Chapter 28: Watching Movies? No, This Is About Sharpening the Blade
In one corner of the underground room, Yuji Itadori was rolling all over the sofa while hugging a teddy bear named Jukai.
At first glance, Jukai looked soft, round, and harmless.
In reality, every punch it threw felt like getting smashed by a hammer.
"So why do I have to watch a horror movie while getting beaten up?!"
Yuji stared at the television with tears in his eyes.
A cheap B grade horror film was playing on the screen. The heroine's shrill screams mixed with the roar of a chainsaw, creating a chaotic noise so awful it made his head hurt.
"To train your precise control over cursed energy."
Satoru Gojo sat nearby, leisurely eating Kikufuku as though the scene in front of him had nothing to do with him.
"Cursed energy is born from negative emotions, right? Fear, anger, sadness, irritation. They're all fuel."
He took another bite and spoke as casually as if he were explaining the weather.
"But this cursed corpse has special programming. The moment your cursed energy fluctuates with your emotions, it wakes up and starts punching you."
Yuji barely dodged a straight punch, then got clipped in the shoulder by the next one and tumbled across the cushions in a miserable heap.
"No matter what you see, you have to keep your cursed energy output stable. That's a required course for becoming a first rate sorcerer."
"This required course is completely insane!"
Yuji shouted in grief while scrambling to avoid another swing from Jukai.
On the opposite side of the basement, the atmosphere could not have been more different.
While chaos reigned on Yuji's side, that half of the room was utterly silent.
Yami sat cross legged on a yoga mat.
His eyes were closed. His hands rested naturally on his knees. Shiranui lay across his lap.
He was not watching a movie.
There was no cursed corpse attacking him.
Even his breathing was so faint it was almost impossible to hear.
He simply sat there in silence, like a statue that had endured a thousand years of wind and rain.
"Sensei, Yami's been sitting there forever..."
Taking advantage of the brief moment when Jukai had gone still again, Yuji glanced at Yami and could not help asking,
"Is that really sharpening his blade?"
He looked baffled.
"There isn't even a whetstone."
"Idiot."
Gojo flicked Yuji on the forehead before he could keep rambling.
"Sharpening a blade doesn't always need a whetstone."
He tilted his head slightly toward Yami.
"For a true swordsman, the heart is the sharpest edge."
"He's adjusting his state, pushing his spirit, focus, and intent to their limit so that when the time comes, the sword in his hand won't hesitate."
Gojo's voice softened slightly, as though he did not want to disturb Yami.
Even so, Yuji still caught the unusual seriousness in it.
"The time comes?"
He blinked.
"Who's he fighting?"
Gojo pointed at himself.
"Me."
Yuji's eyes instantly widened.
"Huh?!"
He nearly took another punch to the face in his shock.
"You two are really going to fight?"
He looked back and forth between the two of them, incredulous.
"I know Yami's strong, but there's no way he can actually fight you, right, sensei...?"
"That's exactly why he has to adjust."
Gojo smiled.
"That kid's planning to give me a pretty big surprise."
Time passed little by little.
Yuji continued his desperate struggle against Jukai, getting beaten into a thoroughly pitiful state, while Yami remained seated and motionless.
But after a while, even Yuji began to notice something strange.
The air around Yami seemed to be warping.
It was faint, almost hard to detect, like the wavering distortion rising off a road under the summer sun.
And even though Yami was sitting right there, Yuji suddenly had a bizarre feeling.
It was as if there were no one there at all.
Yami's presence was gradually fading, melting into the surrounding environment.
"What... what is this?"
Yuji froze for a moment, so stunned that he completely forgot to maintain his cursed energy output.
That lapse immediately woke Jukai, which responded by smashing a punch straight into Yuji's nose.
"Ow!"
Yuji cried out and doubled over, clutching his face. In the chaos, the half empty cola bottle in his hand flew into the air.
It traced an arc straight toward Yami.
"Watch out, Yami!"
Yuji shouted in alarm.
If that bottle hit Yami in the head right now, things were going to get really awkward.
But just as the cola bottle entered striking distance, the boy who had been sitting like an unmoving statue opened his eyes.
Swish.
Yami's fingers moved slightly.
He did not draw his sword.
He did not even raise his arm.
It was only a small motion, like brushing away an annoying insect.
Sshhk.
A thin, almost imperceptible tearing sound passed through the air.
Then, in the very next second, the spinning cola bottle split cleanly in half.
The cut was perfectly smooth, like something done by a laser.
The strangest part was that not a single drop of cola spilled at first.
It was as though the severed edges had been temporarily sealed by something invisible, holding the liquid in place.
Only after the two halves hit the ground with a thud did the cola finally splash across the floor.
Yuji stared.
Then stared harder.
His jaw dropped so far it looked ready to detach from his face.
"What the hell?!"
He pointed wildly between the bottle on the ground and Yami, whose posture had barely changed.
"What was that?! What was that?!"
"An air slash? Sword intent? Some kind of technique?"
He scrambled to his feet and rushed over, circling Yami as if examining a rare creature.
"Yami, when did you learn jujutsu?!"
The emptiness in Yami's eyes gradually receded, returning to their usual calm clarity.
He glanced once at the cola stain on the floor and frowned almost imperceptibly.
"It wasn't jujutsu."
His tone was calm.
"And it wasn't a slash of air either."
"Then what was it?"
Yuji demanded immediately.
"Intent."
Yami rested a hand lightly on Shiranui's hilt.
"When the mind becomes completely still, intent begins to interfere with reality."
He looked at his palm for a brief moment.
"Mine is still crude. I'm still far from the level I want."
Just now, he had touched a threshold.
It had lasted only an instant, but it was real.
That sense of stripping away everything unnecessary, of entering a state where only the blade and the target remained.
The prototype of the Transparent World.
He still could not fully grasp it.
But the seed had already been planted.
"Intent? Interfere with reality?"
Yuji stared blankly.
He understood every word separately.
Together, they made no sense at all.
"Alright, stop frying your brain."
Gojo walked over without Yuji noticing and casually draped an arm over his shoulder.
"That level is too early for you. Worry about surviving the teddy bear first."
He then looked at Yami.
This time, the usual playfulness in his face faded, replaced by genuine approval.
"Looks like your blade's finally sharp enough."
Yami rose slowly to his feet.
Shiranui remained unsheathed in his hand, its black blade giving off a low, eager hum.
"That level of intent is only the beginning."
His voice remained calm, but there was a flame in his eyes that had not been there before.
"Sensei."
He lifted his gaze.
"That special practical lesson you mentioned earlier..."
"I want to know where I truly stand now."
Gojo raised an eyebrow, feigning surprise.
"Oh? Not going to practice a little longer?"
His smile deepened.
"Maybe warm up by cutting down a few high grade cursed corpses first?"
"There's no need."
Yami shook his head.
Those words carried a quiet arrogance that belonged only to the truly strong.
"Dead things can't sharpen me."
"What you need," Gojo said, the curve of his lips widening, "is a stronger opponent."
"One that can force out everything you have. One that can keep pushing you to break your limits right on the edge between life and death."
He tilted his head.
"Isn't that right?"
Yami did not answer.
He only tightened his grip on the hilt.
The air around him seemed to sharpen in response.
Then he looked straight at Gojo.
His red eyes were unwavering.
"Then..."
"That opponent is you?"
The atmosphere froze.
At the side, Yuji forgot to breathe.
The popcorn in his hand spilled all over the floor without him even noticing.
He suddenly felt like a rabbit that had somehow wandered into a cage with a tiger and a dragon.
"Bingo."
Gojo snapped his fingers.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he removed the black blindfold from his face.
For the first time, Yuji and Yami saw them fully revealed.
Those azure eyes, vast as the sky and cold as the stars.
The Six Eyes.
"The strongest sorcerer of the modern age is going to personally serve as your sparring partner."
Gojo grinned.
"That's top tier treatment, Yami."
Yami's answer came immediately.
"I couldn't ask for more."
Boom.
His aura surged.
Though he had no cursed energy, the sheer purity and intensity of his sword intent made the air around him distort, and a faint mournful hum spread through the room as though the space itself could not bear the pressure.
He brought Shiranui up in both hands and settled into the opening stance of Sun Breathing.
A faint deep red glow spread across the black blade.
"Sensei."
Yami's voice was steady.
"Be careful."
He lowered the blade slightly.
"This sword..."
He looked directly into Gojo's blue eyes.
"It can cut through Infinity."
Gojo's grin widened until it looked almost delighted.
He spread his arms wide, as if welcoming the entire world.
"Oh?"
He laughed softly.
"Cut through Infinity?"
The Six Eyes gleamed.
"Then show me."
The special training had finally begun.
.....
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