Chapter 96: Gojo Satoru's Test — Breaking Infinity
The training field of Tokyo Jujutsu High.
"I've already heard the full story from Maki and Tsumiki, including your reasoning and your stance."
The white-haired man dressed in black stood casually with both hands in his pockets, his blindfold covering his eyes.
"I admire your audacity."
"Your reasoning isn't bad, either."
"But, young man…"
His smile widened.
"Sukuna's finger isn't something just anyone is allowed to keep."
"If you're not strong enough, it might cost you your life."
Then he leaned forward dramatically, bringing his handsome face close to Ren's.
"However, because I believe in nurturing promising seedlings, I've decided to give you a chance."
He raised a single finger.
"If you can touch me."
"Just once."
"I'll let you keep Sukuna's finger."
"How about it? Pretty reasonable, right?"
"Seriously?"
"One hundred percent."
"Then it's a deal, Gojo-sensei."
Ren grinned faintly, though his eyes remained calm and unreadable.
Just touch him once?
At first glance, the condition sounded absurdly easy.
But experience had taught him that the simplest-looking challenges were often the hardest.
If it were truly that easy, then this test would be meaningless.
Standing around overthinking it wouldn't accomplish anything.
Ren immediately threw a punch straight at Gojo's face.
"Huh?!"
Gojo cried out dramatically.
"Going straight for the face? That's incredibly rude! Do you know nothing about respecting your teacher?"
He even stamped his foot indignantly.
Yet he didn't move his head back even an inch.
Boom!
Ren's fist shot forward—
—or at least, it should have struck Gojo's face.
But something was wrong.
The sensation wasn't flesh.
It wasn't bone.
It wasn't anything normal.
His fist seemed to have reached its target, yet Gojo's face remained completely unchanged apart from his exaggerated expression.
And Ren felt no impact whatsoever.
He hadn't actually touched him.
Something invisible had stopped his fist mere millimeters from Gojo's face.
Ren's eyes narrowed slightly.
He punched again.
Boom!
The same result.
Again and again, his fist halted at an imperceptibly small distance from Gojo's face.
He clenched his teeth and poured more force into his arm, trying to push through.
For a moment, it felt as though his fist advanced slightly.
Or perhaps it hadn't moved at all.
Either way, he still couldn't reach Gojo.
Ren launched several more attacks.
This time he targeted the shoulders.
The chest.
The abdomen.
Every strike ended the same way.
Each blow stopped just short of contact, blocked by an unseen barrier.
No.
Not a barrier.
The sensation was far stranger than that.
The resistance didn't begin near Gojo.
It began the instant Ren threw his punch.
The closer he came, the stronger it became.
Like sinking deeper and deeper into a swamp.
Or becoming trapped in an ocean of gelatin.
Until all momentum vanished completely.
Gojo casually hopped backward, hands still in his pockets, relaxed and elegant as ever.
"You need to learn adaptability, kid."
"With that rigid way of thinking, it's hard to trust you with Sukuna's finger."
He brushed a hand through his hair.
"An attack like that?"
"You could throw punches all day long and never break through my Infinity."
"Innate?"
"My innate technique is Limitless, and it's neutral form-Infinity"
Gojo lifted part of his blindfold, revealing a pair of azure eyes as vast and profound as the sky itself.
"It's the manifestation of an infinite series."
"It allows me to infinitely divide distance."
"In its neutral state, it manifests as the power of infinite deceleration."
"To put it simply…"
"The closer something gets to me, the slower it becomes."
"Until it effectively stops."
"You can approach me infinitely."
"But you can never truly reach the space where I exist."
"In other words, ordinary attacks can never hit me."
He smiled.
"So, young man."
"Figure out how to overcome Infinity."
"Only after you can touch me will I feel comfortable entrusting Sukuna's finger to you."
"Perhaps the condition is a bit strict."
"But strictness is just another form of a teacher's affection."
---
The power of infinite stopping.
No wonder every strike had felt so strange.
No matter how much force he applied, he could never quite reach Gojo.
The sensation resembled punching through endless layers of thick jelly.
"So Gojo-sensei's already using his technique."
Ren analyzed calmly while smiling faintly.
Maintaining Infinity continuously while holding an ordinary conversation…
That kind of multitasking alone was absurd.
Still—
There seemed to be only one possible solution.
He would have to push his Limitless Technique to its absolute limit and attempt—
No.
A glimmer flashed through his dark eyes.
A different idea surfaced.
Something far simpler.
But perhaps just as effective.
Ren raised his fist once more.
Cursed energy surged through his body as he launched another punch.
"Didn't I already explain?"
Gojo sighed and shook his head dramatically.
"Physical attacks don't work against me."
"Why won't you use your brain?"
"I was hoping Ren-kun might actually surprise me, but this is just disappoi—"
His voice stopped abruptly.
The expression on Ren's face gave him pause.
It was far too calm.
Far too focused.
This wasn't the look of someone making a desperate, futile attempt.
Something was off.
Gojo's Six Eyes flared to life as he stared at the incoming fist.
Compressed air?
Using a shockwave to transmit force?
No.
Infinity would classify violent airflow as a threat and stop it as well.
Then what is it?
Thoughts raced through his mind.
Ren's fist slowed.
Slower.
Slower.
Until it halted just a hair's breadth from Gojo's body.
Infinity's invisible wall once again stretched between them like an uncrossable abyss.
The corner of Gojo's mouth began to rise.
A false alarm—
Then his smile froze.
At the point closest to his body—
around Ren's fist, wrapped in brilliant blue cursed energy—
black sparks suddenly erupted.
Crackling.
Exploding.
Spreading outward.
The dark lightning arced through the air—
and in an instant, the scattering Black Flash sparks pierced straight through Infinity's invisible wall.
Gojo's Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue activated.
The immense attractive force combined with his own movement, pulling him backward at full speed.
At the same time, a staggering question surged through his mind.
This is… Black Flash?
But why Black Flash?
Black Flash was a spatial distortion phenomenon that occurred when a physical strike and a burst of cursed energy landed within 0.000001 seconds of each other.
An attack capable of distorting or damaging space itself could indeed bypass the "distance" created by Infinity. After all, if space itself was distorted, then the concept of distance ceased to exist.
But for Black Flash to occur, there first had to be a hit.
In other words, the boy should have needed to touch him first.
And Ren's attacks should have been completely incapable of touching him.
"Black Flash!"
As if determined to shatter his confusion, Ren shouted again.
He lunged forward and threw another punch at Gojo.
At the infinitesimal gap between them—where Infinity's invisible barrier lay—the fist stopped once more.
Then the blue cursed energy was swallowed by crackling black sparks.
Dark lightning erupted outward, tearing through space itself.
Gojo instantly retreated again.
His confusion lasted only a moment.
The microscopic perception granted by the Six Eyes revealed the truth almost immediately.
Yet the astonishment on his face did not diminish in the slightest.
Because—
How was that possible?
The truth couldn't actually be…
"Gojo-sensei!"
Ren leapt high into the air and came crashing down toward him.
"You've figured it out already, haven't you?"
At that moment, Gojo used Blue once again, shifting dozens of meters sideways through the air in an instant.
Before Ren could even land, he stomped on empty air.
A burst of black lightning exploded beneath his foot.
His body abruptly changed direction midair and shot after Gojo.
"Under cursed-energy reinforcement, my body can already run on air itself."
"Do you know what that means?"
"That's right."
"I can use the air as a target and trigger Black Flash."
"I've always wondered whether Infinity's power to stop everything could stop space itself."
"Looks like it can't."
"After all, even protected by Infinity, Gojo-sensei still exists within this space."
"A direct Black Flash could never hit you."
"Because the prerequisite for Black Flash is striking you first."
"But—"
Floating beneath the blue sky and drifting clouds, reflected in Gojo's unfathomable sapphire eyes, a brilliant light appeared for the first time.
A light born partly from witnessing this unprecedented Black Flash miracle—
—and partly from admiration for the boy's ingenuity.
That was right.
In theory, Black Flash required hitting a target first.
But nowhere did that target have to be Gojo himself.
Unable to touch Gojo's body, Ren had instead targeted the air directly in front of him.
He triggered Black Flash against the air itself.
Then, using the spatial distortion created by Black Flash, he allowed the aftershock—the warped space itself—to bypass Infinity and strike Gojo's real body.
Gojo activated Blue once more and flashed farther away.
Ren immediately prepared to pursue.
"Stop!"
Gojo hurriedly raised a hand.
"That's enough."
"You passed."
"But—"
Ren still had his fist raised, eager to continue.
"I haven't actually hit you yet, Gojo-sensei."
"No."
Hovering in midair, Gojo shook his head.
"You already did."
He lifted his right arm.
The sleeve had been torn open.
Beneath it were visible streaks of blood.
"Your very first Black Flash landed successfully."
Gojo curled his lips into a helpless smile.
"This time..."
"Your attack really was fast enough."
Black Flash could not be predicted by the Six Eyes.
During execution, it was indistinguishable from an ordinary attack.
The critical 0.000001-second timing difference was too small for even the Six Eyes to identify beforehand.
Only at the instant of impact could the victim's body determine whether the strike had been ordinary—or a Black Flash.
Unlike cursed techniques, which leaked telltale signs before activation, Black Flash gave no warning.
By the time Gojo realized something was wrong—
he had already been hit.
"So."
Gojo descended from the sky and landed lightly on the ground.
"I acknowledge you, kid."
"I acknowledge that you possess the qualifications to safeguard Sukuna's finger."
"That finger."
"And every Sukuna finger you discover in the future."
"You may dispose of them however you see fit."
"Thank you, Gojo-sensei!"
Gojo looked at the overjoyed boy, then lowered his blindfold and smiled faintly.
Well...
he added silently to himself,
with your strength, I doubt you need to worry too much about the higher-ups anymore.