Before any formal announcement could be made, Akoto simply moved.
He shrugged the black haori from his shoulders and tossed it aside without hesitation, the dark fabric gliding through the air before landing on the perfectly trimmed grass of the Imperial Garden. Only the white kimono remained, standing in stark contrast to the surroundings and accentuating every movement of his body.
[Image]
The other heirs did not follow suit. They remained where they were, exchanging brief glances—like predators assessing which among them would strike first.
Then, almost simultaneously, they released their cursed energy.
Spiritual pressure spread through the garden like an invisible wave.
Zoom.
Akoto barely had time to react. A fist came from the right, slicing through the air at absurd speed. He tilted his torso on instinct, the punch grazing past his face and displacing a few strands of hair.
A shameless grin spread across his lips.
"So the Zenin start first, huh?"
"What can I say? I'm fast!" replied Noa Zenin, the first heir of the Zenin Clan—and the youngest among them.
Noa vanished again in a blur of motion.
This wasn't mere physical speed—it was refined acceleration. The ground cracked faintly beneath his feet with each burst of movement. His fists came in rapid succession, nearly invisible.
Akoto narrowed his eyes.
What technique is this?
He could react—but barely. Each dodge was measured in centimeters. The air itself trembled from the velocity of the strikes.
Akoto finally raised his fist to counterattack.
But then—
He felt it.
Something caught his hand.
It wasn't physical.
It was as if the space around him had been distorted.
"Hm?" he murmured, confused. "Ah—"
In the next instant, his body was violently flung backward, as though an invisible force had yanked him. He shot several meters in a straight line toward the Gojo heir, Sato.
'Is this the Limitless?'
Even as he was propelled through the air, his mind analyzed.
'So this is the technique's lapse…'
Sato stood with one hand raised, eyes focused, manipulating the surrounding space with incomplete—but functional—precision.
Akoto adjusted midair.
At the very last second before impact, he twisted his hips and kicked.
His foot struck Sato square in the face with clean force.
The Gojo heir's concentration shattered instantly. The spatial distortion ceased, and Akoto landed lightly, sliding a few centimeters before stabilizing.
He doesn't have perfect control over the ability, Akoto concluded as he watched Sato step back, touching the side of his face where he had been struck. Most likely due to the lack of the Six Eyes… just as Master Tengen mentioned.
Without the Six Eyes, the Limitless was powerful.
But imperfect.
Akoto slowly rolled his neck, sensing the cursed energy of the other heirs still circulating around him.
"What is this?" Akoto asked, rotating his shoulders slightly as the surrounding pressure intensified. "Am I in a slaughterhouse?"
"Yes." The reply came calm—almost elegant. "And you are the sacrifice."
Shin Kamo stepped forward, his cold gaze fixed on Akoto. A red liquid seeped from his sleeve, flowing as though it had a will of its own. He manipulated it with precision, compressing it into a dense, pulsing sphere, sealing it between his palms.
"Hmm… may I ask why—"
Baam!
Before he could finish, Noa Zenin reappeared in a blur of speed and drove a punch straight into Akoto's face.
The impact was clean.
But in that same instant, Akoto twisted his hips and retaliated with a direct kick to Noa's chest.
Both were launched in opposite directions.
Akoto flipped several times midair before landing lightly on the tips of his feet, sliding a few centimeters across the grass.
He raised a hand to the point of impact.
'It didn't hurt…'
His gaze sharpened slightly.
'Strange… could it be—'
Zoom.
His instincts screamed.
He tilted his body to the side at the exact second a red projectile tore through the air where his head had been.
The condensed liquid struck the ground behind him violently, piercing the earth like a bullet.
Akoto caught the metallic scent immediately.
'Blood.'
His eyes traced the substance's trajectory.
'Blood Manipulation… I see.'
Shin stood firm, new crimson streams slithering around his arms like living serpents.
Among all the clans, the only techniques Akoto knew in depth were those of the Gojo Clan—thanks to the Six Eyes' connection to Master Tengen. As for the others, he had never bothered to ask. He trusted his own analytical ability far too much to rely on explanations.
"The reason, you ask," Shin said, his eyes cold and calculating. "You of Tengen's temple focus primarily on barriers, regardless of your innate technique. You train relentlessly to succeed the most important figure in the Jujutsu world."
He spread his arms slightly, blood floating around him.
"So we aim for the weakest first. Once you fall, the five of us will have our fun."
The silence that followed was brief.
Akoto simply looked disappointed.
"Ah…" He sighed, genuinely let down. "I was expecting a better reason."
Then—
His energy surfaced.
It wasn't explosive.
It was dense.
As if the air itself had become too heavy to breathe.
Cursed energy leaked from his body in controlled waves—yet absurdly concentrated. The arena beneath his feet cracked faintly.
A chill ran through every heir present.
Their eyes widened as they realized the sheer volume of raw energy Akoto was releasing—without even using an innate technique.
Noa stopped smiling.
Shin clenched his teeth.
Even Sato adjusted his stance.
Akoto lifted his chin slightly, his cold eyes now fully awakened.
"Then let me show you…" he said, flexing his fingers as the energy compressed around his fists.
"The power of the basics, you brats."
...
In the stands raised by Tengen around the improvised arena, the clan heads watched with growing attention. The structure had emerged as everything she created did: silent, precise, and absolute, integrating into the Imperial Garden as if it had always existed there.
Yet despite the barrier's stability, Tengen trembled slightly.
It was not fear.
It was recognition.
"Damn brat…" she murmured, her eyes fixed on the figure in the white kimono at the center of the arena. "His energy has been getting more terrifying over time."
She remembered clearly the journey to the Imperial Palace. Throughout the entire trip, Akoto had not been idle. He regulated, compressed, expanded, and refined his cursed energy repeatedly—like a blacksmith hammering steel while it was still hot.
"His talent for jujutsu…" Tengen finished in a low voice, almost to herself. "It's frightening."
"Hey, Tengen." Naoto Zenin called out without taking his eyes off the arena. "Are you sure that boy… is human?"
The question was not asked jokingly.
Tengen slowly turned her head toward him, considering. For a brief moment, she genuinely reflected on it.
"I have to agree with this idiot," Satsugi added, a chill running down her spine. Her arms were crossed, but her fingers unconsciously gripped the fabric of her sleeves tightly. "It's impossible for someone to have such an immense amount of energy… It feels endless."
The density of Akoto's energy was not merely vast.
It was constant.
There were no wild fluctuations, no waste. It was like watching an ocean compressed inside a human body.
Kamikake remained silent—but not for lack of opinion. His eyes were hard, still burning from the earlier argument. To him, it was irritating. An heir who talked too much—and actually had the power to back up his words.
Tenzo Abe said nothing as well.
But unlike Kamikake, he was analyzing.
His gaze wasn't fixed solely on Akoto, but on the other five heirs. He assessed distances, energy flow, breathing patterns, reaction times.
Just as Tengen opened her mouth to answer Naoto's question, Tenzo murmured—almost like a warning.
"It's starting…"
...
'Blood Manipulation. Limitless. Speed.'
Akoto's thoughts flowed in an organized, cold, surgical manner.
'Two haven't entered the fight yet. Therefore, I must remain alert.'
His eyes moved first to Shin Kamo.
'Considering his technique, he can fight at both close and long range. Versatile. However… limited.' Akoto observed the movement of the blood swirling around his opponent, analyzing its density, volume, and replenishment rate. 'He can't create blood from nothing. If he overuses it, he'll become anemic. I can deal with that easily.'
His gaze shifted to Sato Gojo.
'Without the Six Eyes, his Limitless is incomplete.' Akoto recalled the spatial distortion from moments earlier. 'That technique demands absurd cursed energy control. He's still far from that. Not a problem.'
Finally, his eyes settled on Noa Zenin.
'Speed…'
But something didn't add up.
'No. It's not just that. If it were pure acceleration, the impact of that punch I took would have been far greater. There's another variable.'
Within a single second, Akoto analyzed breathing patterns, body posture, energy flow, and weight distribution.
He considered every factor.
Even the unknown.
Zoom!
The air trembled.
Akoto vanished from where he stood.
"First."
His voice echoed at the exact instant he appeared in front of Noa.
From Akoto's fist, faint black sparks began to flicker.
There was something different about the space around them in that moment.
And then—
『Black Flash!』
The punch connected.
For an infinitesimal fraction of time, the cursed energy applied to the strike distorted the space around it, creating a black explosion that tore through the air.
It was as if space itself had been shattered.
Noa was launched away like a projectile, his body flying across the arena before crashing violently into Tengen's barrier. Blood spilled from his mouth midair.
Black sparks lingered briefly on the battlefield, like the residue of a phenomenon that had just been born.
Silence.
Absolute.
In the stands, the clan heads' eyes were wide.
Tengen stood motionless.
Naoto felt his heart skip for a second.
Satsugi half-rose from her seat.
Because—
That was the first moment the phenomenon known as Black Flash manifested in the world of jujutsu.