"Stop, stop, stop—"
Masamichi Yaga didn't give Akira the chance to finish his sentence. Whatever goodwill had been generated from their joint beatdown of Gojo Satoru quickly vanished.
He had thought Akira might be a serious person, but it turned out he was just as mischievous as Gojo Satoru. No wonder Gojo was already laughing heartily, giving him a thumbs-up.
"Just tell me Gojo's version… uh…"
Wait, that's another trap.
Caught off guard, Yaga realized too late that he had given Akira another chance to show off.
"The Gojo version is—'The atmosphere at Jujutsu High is so much better than outside. Everyone here is so talented, and they speak so nicely. I really love it here.'"
"Hahaha," Gojo was clutching his stomach, laughing. "That's exactly what I'd say. My ideal version of the Jujutsu world would be like that."
Unexpectedly, Yaga didn't get angry at Gojo's speech. Instead, he seriously asked Akira, "Do you really think that?"
"Half and half. I don't like the current state of the Jujutsu world. The other half is based on practical considerations. My personal strength isn't enough, so I need the power of an organization. Jujutsu High is the safest place I can think of. In return, I'll contribute to the organization as well."
"Words alone don't show your determination."
Yaga raised one hand, and cursed energy began to flow around him.
"Pancham, go hide behind Gojo-sensei."
Akira gave the command to his still-small Pokémon before raising his own hand.
"Principal, please instruct me."
Yaga waved his large hand, and several dolls placed around the room sprang to life.
Wolves, tigers, leopards, birds, insects, and fish—all sorts of creatures, humanoid and beastly, moved toward Akira. Though they looked ugly at first glance, they had a kind of ugly-cute charm when examined closely, completely mismatched with the principal's rugged appearance.
However, whether it was Jujutsu techniques or sorcerers themselves, one could never judge by appearances.
"As you can see, I'm a jujutsu puppeteer. I can imbue inanimate objects with curses, giving them autonomous action," Yaga explained, providing the standard jujutsu kaisen technique introduction.
This allowed the cursed energy and movement of his puppets to surge further.
As soon as he finished speaking, two green, stout, doll-like figures suddenly accelerated, charging toward Akira.
Akira didn't dare to be careless. The Yaga before him was Japan's top puppet master, an expert in overwhelming his enemies with numbers, far beyond any wild curse spirit he had encountered before.
The two dolls didn't seem particularly special, and their cursed energy was subtle, but their speed and strength were nothing to scoff at. Weaker curse spirits would have been knocked down immediately.
Akira, relying on his height and reach advantage, punched the dolls away, but his face showed no signs of satisfaction.
The bodies of Yaga's cursed puppets were specially designed, with soft and elastic inner linings that minimized the force of physical attacks and absorbed cursed energy.
And combined with a dozen or more puppets, Akira knew that relying on hand-to-hand combat alone would be far too limited.
Yaga's puppet swarm tactics were far superior to the ghost tide Akira had faced at Yoshiwara Shrine.
Luckily, Akira wasn't fighting alone.
After pushing back the first wave of puppets, during the brief moment before the second wave arrived, a white figure floated into view.
The Psychic Queen, Gardevoir, made her entrance in style.
Her psychic power surged like a tidal wave, flinging the approaching puppets into the walls and leaving a crater in the center of the room.
The cursed puppets, however, demonstrated their exceptional durability. They shook off the impact and continued their attack. Their movements were simple, but their sheer numbers and resilience made them formidable.
After a few tries, Gardevoir realized that direct psychic assaults were ineffective, so she changed tactics. Instead of slamming them away, she twisted a nearby snake puppet into a knot.
However, the strategy that worked wonders on curse spirits wasn't as effective here. The puppet's body was soft, and because of the curse energy that animated it, physical damage had little impact.
"An excellent example of combining flexibility with strength," Akira thought to himself.
"Gar?"
After two failed attempts, Gardevoir instinctively looked to her trainer for guidance.
Akira tapped his temple and said softly, "You've got this, keep going."
"Gar~"
Even without a direct command, the trust from her trainer reignited her fighting spirit.
Changing strategies again, Gardevoir temporarily abandoned her usual approach of overwhelming with psychic power. Instead, she focused on creating a protective barrier around herself, allowing the puppets to pummel her with no effect as she stood unmoved.
She wasn't giving up or simply taking hits. She was analyzing, searching for the puppets' weak points.
Sure enough, after careful observation, she noticed something.
Each puppet had a particular spot inside that repulsed her—a gathering of negative energy that felt like a ball of filth.
She recalled Akira's teachings.
"Everything in the jujutsu world—sorcerers, curse spirits, cursed tools—revolves around curses. Curses are clusters of negative emotions, the things you hate the most. If you destroy the core of the curse, the rest falls apart."
She decided to give it a try.
The red gem on Gardevoir's chest began to glow as she focused her psychic energy further. Concentrating it into a single invisible spike, she directed it toward the most repulsive part of the puppet's body.
In the next instant, the puppet froze mid-attack, then collapsed to the ground, no longer able to move.
"Well done," Akira praised.
Artificial puppets contained a core, much like a human heart, that acted as the source of their cursed energy. Once that core was destroyed, the puppet was nothing more than an inanimate object.
Gardevoir had managed to find the puppet's weak spot through her own observations, without any guidance, signifying a deeper understanding of battle tactics.
Had it not been the middle of a fight, Akira would have used his ultimate move—"hugs and praises."
Gardevoir, encouraged by the praise, redoubled her efforts.
"Gar~ Gar~"
One by one, with each hand motion, Gardevoir pinpointed and shattered the core of each puppet, and within a few minutes, the surrounding puppets had all collapsed.
Seeing this, Yaga finally waved his hand, signaling for the remaining puppets to stop.
"Let's call it here."
"Thank you for going easy on me, Principal. I know you weren't using your full power."
Akira was well aware that the puppets in the room were just Yaga's casual creations. His true masterpieces hadn't even been brought out.
The principal himself hadn't fought either. With his muscular build and the tightly condensed cursed energy coursing through him, there was no way Akira would believe he wasn't skilled in close combat.
Yaga smirked. "You weren't going all out either, always keeping an eye on me."
As he said, that was the real reason Akira had held back and not directly commanded Gardevoir to attack.
This was a test, not a life-or-death battle.
Everyone here was a pet specialist—whoever did the most would lose.
"So, did I pass?"
"You passed," Yaga nodded slightly. "If Gojo hadn't told me you lacked certain skills in jujutsu, I would have offered you a teaching position at the school."
Akira kept his expression calm, though his hands clenched slightly in quiet satisfaction.
Yaga's words were a sign of his recognition, and more importantly, they marked the first official evaluation of Akira's strength by the Jujutsu Alliance.
Eight years of patience and effort had finally paid off.
After taking a moment to compose himself, Akira suggested, "How about a compromise? I'll be a student, but also a part-time assistant teacher?"
"So that's how it is. Yes, please go ahead with that plan. It'll give me a legitimate reason to dump a bunch of tasks on you."
The sky cleared, the rain stopped, and Gojo felt like his life was back on track again.
But this time, neither Yaga nor Akira had any objections.
Because the jujutsu world was severely understaffed.
There were not enough students, and even fewer teachers. If there weren't such a shortage, first-year students wouldn't be sent into battle so early.
Tokyo Jujutsu High had only two full-time teachers aside from the principal, and counting the students who were on internships, taking leave, or studying abroad, they barely managed to have over ten students total.
As the strongest, Gojo was extremely busy, and his workload was proportional to his strength.
Teaching, taking on missions, managing the Gojo family, contemplating reforming the jujutsu world, and recruiting students—he was basically up before dawn and still awake long after sunset. It was only thanks to his unique jujutsu technique and extraordinary talent that he hadn't succumbed to exhaustion.
"Well, that settles it," Yaga confirmed. "Gojo will mainly be in charge of the lower grades. You'll start with the first years. When Gojo's not around, you'll take over, focusing on practical combat and physical training. We'll leave the jujutsu techniques to Gojo—"
"If you don't mind, I can help with that as well."
A voice unexpectedly chimed in.