sudden appearance of Ryomen Sukuna.
“What!?”
Before he could react, Fushiguro was punched across and collided with the wall of the Juvenile Detention Center, blood spurting from his mouth.
After dealing with Fushiguro, Ryomen Sukuna turned his cold gaze towards the helpless Yukinoshita on the white wolf, “You seem important to him, don’t you?”
He intends to use me as leverage!
A twitch ran over Yukinoshita’s eyelids.
Should I make the wolf carry me and escape? Perhaps wait until Rin comes… No, his speed is too fast; it won’t buy much time.
The thought of escaping was immediately dismissed.
Battle, I can only fight!
Yukinoshita Yukino grasped tightly onto the wolf’s neck, ready to leap off it, when suddenly her breathing was stifled.
“Do you think I will use you as leverage?”
Sukuna’s speed allowed her barely time to register, only to find her neck grasped and herself pulled from the wolf. Its head was pressed with a hand, and a strike cut it in half.
Her pale neck seemed clamped, her breath becoming unbearably difficult.
Yukinoshita glared at him fiercely, grabbing his arm with one hand and punching with the other, her cursed energy-laden punch aimed at his head.
Sukuna only tilted back slightly, effortlessly dodging her weak retaliation.
“You’re thinking too much.” A cruel smile spread across his face. “I will slaughter you in front of the brat, and enjoy watching him suffer.”
“I am not the brat’s match right now, but even if he kills me in his anger, it will be Yuuji paying the price for you, and I possess seventeen souls.”
“I hear you.” Rin’s voice echoed nearby, expression indifferent as he watched Sukuna with one hand choking Yukinoshita.
“What, you know what I am going to do?” Sukuna raised an eyebrow. “Even knowing, what good does it do? Too late!”
He grinned menacingly, squeezing her throat with even more force.
Plosh!!
Yukinoshita fell to the ground with renewed breath, and Sukuna’s grip on her slackened as his arm dropped.
Ryomen Sukuna stared at the scene in utter disbelief, confirming a long-held suspicion.
This… is my technique!
That brat, who initially used my technique to defeat the Special Grade Cursed Spirit!
“Seems like you tried hard to last even longer,” Rin’s voice spoke beside him, followed by a powerful pull, leaving Sukuna disoriented.
Pulled far away, Rin helped Yukinoshita up and used a reversal technique to heal her injuries, though she only had a red mark around her neck.
“Feeling better?”
“Don’t worry about me, that Sukuna…”
“I’ll be right back.”
Rin glanced at the devastated White Wolf and his expression twisted into a sinister one.
You dare kill my dog!
Black patterns slowly appeared on his face and second eyes gradually opened, adding to his allure.
In moments, Rin vanished from Yukinoshita’s sight, leaving a deep pit imprinted on the floor and web-like cracks spreading outward.
High above, Sukuna hadn’t landed yet and Rin appeared directly in his sight.
Ryomen Sukuna smirked excitedly, “You used my technique just now, kid!”
He stretched his hand, sending invisible slicing arrays flying, which Rin countered with his own slicing attacks. The invisible blades clashed mid-air.
In Sukuna’s stunned gaze, the newly formed hand with a reversal technique was sliced off, along with the other and blood spattered like a small storm.
Even my slicing attack broke apart!
The difference in our curse power is enormous!
Despite the shock and continuous reversal of wounds, Sukuna reformed instantly and lunged towards Rin, who grabbed his head and slammed him down.
Rin continued dragging him down, crashing into a residential building, causing chunks of debris to fall and bury him.
The civilians were evacuated, allowing Rin free rein.
Sukuna struggled to rise, but Rin’s curse detection disappeared, and Sukuna’s shadow extended, a fist enlarging in his vision.
A fierce upward strike propelled Sukuna against the ceiling. Cutting slices grazed and shattered the roof.
Ignoring his injuries, Sukuna hurled several strikes downward, but Rin dodged, leaving deep crevasses on the ground.
“Roar!”
An earsplitting tiger roar echoed as a massive white tiger emerged from the shadows, swiping at Sukuna.
Rin intercepted mid-flight, slamming Sukuna’s head against the rooftop and dragging him as he left grooves in the orange tiles, then throwing him skyward.
A shadowy, incomplete Great Serpent surged, gripping Sukuna and hurling him into a collapsing concrete building covered in dust and debris.
Uncompleted familiars could regenerate, unlike the ruined White Wolf.
Amidst the wreckage, sukuna spat blood and rose with difficulty, the reversal technique working overtime, desperately siphoning curse energy to mend his wounds.
“Well.” Rin stepped on broken walls with a mocking grin, “The reversal efficiency must have fallen. Can you still perform it?”
“Ha.” Sukuna coughed blood and stopped the reversal. He beckoned to Rin, “Want to continue fighting, Jujutsu Sorcerer?”
“Killing Yuuji for revenge? Even if you die here, you won’t truly die, since you have seventeen fragments scattered elsewhere.”
Rin saw through Sukuna’s strategy.
“So what if it is?” Sukuna laughed indifferently. “Since I can’t win, I might as well drag Yuuji down. Maybe you can’t bring yourself to finish me…”
Rin punched him sideways, then grabbed him and dragged him to the ground.
“I’ll beat you until you confess.”
Rin struck again, and each blow was heavy as a mallet, until Sukuna’s breath weakened, then Rin healed some wounds with a reversal, sustaining him.
“Feels so good hitting such a durable punching bag.” Rin’s face was marked with blood, “Unlike that unassailable guy, Gojo. Beating you is quite satisfying.”
“Listen, Sukuna, Yuuji will be under my protection. With every finger he eats, it’s you I’ll hit, and it will continue until he gets tired.”
“Want revenge on me? Endure until you retrieve your full might.”
At this moment, Rin’s smile mirrored earlier Sukuna’s, the roles reversed.
Sukuna stared silently at Rin, intent to engrave his image forever.
“… Is this too cruel for me?” Yuuji’s facial patterns faded, with a forced but polite smile.
Rin’s cruel smile vanished, he paused then punched Yuuji again.
“Ouch! Why am I being hit even after the switch?”
The pink-haired teen protested vigorously.
“It got to me, sorry.”
“Too harsh!?”
…
After school, became a jujutsu sorcerer.
