As a veteran Jujutsu Sorcerer and Gojo's own homeroom teacher, Masamichi Yaga understood better than anyone what Blue meant.
It was the Gojo Clan's hereditary technique, a high-level application of Limitless. Under normal circumstances, even a clan member lucky enough to inherit Limitless would meet only one fate if they tried to force-activate Blue without the Six Eyes providing atomic-level observation and computational support: being ripped apart by uncontrolled gravitational force.
And yet here stood this boy.
No Six Eyes. No chance of having gone through the Gojo Clan's systematic training. He'd done it from a single glance? Gojo hadn't even demonstrated the technique. Through Phantom Night Parade's so-called structural analysis, Touma had brute-forced a replication using a Cursed Energy reserve that was, by any reasonable standard, modest.
The sheer talent for Cursed Energy manipulation was terrifying.
Behind his dark glasses, Yaga's eyes were wide with shock. He'd assumed Touma was a special asset who needed protecting. Now he was looking at something else entirely: a monster that hadn't finished growing.
Touma passed out from Cursed Energy exhaustion hundreds of times in the simulation perfecting that one move. It took over a year before he could keep it stable at close range without it spiraling out of control...
All of it ground out through sheer repetition, powered by the Tryhard card's recovery boost.
But the demonstration wasn't over. After stunning Gojo into silence, Touma turned his head slowly toward Suguru Geto, who sat nearby wearing the expression of a man enjoying a show.
"As for Geto's Cursed Spirit Manipulation, I don't think a live demo is necessary." His tone was flat, as though deciding what to have for lunch. "There aren't exactly wild Cursed Spirits around here for me to catch. And honestly..."
He paused. Something crossed his face then, a flicker of genuine, visceral disgust, as though he'd lived the sensation himself.
"I'm not eager to experience what it's like swallowing something that tastes like a rag mopped through vomit."
"Wh... ?!"
The composed smile on Geto's face shattered like dropped glass.
His pupils contracted. His whole body flinched off the chair before his mind caught up.
The impact of those words hit harder than the Blue demonstration.
The cost of absorbing Cursed Spirits, that unbearable taste, was a secret he had never shared with a living soul. His private suffering. His alone.
Gojo didn't know. Ieiri didn't know. Yaga didn't know.
How could someone he'd just met know? And describe it with that kind of precision?
Geto stared at Touma, and every last shred of doubt about Phantom Night Parade evaporated. A technique that could read even the sensory memories of its target... it was broken. Completely, absurdly broken.
"That's enough theory." Touma didn't give them time to process. He turned and beckoned toward the lectern. "One last thing. Yaga-sensei, could you come help me with something?"
"Me?" Still reeling, Yaga pointed at himself and walked over on autopilot. "What do you need? Help testing Cursed Energy flow?"
"No. Just lend me your hand."
"Like this?"
Yaga was puzzled, but he extended his broad hand, palm up.
What happened next was instant. Steel flashed. Without a word of warning, Touma drew Asakirimaru from his waist in a blur, reversed the blade, and dragged it hard across Yaga's palm.
Blood sprayed. Crimson drops spattered the desk.
"Hey!!" Gojo erupted from his stupor like a detonation.
Pure reflex. He flickered to Touma's side and brought a Cursed Energy-laced knife-hand down on Touma's wrist, sending Asakirimaru spinning out of his grip.
The short sword cracked against the wall in a shower of sparks.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Gojo seized Touma by the collar. Those pale blue eyes burned with fury, every trace of playfulness incinerated. He might give Yaga grief on a daily basis, but everyone in this room fell inside his circle. Drawing a blade on one of his own crossed a line.
"Satoru! Calm down!" A hand pressed firmly onto Gojo's shoulder.
Geto had risen without anyone noticing. He glanced at Ieiri, who was already on her feet, and a spark of understanding passed through his eyes.
"Let him go. Think about what he just did with your technique... he's probably trying to demonstrate that."
Gojo hesitated. His grip loosened, and he stepped back, suspicion still carved into every line of his face.
Touma straightened his crumpled collar with the unhurried calm of someone who hadn't just been an inch from a beating. He offered no explanation. He simply took Yaga's bleeding hand again.
Cursed Energy surged, but this time it carried no destructive charge. It was warm, gentle, brimming with vitality. Positive energy.
"Reverse Cursed Technique."
Under every pair of eyes in the room, the deep gash across Yaga's palm began to close. White steam curled from the wound as bleeding stopped, a scab formed, and fresh skin knitted together at a speed the naked eye could track.
Less than thirty seconds. The skin was smooth, unmarked. Not even a scar.
"This... ?!" Yaga stared at his restored palm. For the first time, words genuinely failed him.
If replicating Blue represented a gift for destruction, then this represented strategic-level value.
Sorcerers who could use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal themselves were rare but not unheard of. Sorcerers who could output it to heal others could be counted on one hand across the entire jujutsu world.
Until today, Jujutsu High had exactly one such asset: Shoko Ieiri.
"You've got to be..." Ieiri walked over, speaking for the first time. An unlit cigarette dangled from her lips, and those perpetually half-lidded eyes were wide open for once.
She grabbed Touma's hand and turned it over, examining it from every angle as if she expected flowers to bloom from his fingertips.
"You're going to put me out of a job, new kid." The complaint was hollow. Buried in her voice was a tremor of excitement she couldn't quite hide.
Finally... maybe I won't be the only one pulling double shifts patching up these idiots?
"A genius." Yaga drew a long breath. "A true genius."
It didn't matter that his hand-to-hand was unremarkable. It didn't matter that his total Cursed Energy wasn't high. The combination of universal replication and externally applied Reverse Cursed Technique alone made Touma's value incalculable.
Yaga studied him the way a jeweler studies an uncut stone.
He steadied himself, and his mind turned to the report, to the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit Touma had exorcised alone. If he could replicate human techniques...
"Hayase." Yaga's voice dropped low, his tone shifting to something far more serious. "Can Phantom Night Parade's reading effect work on Cursed Spirits as well?"
To head off any confusion, he added, "The creature you killed that night. If you can analyze a Cursed Spirit's technique..."
The implication hung in the air: Touma wouldn't just learn from allies. He could hunt Cursed Spirits and expand his arsenal without limit.
Touma made a show of thinking it over. He lifted a hand to his chin, gaze drifting upward as though sifting through the details of that night's fight. After a long beat, he answered with careful uncertainty.
"I think... yes, it should work. Before I killed it, I did sense information transmitting through its Cursed Energy. But maybe because I wasn't skilled enough yet, the connection broke the moment it died."
A perfect answer. Potential acknowledged, limitations preserved.
Yaga didn't look disappointed. He nodded firmly, something bright and fierce kindling behind his eyes.
"Good. Very good."
Gojo had drifted back to lean against his desk. He watched Touma, and the grin spreading across his face kept growing, carrying the wild energy of someone who'd found not a new toy... no, a new equal. A new companion.
"Hey, Suguru." He nudged Geto with his elbow. "Looks like missions are about to get a lot more interesting."
Geto watched Touma, the vomit metaphor still echoing uncomfortably in his mind. He let out a complicated sigh, then allowed himself a quiet, resigned smile.
"Yeah. I don't think we need to worry about protecting him."
This wasn't a newcomer who needed shielding. This was a monster that simply hadn't finished growing.