Jujutsu Kaisen: Survive First, Become a God Later

"You really should share your harsh evaluation with Gojo sometime."

"I think watching his reaction to that speech would be incredibly amusing."

"I won't say it."

Yuki Tsukumo replied calmly.

"It's completely useless to say anything logical to a madman like him."

"Even if I laid out all the facts, he would just laugh heartily and retort, 'Isn't having a little ideal fun?'"

Mahito thought back to Satoru Gojo's behavior and personality in the original story.

He had to admit that Yuki Tsukumo's character judgment was frighteningly accurate.

That was exactly the kind of arrogant, carefree response Satoru Gojo would give.

"Do you fully understand the situation now?"

Yuki Tsukumo looked deeply at Mahito, casually twirling a strand of golden hair around her index finger.

"Jujutsu Sorcerers may be innate madmen."

"But at the very least, they possess human physical bodies that can naturally produce positive emotions to somewhat neutralize their extreme, negative impulses."

"And even with that biological buffer, before Satoru Gojo took direct action to violently reform the Jujutsu World, countless Sorcerers constantly fell to darkness and became rogue Curse Users."

"It's not that Sorcerers don't snap and turn evil anymore."

"It's just that whenever it happens now, Satoru Gojo instantly tracks them down and directly kills them."

"What you see in the modern era is nothing more than extreme survivor bias."

"In fact, the cowardly old men currently running the Jujutsu Headquarters were far, far worse in the past."

"They were far more tyrannical and excessive than you could ever possibly imagine."

"You truly cannot even fathom the depraved depths of their lower limits."

"You probably don't know this, but the Jujutsu Headquarters once explicitly threatened Principal Yaga with execution just to force him to hand over the secrets of his unique artificial Cursed Corpse technique."

"You might not fully understand who Principal Yaga is."

"He was Satoru Gojo's homeroom teacher back in the day!"

"Now, he's even the respected principal of Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu High School."

"But I dare swear to you right now: if anything ever happens to Satoru Gojo to remove him from the board, Yaga will absolutely be the very first person they quietly execute."

"And that is the inherent madness of a human Sorcerer."

"You, however, are a Cursed Spirit."

Yuki Tsukumo looked directly into Mahito's heterochromatic eyes and spoke plainly.

"A Cursed Spirit is the literal, physical manifestation of humanity's darkest curses."

"No matter how incredibly normal, righteous, or supremely benevolent you may appear right now, I fundamentally cannot trust you."

"The more supremely benevolent and incredibly virtuous you act..."

"The more you flawlessly exhibit the terrifying aura and natural charisma of a true king who stands above all others..."

"The less I can possibly afford to let you go."

"Because if you ever snapped, you would only go mad on an apocalyptic, world-ending scale!"

"I genuinely dare not imagine what unimaginable calamity you would bring to this world if you ever truly stood uncontested above all life."

This time, Mahito truly understood the depths of her fear.

In fact, long before Yuki Tsukumo had presented this fascinating theory, he had said something remarkably similar to Yuukichi.

However, back then, he had never imagined the true root cause.

He hadn't realized that Sorcerers don't slowly become extreme from the continuous use of negative Cursed Energy.

Rather, it was the exact opposite.

It was precisely because their very Souls were innately twisted, deeply extreme, and fundamentally broken that they could become Sorcerers in the first place.

His initial understanding of Jujutsu society had been far too shallow.

Now, he finally understood why the original Jogo stubbornly insisted on his bleak worldview.

Jogo had constantly preached that the fundamental nature of all humans was pure deceit and violent betrayal, merely wrapped in a thin, fragile skin called kindness and superficial honor.

But Jogo only ever truly interacted with Jujutsu Sorcerers.

Although ordinary, non-magical people completely filled the streets, the arrogant Disaster Curse never once bothered to look at them or try to understand their nature.

Since Jogo only ever fiercely clashed with the inherently mad Jujutsu Sorcerers, it was absolutely no wonder he eventually reached such a violently cynical conclusion about humanity.

Although Jogo's crippling lack of intelligence and rampant arrogance were ultimately his fatal flaws, he was surprisingly perceptive about the deeply twisted nature of Jujutsu Sorcerers.

Mahito smiled faintly.

"I honestly thought you were simply being prejudiced against me."

"Oh, I absolutely am prejudiced."

Yuki Tsukumo openly and shamelessly admitted it.

"I don't even think highly of my fellow Jujutsu Sorcerers."

"Even if you were a human Jujutsu Sorcerer, I'd still brutally beat you up."

"I would fight you because I fundamentally believe that any being possessing Cursed Energy, no matter what they claim their intentions are, is completely unfit to rule the world as a sovereign king."

"That is my prejudice."

"It is a genuine, deep-seated prejudice."

Mahito declared arrogantly.

"I am different."

Yuki Tsukumo looked at him deeply and nodded her head gently.

"Yes."

"You really are different."

Mahito was completely dumbfounded by her sudden agreement.

Yuki Tsukumo smiled gracefully.

"Did you honestly think I was just going to sarcastically mock you again?"

"You literally just delivered an entire, unbroken tirade of sarcasm."

"That wasn't sarcasm at all."

"I was simply stating the hard conclusions of my life's research."

"I was describing an objectively existing reality."

Yuki Tsukumo laughed warmly.

"You only felt it was biting sarcasm because you subconsciously empathized with the specific people I was harshly describing."

"If you completely set aside your subjective personal feelings and look at the situation completely objectively, which single point of what I just said was actually wrong?"

"Aren't Jujutsu Sorcerers innate madmen?"

"Isn't Satoru Gojo functionally a giant, overpowered infant?"

"Aren't the Jujutsu Headquarters an absolutely terrible, corrupt governing body?"

"Aren't all of these statements verifiable facts?"

Mahito broke out in a nervous cold sweat.

Is this really what the veteran, Special Grade scholars in the Jujutsu World are like?

Even their most vicious insults are perfectly reasoned, logically sound, and entirely justified.

She was just one step short of formally quoting famous academic papers to back up her trash talk...

Wait a minute.

Yuki Tsukumo herself is universally recognized as the single most authoritative Soul research expert in the entire Jujutsu World.

Her own words literally are the famous academic sayings!

This really is ridiculous...

Mahito's face twisted into a truly indescribable expression.

"Do you remember exactly what I said earlier?"

"It is precisely because Jujutsu Sorcerers are intrinsically twisted from the very depths of their Soul that they can biologically develop bodily organs capable of extracting Cursed Energy."

"It is why their prefrontal lobes mutate to become capable of executing reality-bending Cursed Techniques."

"That core, unchangeable fact is exactly why the relationship between negative Cursed Energy and the Soul is so profoundly deep."

Yuki Tsukumo continued speaking slowly, her tone turning solemn.

"Taking your earlier example of a Cursed Object possessing a living vessel..."

"The invading Soul can indeed forcibly remodel the physical body to match its needs."

"But how can a deeply twisted, inherently mad Soul correctly remodel a normal, healthy body?"

"The sheer presence of that energy is a corruption."

"Therefore, all beings possessing Cursed Energy are fundamentally, incurably mad..."

"I originally firmly believed that absolute rule without exception."

"Originally?" Mahito asked, catching the shift in tense.

"Until I finally saw you."

Yuki Tsukumo said the words with absolute solemnity.

"Mahito, you possess a truly noble Soul."