Looking at the body of Ganryu that was slowly vanishing in particles of light, Gojo couldn't help but feel a little complex.
He hadn't been lying when he said that he had intended to recruit them. After all, even though they were quite weak, they had survived a thousand years in exile in extremely awful conditions, showing how strong their minds were.
If they had only wished to take revenge on the Central 46, he would have accepted them with arms wide open.
Unfortunately, world destruction wasn't really in his plans.
'I really hope that wherever you reincarnate to, you will have a better life.'
Giving a short prayer for the departed and bitter souls, Gojo shrugged before turning around.
"Took you a while, girls."
At the entrance of the cave, he could see Soi Fon followed by Yoruichi who was hugging Nemu.
Clearly, no matter how many upgrades Mayuri brought to Nemu, it would have been expecting too much if they wished she could keep up with two of the fastest shinigami alive.
"Well, this honestly went faster than I thought it would."
Yoruichi shrugged as she put down Nemu and ignored the slight envious look Soi Fon had been throwing toward the girl.
Since Gojo did not kill Soi Fon despite the fact that she had so much dirt on him, she thought that he was the kind of soft-hearted person that couldn't bear to kill.
But from how fast he dispatched them, it was clear that she was wrong. He was far from being as soft as she thought he was.
Gojo only shrugged in response.
He wasn't a bloodthirsty maniac, nor was he a hero willing to sacrifice himself for others. Even back then, during the Shibuya incident, he had been able to stay cool-headed even while watching humans being killed in droves.
In the end, the only reason he had even been sealed was because of his own power rather than because of whatever weakness.
Of course, it wasn't as if he could explain that. So he simply gave a faint smile and left at that. It wasn't worth discussing anyway after all.
"At least the mission is accomplished. We will be able to leave soon. Nemu."
"Yes?"
"Do you still have the trackers?"
Those trackers were the ones that had been given to all of those who passed through the door back then. Of course, Gojo had already shut them off after dealing with all the hollows.
Nemu nodded, expressing that everything was alright. She knew how important those trackers were for Gojo's plan.
Gojo did not wish for the central 46 to know that he could open dimension gates. It was one thing to succeed by using the technology of the 12th division, but it was totally another thing to be able to do so alone. Since it would mean that he had dabbled in space-time Kido.
...Which he obviously had but he just didn't wish to let them know about it.
'At least not yet.'
The space technology of the Soul Society was nothing to scoff at. He didn't know when he would have to leave the soul society, but he knew that he would most likely have to rely on his Shadow and teleportation to escape.
It would be one thing if they didn't know about it, but if they knew and prepared beforehand, it wouldn't be impossible for them to freeze the space all around him or fuck around with his coordinate and send him in some weird place.
'Hahaha. I will just throw everything on Mayuri's head.'
Thinking about the scrunched face of that scientist, Gojo shook his head with an amused smile on his face.
"Well, let's go girls. I want to at least see the Shinenju before leaving."
----
Even though it was faint, Gojo could easily see the current of energy rushing in the ground. Following the way, they walked for a short while before finally stopping.
"Amazing."
What stood in front of them was a large tree with a shining cocoon in the middle of it. A mix of blue and white light was emanating from it, giving a sort of sacred feel.
Though this sacred feeling was changed into creepiness when the white figures with red masks that looked like phantoms were continuously walking toward it and leaving after a while to fuse with the earth.
"It's a little disturbing."
Gojo heard Yoruichi speaking, but didn't pay attention to it. Instead, his attention was focused elsewhere.
'It's alive?'
He didn't know how it was possible, but the Shinenju in front pf him was indeed alive. It felt like the memories were fusing into one soul which shouldn't be possible.
The Shinenju was a natural phenomenon and though it only happened every few five hundred years or every millennium, there had been no records of Shinenju being alive.
'Should I take a closer look?'
He couldn't stop his curiosity. Walking toward it, as if he was in trance, Gojo continued to try to decipher this mystery.
"Hey!"
He heard a voice calling him, but he only ignored it.
Meanwhile, the more he neared, the more it felt like the cocoon was responding to his presence.
Finally, once he reached it and was about to touch it,
"Gojo! Stop."
He woke up with a startle when he felt his arms being gripped by a soft hand, but it was already too late.
The moment he came into contact with it, it felt like an explosion happened in his mind.
The amount of information sent in his brain was overwhelming. Anyone else in his place would have most likely already fainted but for him, this was nothing.
At the same time, he could feel a part of Reiatsu slowly leaving him.
"Ugh!"
Behind him, he could hear the voice of Yoruichi grunting. It was clear that she had been the one who tried to stop him and wasn't able to deal with the flow of information like him. He could also feel a part of her Reiatsu entering the cocoon.
Since she was in this situation because of him, Gojo didn't hesitate and slowly tried to control the flow of Reiatsu.
Weirdly, it had been easier than he thought it would. In fact, the energy of the Shinenju was happily responding to him and like a tamed pet, stopped sending memories their way. Though, it continued to absorb Reiatsu from them.
Finally, after absorbing about 10% of his Reiatsu it stopped. Gojo felt like he was watching a baby satiated after drinking his milk.
"Are you alright?"
"Ugh! I feel like vomiting."
Once he was sure that everything was alright, he turned around and asked Yoruichi. He was about to comfort her, but he was stunned by what he was seeing.
A large wall of energy seemed to have formed around them and separated the, from the outside. On the other side, he could see Soi Fon banging repeatedly on the wall and Nemu showing a worried expression.
Thankfully, they seemed to have calmed down after he waved at them.
"What is happening?"
Yoruichi asked after calming down. She didn't seem to want to blame him for now. After all, it was clear that he hadn't been in his right mind.
Gojo showed a bitter smile.
"I don't know, but I believe we are about to find out."
*Crack*
As if it had been waiting for those words-
*Crack* *Crack*
-large fissures appeared on the cocoon followed by a huge sound, reminiscent of a beating heart.
*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*
'Damn, it feels like the start of a horror movie.'
Gojo wondered if he was about to observe the birth of a monster and was already gathering Reishi in his hand.
Standing beside him, Yoruichi wasn't much different. He could see faint sparks of lightning flowing around her body.
The speed of the beating heart was increasing, the cracks growing, and the tension rising.
Finally…with a large bang, what came out was neither an abominable monster nor some kind of weapon of mass destruction.
Though, if cuteness was a weapon, then it would be the most destructive one.
"Mama! Papa!"
Looking at the little baby that was squealing and dangling her hands while calling out to him, Gojo couldn't help but wonder what kind of shit he had stepped on.
(AN: So, for those who watched Memory of Nobody, this Senna will have many differences from the original because of the circumstances of her birth. Her personality will remain because I really like it. But her skill set will obviously be different. How much you might ask? Well, you will see. Anyways, this is nearly the end of this volume. Just one more chapter then epilogue. The next volume will start with a little time skip. Also, give me your opinion on this volume overall. I think it's the longest as of now.)