Cursed Energy.
Not chakra, not just negative emotion—real Cursed Energy. The same strange energy that flowed through his own body. It came not from this world, but from the Jujutsu Kaisen world.
In a world where no one else should be like him, where chakra was the norm and he was the outsider, Sukuna never thought there would be someone like him. Typical reincarnator mindset.
But now… someone like him stood right there.
On the other hand, Kiyomi stared back at him. Her wide eyes trembled slightly. Her lips parted as if to say something, but no sound came out. She looked like she had seen a ghost.
Because she could feel it too.
The amount of Cursed Energy leaking from Sukuna was enormous. Even if he had 50% locked behind his binding vow and the other half carefully suppressed… he still felt like a walking storm of dark energy.
And she was terrified.
In that silent moment, neither of them moved. But something had already changed between them.
This wasn't supposed to happen. Why was it happening again? She had left behind that life—that blood-soaked carnage and Jujutsu...
"Why is someone like him here?" her heart trembled. Flashes of her past—one filled with pain and grievance with life itself—settled into her heart once again.
Seconds stretched into long awkward silence until one of them finally broke the staring competition.
"Haha..." Sukuna cracked first. Laughter broke out, attracting attention from the students.
Sasuke, standing protectively beside his sister—even more so now since all of their family was dead—scowled at the laugh. Not just because Sukuna was laughing at his sister, but because this particular person was Sukuna freaking Haruno.
The only boy in the class who had beaten him so far. Yeah, he failed in the Ninjutsu test, but Sasuke didn't count that. His mindset had changed drastically after the semi-massacre of his family.
Strength was strength no matter how it came. If the boy wasn't good at Ninjutsu, it just meant his potential was limited. Sasuke knew that sooner or later he'd surpass him. However, he didn't want to resort to Ninjutsu to beat an academy student. That went against his pride. Not to mention if he resorted to that, he'd never get strong enough to beat that man. Fury burned in Sasuke's eyes.
What her twin was thinking was lost to Kiyomi. Her attention was on the laughing pink-haired menace in front of her.
Her heart trembled when that laugh started. That grin on that boy's face almost looked like he was staring at prey, ready to hunt.
"Sukuna... what's so funny here?" Sasuke couldn't take it anymore and finally barked. On the side, many of the girls and boys were giving Sukuna the same kind of fierce look. Now that he thought about it, it really didn't look good to laugh at a little girl who looked completely terrified and had just lost her parents, did it?
However, Sasuke didn't know that that name alone made Kiyomi, standing next to him, break out in sweat. Her head snapped to him with completely horror-filled eyes and then back to the boy who was still grinning at her.
"Sorry, sorry... I just couldn't identify which one was the sister here... hahaha..." Sukuna's grin became wider, earning a big tick mark from Sasuke and little smirks from the collective male population of the class.
'Serves you right, pretty bastard...' was what they all wanted to say, but none dared. Sukuna, however, was built different.
Girls, on the other hand, were staring at him.
Sasuke wanted to retort, but a tug from his sister on the side stopped him. Kiyomi looked at him with eyes so fierce that he thought the girl had awakened her Sharingan. He suppressed his growing frustration and remained silent.
Knowing that Sukuna wasn't actually laughing at the girl also eased the atmosphere a bit.
"Cough cough... Name's Sukuna Haruno. You can send love letters later." He winked and sat down, once again rousing the class, earning every boy's ire—but none more than the girl's brother.
Iruka on the side was rubbing his forehead with increasing ferocity. He really didn't want to quit this job at a time like this. However, while never enough, it paid well and was safe.
'Hang in there Iruka. Blissful retirement and pension await—just a few more decades.'
...
After the explosive start of the day, nothing interesting happened in class, aside from teasing from some of his friends about what he said earlier that morning. He ignored them like Toji ignored child support.
Sukuna did see the girl, Kiyomi, stealing glances at him from time to time. He wasn't much different. Curiosity was eating away at him, wanting to know more about her.
Sasuke never had a sister in the anime—at least the canon events never showed her. On top of that, she wasn't like a cousin or a sibling with an age gap. She was his twin. Just like his current condition.
So many similarities, it almost made him wonder whether she was from Earth like him—or just an anomaly, a diversion from the canon he knew.
He knew that diversions from canon could happen—he had seen enough—but not this big. An entirely new character?
However, even if let's say she is an anomaly, the Cursed Energy in her didn't make any sense to him.
'It can't be so simple, right?' he pondered to himself, completely ignoring the murderous looks both Sasuke and Iruka were sending at him.
Sasuke for obvious reasons, and Iruka because the little bastard wasn't paying any attention in class.
'How in the world does he still score so high in the written test?' It was beyond Iruka.
Soon, classes ended and it was time to say bye-bye until they all met again tomorrow. Sukuna was no different. While curious about the new girl—in more ways than one—he wasn't curious enough to spend another minute in the academy if he didn't absolutely have to.
However, it turned out to be one of those days when he had to...
"Fight me..." came a bold challenge from one emo Uchiha, attracting everyone's attention and almost sending his sister into cardiac arrest.
Sukuna was the one scowling now. He wasn't a fool. This wasn't just about the new girl. He knew Sasuke was targeting him to test his strength.
'Using me as a stepping stone, huh... brat's asking for a beating now.'
"Oi... you leave Sukuna alone, teme. If you want a fight, then fight me!" Naruto, being Naruto, roared out.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru just wanted to disappear. He wasn't the least bit interested in this situation. Choji—well, he was still eating his chips.
"Sure... however, what's in it for me, though?" Sukuna skipped the entire "why, how, where" conversation and directly went for what made people great.
"Hmm... what do you want...?" Sasuke was a bit taken aback by the immediate acceptance of the challenge.
An almost malicious smile appeared on Sukuna's face. Naruto's prank senses tingled hard.
Sasuke, for some reason, felt unnerved seeing that smile.
'What is this guy thinking...' He thought of forgetting about the challenge after seeing this, but his burning desire for power had always been far more prominent in decision-making than his personal survival anyway.
xxx
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