"Earthlings?"
"Simurian aliens?"
"What is the difference between them?"
"Are they strong?"
A figure wrapped in a hoodie walked down an empty street, his silhouette radiating a quiet loneliness. The brim of his hood was pulled low, leaving his face blurred and indistinguishable in the shadows. Had anyone recognized him, their jaws would have surely dropped.
Yuji Itadori.
By the calendar, he should have been an eighty-three-year-old man, yet he maintained a youthful appearance, his physical form seemingly frozen forever at its peak. Yuji raised his eyes slightly. If there was any change to be found, it was in the faint scars at the corners of his mouth and cheeks, and the heavy air of maturity and "precipitation" that clung to his temperament.
"2086."
The older generation of sorcerers had long since passed away. The cursed energy of the new era had declined sharply, and no new Special Grade sorcerers had been born. As a result, he had become the undisputed strongest sorcerer of the age.
"Yuji Itadori."
"It's been seventy years."
"No one can keep up with you anymore."
His inner monologue was heavy. His entire body was shrouded in the stagnant air of isolation. In his cloudy eyes, one could no longer find a trace of the hot-blooded boy he once was. Today, he no longer shouted, no longer acted recklessly, and no longer felt the fire of the past. There was simply nothing left in the world capable of igniting his blood.
"Grandpa..."
"Junpei, Mechamaru, Nanami, Gojo-sensei, Principal Yaga, Mai, Choso..."
The figures of the past flashed through his mind. After that final battle, everything had ended. But so many had died—even if they won, could it truly be called a victory? Yuji continued walking. On countless late nights, those faces would break into his mind, leaving him drowning in regret.
Gojo-sensei... Choso... now I can more or less make you feel more satisfied with my strength. Yuji exhaled a heavy breath. It's a pity. You won't see it anymore. It's all meaningless.
He looked up at the sky, thinking of the friends he had lost in more recent years—Yuta Okkotsu, Maki Zenin, and Panda. These sorcerers of his own generation could not withstand the erosion of time and had passed away one by one. The feeling of loneliness only grew sharper. Since attending Panda's funeral, he had completely disappeared from the public eye.
In truth, he was just playing marbles in obscurity. He hadn't hidden himself with any great effort, but the Jujutsu world simply couldn't find him. He truly didn't want to witness the departure of any more "comrades-in-arms," so he had simply dismissed himself from society.
"This ending is a bit too scribbled," he muttered. "Too hasty... even if it's a funeral, everyone should be completely prepared instead of just fading away."
"If I could do it all over again..."
"No. Even if I did, with my experience and lack of qualifications back then, I would still be confused. I would still make the same choices."
"Even if I went back with my current memories, what could I do? The weak Yuji of that time couldn't change a thing."
He mentally contrasted his past self with his current strength. The Yuji of now was a different entity entirely. But time doesn't flow backward, let alone allow one to return with their current power.
Mastery of the Black Flash. A constantly sharpened Reverse Cursed Technique. A bottomless pool of cursed energy. Inheriting the abilities of the [Cursed Womb: Death Paintings] and all of Sukuna's techniques... Physical strength that defies logic.
A gift for striking the very soul. The ultimate understanding of jujutsu precipitated over sixty-eight years... An ageless physique, a hybrid of human and cursed spirit. The same root and origin as Sukuna. And... the ability to utilize every relic and cursed tool in the entire jujutsu world.
Beyond that, he possessed the technique inherited from his mother, Kaori Itadori: [Anti-Gravity System]. Back then, Kenjaku had used this trick to catch his enemies off guard and kill Yuki Tsukumo. In the process of developing his own potential, Yuji had unexpectedly awakened this technique due to his unique lineage. It was incredible, yet real.
After awakening it, he had honed the technique day and night. His total cursed energy was unlike anyone else's; he could constantly break through his upper limit. Though the rate of growth slowed as he became stronger, his reserves were vast enough to be squandered at will for the sake of repeated tempering. Unknowingly, he had practiced this technique to an unprecedented realm.
Under the weight of these overlapping abilities, Yuji himself didn't know what level he had reached.
In this era, there isn't even a Special Grade besides me. Even powerful cursed spirits were pitifully rare. However, this alien visitation might be different. Yuji had reviewed some intelligence before arriving.
[The Strongest Alien: Dabura]
Such a character might actually offer a surprise. Just moments ago, the fluctuations he perceived suggested this alien possessed a technique related to [Light].
"Is it light...?"
"Then let Mahoraga deal with it first. If it loses, I'll just have to wipe up after my senior's grandaugther again," Yuji said as he walked, soon arriving at a high-rise building. Inside, the humans and the aliens were at a standstill, locked in a tense confrontation.
"Hey!" a sorcerer in a suit shouted, running toward him. "This isn't a place for civilians!"
Yuji ignored him. He simply fell into a specific stance and uttered two words in a calm, steady tone:
"Piercing Blood."
As the words left his lips, his movements were interrupted by a sudden, violent change!
Buzz—!!
The entire sky flashed with a brilliant halo. Yuji felt the world spin. The cursed energy and other powers within his body began to drain rapidly—10%, 20%, 30%... the loss didn't stop until it reached 95%.
"Heh..."
The halo dissipated in an instant. Everything had happened in a heartbeat. Yuji blinked, and the scene in front of him gradually sharpened into focus.
"A hospital?"
He was still holding that strange posture, but now he was facing a nurse behind a counter. The pungent smell of antiseptic, the sterile white surfaces, and the dazed expressions of the nurses and patients filled his senses.
"Huh? You... when did you get here?" the nurse asked cautiously. "Sir, do you need help?"
Before he could answer, another nurse nearby picked up a ringing phone. "Hello? Yes, hello."
A young, anxious voice—Yuji's own voice from long ago—came through the receiver: "This is Itadori! I just called earlier—what's wrong with my grandfather? I haven't been able to get a call back!"
The nurse, Sugisawa, responded quickly, "Oh, I told him before not to hang up. I'll go check."
Behind the counter, the nurses whispered behind their masks. "Mr. Wasuke Itadori never rings the nurse's bell, does he? It's a bit worrying."
As Sugisawa walked toward a ward, Yuji stood frozen.
Wasuke Itadori? That was his grandfather. His grandfather had died decades ago! Was this a coincidence of names?
I've... crossed over?
He looked at the reflection in the window glass. He was still himself, wearing the hood. Travel with my original body? Does this mean there are two of me in this timeline?
He closed his eyes to sense his power. Only a fraction remained accessible. However, it hadn't vanished permanently; the remaining 90% was merely suppressed by a strange obstruction and was slowly recovering.
But how had he come back? The strongest alien's ability was related to light... could he have reached a realm involving time and sent me back at the last moment? But they hadn't even started fighting. Did the opponent fear his strength that much?
Yuji raised an eyebrow, his mind full of questions. And then, he saw it.
[179 days 23:59:59]
A line of glowing text—a countdown exactly six months long—appeared before his eyes, the seconds ticking away toward zero.