JJK: Wheel of Time

"Are you Itadori Yuji?" Shin Shuichi and Fushiguro Megumi, having dealt with a few curses at the school, managed to gather information on Yuji Itadori. They learned that he visited his grandfather at a nearby hospital every day after school, so they headed there. Shin had to flash a smile to get this information—Fushiguro's serious demeanor was too intimidating, making Itadori's classmates hesitant to share details.

Going through official channels would have been a hassle, so Shin pretended they were Itadori's middle school classmates to get his location. When they arrived at the hospital, they found Yuji handling paperwork at the reception—likely dealing with the aftermath of his grandfather's passing. Though his grief wasn't visible on his face, due to his grandfather's teachings, Shin knew the pain was there.

Hearing a stranger call his name, Yuji turned around after signing the cremation consent form. He saw two boys about his age, dressed in navy and black uniforms. The spiky-haired one was the one who had called him.

Scratching his head, Yuji replied, "Yeah, that's me. What do you guys want?"

Shin walked over to the receptionist and struck up a conversation. The young nurse, taken by his handsome smile, quickly got distracted. Meanwhile, Fushiguro walked up to Yuji, urgency in his voice. "There's no time. I'm Fushiguro from Jujutsu High. The cursed object you're holding is extremely dangerous. Hand it over immediately."

He showed Yuji a picture on his phone: a long wooden box with a cursed seal etched on the lid, containing something wrapped in paper charms.

Yuji frowned as he recalled, "Oh, that thing I found earlier? My seniors seemed pretty into it. What's going on? You're throwing all this at me without explaining anything."

Fushiguro glanced over at Shin, who was now playing a hand-reading game with the nurse, oblivious to the situation. Realizing he'd have to explain, Fushiguro led Yuji to a quieter part of the hallway.

"The object you found is dangerous. Every year, thousands of people in Japan die or go missing under mysterious circumstances. Most of these cases are caused by curses—manifestations of negative human emotions."

"Curses?" Yuji, though a member of the Occult Research Club, had never taken such things seriously. Sure, the stories were interesting, but they had always seemed like harmless superstition. He hadn't even felt anything during the supposedly haunted excursions that terrified his friends.

Fushiguro's expression was grim. "Whether you believe it or not, places like schools and hospitals tend to accumulate negative emotions, leading to the birth of curses. That item you found? It was placed there to act as a barrier."

"A barrier? Isn't that a good thing? Like a talisman blessed by a monk or something?"

Fushiguro's tone grew harsher. "Not exactly. These barriers use even more evil curses to suppress other curses. It's a dangerous method. And over time, the seal weakens, attracting more curses."

"And the object you have is classified as a Special Grade—extremely dangerous. Now do you understand? We need to secure it before something happens."

Yuji, a bit shaken, pulled the small box from his bag and tossed it to Fushiguro. "Alright, take it. I just found it anyway. Sounds like it's serious."

Fushiguro caught the box and opened it, expecting to confirm the cursed object's condition. His eyes widened when he found the box empty—the Special Grade cursed object, Sukuna's finger, was gone.

"Where is it?" Fushiguro grabbed Yuji by the collar, panic rising. If something had happened to the object, it could lead to a catastrophe. Even though the school had been evacuated, there were still many people nearby.

Yuji, equally confused, stammered, "It's with my seniors! You should've said you wanted what was inside!"

Hearing this, Fushiguro's heart sank. The item had been in the school, but now it was after hours, and they'd missed their chance to retrieve it. He quickly asked Yuji for his seniors' addresses.

"Uh, I'm not sure exactly. I think they live somewhere in Izumi Ward, but—" Yuji's eyes widened as he recalled something. "They mentioned they were going to unwrap the seals tonight."

Fushiguro's face darkened. "If they do that, people could die."

Before Fushiguro could call for Shin, the latter casually approached, having overheard the situation. With just a brief explanation, the three of them rushed out of the hospital. Outside, Shin's white wolf spirit emerged from the shadows, and the group hurried toward the school, Yuji joining out of concern for his friends.

Shin already knew the finger was still at the school but hadn't intervened earlier. He figured Yuji's friends would survive, and it was better they learned their lesson. After all, this time there were professionals to handle it, but what if they encountered something like this again with no one around?

Besides, Sukuna's finger would eventually become a part of Yuji, his cheat, though not an easy one to control. And during his future battle with Mahito, it would save him and heavily injure the curse. Speaking of Mahito, Shin would need to exorcise him someday.

Lost in thought about how to ensure Yuji swallowed Sukuna's finger later, Shin suddenly sensed a surge of cursed energy. This was definitely a Special Grade! Was it targeting them?

Fushiguro and Yuji also felt the oppressive energy, though Yuji couldn't pinpoint it. The white wolf's hackles raised in response to the threat. Shin turned to the others. "You two head to the school and retrieve the cursed object. I'll handle this and meet up with you later."

Splitting off from Fushiguro, Shin pursued the source of the cursed energy but only found traces of residual curses. There were no cursed spirits in sight. Frowning, Shin continued to search, using his technique to scour the area, but still found nothing. It was as if the cursed energy was a mirage.

"Someone's deliberately luring me away," Shin concluded. He thought of Mahito and other powerful cursed spirits. Was this their doing? Realizing the danger Fushiguro might face at the school, Shin immediately headed back. Whoever was behind this interference clearly had plans.

Meanwhile, under the moonlight on the rooftop of a tall building, two figures stood. One had a humanoid form but with a head shaped like a volcano, a gaping mouth, and a single large vertical eye. The other, a shadowed figure with a more normal human form, observed the night.

The volcano-headed figure spoke with impatience, "Is all this necessary? Are you really that worried about that brat? Let me take care of him."

The man standing in the shadows stretched out his hand, and an eerie figure that had appeared on the rooftop was suddenly sucked into his sleeve. Smiling, he responded to the volcano-headed figure beside him, "Don't underestimate him. You've seen the reports, right? He's exorcised multiple special-grade curses on his own, and he handles first and second-grade missions effortlessly. He's already a special-grade sorcerer, and he's still so young. Plus, he has a close relationship with Satoru Gojo. From what I've heard, his technique is almost unbelievable."

Volcano-head snorted, sending sparks from his head. "That's just intel. No technique is unbeatable. You won't know how strong he is until you fight him. And as for your so-called 'strongest' Satoru Gojo, I don't believe he's invincible!"

The man in the shadows smirked, "Didn't your companion face off against that boy already? You should have some idea of what he's capable of by now. As for Gojo Satoru, you'll understand soon enough." With that, he shifted against the wall and began to move. "Let's go. We've been discovered, and staying here is pointless. The goal is almost achieved anyway."

Volcano-head, still disdainful, followed. "Mahito hasn't fully grasped his power yet; he's just been born. That doesn't mean anything." The two disappeared into the open door of the rooftop, fading into the dense darkness.

At 9:23 PM, at Sugizawa Third High School, the seal on the special-grade cursed object—Sukuna's finger—was broken. As the curse revealed itself, other curses were drawn to it.

Sasaki, terrified, hid in a corner, her hand covering her mouth. She could hear the mutterings of the grotesque creatures wandering the hallways. After she and Iguchi had removed the talisman from the dry finger, strange things had begun to happen.

She could see these bizarre, nightmarish creatures! After one crawled from the ceiling, she and Iguchi had fled in panic, but they got separated. The hallway was filled with a curse that endlessly repeated, "What time is it?" and Sasaki, overwhelmed with fear, could only hide and try to keep quiet.

Then she saw a figure emerge from the shadows ahead, and she recognized the familiar school uniform and figure. "Iguchi? Where have you been? I finally found you—"

Her words were swallowed as she realized what was in front of her. Iguchi's head was completely covered by a basketball-sized creature with many eyes and small, hand-like appendages.

"Help me..."

She barely made out Iguchi's voice, muffled by the curse clinging to him. Sasaki's blood ran cold, her mind freezing in terror. To make matters worse, the creature in the hallway—repeating "What time is it?"—had noticed them and was now approaching.

Just as Fushiguro arrived, with his two Shikigami, the twin dogs, clearing the way, he saw Sasaki and Iguchi both unconscious, being dragged into the grotesque, mud-like body of a massive curse. He was still too far to reach them in time.

"Damn it… I'm not going to make it."

Just as he crossed his hands to summon another Shikigami, the hallway window suddenly shattered. A figure leaped through the broken glass, and with a powerful kick, knocked the curse to the ground. The figure then scooped up Sasaki and Iguchi, jumping back to safety.

"That's… Itadori Yuji? How did he get here, and this is the fourth floor!"

Indeed, it was Yuji, who had somehow climbed up the outside of the building and kicked the curse hard enough to knock it down. Fushiguro glanced at his Shikigami, the white dog, which looked back innocently as if to say, "I'm just a dog. Don't expect me to stop him."

Fushiguro stopped summoning another Shikigami, taking advantage of the situation. He charged at the struggling curse, unleashing a punch infused with cursed energy, sending it flying into the hallway wall, shattering the windows in the process. Before it could recover, Fushiguro struck again, finishing it off.

The curse wasn't particularly strong, likely only a second or third-grade. Watching as the two Shikigami—the black and white dogs—devoured it, Yuji seemed puzzled.

"That was a curse? I thought curses would be more like ghosts from horror movies. And those dogs…?"

Fushiguro turned to him. "You can see curses and my Shikigami?"

As Yuji stared at him, confused, Fushiguro explained, "Normal people can't see curses unless they're near death or in extremely rare circumstances."

Yuji thought for a moment. "That's true, I've never seen any ghosts or spirits before."

He then noticed something on the ground—a dry, shriveled finger. "Is this the special-grade cursed object you mentioned?"

Fushiguro's eyes widened. "Quick, give it to me! It's dangerous."

"Oh." Yuji began to hand it over, but out of the corner of Fushiguro's eye, he saw the ceiling ripple like disturbed water. Before he could react, he pushed Yuji aside and ordered his Shikigami to grab both Sasaki and the unconscious Iguchi, pulling them away.

"Run!"

The ceiling collapsed, sending a cloud of dust into the air. "Fushiguro!" Yuji shouted in panic, fearing the worst.

As the dust settled, Yuji saw Fushiguro, still alive but gripped tightly by a massive curse, a grotesque creature with six arms and numerous uneven, black eyes glaring down at him.

Fushiguro, struggling in the curse's grasp, began forming a hand seal to summon another Shikigami, but the curse tightened its grip. With a blur of motion, it hurled him into the wall, cracking it like a web. Fushiguro coughed up blood.

The twin dogs, weakened by their master's injury, dissolved into shadows.

"Damn it..."

As the curse bore down on him, preparing to devour its prey, its head was suddenly slammed to the ground by a powerful kick from Yuji, who had leaped from above. Fushiguro saw the whole thing clearly, his eyes wide with disbelief.

But this curse wasn't like the last one. Yuji would die if he tried to fight it.

Barely able to stand, Fushiguro called out, "Only a curse can defeat another curse! Without cursed energy, you can't hurt it."

Yuji, still wiping blood from his mouth, asked, "So why are these things trying to steal the finger?"

Fushiguro, confused by the sudden question, answered automatically. "To absorb it and gain more power."

Without hesitation, Yuji grabbed the finger and swallowed it whole. "Then if I eat it, I'll get cursed energy too, right?"

Fushiguro, unable to stop him in time, could only watch in horror as Yuji swallowed the cursed object. He feared the worst. "What if…"

For a moment, there was silence. Then, something changed. A dark, malevolent energy filled the air, and Yuji's body twitched. The curse, sensing something off, hesitated.

Then, in a blur of motion, Yuji struck the curse, sending it flying with one powerful swipe. Black markings spread across his skin as Sukuna's evil energy took over.

Sukuna, grinning maniacally, flexed Yuji's body, basking in the sensation of being alive once again. "Ah… this is what it's like to feel the light with a real body!"

His eyes gleamed with violent pleasure as he looked down at Fushiguro. "And now, to have some fun…"

Fushiguro, seeing Sukuna's revival, felt his heart sink. "This is the worst-case scenario... Sukuna has returned."

Just as Fushiguro was about to make his move, Sukuna suddenly flinched, his arm raised as if to block something. In an instant, his left shoulder exploded in a burst of blood, and a faint trail of cursed energy dissipated in the air.

"Shin!"

Shin Shuichi appeared beside Fushiguro, placing a hand on his shoulder and using Reverse Cursed Technique to heal him. "I've got it from here," Shin said calmly. "This is more complicated than I thought. Someone led me away intentionally. I'll explain later."

Sukuna, examining his wound with a smirk, turned to face Shin. "That attack… too fast to see. But interesting. You… might be fun to kill."

Shin smiled. "I've been wanting to see for myself if the legendary Ryomen Sukuna is as strong as they say. Let's find out."

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