Maki rolled her eyes, letting out a huff. "You really don't know, do you? Idiot. Well, there is in fact a prize for the school that wins; it gets extra credit—like, a lot of credit. Not only that, but the student who scores the highest in the event also gets one-on-one training from any teacher! From both Tokyo High and Kyoto High!"
Ren stood there, stunned. 'What? There was no information about this kind of prize... for the winners... Getting extra credit makes sense since this is the equivalent of a sports festival, but special training? Did something change in the plot again? No, there shouldn't be anything that could change this... It must be something I just didn't know about.'
He started walking beside Maki, his mind racing. ' Wait a second... Yuta did go to Africa for training. Was that his prize for winning this event? Gojo recommending him for that trip could have been his reward for scoring the highest. They never showed the event when Yuta was in, but there was an offhand comment about him destroying everyone. It was never explicitly stated that Africa was the prize, though...
Ugh, if only Yuji and that bunch had actually had a proper event, I would know everything. In the manga, the Goodwill Event was crashed by Kenjaku and his crew, and they ended up playing baseball. No fight, so I guess no one got the special prize then.'
"Hey! You're listening to me, right?" Maki shouted, breaking his train of thought. "Who are you going to choose for your special training, hmm? You can pick any teacher!"
Ren blinked, finally refocusing as they walked back toward the main campus. While he was lost in his head, someone was watching his every move from the shadows.
A girl standing beside Shino, one of the elders of the Kamo clan, smiled thinly. "Hmm, old man... he is impressive, right?"
Shino simply nodded, his face a mask of tradition and stoicism.
"So impressive..." the girl continued. "Especially for the amount of cursed energy he has. It was so low... yet he was able to do such things. He fought like... like he was absolutely sure he would win."
Shino opened the door of a black car, holding it for the girl. She sat inside with a lingering smile.
As Shino walked around and climbed into the driver's side, the girl sitting next to him began to shift. Her hair lengthened and turned a vibrant blue. Two jagged patchwork seams stitched themselves across her face, and her brown eyes faded into a cold, dull grey.
Stitches appeared along her arms and legs. Though she still looked like a girl, the voice that came out was much deeper and far more twisted.
"Heh, looks like Kenjaku's binding vow worked, huh? Even Gojo could not tell who I was... Ha!
But I wonder how Geto-san lost to him. Ren doesn't seem that strong. Sure, his technique is tricky, but that's it.
He wasn't even that good at hand-to-hand. He didn't use a domain or even a reverse cursed technique."
As the car pulled away, Shino spoke without looking over. "He clearly was holding back... and he didn't even use Rika."
The girl—no, Mahito—nodded.
"Yeah, I know, but still, he seems rather ordinary. In fact, those other humans seemed much more impressive. What was that one's name? Todo? He hit a Black Flash. And the other student... he had what felt like more cursed energy than Geto-san himself, and he had his own music! That was way cooler!"
Shino sat like a statue, pulling out a phone to type a quick message.
Far away, on a remote mountain road, a man in monk's robes was walking calmly. He smiled as his phone buzzed.
'Hmm, it worked, huh? Great, that means Mahito is perfect,' Kenjaku thought. 'Also, huh... Ren Sato was holding back. Well, that's troublesome, but who cares if even Mahito thinks he's ordinary?
I guess he really isn't that impressive. But I can't trust Mahito's word; he couldn't use his cursed technique, so all he saw was cursed energy output and whatever cursed techniques they showed on the surface. But those other students... they are interesting. Geto's memories didn't have anything about them.
How annoying…
I just wanted to confirm something, but it seems sending Mahito there was useless… Since Mahiaot said nothing about multiple cursed techniques… It seems you, Ren Sato, are already giving me trouble, and you don't even know I exist yet.
'How amusing, but it does not matter; he is no longer as interesting since he didn't use multiple cursed techniques. That means that must be his trump card, or he must have some sort of drawback for using them…'
Kenjaku, approaching a dark cave entrance. He stopped, a sharp grin spreading across his face.
"Found you..." he muttered.
Back at Jujutsu High, Ren had finally reached a conclusion. 'Hmm, it has to be Gojo without a doubt. If anyone can teach me anything about the peak of jujutsu, it's him. Plus, it will be interesting. He's never told me anything one-on-one other than that "good advice" he gives because he thinks I'm just a normal teenager. But that advice is honestly useless to me. What I need is his input on everything else.'
He looked up at the sky. 'Wait... Gojo might even have an answer for my biggest problem: my cursed energy pool. If anyone would know if it's possible to expand your pool, it would be Gojo, Sukuna, or maybe Kenjaku. But Kenjaku and Sukuna are obviously off the list. That leaves Gojo. Why am I always trying to do everything myself? Ugh, I need to start using the resources around me. I keep trying to solo the world... is that a character flaw? Eh, nah. I can ask for help; I just don't because I don't want people knowing what I am up to.'
Ren smiled and finally spoke out loud to Maki. "Oh, it's Gojo for sure. It's about time that self-proclaimed sensei of mine actually taught me something."
'Besides,' Ren thought with a smirk, 'I'm supposed to be a teenager, right? I should probably act like one for once. Hehe.'
...
'The Architecture of Deceit'
How did Kenjaku orchestrate such a blasphemous feat? How did Mahito, a creature of pure malice, linger in plain sight as a mere girl beneath the divine gaze of the strongest, Gojo Satoru? The truth is as simple as it is unsettling.
Mahito's existence is governed by Idle Transfiguration, a technique that allows him to treat the soul as clay and the body as its reflection. If he desires the form of a woman, he does not merely wear a mask; he rewires the very blueprint of his soul, and the flesh is forced to follow.
But this raises a more provocative question: could Mahito truly become human?
The answer is a definitive yes and no. While he can mimic the human silhouette to perfection, two things remain immutable: the freezing chill of his cursed energy and the staggering depth of its well. He can reshape the clay, but he cannot change the fact that the clay is made of curses. He can mould his soul, but he cannot change what that soul is made of.
So, how did he bypass the eyes of the strongest, which see through the very fabric of reality?
The answer lies in the ancient art of the Binding vow.
Kenjaku crafted a binding vow of absolute suppression: Mahito sacrificed the use of his cursed technique entirely for a period of twenty-four hours. In exchange for this day of total impotence, his cursed energy and soul were masked, rendered as mundane and hollow as a common human for that same duration.
Having already shifted into a female form before the vow was sealed, Mahito became a ghost in the machine. It was this precise synergy—the fluidity of the soul combined with the absolute suppression of a vow—that allowed him to fool even the eyes of the strongest Gojo Satoru.
To a thousand-year-old ancient curse user like Kenjaku, such a feat was nothing short of trivial.