At the center of everyone's attention below the platform, despite countless cheers and countless eyes watching him, Satoshi remained calm.
He ignored the gazes.
While successfully entering Jujutsu High was certainly noteworthy, it wasn't his true goal. At most, it was just the beginning.
His purpose was simple—to turn Jujutsu High into his own power base.
There was still a second objective.
His eyes shifted toward the two Sukuna Fingers in Sekiguchi Seiji's hands.
"The second goal is to deal with those two Sukuna Fingers..." Satoshi said solemnly.
If Satoru was ever to break free from his destined death, then Sukuna was an obstacle that couldn't be avoided.
Although it was technically Shoko who had overseen the operation in the original timeline, in the end, Satoru still had to face Sukuna head-on.
Now, he had personally recovered two Sukuna Fingers, but he didn't know how many others the Gojo Clan or the Jujutsu General Administration had gathered over the past nine years.
Leaving them lying around like this was far too dangerous.
He clearly remembered that, in the original timeline, Jogo and the other Special Grade Cursed Spirits had stolen Sukuna's finger directly from Jujutsu High.
Although Jogo had now joined his faction, there was no guarantee Kenjaku hadn't made alternate arrangements during these past years.
He needed a solution.
After the awards ceremony, most of the audience began to disperse.
Sekiguchi Seiji would now handle the process of officially transferring the Sukuna Fingers to the General Administration.
Only Yaga remained in the plaza to oversee the situation.
Normally, the audience would have left by now, but many were still captivated by the earlier fight and chose to stay behind to rewatch the replay.
Shoko said her goodbyes and went to look for her father, Ieiri Inamichi, while Satoshi had no intention of lingering. He still had more pressing matters to handle.
After leaving the square, he headed straight to the location he had previously hinted to Yagyū Hidetsugu.
The contact point.
After all, he had been asleep for nine years. He knew nothing about the current political landscape of the sorcery world.
And Yagyū Hidetsugu, who had infiltrated the Curse Administration, was the perfect source of insider knowledge. Without a doubt, he was the best person for Satoshi to speak to.
Before long.
He arrived at a remote school building with sparse foot traffic.
Soon after, two men arrived cautiously.
It was Yagyū Hidetsugu and Yagyū Saemon. Over the past nine years, their temperaments had changed drastically.
They still hadn't revealed their close ties with Satoshi to anyone.
Only after confirming that they weren't being followed did they finally relax.
Yagyū Hidetsugu walked up and clapped Satoshi on the shoulder.
"Satoshi-kun!"
Satoshi nodded. "Uncle Hidetsugu, looks like things have gone well for you these past nine years."
"Haha, all thanks to your support back then."
Had Satoshi not asked Gojo Kumaen to place him within the Curse Administration before his slumber, he would've never made it this far.
"Alright, Uncle Hidetsugu, about the task I left with you to gather Sukuna Fingers—how's that going?" Satoshi asked directly, wearing a faint smile.
He still trusted Hidetsugu and Saemon, so he didn't bother with small talk.
Hidetsugu sighed and shook his head.
"After your arrangement, we and Gojo Takuya began working together to collect Sukuna Fingers. But the results haven't been great. We found out that even within the General Administration, we weren't the only ones trying to gather the fingers."
"There's another faction also actively collecting them."
"After some investigation, it appears to be connected to the Zenin Clan and the Kamo Clan. But we haven't fully confirmed it yet."
"As for the power structure in the curse world, the Kamo and Zenin clans seem to be working together to isolate the Gojo Clan..."
Hearing this, Satoshi fell silent for a moment, then sighed.
What exactly are the Zenin and Kamo clans trying to do?
Naobito had sent him friendly signals in the past, but the rest of the Zenin Clan didn't seem aligned with his intentions.
As for the Kamo Clan… they had always been difficult to read.
But he didn't dwell on it for long. He didn't care for politics. If needed, he'd crush their little tricks head-on.
"What's our next move?" Hidetsugu asked again.
Satoshi thought for a moment, then gave his orders. "Uncle Hidetsugu, transfer every Sukuna Finger under your control to Jujutsu High. Keep collecting more. I'll be the one to destroy them. We will end this disaster once and for all."
Both Hidetsugu and Saemon were stunned.
"You're going to destroy Sukuna's Fingers?!"
His decision left them speechless.
Was such a thing even possible?
These were the remnants of Ryomen Sukuna's existence.
For over a thousand years, even the combined power of the Big Three Sorcerer Clans hadn't been able to damage them. They could only seal them away.
Was Gojo Satoshi truly planning to destroy them?
Was it really possible?
Satoshi gave them a final look. "That's all for now."
"I'm a thorn in the side of both the Zenin and Kamo clans. Uncle Hidetsugu, let's keep our contact to a minimum for the time being."
With that, Satoshi turned and left.
He didn't need to explain himself. He knew Hidetsugu and Saemon would give everything they had to get it done.
Still, he had gained an important piece of information.
It seemed someone in the Zenin and Kamo clans was actively collecting Sukuna Fingers. Did Naobito know? Was it on his orders?
He couldn't be sure. But it didn't matter.
Eventually, the truth would come out.
After nine years of slumber, there were far too many things he needed to deal with.
Too many people to meet. Too many unfinished threads to address.
But returning to Jujutsu High immediately after waking up hadn't been for nothing.
He'd not only retrieved two Sukuna Fingers during the entrance exam, but he had also gained two Hadō and one Bakudō:
[Hadō #4: Byakurai],
[Hadō #11: Tsuzuri Raiden],
[Bakudō #9: Geki].
With these three new Kidō, his proficiency had increased significantly.
He was quite satisfied.
And after using Kidō against Sukuna, he finally understood what the energy in his body truly was—it wasn't Cursed Energy.
It was Reiryoku.
In other words, if used properly…
He could generate Reiatsu.
Spiritual Pressure was similar to Haki. If released in high volumes, it would suffocate even strong opponents. Weaker ones could be rendered unconscious on the spot.
It was a style with overwhelming presence.
That's why he couldn't fall behind in mastering Kidō. He also needed to start paying attention to the matter of Tengen.
I really am too busy.
But before all that…
Time to catch up with some old friends from nine years ago.
(To be continued.)
***
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