*Hmm. Everything is proceeding perfectly,* Mahito thought.
He was currently perceiving the world through Junpei Yoshino's eyes. Though he wasn't actively piloting Junpei's body, he could seize total control and transform her into a literal extension of himself at a moment's notice. Even passively, he could monitor Junpei's every thought. He could even remotely manipulate the subtle hormonal balances within her body to forcefully steer her thought processes and reconstruct her personality from the ground up.
Unsurprisingly, Satoru Gojo hadn't detected a thing. It was entirely expected. Before today, the Jujutsu world had never encountered a Curse as profoundly cunning as Mahito. In their historical records, Curses were mindless beasts lacking the intelligence of a dolphin. Naturally, Gojo couldn't fathom that a Curse would deploy a sleeper agent with such terrifying, meticulous care.
If anything, the fact that Gojo even thought to ask Junpei if she 'stood on the side of humanity' proved he was incredibly cautious.
But even if you put a gun to Gojo's head, he would never be able to guess the truth. Junpei *did* stand on the side of humanity. But in her warped mind, as long as humans ruled humans, humanity would never achieve true salvation. Therefore, she genuinely believed that a Cursed Spirit ascending to Godhood to rule over humanity was the infinitely superior path.
Sorcerers were all a little crazy, but even among Sorcerers, Junpei Yoshino was a psychotic anomaly. And precisely because her fanaticism was so utterly alien, Gojo's infallible Six Eyes lie-detector test had ultimately been completely useless.
Junpei had successfully infiltrated Tokyo Jujutsu High. All that remained was for her to absorb every scrap of knowledge the school possessed. That knowledge would then seamlessly synchronize with Mahito. Up to this point, Mahito's master plan had been executed flawlessly.
Now, it was time to focus on the next phase. For example—
"Cooool—!" a voice suddenly interrupted Mahito's plotting.
Mahito turned toward the sound. A spatial tear was slowly sealing shut. Kenjaku stepped out from the portal, leading someone inside.
It was a bizarre, effeminate man. He wore his blonde hair in an asymmetrical side-ponytail. Three purple triangles were tattooed beneath each of his eyes. He wore a black bodysuit that exposed his right shoulder, paired with brown boots. He was looking around with hyperactive curiosity, like a hyper-destructive toddler arriving at an amusement park. He was physically trying to hold still, but his mind had already sprinted ahead to the rides.
His gaze slowly drifted until it locked onto Mahito. He broke into a massive, eerie smile—a smile radiating a chilling, childlike innocence. "I'm Haruta Shigemo! Nice to meetcha, Mr. Curse!"
Mahito rose from his lounge chair. He hadn't yet detailed his current location: he was currently lounging on a secluded beach in Kyoto, Japan. He was acutely aware that Tokyo was Satoru Gojo's domain. Unless absolutely necessary, he refused to step foot in Tokyo. The other Cursed Spirits might be oblivious to Gojo's apocalyptic threat level, but Mahito understood it perfectly. Until he was absolutely certain he could survive a direct confrontation with Gojo, he was staying far away from Tokyo.
This wasn't cowardice; it was basic survival.
And his strategy to level up was already in motion. One key piece of that strategy was the Curse User currently standing before him. Mahito smiled politely. "Hello, Haruta Shigemo. I've been looking forward to meeting you."
Kenjaku stood to the side and said, "As requested, I have brought you a Curse User desperate for power."
Over the past month since his transmigration, Mahito had extensively studied ordinary humans. Combined with his meta-knowledge of Jujutsu Kaisen, he was entirely confident he could replicate every single technique the canon Mahito possessed in record time. Scaling his power up to the original Mahito's baseline was a certainty.
The real challenge was figuring out how to shatter that ceiling and ascend even higher.
In the original story, Mahito practically never used Jujutsu Sorcerers as test subjects. He initially had the capability, and after growing bored with normal humans, he actively tried to bait Sorcerers to use as guinea pigs.
Unfortunately, every time he tried to hunt a Sorcerer, he got violently repelled, and he eventually abandoned the idea entirely. Up until his death, he relied purely on his mastery of ordinary human souls to fight.
But now, Mahito was going to change the script. The logic was beautifully simple: if he had a phenomenally useful ally like Kenjaku, why wouldn't he exploit him? *I can't kidnap Sorcerers to experiment on? Fine, I'll just have Kenjaku bring them to me.* And Kenjaku had delivered flawlessly.
He even brought a named Curse User from the canon storyline.
"Thank you, Suguru Geto," Mahito said, not holding back his praise.
Haruta Shigemo gasped dramatically. "Ah, so it was Mr. Curse who asked for me! Honestly, I can't believe sapient Curses actually exist. When Lord Geto told me a smart Curse wanted to see me, I totally thought he was pulling my leg!"
He had initially called him 'Curse,' but the moment Mahito spoke, he seamlessly upgraded it to 'Mr. Curse.' Haruta was incredibly adept at reading the room and kissing up to power.
"I'm curious. You follow Suguru Geto's orders quite willingly?" Mahito asked.
Haruta answered breezily, "Because Lord Geto's got a huge brain! He said the future of Curse Users needed me. I don't really get why, but since Lord Geto said so, here I am!"
*A blatant lie.* Mahito saw right through it with his soul-piercing gaze.
But unlike his aggressive confrontation with Kenjaku during their first meeting, Mahito didn't press the issue. He considerately ignored the lie. After all, during the later arcs of the original canon, Kenjaku commanded massive armies of Curse Users. How exactly he managed to wrangle them all was a mystery.
Curse Users were technically Jujutsu Sorcerers, but they completely lacked any moral compass. The sole reason they used Jujutsu was to do whatever the hell they wanted. But because Satoru Gojo existed, Japan had zero breathing room for Curse Users. Under Gojo's oppressive shadow, life for a Curse User was absolute misery.
Forcing violent hedonists to live like law-abiding citizens was literal torture for them.
"And besides—" Haruta looked up at Mahito, dragging out his vowels playfully. "I heard from Lord Geto that Mr. Curse can effortlessly double my Cursed Energy. So, I couldn't wait to come running!"
Mahito feigned surprise. "You really trust Suguru Geto, don't you? I was under the impression Curse Users didn't trust anyone."
Mahito had only made a casual observation, but Haruta didn't miss a beat, answering casually right in front of Kenjaku: "What are you talking about, Mr. Curse? I don't trust Lord Geto at all!"
"Oh?" Mahito raised an eyebrow.
"It's just, Lord Geto made a Binding Vow with us. He promised to lead us and permanently deal with Satoru Gojo. That's why we're all flocking to his banner!" Haruta beamed, a sadistic glint in his eye. "Like you said, Mr. Curse, we don't trust each other for a second. But if he can actually kill Satoru Gojo, well, that changes everything!"
*Because, you see, Satoru Gojo is just too strong,* the Curse User implied.
"He's so strong, and so annoying, and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it. When Lord Geto used a Binding Vow to promise us his head, of course we agreed to work for him! Though... if he gives us a suicide mission, we'll totally tell him to shove it."
Haruta didn't seem the least bit worried about the Binding Vow. His mind was already lost in sadistic fantasies of how beautiful a Gojo-less Japan would be.
*Ah, so that's how it is.* Mahito finally understood the sociopolitical dynamics of the Curse Users.
Curse Users were feral hedonists. The only thing capable of forcing them to cooperate was a power so absolute it robbed them of their freedom. Satoru Gojo was that absolute power. He was an untouchable god; even if every Curse User on the planet teamed up, they couldn't scratch him. Knowing this, Curse Users had no choice but to cower and endure.
But Kenjaku's arrival shattered that stalemate. He promised that if they served him, he would erase Satoru Gojo from existence. They had even sealed the deal with a Binding Vow.
Kenjaku was a grandmaster of Binding Vows. He used them to convince an army of paranoid psychopaths that he could actually pull off the impossible. Consequently, the Curse Users fell in line. Mahito didn't know the exact stipulations of the Vow, but as long as it wasn't guaranteed suicide—correction, even if it *was* a suicide mission, under the right conditions, the Curse Users would still likely follow orders.
You could only imagine how deeply suffocated these psychopaths had been since Gojo's birth. If it meant Gojo would die, they'd probably be willing to die right alongside him.
Sorcerers were already mentally unhinged by nature, and Curse Users were the absolute most deranged of the bunch. Being forced to play nice under Gojo's boot for so long meant their collective sanity was already stretched to the breaking point. Even without Suguru Geto, they would have eventually kamikazed Jujutsu society anyway. Kenjaku merely offered them a more effective detonator.
"So, Mr. Curse, can you really double my Cursed Energy?" Haruta asked eagerly.
"I can," Mahito said honestly. "However... I've never operated on a Sorcerer before. I can guarantee you won't die, but I can't guarantee anything else. There's a chance your Innate Technique might be permanently erased. Knowing that, do you still want to proceed?"
Haruta gasped. "You can really do it? Is your power seriously that insane, Mr. Curse?"
It seemed Haruta had been harboring heavy doubts before arriving. He genuinely hadn't believed a Curse could pull this off.
"You don't seem bothered by the prospect of losing your Innate Technique?" Mahito asked.
Haruta burst into hysterical laughter. "You're such a joker, Mr. Curse! If my Cursed Energy gets doubled, why the hell would I need my Innate Technique? My technique is pathetic anyway. It only guarantees I don't get instantly pulverized after doing something bad. Plus, activating it is super annoying. I've always wanted one of those flashy, badass techniques, but I got stuck with garbage."
He threw his hands up, sighing with exaggerated theatricality.
"If I can trade my garbage technique for double the raw power, that's a massive steal! That way, after I do something bad, I won't have to worry about surviving getting beaten to death. I can just beat the Sorcerers to death first! Isn't that infinitely better than just barely surviving?! Ah, just thinking about it makes me feel so cool!"
*Personally, I think your Innate Technique is a priceless masterpiece,* Mahito sighed internally.
*But since you don't want it, I'll gladly take it off your hands.*
Mahito smiled. "Shall we begin, then? Time to double your energy?"
Haruta looked surprised. "We don't need any prep? We can just do it right now?"
"Hmm, it should take about ten minutes?" Mahito pondered aloud. "If you completely drop your Cursed Energy defenses, it might go faster. But since Sorcerers maintain those defenses subconsciously, I'll have to carefully bypass them. Aside from that, no prep is needed. Just steel yourself mentally."
Without a second of hesitation, Haruta shrieked in excitement, "Then what are we waiting for?! Hurry up and double my power, Mr. Curse! Now! Right now! Immediately! I can't wait! I literally can't wait!"
*This guy's mental state is completely unsalvageable.*
Mahito raised his hand, reaching forward. Haruta didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second. Like an eager child waiting for candy, he thrust his head forward to meet Mahito's palm. Mahito hadn't instructed him on what to do, yet Haruta already knew the procedure. Kenjaku must have briefed him beforehand.
*What the hell is Kenjaku plotting?* Sometimes, Mahito genuinely couldn't read him.
The instant Mahito's palm made contact with Haruta Shigemo's skull, the technique activated.
Mahito whispered softly, "Idle Transfiguration."