"Haha, hahahaha! I lost! Man, I really lost!" Naobito Zen'in roared with laughter. He casually grabbed a sake jug from beside him and tipped it back, pouring the liquor directly down his throat.
He chugged for a solid two or three seconds before finally lowering the jug and letting out a satisfied belch.
He was sitting beneath a blooming cherry blossom tree. A pristine white cloth was spread out beneath him, holding two flat-bottomed sake bowls and the jug. Yet he hadn't even glanced at the bowls, opting to just grab the jug instead. He was still half-dressed in his kimono, his right torso completely bare. His white hair was slicked back, and his dapper English mustache twitched with every gulp.
Suddenly, he asked, "Hey, what path do you plan to take from here?"
"You're literally dead, and you're still worrying about things like that?" Mahito slowly limped out from behind the cherry blossom tree. "Aren't you tired, old man?"
"What the hell are you babbling about? As the Head of the Zen'in Clan, what's wrong with me caring?!" Naobito bellowed impatiently. "Shut up and tell me!"
Right now, Mahito perfectly understood why Maki Zen'in found this old man so insufferable in the original timeline, even though he was practically the last shred of conscience the Zen'in clan had left. *I find him annoying too!*
Mahito sat down opposite Naobito. The old man lifted the jug and poured sake for the Curse, filling one of the flat bowls to the brim. As Mahito picked it up, a single cherry blossom petal drifted down and landed perfectly in the bowl, sending tiny ripples across the placid liquid.
Mahito couldn't help but say, "How elegant, old man. When I saw you slicking your hair back and trimming that little mustache, I thought you were just a rebellious old punk. I never expected the final space your mind constructed before death would be a cherry tree, two sake bowls, and a place to share a final drink with your enemy."
Naobito chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Who hasn't been young and foolish once? Can you imagine? In the Zen'in clan, there is a rule that women, regardless of their talent, must walk exactly three steps behind men. It's 2018! It's the 21st century! Are you kidding me?! The Zen'in clan still lives like it's the Heian Era!"
"You sound dissatisfied," Mahito noted. "But you were the Clan Head. You had the power to change all of that."
"Of course I could have changed it," Naobito's voice suddenly turned frigid. "But even if I forced changes in my generation, the next generation would just revert to the old rules... Unfortunately, my son was a man who strictly adhered to the clan's dogma. If I died and he took over, nothing would have changed. Nothing *could* have changed."
"That sounds like a failure in your parenting," Mahito pointed out.
"Unfortunately, the Zen'in clan uses centralized education. I had no authority to intervene in how the children were raised. Honestly, it's a miracle the clan even produced a weirdo like me. It's only because my talent was overwhelming enough to put everyone who opposed me into the ICU that I managed to secure the position of Clan Head in the first place."
Naobito gritted his teeth. "But even then, I couldn't just go on a massacre. Not unless I wanted to sever my ties with Jujutsu society entirely and become a Curse User. And how could a Curse User be the Clan Head?"
"When I was a kid, I used to daydream about all the things I'd do once I became the head. But when I actually took the seat, I found myself bound by countless chains. They shackled my hands and feet, shackled my brain, shackled my heart, and shackled my ideals and willpower."
Mahito replied coolly, "Well, you don't need to worry about that anymore. Everyone in your family who could make decisions is dead."
Naobito paused, then suddenly burst into laughter. "You're right! Now I really don't have to worry! The Zen'in clan can never go back to how it was!"
Now Mahito was confused. He asked, "You don't seem to harbor much hatred toward me? Even though I essentially exterminated your entire bloodline."
Naobito grinned. "Let me guess. Even though you're acting perfectly calm, you don't fully understand the current state you and I are in, do you?"
"I've heard that during life-or-death battles, sorcerers can occasionally enter a state of total mutual understanding. But that's incredibly rare. Most of the time, when you die, you just die. Nothing happens," Mahito said.
Naobito took another swig from his jug. "Then let me give you a more elegant explanation."
"I'm all ears."
"Legend has it that after death, people enter the river of souls, where they wait to enter the cycle of reincarnation. We Jujutsu Sorcerers are far more resistant to the currents of that river than normal humans. Right before death, we can temporarily construct a liminal space to experience a final 'life flashing before our eyes.' In this space, a sorcerer can judge their own soul, cast aside their mortal burdens, and step into their final reincarnation."
Mahito nodded thoughtfully. He remembered this phenomenon from the original timeline. When major characters died, they often experienced these exact liminal visions—some so vivid they didn't even realize they were dead yet.
The most classic example was Satoru Gojo's death. He constructed an entire airport terminal, sitting on a bench surrounded by the people who had died before him.
Even in the original timeline, Mahito had arrived here after his death. But instead of answering the call of the soul river, he had stubbornly waited by the banks until Ryomen Sukuna died at the end of the series, at which point the two of them crossed paths and conversed.
It was definitely a real phenomenon, but since living sorcerers couldn't exactly confirm it, it was often brushed off as an "elegant myth" based on extreme, unverified anomalies.
"And," Naobito continued, "if a sorcerer dies while locked in a death match with another, and their Cursed Energy has completely intertwined to the point of mutual understanding, then they can meet their adversary in this liminal space before crossing over."
Naobito looked at Mahito with a soft smile. "Even though we barely exchanged a few words and never really got to know each other... it's completely inexplicable, but I believe in you. Right now, I believe in you more than I believe in anyone else."
"King of Cursed Spirits, Mahito," Naobito said with absolute solemnity. "If it is you—the one who killed me—who decides to change this Jujutsu world, then I believe you can actually do it. No one in this world can stop you. Not the Zen'in clan, not the other Big Three Families, not even Satoru Gojo!"
Mahito was taken aback. "I don't even have that kind of confidence in myself."
"You just haven't realized your own confidence yet," Naobito said plainly. "The moment you put on that haori, hakama, and bamboo hat and walked up to the Zen'in estate, you had already made your choice."
"You have no idea how utterly terrified the Zen'in clan was of you, nor how much they revered you. You couldn't have imagined that the entire clan was swallowed whole by the storm and lightning you brought with you."
"Didn't you notice? Every single person who fought you instinctively announced their names and lineages. They were solemn and dignified, like the last samurai in a period drama, locking eyes with their ultimate rival in the pouring rain."
Mahito muttered, "I thought all 'righteous sects' acted like that."
Naobito roared with laughter. "Let me repeat myself: it is 2018! Who the hell still plays by those ancient rules? Even the Zen'in clan abandoned that crap! If it means securing a victory, our underhandedness would go far beyond your imagination!"
Mahito suddenly recalled the final battle between Satoru Gojo and Ryomen Sukuna in the original timeline. When Gojo was on the back foot, everyone on his side was furiously debating how to jump in and help him.
The emotionally unstable ones wanted to charge in first, but an incarnated ancient sorcerer stopped them. The modern sorcerers rationally analyzed the situation and concluded that letting Gojo fight Sukuna one-on-one was still the optimal strategy.
But the ancient sorcerer scoffed at their logic. He plainly stated, "Are modern sorcerers really such cowards? Listen well. This is a battle between Satoru Gojo and Ryomen Sukuna. No one else is permitted to interfere."
The mindset of the past and present was drastically different; their pursuit of glory was fundamentally incompatible. Mahito chuckled. "I see. I totally misread the situation."
Naobito took another drink. "But the moment you arrived at our gates, you changed the Zen'in clan. Every single clansman burned with the desire to clash with you. They couldn't wait to announce their names, trying to mask the sheer thrill in their hearts."
"They told themselves they were enacting righteous mob justice against a Cursed Spirit, but they weren't. In that moment, they all reverted to the ancient era, chasing honor and chivalry. They felt like true warriors engaging in the ultimate battle against their destined nemesis, believing that even death would be a worthy price. Knowing that, how could I possibly hate you?"
Mahito retorted mockingly, "Not everyone announced their names. Before I fought your son, I was getting jumped by a whole squad for quite a while."
"Because they are trash who will never land a 'Black Flash' in their entire miserable lives," Naobito replied coldly.
Only Naobito Zen'in could so casually refer to the elite members of the Zen'in clan's Grade 1 sorcerer battalion as "trash."
But Mahito knew he was right.
Throughout the Zen'in massacre, those who announced their names possessed a glaringly obvious gap in strength compared to the others. It wasn't just a difference in raw Cursed Energy reserves; it was a pure difference in the *heart*.
"When I fought Ogi and Jinichi, people still interfered," Mahito pointed out.
Naobito waved his hand dismissively. "Which means they are trash too. Especially Ogi. A sorcerer whose entire identity revolves around 'Iai' quick-draws, yet he couldn't even manage 'Zanshin'—a state of lingering awareness after a strike. He completely deserved to be sneak-attacked and killed by you."
"And for the record, if Ranta had stayed in a safe position instead of sacrificing his life to pin you down, Jinichi would never have landed a 'Black Flash' before dying. Because Jinichi is fundamentally incapable of achieving 'complete focus.'"
Mahito suddenly thought of the original protagonist, Yuji Itadori. The narrator had once stated that a sorcerer with a purely earnest heart like Yuji was deeply loved by the black sparks. Other sorcerers, even anomalies like Satoru Gojo and Ryomen Sukuna, had to be pushed to the absolute brink in the most intense battles, or have their emotions peak to the extreme, to unleash a Black Flash.
But Yuji Itadori could land a Black Flash purely out of willpower. 'Complete focus,' huh.
Mahito smiled. "I see. You 'broke through,' didn't you?"
Naobito looked smug. "So you noticed."
He puffed out his chest proudly. "That's right. During our final clash, I completely immersed myself in the battle. Hatred, terror, fury—I abandoned all of it. No, I didn't forget them; I synthesized them."
"I unified all those emotions until my mind was as perfectly transparent as a clear lake. Transcending everything, I entered the realm of the Black Flash. Whenever I wanted to strike with black sparks, I did. I surpassed every boundary I ever had and reached an entirely new version of myself."
Naobito sighed, a hint of genuine regret in his voice. "If I had survived, or if I could have fought you just a little longer, I'm confident I could have constructed a Domain Expansion today. After that, I might have even tried challenging the rank of Special Grade Sorcerer."
This was the true nature of a Jujutsu Sorcerer. Regardless of their type or discipline, it was only in the crucible of a death match that their true talent blossomed. This was also the question Mahito had finally "figured out."
Never run. Face your terror head-on. Transcend yourself through fear. Whether you were a Curse or a Jujutsu Sorcerer, this was the orthodox path to absolute power. Hiding away and biding your time in the Jujutsu world was nothing but heresy!
Only now had Mahito truly stepped onto the "orthodox path."
In fact, this was exactly how Mahito grew in the original timeline. His Domain Expansion was born in the face of absolute mortal terror. His 'Idle Transfiguration: Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing' was fully realized in the heat of battle. It was safe to say that the original Mahito's terrifying evolution over just six months was directly tied to him constantly, actively seeking out lethal battles.
Conversely, ever since this Mahito had been born, he had completely avoided initiating fights. He approached every opponent with extreme caution, constantly scheming and planning before engaging. If he didn't possess complete intelligence on his enemy, he absolutely refused to fight.
It wasn't until the Zen'in clan bullied their way to his doorstep that he finally snapped, fully embracing the truth. He walked into the Zen'in estate alone and initiated an extermination war.
"So, back to the original topic," Naobito asked earnestly. "Have you decided what path you're going to take?"
Mahito thought for a moment. "Next, I'm planning to test Satoru Gojo's strength."
Naobito was shocked. "Are you serious? In your current state?"
"Hey, hey. Which old man just said that not even Satoru Gojo could stop me?" Mahito sighed. "Listen, if I want to change the Jujutsu world, Satoru Gojo is the final boss I absolutely have to conquer. Since he's my destined enemy, isn't it only natural to probe his limits while my intelligence is still largely hidden?"
Naobito was speechless. "Fine. I expect nothing less from the man who walked into the Zen'in estate alone with a single sword. You've got guts."
He paused, then shouted loudly, "Dammit! What you just said shocked me so much you totally derailed my question! No, no, no! Mahito, I'm not asking about your tactical itinerary! I don't give a damn about that... I'm asking you, *how* do you intend to walk your path?"
Mahito frowned. "Walk?"
"Yes. Walk," Naobito pushed. "I told you, I believe more than anyone else that you can change the Jujutsu world. So what I'm asking is... where are you going to take it?"
If he were talking to Jogo, Mahito would have stated decisively:
*I will allow Cursed Spirits to walk proudly under the sun. I will forge a shared future for humanity and Curses. I will become a true god—a god for both humans and Curses. While preserving modern human civilization, I will elevate the existence of Cursed Spirits above humanity. From then on, Curses will become the New Humanity, the true messengers of the divine.*
If he were talking to Junpei Yoshino, Mahito would have told him earnestly:
*I will uphold fairness and justice in human society. I will make Cursed Spirits the arbiters of absolute justice. Everyone will be invisibly monitored by Curses, but they will never interfere with the daily operations of society. They will report everything through grand barriers to me, and I will punish the wicked according to the law. I will eradicate the ugly habits of human society; no one will hold privilege. Humanity will live peacefully within my framework, forever.*
If he were talking to Kenjaku, Mahito would have chuckled and said:
*I will excavate the absolute maximum potential of both humans and Curses. I will actively conduct hyper-specialized modifications. Perhaps I'll force all humans to awaken their own unique Innate Techniques. Perhaps future humans will no longer need guns, relying entirely on their techniques to function. Cursed Spirits will serve as my experimental test subjects.*
*I will maximize the intelligence and societal structure of Curses. Will this spark a new racial war? I don't know. But don't you want to see a future like that?*
If he were facing Kinji Hakari, Kokichi Muta, Mei Mei, or even Satoru Gojo, he had a tailor-made speech ready for each of them, guaranteed to leave them entranced and vibrating with excitement.
But facing this dead man, who insisted on an honest heart-to-heart before fading away, Mahito found himself completely unable to lie.
He answered frankly, "I don't know."
The sake jug in Naobito's hand trembled slightly. "You... don't know?" he asked, dumbfounded.
Mahito smiled. "How long do you think it's been since I was born? In human years, I'm not even six months old. My original plan was to keep my head down, hide my strength, and desperately improve myself. As for the road ahead, I was going to figure it out as I walked it."
"Only after I've absorbed enough knowledge and seen enough of the world's scenery can I draw a concrete conclusion. Only then will I actually begin changing the world. Isn't that the most logical approach? Or did you expect a newborn with less than a year of life experience to just arrogantly mandate how the world should operate?"
Mahito wasn't lying. Even though he was a reincarnator with memories of his past life, this world was fundamentally different. He couldn't just rigidly apply his past life's logic here. For one, his past life was a 100% mundane, non-magical world. This world possessed visceral, objective supernatural powers. Could they really be treated the same?
To reshape this world, he had to thoroughly localize his understanding of it. He had lived here for less than a year; what right did he have to spout grandiose delusions about remodeling society?
If he was going to tackle something as monumental as "changing the world," he had to ensure he could do it with a clear conscience, bringing actual prosperity to it.
If he couldn't achieve that, then he might as well just use his past-life knowledge and newfound power to screw around and have fun! The worst thing he could do was ruin the already functional foundation of society. It was exactly like a massive string of spaghetti code: if it compiles and runs, *do not touch it*. The most terrifying thing in the world is an arrogant idiot who tweaks one line of code they don't understand, causing the entire operating system to permanently crash.
Furthermore, he didn't even know if he was going to survive until the canon finale yet. How could he possibly have the luxury of contemplating how to change the world?
Naobito was shaken to his core. He had no idea Mahito was this young. When Mahito first breached their gates, Naobito assumed the Curse had been alive for at least a decade. He spoke naturally, possessed flawlessly clear logic, and exhibited a distinct moral compass—if a normal Curse had come to exterminate them, it absolutely would not have spared the weak and elderly.
But Mahito had spared them. This proved he possessed a fully matured worldview, something a narrow-minded, infantile Curse could never have.
Though he didn't say it aloud, Naobito had to admit that Mahito sparing the non-combatants was the exact reason he could trust him so wholeheartedly. He believed in him until the bitter end.
It sounded bizarre, but this was the reality of the Jujutsu world. Because even human Jujutsu Sorcerers rarely developed such a mature, grounded worldview.
Sorcerers extracted Cursed Energy through negative emotions. This biological anchor meant they were inherently far more prone to extremism than normal humans. Sometimes, all it took was a single sentence, or one horrific tragedy, for a world-protecting hero to instantly degenerate into an apocalyptic madman. That was an incredibly common occurrence in the Jujutsu world.
If sorcerers were like that, then Curses—beings entirely composed of extreme, concentrated negative emotion—should be infinitely worse, degenerating without any bottomline. That was common sense.
But... Mahito's existence shattered that common sense.
Naobito suddenly thought of Satoru Gojo. He, too, was a man who shattered common sense.
Jujutsu Sorcerers and Curses were mutually dependent, endlessly spiraling around each other. Ever since Satoru Gojo's birth, the overall strength of Curses globally had skyrocketed. And now, at this very moment, a Curse that shattered all common sense had finally been born to match him.
The human's curse upon humanity. The natural-born King of Cursed Spirits, Mahito.
Knowing this, how could Naobito *not* believe in him? Believe in this transcendent King of Curses?
Naobito finally felt at peace. He poured the remaining sake into the other flat bowl, picked it up with utmost solemnity, and asked, "Then, are you interested in hearing the advice of a drunken old man?"
"I'm all ears." Mahito also raised his bowl.
"You should always walk alone, trusting absolutely no one. You should travel everywhere, making friends and listening to their ideals."
"You must work in human society, experiencing the most grueling, bitter labor."
"You must use the privileges you've gained from selling immortality to indulge in extreme hedonism, tasting the most depraved lifestyles human society has to offer."
"You must be ruthlessly decisive in your killing. When faced with dissenters, do not try to persuade them; humiliate them with the most extreme, terrifying deaths."
"You must clearly distinguish right from wrong. When faced with conflicting philosophies, do not rush to draw conclusions. Look more, listen more. Do not trust their words; trust their actions."
"Do not try to be a saintly king. No founding monarch in history was ever a saint. Be a tyrant!"
"Pave the ground beneath your feet with a carpet of corpses, and let the terror you inspire eclipse death itself!"
Naobito's voice was rich and booming, echoing like muffled thunder. By the end, he sounded like an apocalyptic demon god, as fierce and violent as a natural disaster. But his final words were as gentle and melancholic as a lover's whisper, floating lightly like a spring breeze brushing against willow leaves:
"What is right, and what is wrong? This is a question that has spanned the entirety of human history. There is no need to forcefully draw a definitive line."
"For example, I despised the Zen'in clan's oppressive rules regarding women. But when I read the clan's historical archives, I discovered that in the ancient eras, those very same oppressive rules were what guaranteed women the protection needed to simply survive."
"If you dared to preach that women should be completely equal to men in the ancient era? The entire world would have driven a spear through your heart."
"Mahito, you are the most unique Curse since the dawn of time. You possessed a mature worldview shortly after birth, and you managed to formulate a fully self-consistent moral framework in such an impossibly short time. This is a blessing from the heavens, but this blessing will also become a curse. Because you are a natural-born king, you will find it incredibly difficult to understand the hearts of ordinary mortals."
"You must immerse yourself fully in the chaotic noise of this world. Experience the rights, the wrongs, the sheer messiness of it all. Only then can you keep walking. Keep running."
"And finally, draw your own conclusion."
This speech felt entirely out of character for Naobito Zen'in. In the original timeline, his impression was always that of an unreliable, eccentric drunk. Even though he was immensely powerful, he wasn't someone who commanded deep respect.
He was an incredibly experienced veteran sorcerer, but he was *not* a qualified Clan Head. That was his canon reputation, and it was the impression Mahito had when fighting him. After all, this was a man ruthless enough to let his own clansmen—including his biological son—die just to test Mahito's capabilities. How could a man like that be a good leader?
But right now, as he spoke these words—his voice calm, yet layered with profound, weathered exhaustion—it was as if an ancient, bloody road was unrolling before Mahito's eyes.
In the past, Naobito must have walked alone, because no one understood his vision. He must have tried to share his ideals to gather comrades, only to look around and find complete, deafening silence. When he finally clawed his way to the position of Clan Head, he despairingly realized he still couldn't change a single thing.
He held the absolute highest authority in the Zen'in clan, yet he lived like a clay doll bound by invisible strings, ultimately degenerating into a functional alcoholic.
Mahito suddenly remembered what Naobito had once told Maki Zen'in.
Maki was a woman of the Zen'in clan. According to the rules, her fate was already permanently sealed. But Maki refused to accept it. She wanted to change the clan, so she boldly declared to Naobito, "I'm going to become the Head of the Zen'in Clan!"
And how did Naobito respond?
The drunkard had laughed uproariously and said, "Fine! I'll prepare trials for you. If you pass them, then you can be the Clan Head!"
And so, Maki walked out the gates of the Zen'in estate, becoming Satoru Gojo's student to acquire the strength needed to seize the clan.
As she walked away, Naobito stood behind her, still laughing. His laughter echoed into the heavens, as if he were watching a tiny praying mantis raise its scythes to block a speeding carriage.
When Mahito read the original manga, he assumed the drunken old man was mockingly deriding her. But what if... he was entirely sincere?
Mahito couldn't help but smile. He shouted loudly, "I have received your teachings! I will carve them into my heart!"
Naobito and Mahito gently clinked their bowls together. The cherry blossom petal floating in the sake drifted aimlessly.
In an instant, a violent gale stripped the cherry tree bare. An infinite storm of cherry blossoms engulfed the entire world. Naobito and Mahito simultaneously downed their sake in a single gulp. When they lowered their bowls, the blinding curtain of petals was so thick they could no longer see each other.
Sitting exactly where he was, Naobito roared with laughter and delivered his final farewell.
He said, "Hey, Mahito."
"Go change the world!"
"Take your absolute benevolence, take your absolute malice—"
"Take your innate, unyielding defiance—!"
"And bring an earth-shattering hurricane to this rotting, putrid Jujutsu world!"
The howling gale whipped Mahito's long hair into the air, the infinite barrage of pink petals completely blinding him. Amidst the storm of blossoms and his booming laughter, Naobito Zen'in completely faded away. Mahito looked up at the cherry tree, but it too had vanished. Ultimately, the entire liminal space was swept away into the endless currents of the soul river.
Mahito smiled. "How elegant, old man."
Naobito Zen'in, dead.