Kenjaku had sought out Sōjun Minamoto just to witness this moment.
He had gone to great lengths to set the stage, and without a proper audience, it would lose some of its flair.
After confirming Sukuna's successful resurrection, the two left before Satoru Gojo could arrive.
What followed was straightforward—collect the fingers, have Itadori consume them all, and Sukuna would fully return. Kenjaku didn't even need to lift a finger; Jujutsu Headquarters would be scrambling to find them regardless.
That was why he had guided Itadori to eat the finger in front of the Jujutsu High staff.
Everything was going according to plan.
Itadori, as the vessel Kenjaku had meticulously cultivated, didn't disappoint. Just a few fingers in, and he could already unleash that portion of Sukuna's power.
Back at Kenjaku's residence, he handed over three fingers.
"Here, found these recently."
"That's it?" Sōjun Minamoto accepted them.
Several years had passed in the outside world, and only three fingers had turned up. Clearly, not much effort had gone into the search.
He resealed the fingers.
Including these three, he now had eleven in total. Itadori had just eaten one, leaving eight still out there.
"I'm about to make a move. Don't vanish again—missing it would be a real shame," Kenjaku reminded him seriously.
He still wanted Sōjun Minamoto to witness what was to come.
"Also, keep an eye on Itadori for me."
Sōjun Minamoto nodded. He understood what Kenjaku was planning. It aligned with his own goals—on this front, they were in agreement.
Soon after, Sōjun Minamoto took his leave.
...
A few days later, early morning.
Sōjun Minamoto was at home, trying to adjust his internal clock.
He'd spent quite a while in the non-physical realm. Several years had passed outside, but with a 120:1 time flow ratio, he had spent over 500 years in there.
His cells had exhausted their vitality multiple times, but by staying linked with his external clone, he managed to continuously reset his body's age and adapt to the aging process.
Though his appearance was long since fixed, the physical fatigue and frailty of old age still lingered in his memory.
It would take time to fully recover.
But the gains were immense—he had merged the two extremes of cursed energy, acquired the ability to reverse aging, and had even developed the Hollow Technique.
"Ding-dong~"
The doorbell rang.
Sōjun Minamoto collected himself and got up.
"Ding-dong~ ding-dong~ ding-ding-ding-dong~"
The ringing became urgent.
He opened the door.
"Hi~!" came a loud greeting.
Sōjun Minamoto had already turned and was heading back to the living room—he knew exactly who it was.
"We've got a mission. Sukuna's revived, and a few civilians got attacked by cursed spirits. We need to heal them," said Riko Amanai, following behind him.
"Isn't this your mission?"
"I'm not entirely sure. Come with me?"
"Alright."
"Huh? You're coming?" Riko Amanai looked surprised. She had more to say, but Sōjun Minamoto had already agreed.
She didn't dwell on it and just smiled. "Let's go. The sooner we deal with it, the better."
Sōjun Minamoto stood and followed her.
If he didn't, someone from Jujutsu High would come knocking soon anyway—he was holding onto the fingers stored in the Forbidden Vault.
A few days ago, Masamichi Yaga had messaged him: don't give all the fingers to Satoru Gojo.
...
As they stepped outside, Riko Amanai looked more like someone out shopping than heading into a mission.
She dragged Sōjun Minamoto into a few shops, picking up random, useless trinkets.
Still, they made it to the hospital quickly.
Sugisawa Hospital.
Sōjun Minamoto looked up. If he remembered correctly, this was where he'd been born.
The two walked into the building together.
"3403… 3403…" Amanai Riko scanned the door numbers, her eyes lighting up as she spotted the right one. She picked up her pace and called out behind her,
"This way!"
Leaning halfway into the room, she turned to look back at Sōjun Minamoto and waved him over.
The two entered the hospital room together. A male student lay on the bed, with Satoru Gojo and Yuji Itadori standing nearby. Another female student, who seemed to be less seriously injured, sat beside the bed.
Riko greeted Gojo calmly, then stepped forward to examine the wounded student.
"His consciousness is muddled by Cursed Energy," she concluded quickly.
"Can it be treated?" Itadori asked nervously.
She glanced at him. "You're the one Sukuna took over, right?"
A soft blue glow lit her fingertips as she brushed them over the student's forehead. The boy's eyelids twitched—he was starting to come to.
"Easy fix," she said.
Gojo walked over to Sōjun Minamoto and remarked,
"That kid's calmed down a lot."
"You two aren't all that different," Sōjun replied.
"Now that's just rude," Gojo grinned, then fell silent for a moment before continuing,
"The higher-ups sentenced him to death… A bunch of cowardly old geezers. The moment they heard about Sukuna, they started yelling to kill him off."
"But we decided to bring him into Jujutsu High. We convinced them with, 'He's gonna die anyway, might as well wait until he's absorbed all of Sukuna first.'"
He extended his hand toward Sōjun.
"Hand over the Sukuna fingers."
Sōjun already knew. The Jujutsu Inspector General had been created under the main headquarters, above the two Jujutsu Highs, to tighten control as things started slipping out of hand.
But it was too late to fully intervene. Because the Sukuna situation was so critical, the upper levels—surprisingly—agreed almost unanimously: Itadori should be executed immediately.
Jujutsu High countered by proposing the possibility of completely exorcising Sukuna. That convinced some to back down, and with Gojo's firm stance, a course of action was set.
Sōjun wasn't surprised. People like Yaga weren't exactly conservatives, but they weren't ruthless either—that's why things dragged on.
He glanced at Gojo and handed over a single finger.
"Tch." Gojo clicked his tongue but grew serious. He studied the black curse inscriptions carefully. After a moment, he said,
"Come take a look."
He called out to Itadori and walked out of the room.
Sōjun hesitated, then followed.
Riko checked on the female student, and seeing no major issues, used a Reverse Cursed Technique to speed up her recovery before catching up with the others.
The four of them left together.
...
"Anywhere else you need to go?" Gojo asked Itadori. "Starting today, you're coming back to Jujutsu High with us."
"I need to go somewhere first," Itadori said without hesitation.
Their destination wasn't far from the hospital. They arrived quickly—it was the crematorium.
Today was the day of his grandfather's cremation.
...
"Sorry we dragged you into this at a time like this." They were waiting outside. Gojo exchanged a glance with the others, then sat next to Itadori.
"But I still have to ask—have you made up your mind?"
"Do you want to die now, or wait until you've absorbed all of Sukuna?"
"Ah—" Itadori leaned back in his chair, arms spread upward, and sighed.
"Even if you put it that way, I still don't get why I was suddenly sentenced to death. But I can't ignore the curses either. My grandpa told me… I'm strong, so I have to help people. Didn't they say I'm the only one who can eat Sukuna's fingers and control him? If I can really wipe out Sukuna, then fewer people will get hurt, right?"
Gojo gave him a look.
"Not bad."
He clapped and laughed, pulling out the finger Sōjun had just given him.
"Here. The second one. Let's make sure—you can really stay yourself in front of Sukuna, right?"
"Relax, we've got the best doctor here." He glanced at Sōjun.
"Even if you die, we can bring you back," Riko chimed in cheerfully, unbothered by the gravity of the situation.
Sōjun didn't respond. Thinking it over, even if souls got partially entangled, they didn't really fuse completely.
After Itadori eats the finger, it would just be a bit of work to pull the soul apart again. It might actually be possible to bring him back.
The condition was knowing Itadori's body inside and out—because in every way, Itadori was special.
Sōjun looked at him with quiet anticipation.
Gojo, seeing he didn't deny it, was visibly startled.
"Wait—can you actually do it?"