They waited in silence for what felt like far longer than it probably was, three bodies propped against trees at varying angles, the fourth — Kiyomi's constructed kill — laid flat a short distance away.
"This is stupid," Kiyomi finally said, arms crossed, watching the corpses with open impatience. "Nothing's happening."
"Patience," Sukuna said, eyes fixed on the two bodies closest to him — the one he'd killed with no direct application of cursed energy through his own hand, and the one Neji had killed purely through Gentle Fist, with no cursed energy involved at all.
Just when more complaints were about to be directed toward him, one of the corpses twitched.
Kiyomi went rigid instantly, her hand flying to her weapon. Neji's Byakugan flared without conscious thought, veins bulging at his temples as his vision snapped toward the movement.
The Kumo shinobi Neji had killed with a direct application of cursed energy through Gentle Fist sat up first, movements jerky and unnatural, like a puppet finding its strings for the first time. A moment later, the second — the one killed with pure cursed energy by Kiyomi but no actual technique behind it — followed suit, rising with the same disjointed, unfamiliar motion.
"What—" Kiyomi started, backing a step away despite herself.
"Their chakra," Neji said, voice tight, his Byakugan tracking something the other two couldn't see. "It's changing. The natural energy inside them, it's... converting. Turning into something else entirely."
Both revived shinobi turned to look at the three of them, and there was nothing in their expressions that resembled who they'd been minutes ago. No fear, no confusion, no trace of the men who'd died running from a fight they couldn't win. Just blank, unfamiliar awareness, slowly sharpening into something that looked disturbingly like a person waking up in an unfamiliar body for the first time, followed by confusion.
"W-what's going on here?" Kiyomi said, eyes darting between the reanimated corpses and Sukuna.
Sukuna held up a hand, watching the two figures a moment longer before either of them showed signs of doing anything dangerous.
His eyes were also on the one he killed without any technique or cursed energy and the one Kiyomi killed, while her technique was applied, but since her technique turned her cursed energy into objects, her actual cursed energy never touched the target when she killed the Kumo shinobi.
"You two... who are you?" He asked the two who had just woken up. They were still so confused that they didn't answer immediately, but a little deadly intent from Sukuna had them talking real quick.
One name was Haba and the other's name was Torin. Their actual identities weren't as important as where they thought they were or, at least, where they last remembered being.
"Culling Games... Kenjaku asked us to participate..."
Neither Sukuna, nor Kiyomi, nor Neji knew who they really were, but one thing was certain: whatever Sukuna was trying to accomplish, he did it.
"So... darling, wouldn't you explain now what you're all up to... please..." Kiyomi walked up to him and attached herself to his hand, making that cutesy face she'd learned girls do to get what they want.
Sukuna couldn't help but roll his eyes at the obvious acting she was pulling off, but he was still ready to explain nonetheless...
Though before that, he put the newcomers to forced sleep with his Sharingan.
"A hypothesis," he said. "One I've been sitting on for a while now, ever since your own situation, really. I wanted to test it properly before saying anything."
"Test what?" Neji demanded, Byakugan still active, clearly unwilling to fully relax while two corpses, now living, were still drawing breath, even though they were unconscious now.
"How reincarnation actually happens here," Sukuna said. "Why souls of sorcerers keep surfacing in this world at all. I don't think it's random. I think it's cursed energy itself causing it."
Kiyomi's eyes narrowed. "The cursed energy is causing it... like a binding vow?"
"Maybe... but I think it's more deeper than that. In our old world," Sukuna said, "sorcerers who died under the right conditions could return as cursed spirits — echoes of themselves, reborn from grudges, unresolved will, whatever kept them tethered. So the right way of dying is never for a sorcerer... he or she must die by cursed energy to remain dead.
I think something similar is happening here, except cursed energy, instead of preventing turning the sorcerers into cursed spirits, is bringing back the souls of the sorcerers to this world if the said person has died by cursed energy..."
He gestured toward the four bodies in turn. "Four kills. Four different methods, deliberately. This one—" he nodded to the first shinobi, "—died from cursed energy applied directly, through contact, no technique involved. This one—" the second revived corpse, "—same thing, pure cursed energy, no technique, just raw exposure." He glanced toward the body lying flat nearby, still very much dead, "—involved cursed energy, but only to create the weapon. The cursed energy itself never actually touched the body. And of course, I didn't use any cursed energy or a technique to kill my own target either..."
"And only the two who had direct contact came back," Kiyomi said slowly, understanding dawning.
"Exactly." Sukuna's eyes stayed on the two reanimated shinobi, still standing there, still watching with that same unsettling blankness. "Chakra's made of two parts. Yin and Yang. I think what happened is the Yang half — the physical, vitality-shaping half — got used first, repairing what cursed energy exposure had damaged, essentially restoring the body enough to function again. And the Yin half, the spiritual energy, got converted. Turned into something closer to cursed energy in the process. Enough to open a door."
"A door for what?" Neji asked, though something in his tone suggested he already suspected the answer and didn't like it.
"For whoever's waiting on the other side," Sukuna said quietly. "I think every time cursed energy makes direct, lethal contact with someone in this world, it doesn't just kill them. It opens a chance for something from the other world to come through and take the vacancy."
"Most likely a dead person..."
Silence settled heavily over the clearing.
"That means," Kiyomi said slowly, "every time you kill someone with your techniques directly—"
"I might be bringing back a sorcerer who might have died in the past," Sukuna finished. "Which is exactly why I needed to actually test it before assuming anything. I've killed plenty of people with cursed energy contact by now. However... I burn their bodies for good measure, so I am certain that none of the sorcerers could revive using the corpses of the people I have killed.
And I believe that leads us to a good point. There is clearly a limit to how much of their body could be healed by Yang chakra before their chakra entirely converts into cursed energy.
If the chakra is not enough to heal them, I doubt anyone could revive in a body cut in two or burned to a crisp..."
Neji's Byakugan finally deactivated, though the tension in his shoulders didn't ease at all. "So, basically, if he decided to kill, make sure he doesn't even let the body remain intact... Am I wrong?"
"Yeah... that's the gist of it, as long as we don't want a bunch of sorcerers running all over the elemental nations," Sukuna admitted. "That would be a problem. Especially when ninjas of this world learn about cursed energy. I doubt they will leave it alone... and unlike chakra, cursed energy and Jujutsu are not just tools... they will have more far-reaching consequences."
Kiyomi stared at the two blank, newly reincarnated shinobi laying silently a few feet away, something unreadable passing behind her Sharingan. "So what do we do with them?"
"They are useless now... just kill them."
xXx
A/N : And here is the reveal how things are going on or why. Simple logic but it make sense if you see what all had happened in the story so far. Also, remember this is just hypothesis base on result of an improntu experiement, it could be wrong. After all Sukuna from the very beginning was that king of character who actually think a lot to find answers he wish to get. This is the same.
Please Consider Donating Power Stones if you like the Chapter.
"Thank you Very Much for All Your Support"
If you want to read up to 20+ Chapters in advance, check my Patreon on
Patreon.com/Kamidemond