Chapter Text
Smoke, ash and blood filled Yuji’s nostrils and stung his eyes to the point that tears were streaming down his cheeks. Muscles torn, bones broken, lungs heaving to suck in any air possible. He’d long since exhausted his reverse cursed technique, his reserves utterly depleted. Even his superhuman pain tolerance had failed him, as his body no longer refused to listen to him no matter how hard he tried.
Shinjuku – no, all of Tokyo was gone. Buildings had been carved up into nothing, corpses turned to ash and the hills levelled. There was nobody left to fight back. High in the sky, partially hidden by all the smoke and ash was the monstrosity that came from the Merger. Tokyo may have been dead, but the rest of Japan had been absorbed into the culmination of Kenjaku’s work, of a massive, formless mutation of every living soul. Now, all that remained were two people.
Choso, who died protecting Yuji from the Malevolent Shrine. Maki and Miwa, skewered on the Split Soul Katana. Ui Ui and Kusakabe, who had both been crushed under a mountain of debris as they’d tried to evacuate civilians from the war zone. Even Ieri-san, who had stood her ground against Uraume when the ice-wielding curse user had come to slaughter the wounded hidden in an abandoned hospital.
Todo, Yuta, Inumaki and Rika, so many good people who had all died. Now, all that was left was Yuji.
He was alone, having fought against Sukuna as hard as he could for a full year and a half. Seventeen years old, and all he had to show for it was a destroyed country and the blood of millions on his hands. No, not his hands. Sukuna’s. Yuji might not have been able to save everyone, but it was Sukuna who’d done the killing.
In some part of him, deep down and buried under hope and an unbreakable will, Yuji had always known it would come down to just him against Sukuna. Ever since he’d eaten that damn finger, he’d just… known. There wasn’t any other explanation for it. Fate – if there even was such a thing, had always seemed to want the final showdown to be just Yuji against Sukuna. His uncle.
That little revelation had explained a lot more than Yuji would ever like to admit. The striking similarities the two had, Yuji’s monstrous strength, his prodigious ability to quickly pick up on cursed techniques – one of those being the same technique that Sukuna had. Sure, knowing the Shrine technique definitely had something to do with Yuji being a vessel for the King of Curses for several months, but ever since Choso died, he’d very quickly learned how to use the technique to the point that he didn’t need to touch objects in order to cut through them.
Despite knowing the Shrine technique though, Yuji hadn’t really used it that much. The thought of using something that Sukuna had given him just made him feel sick.
The last time Yuji had used it, he’d sent such a powerful barrage of Dismantle at Sukuna that the sorcerer had been forced to retreat for a few minutes after he’d killed Todo.
The smoke right in front of Yuji suddenly parted, and he looked up to see the King of Curses himself towering above him. He was still using Megumi’s body, but the two faces, four arms (one of which was still severed), two mouths and tattoos made him completely unrecognisable from Yuji’s friend. Sukuna looked smug, but the wounds Yuji and his allies had inflicted were still taking their time to heal, even with his returned reverse cursed technique.
“You’re still breathing, brat?” questioned Sukuna mockingly.
Yuji gave his foe a bloodstained grin. “Still here,” he said.
Sukuna scoffed. “Typical. In spite of your pathetic weakness, you don’t seem to die,” he sneered.
“Like a cockroach in a nuke,” muttered Yuji. When Sukuna frowned in confusion, Yuji shook his head. “Whatever, bad analogy,” he said. He then sighed and looked back up. The effort to do so made his neck protest in searing pain but he persisted. “Thought you would have gloated about your victory more.”
“No, it’s not worth it on someone as useless as you,” said Sukuna. “At the end, I proved you wrong.”
“Is that so?” laughed Yuji, but he had to stop because his laugh forced him to almost keel over as a coughing fit rattled his body. As he straightened back up, blood was pouring from his mouth and down his chin, but he was still smiling. “If you were right, then why am I still here?”
Sukuna didn’t like that. He kicked Yuji, sending him tumbling backwards through the soot and burning ruins. When he finally stopped rolling, he knew that more bones were broken. He was having even more trouble breathing, and with a simple search through his body using his cursed energy, he noticed that his ribs had punctured through one of his lungs. Without reverse cursed technique, he was going to drown in his own blood.
Yet Yuji forced himself back up onto his knees just as Sukuna appeared once more. “I’m going to kill you now,” he stated flatly. He raised his hand up, palm stretched and aimed at Yuji’s face. Yuji could feel as Sukuna started gathering his cursed energy to deliver the final blow that would finally take his life.
But, Yuji suddenly thought of an idea. A stupid idea, a last act of defiance that would be a final spit in Sukuna’s face. He could almost hear Megumi and Nobara screaming at him for doing something so idiotic.
Just as Sukuna prepared to unleash the same technique that finished Gojo Satoru, Yuji used the last of his strength and shot forward, right fist crackling with cursed energy that turned to sparks of red and black. He let out a roar, and he spotted Sukuna’s many eyes widen in surprise.
Black Flash!
Yuji’s punch didn’t hit Sukuna, but rather collided with the World Cutting Slash itself. Black energy dispersed, warping the very air around them as the Black Flash struck true.
There was a scream, like something was tearing apart as everything shook around Yuji, and then as the sparks of black died, a white blanket enveloped him, pulling him into blissful oblivion.
“Hey, hey kid!” a voice shouted.
Yuji groaned and rolled over, waving off whoever was trying to get him to wake up. “Five more minutes,” he murmured. He would have drifted off right then too, but then he was being shaken.
“Oi kid! Shouldn’t you be at school by now?” said the voice. More quietly, the same voice grumbled, “Damn kids, they get away with everything these days.”
Yuji’s eyes opened, and immediately he felt like his head was splitting open because of the piercing light. It wasn’t just that, but he could hear engines roaring, people talking, shouting, and laughing, and something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
But wait, what the? Yuji bolted up straight, looking around wildly. He blinked once, twice then three times rapidly. He was… in Shibuya? Not just that, but Shibuya Crossing. But… how? The entire place had been levelled by Sukuna during the Incident that got Gojo-sensei sealed. How was it here?
Shibuya also looked different from what he’d remembered. The signs, the billboards, everything seemed older somehow. Yuji also noticed that people’s clothing style was a little different than he remembered. There were more denim jeans, more overalls and – Yuji didn’t even know how to describe the striped, see-through clothes that one guy was wearing. Was that breaking some kind of law of public decency?
Yuji blinked again. Was he dead? If so, why did the afterlife look like Shibuya of all places? Was he in hell, and it had materialised as the place of Yuji’s greatest failure? No, if that was the case, then he would have thought Shinjuku, or any other place where he’d failed to stop Sukuna from killing someone he loved.
But if Yuji was in the afterlife, why did it look a little different than his memories recalled? The place looked closer to how it was depicted in that one Fast And Furious movie that was set in Japan. But wait, if that was the case, then…
“Hey old man!” called out Yuji to the guy who had woken him up. “What’s the date?”
“Who are you calling old?!” the man shouted back. Well, he had a receding hairline and wrinkles on his face…
“Can you just answer the question please?” pressed Yuji in exasperation.
“It’s the seventeenth,” said the man.
“Of?”
“March.”
“What year?”
“Damn boy, did you hit your head?”
“The year please!”
“Geez fine! It’s 2005.”
Yuji froze. “Two-thousand… and five?” he repeated slowly as he felt the colour drain from his face.
The old man’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Have you been drinking?” he asked.
But Yuji didn’t hear him. April 2005. He’d gone back in time?
“What the fuck,” muttered Yuji. He ran his hands through his hair, looked down at his feet and sighed very loudly. “What the fuck?!”
If he was in 2005, then that meant he was only three years old! That meant his mother and father were already gone, and –
Yuji let out a very uncharacteristic, high-pitched squeal. That meant everyone was alive still! All of his friends were still little kids, most of them not having discovered their cursed techniques yet! The others, like Mei Mei, Kusakabe, Utahime-sensei, Ieri-san and Kusakabe were still alive!
Another gasp escaped Yuji before he could stop himself. Gojo-sensei was still alive!
If this wasn’t a twisted dream, then it meant that none of the bad things had happened yet! Gojo-sensei hadn’t been sealed, Nanami-san hadn’t been killed by Mahito, Sukuna hadn’t destroyed Shibuya, Kenjaku hadn’t started the Culling Games and everyone was still alive!
Yuji jumped up onto his feet and bowed to the old man, who looked startled by the boy’s speed. “Thank you old man!” he said gratefully before taking off down the street.
Yuji needed to find get a taxi. He’d reincarnated in the past, wearing the yellow hoodie, jeans and red shoes he’d favoured before becoming a student at Jujutsu High. But somehow, he had a fair bit of cash stored in the pockets of his jeans. Yuji sent up a silent prayer of thanks to whatever god or spirit had blessed him with this opportunity. He wasn’t totally homeless!
At first, Yuji’s initial plan had been to barge into the Tokyo branch of Jujutsu High and warn Gojo-sensei of everything that was gonna happen. But then, as time went on and as he sat alone in the back of the taxi did Yuji realise that wasn’t a good idea at all.
For one thing, Gojo-sensei probably wouldn’t react well to some random, pink-haired kid showed up out of nowhere talking about death and destruction in the future. At best, Gojo-sensei would laugh and say he was a weirdo and at worst, he obliterates Yuji into nothing with a Blue.
Secondly, Yuji wasn’t even sure if Gojo-sensei was even at Jujutsu High yet. Wait no, Yuji recalled a conversation with Ieri-san about her school years growing up with Gojo-sensei. They’d be in their first year of high school by now, with Gojo-sensei already being the strongest in the world. But Yuji remembered Ieri-san mentioning that Gojo hadn’t always been completely untouchable as he was famous for. He’d had to work and train almost as hard as everyone else, even with his prodigious powers and having the Six Eyes.
Yuji frowned then. Gojo-sensei wouldn’t be the complete monster he was when he knew him right now, and Ieri-san had told Yuji that it had been a mission gone horribly wrong that unlocked Gojo-sensei’s true potential.
It had also been the same event that eventually led to Geto Suguru defecting and declaring war against all non-sorcerers.
With that in mind, Yuji realised he couldn’t tell anyone about the future. They wouldn’t believe him if he told them, and he was worried that he’d mess up everything even worse if he did. He needed to keep this to himself.
This was Yuji’s chance at redemption, a chance to fix everything before it even broke. He knew he needed to make sure Geto stayed on their side, because it would give the Jujutsu world a powerful ally while also making sure Kenjaku never had the power to absorb Mahito and use his powers in conjunction with Geto’s to create the Culling Games. This would also stop Kenjaku from taking Geto’s body and cursed technique to begin with.
Yuji also needed to help Gojo-sensei become as strong – no, stronger than he had been in the future. He’d been so close to beating Sukuna, but even he hadn’t been able to stop the King of Curses and died for it. Maybe, by helping Gojo-sensei get stronger, Yuji himself could get more powerful too. He had twelve years, and everyone had said that Yuji had the potential to get as strong as Sukuna because of his connection. If only they’d known just how true that was.
As the drive continued, the beginnings of a plan were beginning to take shape. Stop Geto from turning evil, help Gojo-sensei and himself become stronger than they had ever been, find and kill Kenjaku and his allies, stop the merger and find a way to destroy Sukuna’s fingers before he could reincarnate.
But not long after, Yuji pulled up his sleeves to scratch at the skin underneath and paused, noticing something weird. Under the crossing marks of the dozens of scars, his forearms bore strange markings that snaked upwards, but not just that, they were pulsing with blue light similar to cursed energy. They were tattoos, resembling the serpentine body of a dragon that snaked its way up his forearms and was surrounding by curling, cloudlike formations.
Yuji was fascinated by the tattoos. Of course he was used to having markings under his body, because every time Sukuna had taken over while he was still a vessel, the tattoos the monster sported in life appeared on him too. But these were entirely different, and they glowed. He’d never seen tattoos that did that before. Why did he have them? Were they a mark of a time traveller or something?
There were so many questions going through Yuji’s mind still as the taxi dropped him off. He rolled his sleeves back down to hide the tattoos, thinking that for now they weren’t anything important enough to worry about. They weren’t affecting him in any way yet.
Yuji strolled through the barriers that hid Jujutsu High from the rest of the world, passing under the torii gates as he followed the stone pathway towards the campus. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been to the school, because ever since Shinjuku he’d been doing nothing but fighting. Being back here, it brought back fond memories that made Yuji smile.
He found himself in the main courtyard and looked up at one of the pagodas nearby. The campus was suspiciously quiet, like there wasn’t anybody here. Was there some big mission going on that required everyone to be there? Yuji couldn’t imagine something like that, and he didn’t remember anyone mentioning anything major that happened in 2005. Not with Gojo and Geto still on the same side.
“Hey! You there, what’re you doing?” called out a voice.
Yuji turned his head to the side, only for him to immediately freeze up and raise his fists in a fighting stance. Coming down the stairs from one of the buildings was Suguru Geto, infamous special grade curse user who became the host of Kenjaku. He was much younger than Yuji had ever seen him, with all of his hair except for a couple of bangs on the front left side of his head neatly tied up in a bun at the back. He was also wearing the standard Jujutsu uniform, with the only exception being the overly baggy pants. Yuji was used to Kenjaku wearing a monk’s robes instead of something more… modern. There also weren’t any stitches across his forehead, and Geto seemed more relaxed and carefree in his expression. However, that was underlaid with a cautious look as he narrowed his eyes slightly at Yuji’s defensiveness.
“Sorry,” muttered Yuji as he relaxed his stance.
Geto shrugged and came over closer to Yuji. He’s not the guy who wiped out an entire village yet, thought Yuji. From what Ieri-san had told him, Geto used to be a great guy, and the only person Gojo-sensei had ever truly respected.
But, there had to be something already there for Geto to snap, right?
“Don’t worry about it,” said Geto easily. “I’m Geto Suguru, what’s your name?”
“Ita – Toriyama Yuji,” said Yuji. Why in the fuck did he just lie? He surprised himself, but quickly decided that for now, it would be better. If his younger self ever showed up in the future, Yuji was gonna have a really hard time explaining why they had the same name and looked exactly alike.
“Toriyama, huh? Any relation to the guy who made Dragon Ball?” said Geto.
“Oh – er… not related, at least as far as I know,” said Yuji lamely, scratching the back of his head. This just backfired really badly.
Geto however, didn’t seem to notice Yuji’s discomfort as he laughed. “It’s fine. Sorry, I should have mentioned this because you probably didn’t know,” he said. “The barriers activated when you passed through, so I was sent here to see what was up. How old are you?”
“Fifteen,” said Yuji on reflex, then realised that wasn’t true at all. But he couldn’t back out now.
Geto’s smile widened so much that his eyes nearly disappeared. “Oh really? Same here! That means you’re a first year like me, Shoko and Satoru,” he said happily.
Yuji perked up then. “Gojo’s here?” he asked.
“Mhm,” said Geto with a knowing expression. He smirked and bushed fingers against his uniform to clean an invisible blemish. “You’ve heard of him too huh? That means you’ve got some experience in the jujutsu world.”
“Uh, yeah I do, I guess,” said Yuji uneasily.
“Lucky. My parents are non-sorcerers so I had no idea what was going on at first. Imagine my surprise when I came here to Jujutsu High and they promoted me to special grade right off the bat,” said Geto. “Come, I’ll tell you more about it while we go meet up with Yaga-sensei.”
Yaga-sensei? That means he’s not principal yet, thought Yuji.
As they walked, Yuji quickly came to learn that Geto was nothing like what he’d envisioned him. He thought he’d be more like Kenjaku; cold, disinterested, arrogant and far too intelligent for any one person to comprehend. From the way that Ieri-san had described it, Geto had been all these things and more. And yet, the Geto here was just like any other teenager. Funny, easy to smile but a little more reserved. He was like if Megumi had a sense of humour.
Yuji found himself having a hard time reconciling his initial perception of Geto with a teen walking beside him.
Eventually, Geto took Yuji to the very same building where he’d first met Principal Yaga. It hadn’t changed at all, though Principal Yaga – who was sitting down messing around with one of his many plushies – had a different hairstyle that wasn’t much more than a stylised buzz cut. In the future, Principal Yaga had been murdered by the Higher Ups simply because he’d been Gojo and Geto’s teacher, as well as Yuji’s principal. According to Panda, they’d blamed him for everything in some convoluted use of mental gymnastics.
I should add ‘kill the Higher Ups,’ on my list of things to do, thought Yuji darkly.
When Yuji was ushered inside, Geto offered him a comforting smile before sliding the door shut.
“Who are you?” asked Principal Yaga in that deep, resounding voice of his.
“Toriyama Yuji,” answered Yuji, recalling the lie he’d told Geto earlier as he bowed.
“How did you know about this school?” asked Yaga.
“Um… I just do?” said Yuji.
Principal Yaga’s eyebrow lifted. “Oh? So you can see cursed spirits? Do you possess a cursed technique?”
“Yes,” answered Yuji truthfully.
“Have you ever fought a cursed spirit?”
Oh boy, have I ever, thought Yuji sarcastically, but he nodded.
Principal Yaga looked thoughtful as he stroked his goatee. “Hm, probably wasn’t the best question, given I can see your scars from here,” he said.
“Scars? Eh?!” exclaimed Yuji as he started running his hands over his face. Under his fingertips, he could feel the slight bump of skin that ran over his face between his eyes, as well as the one that started from the corner of his mouth on the left side and stretched out along his cheek. Both scars, caused by his final battle against Mahito in Shibuya.
Guess my body’s still the same from when I died.
“Oh, yeah. I’ve had a few run-ins with some cursed spirits,” said Yuji quietly.
Principal Yaga let out a harrumph. “Well then, Toriyama Yuji. Why do you want to become a jujutsu sorcerer?” he asked.
Unlike the first time that he’d been asked this question, so long ago in the future, Yuji didn’t need to think twice about his answer. “I wanna kill cursed spirits,” he said.
“Why?” pressed Yaga.
“Because they killed the people I love the most. I want payback, and a chance to… I suppose, redeem myself?” Yuji took a deep breath, his fists clenching at his sides. He looked at his future principal with a hard expression. “I want to become stronger than anyone else, so that no one I know and come to care about will have to go through what I’ve experienced. Curses are evil, and I wanna make sure they don’t hurt anyone else. I wanna hurt them even more than they’ve hurt me.”
“That’s a very optimistic way of thinking,” said Yaga. “You do realise that you won’t be able to save everyone?”
“I know,” said Yuji truthfully. “But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop trying anyway.”
Yaga was quiet for a long moment. “Well, as far as answers go that’s not the most original, but I can tell you actually believe that unlike others,” he said at last. He sighed then and stood up. “Alright then. Welcome Yuji, to Jujutsu High.”
Was it really that easy? Yuji wondered after he was allowed out back into the school. He was currently following one of the managers (who was neither Ijichi or Nitta) to the dorms, and he was certain that at some point one of the future principal’s puppets was going to try and punch him or something.
Yuji shrugged. Whatever, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
“This is your room,” said Geto, stopping in front of a closed door. Yuji felt his throat constrict slightly. It was the same room he’d used in the future, the one right next to Megumi’s.
Unaware of Yuji’s inner turmoil, Geto continued. “I’m two doors down on the right, and next to mine is Satoru’s. Shoko’s all the way down at the end of the hall – but I’d advise against going down there. She’s very private with her stuff and can be quite er… well, you’ll have to see.”
“Eh?” said Yuji. “What? Will she punch me or something?”
“Something like that,” replied Geto with an easy smile. Yuji noted he did that a lot. Maybe he’s less like Megumi than I thought. “Anyway, I’m off. Got a mission soon and I wanna take a nap. Also, one of the faculty members will come around at some point to test you and see what grade of a sorcerer you are. Oh, and Satoru and Shoko will probably see you in a bit, if they’ve heard about you by now.”
With a wave, Suguru walked down the hall and into his room, leaving Yuji to stand there awkwardly by himself. He took a breath, steeling himself before entering.
There really wasn’t much to describe of the room. His bed was propped up against the right side of the back wall in the corner, which was devoid of the pin-up poster he used to have, with the back sliding door/window shut with the see-through blinds shut for privacy. His desk and chair were situated neatly against the wall on the left, next to his wardrobe. Other than that, it was bland but tidy. Yuji remembered that when he was hanging out with his friends, they usually went to Megumi’s room because Nobara hated his pin-up poster and it was generally a mess.
In time, Yuji would make the room more homely once he had the chance to go back to Tokyo. He’d buy more clothes – cheap ones, because although the universe had given him money, it wasn’t nearly enough to get the kind of stuff he used to wear until he started getting paid to exorcise curses – some stationary and supplies for school and – well, maybe not another pin-up, Yuji felt like he’d grown past that sort of stuff after everything he’d been through.
He didn’t even know any models from 2005, anyway.
But as he got more accustomed to his new/old room, Yuji suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion nearly overcome him to the point that he started swaying.
“Oh man, time travel must have some serious side effects,” he muttered to himself as he rubbed at his temples. He sat down on the bed, fighting the urge to close his eyes.
If I just take a couple of minutes to rest my eyes, I should be okay, thought Yuji as he lay down. But oblivion overcame him very shortly after.
When Yuji awoke, he could tell it was the next day because of the way the light from outside was filtering through the see-through blinds, and the fact that his stomach was rumbling. Sitting up, Yuji rubbed his eyes and let out a wide yawn before stretching and getting up. He couldn’t remember what he’d dreamed about, but he felt well-rested and ready for anything. He just needed to have breakfast and he’d be good to go!
A sudden thought struck Yuji, reminding him of something. Feeling curious about his new tattoos, he rushed over to his wardrobe and opened the door that had a full body mirror attached to it and pulled off his hoodie and shirt. Just as he’d suspected, the glowing tattoos went all the way up from his wrists to his shoulders and part of his chest. His deltoids were home to the dragons’ snarling faces, their eyes alight with fierce anger.
“What the hell,” muttered Yuji. He moved both arms around, trying to look at the tattoos from all angles. They were identical, but Yuji had never really wanted to get tattoos. Sure, they looked cool and the glowing effect was badass, but how did he even get them in the first place? Had it been a result of his time travelling?
It wasn’t just the tattoos that stood out to Yuji. Even though he was in a body that was a couple of years younger than when he’d died, he still sported all of the scars from his battles. The facial scars from his final battle against Mahito, the long, thin lines from all the times that he’d been hit by Sukuna’s Cleave and Dismantle techniques that crisscrossed all over his arms and torso (including the massive one that had nearly cut him in half), and some of the nastier ones that had simply healed over naturally after he lost his ability to use reverse cursed technique from burnout. Yuji hadn’t really ever had time to take a look at his long list of injuries back then, but now, as he stared at his body, it looked like he’d been torn to shreds then stitched back together again.
And his eyes. Gone were the light brown, replaced by a deep, swirling red like running blood. They practically glowed in the dim light of the dorm room, and while they weren’t like Sukuna’s eyes, they were close enough that Yuji was starting to feel uncomfortable just looking at himself.
Sighing, Yuji threw his shirt and hoodie back on, and just in time too because his dorm door opened up all of a sudden.
“Heyo! Heard there’s a new student here!” shouted a familiar voice.
Yuji thought his heart stopped for a second. There, leaning against the doorway was a teenage version of his teacher. Gojo Satoru, the strongest sorcerer of the modern age.