"Haibara, head back to the school immediately. Stick with Shoko and protect her. If you run into any non-Jujutsu High sorcerers, use your Technique Release without hesitation."
"Understood!"
"Nanami, go find Yaga-sensei. Tell him the barrier has been breached. If you have a spare moment, try to get word to Satoru and Suguru."
"Got it!"
The man standing across from them made no move to stop them. He simply watched with a smirk as Nanami and Haibara retreated back into the Jujutsu High barrier.
Only then did Hasegumo relax enough to truly size up his opponent. "What's your business here at the school?"
"My original goal was to kill the Star Plasma Vessel," the man replied with an easy grin. "But now I've got a bonus objective: the kid who made me lose a fortune. I'm going to snap you in half."
This boastful man was none other than Toji Fushiguro. As for how things had escalated to this point, we have to look back to the events of two days ago.
As everyone knows, while Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto were assigned to protect the Star Plasma Vessel for the merger, the curse user group Q sought to sabotage it. Their goal was to force the evolution of Master Tengen, the cornerstone of the jujutsu world's barriers. The Time Vessel Association shared a similar goal, though their motive was purely religious: they worshipped Tengen and wanted him to transcend into a higher-dimensional being—a god.
As previously mentioned, Gojo and Geto encountered several enemies while protecting Riko Amanai—mostly curse users from Q or bounty hunters lured by the thirty-million-yen prize on the black market. To the "Strongest Duo," these opponents were mere small fry, easily dealt with.
Now, some might ask: what about the Star Religious Group? Where were they in all this?
To clarify, the Star Religious Group and the Time Vessel Association aren't exactly the same entity. Their relationship is akin to the Shogunate and the Emperor in Japanese history; while the Time Vessel Association is technically part of the Star Religious Group, they operate independently and don't interfere with one another.
The thirty-million-yen bounty on Riko Amanai's head was actually posted by Toji Fushiguro, using the funds provided by the Time Vessel Association. It was a lure designed to wear down the "Strongest Duo"—or rather, just Satoru Gojo. Toji wanted to force Gojo to keep his Limitless active for an extended period. He never expected any of those bounty hunters to actually succeed.
The money was the down payment from the Association for the assassination. Thirty million yen—about 1.5 million RMB—is a staggering sum. Most people would hoard it, but Toji threw it away like water just to weaken his target.
But Toji Fushiguro isn't "most people." Years ago, having heard of the birth of a Six Eyes user in the Gojo clan, he had snuck a glance at the boy. As a possessor of a Heavenly Restriction with zero cursed energy, Toji was an invisible man—yet the young Satoru Gojo, not even ten years old, had sensed him.
Toji knew then that he stood no chance against a Gojo at full strength.
First, he used the black market bounty to draw out a swarm of hunters. As the saying goes, "A thief can wait for days, but a guard cannot be on watch forever." After rescuing their kidnapped maid, Misato, Gojo's group chose to lay low in Okinawa to avoid the harassment, planning to fly back to Jujutsu High just before the merger. To avoid an airport ambush, they even called in Nanami and Haibara for backup.
However, Toji's plan to exhaust Gojo worked perfectly. Even though they encountered no sorcerers in Okinawa, Gojo didn't dare lower his guard. He stayed awake for two full days, keeping his Limitless active every second.
The moment they stepped back inside the Jujutsu High barrier, Gojo finally relaxed. He deactivated his technique.
In that exact instant, Toji struck. Because of his lack of cursed energy, he could slip through any barrier undetected. Using his storage curse, Ushio-takara, which he had miniaturized and swallowed, he had successfully smuggled a cache of Special Grade Cursed Tools into the school.
Among them was the Inverted Spear of Heaven, a dagger capable of forcibly nullifying any cursed technique it touched.
Toji ambushed Gojo the second he let his guard down, stabbing him through the gut. It wasn't a lethal blow, but it further crippled Gojo's status. The group split up; Gojo stayed behind to handle Toji, while Geto took Riko Amanai toward the Tombs of the Star for the merger.
On one side was the Sorcerer Killer, Toji Fushiguro—a man with the ultimate physical body and a Cursed Tool that could bypass the Limitless. On the other was the man called "The Strongest," Satoru Gojo.
The outcome was inevitable.
Exhausted and sleep-deprived, Gojo couldn't maintain precise energy control. His perception was dulled, and he was overwhelmed by a swarm of Fly Heads Toji released to mask his presence. Distracted by the fear that Toji might slip away to kill the girl, Gojo left an opening. Toji lunged, stabbing him through the throat and slashing open his chest. Gojo slumped to the ground like a dead fish.
"Getting my groove back," Toji muttered. Utterly crushing the "Strongest" was a moment of transcendence for him. Despised by the Zen'in clan since childhood, he had chosen to leave, yet he still burned with the desire to prove them wrong.
In this moment, he was the strongest.
Elsewhere, Suguru Geto—unaware of Toji's power—had reached the Houshingu (Tombs of the Star) with Riko. But after a few days of experiencing a normal life, Riko no longer wanted to sacrifice herself for a stranger like Tengen. Geto readily agreed to take her home.
Just as the emotional moment peaked, Toji arrived. A single gunshot to the head ended the Star Plasma Vessel's life, bringing the mission to a cold, clinical end.
Faced with Toji, Geto realized Gojo had likely been defeated. He had no choice but to fight.
It wasn't much of a fight. Toji's combat power completely eclipsed Geto's at that moment. Toji wielded another tool, the Split Soul Katana, which ignores the durability of all matter to cut directly at the soul—a perfect counter to Geto's strongest spirit, the Rainbow Dragon.
When Geto summoned the Special Grade spirit Kuchisake-onna, Toji used his inhuman reflexes and the Inverted Spear of Heaven to shatter her innate domain and kill her instantly.
Finally, Geto tried a desperate gamble: using Cursed Spirit Manipulation to forcibly absorb Toji's storage curse, hoping to steal his arsenal. However, he misjudged the curse's grade; the level gap wasn't large enough for an instant absorption. Toji seized the opening and cut Geto down.
"I held back. You're a sorcerer, so you won't die," Toji said, his voice dripping with the casual mockery of a victor. "If you were a shikigami user, I'd have finished you, but you're a Cursed Spirit Manipulator."
"I don't know what happens to all those curses you've swallowed if you die. Better not to complicate things. Thank your parents for the good genes," Toji said, delivering a sharp kick to Geto's bloodied face.
"But remember this: even you 'blessed' ones can lose to a monkey like me who can't even use jujutsu," he added, tucking his blade back into the worm. "If you want to live long, don't forget it."
Geto was barely conscious, but the word burned into his ears. "Monkey..."
It feels like a long story, but from the moment Gojo's group returned to the school to Toji defeating them both and leaving with the body, less than thirty minutes had passed.
Toji had completed his plan perfectly: the Vessel was dead, the body was secured, and the "Strongest Duo" had been stomped. He was just about to walk out of the gates when he ran into Hasegumo.
Having accidentally broken free of Kenjaku's diversion, Hasegumo had been waiting at the gate. His plan was to pick up Haibara and Nanami for their next mission. Because Gojo and Geto had prioritized Riko, they had sped ahead, while Nanami and Haibara had taken a slower route back.
The three juniors had only just reunited when Toji strolled out of the school.
Hasegumo didn't need to ask questions. He knew an enemy when he saw one. Not knowing the chaos currently unfolding inside the barrier, he decided to hold the line while sending the two second-years to investigate.
"The Star Plasma Vessel, huh? I can understand that. I heard there was a big bounty, though I thought it was canceled by now," Hasegumo said. He'd learned a few details from his call with Yaga. "And I made you lose money? Let me guess... another gambler?"
"It was the martial arts tournament, brat."
Knowing the school's two heaviest hitters were out of commission, Toji wasn't worried about any "hidden masters." He sensed Hasegumo was stalling for time, but he didn't mind a chat.
"After I was knocked out, I borrowed a massive pile of cash to bet on you winning the whole thing. You bastard... you took those hits and refused to use your cursed energy. What did you call yourself? A 'martial artist'? Pathetic."
"The conviction of a martial artist isn't something a man without a shred of gratitude can understand," Hasegumo replied. Facing what was likely the strongest enemy of his life, he began his binding vow. "Revealing One's Hand: My technique is called Cursed Energy Liberation. It allows for the instantaneous mobilization of cursed energy, bypassing all physical limitations to condense any amount of energy into any part of my body."
Before the last word left his lips, Hasegumo lunged. His single arm coiled with power as he threw a punch.
"Sounds pretty useless," Toji mocked, facing the 'weak' technique with total disdain. "Maybe you should switch careers to demolition."
Toji's confidence was at an all-time high. He didn't even draw the Inverted Spear. He threw a counter-punch aimed straight at Hasegumo's torso, intending to trade blow for blow.
The clash began: The ultimate, perfectly balanced physical body of a martial arts master versus the man who traded his energy for a body of pure, god-like instinct.
The battle of the ages was on.