Countless questions were hovering inside Sukuna's and the others' minds after what they saw. They knew what had happened with Izumi, but to feel it with their own eyes was something else entirely.
Just like Izumi, Angel herself didn't know why she was there. She only remembered that the previous host of her body was also killed by a masked man, the same as Izumi, and if their suspicions weren't wrong, then it was the same masked man.
Sukuna didn't get enough time to think once the ancient sorceress came back to life in front of them. He barely calmed her down enough to apply the binding vow and ask a few questions. Her condition was exactly the same as Izumi's.
"You sure it's a wise idea letting her go like this…" Izumi asked as they watched Angel fly off, white wings spreading behind her.
They had asked her to come with them to the village, but she outright refused. It seemed she couldn't stomach staying with Sukuna a second longer if she had to.
Sukuna didn't care. If anything, he was happy she was leaving. From the memories he had, Angel would go to extreme lengths to kill him. If her only technique hadn't failed against him, he was sure that, turned over a new leaf or not, she would have killed him without hesitation.
"It's fine, let her go. Bringing her back to the village would have raised too many questions. Especially if that masked man were to know," Sukuna grunted. He had already marked the girl with his Hiraishin. He could track her anytime.
"Do you think it's all done by that masked man?" Kiyomi asked, anger clearly simmering on her face.
"That's the most likely outcome. Both times this revival miracle took place, and it was due to that unknown masked man. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was planning to turn this world into another golden era for sorcerers," Sukuna snorted.
Angel's clear revival in front of them, and the destruction of that palace back then, clearly had signs of cursed energy lingering behind. Both curse users he knew of were with him all the time.
Meaning whoever did that was also a curse user. Most likely this masked man. Sukuna didn't know whether bringing back the dead like this was intentional or just a coincidence, but he knew he had to find this masked man as soon as possible, before he literally created an army of sorcerers on his side.
Most curse users were weak compared to ninjas. It didn't matter in that case, however. They would bring havoc to this place nonetheless.
Izumi snorted on hearing that. "A golden era of jujutsu sorcery? You sound like those old fogies back home."
"Nah… if anything, those old fogies are the last people who would like to go back to that era. It was a chaotic time… might ruled supreme back then. This golden era you talk about, it was not for the weak," Sukuna shook his head.
"To be able to bring back long-dead sorcerers to life, who do you think did that?" Kiyomi finally opened her mouth. She was only interested in who killed Izumi. The identity of that masked man.
"To bring back the dead…." Sukuna muttered, eyeing Izumi from the side. He was certain she had come to the same answer.
And sure enough, a nasty scowl was plastered on her face even as she remembered who. "That bastard Kenjaku…"
Kiyomi's eyes widened, recalling, "The one who killed you the last time?"
"He didn't kill me. I sacrificed myself to create a black hole to take the bastard with me," Izumi's—or Yuki's—scowl deepened.
"And he survived," Sukuna sneakily added, earning a glare from the older girl.
"You told me he survived, but how exactly, you never told me…" Izumi seemed to recall he had never specified that.
"I'm uncertain, but he was alive long after you died. However, I can think of some ways. Like you said, you died by making a black hole out of yourself, right? Kenjaku had a gravity-related technique…"
Izumi nodded. Though the technique strengthened gravity, you could never say anything for certain with these old monsters. Who knows, he might be able to do what Satoru Gojo does with his Red.
The bastard managed an open domain. A cursed technique reversal shouldn't be that hard.
"Tch…"
"He seems like the most likely culprit…" Sukuna nodded.
Earlier he hadn't wished to agree, since he brought back Yuki Tsukumo of all people. She wasn't an ancient sorcerer who had a contract with Kenjaku like Angel once did.
Even if somehow that old contract worked in this world as well, he shouldn't be able to bring her back.
Sukuna was also a bit on edge around both Kiyomi and Izumi after he learned Izumi had come back to life. Because the most likely culprit was, of course, Kenjaku. And what Kenjaku was best at.
Body hopping.
When the real Izumi died, Kiyomi was also present. Sukuna didn't know whether those markings around Kenjaku's forehead were a prerequisite for his technique to activate, but he wasn't taking chances.
Either of them could have been Kenjaku. And thus, when Sarutobi Hiruzen asked him to spy on them, he readily took the chance handed to him. Another reason why he gave up on Kiyomi's training and put her cursed technique progression on halt, instead letting Izumi handle it.
With the binding vow in place, he asked both Izumi and Angel about their identities. After that, he knew at least Kenjaku wouldn't be inside them. Meaning Kiyomi was the only suspect. He so wished to place her in a binding vow as well. However, that would alert Kenjaku if he wasn't inside her head and was surveilling them.
And now today, with Angel's appearance, the chances of Kiyomi being Kenjaku had drastically reduced.
Even if those old contracts with ancient sorcerers Kenjaku made were somehow active in this world—not even considering how he brought back Yuki Tsukumo, since that was a whole other question on its own—Kenjaku shouldn't be able to bring them back without personally getting involved.
At least, that was what Sukuna's extensive knowledge of jujutsu sorcery told him.
But Shion, the priestess of the Land of Demons, was killed and came back to life, and both Kiyomi and Izumi were with him.
The chances of them being Kenjaku were quite unlikely. The main culprit was still that masked man.
There was also the fact that Kenjaku retained the cursed techniques of the sorcerers whose bodies he possessed.
Last Sukuna recalled, Kenjaku had his own body-hopping technique (I mean, duh…!), Anti-Gravity System from Kaori (Yuji Itadori's mother), and Geto Suguru's Curse Spirit Manipulation. He should also have Blood Manipulation from Noritoshi Kamo, but he never used it in the anime or manga, revealing there was a hard limit on how many cursed techniques he could store in his brain.
This fit perfectly with the human brain's limit of handling up to three techniques, being completely maxed out beyond that, even if you were a sorcerer of Kenjaku's calibre.
And if he was in any condition like Sukuna himself, then even after reviving in one of the ninja's bodies from this world, he couldn't use chakra.
Meaning, besides some standard techniques from the JJK world, he only had gravity manipulation in his arsenal.
And here he was, targeting the spirit Mōryō. For another technique. Targeting Izumi for her Mangekyō.
He was hunting for power.
The more Sukuna thought, the more a bad feeling settled in his gut.
'If that guy really is Kenjaku, and he's here for a spirit for Geto's Curse Spirit Manipulation, then can he also control Tailed Beasts?'
'He went for Izumi's eyes. Does that mean he was in an Uchiha's body, or perhaps he had an Uchiha under him?'
'He attacked Izumi right after Itachi and Kisame fought them. Does that mean he's a part of Akatsuki?'
'How did that bastard even come to this world? I can see that Kiyomi was born right. Then what about him? If he was born, then the story would have been changing for a long time. And if he came recently, like what happened with both Izumi and Angel, then who the fuck brought him back?'
Sukuna's mind felt like it was overloading without even using his technique.
"What's going on inside that mind of yours now?" Kiyomi narrowed her eyes, knowing full well the boy was far sharper than anyone would give him credit for.
She learned that the last time she talked with him.
"Nothing…" Sukuna shook his head, giving the peacefully sleeping redhead on his back a tug to lift her up.
"It's getting late. We should go back. The mission was a failure…"
Neither Kiyomi nor Izumi looked like they believed him, but he wasn't ready to open up these thoughts right now. Not without having more to go on besides just his suspicions.
—<>—
Darkness surfaced from the stone, his half-formed face splitting into a crooked grin. But he wasn't grinning—his dark face was just like that. He was Zetsu…
"So," he said smoothly, "you're back from the Land of Demons."
Obito stood with his back turned, cloak draped loosely over one shoulder. He didn't even acknowledge his presence, which somewhat irked Black Zetsu.
"You were right…" Obito replied. His voice was calm, almost bored. "The priestess, she was somehow connected to that spirit."
Black Zetsu's smile tightened. "Did you really need it?"
"Yes."
"For what?"
Obito finally glanced over his shoulder, one eye dull, unfocused. "It could be useful."
That answer made Black Zetsu frown even more.
Ever since Obito had crawled out of that coma, nothing lined up. He claimed he didn't remember who had attacked him. Everything was intact until he was attacking the Uchiha, and then—it was all a blur.
Obito himself had a feeling that something or someone messed with his brain, but he couldn't be sure.
"The Uchiha massacre," Black Zetsu said softly. "Funny how that part survived."
Obito frowned, as if genuinely confused. "Did it?"
Black Zetsu studied him. The way he stood. The way he behaved—too calm. The way chakra flowed wrong around him. It didn't feel like chakra. It felt more like his own existence for once, a heavily Yin-based entity.
He had watched Obito forget hand signs he once used reflexively. Obito hadn't used a single jutsu after the coma. Something was definitely going on, something he wasn't getting.
"And the mark on your forehead?" Black Zetsu pressed. "You don't remember that either?"
Obito lifted a hand, touching it absently. "I told you, it was there when I woke up. Must not have healed with just White Zetsu's healing."
Black Zetsu's unease deepened. White Zetsu were made of Hashirama cells, pure Yang chakra. They were miracles for healing.
And it didn't make things better that when Obito actually woke up, the remaining Yang energy inside the White Zetsu implants in his body was running out. As if it was the Yang energy that was keeping him in a coma, rather than the other way around.
It should have been keeping him alive. Then why had the man thrown those implants away completely?
He hadn't told Obito, but he knew Obito had no White Zetsu implants on him.
Obito tore those implants out as soon as he woke up. Black Zetsu only knew from White Zetsu monitoring him.
Another question that arose was how he even had the other side of his body intact if he threw out the implants. Those White Zetsu cells were necessary elements to keep him functioning.
And yet somehow, without those implants, Obito was completely healed. How?
Black Zetsu wanted to know. He so wanted to know. But Obito's recently changed attitude stopped him.
He had a feeling this wasn't the Obito he knew.
"Then why," he continued carefully, "did you attack the priestess? The Land of Demons is irrelevant to the plan."
Obito turned fully now. "Your plan."
Silence snapped tight between them.
Black Zetsu narrowed his eyes. "You were meant to join Akatsuki. Begin preparations. Capture the jinchūriki."
"I won't," Obito said flatly.
The refusal hit harder than any blow. For a second, Zetsu even felt like using the seal he had over Obito and ending the nuisance here. However, he needed a pawn. Without one, he couldn't release his mother.
"…You won't," Black Zetsu repeated.
"No," Obito said again. "Not yet."
"Then when?" Black Zetsu almost snapped, anger evident on his face.
Obito's gaze sharpened, something hungry flickering beneath the surface. "Find me more spirits. Cursed ones. And bring me research equipment. Seals. Records. Anything you can steal."
Black Zetsu stared at him.
'This won't do… Obito no longer seems suitable for the plan. I have to do something…'
Zetsu didn't say anything. However, internally, his mind was churning.
As Obito turned away, Black Zetsu sank deeper into the stone, his thoughts racing.
"Perhaps I should let Nagato handle this part now… I might ultimately have to bring back Madara early…" Zetsu gritted his teeth.
xXx
A/N : Just more theories out there, and of course showing you that Sukuna inherited the OG king's sharp mind as well.
Oh by the way, tell me any idea how Kenjaku too ended up coming here, or he isn't exactly kenjaku ?
Of course, stones. How can I forget them. Please, for the sake of curses, send them over.
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