[Author Note]
I can't believe I have to say this, but just because he adapted to slashing attacks doesn't make him 100% immune to them.
People are comparing Ogi's slashes to f*cking 15-finger Sukuna dismantle/cleave, like, bruh. Why do I even have to explain this?
Now, here is Naohiro vs Gojo.
__________
I stare him down, and while he's smiling, I see he will treat me seriously.
Then...
*Woosh*
Satoru might've seemed like he teleported to an average non-sorcerer, but a sorcerer could see that he simply used his raw physical strength to shoot off toward me.
When he reaches me, I raise my hand to block but get confused...
*Pap*
I caught his hand with great difficulty. However, I was able to touch him.
He isn't using Infinity? No, he wants to feel me out.
Even though he doesn't know this, I've got to adapt to his infinity quick to prevent future issues. Getting it done early will put me ahead.
Giving a smile of my own, I lock on his hand before attempting to throw him. He throws a kick to the side of my stomach, to which I bring my left hand down to block.
*BAM*
It's heavy!
I go flying, roll twice, and bounce back up. I feel my arm put itself back in place. For some reason, Falling Blossom Emotion didn't activate.
The thing about Satoru is that he can pump as much cursed energy as he wants into himself since he has a nigh-unlimited amount if it doesn't burn out.
I've never tried this before, but let's see how high I can go.
If I am not able to match him in close quarters with my current strength, let's make this more interesting.
*BOOM*
To anyone watching, they would see a massive amount of energy explode from my body.
I'll make myself able to match him in strength...shit, it hurts, however.
...
...
'clink'
Normally, one would need to take the steps required to improve their reinforcement slowly but with adaptation. I can skip that altogether.
It took Mei Mei many years to reach the 'peak' of cursed energy reinforcement, and I can force my way to the grade one level of reinforcement. Obviously, it's not as effective since my base strength hasn't reached that level quite yet, but it's a fantastic start.
This time, I rush towards him.
His eyes widen a little before sharpening, and he meets me in the middle of the arena. Our forearms clash, sending dust flying.
Suddenly, I feel my arm slowly get pushed back by an invisible force.
Satoru gave me his trademarked smile. He finally dropped his noble persona. "Thank you, I truly mean that. You are one of the people I can truly go all out on. Now, I wonder, can you understand me?"
I smile at him back but get somewhat confused at his last statement.
'clink'
Thanks, Satoru, that's one.
Satoru's smile drops before he reinforces himself further and sends me away. The force of Infinity slows me down, and his strength overpowers mine.
'Something is different; his cursed energy has changed,' Satoru thought as he narrowed his eyes.
He sends me away, but I quickly boost back towards him.
I plan on breaking that wall long before he figures out my technique! I give my own wicked smile as I get close to interacting with Infinity. However...
Satoru speaks softly, "[Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue]."
Suddenly, I am pulled and sent flying past him, crashing into the arena wall.
'clink'
That hurt bad, but I have one adaptation for Infinity and one for Blue.
My adaption heals my body faster than it has before.
My eyes widen, "No way, my adaptations can get stronger?"
Under normal circumstances, I would've encountered this before, but does it have something to do with fighting in real battles?
I get a surprised look from Satoru. "Is that reverse cursed technique? The flow of your body has been changing this whole time. I'm unfamiliar with positive energy, but your body does something completely different than normal reinforcement or resistance. It's odd since I've been trying to do it since I saw it and can't get close to completing it. It's surreal, me, of all people."
He smiles again, "Well, whatever, I'll figure it out eventually, and when I do, I'll win."
It makes sense; Satoru hasn't interacted with the reverse cursed technique yet, so he's wondering if he can replicate me. He was able to do it for Falling Blossom Emotion.
I can't help but snicker. "Well, Mr. I'll win. I'd like to see you try!"
I get back up and run towards him. However, after my adaptation, he has no intention of letting me get close again.
Once again, Satoru speaks. "[Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue]."
I get pulled, but...
'clink'
I stop getting flung towards him.
Satoru looks more surprised than he has before. "What!? You resisted blue?"
I laugh a bit. "Not exactly, but I'll give you points for trying."
Then, I took advantage of the 0.5-second stun he had to move my hand towards his face.
It slowed down and didn't reach him.
'clink'
That's two.
Since the only thing I decided to do was get close, I was left open to a punch to my face.
The punch was strong, but not stronger than the blue from earlier. His Infinity was still active...
'clink'
That's three.
One more before I adapt to his cursed technique and win this thing.
Using the momentum of getting hit, I spin for a kick, aiming at his head before he blocks it and gets sent flying. I notice something strange.
After tumbling a few times, he stood up with a trail of blood going down the side of his face.
He stopped using Infinity.
Satoru smiled. "I thought it was strange. Whenever you touched my barrier, your cursed energy shifted to match it, nullifying it."
Fuck, I needed one more.
He continued. "Now I know your whole gimmick; I'll end you before you get the chance to ignore my Infinity."
I quipped back. "You think you got me all figured out Blue-Eyes?"
He tilted his head to the side. "Probably not, but I always figure things out."
I give him a serious look. "It's time to end this thing."
Closing his eyes briefly, Satoru responds before snapping them back open. "You're right, I finally see. You might be the one who can understand me! LET'S FINISH THIS NAOHIRO ZENIN!"
Satoru maximizes his limitless technique, amping it to the point of a thin blue barrier surrounding him.
I pour more cursed energy into my body than I ever have, to the point where my skin starts to peel.
I screamed back. "IT'S TIME TO PUT YOU IN YOUR PLACE, SATORU GOJO!"
We rush at each other.
(A/N - "I'm going to take a 2-3 day break since I've uploaded 17 chapters in the span of 4 days. I'll stockpile chapters for Monday/Tuesday, so I'm not dropping or stopping writing.)
Hehe.
[Author Note]
(I know I said break, but I wanted to finish volume 1)
Random Question
Thoughts on Yorozu (Power Wise)?
I've seen people say she scales to 15-finger Sukuna
I've also seen some say she gets bodied by the culling games.
I'm just curious since I'm unsure where she scales, which might affect the future...
__________
Running towards Satoru, time seemed to slow down. I had been moving faster than I had ever been. As I am now, I'm sure I could avoid Ogi's sword strikes, but why does everything seem slow?
The only thing I see in front of me is the future strongest sorcerer of the modern age. I notice my cursed energy output shoots even higher; however, nothing seems to change with my control.
As we met in the middle, we both threw a fist, and while it was fast, everything was slow enough for me to move my head to the side of his fist.
I didn't notice it at first; however, my fist started to have black sparkles mixed into it. I meet his amplified Limitless.
'clink'
He didn't notice fast enough, given his eyes widened too late. No matter how much he wanted to amplify it, I already had three clicks of adaptation, making this the fourth.
He had no choice but to engage in direct combat. I had already adapted to blue. He couldn't access any of the other Limitless abilities, red, purple, or infinite void, and didn't have the reserves to match mine.
With that, my fist goes straight through the Limitless like butter.
*Bzt Btz Crackle*
I see.
...
...
"[Black Flash]."
Black Flash, the technique that squares the attack potency by 2.5 times, is something of a phenomenon that most sorcerers will never accomplish in their lifetime.
To most, it is a technique based solely on chance, but in some circumstances, it can be used when a sorcerer ignores all useless thoughts and, in rare cases, is used consecutively.
*BOOM*
My fist connects with his face and creates a massive shockwave, sending him flying.
I started to drool on myself, but I didn't care. I couldn't see anything around me other than an unconscious Satoru Gojo with a massive fist imprint on his left cheek.
Ultimately, it didn't matter how high he pushed his Limitless when I could adapt. Ever since I received the fourth click, it decided the match.
While Satoru Gojo is a prodigy skilled at controlling cursed energy, I could push more cursed energy than he could due to the sheer mass of energy radiating from my body.
Sorcerers are born with a fixed amount of cursed energy. However, given the sheer amount of energy that would've been in my body due to the wish of Sukuna's reserves, it was held back until the vessel could handle it.
I usually wouldn't be ready to handle such quantities, but I forced my body to break. My body could finally handle being filled with nigh-infinite cursed energy. I had finally reached Sukuna in cursed energy reserves.
...
I managed to beat the strongest.
A few seconds later, the cursed energy surrounding me vanished, and I felt my body go limp.
'clink'
My adaptation started to kick in.
'clink'
As my eyes started to close, I was jolted up and caught myself from falling. I started to breathe heavily and was knocked out of whatever high I was in.
I audibly let out a gasp. "What the actual hell was that!?"
My right hand was almost unrecognizable but was quickly turning back to normal, as well as the burned skin on my body.
I feel twice—maybe more—times stronger than I did before. My cursed energy reserves were through the roof, I was amplified by a black flash, and I was in the zone.
After being snapped out of whatever mood I was just in, I smiled and started to laugh. "HAHAHA, I did what many would dream of doing. I knocked that stupid smirk off his face! Yeah, he'd lose!"
After snickering for another few minutes, Naobito grabbed me on the shoulder. Looking over to the Zenin group, I saw each of their faces.
Naoya was awake and staring at nothing; Ogi looked like he aged another one hundred years. Jinichi and Chojuro narrowed their eyes on me. I then looked up at Naobito to see him with the biggest shit-eating grin I've ever seen.
Damn, old child-abusing drunk geezer.
The entire arena was completely silent, including the goon from before, who had wanted to step in ever since the match started.
Then, a group of white-haired nobles walked over to our group.
One man who looked like a cultivation novel villain spoke up: "This is a direct violation of the non-aggression agreement. While it would've been acceptable if they had met in the tournament, the Zenin child taunted and assaulted the Gojo's heir."
*Sigh* How many cliche villains will I run into in this world? Either that or this dude has a stick a few feet up his ass.
Naobito started taunting them back, but I tuned them out. It's not my problem since I don't plan on staying in this clan for the long term. There are too many unknown factors that I need to worry about before getting involved in clan politics.
Then it hit me.
What have I done?
I just beat up the Limitless Six Eyes user. I revealed to the world my potential to interfere with certain people's plans.
Kenjaku is going to be on my ass now.
Damnit, why did I jump in? While it's nice, I got much stronger; this will seriously backfire. If Kenjaku didn't have plans for me before, he sure as hell will make some now.
I'm not a child. Well, not mentally, at least, and I acted like a complete dumbass. I was so blinded by Naoya that I didn't think about the repercussions of my actions.
This isn't a world of heroes and villains. Machinations are being planned that can destroy the world, and here I am, ripping away the chance to survive.
It's not enough. I need to get even stronger. I might be eight years old, but I'm going to need to complete my domain expansion and reverse cursed technique as soon as possible.
Since I know my adaptations can be strengthened, I can start incorporating training into the current adaptations, such as healing. I will need to get it to reverse cursed technique levels of fast.
I wished for adaptation for a reason. I haven't been using it to nearly its fullest potential. This fight alone showed me how much I don't know about my own cursed technique.
By the time I reach Jujutsu Tech, I'll be a special grade. That isn't my goal but my promise. I'll beat Toji, keep Geto away from Kenjaku, save Riko, and awaken Satoru.
I'll become the strongest person not only in the modern era but in all of history. Not even the king of frauds himself will be enough to kill me.
Time to get to work.
The strongest sorcerer available, Atsuya Kusakabe.