Principal Gakuganji trudged forward through the wet underbrush, the steady thrum of cicadas in the trees above drowned beneath the dragging scrape of feet against dirt and stone. Slung over one shoulder like a sack of rice was the limp, unconscious body of one Itadori Yuji. The boy was wrapped in thick jujutsu-reinforced rope, sealed tight with suppression talismans that clung to his skin like cursed leeches, pulsing faintly as they worked to neutralize any lingering cursed energy.
The boy would've been more familiar with them if the meddlesome Gojos had not interfered when they did. Thereby prolonging the boy's inevitable fate.
The old man said nothing as he walked, his expression set in stone. He had a craggy face that betrayed neither pride nor pity. Only burden. The boy weighed heavier than his frame suggested, and yet it was not just his mass. It was also in consequence. Gakuganji could feel the silent judgment of the forest watching him, each snapping twig and shifting branch seeming to whisper; traitor.
The path twisted through a forgotten mountain range, shielded by layers of concealment spells and barriers, each older than the last. Eventually, the forest gave way to moss-covered stone. A narrow staircase etched into the side of a cliff face led him to a weathered torii gate. Beyond it, the hidden base of the Elders.
An enclave built in secret by a previous generation of the Elders. It was aged and ascetic. Made of wood, iron, and paper walls. The smell of incense filled the air, overwhelming the more natural scent of the forest that surrounded it, and mixed with something less sacred, something rot-sweet and buried.
Two masked guards opened the shoji doors without a word, bowing as he passed. Inside, the central chamber awaited. A circular room, ringed with shadowed figures, the Elders, cloaked in ceremonial black, faces half-lit by the glow of their fire lanterns. There were no wooden screens here to hide their faces, but Gakuganji did not try very hard to look either. He knew them all already. Their voices were low in quiet debate, heads bowed as they argued. They had still not noticed his presence, so he made sure they did.
Gakuganji dropped Itadori's body in the center of the room with a grunt. The dull thud of his body meeting wood forced them to jerk up in surprise as the boy's head lolled to the side, eyes fluttering beneath closed lids, though the seals plastered around his form kept him dormant.
"He's here," Gakuganji announced to the now quiet room in measured anger. He did not enjoy this new path the Elders had decided to take. First, they had deemed it fit to cut him loose, thereby discarding him when Gojo Satoru applied pressure and looked ready to kill him after their ploy failed. Now they were sending him out like a clueless fool to kidnap Sukuna's vessel.
He continued, trying his best to restrain his anger. "Just like you asked. Sedated and contained, more importantly, the boy is no longer a threat. However, your orders were explicit to bring him in when I should have killed him. So now speak plainly. What do you plan to do with him? What changed?"
There was a pause. Surprise rippled through the gathered and seated men. Gakuganji was loyal, devoted, and faithful. Yet that was before they had hung him out to dry, then reached out once again to wield him without care. He remained loyal; however, he needed an answer. Not for why they had abandoned him, but for the sudden change of heart regarding the vessel.
A voice, soft and feminine, floated from behind the Elders. "A good question, my friend."
The Elders did not say a word. They all turned to him. He could see the worry on some of their faces at the sound of the voice, as well as the outright fear on others, yet there were those who still looked calm and unbothered. However, none of them were the ones to speak, and the voice was not familiar. The last female Elder had been a Gojo, and she had died coincidentally the moment the Elders slowly began to see Gojo Satoru as a blade without a hilt.
Gakuganji frowned. Something was wrong here. His hand slowly drifted to the cursed tool strapped to his back as he caressed the butt of it, ready to flip it to his front and attack at the slightest hint of a true betrayal. It was one thing to be abandoned when caught by Satoru; it was another to simply be discarded like a tool that had fulfilled its purpose.
Then, from the shadows behind the council, a figure stepped forward. The figure was an unfamiliar middle-aged woman, easily the youngest Elder he had ever seen, with smooth and pale skin. Her brown hair was let loose to hide what seemed like a scar on her forehead, and her eyes settled upon him with a smile on her lips.
"Who are you?" Gakuganji breathed.
His breath caught in his throat as the woman smiled deeper, a slow curl of lips that didn't belong to her. Her eyes drifted from his still form to Sukuna's vessel. Then she walked up to it and cradled the head in her arms before looking back at him.
"You can call me Elder K," the woman said as her smile shifted from wide to a slight thing on her face. "The Elders have been very helpful, you know. So eager to preserve tradition, so easy do what is right and good for the sake of this world of ours. They were even nice enough to create a new spot for me, as the head Elder." Elder K continued to caress the head of Sukuna's vessel. "But I knew you would be different. You always were stubborn in your own way, despite how malleable you seemed."
Gakuganji's hand instinctively tightened around his instrument, fingers curling around the strings of his guitar, ready to slip it and fire a blast in a single moment.
"Stop it, Gakuganji," Elder Sato called out, his aged and hooded brown eyes pinning him in place. "We've spoken about it and agreed, all in one. Each and every single Elder represented by the great clans, excluding the Gojos, has agreed. Elder K's plans do not have anything to do with us. Instead, we shall use each other."
"What do you mean?"
"Satoru has proven to bite at our hands when it suits him, as proven by his attempt on your life." Another elder continued. "We believe it's a matter of time. Sooner rather than later, he would turn his back on us; this alliance solves that major problem. It takes care of the annoying blade that has been dangling on our neck in the shape of the two Gojos, as well as the assassin that has been targeting us."
"An assassin that I need to remind you that Gojo Satoru does not seem to care about, despite bringing it up with him multiple times." Another elder completed.
Gakuganji did not feel comforted by those words in the slightest. They sounded like the words of the desperate, of a puppet. So instead of replying to either Elder, he turned to the woman instead. "You're the change."
She raised a curious brow at him and motioned for him to continue, so he did, his voice low and rough. "You've been guiding them. You've been the one in control. You're the one who ordered Sukuna's vessel brought here instead of being killed." Gakuganji growled, realization sinking in like a stone in water. "For how long?"
The woman tilted her head. "Long enough, Gakuganji. And now that you have brought me Sukuna's vessel, this speeds things along by a good amount. Thank you for that."
Yuji stirred slightly in the woman's hands, and she shifted focus away from Gakuganji and back to the boy. Gakuganji took a step back, now that those dark eyes were no longer rooting him in place. His heart pounded. He was alone. Outnumbered. Surrounded. And worst of all, he had walked into it blind. He had aided them in whatever this was, yet what other option did he have? He could not simply return. Satoru had been ready to kill him at the slightest chance. That was before he had attacked Shoko Ieiri and left her for dead. Before he had kidnapped one of his prized students and delivered him to this unknown figure controlling the Elders.
"Our Original plans have been rendered void. We cannot turn Jiki against Satoru. Compared to either Gojo, Sukuna's vessel can be leashed and controlled. K has promised and assured us of that." An older voice said from a dark corner, an attempt at soothing his worries, or more likely, an attempt at hiding the owners.
The woman's voice came again, gentle, ripping him away from the mire of his thoughts. "Now then... tell me, where do you stand, Gakuganji?"
He remained still, his single eye focused on the ground, but he could feel the heavy gaze and stare of the Elders digging into him. He could see smears of what looked like red on the floor in multiple spots where other Elders might have sat. In truth, there was no true option. There was only ever a single choice.
Gakuganji released his tight grip on the cursed tool and fell to his knees with a heavy heart, his stomach churning, a bitter taste in his mouth. Regret. "I stand with the Elders."
More than anything, he felt the cruel smirk resting on the woman's face. She said a single word. "Good. Now we can begin in truth." Then the doors slid shut behind Gakuganji with a soft finality.
x
The meeting room was small, deep underground, and sealed tight with layers of cursed barriers. No windows. One door. No lingering cursed energy that could be traced. Just silence, old wood, and the faint hum of tension in the air.
Nanami stood with his arms folded, gaze level. Utahime, who had been absent for most of the happenings, leaned against the far wall, clearly uncomfortable. Principal Yaga sat at the head of the short table, his eyes focused, lips pressed into a hard line. Kusakabe lit a cigarette despite the signs on the wall. Ijichi stood beside the projector, visibly nervous but steady. Shoko took her usual place near the edge, coat still on, half-sitting on the table's corner, arms crossed.
Then Satoru Gojo stepped in.
The door shut behind him with a dull click, and the atmosphere in the room shifted instantly.
He didn't wear his blindfold, only dark glasses pushed high on his nose. That alone told them the gravity of the situation. No bravado. No jokes. Just a quiet intensity. Satoru scanned them once. Then he spoke.
"We don't have time for pleasantries, so I'll get to it."
Ijichi nodded and flicked on the projector. Grainy footage played, a series of still images taken from a long-range surveillance camera. At first, it looked like a standard gathering of old men in ceremonial robes. But the figure they stood with...
"What are we looking at?" Nanami asked, his voice gravelly as usual.
"You're looking at a figure we believe is called Kenjaku. A body-hopping sorcerer older than even Master Tengen." The room went quiet with surprise, allowing him to continue. "We don't know everything about him. So far, what we know is this: Kenjaku is old, and with such age comes power and a refinement of technique as well as a Domain that puts him on a level above just about everybody here."
Satoru looked around, wondering if anyone would disagree, but seeing their continued silence, he continued. "Now, as a body-hopper, whenever he takes over a body, we believe he also takes over the technique it carries. This alone elevates him to a Special Grade threat. We don't know how fast, how much, or even how often he is forced to switch bodies, but Jiki believes there is only a limited number of techniques he can retain whenever he switches. One noted oddity is that whichever body he switches to gains a scar on its forehead."
This time, Gojo was cut off by Principal Yaga raising his hand before speaking. "There was a higher-up with such a scar previously, wasn't there?"
Satoru nodded in agreement. He was not surprised that the principal was the only one to notice. While he might not have been as trusted as Gakuganji had been, Yaga was also a principal, and the odds that he had seen enough of the Elders to identify them were high.
"Yes. However, we believe he's discarded that particular body, as it is already noted as dead. Instead, he's in a new one." A gesture, and Ijichi brought up another slide. This time, there was a woman's face on it. "Her name is Kaori Itadori. Itadori Yuji's mother."
That brand-new revelation was enough to stun them into silence once more. A silence that was broken shortly after by Kusakabe.
"Why are we the only ones here?" There was the familiar tone of perpetual worry in the trench-coated man's voice, so Satoru gave him an honest smile.
"Everyone here is someone I trust. Someone I am certain cares more for the students and their future than they do some vague loyalty to the Elders."
Kusakabe squirmed in his seat, making Satoru smile wider. Kusakabe was a wild card, the only one present whose complete loyalty he wasn't sure of. Yet Satoru wasn't worried, because while Kusakabe might not be loyal to him, he was loyal to his students. And that was enough.
"And Jiki?" Utahime questioned.
"Still recovering," Satoru answered before turning back to face the rest of the room. "The rest of the teaching body, as well as outsiders, only know the broad strokes. We were attacked by a group of Special Grade curses, but that could not be further from the truth. The truth is that we were attacked by Special Grade curses led by Kenjaku, mixed in with people we've taken to calling reincarnated sorcerers."
Kusakabe opened his mouth to ask, but Satoru beat him to it. "Sorcerers from eras older than ours. We've met three so far: Kashimo, the sorcerer Jiki faced. Uraume, a woman who had ambushed me alongside two special grade curses. We have her in custody and locked up for now. Finally, Yoruzu, another ancient sorcerer we encountered a while ago. We've figured out how they are being reincarnated and have isolated and quarantined some of the comatose people we believe to be possible hosts. However, I don't believe we managed to get them all, so there is always the risk of Kenjaku making more."
"What is this about the elders, how are they connected to this."
"We believe that they've been infiltrated by Kenjaku." Satoru replied.
The revelations continued to stun, and Satoru did not blame them for their surprise. Unfortunately for them, it was not the end of the shocking revelations.
"Do we know why the school was attacked in the first place?"
"We believe they had multiple goals," Satoru started. "The abduction of Itadori Yuji, the ransacking of the vault in search of multiple Special Grade artifacts such as the Kamotuke, a weapon wielded by Sukuna from the Heian era, as well as the Special Grade cursed objects: Sukuna's fingers that we had in our possession. With such knowledge, I believe we can infer the obvious."
"They plan to revive him," Utahime whispered. "'The King of Curses,' Ryomen Sukuna, and they plan to do it using Itadori Yuji as a vessel. Now it makes sense." She turned to Satoru. "A few weeks ago, we were attacked. Our deepest vaults were breached by a sorcerer who manipulated ice, yet only one thing was stolen: the Hiten. A weapon that Sukuna used alongside the Kamotuke back in the Heian era."
The rest of the room began to mutter, but Satoru was stuck on a sentence Utahime had said: 'A sorcerer who manipulated ice.' He raised his hand, drawing the conversation to a halt before speaking up.
"This sorcerer that you mentioned, did she have white hair with blotches of red?"
Utahime gave it a thought before replying. "I didn't see her personally, but yes, judging by the description of those who did, it should be the same person."
Satoru smiled, then gave an understanding nod. "Good. Then we might have more answers for their plans in a few days." As soon as Jiki was fully recovered, at least he declined to add. Turning to the rest of the room, he continued. "Their original plan failed. Jiki was able to stop Itadori's abduction and recover the stolen Special Grade objects, Sukuna's fingers." He brought out the wrapped package from his shirt, the same one Jiki had passed to him. "However, Gakuganji's abduction of Yuji means that Kenjaku once more has his hands on the boy."
"Former principal Gakuganji?" Kusakube asked again, worry written across his brow. Satoru's answer was his silence. A very telling and compelling silence that was enough for just about everyone to put to and two together.
"We're going to assume he has some of Sukuna's fingers already, I suppose," Principal Yaga spoke up from his seat, shifting the focus of the conversation.
Satoru nodded in agreement. "So far, Itadori Yuji has consumed three of Sukuna's fingers. In our possession is an extra five that Jiki stopped them from getting away with, which accounts for eight fingers in total. I believe they managed to escape with at least one. Worst-case scenario: Kenjaku has access to the remaining eleven. It's highly unlikely, but that's the worst case. And if they're able to bypass Itadori's resistance to being controlled for extended periods by Sukuna, then the sum total of fingers in Itadori Yuji if he were forcefully used to reincarnate Sukuna would be fifteen fingers."
There was a seriousness in the air at that revelation. Despite Satoru's wishes, most of them had an idea of Maki's encounter with a Sukuna fueled by three of his fingers. They had seen the damage that particular battle had caused. Nobody present here was confident in taking on a Sukuna with five times that power, but they didn't need to be. Not when he was here, so Satoru let out a grin, all teeth, all confidence.
That grin was all he needed. He could see the weight, the worries, and the fears lift from every single person in the room as they put their belief in him, increasing the burden on his own shoulders. But that was his duty, his burden to bear for earning the title of the Strongest.
"I told you, you won't have to do it alone, didn't I?"
His smile eased, and some of that weight left his shoulders. He shrugged off his glasses as he looked at everyone present. "Sukuna's return is not a problem because if it came to a fight between us," he tilted his head, radiating supreme confidence. "I'll win."
There were smiles and chuckles all around, the tension in the room easing up even more until Satoru continued.
"That's not all. Jiki believes Sukuna's resurrection is simply a means to an end. Kenjaku has something else planned."
"Something more dangerous than reincarnating the strongest sorcerer in history?" Shoko asked, exasperation coloring her tone. Satoru simply shrugged in reply before continuing.
"But we're on their scent. Unlike the last time Kenjaku acted by moving in the smoke of Geto's attack, this time he has overplayed his hand. We know our enemy now, and I've set someone to tracking him. With any luck, he'll get us their other plans as well."
"Who?" Kusakabe asked from his lounging position.
Satoru slipped his shades back on as he stretched, easing his muscles and sending blood flowing after sitting still for so long. "An annoying but useful pest. That's all I can say for now." He announced to the room with his trademark smile.
"Anyway, that's all the important information you should know. Keep these details to yourselves. Now, I'm off. My little Jiki-kun waits for no man, and it's his visiting hours. I need to be the first person he sees."
He let out a grin, and before they could stop him, he applied Blue and disappeared.
That was enough talking for one lifetime. Now unto more fun things.