Jujutsu Kaisen — Chapter 27 - Ten Shadows Technique, the Miracle of Zero Cursed Energy
Alright.
A muscle-head blinded by youth and hot blood. A prodigiously gifted but wildly unruly problem child. And now, yet another "Star of Hope" who might have inherited a legendary technique.
The future of the Jujutsu World seemed to be barreling toward something utterly unpredictable, and absolutely chaotic.
Masamichi Yaga pulled a small black cube from his drawer. Intricate patterns covered every face. He set it on the desk.
He removed his glasses and fixed Megumi Fushiguro with a gaze that didn't need to raise its voice to command a room.
"Kid."
"Put your hand on it."
The black cube sat motionless on the desk.
An inert, lifeless thing, and yet it radiated a cold that crawled across the skin.
"Cursed Tool: 'Spirit Lure.' It forcibly extracts latent Cursed Energy." He stared at the four-year-old. "Feels like having your bone marrow sucked out. If you can't handle it, go home."
Megumi didn't let go.
Toji, uncharacteristically, had dropped his usual loose-mouthed act. He crossed his arms. His jawline pulled taut, sharp as a blade's edge.
"Go on, Megumi. Prove your youth."
Megumi drew a deep breath and slammed his small palm flat against the cube.
Yaga's fingertip tapped the base.
BZZT!
An invisible crushing weight slammed down like a falling wall.
Megumi let out a muffled grunt. The color bled from his face instantly.
His knees buckled. He bit down hard on his lower lip. His nails gouged into the solid wood edge of the desk, carving five raw, bloody streaks into the grain.
Too heavy.
Even breathing felt like it was tearing his windpipe apart.
It was as if red-hot iron wire had been shoved into his veins, now frantically trying to burrow its way out.
CRACK!
The floor beneath Megumi's feet split apart.
The boards under Toji's feet turned to powder.
The murderous aura of the Sorcerer Killer tore free from its leash. The temperature in the office plunged to freezing.
Bloody welts opened across his palms as he crushed the urge to step in.
The Jujutsu World was a meat grinder. Megumi had to grow his own fangs.
"Let go." Yaga's voice was cold. "No resolve, go back to kindergarten."
Megumi Fushiguro raised his head. His gaze didn't waver.
Go back to the ordinary world. Watch with a clear conscience while his idiot father fought to the death alone.
Never.
"AHHH—!" The child's hoarse roar tore through the room.
BANG! The ceiling light exploded overhead.
Glass rained down in every direction. From beneath it, dense, viscous, ice-cold Cursed Energy erupted like a volcano blowing its lid. The thin shadow under Megumi's feet became a churning black swamp, swallowing the light around it whole.
From somewhere deep in that darkness came the heavy, ragged breathing of a beast.
"Woof!"
A crisp bark split the silence.
A pure white hunting dog leaped out of the shadow. A red mark burned on its forehead, its body lean and quick. It lowered its head and pressed its muzzle gently against Megumi's trembling knees.
The shadow churned again.
A massive jet-black dog crashed down and planted itself between Megumi and Yaga. It arched its spine and bared white fangs. A low, rolling growl built in its throat.
Masamichi Yaga shoved to his feet. His chair toppled behind him.
The Ten Shadows Technique.
The peak bloodline of the Three Great Families. The technique capable of going head-to-head with the Gojo clan's Limitless. Something that appeared once every few hundred years, if that.
It had awakened in a four-year-old?
BOOM!
The solid wood door flew off its hinges.
"I smelled wild dogs from halfway across the building."
The white-haired youth strolled through the doorway with both hands in his pockets like he owned the place.
Suguru Geto followed behind him, looking exhausted. "Satoru. Easy. This door can't take much more."
Gojo Satoru didn't even glance at him.
He crossed the room in long strides and stopped directly in front of Megumi Fushiguro.
A slender finger hooked down his round sunglasses.
The Six Eyes, brilliant and cold as cut gemstones, swept over the shadow on the floor and the two dogs. They took everything apart. They saw everything through.
Harmonized shadows. Ten shikigami.
Gojo Satoru went still for one full second.
"Ha—"
His shoulders started shaking. Then the laughter hit, explosive and unhinged, loud enough to rattle the walls.
He doubled over, pointing at the green gorilla standing beside him who looked like he'd just taken a lightning bolt to the skull.
"Geto! You seeing this?! The Ten Shadows Technique! The one those pickled old men in the Zenin clan would sell their souls to get their hands on!"
"It came from a zero-Cursed Energy, green-spandex maniac who only knows how to scream about youth!"
"HAHAHAHAHA! This is the greatest comedy of the century! The Zenin clan's founding ancestors must be clawing through their coffin lids right now!"
Suguru Geto's mouth twitched hard.
The contrast was genuinely devastating. The Zenin clan's face had just been slapped raw.
Toji had no attention to spare for Gojo Satoru.
He was staring at the two dogs.
The Ten Shadows Technique. From my descendant. From Toji Fushiguro's own bloodline.
He reached out and poked a rough finger toward the white dog.
It passed through the illusory form. But the residual Cursed Energy ripple left behind was unmistakably real.
It was real.
Megumi turned his head.
His whole body was shaking from the drain. But those green eyes were wide open, burning with something that had no business being in a four-year-old's face.
"Dad." His voice was small and hoarse, carrying a stubborn intensity that didn't belong to a child his age. "I have value now."
"I can stay. Right?"
The words hit like a blade that had been sitting in cold water.
To hell with the Ten Shadows Technique.
He didn't care about the dogs. What he cared about was that Megumi finally, finally wouldn't have to walk the same rotten road he had.
Toji's arm shot out.
He scooped Megumi up and pulled him hard against his chest, holding on tight.
The two Divine Dogs circled them, tails swinging.
"Bullshit!" Toji's roar rattled the windows. "What do you mean value?! You are the son of me — the great Azure Beast! Even if you had zero talent for Jujutsu, you'd still be my son! You hear me?!"
He hoisted Megumi up onto one shoulder, lifted his chin, and turned a challenging look on Yaga.
"Old man! You see that?! That right there is a miracle of youth, grown from sweat!"
Masamichi Yaga pressed two fingers against his throbbing temple.
Youth miracle his ass. This was a genetic jackpot.
Gojo Satoru whipped out his phone and rapid-fired a burst of photos at the father and son. CLICK CLICK CLICK.
"Geto. Work time." He spun the phone between his fingers, a deeply unpleasant smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.
"We need that kid's file buried. Top secret. The kind that even the old dogs over at Jujutsu Headquarters can't sniff out."
"Ten Shadows awakening leaks, and the Zenin clan comes snarling. They will try to take him."
He slid his sunglasses back into place. Through the lenses, his azure eyes locked onto the tall green figure across the room. Battle hunger and excitement churned together in his gaze.
"Since this muscle idiot is dead-set on being a teacher, " Gojo Satoru rolled his neck. His joints cracked. "I changed my mind. I'm getting a hand in this kid's training."
He grinned. The smile was borderline unhinged.
"I want to find out for myself, when this kid's all grown up, which one hits harder. His Ten Shadows, or my Limitless."
Suguru Geto shrugged.
Megumi Fushiguro pulled free from his father's arms and walked forward.
"I'm staying."
4 years old. Both hands gripped the edge of Masamichi Yaga's desk, his small face set like stone.
"Kindergarten is full of idiots who play in mud. I want to learn how to control those dogs."
Masamichi Yaga pressed his palm flat against his temple, which was now pounding in earnest.
"Stop this nonsense! Jujutsu High is a school for proper Jujutsu Sorcerers. Do you have any idea how old you are?!"
"I approve."
Toji dropped onto the sofa like he lived there and waved one large hand. Yaga's roar died mid-sentence.
He looked at his son. At those green eyes, burning with a wild and stubborn ambition that Toji recognized down to the bone.
He grinned.
"Ambition is a good thing. Youth is supposed to burn."
He raised one thick finger.
"Two years. That's it. When you turn 6, you go to a normal elementary school. No arguments."
"You need to learn how to be a normal person. Not just a lunatic who kills Cursed Spirits. Understood?"
Megumi nodded without hesitation.
"Deal."
Masamichi Yaga's vision went dark.
He was starting to think this school didn't need a principal anymore.
➤ Next: Embers of the Bonfire, The Storm Approaches