A/N: Welcome to my latest story: Potential Man. Here we go with this one. Next three chapters are up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) already if you want to see them early.
Nue struck with all its stored charge but that was barely enough to even delay the King of Curses for more than a second. Holding on to Takaba, he twisted and jumped to the next building, crashing through the window. One minute was all he had in Itadori's body and he couldn't hurt Takaba. Takaba's curse technique should be enough to let him survive this, I thought as Nue struck the building with all the charge it could build up quickly.
I rushed to the side of the building and could just barely make out Sukuna speaking to Takaba before grabbing his face and shoving Itadori's finger inside said mouth. Hakari crashed through the window a second later and I was just behind him. We came to the sight of Sukuna's facial markings appearing on Takaba's face as Itadori came to.
"What the—" Itadori was sent flying with a punch that shot him like a bullet from the building. I looked at Hakari for a second and our minds seemed to sync as we attacked at once. I struck out with a kick. Hakari with a punch.
Sukuna twisted out of the way of both, and then I was sent flying out of the building. Nue screeched, managing to catch me in its talons before doing the same with Hakari a second later. I inverted my cursed energy, turning it into positive energy and healing the slash that had opened up my chest before I lurched upright.
Nue flew back towards the building Sukuna had come from and then there was a massive glacier between us and Sukuna. Uraume? What the fuck? How hadn't I seen her on the map if she'd been watching Itadori? Fuck.
I climbed up to Nue's back and watched as Hakari did the same from the other side. I directed Nue to take the long way around as we flew above the glacier before approaching the building from the other side, but by the time we got there, Sukuna was gone. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I turned to look at Hakari with him looking just as shocked as I was.
Nue took us down and around to where Itadori had landed. He was pushing himself off the ground as we arrived.
"Sukuna?" He asked.
"Gone," I replied as I jumped off Nue and walked up to him.
"What happened?" I asked.
"A binding vow. When he brought me back to life, he made me vow to give him full control of my body for one minute and then to forget that I'd even made the vow in the first place," he said.
"Where is the Fallen One?" Angel asked, looming down on us from above.
"Escaped," I said to her as Higaruma and Tsumiki came running out of the building next.
"What just happened?" The lawyer asked. I turned my head away as the others began to explain. This was worst case scenario. Sukuna with a body that had the most broken single cursed technique in the whole series. It was over. It was genuinely over.
— —
I stared up at the sky and watched as the sun began to set, bringing an end to my first day in the Culling Games. We were in one of the massive hotels that had once played host to a number of Japan's wealthiest visitors. I had made the decision to spend the night first and foremost. We would figure out a way to get Tsumiki out of the game tomorrow. I just couldn't focus on it with a much bigger problem on the horizon.
Sukuna. I genuinely couldn't think of a worse body for him to have taken in truth. Okay, maybe Gojo's or Okkotsu's. Those could have been worse. Access to boundless cursed energy in the form of Rika, or access to the Six Eyes + Limitless were probably more dangerous than Takaba's cursed technique.
"What can you tell me about his cursed technique?" I asked the group as we sat around the table. Hakari had left the colony to reach Kirara and see about sending a message to Okkotsu, warning him about what was going on.
"I have no idea. Did he even know?" Itadori said, shaking his head.
"We never fought but he never seemed to be hurt in all the fighting that happened so maybe something to do with that? I saw him brush off some pretty devastating attacks though."
"I have seen the technique once before," Angel said through the mouth on Hana's hand.
"What? You know it?" I asked, pretending to be surprised.
"Yes. A figure similar to him as well once had some version of it. He was a court jester in a Great Lord's court and the technique allowed him to manifest anything that he felt was funny into reality," she said.
"Anything? Anything at all?" I asked.
Itadori just put his head into his fingers, looking despondent.
"Could things be any worse?" He sighed.
"It's not an unbeatable technique. The restrictions are strict. He must genuinely find the circumstances funny to manifest them. If we affect his confidence then there is a chance," she said.
"Affect his confidence? You do know that we are talking about Sukuna here right?"
"I am aware that we speak of the Fallen One and I will see him defeated no matter what. The next time we face, I will use my technique on him and that will be it," she said.
I wished things were so simple.
"Do you think Sensei could win?" Itadori asked, also clearly not all that convinced of the Angel's chances.
"I think Sensei could beat anyone," I said and watched him breathe an audible sigh of relief. I did not feel the slightest twinge of guilt from lying to him in this case. It was for his own good, after all. There was nothing to be gained from giving into despair. That was my job.
"The back of the Prison Realm is back in Jujutsu High. Once Okkotsu gets here tomorrow, we can get moving," I said.
XXXXXX — URAUME
Finally, their master was back. And he was just as they remembered him to be. Cold, uncaring, and cruel. Just perfect, they thought with a smile that they hid with the sleeve of their kimono. They knew their master would kill them for smiling too much if he got wind of it. They looked over at the despicable man that had made most of this possible. Kenjaku. He was a stain of a sorcerer, they knew.
But their master had made a binding vow and so they were bound not to deal with him yet. Eventually the time would come when they could be done with him and they eagerly awaited it.
"A new body? How interesting," the stain spoke from the corpse he puppeted.
"Indeed," their master said, and said nothing more. They went to retrieve the fingers they had been seeking for months now.
"I apologise, my Lord, I was only able to find four of them," they said, already anticipating their Lord's rage and punishment. Part of them longed for it. It had been too long since they had failed to please their Lord.
"It's fine. That man Satoru Gojo most definitely hid the last one," he said, shrugging. That was oddly calm of him, they thought. But Uraume within themself did not feel any calm. Satoru Gojo. They silently planned a wicked revenge on the man for making them fail their Lord.
Their Lord ate the fingers and they shivered as the image reminded them of all the times that their Lord had eaten their delicious cooking as they prepared human after human for their Lord's consumption.
"So what now?" The stain asked, interrupting their moment.
"This body fits like a glove on a pair of feet. My scathing critique of his comedic talents was enough to suppress him so that this body has not become a cage like that foul boy, but his confidence returns with time," he said.
"I have prepared this bath for you for that purpose," the stain said.
"Good. But it is only one step of the equation. Uraume, when I am gone, find me a woman named Sakura Kuchiki," their master said.
"Yes, my Lord," they said, near shivering with pleasure at finally being ordered by their Lord again. It had been too long. Much too long.
"Someone from the body's past?" The stain asked.
"A teacher. The only one that had laughed at his terrible jokes," he said.
"You mean to kill her to break him?" The stain asked again and they near lashed out at him then. How dare he question their Lord so much. The warning look their Lord gave at their flash of intent made their knees shake. Oh it had been too long indeed. They almost did attack the stain right there and then just to be punished by their Lord, but they knew the stain would most likely manage to survive their attack, and then their Lord would not be able to punish them as thoroughly as they wanted. They would be patient.
"It would do the opposite, no. I intend to ask her a few questions. Find the woman for me, Uraume," he said before ripping the clothes the body he wore had been clad in and lowering himself into the bath.
— —
"My Lord," they said, presenting him with a robe as he left the bath. He had spent hours in there and now that he was out his presence had returned. It was close to the level it had been at when he had been truly alive, but still not quite there. There was something missing.
He accepted the robe and slid it on. "Have you found the woman?" He asked.
"Yes, my Lord," they said. The stain had ended up being useful in that regard. His ability to gather information using the modern day tools put their best endeavours to shame ultimately but as long as their Lord's will was done, then they would stomach having to work with him.
"Where is she?" He asked.
"Kyoto," they said.
"Oh good to see you are done. We can get going now," the stain said, pointing out his hand and calling out one of the cursed spirits his technique gave him control of. This one was avian. Large enough to carry all three of them.
"Good," their Lord said and then they were on their way not too long after.
When they arrived in Kyoto, the stain led them to a house. A bungalow with a garden in front of it. They waited with the stain under a curtain while their Lord went out to the front of the building and knocked. It took a few minutes before the woman finally opened the door.
She was an older woman— in her fourth or fifth decade. Breasts that had once been impressive in her youth now most likely weighed her down. The rest of her body was similarly soft. A pouch in her midsection that spoke of a life of ease, and smile lines in her lips that said she was a person used to smiling and doing so often. Crow's feet around her eyes supported this assumption.
"Who are you?" The woman asked.
"Ahhh. Miss Kuchiki, don't tell me you forgot your favourite student? The one and only superhero?" It took a few seconds for recognition to finally flash across her eyes.
"Takaba? It's you? You've grown up so much. Please come in, come in. Let me make you some tea," she said, and then their Lord followed her within. Enhancing their hearing with cursed energy, they followed the happenings within the house.
Their Lord plied the woman for information about what she had done after teaching. A career in acting had followed a middling teaching career, and then she had gotten married to the man she shared the house with— a film director. And she in turn asked him about his own path. He weaved a story of success, telling her how he had given up on his dream to be a comedian early next year and was now a successful banker— news that clearly delighted the woman.
"So what brings you here, Takaba? Not that I don't appreciate this visit, but I am sure that you must have a reason for coming all this way," she said.
"I came with a question," he said, feigning hesitance. Their Lord was a great actor when he wanted to be.
"Oh, what is it? I would be happy to help even if I don't teach anymore. I did love it when I did," she said.
"I wonder what would have happened if I had taken a different path. You said that I would have made a great comedian one day," he said.
"And you wonder what would have happened if you had kept at it?" She asked.
"Yes. What if I kept at my dream?"
"In truth, I feared that you might."
"Feared?"
"Indeed. I feared that because of my weakness, you would have ruined your life. It would have brought me no small amount of sorrow if you had," she said.
"What do you mean, Miss Kuchiki?"
"I mean that I was too weak to tell you the truth. Takaba, all your jokes were terrible. You would have made a terrible comedian in truth. I just would have hated to see that heartbroken look on your face so I pretended to find them funny and indulged you when you spoke about it. Part of me always hoped that the criticism from your fellow students and the other teachers would have been enough to make you give up but you never did. I am so glad now to see that you did give up eventually. I can just imagine what would have happened if you had kept at it. You would have been one of those comedians who showed up to Open Mic after Open Mic, making the crowd boo with your terrible jokes," she said, unloading all her thoughts at once. Uraume smiled. They could feel their Lord's cursed energy doing its work, bringing out the worst in the woman, making her say cruel things that she might otherwise have censored herself from speaking. They were true, of course. But phrased more cruelly than she otherwise would have.
"So you say I should not bother trying to get back into it?" He said. The woman laughed, but there was no humour in it.
"Heavens no. That would be a terrible thing to do. You were atrocious, Takaba. You had absolutely no potential as a comedian. Your comedic timing, the jokes themselves, your mannerisms and presentation. All of it was purely suited for comedy. If you went into that world, you would do nothing but fail over and over again," she said.
"Thank you," their Lord said, and then the woman's head slid from her neck. Their Lord's output rose to a level that they now recognised. The host had been truly suppressed now.
— —
Hours later, and their Lord was staring down at a ball in front of him. He had been doing so for a few minutes now and Uraume had the good sense not to question him, but they were clearly alone when it came to that attribute.
"What are you working on, I wonder?" The stain asked, leaning forward to look at the ball.
"This body has a unique cursed technique. The power to manifest any phenomena into reality with the condition being that the user must find the manifestation truly funny," he said.
"How interesting. Sounds powerful for sure," the stain said, looking at the body with unmistakable greed.
"Do not even think about it," Uraume said, stepping into the conversation.
"I'd never even consider it," he said, placing one hand on his chest and pleading innocence.
"The technique is useless for me," their Lord said finally.
"My Lord, you can make any technique work," they said.
"Not this one. The restriction is strict. I must find the change truly funny. Wholeheartedly funny. Not just situationally. It was well suited for this host, but for me it might as well be useless," he said.
"Want a new body? I'm down to trade you one from my collection," the stain spoke again.
"I will freeze you dead if you speak again," they threatened.
"Leave him be, Uraume. It is just like Kenjaku to be so greedy. As for you, Kenjaku, no. As Uraume said, I can make any technique work," he said, and then he closed his eyes.
"A binding vow perhaps? Severely restrict the effect of the technique to remove the condition," the stain said.
Their Lord opened his eyes and then a third hand grew from his chest.
"Oh I see. You restricted the reality manipulation to only affect your body and then removed the condition? But that shouldn't have been enough on its own. What else did you do?" The stain asked.
Uraume wanted to speak but remained silent.
"Any change made must be one that I completely understand," he said finally.
"How fascinating," the stain said, beginning to clap before the world went still.
Satoru Gojo floated above them. He stretched out a hand towards the stain and their Lord appeared in front of it, slapping away the technique with a backhand.
"Oh? Something interesting has happened for sure," he said, and then he tilted his head away from a punch their Lord sent before returning one of his own that their Lord caught.
"Is Itadori still alive?" He asked out loud.
A/N: Just replace the end of the chapter with the rest of the Gojo and Sukuna initial confrontation from canon. With the challenge and whatever. I don't think there's any need for me to reiterate all that here, is there? Next three chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.