The Next Step.

THUD!

Nanami fell on one knee as Jin removed his fingers, causing blood to spray out of the wound.

Jin crouched down to Nanami's level and looked him in the eye, saying, "Being the more experienced fighter, you should have known better than that."

Nanami couldn't even respond as his breathing got worse due to his injuries and heavy loss of blood. If this situation kept up, both Nanami and Yuji would die here.

Jin knew that. And while he did promise to kill Nanami the next time they met, this wasn't the right time. Nanami was the only one who could make sure Yuji didn't die at this current moment.

"Hm...Mahito, let's go. I got a bit carried away here. Next time we meet, I'll-...tch. I won't even say it. Good luck. You both will need it."

THWIP!

Jin threw Nanami's blood off of his fingers and started walking towards Mahito who was still recovering from Sukuna's attack.

By this point, Mahito had lacked the stamina to even maintain the barrier so he reluctantly deactivated it in favor of healing his injuries.

Nanami took this opportunity and raced off with Yuji on his back, escaping the area as fast as possible. He knew that this was a lucky break.

"Why aren't you following him? Or why didn't you just kill him?! You had the chance! Don't tell me...you actually care about the boy."

Jin calmly walked up to him, outstretched his hands and replied, "I injured Yuji too much in our battle so I let him go. He serves a much bigger purpose than you could ever imagine. As for the blonde, for now, he's just a means to an end."

Mahito begrudgingly took Jin's hand and stood up, covering his injury as he did. "You know Jin, you're the only one who can resist my technique to such a degree. Plus, if it was anybody else but you who let those two go, I would've killed you. You're kinda special.~"

If one looked closely, they could see small parts of Jin body changing and reverting instantly, showing Jin's ability to revert Mahito's Idle Transfiguration.

On the flipside, Jin couldn't completely affect Mahito either. When it came to this aspect of their techniques, they were completely equal.

Jin chuckled as he let Mahito's hand go and said, "Heh. Call it whatever you want. But you know, you ever wonder what would happen if we combined our techniques?"

Mahito squinted his eyes and smiled.

"It would be unstoppable. You thinking about taking my technique, Jin?"

Jin put his hand in his pockets and started walking away as if what he was saying was unimportant.

"Well, let's see where life takes us, yeah?"

WHOOSH!

In the next moment, Jin disappeared to a location unknown to Mahito, causing the cursed spirit to click his tongue.

'Tsk! Arrogant bastard. Jin, the moment I figure out your weakness, I will finish you on the spot.'

By this time, Jin was back on the rooftop, trying to find any changes in the cursed corpse.

Not seeing any, he put the woman over his shoulders and prepared to move back to their base.

Just as he was about to go, he suddenly saw a couple strands of white hair falling off of his head and his face getting...thinner.

He knew exactly what this was.

"Sigh...it's starting again. The older this body gets, the faster it ages. Two days ago this body was around 27 years old, now it has rapidly aged up several years. Hm...maybe around 5-6 years. Tch. Within a month...no within a week, I'll need to change bodies again. I should start getting a new one ready."

Jin jumped off the roof the school, disappearing from the area as he headed to the base.

In turn, Mahito took this chance to escape to the sewers in an attempt to lick his wounds. The ominous sound of crows flying away from the scene was the only thing that could be heard after it was cleared.

But, if Jin had paid attention to his surroundings, he would've noticed something off from the start.

The same crows had been following him the moment he arrived in the city.

----------

BANG!

About an hour later, Nanami burst through the doors of the medical center in Jujutsu High, throwing Yuji on a metal table.

"Q-quick, Shoko! Save him!"

The woman known as Shoko quickly put out her cigarette and raced to the table, laying her hands upon Yuji as a sort of energy appeared from them. This was just simply RCT applied to another person instead of oneself.

Most sorcerer's couldn't even use RCT, much less gain the skill required to use it on someone else. This was a testament to the talent this woman had in this area of Jujutsu sorcery.

"Nanami! What happened?!"

Nanami ripped off his tie and used it as a ball to cover his wound in hopes of slowing down the bleeding. Barely concious as he was, the sorcerer managed to pull it off, saving himself from certain death.

Ichiji, the manager 'in-the-know' of the mission Yuji and Nanami undertook against Mahito, was the one who drove the duo back to Jujutsu High so fast.

And since he was the only one capable of speech at this moment, he responded to Shoko with tightened fists and gritted teeth, saying, "Jin Itadori happened. We assumed that the cursed spirit was by himself...but he had brought a most terrifying ally. Nanami, he-"

CLANG!

Shoko stomped her heels down on the floors as she bit her lips, her body shaking.

"Jin Itadori again! How many sorcerer's have been brought here in pieces since this monster appeared?! It has been years and this is still happening! What are the higher-ups doing?!"

Shoko almost lost herself in her emotions as her hands laid on Yuji. She still remembered the day Nanami and Haibara came back from patrol as budding jujutsu sorcerers with obscene burn marks across their skin.

Shaking like rabbits from the pain they had been subjected to.

It was obvious that they had been beaten and tortured.

That was the first time Jin itadori had made an appearance in the Jujutsu world.

After that, things seemed to spiral out of control as sorcerer's were killed left and right, with even the what she thought to be the infallible Satoru Gojo finding himself a patient on her table fighting for his life.

And yet, the man responsible for all of these things is still alive a decade later, causing harm to their precious first years.

Recovering her stoic demeanor, she stopped shaking and continued focusing on the task at hand. She could not let either Yuji or Nanami die.

But it in the back of her mind, there was one thought that continued to propogate relentlessly, clouding her focus.

Even so, it was this singular thought that kept her going all of these years, even though there were times she felt overcome with grief.

Seeing this thought put into reality had become another driving force for her continuation as a sorcerer.

'Jin Itadori, I hate you with every single cell of my being.'

--------------

Some time passed as Jin laid low, taking care of his new cursed corpse, Nagi. He sorely awaited her awakening.

Standing next to him was Naoya and a face he hadn't seen in a long time, Manami. When Kenjaku had initially joined the group and it was revealed that he was using Geto's body, Jin had proposed an ultimatum to the original Geto's group.

To join him or simply stay out of his way. For them to help him, and he would help them.

So, due to their past history, Manami joined him. Toshihisa wasn't far behind. The twin girls took some convincing from Manami but they eventually joined. Laure and Miguel had left the group on good terms with Jin, which was no surprise.

Now, Jin had his own team within the curse user group.

Even though the curse user group were working together, they shared different goals overall and thus, unknowingly formed their own factions.

Kenjaku, some rogue curse users and the cursed spirits Mahito, Jogo, Dagon and Hanami worked together. Choso was also apart of that group.

On the flipside, Jin, Naoya, Manami, Toshihisa, Nanako and Mimiko worked together. For the most part anyways. They had no interest in Jin's goal. And likewise, Jin had no interest in theirs. It was just a professional relationship at most.

If Geto suddenly resurrected and came back at that moment, they would turn on him instantly.

He was sure of that. The only one he wasn't completely sure of was Naoya. This one was a wildcard.

"Oi, Jin. Is she dead? What have you been doing here with her?"

Of course, Naoya was speaking about Nagi.

Jin ignored his question and glanced at Manami, saying, "It's been a long time. Any news?"

Manami, wearing her signature red dress, gave a small smile as she recounted recent events that happened while Jin was focusing on other things.

"So, they managed to gather six of Sukuna's fingers from the school huh? Heh. They do good work. To think they really attacked the school. I wonder why they didn't ask me to come. Tch. It doesn't matter anyways. What else?"

Manami thought for a little bit before a glint flashed through her eyes, her smile widening.

"Well, Jin...Mahito and Geto have been talking about getting rid of a mole they have in Kyoto. I don't remember his name, but Mahito called him 'Puppet Boy' or something like that. You know, if you go over there and tell Geto that you want to do it, he won't object. After all, you are central to the plan in Shibuya."

Jin said nothing as he focused on pouring cursed energy into Nagi.

Several seconds passed before he jumped up, stretched his middle-aged body a little bit, and said calmly, "Then, what am I waiting for? Naoya, come with me. We have a mole to catch."