A Real Man

"Looking at the timing, the matter with the Time Vessel Association should be starting soon."

A weak ball of light flickered in Ren's hand. Countless possible futures seemed to shift inside it.

This was Moving.

The ability to move all forces in the world.

Ren vaguely remembered that in the original story, when Satoru Gojo was in his second year, he had accepted the mission that would change him completely.

The Time Vessel Association.

Protecting the girl who would become Tengen's next vessel.

After that mission, Gojo had truly become the invincible man from the original story.

But now, because of Ren, the original course of events had been broken. Gojo, who should have grasped the true power of his technique only after that incident, had already been forced forward by Ren's pressure. He had nearly refined Limitless to its current peak and had even touched the power he called Fantasy, the nothingness that existed outside the finite and infinite.

Ren had changed Gojo's path.

But he could not stop the mission itself from appearing.

The Star Plasma Vessel mission still fell on Gojo and Geto. Ren, who should have had nothing to do with it, could use Moving to pull out fragments of the future hidden inside that matter.

After years in this world, the gears of fate finally began to turn.

Only one thing was different.

In the original story, there had never been a Divine Kingdom Cult.

This was something that appeared because Ren had arrived. No, more precisely, it was something that had appeared ahead of schedule because of him.

Ren looked lazily at the light in his hand. His mouth curved with an unreadable smile.

What kind of existence was Tengen?

That question genuinely interested him.

An old being who had lived for thousands of years. A person who carried the entire jujutsu world with his own body.

Was he truly that selfless?

If Tengen carried the jujutsu world on his shoulders, did that not also mean he held the jujutsu world in his palm?

More importantly, when Ren tried to calculate Tengen through his inner landscape, the light ball that appeared nearly filled the whole space.

There were only two possibilities when that happened.

The first was that Tengen's strength exceeded Ren's by dozens of times. Ren did not believe that. A being more than ten times stronger than him sounded like a joke.

The second possibility was that everything about Tengen had a close connection to Ren himself. In the future, countless lines of karma would exist between them.

That made Ren's interest even stronger.

The Divine Kingdom Cult and the Time Vessel Association should not have had any obvious connection, yet Ren's instinct told him there had to be something between them.

The instinct brought by Six Vaults Devourer was close to prediction.

"Interesting things are coming."

An ugly black finger floated before Ren at some point.

It was one of Ryomen Sukuna's fingers, the one Ren had obtained after exorcising that special-grade cursed spirit at sea.

Cursed energy twisted over the finger like a demon's flame rising from an abyss.

In Ren's pale eyes, a blue diagram slowly turned.

Sukuna's finger. The Divine Kingdom Cult. The Time Vessel Association.

Three thick lines of karma connected them tightly.

"Ryomen Sukuna. I am looking forward to meeting you."

Ren looked at the finger with mild curiosity.

"I wonder how many of my fingers the power of your twenty fingers is worth."

Cursed energy erupted from his body. His figure vanished from the rooftop, leaving only the elegant wisteria chair swaying slowly in the wind.

At the same time, Toji Fushiguro sat on a park bench with a can of cold beer in his hand.

Before him knelt a sturdy-looking boy.

The boy did not look old, but his face carried a strange maturity. It was not Nanami's kind of maturity. This boy radiated an indescribable manly aura.

"Kid, do you really want to become my disciple?" Toji asked.

He had just been rejected by his son again for who knew how many times and had come to the park to drink alone. By accident, he had stepped a little too hard and cracked the ground.

This boy had seen it.

Then the boy had walked over, dropped to his knees without a second word, and insisted on becoming his student.

If this had been the old Toji, he would never have bothered with some brat whose hair had barely grown in. But Toji now was very different from before.

After Kento Nanami joined the agency, Toji had basically become idle. Other than a few missions at the beginning, he spent his days as a hands-off second boss, just like Ren.

After the Jujutsu Hall incident, he dragged back four useful fools as temporary workers and fully entered the life of doing nothing.

After tasting the benefits of useful labor, Toji had developed a strange interest in capturing more useful labor.

But plenty of people wanted to join the agency, and almost none of them were worth his attention.

Nanami's talent was near the top of this generation, excluding people like Gojo and Geto. The four temporary workers had been able to join Jujutsu Hall, which meant each of them was a genuine Grade 1 sorcerer.

They had looked weak only because they stood before Ren and Toji.

This boy kneeling before him was different.

The reason Toji was patiently sitting here was that he could see the boy's terrifying physical quality. At the same age, Toji might not have been much stronger.

More importantly, the boy carried cursed energy and the seed of a cursed technique.

Toji's Heavenly Restriction made cursed energy look as obvious to him as lanterns in the dark.

"I like women with big butts and tall bodies," the boy said.

Toji stared at him.

Several black lines seemed to appear over his head.

"I asked why you want to become my disciple. Why are you answering that? Are kids these days too mature?"

The boy stood abruptly. His eyes were wide, though they were still not large.

"My name is Aoi Todo. Please train me so I can become a real man."

His tone was firm enough to shake the air.

Todo had been training his body in the park every day because he wanted revenge against Ren, the man who had once frightened him so badly he wet himself. Without realizing it, even the prototype of cursed energy and a cursed technique had begun to emerge in him.

Compared with that day, his strength had improved greatly.

Then he saw Toji casually crack the ground with one step.

In that instant, Todo felt as if he had seen a sliver of dawn in endless darkness.

I must become his student.

That thought filled his mind.

The future master of imagination had already begun showing his potential. Inside his head, he had already become Toji's disciple. The two of them trained together under sunset, soaked in hot springs under evening light, and ran drenched in sweat across the mountain behind a sports field.

Tears poured from Todo's eyes.

Only one second had passed outside, yet in his mind, he had already studied under Toji for years.

"Master! I will not disappoint you!"

Toji felt as if his head had filled with question marks.

What was this unlucky kid talking about?

If Toji had not currently been enjoying the thrill of collecting useful workers, he would already have left.

Heavenly Restriction did not only grant a terrifying body. It also granted instinct. It was far from the almost prophetic level of Six Vaults Devourer, but it still told Toji that this reckless boy would achieve something in the future.

Even without that instinct, Todo's physical strength and budding cursed technique made him a perfect useful worker.

And the agency already had Nanami. A task like raising children could simply be thrown to him.

Thinking of that, Toji smiled.

He took a sip of cold beer.

"Kid, if you want to learn from me, you will suffer."

"A real man does not fear suffering. If he fears suffering, he is not a real man."

Todo beat his chest until it thudded. His eyes shone as if becoming a real man were the greatest goal in the world.

"Interesting. Come with me. Let me see what kind of man you can become."

For some reason, Toji actually felt a little anticipation. What kind of chaos would a lively kid like this cause inside the agency?

The thought of serious-faced Kento Nanami meeting this reckless boy made Toji want to laugh.

Nanami, I recruited this kid so your days will not be too boring. No need to thank me too much.

Walking beside Toji, Todo noticed the wicked curve of his teacher's mouth and scratched his head shyly.

"Master, may I ask a question?"

Being called someone's master made Toji uncomfortable all over.

Over the years, people had called him executioner, monster, assassin, and plenty worse. No one had ever called him teacher. Even curse users who learned countless killing techniques from him had never used that word.

Something strange stirred in his chest.

He had always been alone until Ren beat him down and made him an employee of the agency. That was the first defeat of Toji's life, and the first time he learned how bitter losing could be.

At some point, many people had appeared around him. For a man who had always been solitary, it felt almost like a dream.

"Ask, brat."

He reached out and rubbed Todo's round head. The stubble was prickly.

"Master..."

Todo's face became solemn.

"What kind of woman is your type?"

The emotion Toji had just felt vanished.

"You little..."

He kicked Todo in the backside. Todo flew like a ball toward the park entrance. Fortunately, the boy was tough. Anyone else might have fainted.

In midair, Todo's expression became strangely resolute.

This is Master's test.

That's right.

It has to be.

I will become an excellent real man and defeat that demon.

In Todo's mind, the smiling black-haired young man was practically a demon king. The wails of cursed spirits and demonic whispers echoed around him. He imagined himself as a hero finding a hidden master and preparing to defeat a legendary evil.

Fantasy was beautiful.

Reality was cruel.

What awaited him was not a mysterious mountain valley. It was an agency with four fools and one stern old soul.

And his future superior would be the demon king he wanted to defeat.

Ren Zenin.

Even with his backside burning, Todo felt excited.

Many years later, when he became one of the undisputed leaders of the jujutsu world and was known as a real man, Todo would still cry whenever he remembered this journey.

Everyone would think he was moved by the earnest teachings of his mentor, Toji Fushiguro.

Only Todo knew.

He was crying for his own innocence.

x

x

x

If you're enjoying the story so far, consider supporting me on Patreon ❤️
You'll get weekly early access to chapters, along with some exclusive content:

https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheDevotedReader