As Gojo and Naohiro finished their conversation, Naoto and Yuji were discussing matters related to the aliens. If Naoto was going to be of any use, he needed to get strong, and fast. Even at his peak, he is barely scraping into the grade 1 territory.
Experienced sorcerers and the stronger Simurians could break down Naoto until he ran out of cursed energy to heal. Currently, there are no new era sorcerers with moves that could do enough damage to obliterate Naoto with a single strike, besides Mahoraga, who is a part of Mikoto's [Ten Shadows] technique.
Domain Expansion was effectively locked behind the previous era, which is why learning advanced barrier techniques is basically pointless. There are a few exceptions in which a technique centers on a domain, such as Higuruma's [Deadly Sentencing]; however, only basic barriers were taught.
Besides, barriers that aren't imbued with a cursed technique weren't an efficient use of cursed energy in combat. This was the current standard set in the modern era. Even in the Heisei era, barriers weren't widely used for combat for the simple reason that maintaining a barrier while fighting was difficult, and those who could would use a Domain Expansion rather than a regular one.
Despite this, two people defied expectations.
In his final fight, Ryomen Sukuna took over the merger's body and had access to Tengen's ability to use barriers. With his cursed energy reserves, control, and mastery, he became the first person in history to fight using barriers as a base.
He figured out that barriers could act as a pseudo-Domain Amplification while not restricting the use of a cursed technique. This means he was able to use [Shrine] and nullify techniques simultaneously.
After his body remembered the experience, Yuji Itadori took Sukuna's base and built on it. Years and years of training had led to the current Yuji, who had long since surpassed his uncle, Ryomen Sukuna.
"Haah." Naoto groaned on the floor after losing to Eso. He still wasn't ready to fight someone at the peak of grade 1 sorcerers. However, this wasn't a match that was meant to see who could beat whom.
Sorcerers primarily evolve through direct combat. Training can only get someone so far. Naohiro needed to lose to Kenjaku, Gojo needed to be defeated by Toji, and Yuta, in the original timeline, needed to fight Geto.
Yuji, with his hood down, put his hands in his pockets. "We'll take a break until your cursed energy returns. At least you've learned that you can manually adapt." It was merely the beginning; he didn't need to expect much. In fact, learning one of the core components of his Shikigami trait was valuable.
With a ding, Yuji looked down at his watch, which gave him a notification.
[From: THE Satoru Gojo]
[I'm heading over. See ya soon~ ✌️]
Yuji's eyes twitched. 'Did he really need to add THE to his contact name?' His eyes twitched again when he felt a new presence within the Tombs.
He rubbed his forehead. "Alright, get up, Naoto. We've got a visitor." Yuji still wasn't fond of dealing with the white-haired menace. The best word to describe him would be 'flippant'. He's casual, cocky, jokes mid-crisis, and is a master at pushing people's buttons.
Only a few people could enter the Tombs when Yuji was sealing it off from the outside. He could create a barrier to filter out Gojo, but that would only fuel his antics.
Naoto sat up in confusion, but heard a voice to his left—one that he was familiar with. "Hey, kiddo!" Gojo turned toward the other four people. "Been a minute, Yuji, Choso, and the other two."
Eso and Kechizu felt as if they had taken an invisible blow, while Choso's expression darkened.
"Mister Gojo…" Naoto practically breathed out his name.
As Gojo mentioned earlier, this isn't their first time meeting. The Zenin clan became allied with the Gojo clan after the two sorcerers became friends. Gojo had visited the compound on more than one occasion. Unlike the reclusive Yuji, Gojo showed up and caused mayhem whenever he felt like it.
Yuji walked in front of his three brothers. "I can pretty much guess why you showed up." He looked up at Gojo's eyes. "If you showed up here, that can only mean one of two things. Either you've finally gone senile, or you want something from me."
Gojo shrugged with a smirk. "Caught me." His smile turned slightly serious. "While it would be nice to catch up with you, there's something I need to get done. I need to test my limits."
Yuji closed his eyes. "That so? I heard that you were challenged by Dabura. The Simurians want you to die so the balance can be restored, so curses go back to a stable enough state for me to lower their strength so they can be contained."
Gojo's eyes widened as he hit his fist on his palm. "So that's the guy's name! He just walked over, challenged and threatened me, and then bailed. Total buzzkill."
Satoru Gojo was still strong, but he hadn't seriously fought in decades. He's taken out the occasional curse here and there, but pushing his body was something he hasn't done in a long time.
If he was going to fight someone like Dabura, he needed to know what he could do with his current ability. He didn't want to have a stroke mid-fight, but seriously, he needed to see how his output had changed over the years.
Crack
Gojo cracked his knuckles and smirked at Yuji. "Let's go straight toward the peak." Sensing the atmosphere, Naoto, Eso, and Kechizu all backed away.
Yuji rubbed the back of his head and gave a helpless smile. "To be honest, my domains can't be a good yardstick for you."
Gojo returned the helpless smile. "I guess you're right."
Yuji just sighed and shook his head. "It's unfortunate, but you'll have to settle for Choso."
Bonk, Yuji held his head as Choso bonked him on the head with his fist. "Rude."
While the two were talking about Domain Expansion as if it were no big deal, Naoto caught a word Yuji said that sounded off. "Domain…s?"
Eso nudged him from his side and gave a wide smile. "My brother is special. He has three cursed techniques." Seeing Naoto's eyes widen, Eso continued. "While he can't learn the domain for [Blood Manipulation] since he essentially copied the technique from my other brothers rather than it being an ingrained technique within his body, he has Tengen's [Immortality] and the same technique as Ryomen Sukuna, [Shrine]."
Kechizu's grotesque face smiled. "Brother is the strongest."
It seemed like the talk was over as Yuji backed away. Choso and Gojo nodded at one another, Gojo with a crazy smile and Choso with a neutral expression.
Choso closed his eyes as cracks appeared on his face and vertical lines formed over his eyes, showcasing the famous [Flowing Red Scale: Stacked].
Gojo crossed his fingers while Choso held both hands in front of his stomach, the left palm under the right, thumbs touching, reminiscent of the Dhyāna mudra hand symbol.
The two spoke. "[Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void], [Domain Expansion: Temple of the Beating Heart]."
A void of nothingness clashed with a realm filled with blood, and a massive pulsing heart in the center, sitting atop an altar, pouring blood with every pulse.
While domains aren't exclusively required to reach Special Grade, having a barrier master like Yuji has allowed Choso to reach the peak of [Blood Manipulation].
While they did 'clash', it was made apparent to those at a high level of sorcery that Gojo was significantly holding back. No matter how much he deteriorated, his refinement was borderline perfect.
Had he tried to overwhelm Choso's, Gojo could easily do it, but it wouldn't be a test without experimenting with his body's reaction to domains and clashing.
With how strong Dabura seemed to be to Gojo, it would be strange if Dabura didn't have a domain. After all, who reaches that kind of strength without even having a domain? Wouldn't he just lose to any sure-kill domain like Mahito's or his own?
Gojo needed to see how far he could go.
However, while Gojo was trying his best to lower his output to match Choso's, Choso started breathing heavily. Even though he was fully focused on trying to overwhelm Gojo's domain and dumping as much cursed energy as he could muster, it wouldn't even budge a centimeter in his favor.
Crash
A few seconds later, Gojo dropped his domain, and fragments splintered, making Choso's domain cover the entirety of the space the two were in.
Gojo smirked and shifted his stance. "[Simple Domain]."
With those words, a white-blue circle appeared beneath his feet as he canceled out the sure hit of Choso's domain. Without knowing what his domain does, obviously, he was going to keep it from hitting him.
Who knew if it was an automatic killing domain?
In reality, Choso's domain expansion, [Temple of the Beating Heart], allows him to control all blood within his barrier. Not only does he get a stat boost and free blood within his domain, but he can also control ALL blood, not just his own.
Anyone affected by his domain's sure hit is at the mercy of Choso. If he catches anyone with the sure hit, it takes but a mere hand gesture, and they will pop like a balloon. Obviously, he wasn't going to kill Gojo if it landed, but he would've controlled his body for disrespecting Eso and Kechizu earlier.
Gojo spoke up and shrugged with a goofy look on his face. "Uh oh, it looks like I'm in trouble~. What could I possibly do to get out of this?" Just as he finished those words, he used some cursed energy…
Splash
Blood poured down Gojo's nose and splashed at his feet as his simple domain vanished.
…
He suddenly fell to his knees and passed out.