Chapter 12

Gojo couldn't break out of this, even if he wanted too. Just as he saw all he wanted to see, the reality of it kept moving forward. So, he was stuck, sitting through and watching moments of Sukuna's childhood.

Yet, there was a memory that he had that startled him a little. In fact, it put things in perspective for Satoru. The Toorus were celebrating the purging of the curses in the land, the new mountain pass and the birth of Chusi. It was a grand celebration. Sukuna didn't know what to make of it, and yet, Gojo could feel him grow more and more curious.

He spoke kinder to Ryoto and they starting bonding after his talk with Mother Tooru. Emotions were slow to understand, and yet, he took his time to figure them out for himself. Whenever he had one come to mind, he wouldn't just ask Mother Tooru, she told him to ask ten others about the feeling he had and if they have felt it before.

When he does, he can draw his own conclusion. Its how he made sense of emotions… strange when one thinks about it. 'Normally you would tell a child what they are feeling, and yet this… they let him come to his own conclusion…' he thought.

Anyway.

The family was celebrating and event, Ryomen and Ryoto were acting like brothers, going from place to place, table to table grabbing food and eating as fast as they could to get more of it. Ryoto of course got a stomach ache from it all, Sukuna kept going and was gloating that he could do so.

"No fair, you got a bigger stomach than me!" Ryoto protested.

Sukuna merely smiled.

Yet as the party continued, he felt something odd. In fact, Ryoto did too. The celebration was slowly stopping. Mother Tooru had a very upset look on her face, she clapped three times and all the children… ran into a building or home.

"Ryomen, this way!"

Ryoto had grabbed on to his lower right arm. They went into a house near by, to the second level, it was just enough to peer out the window without being seen. "What is going on?" Sukuna whispered.

"Someone… is trying to pose as a family member." Ryoto explained.

When he peered out the window again, Gojo froze.

'Kenjaku!?'

He saw it, clear as day, the stitching across the brow of a young man, who claimed to be Mother Tooru's nephew.

Suddenly, Gojo felt the curse energy around here spike. His six eyes ability would have been a bonus here, but… it wasn't needed.

Even without his ability, the vision allowed him to see the flow of energy.

He saw curse energy act in a way he had never seen before. And to this day, Sukuna himself has never seen since. Mother Tooru was able to call upon the technique of all the Toorus within her range, as such their power was drawn to her and absorbed.

When that occurred, she stared at the young man who claimed to be her nephew. "Why did I not feel your energy among the family?" she questioned him. "How DARE you take the body of my nephew!" she snapped.

Her voice sent a chill down his spine. After all, at this point, Sukuna had never seen Mother Tooru mad before.

"Auntie…"

"Silence!" she snapped. "Be… silent… no matter what you speak here and now, no one here will believe who you claim to be." She said in a warning tone. "I will let you go this one time… just this once… if you even DARE come after my family… I will end you the moment I see the white of your eyes… and the stitching of your brow!"

Kenjaku… froze fearfully.

"One… final warning… I saw where your eyes averted mine… I know what you saw… don't you DARE come after my son!" She struck him once. Gojo froze as he felt that from here, it was a reverse technique he had never seen before since, the person before her, dropped dead at Mother Tooru's feet.

The family froze.

"What sorcerer was that? How… how did he take over… Oh God…"

The family was worried, someone… is exploiting people like this?

"His name is Kenjaku!" Mother Tooru announced. "From this moment on, he is an enemy of our clan. Do not allow him anywhere near this village again!"

The family agreed and called back that they understood.

Gojo on the other hand knew that Kenjaku had laid eyes on Sukuna, and was already formulating a plan in his mind.

But now the question remained. Did Kenjaku KNOW Sukuna was here? Was he after the Tooru family first? And why did he continue to go after them if they were not his first target?

"Wow… mom was really upset…" Ryoto said offhandedly.

Ryomen merely nodded his head in agreement.

"Mother Tooru is the strongest, isn't she?" he asked.

Ryoto nodded to him. "I wish I could be, but… I don't even have enough curse energy for a technique… I want to be a sorcerer…" he sighed.

"I'll help you tomorrow"

Ryoto's eyes widened. "Really?! OKAY!" he cheered.

#

Gojo began to understand it now… but at the same time, new questions had come to his mind.

As such, this vision all ended shortly after the spar session he had with Ryoto. They were training deep in the woods, when they were done, Ryoto was goofing around until he lost his footing and plunged down the side of a small cliff!

Sukuna was quick to react as he rushed to the side and found Ryoto landed in the river, but he couldn't swim!

Sukuna at the time didn't either, but he wasn't about to let his friend drown. He jumped in after him and pulled Ryoto out of the water. However, he wasn't breathing.

Recalling a method Mother Tooru was teaching others, he did CPR… once more beyond their time the Toorus appears to be aware of medical advances before anyone else!

Sukuna revived him, and shorty after Ryoto recovered, he gained a technique. Ryoto could control the most powerful flames of his time…

#

He stumbled out of the room shortly after.

Gojo appeared a little disoriented and confused. One of the staff here walked by when he asked. "How long was I in there for?"

She looked to the door and found an odd instrument. She read it and nodded. "Five hours" she said and walked off.

… 5 hours?!