Utahime's heart violently skipped a beat. "Who?"
Mahito turned his gaze to Granny Ogami, asking with a cheerful smile, "If my memory serves me correctly, didn't you extract the physical information of Toji Fushiguro?"
Granny Ogami raised an eyebrow. "His Eminence's memory is flawless. I do indeed possess Toji Fushiguro's physical information... Actually, I possess his soul information as well, but Toji Fushiguro is far too dangerous. Attempting to summon him utilizing only his physical information is more than sufficient."
Utahime couldn't suppress the overwhelming shock surging through her. "The Sorcerer Killer, Toji Fushiguro! Why in God's name would you resurrect him?!"
Generally speaking, Binding Vows are contracts forged between two individuals, or between an individual and themselves. However, there is a phenomenally rare, exceptionally unique type of Binding Vow known as a Heavenly Restriction.
A Heavenly Restriction is an irresistible, irreversible Binding Vow imposed upon an individual from the exact moment of their birth. The cost of this restriction is the total forfeiture of a portion of one's physical body or Cursed Energy, in exchange for an extreme, disproportionate enhancement of the opposing attribute.
Kokichi Muta was a prime example. He traded a severely crippled, agonizingly frail body in exchange for a phenomenally vast Cursed Energy operational range and a monstrous reserve of Cursed Energy.
The Heavenly Tyrant, however, was an even more extreme manifestation than Kokichi Muta. He paid the absolute, ultimate price—100% of his Cursed Energy. The internal Cursed Energy within his body was an absolute, flawless zero. This absolute zero Cursed Energy granted him an innate, terrifying resistance to all Cursed Energy, and propelled his physical strength to the absolute apex of human potential.
Toji Fushiguro was that Heavenly Tyrant. He was the man who had genuinely, legitimately come within inches of murdering Satoru Gojo. In the entire span of the canon storyline, he was one of only two individuals capable of inflicting a fatal wound upon Gojo.
"My original plan was to utilize Toji Fushiguro to properly test Satoru Gojo's current combat capabilities. My initial thought was to leverage our high-ranking moles within the Jujutsu Headquarters to assign Gojo a highly specific, isolated mission. But it seems that strategy is no longer viable," Mahito sighed.
Mahito wasn't lying. That had genuinely been his plan.
Upon confirming his ability to resurrect the dead, his immediate instinct had been to thoroughly test the waters against Satoru Gojo. However, Tokyo Jujutsu High was also the site of Tengen's Star Tomb. Launching a frontal assault on Tokyo High was fundamentally equivalent to fighting Satoru Gojo and Tengen simultaneously, which was astronomically dangerous.
Therefore, he originally intended to have Kenjaku order the moles within Jujutsu Headquarters to isolate Gojo. But Kenjaku had shot the idea down. The reason was brutally simple: the only reason Jujutsu Headquarters was previously able to issue orders to Gojo was because Gojo was willing to maintain a superficial facade of peace with them.
But the geopolitical landscape had violently shifted. The utter annihilation of the Zen'in clan had drastically radicalized Gojo's mindset. Jujutsu Headquarters had completely lost the ability to command him.
Furthermore, Jujutsu Headquarters itself was currently in a state of sheer panic. The destruction of the Zen'in clan had utterly terrified the moles, making them fear for their own lives. The catastrophic chain reaction caused by Mahito wiping out the Zen'in was far more severe than anticipated. According to Kenjaku, the terrified old fossils at Headquarters had even gone so far as to hire a Special Grade sorcerer exclusively as their personal bodyguard.
So, a new plan had to be formulated...
The young man who had been silently standing behind Granny Ogami this entire time suddenly rose from his seated position. Granny Ogami immediately began sketching complex Cursed Energy talismans on the floor around him.
Utahime swallowed hard. "You aren't seriously going through with this, are you? You are going to resurrect Toji Fushiguro? Are you absolutely certain about this?"
"You seem incredibly tense?" Mahito asked, highly amused.
"He is the man who nearly slaughtered Satoru Gojo," Utahime said with absolute gravity. "*Anyone* facing him should be tense. A man like that belongs in the grave permanently. To a Jujutsu Sorcerer, he is practically the absolute, natural predator... You should not resurrect him."
"You believe that if he resurrects, he might actually pose a genuine threat to Satoru Gojo?" Mahito asked.
"If it's an ambush," Utahime replied softly.
Mahito shot her a deeply profound look. "Ms. Iori, you truly are deeply favored by Mr. Gojo."
"Hah—what the hell did you just say?!" Utahime exploded in fury. "From the very beginning, that bastard has never once taken me seriously! Where the hell do you see him 'favoring' me?! 'Favored'? Ugh. I'm going to throw up!"
"The entire world knows that Satoru Gojo once suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of Toji Fushiguro. But the entire world also knows that less than a day after that defeat, Gojo tracked him down, erased his humiliation, and killed Toji Fushiguro. In the eyes of the vast majority, that was the ultimate conclusion to their battle," Mahito said plainly. "But only those he genuinely trusts would ever hear the brutal, unvarnished details of that initial defeat directly from his mouth. That is precisely why you were able to state, with such certainty, that if it were an ambush, Toji Fushiguro could still threaten Satoru Gojo's life."
Because Toji Fushiguro's internal Cursed Energy was an absolute zero, if he paired that physiological anomaly with elite-level concealment techniques, not even the Six Eyes could detect him.
The primary function of the Six Eyes was to optimize Cursed Energy efficiency and to observe the microscopic flow of Cursed Energy within the atmosphere and the human body. There wasn't a single place in the world utterly devoid of Cursed Energy. Even ordinary humans naturally radiated it. Flowers, trees, bricks, dirt, the sky, the clouds—everything possessed a Cursed Energy signature. Because of this, to the Six Eyes, the entire world was laid bare, illuminated in perfect clarity.
But Toji Fushiguro's Heavenly Tyrant physiology was a freakish anomaly. His Cursed Energy was a flawless zero. To the Six Eyes, unless Gojo was looking directly at him with his physical vision, Toji simply did not exist.
Paired with a Cursed Tool capable of neutralizing the Limitless and unparalleled assassination skills, even the current Satoru Gojo could theoretically be killed in a single, flawless strike.
That was exactly how Gojo had nearly been slaughtered by Toji all those years ago.
And now, perhaps Gojo possessed vastly more experience and exponentially greater power, but the exact same assassination methodology wasn't inherently obsolete. Given the perfect opportunity, Toji Fushiguro could absolutely still kill Satoru Gojo!
Mahito looked at Utahime, a smile playing on his lips. "Ms. Iori, due to his extreme personal philosophy, there are very few people in the entire Jujutsu world that Satoru Gojo genuinely trusts."
"You... are one of them."
Utahime suddenly recalled the specific mission Gojo had entrusted to her during the Kyoto Goodwill Event. Gojo had bluntly stated he needed someone to investigate the Kyoto moles, and he had explicitly chosen her. Utahime, experiencing a rare moment of genuine vulnerability, had asked him: *[Why don't you suspect I might be the mole?]*
Gojo had mercilessly mocked her in response: *[You're way too weak to be a mole!]*
Naturally, Utahime had responded by instantly throwing a violent haymaker at his face.
Utahime clicked her tongue aggressively. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."
Mahito laughed out loud. "The market for tsunderes isn't doing too well these days, Ms. Iori."
"Who the hell is a tsundere?!" Utahime roared, veins pulsing violently on her forehead.
The young man produced a small vial and swallowed its contents in a single gulp. A complex ring of Cursed Energy talismans had already been drawn around him. Granny Ogami held up a long string of Buddhist prayer beads and began chanting softly.
Technique Release—Seance Technique.
This was a technique that utilized the caster's or another person's physical body as a vessel, downloading the physical and soul data of the deceased into the new container. The absolute prerequisite for this technique was possessing a physical fragment of the deceased individual they wished to summon.
During this sequence, Granny Ogami's physical body was incredibly vulnerable. Utahime locked her eyes onto the old crone. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Mahito was entirely engrossed in observing the mechanics of the Seance Technique, seemingly paying zero attention to her. She slowly clenched her fists, then relaxed them, the burning urge to launch a violently desperate ambush surging within her.
Suddenly, she felt a gaze. A razor-thin ring of Cursed Energy snaked across the floor like a creeping stream, enveloping the entire room. She flinched, snapping her head to the side. Sitting diagonally behind Mahito, the Cursed Spirit girl was staring directly at her, utterly silent.
Utahime lowered her eyes and relaxed her fingers.
At that exact moment, Granny Ogami's technique finally completed—
The young man's facial features violently hardened. His skin tone shifted to an East Asian complexion. Without warning, massive, corded muscles violently bulged beneath his skin, tearing at the fabric of his clothes. In the span of a single microsecond, the young man had physically transformed into an entirely different person.
Toji Fushiguro opened his eyes. The sclera were pitch black, the irises a piercing crimson. He looked as terrifying as an apex demon.
He was a towering, heavily muscled man. The definition of his physique was hyper-pronounced. Even though he wasn't intentionally projecting a single ounce of hostility, the instant everyone laid eyes on him, a primal, uncontrollable shudder ripped through them—exactly like a pampered city dweller suddenly locking eyes with a ravenous tiger in the deep jungle.
He had shaggy, jet-black hair that fell past his ears and a highly prominent scar on the corner of his mouth. The moment his eyes snapped open, it felt as though a monstrous predator was coiling its muscles, preparing to launch a lethal hunt.
"Command," Granny Ogami stated with absolute calm. "Stand perfectly still. You are forbidden from moving."
"Yeah, I got it, Granny," the young man wearing Toji Fushiguro's skin replied.
Granny Ogami gestured politely toward him.
Mahito stood up from his cushion and approached the beast-like man. He extended a hand, slowly reaching toward the man's forehead. But just a millimeter before his fingertips made contact—
—Toji Fushiguro's hand shot up, violently seizing Mahito's wrist, completely halting his movement.
Granny Ogami's eyes bulged in absolute horror. "How is this possible?! To be absolutely safe, I deliberately excluded his soul data! Right now, he should only possess the physical data! The consciousness piloting that body should still belong to my grandson!"
A flash of aqua-blue steel materialized in the air.
Sha had drawn the katana at her waist. In a fraction of a microsecond, she had closed the distance between Mahito and Toji. The aqua-blue arc of the blade was as terrifyingly thin as a silk thread, sweeping in a lethal arc designed to instantly sever Toji Fushiguro's wrist.
*CLANG—!*
Sha's pupils dilated in shock. Her draw-cut had been absolutely flawless. Even Ashiya Sadatsuna himself would have showered it with praise. Yet, this flawless, lethal strike was violently aborted mid-swing. Two fingers were lightly pinching the aqua-blue steel of the blade, holding it in place as effortlessly as pinching the wings of a fly.
"How is this possible..." Sha murmured in disbelief.
"Get out of the way—!" someone roared.
Granny Ogami and Utahime simultaneously dove to opposite sides of the room like startled cats.
Hane-kaede had materialized at Mahito's flank without making a sound. She raised her maple-leaf fan and swung it with devastating force.
Technique Release—[Thousand Night Storm]!
A catastrophic gale erupted out of nowhere. The atmosphere violently compressed, forming a horizontal, concentrated hurricane. It roared forward like a low-flying, raging dragon, slamming directly toward Toji Fushiguro. Currently, Toji had one hand locked onto Mahito's wrist and the other pinching Sha's katana. He had absolutely no avenue of escape.
But he didn't need to run. He suddenly brought his foot down in a savage stomp.
*Thunderous Quake!*
*BOOM!*
A catastrophic tremor completely pulverized the floorboards of the reception room. It felt as if the entire building had been violently jolted off its foundations. Centered entirely on his heel, an infinite web of spiderweb fractures violently ripped across the floor in every direction. Hane-kaede had been carefully aiming at Toji—the physical distance between Toji, Mahito, and Sha was far too narrow; she needed absolute, pinpoint precision to avoid shredding her allies with the [Thousand Night Storm]. But the moment the shockwave hit, her footing shattered, and her flawless aim was violently thrown off.
The concentrated, horizontal hurricane roared past Toji Fushiguro's back, merely violently whipping his clothes into a frenzy. The hurricane slammed into the reception room wall, utterly obliterating it, tearing straight out into the wooden corridor beyond. The monstrous gale swept up the pulverized shrapnel of the wall and roared off into the distance.
Toji Fushiguro finally spoke.
He said, "Huh. I could've sworn I was already dead."
Granny Ogami, sprawled pathetically on the shattered floorboards, stared up at Toji Fushiguro in absolute, terrified disbelief.
"How is this possible?! This monster's physical data actually completely overwrote the soul data! His physical body is so overwhelmingly dominant that it violently recorded the information of his soul along with it! Even though I only downloaded his physical data, his actual consciousness still forcibly rebooted!"
Utahime cursed furiously, "I told you! I told you not to summon this absolute monster!"
"Calling me a monster? That's just rude," Toji Fushiguro remarked, maintaining his exact posture. He threw a sideways glance at Utahime, his brow furrowing slightly. "You're... you're that chick. Satoru Gojo's... whatever her name was?"
Utahime's eyes widened in shock. "You know who I am? But I've never met you before in my life."
"Right before I died, I pulled a massive background check on Satoru Gojo to figure out how to kill him. You were heavily featured in the intel. I actually briefly considered kidnapping you to use as leverage against him," Toji said with supreme indifference. "Because according to the intel, you two had an incredibly close relationship."
"Me?! A close relationship with Gojo?!" Utahime's mouth twitched violently. "Are you legally blind?!"
"In this entire world, how many people do you think have the absolute audacity to causally beat the shit out of Satoru Gojo?" The corner of Toji's mouth curled up into a mocking, predatory smirk. "His mentor, Yaga, is one. His best friend, Geto, is another. Who else is left?"
"Only you."
Utahime froze.
Putting it like that... she realized she had genuinely never given a single damn about Satoru Gojo's 'invincible' status. Whenever she felt like hitting him, she just hit him. And Gojo, who could literally atomize her with a single flick of his finger, just stood there and took it without complaining?
"Mr. Fushiguro," Mahito smiled pleasantly. "Would you be interested in taking on a commission?"
"Giving a commission to a dead man." Toji sighed heavily. "Seriously..."
"The payout is a full resurrection," Mahito stated.
Toji Fushiguro's voice instantly caught in his throat.
He stared intensely at Mahito, utterly silent.
Mahito raised his free hand and gave it a subtle wave. Sha slowly exhaled, gently retracting her aqua-blue katana. Toji didn't try to stop her, smoothly relaxing the crushing grip of his two fingers. Sha took two steps back and slowly sheathed her blade. As the steel slid home, it let out a soft, crystalline *schwing*.
Hane-kaede kept a white-knuckle grip on her maple-leaf fan, glaring at Toji with lethal caution, completely prepared to unleash another [Thousand Night Storm] at a moment's notice.
"Even though your consciousness has fully rebooted, the innate instincts of the technique are still heavily compelling you to obey Granny Ogami's command, correct?" Mahito said calmly. "Right now, your absolute greatest desire is to slaughter Granny Ogami. Because your instincts are screaming that the moment the caster dies, you will be completely free."
Granny Ogami instantly scrambled up and practically sprinted behind Mahito's back. In this position, she had Sha on the left, Hane-kaede on the right, and Mahito acting as a meat shield in the front.
*SAFE!*
She immediately shrieked, "Even if you slaughter this old woman, it won't do you any good! After this old woman dies, the technique will continue to operate autonomously. And this old woman's final command will continuously shackle you! Even if you manage to maintain your consciousness right now, over time, you will inevitably be swallowed whole by the body's instincts and devolve into a mindless puppet!"
Granny Ogami wasn't lying. That was exactly what happened in canon.
After being summoned by Granny Ogami, Toji's immediate reaction was to instantly murder her. He believed that doing so would sever the commands. However, the core instinct driving the technique—to relentlessly hunt down and slaughter the strongest individuals in the vicinity—did not vanish. It continuously warped his mind, turning him into a rampaging, blood-crazed slaughter-puppet that blindly sought out the most powerful combatants on the battlefield.
It was only after he encountered Megumi Fushiguro and remembered that this was his son that he managed to forcefully override the programming. To ensure he didn't slaughter his own child, he chose to violently destroy his own vessel, returning to the grave.
But the current situation was completely different. Granny Ogami's command had been 'Stand perfectly still. You are forbidden from moving.' Even if he killed Granny Ogami right now, the lingering instincts of the technique would permanently force him to stand frozen in place. Eventually, he would become nothing more than a morbid statue.
"Let's hear it. What's the commission?" Toji asked.
"Your old specialty." Mahito grinned. "Assassinating... Satoru Gojo."
Toji Fushiguro's pupils shrank.
"Scared?" Mahito asked.
Toji stared deeply at Mahito before speaking with absolute, deadpan pragmatism. "I dictate the location. I require a Cursed Tool definitively capable of shattering Satoru Gojo's Limitless. Furthermore... I require a complete, total resurrection before I make a move."
"This body is garbage. I can't leverage my full strength with it. It's too sluggish. I need my actual, original body to operate at 100% capacity."
Utahime immediately interjected, "A Cursed Tool like that no longer exists!"
"The Inverted Spear of Heaven you used to assassinate Gojo the first time was personally destroyed by Gojo himself. Furthermore, any Cursed Tool surfacing overseas that even hints at being able to bypass the Limitless is instantly hunted down and destroyed by him."
"In the current Jujutsu world, a Cursed Tool capable of breaking Gojo's Limitless simply does not exist!"
Utahime was telling the absolute truth. Satoru Gojo wasn't an arrogant idiot. He actively and aggressively eliminated anything that posed a legitimate threat to his 'invincibility'. Because of the trauma inflicted by Toji Fushiguro, Cursed Tools became his absolute primary targets. No matter where it was in the world, the moment he heard a rumor of a Cursed Tool capable of bypassing the Limitless, he would personally show up and reduce it to ash.
The Inverted Spear of Heaven had been destroyed years ago.
Toji Fushiguro relaxed his grip on Mahito's wrist. "If what that woman is saying is true, then even I can't assassinate Satoru Gojo. Even if you completely resurrect me, it's useless. The only reason I managed to push Gojo to the absolute brink of death back then was heavily reliant on the Inverted Spear of Heaven. I absolutely cannot pull it off empty-handed."
"What type of Cursed Tools do you prefer?" Mahito asked. "Swords? Clubs? Daggers?"
An incredibly ominous premonition washed over Utahime.
Toji let out a sharp scoff. "Looks like you came completely prepared..."
Mahito smiled. "I currently have the absolute strongest Construction sorcerer in the entire world on my payroll. Just give the word, and no matter what kind of Cursed Tool you desire, it will be forged and ready within twenty-four hours."
Toji Fushiguro nodded. Suddenly, he pointed a finger directly at Utahime. "Excellent. One last thing. I want that woman."
Utahime's mouth twitched. "What the hell are you planning to do?"
Toji stated it as if it were the most natural thing in the world: "Kidnap you. Use you as leverage against Satoru Gojo."
*FUCK!* Utahime's face contorted in absolute rage.
***