Click—
Refusing to accept defeat, the scarred man channeled his cursed energy, reinforcing his body to make another grab at Mirai. The deep blue waves of cursed energy surging around him projected the oppressive, heavy aura of a top-tier sorcerer.
But against a mere human infant? Under the absolute protection of Lexus, Mirai's overpowered Stand, Musashi couldn't even graze him.
Instead of being frightened, Mirai clapped his tiny hands together, giggling gleefully as if watching a slapstick comedy routine performed just for him.
"Enough. Stand down, Musashi. Don't waste your energy," the Great Elder sighed, massaging his temples. He ordered the servant back and stared at Mirai with a deeply conflicted expression.
This child possessed the impossible, paradoxical combination of the Six Eyes and the Ten Shadows Technique. And as if that weren't enough, he was guarded by a mysterious entity—not a cursed spirit, but something intimately bound to him, perfectly concealed from standard detection. Was it a unique shikigami tied to the Ten Shadows? Or something else entirely?
Could they really afford to send away a child with this level of world-shaking potential?
With the sudden, inexplicable death of the previous Clan Head, the burden of the Gojo clan's survival rested entirely on the Great Elder's shoulders. He needed a solution that would honor the unprecedented blessing the heavens had bestowed upon them, without tearing the jujutsu world apart.
"Mirai, Mirai... why did you have to inherit the Zenin clan's Ten Shadows?" the Great Elder muttered, his beard seeming to gray right before their eyes. "If it were any other lesser clan's technique, it wouldn't matter..."
Possessing the Limitless and the Six Eyes in Satoru was already akin to an ordinary man winning a three-billion-yen lottery. Every step required extreme caution; walking down the street, you'd feel like everyone was out to rob or kill you! A low-probability disaster was still a disaster!
Then, an epiphany struck.
The Six Eyes... The Ten Shadows... The Zenin Clan... Gojo Satoru... The cuckoo in the magpie's nest!
The Great Elder burst into booming laughter. "Hahahahahaha! Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"
The other elders exchanged bewildered glances.
Striding over to the infant on the floor, the Great Elder beamed. "Mirai, my boy, this old man is going to send you to a wonderful place—PUFF!"
Before the sentence even left his lips, an invisible force slammed into his face, launching him through the air! He spat out a mouthful of blood and four teeth, crashing through three solid shoji walls before finally skidding to a halt.
No way! Absolutely not! Mirai fumed silently. I haven't even been weaned yet and you want to exile me?! You rotten old geezer!
"Great Elder!!!" the room screamed in unison.
The Great Elder was the current strongest sorcerer in the Gojo clan! A universally recognized Grade 1 powerhouse! Yet he had been swatted away like a fly without even sensing the attack.
Even factoring in the element of surprise, the attacker's strength was terrifying. Assuming Lexus was a special, invisible shikigami, its power output was easily on par with a Grade 1 sorcerer.
But the humiliation was just beginning.
Smack! Smack! Smack! "Agh! Oof! Stop!"
Under the horrified gazes of the elders who had voted to keep Mirai, the Great Elder was pinned to the floor and relentlessly pummeled by invisible hands. The elders who had agreed with the exile plan weren't spared either.
A symphony of slaps echoed through the compound. Mirai was having the time of his life. Even a stray dog that happened to wander past the courtyard caught a stray slap from Lexus!
Through this one-sided beatdown, Mirai gained a solid understanding of his Stand's power scaling in the jujutsu world. Armed with a top-tier stat spread, Lexus's physical prowess rivaled the monstrous Heavenly Restriction of Toji Zenin. Couple that with the ironclad rule that only a Stand User can see a Stand, plus Lexus's intangibility and infinite growth potential?
To put it simply: Invincible.
Half a day later. The Great Elder and his faction sat in the tatami room, sporting bruised faces, missing teeth, and expressions of utter defeat.
Meanwhile, Mirai's stomach began to rumble. Summoning Lexus, he had his Stand levitate him down the hall, firmly shoving an oblivious Gojo Satoru aside so he could claim the premium spot in his mother's arms to feed.
Watching the infant literally float through the air to bully his twin, the Great Elder didn't dare utter a single word of reprimand, terrified of provoking another beatdown. The invisible guardian was simply too volatile. It was a completely unrecorded anomaly in the jujutsu world!
Left with no other choice, the bruised Great Elder explained his "cuckoo in the magpie's nest" sleeper-agent scheme to the others.
"I see! I see!" The Second Elder's eyes lit up. "Boss, you're a genius! But... will the Zenin clan actually agree to take him?"
"They won't have a choice," the Great Elder sneered, wincing as his bruised cheek stretched. "The Zenin clan could never resist the naked temptation of the Ten Shadows Technique. Why don't you invite that drunkard over? Hasn't he always been bitter about my title as the strongest Grade 1?"
"You mean, we use Mirai to..." "Exactly."
Two and a half hours later, Zenin Naobito, the current Head of the Zenin Clan, arrived at the Gojo estate in absolute secrecy.
"...What?!" The Great Elder slammed his hand on the table. "One billion yen?! You want to take our Gojo clan's Six Eyes back to your compound for a measly one billion?! You drunkard, you're daydreaming!"
Naobito simply took a swig from his gourd, utterly unfazed. "So what do you want? That Ten Shadows Technique belongs to the Zenin clan, plain and simple. Don't act like you cunning Gojo foxes haven't coveted our techniques before." He paused, narrowing his eyes. "The kid doesn't have a congenital defect, does he?"
"No. He is perfectly healthy. Too healthy, in fact," the Great Elder muttered, his face flashing through a spectrum of traumatic colors as he recalled the morning's beatdown.
"Oh?" Naobito raised an eyebrow, staring pointedly at the thick layer of foundation failing to hide the Gojo Elder's bruised face and broken teeth. "I'm not here to bicker with a battered old ghost. What's your price to let me adopt the boy?"
The Great Elder immediately put on an agonizing, heartbroken expression. "The Six Eyes is a divine gift that our clan receives only once every few centuries..."
"Spit it out," Naobito interrupted impatiently. "You need to pay more."
Silence stretched between them. Suddenly, Naobito slammed his hands on the table and stood up.
"Ten billion!" "Deal!" the Great Elder fired back instantly.
The Great Elder was ecstatic. His baseline expectation had been 5 billion. Since the kid was technically going to be a Gojo sleeper agent anyway, getting paid anything was a bonus. Ten billion was an absolute steal!
Naobito smirked inwardly. His absolute ceiling had been 20 billion yen. Anything higher would have required dipping into heavily monitored clan funds, which would leak the secret. Securing a Ten Shadows user for just 10 billion?
What a massive scam! both old men thought simultaneously, utterly thrilled with themselves.
As the Great Elder led Naobito to Mirai's nursery, he spoke without looking back. "The boy's name is Mirai. I expect you to keep it. After all, he is now the future of your Zenin clan, is he not?"
"Mirai?" Naobito chuckled. "A fine name. Zenin Mirai. Rolls off the tongue much better than Gojo Mirai, wouldn't you agree?"
The Great Elder didn't respond. He bit the inside of his cheek to suppress a manic grin. Laugh while you can, you drunkard. You're bringing a monster into your home.
Taking a deep breath to compose himself, the Great Elder stopped and fixed Naobito with a deadly serious glare. "You know exactly what the Six Eyes means to the balance of the jujutsu world."
"Hmph." For once, Naobito didn't offer a sarcastic remark. He nodded.
"So, as far as the world is concerned, the Zenin clan has simply produced a prodigy who inherited the Ten Shadows Technique. Do you understand me?" The Great Elder's aura flared, signaling he would scrap the deal right here if Naobito refused.
"Kowai, kowai~" Naobito mockingly raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. I swear the Zenin clan will not leak a single word about the boy possessing the Six Eyes."
His expression darkened into a sharp grin.
"But... if the leak comes from your Gojo clan's incompetence, don't come crying to us." "Naturally."