Chapter Text
01- Not Exactly Journey to the West
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Jujutsu Kaisen was one of the new seasonal anime that vaguely caught my interest. If I had more free time surely I would have binged it since the conceptualization of it managed to hold my attention.
Yet perhaps those thoughts simply stemmed from nostalgia. Naruto and Soul Eater were two of my favourite shows I used to watch as a child. However, those days were long since over, life tends to just get in the way once responsibilities set in.
While I had a cushy higher up job at the place I worked at I was still considered the black sheep of the company. In an office setting it's common practice everyone drinks coffee, meanwhile I was the only one that I knew of to chug ramune drinks in plain sight there.
At least with the breaks I was given I could sneak in the odd manga chapter, which is how I ended up reading a bit of Jujutsu Kaisen. The only small petty gripe I have with the series is that I happened to share a name with a character that was a deadbeat dad who had a quick end.
"Have a good night everyone." We exchanged partings, that was the last time I ever saw any of my coworkers again. Then the world got a little dark.
That's the thing about death, it doesn't discriminate. Having to start over purely from scratch is what I truly consider hitting rock bottom, but the only place to go from there is up.
Even then truthfully I don't remember dying, so it's hard to say how it happened. Maybe it was a car accident, or a carbonated induced overdose.
No matter, let's just say that reincarnation is serious monkey business.
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One moment I was a stone statue in a limbo-like garden composed of shadows. While in the next split second I had a physical corporeal body. The air within my lungs never felt better...
Strange, not that it was the place to complain. Was I a kid again? To have to experience childhood once more was a conflicting, if not truly horrid experience to happen depending on the circumstances.
An oversized haori dwarfed the hakama outfit I was wearing. In a traditional and oppressive household regular modern day clothes were out of the question.
Quickly in this new life of mine I found out how truly dispensable I was. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. Sure I was the legitimate son to an absent father but the faceless man had countless other children with many different mistresses.
Names are important, they hold meaning I guess, and yet I had always been known as Toji. It was just the last epithet that had been tagged on that changed.
The Zenin clan is known for their Ten Shadows technique and to a lesser extent Projection Sorcery. Unfortunately for me I had none of those powers, only a Heavenly Restriction.
In the eyes of scornful elders I was no better than a monkey due to being born with no cursed energy. However, I could care less as having a second lease of life viva la reincarnation was beyond my wildest beliefs.
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Regardless, I wasn't sure of my place in the world. I saw the manifestation of negative human human emotions but it was almost nigh impossible to exorcise them.
The first ever Curse I managed to subdue was a disgusting worm like creature that was the result of my mother's depression from her marital situation. In the end all I got was a busted lip that scarred and a portable way to store some of my stuff.
That night she also inexplicably passed away violently in her sleep. Hence in the morning when the sun came up rumours spread I was the one responsible.
"Toji's a stone cold murderer. What if he kills more Sorcerers?"
"There's no way a talentless bastard with no Cursed Energy did that! I heard from Nabito personally while on one of his drunk spiels that the stupid broodmare popped to many pills in one go."
Considering the amount of trash who ran their mouths that I called "family" the entire Zenin clan especially needed to be knocked down a few pegs. While for now they were at the forefront of Jujutsu society, it was only a matter of time until a certain event.
However, to the surprise of everyone Gojo Satoru didn't make it past conception. During my normal mid afternoon training routine news of a miscarriage was leaked. Apparently there were supposed to be twins born but two Six Eyes users can't exist at the same time.
In spite of that the world irreversibly changed. Malicious Curse practitioners crawled out of the woodworks and the evil spirits grew in strength.
It became clear the popular opinion was only those with power mattered and held value. Thus I was left at a crossroad, unconventionally I was skilled but it wasn't enough to be acknowledged, not that I desired that outcome either.
Similar to Sun Wukong I was simply determined to change the status quo by somehow challenging the heavens, who knows what that entails.
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At some point I expected to get kicked out of the Zenin clan but that day never came. Instead it turned out they were desperate to keep their Sorcerer ranks up.
Due to all the chaos that was unleashed but no way to surefire combat the mysterious problem, people and Shamans dropped like flies. Sure I had qualms about the situation but it gave me a chance to advance in a society I never had a place in.
For the most part I kept to myself and hardly nobody dared to approach me. Anyway regardless how pompous Sorcerers are still humans that require authentic connections.
The only cordial relation I had was with one of my younger cousins, Naoya. He was the typical arrogant young naive clan heir, or semi-insufferable is what he was.
"I'm a genius so I deserve the matcha kitkat!" He boasted.
"Nobody's perfect but whatever here take it. Now get out of my hair I have weapons to polish." On the floor of my room were various daggers and miscellaneous blunt swords I collected in my free time.
"Do you think I'd make a good clan head?" Naoya's tone lost his usual inflated ego, now that wasn't a question I expected to hear.
"A sufficient leader puts the needs of their people first but a great ruler knows when to be selfish. You need to decide which one you want to be." Finally once again I was left alone.
Little did I know that was the last pleasant time we'd ever interact. Soon Naoya was swept up and indoctrinated into the traditional rigid views and what not.
Yet that's the one good thing about family, maybe it was even just a trait exclusive to those of Zenin lineage. Betrayal is served directly as a full course meal rather than a petty backstabbing.
Thus the next time I saw Naoya, to prove himself to the elders he attempted to cripple me. Therefore I did him one better by carving out one of his eyes.
Was it one of my proudest moments? Nope, but he should be lucky I didn't slaughter him. It's survival of the fittest, but even then my actions were scrutinized over sparing Naoya's pathetic life.
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Officially I was deemed the black sheep. Yet I continued to live within the walls of the Zenin clan and my reputation as dangerous kept the pests away.
Graciously the arrogant old geezers had their heads far enough up their own asses they turned a blind eye to my antics. This allowed me to take commissions from the government and earn a hefty salary.
Most of the jobs were the average stuff; Like exorcising Cursed Spirits, but just as the balance had unfavourably shifted a quarter of my time was allocated to killing Curse users.
Unintentionally I still ended up with the iconic moniker of "Sorcerer Killer" even though it was just the malicious Shamans that I ended.
One of the more interesting requests that I took on was at an abandoned high school that was haunted supposedly by a Special Grade. Reportedly five men that cheated on their partners were found drowned within a pool.
Upon my investigation for the most part everything was within order. Classroom windows were boarded up and desks flipped over.
It was a perfectly cut shriek that sent my paranoia off the rails. I ran straight for the noise just in case a civilian had decided to enter the premises.
There in the middle of the swim area was a Technical College student fighting an ugly looking siren creature. She must have had friends on the other side because at the flick of the cursed tool fans the shadows darted at her command.
Neither of them sensed me due to my lack of Cursed energy, hence I had the perfect opening to hit the finishing blow. The companion that was a literal worm on my shoulder vomited up a chain scythe and I cut off the head of the mermaid.
Once the battle was over "Zenin Toji," was my brief introduction.
"I've heard of you." She had an uninterested reply while she caught her breath. "Fushiguro Midori is what everyone calls me."
Like her namesake her eyes were a vibrant green.
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School was never my thing. However, I guess attending Tokyo Jujutsu Prefectural High wasn't that bad. Moving into the dorms happened to be the highlight of my week.
It was a place to meet and become accustomed to people around my age. Ah yes to be or not to be seventeen again but it felt more like going on twenty-seven.
For all I knew Fushiguro Midori was supposed to be Megumi's mother that remained cannon fodder but in this timeline she was a Special Grade. Yet if the universe is infinite than so are the possibilities, truly what a horrid thought.
Then there was Yaga Masamichi, nothing out of the ordinary with him, the guy simply liked cute things. Together the three of us made up the entire small majority of the first years.
"Oi Yaga! What the hell did you do to my worm?!" My arms were crossed and posture rigid.
"Right that, Kugisaki Sensei gave me permission to make it better." He stated with unbothered nonchalance.
"Hey at least the thing looks cuddly now but I hate how it still stares creepily into my soul." Midori interrupted.
"Forget I said anything, as long as the Cursed Spirit can hold my weapons I don't care what it looks like." I shrugged.
"How rude! You hurt Red Panda's feelings." Kugisaki Sensei reprimanded from out of nowhere. She clutched a straw doll that made me grit my teeth in pain. "Be at the dojo in less than fifteen minutes. It's Innate Technique practice for today."
Instead of a worm Shikigami I now had a red furry mammal at my disposal for Cursed Tool storage. In time the creature would grow on me.
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As soon as I finally found a place that I belonged the world began to cave in. The modern era was set to crumble, while the Heian millennia was a moment away from a renaissance.
At the peak of it all was not Ryomen Sukuna the King of Curses but Japan's Three Most Vengeful Spirits. It was like skyfall so I held my breath and counted to ten like it was the end.
Kugisaki Sensei in her old age had stayed behind so there was a slim chance of a thread that we may survive. Yaga, Midori, and I fought tooth and nail for an impossible victory.
I no longer had any fucks to give. The Inverted Spear of Heaven never felt this heavy within my hands.
After the ensuing conflict it was just me and Midori left in the silence of Shiba-koen district of Minato. Tokyo Tower was the biggest monument destroyed, other rubble and corpses littered the ground.
If this was how I was supposed to die a second time then as air escaped my lungs I held on tight to Midori.
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The world was a little blurry but I let out a hysterical laugh at how it was somehow bright and sunny. Midori sobbed while choking out ugly tears.
Yet I didn't care because in that moment she was beautiful and we were both alive. Yaga was the only one missing, another sacrifice that was made in vain of nothing.
Across the street was a blindfold wearing man carrying two bags filled with daifuku. My mind reeled at who that was, Gojo Satoru in the flesh.
Be it destiny or fate the two of us had been yeeted from our disaster of a universe into the canon timeline. Fuck!
Midori had a distinct Cursed Energy signature that she gave off. Which is the only reason why I guessed Gojo looked in my direction.
Usually the monkey king was unable to escape the palm of Buddha but it was comically funny how wide Gojo's eyes, with blindfold removed, had blown.
"Yo long time no see!" I boldly waved.
"Wait Toji you know this guy?" Midori whispered, the shadows started to shift around us on the defensive.
"Nope… He looks like that one anime character from Naruto called Kakashi though!"
From one mess into the middle of the storm obviously this wasn't going to end well.
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