Kevin the Bored
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Shibuya Omake: Part 2
🕑 Added 2025-04-23 03:28:13 +0000 UTCZen'in Maki
///
The self professed Zen'in no Narauko blinks into the awkward silence that follows his declaration. But what are they supposed to say?
There are two possibilities before them. Either this man is not Zen'in no Narauko and is lying. Or, they truly are standing in front of the Zen'in no Narauko, founder of the Zen'in clan, equal to Sukuna, the King of Sorcerers himself back from the dead.
She's not even certain which would be better, but considering the display of power against that octopus earlier, she is finding herself leaning toward believing him. Even if she has no idea how or why he is alive.
Sukuna has lived through the ages via his Cursed Fingers, everyone knows this. But Narauko was said to have peacefully passed on some time after Sukuna got reduced to twenty Cursed Objects.
"Zen'in no Narauko is the first recorded user of the Ten Shadows Technique," the old man Naobito says, his voice cautious and light. "Since then, there have been six recorded wielders of his Inherited Technique."
"Basically," Narauko interrupts, "You want me to prove I am who I say I am, right?" Naobito nods, and Narauko shrugs, turning his attention to Fushiguro. "Do I have to? You can feel it too, right? Sense it?"
Fushiguro hesitantly nods, though he seems distracted.
"Eeeh? For real? I was guessing~." Narauko laughs, and Maki feels her brow twitch. He really is reminding her of Gojo-Sensei too much. "Well, it's not like I'm against showing off~."
With his words, Narauko claps his hands together and then twists them into the shape of a rabbit head.
"Escape Rabbit," he intones, and as he does so a rabbit crawls out of his sweater and drops into his arms, where he begins petting it without looking down.
"I-impossible," Naobito whispers, overcome with shock that Maki honestly shares herself. It isn't unheard of for two people to have the same Technique at the same time, but for something like Ten Shadows or Gojo's Six Eyes?
"I know right?" Narauko responds, his voice excitable and far too giddy to belong on an adult in Maki's opinion. "Some old hag just resurrected me kind of by accident, and I thought murdering an old lady would be the strangest part of my new birthday, then I felt someone else using my Technique!? Crazy. It kind of reminds me of, well, never mind, you probably won't know them. Anyway, what's the dealio? I'm not exactly clear on the present situation. Jujutsu terrorism?"
Maki doesn't even know where to begin. Is this really the venerated King of Sorcerers? Isn't he a bit too casual? She would have thought he'd be like, regal or something.
White hair and a stupid smile flash through her mind, and she takes it back. It must be impossible for the strongest to be normal.
"Haha!" Naobito laughs, his poise returned now that the shock has passed. "You were resurrected by accident? How the hell does that happen?"
Narauko matches his grin. "Some hag used a Seance Technique, but her understanding of the Soul was pretty limited. She only channelled my body's information, but c'mon now, did she not know who she was summoning?"
His expression shifts ever so slightly, he still seems friendly, but Maki feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as his smile starts to feel just a bit different. Dangerous.
When he continues, his voice is slower too, and for a second, she is reminded that this man just obliterated a Curse that all of them working together couldn't even injure.
"I am Zen'in no Narauko. How arrogant must you be to believe you can touch my Soul without consequence? She thought she could use my body by itself to avoid my attention. Pah! My Soul spent over one hundred years in this body, no one else is allowed to wear it." Just as abruptly as it came, the feeling of danger vanishes as Narauko laughs. "That's creepy~! Body snatchers are creepy~! One moment you think you're talking to a stranger and the next they're telling you about something embarrassing you did in private that no one should know about! Fucking cheeky brainiac."
Maki has no idea what is going on anymore. Thankfully, Nanami is a consummate professional and interjects into the casual conversation, reminding her of the still urgent situation at hand.
"Excuse me, Zen'in-dono, but we don't have time right now. To simplify the situation, an unknown Curse User is working with a number of unregistered Special Grade Curses. They have just sealed-"
Unfortunately, Nanami doesn't get to finish his explanation before another Curse interrupts, and a collective breath leaves them all, except Narauko, when they watch the volcano Curse walk in.
"Mt. Fuji!" Narauko gasps, but no one pays him any attention.
This one's even more powerful than Dagon, she thinks to herself. Watching, unable to move, as the volcano Curse walks passed them all without a glance to crouch by the remains of Dagon that haven't yet finished dissolving.
"You've passed on, Dagon?" The volcano Curse's voice is solemn as holds the final remains of the dissolving curse and watches it fade away. None of them can focus on the words however, their attention too polluted by the incredible sense of danger emanating from this Curse, greater than the octopus' by an order of magnitude.
However, Maki alone notices that Narauko's expression does not share their concern in the slightest. Instead, he is simply looking down at the Curse with open curiosity on his face, as if he hasn't even noticed the power held within this Curse.
"Leave the rest to me," it says, sounding almost mourning. "Our Souls will reincarnate, even without relying on human beings."
"Actually," Narauko's casual voice cuts through the tense atmosphere like a knife through paper. "That isn't true at all."
The Volcano Curse slowly rises to its feet, turning to face Narauko with a blank, passively hostile expression. "Haa?"
Narauko smiles and waves a finger like a teacher giving a lecture. "You see, Curses only reincarnate after they are killed, and even then, the new versions won't remember their previous iterations, and the personality might be a little bit different. You also have to consider potency. A Curse of, like... Potted plants, would probably take ages to be born again, because who the heck is Cursing potted plants? A Curse like that squid guy could theoretically come back in like a week, but only as a Fly Head. If he wanted to come back with the same amount of Cursed Energy, it'd probably take, I don't know, two, three hundred years? It's tough to say really. Kenny's experiments had an upper limit to strength, so I don't really have any data for Special Grade Curse reincarnation."
Narauko pauses and places a finger on his chin, looking up at the ceiling ponderously, completely uncaring of the danger staring at him from two feet away.
"Well, it doesn't really matter in the end, because I didn't kill that sashimi guy, God I'm so hungry right now. Ahem." Narauko finally turns his attention back to the volcano Curse and sends it a sad smile. "I am sorry. I did not kill your friend. I purified him. There will be no reincarnation. Perhaps in the coming centuries there will be another oceanic Curse, but they will not be the same person you knew. Might end up looking like a shark or something." He shrugs. "I don't know. I just hope that you can be happy knowing that your friend is in a better place now... Metaphorically."
Narauko stops talking and nobody fills the silence.
Maki, and she assumes the others too, simply recognise deep down that they are outclassed here. That they have no place in the discussion. But the volcano Curse?
The Curse just stares up at Narauko. Silent.
It doesn't need to say anything. She can tell what it's feeling by the shortness of her own breath, by the sweat dripping down her brow.
It's hot, she things, reasserting her grip on Playful Cloud as it tries to slip out of her sweating palms.
A gasp comes from her side and she glances over to see Fushiguro clutching at his chest, struggling with the heat more than the rest of them.
"I'm going to burn you to death," the Curse says, and she could almost be convinced that his tone is calm, if not for the undercurrent of hatred dripping off of every syllable.
"Nah. You won't." Narauko smiles, completely sure of himself in a way that really reminds her of Gojo-Sensei.
The Curse, done with talking, moves, but it only manages one step before an even greater presence pushes down on them all.
Where the Curse felt like a force so great she knew she stood no chance against it, this presence is even greater. So great that her knees buckle even though she can tell it is nowhere close, and where the Curse was violent hatred, this one could only be described as overwhelming evil.
Is that-
"Sukuna!" Narauko reacts first, half turning to face the source of the aura. Unexpectedly however, he does not speak with disgust. Instead, he wears a wide, joyous smile, like a child that was just told they were going to Disney Land.
Aren't they supposed to be enemies? She finds herself thinking, a feeling of dread starting to pool in her stomach. Why is he so happy?
The spell is broken when the volcano Curse abruptly moves. Practically teleporting even to Maki's enhanced senses.
"Watch out!" She barely calls out in time, purely by instinct.
She needn't have bothered.
Narauko spins around in an instant and catches the Curse's outstretched hand, lifting it up so that the fire that comes out shoots into the ceiling instead of his face.
"Oy, Curse," Narauko says, holding the Curse in the air as if it is not one of the most powerful beings Maki has ever seen. "What are your intentions with Sukuna?"
The Curse, seemingly recognising that Narauko isn't a weakling to be stomped over and clearly feeling some manner of urgency, chooses to respond instead of continuing to fight, likely hoping that a previously unknown Special Grade Sorcerer might actually be on his side.
He doesn't know all the information after all, but he is confident that he would have been told if the Sorcerers had such a powerful man still on their side.
"Our goal is Sukuna's complete resurrection," it says while also preparing to attack.
Unfortunately, Maki is surprised once more when the Curse's gamble turns out to be right.
"For real~? Alright then." Narauko drops the Curse back onto his feet and brushes his hands together. A moment of stunned silence passes before Narauko raises a brow at the Curse. "Well? What are you waiting for? I assume that weird object you're hiding away has some of his Fingers in it right? Go feed the hungry hippo. Go go go, shoo."
Maki can only gape as she watches the supposed King of Sorcerers wave the Curse away like an annoying grandchild. The Curse doesn't question it though. It works to its benefit after all, so it simply nods and disappears down the hall.
"Man, what a coinciden- Never mind, I bet Kenny's behind this." He turns a commiserating look to her, though again she isn't in on the joke like he seems to think she is. "I told that asshole that I'd pass, but he has no respect at all."
"Narauko-sama..." Naobito trails off, and she doesn't think she's ever heard him speak so respectfully before. "Why are you letting that Curse go? Are you... Are you in on this whole mess?"
That is what she was fearing. With the power he's already shown, she can't even be confident that Gojo-Sensei would be enough, not with Sukuna in addition to Narauko. The King of Curses working together with the King of Sorcerers could only be the absolute worst case scenario.
"Hm?" Narauko looks at his grave face for a moment before realisation seems to strike and he snorts, physically waving the thought away. "Nah, I never expected to come back to life in the first place. But Sukuna is my bestest friend in the whole wide world y'know? So of course I want to see him well. Plus, I've been dead for a thousand years, I'm all stiff, and I don't want him to be making excuses when I kick his ass, so I figure I'll let him stretch and have some fun first."
Narauko looks between them all and the severe looks on their faces, and he guffaws. "Seriously, don't worry so much~ nobody's going to die. I know Sukuna better than anyone, and he's such a drama queen at heart, so he'll spend a bit sounding all cool and scary, then he'll probably say something like 'How about I slaughter every human in...' Where are we?"
Maki blinks as his attention turns to her. Was that supposed to be a Sukuna impression? Just what kind of relationship do those two have? Belatedly, she realises that he's actually expecting an answer.
"Shibuya..."
"Right! Thanks. So, he'll be like 'I'll start by slaughtering every human in Shibuya' and then he'll want to fight that volcano guy. Now, we're equal opposites, Sukuna and I, so while he says dramatic crap like that, I do the opposite, because I guess I can be a bit of a drama queen too haha~."
Narauko shakes his head as if there is nothing wrong with what he's saying before starting to walk closer to them. "I assume you've got some kind of cordon set up? Well, look for some big, open space outside of Shibuya and get ready to deal with a large influx of people."
He comes to a stop right before them. "I will start by saving every human in Shibuya." A beat passes and his serious expression breaks into a wide smile. "See? Equal opposites. Well, I guess you don't see, since you haven't heard Sukuna saying his part, and in fairness, I could just be wrong... Hehe~."
"Are you certain you can get every civilian out of Shibuya in time?" Nanami asks, his voice remarkably steady considering the whole... everything.
"Don't worry~," Narauko waves the concern away. "I will get everyone out, civilian or Sorcerer. No offence but you guys are so weak that there's barely any difference when Curses like that Mt. Fuji are involved. So go, shoo. We'll talk later, I wanna see what my descendants have done with my name."
Other than Naobito, they all hesitate, and once more it is Nanami that finds his voice.
"Unfortunately, it is not that simple. As I tried to explain earlier, the enemy has sealed away Gojo Satoru. He is The Strongest Sorcerer of the Modern Era. We need to head down to try and rescue him so that he can deal with all of this."
"Eeeh~? The Strongest is a Gojo? That's awesome~! Oh! Does he have Limitless and Six Eyes? No wonder~. Well, don't worry abut that, I'll try and grab him. Seriously, I might not have all the details, but with those two Curses and Sukuna already in play, it's pretty clear to me that you four are simply out of your league here. You won't do anything to help Mr Gojo-no-longer-The-Strongest-Satoru by going and dying. So shoo, just leave everything to me instead, okay?"
She wants to fight him on his words, but she saw how little she could do against Dagon. She saw how the volcano Curse is even stronger, and how Narauko is likely even stronger still.
It burns but... She believes him.
He doesn't look like a Sorcerer. The thought strikes her out of nowhere, but it's true. He is too open. Honest. She feels like she can trust him, like he actually cares. That just makes his words burn all the more, because the fact is that he is not lying or trying to mock her.
He is just being honest. She just isn't strong enough.
Nanami doesn't say anything for a moment, simply meeting Narauko's gaze without flinching or looking away, but eventually, he nods his head.
"I don't like it, but clearly I am no longer the minimum level required. Very well, we will leave everything to you. There's a national park North. Good luck." Nanami glances at the rest of them. "Let's go."
She hesitates again, and this time she is snapped out of her mind by the feeling of a hand coming down on her head and softly ruffling her hair. The sensation is so caring, so completely foreign that she doesn't respond right away.
She only looks up and into Narauko's far too kind eyes. "No need to stress so much. You've done well. Even compared to the people I fought back in the day, I can see the effort you've put into your skill. Be proud of that. But you are a Zen'in, and that makes you one of my beloved children, regardless of how many years have passed. So just leave everything to me, okay? I'll even see if I can fix up your Heavenly Restriction later so you can help out next time. But for now? Just let a man fight for his children."
"Fix my Heavenly Restriction?" Maki breathes out the question without thinking.
"Of course. You're a twin, right? I wasn't sure at first, but I think I've figured it out. Your sister probably has a super exhausting Technique and no Cursed Energy right? Well, like I said, don't worry about it. Just shoo for now, beloved daughter of mine. Now that I am back, you will never have to suffer again. I promise."
His words are absurd, and she doesn't know shit about him. She hasn't even seen him before today. But damnit, she believes him. Or maybe she just wants to believe him. Before she even realises it, she is forced to blink rapidly as her eyes start to sting and the next thing she knows, she is being held against his chest by a pair of strong arms.
Warm.
"I worried that my name might dilute with time," he whispers to her, and her eyes only sting further at the love in his voice directed at her. It's so foreign, and she hates how she can't help but revel in it. "I worried that in one thousand years, my name would be unrecognisable. So it makes me happy to see you wearing my name. You've worked hard. I'm proud of you. Now let me do some work too."
He pulls away and she has to fight the urge to stop him.
With one last smile, Narauko turns around and walks towards a wall. "Later," he says over his shoulder before simply walking into the wall as if it is but an illusion, disappearing from sight.
No one moves for a moment before Naobito lets out a burp and turns on his heel. "Well, I'm gonna go find some sake."
Nanami moves next. "Let's go," he says, and she and Fushiguro follow after him.
Both of them glance at her, and she glares back at the concern in their eyes. Neither of them comment.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to trust that guy, Nanami?" Fushiguro asks.
"I don't know. But you saw, right? He exorcised that octopus Curse without any noticeable effort, and he did so without even using his Technique."
That brings them both up short. They didn't even realise it, but it's true.
Just how much was he holding back?
"If we refused," Nanami continues, "Then I believe he would have simply used one of his Shikigami to drag us out of the danger regardless. I decided that it would be better to avoid that kind of confrontation altogether. We just have to hope that he really is on our side, otherwise it might already be over."
Fushiguro looks appropriately severe at Nanami's words, and she knows that she should feel the same. But for some reason, she just can't bring herself to feel that same doubt.
It takes a second for her to even recognise why, but it's simple.
She believes him.
Maybe she just wants to believe him.
Maybe that's enough.
///
Ino Takuma
///
Takuma scowls under his mask, flexing his bleeding hand to feel out the wound. Not that deep, he thinks, glaring forward.
Opposite him stands a Curse User with blond hair in a side ponytail and wears a one-piece overall with only one shoulder strap. More importantly, he wields a sword whose hilt is a purple hand that holds his hand back.
"Ooooh~? Aren't you gonna chase me~?" The Curse User mocks, and he can only click his tongue at that.
He casts a glance backwards, taking in the sight of near a dozen civilians crowded inside of a convenience store, peaking from around the walls.
If he moves away, then his opponent will send his living sword thing after the civilians. Despite being a sword, that thing can crawl pretty fast with its fingers. It's creepy.
But... He isn't much.
The sword makes him annoying to deal with, especially with civilians to protect, but the Curse User himself doesn't seem like much at all.
Then again, that's what I thought about that dude on the roof.
Don't think about it. Focus on what you can do now.
The Curse User tenses, and he matches, only for both of them to stumble when an explosion of fire erupts in the near distance. Even from so far away, he still feels the temperature rise and the abundance of Cursed Energy being thrown around.
That's around where I felt Sukuna just now, he thinks, assuming the two are related.
"Haha! Wow~! Fireworks~!" The Curse User laughs, turning back to Takuma and using his free hand to cup his mouth as if sharing a secret. "It's pretty scary how strong those Special Grades are, right~? Right~?"
He doesn't have time for this. No holding back.
Cursed Energy starts gathering around his right hand, and the Curse User starts rushing at him.
"Oh~! Can you still use that spike if I get close~?!" They yell, proving their ignorance of his Technique.
"Auspicious Beast Number Four: Ryu!"
A serpentine dragon shoots out of his hand like a bullet, spearing towards the Curse User far faster than Kaichi.
He sees in slow motion when the Curse User realises the difference in speed, and that his dodge isn't going to be fast enough to avoid it.
And then his shadow steps into life, rising from the ground like a vampire. Then, in one smooth motion, grabbing the Curse User's clothes with one hand and Ryu with the other, rotating both around himself to avoid collision.
Ryu flies passed, smashing into a store on the opposite side of the street and collapsing it, but Takuma's attention is focused elsewhere.
Damnit, he thinks, taking in the sight of the Curse User being held in the air by his shoulder strap as if he is a misbehaving kitten. Not again.
"Yo!" Zen'in no fucking Narauko waves a two fingered greeting at him with a smile. "Sorry to interrupt, I don't know who's on whose side here so I figured I'd play it safe."
"Ahhh~! A Hero~! I'm so lucky~!" The Curse User laughs again, wiggling in the air joyfully.
"Maybe," Narauko says before abruptly exclaiming, "Show of hands! Who here is on the side of the Curses trying to resurrect Sukuna, and who is on the side of, uh, the people not doing that? I feel like I might be able to guess just from looking at this situation though."
"I was told to kill men in black suits!" The Curse User happily exclaims before Takuma can say anything, shooting his hand in the air like he is in school.
"Ahhh," he hums indulgingly, giving a close-eyed smile to the man in his grasp. "Curse Users are the same no matter the era, huh?"
And then, before Takuma can even process his words, the Curse User's head falls off of his body and splats onto the ground, forever locked in a proud smile.
What?
Narauko lets the body go and it doesn't collapse on the ground. Instead, it simply keeps falling as if the floor isn't there and disappears, the head following after a moment. It's only then that he notices Narauko's shadow retract back to where it should be, in his shape behind him.
Right, he was the first user of Ten Shadows wasn't he?
"Ah!" Narauko exclaims, snapping his finger like he just had an epiphany. "That's why you feel familiar! Did I beat you up earlier or something? Sorry, but it took me a sec to smother this guy's Soul, so I'm not really sure what he was doing with my body before then."
Oh. Does that mean that Zen'in no Narauko has fully resurrected now then? Permanently?
He can't deny the relief he feels at that. With all the craziness that's going on right now, the presence of the King of Sorcerers sounds like exactly what they need.
"Yeah," Takuma says after a moment. "My names Ino Takuma by the way."
"Nice to meet you, Ino-san."
"What happened with that granny?" He asks, thinking that she might be able to cancel her Technique or something.
"She told me to kill Sorcerers so I killed her haha. Seriously, it's like she's never watched Terminator. You should always give precise instructions to deadly creation~."
"Aren't you from a thousand years ago?" Takuma mutters in confusion, not noticing the way Narauko tenses. "How do you even know about Terminator?"
"Er, well," Narauko coughs into a fist and regains his confidence, planting a thumb against his chest. "This body had a modern Sorcerer's Soul in it before I took it over. I have some memories of a twenty-first century."
Right, that makes sense.
With the present situation as it is, Takuma never bothers to question the strange phrasing that Narauko choses to use.
An explosion in the distance has Narauko turning his head curiously and reminds him of the urgency of the situation.
"Right. On your way, did you see a boy with black hair? He has Ten Shadows, or another boy with pink hair?"
"Yup. The little Fushiguro is with a Nanami as well as two more of my descendants, a Maki and a Naobito. They're all safe and well, I sent them to join the evacuation. I didn't see anyone with pink hair though, trust me, I'd remember that."
Takuma doesn't know what part of that sentence seems to amuse Narauko nor why, but he is glad to hear that Megumi and the rest are okay. Considering the Cursed Energy being thrown around right now, he has a feeling that he knows where Itadori is anyway.
"We can't evacuate," Takuma says after a moment. "We need to save-"
"Gojo Satoru, right?" Narauko interrupts, shaking his head and stepping closer. "Don't worry about it. You're not too bad, but like Nanami-san said, you just don't meet the minimum required level here. You can feel it in the air right? When elephants fight its the ants that suffer."
Narauko pauses his steps and holds his chin in his palm, tilting his head in thought. "Well, metaphorically anyway. I'm pretty sure that an ant wouldn't really care if an elephant stepped on it. Y'know, cuz've like wrinkles and dirt compression and stuff. Doesn't matter. I'm evacuating Shibuya right now, so you're done here. Try and keep order on the other side for me yeah? People need to see calm to feel calm."
Narauko doesn't wait for a response. The moment he is done talking, his shadow shoots forward and extends to under himself and all the civilians.
"Wai-!"
He doesn't even get to finish his word before the consistency of the floor turns into a liquid and he falls into the ground. The surprised screams of the civilians is cut off almost as soon as it comes, and then his world is a blur of twisting darkness and hallucinated shapes.
Then, almost as soon as it came, it all disappears back into the normal light of the real world right before he feels his stomach flip and gravity reassert itself on his body. A second later, he is unceremoniously dropped on his ass.
He shots straight back up to his feet right in time for the overbearing sound of a thousand voices speaking over one another to hit him all at once.
Quickly turning, he is frozen when he finally takes note of his surroundings. Somehow, he is in some park, and all around him are thousands of people. Most of them are sitting down, either in groups or by themselves, but plenty still are walking or running about, or just standing.
A lot of them, he notes, are rather frantically yelling either at men and women in suits or just at each other.
"I don't suppose you're hurt, Ino-san?" A calm voice calls out from his side, and he turns to see Ieiri-san standing behind him, a cigarette between her lips.
"Ieiri-san!?" He exclaims before her words register. "No, I uh, I'm fine, but what-" He gestures around him, and she gets the message.
"Apparently we've got the First Zen'in playing rescue for us," she says with a shrug, and he follows her finger when she points passed him.
He can only blink when he notices how every streetlight has a rabbit hanging under the light by their ears. He only understands when, a second later, he watches a pair of civilians fly a foot into the air out of the shadow being cast by the bunny.
The moment the pair hits back on the ground, he watches a pair of suits pull them out of the shadow. Likely to keep the area clear for future arrivals, he assumes.
A glance up confirms that there is a bunny attached to the light he was pulled out under too. Though, considering the relative quiet in his immediate area, he assumes that it's only Sorcerers being sent through this rabbit.
"I'm feeling kind of useless to be honest," Ieiri says, brining his attention back to the tired looking healer. "No one who shows up is ever hurt. Even the ones that come covered in blood all say the same thing. 'Some guy in a white sweater healed me and send me here'. Y'know he's out there regrowing limbs? One guy said that debris crushed his entire body below the collar and how this guy fixed it all in seconds. Another guy was apparently a paraplegic since thirty years ago, and multiple instances of cancer have disappeared." She pauses. "Am I jealous? I suppose he's the King for a reason, huh? Lucky us."
Takuma doesn't really have a response to that.
///
Kusakabe Atsuya
///
Looking up at the pair of dramatically dressed Curse Users, Kusakabe smiles.
This is perfect. They aren't that strong, but now he can procrastinate and nobody will be able to complain that he wasn't doing anything!
"Panda."
"There are three people behind us," Panda informs him. "Probably more hiding."
That's about what he thought.
Perfect.
Still, he doesn't want to fight at all if he can help it, and with how they are dressed, he assumes he will be able to keep them talking for a bit. Maybe even long enough to avoid everything else.
The enemy is trying to bring back Sukuna here. He doesn't want to die.
He opens his mouth to speak, and then a man hops out of the wall next to the two standing above him.
They react quickly, spinning to face the new presence and preparing their Cursed Energy.
They aren't fast enough.
"Sorry sorry!" The newcomer hastily calls out, sidestepping the first Curse User's punch and spinning him around to throw into the woman. "No time to figure out who's on whose side!"
The newcomer hops forward and kicks to two Curse Users, sending them flying into the opposite wall where they then disappear.
"Hey! Who are yo-" Kusakabe starts, hoping to waste some time talking.
However, before he can finish, the newcomer is already above him, holding themself up on his and Panda's shoulders. The next thing he knows, he is falling, he can't see and when he tries to breathe he chokes on something that feels like water but denser.
Then he is no longer choking and his centre of gravity is getting all messed up, so much so that he is too disoriented to catch himself from crashing face first into the ground.
"Ow." He mutters without bothering to move. "What the hell?"
"You too, huh?" A familiar voice says and Kusakabe looks up to see Ino Takuma looking down at him with a grin.
Looking around, he sees that Ino isn't alone.
Nanami. Zen'in. Zen'in. Fushiguro. Ieiri. Panda.
The man and woman from before are here too, already sitting defeated with Nanami watching over them.
A second later, four more poorly dressed Sorcerers fly out of the floor right next to him, only to almost immediately be frozen into panes of glass and collected in the hand of Zen'in Naobito.
"I'd really like to slack off too," Naobito says to him. "But if keeping trash like these under control is what my ancestor wants, then I guess I should probably put a bit of effort in."
"Ancestor?" He asks after Naobito leaves to add the Curse Users to the pile.
"Zen'in no Narauko has come back to life," Ino informs him. "It's kind of like something our of a fairy-tale right?"
The King of Sorcerers is back?
Great. Let him do all the work then.
///
Zen'in no Narauko
///
Brushing my hands after sending the last of these Sorcerers back to safety, I spread my senses wide, searching for any more life that I might have missed.
I saved the Sorcerers for last because they can obviously protect themselves better.
Especially since there are those weird homunculus things trying to kill people. I have no idea what they are, but their Souls seem kind of human. In a if you asked a two year old to draw a human with their eyes closed kind of way.
So my assumption is that someone, maybe the terrorists trying to bring back Sukuna, has figured out some way to make artificial Souls or something.
Whatever the method is, I'd say it needs some work still. Regardless, it seems that I got everyone on the surface. Now I just need to deal with the collection of souls underground.
"Hm?" I tilt my head, and I realise why a second later.
Sukuna's Cursed Energy is getting closer, alongside that volcano head.
"Crap! Hide!"
I lose a second panicking about which direction to go before just diving through the nearest window and flattening myself against the ground, silencing my Cursed Energy as much as I can.
Mere moments later, the upper half of the building I chose to hide in is sucked up into a giant ass meteor in the sky that I'm pretty sure is chasing after Sukuna. His Cursed Energy is going wild in response, fluctuating in a manner that is familiar to me.
It makes me smile.
"You're having fun. I'm glad."
Hmmm, what to do, what to do.
The collection of civilians underground don't seem to be in immediate danger, and I can feel that Sukuna's fight is almost over.
I kind of want to be there when he's done playing so I can say hi.
I miss him.
Wait. What the fuck am I talking about? I'm me.
"Divine Dog: Totality," I intone.
The fusion of my first two Shikigami is probably my most stealthy, so with all that's going on, I doubt Sukuna will notice it.
"Go underground and start pulling everyone into your shadow, oh and see if you can find this Gojo guy. He should be on the fifth floor underground apparently."
My Shikigami nods its head and disappears down the street.
There we go, problem solved. I can just be in two places at one.
With that done, there is one final important matter to attend.
Decision made, I step through the rubble of the building I was hiding in and hone in on the presence I sensed earlier, a smirk on my face.
I make sure to keep my Cursed Energy suppressed as I approach, sneaking up on them. Unsurprisingly, this brings me closer to Sukuna's fight.
It only takes a moment for me to catch up, and then I am standing on top of a skyscraper, right behind a short, white-haired... Girl? Huh.
Didn't see that coming.
My steps are silent as I approach, and she doesn't notice me until I am right behind her, my mouth right next to her ear.
"Boo!"
"EeeEEEE!!!" She squeals, jumping almost her entire height into the air.
My resulting laugh is cut short when I have to lean back to avoid a scythe of ice decapitating me, but no more attacks follow as our eyes lock.
My grin only grows at the dumbstruck, jaw dropped expression of shock that fills her face.
"Uraume~!!!" I cheer, hopping forward to glomp her in a deep hug, shaking her side to side and ignoring her attempts to protest. "It's so good to see you~!!"
Pausing the hug, I drop her down to her feet and hold her by her shoulders. "Look at you~! You're a girl now~! I love your hair~! The red?" I do a chef's kiss. "It's great! Gah! You're so cute~!"
"N-N-N-Narauko-s-sama!?!?!" Uraume exclaims in bafflement, staring at me with wide eyes and an adorable blush. So cute.
I hope he cherishes you more this time around, Uraume.
"Surprised~?" I wiggle my brows at him.
Uraume's mouth opens and closes like a fish's, but she doesn't manage to say anything before being interrupted by a tremendous crash.
I let go of her as our eyes turn to the near distance where that meteor just flew into the ground.
Looks like things are wrapping up.
"Uraume," I say, more seriously this time, immediately garnering her full attention. "Does he know you're awake?"
She takes a second to regain her bearings. "N-no, not yet, Narauko-sama."
I smile. "Perfect. You need to go ahead and greet him then. Do not tell him anything about me being back, okay?"
Her brows scrunch and she looks at me, puzzled. "But why? Don't you want to see Sukuna-sama too?"
"Of course I do," I pat her on the shoulder. "But you're not considering the possibilities right now. Think about it. If we go together then he'll only be surprised once. But this way, he'll see you and be like 'Uraume!' and then I'll show up and he'll be like 'Narauko!' but at an even higher pitch cuz double surprise, and then I can punch him in the dick or something. Okay I won't do that, but it'd be funny if I did."
She shares a soft snicker with me and matches my grin briefly before bowing to me. "Of course, Narauko-sama."
With that, Uraume disappears after Sukuna, and a moment later a second explosion follows from the meteor.
"Hah! You really pulled that out?" I shake my head with a sardonic smile. "Honestly, talk about overkill." I pause, tilting my head and pursing my lips. "Well, never mind then."
He probably just wanted to show that Curse some respect by fighting fire with fire.
"He can be considerate in the strangest ways sometimes," I mutter as I follow after Uraume at a more sedate pace.
My smile however, returns in full force when Sukuna finally enters my sight, with Uraume kneeling right behind him.
It's been so long.
He looks different. Not massively, but the structure of the face is just a little bit off. I assume that's just the result of his method of taking over the host's body. My method is obviously superior, because it doesn't involve any similarities to Voldemort.
I'm also assuming that he hasn't brought his body back properly yet, likely for much the same reason that I haven't. Eh, that's not important right now.
I refused Kenjaku-Sensei's offer back then, and I never regretted that. I'd already explored all that I could in the world, I'd have just been bored living any longer.
Plus, I felt closer to my children knowing that time was an enemy that faced me as equally as it did them. I didn't want to outlive them.
But now? Now that I find myself alive again?
Well, I'm still going to scold Kenny for being a disrespectful ass, but I'm going to make the most of this. The future is a whole new world after all, there's so much more to explore.
My head tilts up at that thought and I spend a moment watching the stars.
I wonder if I'll ever get to walk on the moon?
///
Ryōmen Sukuna
///
The sound of crackling flames and collapsing buildings surrounds him as he glares at the burning remains of the Curse in front of him.
"Who are you?" He asks when a presence falls into place behind him.
"I have come to greet you, Sukuna-sama." An unfamiliar, but also familiar voice says, and that curiosity has him turning enough to observe the interloper.
He observes the figure for a moment, and the image of another's face flashes by his minds eye. The similarity is undeniable, and he feels his horrid mood wash away as his features light up.
"Are you Uraume?!"
The figure raises their head and grins up at him. "Long time no see."
One thousand years of partially incarnating through Cursed Spirits, and for the first time, he is greeted by a familiar face, so to speak, that isn't that disgusting brain.
But the pleasant surprise he feels then is almost immediately overtaken when a different, painfully familiar, voice sounds out behind him.
"Hey," he freezes, eyes wide. "Sukuna"
It can't be.
Slowly, almost reluctantly, Sukuna turns around, mouth open in genuine shock.
He doesn't say anything.
He can't say anything.
Standing there, smiling there, is Narauko.
A fake? He thinks, but no. He would notice. Nobody and no Technique could imitate him. But how?
"Been a while, huh?" Narauko asks, smiling as brightly as the sun, and memories start flying through Sukuna's mind a mile a minute.
He remembers their first meeting.
"My name's Narauko, nice to meet you, Pinkie."
He remembers the first time they fought each other.
"Wanna make a bet?"
The first time they fought together, on the same day.
"Sukuna! Ignore defence and attack! Just trust me!"
The day they were acknowledged as The Strongest.
"You think too much. Just attack."
All of these and more. A lifetime of memories. Times that he can now acknowledge as the happiest years of his existence. Side by side with the only one to ever break his cycle of hatred.
"I hate you, Narauko."
He remembers their final moment together. The last time he saw his one and only friend.
"I know. Because I love you, Sukuna."
More imminently important, he remembers Narauko rejecting that brain's proposal. He remembers them agreeing to leave him to his pathetic death. He remembers it because he hated it more than anything else. Because it was his choice to stay behind.
An itch travels down his cheek, and he holds a hand out, looking down in time to see a teardrop fall into his palm.
"What is this?" He mutters, wide eyes glancing back to what is left of the burning Curse.
However, he is pulled from any thoughts by an incredibly unmanly squeal, and he only just looks up in time to avoid stumbling when Narauko comes crashing into him.
"Eeeee!! Sukuna-tan~! Are you that happy to see me~!!! Awww, I knew you lo- MY FUCKING ARMS!!!" Narauko abruptly steps away, looking down at the stumps on his biceps. "WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS!?!"
He doesn't respond. To be honest, he kind of just acted purely out of muscle memory.
Both of them stare at the bleeding stumps for a moment, not a word spoken.
A beat passes, a stillness that feels so familiar that it aches, and then their eyes meet, and it's like they're kids again.
They laugh.
They laugh like they used to. They laugh so hard that he struggles to breathe. So hard that they have to lean on each other for support.
And in that moment, he thinks that he does understand why that Curse cried.
///
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
I'm really dragging out their fight lol. To be fair though, my entire hesitancy to writing an omake in the first place was cuz I didn't want to write that.
That said, I did think I'd have written their fight this chapter, but this is how it came out instead. I think this way is better anyway.
I did want to write the fight out, like I implied with the poll earlier, but I've been writing for the past 4 hours and I am already 3k words into the next omake chapter. (this is 7k)
I'm just posting this now because I've accepted that I won't be ending this omake in 3 chapters like I wanted to.
What a pain~.
Comments
Lucy Edwards
you're really gonna like Uraume's vision
Javen
look Im ALL for platonic male friendships but them boys are definitely fruity as hell lmao. Amaterasu who? this reminds me off the times naruto used to clutch his sheets lying awake at night yearning for sasuke to come back to him.
356PumpsAMinute
When Sukuna told Jogo that he hadn’t the slightest idea of how he felt. Jogo: So that was a fucking lie. But, I really liked the ending. Thought I would be a bit annoyed that they wouldn’t fight but wasn’t. Really satisfied with the cliffhanger.
