September 2018.
Mahito stepped through the door, followed by Kinji Hakari and Chisato.
Inside the door was a magnificent conference hall with a huge table placed in the center. Everyone else, besides Mahito's group, had already taken their seats. They were dressed in suits and leather shoes, and one was in military uniform. However, everyone could immediately see the person sitting at the far end of the conference table—someone who was impossible to mistake if one followed American politics.
That person was the current President of the United States.
The blond, portly man sat there, staring incredulously at the door of the conference hall where Mahito was emerging. The President had clearly checked before that there was only a corridor behind that door, with guards standing watch. Yet this incredible man had pushed open the door and entered without any warning.
No, it wasn't without warning. Before that, a Japanese monk had hung a wind chime by the door and then knocked gently. After that, a young girl had peeked her head out and said a few words. When the door opened again, this man had arrived.
That Japanese monk stood by the door; he called himself Kenjaku.
The President laughed heartily. "Is it possible it's not actually 2018? I thought I had transmigrated to 4018. Please tell me we are in 4018 and that Spatial Gate technology has already been implemented."
"Regrettably, Mr. President, we are in 2018, and it is precisely during your term. That is why we have come here seeking cooperation," Kenjaku quipped humorously. "If it were 4018, you likely wouldn't be our partner."
Kenjaku stepped forward to pull out a chair at the round table, and Mahito sat down.
"I'll be blunt," Mahito said with a smile in fluent American English. "Everyone... do you want eternal life?"
In the original work, Kenjaku had once brought Uraume to America. Uraume was undoubtedly an ancient person, yet she had no language barrier when communicating with Americans. I didn't think much of it while reading the manga, but now it seemed there were many inconspicuous yet highly adaptable spells within general jujutsu. For instance, now Mahito could also speak American English fluently.
"You're not joking?" The President licked his lips, suppressing the excitement in his voice.
"Didn't you just witness it?" Mahito said calmly. "Jujutsu is far more interesting than you imagine. Even Spatial Gates from science fiction can be realized, so what else from sci-fi could be impossible? Isn't the reason you're sitting here because you harbor ambitions for this?"
"No, no, no." The President waved his hands unconsciously and said with a chuckle, "We don't have any ambitions. This is all for America. Currently, the American economy is sliding, and people can't find jobs. We, the public servants of America, have long wanted to change the current state of affairs. Regarding this, I particularly..."
The President began an incessant speech. Everyone had wooden expressions. The middle-aged white woman beside the President couldn't help but whisper a reminder, "Your Excellency, there are no cameras or reporters around us right now."
"Oh, oh." The President looked around, his cheerful expression unchanged, and naturally switched the topic. "Apologies, look at me. You know, in America, we must respect the will of the voters. Therefore, whatever we do, the voters come first. Even regarding eternal life, it must be..."
"Voters first?" Mahito asked with interest.
"Yes!" His Excellency the President said with a look of solemn grief. "The eternal life you offer is a technology our science cannot comprehend. Therefore, we cannot precisely understand what the side effects might be. So let us public servants experiment with it first before promoting it!"
Mahito and Kenjaku's expressions remained unchanged, and the other American officials looked as usual. Only Kinji Hakari, who had completely failed to anticipate that the American President could be shameless to this degree, couldn't stop his face from twitching. He was Japanese, after all, and had a natural filter regarding America. He had come here solemnly expecting a fierce exchange of interests, not this hypocritical, high-sounding nonsense.
This guy is really the US President? The supreme leader of the only superpower on this planet? You've gotta be kidding me?!
Kinji Hakari squeezed a few words out through his teeth in Japanese: "I can finally understand why Jogo had such prejudice against humans."
Instead, it was Chisato, the Cursed Spirit, who whispered consolation: "Think of yourself; humanity is still salvageable."
Myself?
A gambler, an underground fight club owner, a former jujutsu fugitive, and someone who chose to become Kirara Hoshi's boyfriend knowing full well she was formerly a man?
Kinji Hakari really couldn't bring himself to say that if all of humanity were like him, they'd be even more beyond saving!
Mahito gave a loud round of applause.
"As expected of Your Excellency! You truly have the people in your heart! We are impressed!"
Kinji Hakari looked at Mahito in disbelief, wanting to speak but stopping himself, ultimately choosing to remain silent. Now, Kinji Hakari truly realized that his diplomatic skills were indeed not up to par. This level of speaking human language to humans and ghost language to ghosts—he could never achieve it no matter how much he practiced!
As expected, I'm better suited for staying in the Jujutsu World.
Kinji Hakari had never had such a clear realization.
"Let's get to the point." Mahito rested his elbows on the round table, folding his hands into an arch over his nose in a standard commander's pose. "Your Excellency, how much do you know about Cursed Energy?"
In the original work, Kenjaku's conversation with America happened in February 2018. At that time, Kenjaku didn't even have an intelligent Cursed Spirit by his side, though Uraume had already been resurrected by him. It was clear that Kenjaku didn't actually count on intelligent Cursed Spirits for anything; all his hopes were pinned on Sukuna.
On Sukuna.
But now it was different. Mahito was so exceptional that he made Kenjaku feel like he could handle Gojo Satoru just by relying on Mahito. His feeling wasn't wrong; Mahito really had almost finished off Gojo Satoru last time. Even now, Gojo Satoru actually had no way to deal with Mahito. Kenjaku's judgment was as precise as ever.
What wasn't precise was that he probably had too many little schemes, to the point where Mahito was now starting to release killing intent toward him, forcing him to reconsider releasing Sukuna.
It wasn't the President who answered the question, but someone beside him.
This was a tall, thin, elderly white man. His hair was already gray but combed very neatly. He took the initiative to speak:
"Negative emotions, such as stress and so on, are converted into an energy called 'Cursed Energy.' Japanese people release a faint amount of this energy daily. When this Cursed Energy gathers, Cursed Spirits are born—the so-called monsters and supernatural entities. Those who can control Cursed Energy are called sorcerers, which can also be simply understood as humans with superpowers."
"This is basically a special phenomenon that only appears in Japanese people, though there are exceptions. As for an example, there's one right in front of us."
The President pondered. "Superpowered individuals, then? Can I understand it as each superpowered person only being able to use one ability?"
Mahito nodded. "That's right. Inherently, every sorcerer can only use one Cursed Technique. That is to say, the superpowered person the President speaks of can only use one superpower. However, of course, there are exceptionally gifted people who can use other methods to employ multiple abilities, but this is extremely rare and shouldn't be considered the norm."
Pausing for a moment, Mahito smiled.
"But I must specifically point out that besides those Jujutsu Sorcerers with Cursed Techniques, there are many more Jujutsu Sorcerers without them. This might be hard to understand, so let's explain it as magic. Think of Jujutsu Sorcerers as mages. A mage's talent varies; the strong can use their own unique magic that other mages can't learn or use, while most mages are weak and can only use magic that everyone else can use."
The President marveled. "Oh, that makes it very clear. Can you tell me what the difference is between a sorcerer with and without special abilities?"
Mahito pointed to his own brain. "As one grows older, whether or not they have a special ability can be distinguished by whether an Innate Technique can grow within the brain. Of course, you can use more scientific methods to gather statistics."
"For example?"
"Population," Mahito said. "The larger the population, the more Jujutsu Sorcerers are born, and the number of sorcerers with Innate Techniques will also increase. It's simple probability—brute-forcing it with population size."
The President looked around; everyone else had thoughtful expressions. So, he spoke first.
"Is your ability to grant us eternal life also your own special ability? Besides you, are there other methods of eternal life in this world that are already well-established?"
This old man's thoughts weren't hidden at all; he simply wanted to master a method of eternal life under his own control, rather than relying on some unknown so-called ability.
Mahito said candidly, "Besides me, there are indeed other ways to gain eternal life, but the side effects are all very significant. My method of granting eternal life relies on my ability, so there is almost no price to pay. Other forms of eternal life, however, are based on various physical modifications or high-cost Binding Vows. Well, it's possible to become a madman. Would Your Excellency like to try?"
Physical modification? Becoming a madman?
The President shook his head vigorously. "No, no, no, I was just speaking hypothetically."
"What do you all think?" the President asked the others.
The elderly white man who had just explained said without hesitation, "This is a negotiation regarding resources. If we miss this opportunity, we will fall behind the entire world."
A man in military uniform also didn't hesitate. "If everyone has superpowers, even if their physical fitness is that of an ordinary person, they can become excellent soldiers. Hmm... simple soldiers won't do; it's best to concentrate them for use as special forces. They would shine in both decapitation strikes and emergency rescue units."
A middle-aged white woman nodded. "Or they could become secret agents—or rather, secret agents are more suitable than soldiers. After all, superpowered individuals are no different from ordinary people when not using their powers. They can pass through all sorts of security checks and launch unexpected raids on targets. Holding such a force of secret agents would make both bribery and threats incredibly easy."
An African-american man said, "What about in terms of scientific research? Although the abilities themselves are a black box, just like the special ability of the person before us who can grant eternal life, other various abilities will also be born. If we can research these abilities thoroughly, our hegemony can be eternal."
A white man said unceremoniously, "Even if we just bring them over as workers to lay railroad tracks, they'd be a hundred times better than current workers!"
In the original work, there was such a scene, but the core concept was entirely different.
In the original work, the high-level American officials only treated sorcerers as a special kind of resource.
The Secretary of Energy said that if they caught Gojo Satoru, he alone could supply the entire United States with power for a year without any pollution—an extremely clean energy source.
Yes, using Gojo Satoru as a national battery charger—those were the exact words from the original work.
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