A/N: Not a lot of feedback, eh? Ah, well. I tried...
WARNING! Intense chapter! This is Jujutsu Kaisen, after all.
...bi-weekly update, that is to say a two week update for this story, this time around.
Someone asked for this to be updated next, alongside Scarlet Sky and Practice Makes Perfect. Ask and you shall receive~!
Also trying to work on Embers of Hope, but the Holidays are running me RAGGED with my jobs, and I'm still trying to maintain my update schedule.
Hello, hello~! Can anyone see this? Yes? No? Maybe so? Not sure if notifications are working...
With my fifteen year anniversary on this site finally here, I find myself reflecting on the little things in life. What was once a lazy pastime meant for me and a few friends really grew and evolved over time. There are days when I look back on the last fifteen years here and I wonder if anyone will remember me; if I made an impact, despite never making a single cent on any of these stories. Some days were happier than others, and some stories I enjoyed writing WAY too much; to the point where I'd stay up all night working on them.
And of course, there are times when I look to the future and wonder what will become of things when I'm gone.
Of course, I try not to dwell on the latter overmuch; I'm still alive and still writing. In an ideal world, I'd like to keep doing so for as long as I can. But old age is catching up to me and these days, the world is filled with so much madness and death. Feels like everyone's lost their minds sometimes. Even before that, so many friends and fellow writers I once knew are gone, now. Will I still be here in twenty years? Ten? Five? Its a chilling thought. But for now, I'm still here, still writing.
So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.
As ever, I own no quotes, references, quotes, themes or memes! They're simply tributes to legends far greater than little 'ol me. I'm just an old man who writes as a pastime. I don't make any money doing this, not a single cent.
This is ALL done for free. Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story.
Hope you're ready because someone's about to go crazy. You may think you know who I mean...but do you, do you really?
Likewise, this chapter's mean to the exact opposite of the latest for my "Surpass Your Limits" story. There, Naruto wants to work with Toji and gain experience. Here...
Well, there's a reason he "wouldn't mind" seeing Sukuna again.
Our boy is bored and wants a fight. Take a look and see.
I promise you won't be disappointed~!
Quote says it all~! Readysetgo~!
Obvious verbatim from the show is obvious and intentional~!
"That day, the Jujutsu world was reminded.
There are things we do not understand.
There are forces we cannot face.
There are gods among men."
~Awakening.
High on Life
Monsters.
Geto knew monsters.
He'd fought them every day.
Monsters were curses and likewise curse users, who delighted in causing suffering. Some of them even wore human skin. As a Jujutsu Sorcerer, he'd sworn never to become such; to never fall to such depravity so long as he'd lived. To uphold peace and order in the world. He knew what it felt like, you see. To suffer those dark intrusive thoughts in his most private moments, to sometimes wonder if it would better for all non-sorcerers, for monsters like Toji Fushiguro and Naruto Uzumaki,to just DIE.
Oh, yes.
He knew what monsters were...
.
..
...or so he'd thought, once upon a time.
Now his body lay bloodied and broken, his worldview shattered once more.
Two monsters stood over him; one on the verge of killing him, the other having intervened to save his life. He wasn't sure who he hated more. Toji had made a fool of him-no, that was putting it lightly. He'd manhandled him, and every cursed spirit he'd brought to bear. He'd thought himself strong. Powerful. Not nearly so much as Gojo, but even so, he'd been close.
Reality was cruel; fate had thoroughly disabused him of that notion.
Toji looked down on him as one might an ant. "You couldn't let me finish off the kid at least...?"
Naruto stepped in, casually batting aside his blade again as they clashed. "Curse Manipulation, remember? Who knows what'll happen."
"Fair," the Sorcerer Killer stepped back with a shrug. "That's a scary look you've got there. Don't suppose you'd let me go if I up and apologized-
CRUNCH.
An uppercut sent him hurtling into one of the temple buildings.
"That should buy me a minute." Naruto glanced down at him. "You good?"
Geto gurgled wetly.
"Right, bleeding out. Lemme fix that-
The Inverted Spear of Heaven burst out his chest without warning, showering them both in blood.
Naruto looked back and made an annoyed noise. "I liked that jacket. You're paying for it."
He thrust a hand backward into Toji's chest.
In that instant Geto glimpsed something in his palm, a spark of blue light that rapidly swelled until-
"Rasengan!"
Toji vanished in a whorl of blue light that blasted him away. Just like that. A casual technique and the man who had been picking him apart for the last five minutes just went flying. He'd never felt so weak as he did now. It was all a lie, wasn't it? He and Gojo had thought themselves strong, but they weren't, not at all...
Just thinking of it made him choke up. "What are you...?"
"This again?" Naruto tutted as though the question amused him. "I already told you. I'm your friend."
"No, you're not." he rasped out a cough and tried to bat his hand away. "You let me lose back there. You let Gojo...
"Yes, I am, and yes, I did." Said hand patted his head almost patronizingly as an older brother might a younger sibling. "As I said, I'm interested in your growth. And just as you can't grow without loss, I can't see what you'll become if you die on me now, can I?" Golden light shone forth from his hand, mending the worst of his wounds. "Neither you, nor Gojo, or even Toji know the true essence of Jujutsu." a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "This is a good opportunity, so I'll use it to teach you a few things. Something like this usually wouldn't work on someone like Toji, buuuuut...
Brushing the blood off his knees, he turned and stood, raising both hands.
His fingers flicked through a strange series of seals, one after another, each faster than the last. Geto couldn't hope to keep track of them all; he lost count after the blond breached thirty. Abruptly he stopped, forming a strange sort of cross with both hands and his thumbs, raised just before his chest.
"Take a good long look now," a crimson eye peeked over his shoulder, "And don't tell anyone about this. Carve this memory into your bones and remember it when you discover your own."
"My own what...?"
Naruto didn't respond to that effect. There was no need for it.
The air thickened around them, heavy with promise.
And then he heard the words.
"Domain Expansion."
Two words that no sorcerer never wanted to hear from their enemy. Two words, the signified the very pinnacle of Jujutsu. Two words that he'd never hoped to achieve in his lifetime or the next. Two words that put the fear of gods in him right and proper. Two words, to forever change the path of his life. And what came next most certainly would.
"Bloody Festival of One Thousand Lives."
Geto's world went red, then black.
And Naruto began to laugh.
(.0.0.0.)
Something's wrong.
Toji knew it.
Something...is wrong.
Of course he did.
Something is terribly, horribly wrong!
It all started when Uzumaki did something with his hands; when the world went black, and his surroundings were swallowed up by the blond's Domain. It wasn't just him. Everything was consumed in everlasting darkness. All of Tengen's realm was subsumed. Ordinarily he would've have cared about such. Domains didn't affect him, given that he had zero cursed energy, and he'd broken out of his fair share before.
Then came the laughter.
It rose around him, high and wild, a delighted cackle of not just one voice three, six, no, nine different voices rising in horrifying unison. Each grew louder with every passing moment; a cacophony of sound that threatened to render him dumb and deaf. He tried to escape, but couldn't. That shouldn't have been possible and it only got worse from there. He whirled in search of them and found nothing. Still the voices grew louder:
"Toji."
"Toji?"
"Tojiii~!"
"Poor, poor Toji."
"There you are, Toji!"
"Its such a shame, Toji."
"Why didn't you listen, Toji?"
"When will you learn your lesson, Toji?"
"TELL ME, ARE WE HAVING FUN YET TOJI?!"
He should've been able to escape easily; he had no cursed energy to latch onto, nothing for this damnable Domain to latch onto and attack. And yet he couldn't find it in him move. He found himself rooted in place, unable to do anything more than pivot in place, eyes flitting this way and that in the dark, all for naught.
"Show yourself!"
And then there was light.
He dearly wished that there wasn't.
Without warning the darkness cleared and he saw the world in which he found himself. A white expanse of space, so mind-numbingly bright that the mere act of blinking made his eyes burn. Nine different Naruto's waved back at him from their perches, each sat atop the head of...what in the hells were those? A tanuki, a two-tailed cat, a three-tailed turtle, on and on it went, a mad menagerie of beasts raging down to some ghastly ox-octopus hybird and a nine...tailed...
...fox.
"Ah, shit."
His eyes were red like roses, his teeth sharp and that grin promised pain on a primal level.
"Do you like them?" the bloodied blond hopped down from the beast's head, grinning from ear to ear. "They're old friends of mine, though most of them are little more than vestiges these days, really." An arm swept out to the doppelgangers. "These nine blood clones of mine each serve to symbolize that. You'd think they'd be no different from shadow cones, but insofar as you're concerned...
A torrent of unseen fists cracked across his body, sending him sprawling.
...they're much worse."
Righting himself with an effort, Toji tumbled to his feet. "What the hell is this?
"You know what this is." Naruto walked away from him. "Don't worry, you can move again. This wouldn't be any fun if you didn't fight back."
A kick cracked his ribs. He still didn't see it. "How...?!"
"Ordinarily, a Domain Expansion would have no effect on you; seeing as you have no cursed energy, there's no sure-hit effect here." the blond wastrel shrugged a shoulder. "However, unfortunately for you, my domain's a little...different." he made a pinching motion with two clawed fingers, as though squeezing a been between them. "You see, you're not dealing with your average Domain anymore...
An angry breath hissed out of him. "No...
"Yes." the whiskered warrior beamed, much to his chagrin. Naruto beamed. "You're in my domain, that much is true, but you're also in what remains of the seal in my stomach. That thing doesn't care about cursed energy or a lack thereof. Which means...
A hand seized Toji's throat. He grabbed it on instinct, only for a fist to find his ribs and blast him away.
"There's no escape for you, not here. Not unless I say so...
Naruto hadn't moved forward. Not a single solitary step.
...so its time for you to face the facts and realize...
But his clones had. They were smiling now.
...you're out of your depth."
Four of his eight doppelgangers bounded down after him, tittering happily, drawling their syllables as if they were drunk.
"Did you know?"
"Here in this domain...
...we don't need a sure hit to end you...
...we're not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with us."
Toji whipped his Inverted Spear of Heaven into the skull of the nearest clone. It crumpled in a shower of blood, for another to take its place and stab a dagger into his thigh. Grunting in surprise he backhanded the blond, only to take a dagger to his back. Killing that one conjured two more; for each clone killed more and more came, an ceaseless rush of bodies that never seemed to end, an onslaught from which there was no escape. No matter how many weapons he used, no matter the tricks, they just kept coming!
Worse, those damn copies of his just wouldn't shut up!
Each word brought with ait another blow.
"We're stronger."
Bam.
"Faster."
Thruck.
"Smarter."
Bang!
"BETTER!"
A hammerfist rocked his head to the side, leaving him reeling.
"We told you to stay away, Fushiguro!"
Teeth whistled through the air-they were his.
"But you just wouldn't listen, would you?!"
Blood splashed across the floor.
"Why didn't you listen?!"
A kick cracked up into Toji's chin and he found himself airborne. He whirled, only for a hand to catch his ankle before he could breach the domain and slam him back down. He whirled around like a snake and broke his attacker's neck, only for another fist to fiund his face. Liver. Spleen. Throat. He found himself getting jumped in every sense of the word, beaten and battered from every angle. It didn't matter how many of them he killed, for every three he ended, six more spawned, each stronger than the last. It was endless; he'd become the instrument of his own defeat.
When would it end?!
"Alright, everyone~!" the original clapped is hands suddenly, sparing Toji from the endless purgatory into which he'd fallen. "That's enough. Lets try something else."
A rising uppercut smashed into Fushiguro's chin, then the domain shattered, and quite suddenly, he found himself in daylight.
...did he kick me clean out the Doman and through the ceiling?! How?! We're miles underground!'
He looked up, eyes wide, bruised lungs heaving for air that never seemed to come.
There was a glowing figure above him, silhouetted against the setting sun.
He stared up at them aghast, eyes wide.
So this was it, then.
Time slowed to a crawl around him, all the colors of he world fading to so much grey as gravity claimed him. He knew what was about to happen; but he couldn't move quick enough to counter it. Even as he raised an arm and yanked a length of chain from the cursed spirit on his shoulders, he knew he wouldn't make it in time.
"I knew."
Hooking that length of chain to his Inverted Spear of Heaven, Toji twisted his body in the air and flung it up at the disaster looming over him.
"I knew he was strong...that's why I never took any of the bounties on him...
Rather than dodge like any sane individual, Naruto caught it between his teeth. Then twisted his head, grasped the chan and reeled him in like a fish. His right arm swung back, fingers crackling with scarlet sparks. Toji's world accelerated too hard, too fast, and he felt something tear in his torso as his world went white.
...I already knew there was a gap between the two of us...
Vicious red eyes filled the entirety of his vision.
...but to think it was this much! Damnit!
That fist slammed down into his face.
Ground. Pain. Agony.
Reality reasserted itself with a vengeance; he struck the earth like a falling star. Dirt and mud ruptured beneath his body, forming a crater that could be seen for miles around. Where had he landed? He couldn't tell. People were screaming.
Why?
Where were they?
Oh, gods. What had done?
The pressure bearing down on his face eased momentarily, to which he lashed out, driving a fist backward. A grunt was his reward and he found himself free.
Reeling from the impact, Toji stumbled upright and fumbled for another tool. His fingers failed him.
'My right arm's been dislocated. Best fix that before-
"Here. Lemme HELP."
A hand settled on his shoulder and wrenched the joint back in before he could, drawing a pained growl from him.
"Sun's going down, Toji." Those clawed fingers bit into his collarbone. "When it sets, your time is up."
Smiling, he shoved him forward, allowing him three stumbling steps.
Belatedly he realized where they were and why he heard so many voices. There were people here after all; men and women standing in the street, peering down at them over the lip of the crater. It took him a moment to recognize a few of the towering buildings looming above, but once he did...
His blood ran cold, no, it froze in his veins.
No, no, no.
Shibuya.
Why in the nine hells were they in Shibuya? People were staring at them, pointing, some even had their cell phones out. He wanted to say something, had to say something, but the words clogged in his throat. He tried to turn and run, but the ground sucked at his feet like a swamp, preventing him from leaping away.
"Do you see all these people?" Naruto raised a hand. "Remember their faces, because they'e going to remember yours. This is the day the world sees you die."
Not yet. Not like this. He didn't want to go...!
His life flashed before his eyes.
'Megumi...!'
He whirled and lashed out at Naruto with the Inverted Spear of Heaven. The blond caught his wrist and squeezed until the nerves ground together and his hand spasmed, forcing him to drop his treasured tool; but in doing so, he failed to predict the blade hidden in his free hand behind his back. Toji swept down with all his strength, all his skill, all his raw speed and-
Naruto clicked his tongue. "Nope."
Steel shattered on the blond's chest.
Still smiling, he snatched one of those serrated shards out the air and ran him through.
Toji doubled over with a wheeze, clutching at his gut, painfully aware of his own mortality. For a moment he almost gave up. He was injured, bleeding and so damnably tired. It would be easy. So easy to just close his eyes and never open them again.
...are you satisfied with this? Is this really how you wanted it to end?'
He saw his son's face again in his mind's eye.
Something snapped in him.
"NARUTO!"
He lunged forward, grabbing the blond by the throat with both hands, slamming him against the edge of the crater. Stone cracked against his back, but that damn monster didn't bat an eyelash at the sudden reversal; he simply smiled -somanyteethtoomanyteethwhyohwhyweretheresomanyteeth-reared back, and stabbed him in the chest. Then the shoulder. Followed by his leg.
His limb buckled briefly, forcing him to a knee.
"You should be proud of yourself, Fushiguro." his old rival smiled down at him, grinning like some blood-soaked deity, heedless of the damage he'd just done. "You stand at the peak of humanity. No cursed energy brought you to this point, no techniques or tricks, just raw physical power and your own cunning. You're strong. As a human, I'd be proud of you. Unfortunately...
He placed two fingers together.
...I stopped being human a long time ago."
It was just a flick to his forehead, a simple act of contempt.
That "flick" blasted Toji up out the crater and clear across the city. His body slammed through a busy street full of screaming people, slashed through a tractor trailer, crashed into a skyscraper. Naruto crashed into him mid tumble with an overhand smash, drilling him down into a parking garage as a splinter might beneath a deity's skin. Just like that, the light of day was denied to him again.
He squinted against the flickering red emergency lighting, peering into the gloom as it shifted in and out of focus.
An almighty rumble overhead told him where Naruto was. He had moments at best.
He tried to right himself and failed, tried to breathe, only to cough blood.
A bitter laugh leaked past his lips.
"You damn monster...
As though summoned by that very title, Naruto reappeared. One moment he was somewhere far above him; nowhere to be seen. In the next, the emergency lights flickered once more and he was suddenly there; staring down at him. It terrified him more than he cared to admit. How in the hell had Satoru Gojo befriend this thing...?!"
A boot came crashing down on his chest, pinning him to the ground.
"I warned you once before, didn't I?" Toji looked up to find Naruto staring down at him. His adversary wasn't smiling anymore. Somehow, that made it worse." Stay away from Amanai. You didn't listen. Now you owe me a debt and I intend to collect.
"What are you?!" something broke in him. "What the hell are you?!"
"I already told you." his boot drove down, cracking his chest. "I'm not a cursed spirit. This would be a lot worse for you if I was. But as I said earlier, I'm not a human, either."
'Is he high? Deranged? Drunk on blood?'
To hell with that! This didn't make any sense!
"Then what are you?!" his voice piqued in a rare moment of despair. "Tell me!"
"I am me." the eldritch being before him shrugged. "Naruto and Kurama, yet neither of them. Someone who's lived too long and FINALLY remembered what its like to be ALIVE. And you...
...are dead.' Toji finished the sentence in his mind. 'You think I don't know that, idiot?'
He knew he was finished; it was the truth.
No one to blame for it but himself.
'I refuse to do any work for free.' he laid back with a sigh, starting at the flickering lights overhead. Water dripped down from a cracked pipe above, struck his face just below his eye and ran down his cheek in the mockery of a tear. 'Normally I would've said that and hightailed it out of there when things took a turn for the worse. Yet he was right before my eyes, smiling. Mocking me. Challenging me...
"...!" A fist swung back. He saw his death in the blond's blazing eyes.
'That thing is probably the strongest creature of the modern age at the moment.'a rusty smile stretched his face as he glared up at him, refusing to beg. Even here at the end he refused to give him the satisfaction that he sought. 'I wanted to reject him. I wanted to bring him to his knees. I wanted to take down the pinnacle of this rotten world and the Zeni'n clan that rejected me.'
Laughter bubbled up in him.
'I twisted myself trying to affirm myself. That was the moment I lost.' He closed his eyes as death rushed in. 'Toji, you fool. I thought you had abandoned that pride...I thought you had chosen to live a simple life with your family...
Naruto stopped short.
"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"
Surprisingly, he actually did a few last words for him.
...in a few years, my kid will be sold off to the Zeni'n clan." his eyes creaked open. "My wife doesn't know. You'll have to explain it to her. He deserves a better life than the shitty one she and I gave him. Do with that what you will."
"Megumi, right?" The Crimson Bastard nodded once. "Cute kid. But you don't seem to understand." His fist fell. "When did you get the impression that I was going to kill you?"
The very world seemed to release a gigantic breath at that moment.
Toji's mind fizzled out spectacularly. "Ha?"
"No, no, no." a finger wagged his way. "You don't get to puss out and die on me when things get rough. Dying's too easy. Living is hard. Living is HELL." his hand shot down, grabbing him by his bloody shirt to drag him forward. "You made your choice, now you live with the consequences of your actions.
...you said you were going to kill me!"
"And I have. From this day onward, the Socerer Killer, Toji Zeni'n, is well and truly dead. He'll never take another contract or bounty again." Naruto smiled then, a smile that still held entirely too many teeth for his liking. "All that remains is Toji Fushiguro. With that in mind, I have one last question for you. Which do you prefer? Arm or leg?"
Realization broke like the dawn, cruel and painful. Toji understood in an instant. This was the price he had to pay.
"Arm." He held out his left limb raised at his side. "Make it quick."
Nauto smiled. "Wise choice."
Something burst out of his hand -it looked like a fox-and then there was pain.
Blood spattered Toji's face as he crumpled down to a knee. He heard the awful ripping and rending of flesh, followed by a curious lightness on that side. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to look all the same, to gaze at the mangled stump ending just above his elbow. With his remaining hand he reached over and grasped it, making certain it was real.
The blood on his fingers confirmed it.
This is the price for my sins, eh? For all the lives I've taken...
"Be thankful I didn't take the whole thing off that the shoulder. Now, then." Naruto knelt to retrieve the Inverted Spear of Heaven where it had fallen. "I'll be taking this. And you...will be taking a nap."
Toji experienced a single instant of beautiful epiphany.
Something barreled into his face.
Sleep was a mercy.
(.0.0.0.)
It wasn't hard for Naruto to make his way back to the surface.
Easier still, to find the rat's nest.
All too easy.
Oh, the Time Vessel Association-or Star Religious Group if you were feeling fancy-dressed their headquarters up all nice and pretty, calling it the House of the Children of the Star and all, but he knew a rat's nest when he saw one. It looked like a gaudy mockery of a church on the outside, fit with an open stage for its so-called congregation.
Feh.
Petty names and petty riches and petty titles for a petty band of small minded people. They worshiped Tengen, sure, but that didn't make them good people. Quite the opposite. Faith was a wonderful thing and often acted as excellent motivation in a pinch, but all too often people committed heinous crimes in the name of said faith
If this "Faith" demanded the death of an innocent girl-his niece!- who had never harmed a single solitary soul, then that it was evil.
Time to tear it all down.
He marched up the steps at speed, grabbed the massive doors and ripped them open. "Oi! Where's your leader?!"
Men and women clad in white robes awaited him within.
There was no attack. No ambush,
Nothing at all.
Quite the contrary; several dozen men and women welcomed him with applause and happy smiles, as though he were some long-lost hero who'd just slain the demon lord. Was it because he was Riko's self-proclaimed uncle? Was there another reason? Or were their heads just full of vapid nonsense? He'd come here to demand their leader's head, to make a spectacle of it and scare the living daylights out of them, but to see them like this, fawning over him in his blood-soaked clothes, acting like they were innocent...
It made him sick.
His right hand twitched. He gripped it to stifle an impulse.
"Huh." the corner of his mouth quirked into a scowl. "Didn't know I could still get this angry anymore...
They kept clapping. And clapping. And...clapping. Just, applauding him and his deeds, like he was some kind of god. Their applause sickened him. Sheep. No, sheep were better than this. Sheep wouldn't countenance the death of an innocent girl. He couldn't even call them pigs or mongrels, because even animals knew better than to anger a predator in their midst. They were worse than that. Their white robes only irked him all the more, as did their empty, vapid smiles. They were...what was the word...?
Monkeys.
Yes, that was it.
And in that instant, he knew.
Oh, yes. He knew exactly what to do.
He walked toward the nearest worshiper with slow, shuffling steps.
They didn't sense the danger, didn't even flinch when his shadow fell over them. They kept clapping.
Naruto's temper, already hanging by a thread, finally snapped. His arm swung back. Five firm fingers clenched into a claw...and swung with lazy grace. Blood painted the wall behind him as his right hand sliced down again in a horizontal chop. A man's head flew from his shoulders to strike the wall opposite him. Their body collapsed at his feet, a puppet severed from his strings.
Just like that, the clapping stopped.
"Do I have your attention now?" Picking up the headless corpse, he gave it a good hard shake. "Do you realize what you've done?"
He snapped his fingers and the doors slammed shut behind him, sealed with chakra.
An uneasy ripple ran through the room.
"You idiots wanted to kill my niece for your precious Tengen." he smacked his lips, producing an audible pop. "I dunno if you did because you're genuinely stupid enough to think she would want something like that, or if your leaders just wanted to draw me out of hiding. Well, congratulations!" he whirled and flung the corpse at another white-robbed man, splattering them both against the wall like so much rotten fruit. "Here I am! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!"
Just like that, the screaming began.
How irritating. Monkeys were always the most annoying when they shrieked.
Naturally, he decided to shut the lot of them up and started swinging.
Off went a woman's shrieking head, tumblign through the air.
And then another's head.
And then their heads.
He waded in, arms swinging, crushing and slashing and pulping everything within reach. They tried to flee. They failed. With the doors sealed they only bunched themselves up and made for easier targets. He took his time with them. Though he could've killed them all in an instant, he used his hands and feet and teeth instead. Maybe that made him a monster. Maybe he should've tried talking. Maybe he should've done a lot of things.
He didn't care.
"Not smiling now, are you?!" his voice rose above the worshiper's shrill screams. "NOT LAUGHING NOW ARE YA?!"
"Stop!" someone shouted at him from the balcony above. "Stop, I say! Just what do you think you're doing, Jujutsu Sorcerer?!"
"What am I doing?" he turned to face them, eyes blank, a beatific smile wreathing his bloody face. "What does it look like? Killing monsters."
Whomever they were, they must've heard the commotion from up above and come to investigate. No, wait just a minute. He took in his dark hair, tan features, and marked forehead at a glance; their face pinched in an exquisite expression of terror. Oh, there he was, the big cheese himself. The one he'd been looking for. Now what was his name again? Aha! He remembered now.
His grin grew. "Shigeru Sonoda~!"
A giant maw of teeth shot fort from his arm, snatched the flabbergasted founder up, and brought him close.
He squealed like a pig as his flesh began to boil, begging for mercy. "You can't do this! We're human!"
...and?" Naruto blinked once, uncaring. "I'm no Jujutsu Sorcerer. I kill when I want, where I want. Just like you wanted to kill my niece." he tightened his grip, reveling in the cry of pain the maddened man made. "Tell me, did Riko Amanai do anything wrong? No, don't answer that question. You'll just spout some drivel I don't want do hear."
"N-Niece...?"
"You really didn't know, did you? Poor bastard.
"F-Forgive me I...that was a mistake! We were told to by-
"No excuses."
The jaws clenched, biting Shigeru in half, cutting their tirade short.
"Now, then, Dropping his eviscerated corpse, he turned to face the survivors, the latter of whom were all huddling in the corner. "There's a lot of you and I'm a foul mood, so...
He crossed his fingers and summoned a swarm of shadow clones.
"I'm going to make an example of you."
(.0.0.0.)
He walked out an hour later, covered in blood.
Someone was waiting for him in the courtyard, standing amongst the last rays of the setting sun, head hung low
"Yo." a familiar head of white hair rose, revealing bright blue eyes and bruised lips quirking in a roguish grin. "Its been a bit. You look like shit."
Naruto almost smiled despite himself. Almost. "...its not my blood, Gojo."
"Oh." Satoru hummed. "That's fine, then.
His best buddy looked awful. His white hair stained with blood, crimson spattered against his shirt, his attire in utter disarray. There was a wild, almost crazed look in his eyes that bespoke of a man who'd been pushed to the edge...then walked right off it of his own volition.
He'd known he would survive of course, but for him to look like this...well. A blond brow rose. "For real, Gojo?"
"For real, real." he pushed back his hair to reveal a subtle dent in his skull. "I'm alive and kicking!"
"Reversed cursed technique, eh? So you finally mastered it."
"Bingo!" he thumbed his skull twice, not even wincing as his finger prodded the tender flesh. "When I got stabbed through the throat by that guy, I gave up on counterattacking and poured all my focus into that technique. Did you know? Cursed energy is negative energy. While it can enhance the body, it isn't able to regenerate it. So you multiply that negative energy against itself to create positive energy! That's the reverse cursed technique!"
There was something different about him, something that hadn't been there before. He hadn't expected this...
"He's rambling on and on. Is he high...?'
"Easier said than done!" Gojo threw his head back and laughed at the sky, heedless of his concern. "I hadn't been able to pull that off up until now myself! And I couldn't understand anything the one person who could do it said! But I finally grasped it on the verge of death! The true essence of cursed energy! Was it fate? Was it luck? Both? Neither? I don't know! The only reasons I didn't die back there was because that bastard didn't chop my head off, and my skull wasn't stabbed with that cursed tool of his. Its so funny I can't help but laugh! And yet...ever since I lost to that guy, I've been wondering about something...
His comrade seemed to sway in place for a long moment before righting himself.
...over and over...and over...AND OVER AGAIN...
He lurched forward, shuffling toward him.
...am I weak?"
Oh, no.
Of all the things he had planned for, this wasn't one of them.
"But can't be it, right?" Gojo's smile seemed strained now, his confidence fracturing and restoring itself before his very eyes. "I'm supposed to be the strongest. But I lost." he thumbed his chin and shook his head. "You had to swing in and save the day, yet you're standing there, where Toji should be. That's his weapon hanging from your belt." he flicked a hand to the Inverted Spear of Heaven dangling at his side. "No way he would've given you that willingly. So you must've beat him. Which makes you stronger than him. And if you are, I gotta ask...
Here at last he paused, standing before him.
...which of us is REALLY stronger?"
Ohhh, so they were doing this.
...did I upset you?"
"Nope~!" Gojo grinned, and it was like he'd never been sad at all. "I just feel really good right now. Probably won't feel like this again for awhile, and I gotta get this off my chest. So lets go." a finger dug into his ribs. "You and me. Before I start doubting myself again."
His brow furrowed, mildly concerned for his mental state. "Aren't you worried about Amanai...?"
Gojo tilted his head. "Should I be? If you're here, then she's safe, which means that backstabbing bastard ain't a problem anymore. Geto's probably fine too." belatedly, he noticed the blood on his coat. "Is that yours?" when Naruto shook his head, comprehension dawned in those bold blue eyes.
"Ahhh, I get it." his old friend looked past him to regard the trail of blood he'd left behind him, and the puddled of blood even now leaking out through the closed doors of the temple. "You butchered those Star bastards who put that bounty on her?" he granted him a nod and that grin grew. "I owe you for that. Even more reason for us to fight, then. C'mon, it'll be fun...even though you're going to lose.
That pricked his pride, right and proper.
"I'm going to lose? To you?" he growled, plucked Toji's Inverted Spear from his belt...then cast it aside. "I don't need this puny thing to kick your ass."
"Oh?" Gojo looked to the sky, momentarily spacing out, then recovering. "Is that it?" A wide grin split his face from ear to ear. Yeah...MAYBE SO!
It was tempting. So very tempting. His blood was up and he wasn't satisfied after maiming Toji, no, not at all, not in the least.
He tried to restrain himself nonetheless. "Gojo, look. Neither of us are in the best frame of mind for this, don't you think?"
Satoru slugged him in the face, breaking his nose and driving his face toward the sky. "Wasn't asking!"
Naruto's head snapped forward with a feral snarl. "Nevermind, we're back in business!"
He swept a hand forward, only for his palm to pass through empty air.
Movement behind him.
"Ah, cripes-
Satoru pressed two fingers into his back. "Cursed technique reversal: Red!"
Pain!
He'd almost forgotten what it felt like!
The blast shredded through his defenses, burned his coat to cinders, and sent him plowing forward across the temple. He caught a pillar as he tumbled and righted himself, bare chest steaming as he regenerate. So much for his jacket. He'd liked his clothes. Toji had already torn holes in them, and now this?! Utahime was never going to let him live this one down, was she? Nevermind that damn Mei Mei
"Look out below~!"
Gojo already was winding up for another Red -eager to use it like a child with their new toy- and blasted him again.
"I should be saying that to you!"
He lobbed a Rasenshuriken at him in retaliation. Their attacks met in the middle. Sparks flew. Steam spat between them as they collided and nullified one another. Gradually, the haze cleared between them. They stood apart as the moment stretched out into eternity until it finally began to fray at the seams, bend, break now, until...
Gojo lunged first, grinning from ear to ear. "Don't you dare hold back!"
Naruto mirrored him a second later. "Shut up and fight!"
The strongest collided.
A/N: Gojo? Buddy? You alright there?
Poor lad's had his worldview turned upside down; of course he wants to fight!
That said, would you like weekly updates?
Do you want this to remain a story? Yes? No? Maybe so? Make yourselves heard! Really need to hear from you, here.
Once more, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule for this particular story, and others. If folks don't like this, it won't be continued. Meaning that if the story itself isn't popular? Well...I'll not continue it. I'm working two jobs -might need a third soon!- so I barely have time to write; as such, I cannot afford to write something folks don't enjoy.
So by all means, speak up! Your voice matters! Make yourself heard! As ever, reviews are the fuel that sustain me. Without them I cannot write a single word. Simple as that. Working nearly all hours of the day keep me absurdly busy, and I can't bring myself to write something folks don't like.
Aaaand there we go. As ever, reviews keep me alive, sad as that may sound.
Without them, I cannot write. So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review...Would You Kindly? Hope you enjoy the previews.
We've got some new ones and some are...intense.
They've been expanded and then some!
I cut down on them to not spoil things.
Read at your own risk:
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
SPOILERS AWAIT YOU!
YE BE WARNED!
(Previews)
"Somebody stop those two!"
Geto looked up. Winced...and sat down.
Nanami mirrored him. "I'm not getting involved in that. What about you, Haibara?
Yu crossed both arms before his face. "Nope!"
Hello, Naruto. Its so nice to see you again. Have you been well?"
Sit your ass down, Tengen. We need to have a talk...
She sat.
"Listen, son. Everyone has a heart. Be it a human, or a curse, or a monster."
What about you, dad? Every time I ask mom, she just laughs."
...yup. Even me. Now drop and give me twenty!"
"I take it back! You're a heartless bastard!"
"Says my slacker of a son! Hop to it~!"
Hello, Mahito. I'd like to have a word."
"Seras! Time to use the canon~!"
"These are children, you idiot. Not monsters." Naruto looked away from the cage. "Where are their parents?
The portly man beside him bridled. "Dead, as they should be! Those two are the source of our village's woes! They're responsible for it all! If you won't kill them, then WE WILL-
Enough.
He slashed a hand backward, casually obliterating the man's skull before he could finish speaking. The woman beside him shrieked and tried to run, only to burst into blue flame before she could reach the door. She fell to the floor, shrieking, flinging herself around in a mad frenzy, trying to put the blaze out. He left her to that, uncaring as she expired; as the fire from her body began to engulf the room. Idiots, the lot of them. Sometimes he forgot how STUPID humanity could be.
Another flick of his fingers shattered the bars of the cage, freeing the occupants within.
"Well aren't the two of you just adorable!" he crouched down before the twins with a smile. "What're your names?"
...Hanako. the smaller girl mumbled.
"Mimiko." answered the other, warily meeting his eyes.
"Hmm. Alright then." he patted their heads. "You work for me now. How's that sound?"
...I've only ever met a handful from the Zen'in clan that I liked. Maybe we should teach the rest a lesson."
Geto sighed. "Naruto, no."
"You gonna stop me? What about you, Gojo? You saw what they did to Maki. Doesn't that make you angry?"
Satoru tilted his glasses down. "What're you suggesting?"
"Let me go for a walk."
"Isn't it obvious? You're weak.
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME! I'm going to enjoy swallowing up that smug face of yours!"
"Hey, Sukuna! Long time no see!
An eye creaked open.
"You again...?"
EDIT: Hope you enjoyed! Looking forward to your feedback~!
Hope you have a great day,
~Nz.