In Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, shortly after Kenjaku infiltrated the underground Netherworld Barrier beneath the Imperial Palace and planted the seeds for his plan, he was once again surrounded and hunted by the Heroic Spirits.
At this moment, Kenjaku was cautiously using his newly acquired Jujutsu to evade the surveillance of Tokyo's Jujutsu Sorcerers.
Ever since his heart was pierced by Cú Chulainn's Noble Phantasm last time, Kenjaku had been forced to abandon the body from the Kamo Family and choose one of his backup bodies that possessed a concealment-type Cursed Technique.
This also caused Kenjaku to lose Itadori Kaori's Anti-Gravity System Cursed Technique.
However, although Anti-Gravity System provided a significant boost in battle, it was not enough to deal with the current situation, so Kenjaku did not feel that changing bodies this time was much of a loss.
He was now more curious about why he had suddenly been targeted, and why he could not shake them off no matter what he did.
After seeing Medusa disappear down the road on her motorcycle, a relieved Kenjaku slowly emerged from the Void Realm.
This new body's Cursed Technique allowed him to hide in a misaligned space, manifesting similarly to Kamui. It allowed him to dematerialize his body and materialize the necessary parts.
However, Kenjaku did not possess an alternate dimension like Uchiha Obito, so he could not use attack methods that pulled enemies into another dimension.
Just then, several sharp arrows shot toward Kenjaku's body.
The sudden sense of crisis made Kenjaku's hair stand on end, and a chill ran up his spine to his scalp.
Puff, puff.
Kenjaku subconsciously tried to dematerialize the vital parts of his body, but several arrows still struck the areas he had not managed to dematerialize in time.
Rumble, rumble.
The roar of machinery came from afar, and Kenjaku knew Medusa was returning.
Without time to think, Kenjaku immediately pulled the arrows out of his body.
He did not want a Broken Phantasm detonating inside him.
After a practiced act of "cutting off his tail to escape," Kenjaku fled Tokyo while wounded.
After arriving in Kyoto, Kenjaku met an equally disheveled Abe no Seimei.
The two exchanged glances, but neither spoke to ask about the other's predicament.
Ever since Suguru was transferred away from Kyoto, Eichi had sent Sasaki and Tamamo-no-Mae to guard the area.
During this period, Sasaki, with Tamamo-no-Mae's help, had slain many of Abe no Seimei's Shikigami.
This led Abe no Seimei, whose plans had been repeatedly disrupted, to decide to deal with these two Heroic Spirits first.
As a result, just as he managed to suppress Sasaki with a Shikigami's Domain Expansion and was about to kill him with full force, Tamamo-no-Mae used her Noble Phantasm to rescue him.
Upon discovering Abe no Seimei's whereabouts, Ryu, Takako, and Suguru's Family immediately came to provide support.
Abe no Seimei, who still needed to carry out his plan, did not want to waste time fighting them, but the sudden return of Suguru and Medusa broke the balance of the battlefield, forcing him to retreat with injuries.
"How is your plan progressing?" Kenjaku asked first.
"The plan is still underway. Now it is only a matter of planting the final seed."
Abe no Seimei said this while pulling out a clear, prismatic crystal.
"Which Netherworld Barrier is left?"
Hearing that only one seed remained, Kenjaku breathed a sigh of relief.
It was already difficult to escape this time. If the plan still had a long way to go, Kenjaku truly worried whether he would even survive until that day.
"The last Netherworld Barrier is the large one that divides Japan into its eastern and western parts."
"It's that one, is it..."
A trace of distress entered Kenjaku's tone.
Netherworld Barriers were Barriers set up by Tengen to suppress the generation of Cursed Spirits and help Assistant Supervisors improve the strength of their Barrier Techniques.
These Barriers were far more advanced than the simple empty Barriers that covered the entire country and intercepted Cursed Energy.
Among these Netherworld Barriers, four were the most important.
From north to south, they were the Imperial Palace Netherworld Barrier in Tokyo, the Netherworld Barrier at the Tombs of the Star Corridor, the Hida Reizan Netherworld Barrier in Gifu Prefecture, and the Yamashiro Goryo Netherworld Barrier in Kyoto.
In addition to these, there was another equally important gigantic Netherworld Barrier that divided all of Japan into eastern and western parts.
Naturally, they could not touch the Netherworld Barrier at the Tombs of the Star Corridor, and Kenjaku had already visited the most dangerous Imperial Palace Netherworld Barrier in Tokyo.
The Netherworld Barrier in Kyoto had also been personally dealt with by Abe no Seimei earlier.
Now, only the gigantic Netherworld Barrier that divided Japan into its eastern and western parts remained.
"We don't have much time left."
Kenjaku looked up at Abe no Seimei.
"I know."
Abe no Seimei did not avoid Kenjaku's gaze. Instead, he looked at him with firm, confident eyes.
"What do you plan to do with this last Netherworld Barrier?"
Seeing Abe no Seimei's confident and resolute gaze, Kenjaku felt much calmer.
"The range of that Netherworld Barrier is too vast, so it is also the easiest to infiltrate."
"But similarly, gaining control of that Netherworld Barrier will be the most difficult."
Kenjaku interrupted Abe no Seimei.
While a larger area provided more points of invasion, it also meant they would need to spend more time controlling this Netherworld Barrier.
"No need to worry. I have already considered that problem, so the final seed was specially made."
Abe no Seimei produced a barrier seed several times larger than the others.
"Then I can rest assured. After all, it isn't easy to last too long while being hunted by the Jujutsu World."
Kenjaku breathed a sigh of relief.
Recently, for some unknown reason, the Jujutsu World's efforts to capture him had reached an unprecedented level.
The key point was that his whereabouts were always discovered for no apparent reason.
So it could be said that Kenjaku had been having a very difficult time recently.
In reality, this was because Eichi felt that Kenjaku was no longer useful.
As a rare and powerful villain in Jujutsu Kaisen, although Kenjaku often jumped out to cause trouble, Eichi had always shown a certain degree of tolerance toward him.
The key was controlling Japan.
And controlling Japan could be simply divided into three steps.
Step one: Control Tengen.
This step had been completed more than ten years ago.
Now, this step had become changing the ownership of the nationwide Barrier, turning it into a Barrier controlled by Eichi.
Step two: Control the Jujutsu World.
This step was also completely finished some time ago.
Eichi first purged the Zenin Clan, then, through Jujutsu Sorcerer Families like the Zenin Clan and the Gojo Family, became the most powerful person in the Jujutsu World.
Afterward, Artoria used this power to continuously squeeze the living space of the old geezers, then completely eliminated them when the Kamo Family was eradicated some time ago.
Step three was to control the general society.
This was the only step currently unfinished, and it was also the important reason why Eichi had tolerated Kenjaku's repeated antics.
He needed Kenjaku to act in a way that destroyed the political structure of general society, just like in the original story, and then he would naturally have his well-trained people take over general society.
However, Eichi did not wait for Kenjaku's actions. Instead, he waited for Tomie's actions.
The red wine containing Tomie's cells was very popular among Japan's upper class, causing most of Japan's politicians to become infected by Tomie.
Coupled with Eichi's relentless pressure during this period, Tomie had already begun controlling and corrupting those infected people.
Before long, Japan's politics would take on Tomie's form.
And now, Eichi had already located Tomie through the barrier radar, while the list of infected politicians had been fully acquired through the winery's bills.
Next, all that was needed was to eliminate Tomie and the infected politicians once the operation began, then have his own people take power.
As for why so many politicians suddenly disappeared, and whether there was a conspiracy?
This was merely a case of collusion between officials and businessmen, making exorbitant profits from wine laced with certain toxic substances, ultimately leading to a large number of deaths due to a food safety issue.
Now that Eichi's plan had reached its final stage, Kenjaku naturally became useless.
In fact, if Kenjaku had not sensed the danger and planned to resist prematurely, Eichi would have intended to personally deal with him together with Satoru after his current work was finished.
"When the plan begins, all resistance will be dismantled, and the new world we anticipate will finally arrive."
Abe no Seimei said this with conviction.
"Will we win?"
Kenjaku asked with a solemn expression.
"We will win."
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
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