(Pov Satoshi)
The two groups had been fighting for some time now. Yuji and Nobara had the edge in this fight, though, as they had undergone additional training before this, meaning they were faring much better.
Yuji was dodging Eso's blood attacks with ease and pummeling him with cursed energy-infused punches and kicks while Nobara took advantage of her nails to box Kechizu in. They had grown so much recently, and I was so proud.
Unfortunately, despite their improved skills, their opponents were still both Special Grade enemies, and they had poisonous, somewhat corrosive blood, which also just so happened to be their main weapon. So it was inevitable that both Yuji and Nobara would eventually be splashed, and the decay ability of their shared technique would be activated.
Like Choso, both Eso and Kechizu had a cursed technique that allowed them to manipulate blood, but it wasn't the same as the Blood Manipulation technique used by him and the Kamo clan. Instead, they used the Rot technique, which gave their blood its corrosive properties and enabled them to activate decay. This ability could be used when their blood entered an opponent's body, causing them to decay from the inside out and fully rot in less than twenty minutes.
"Well, it seems like it's time to get involved after all, wouldn't want Yuji killing his own brothers after all," I said to myself, standing from my hidden position before jumping down. I land between the two groups, creating a large cloud of dust and smashing the ground where I touch down.
I had been perfecting my entrance landings; it was somewhat of an unofficial requirement to be a Special Grade because why be strong if you're not cool? As the dust cleared, I could more clearly see the expressions on the two death paintings' faces, and they seemed to recognize me. Kenjaku had likely warned them, given how involved I had made myself with the missions my students took.
"Gojo-Sensei! Watch out, these guys have dangerous blood." Yuji shouted. What a good kid, facing a likely painful death, and yet he still wanted to warn me.
"Don't worry, Yuji, I'll be fine," I said. I was wondering how best to convince these two of their bond with him. I knew Choso could sense his brothers through their blood connection, which is how he knew these two died and how he later figured out Yuji was also his brother.
Did they have the same power? They didn't all use the same technique, so it might not be the best I could go with, but it was the best I could do. First, I couldn't wait; I needed to keep Yuji and Nobara from dying.
I drew the Inverted Spear of Heaven and quickly slashed the two students across the odd, flowery tattoos indicating active Decay. As soon as the blade made contact, it ended the technique, and oddly colored blood leaked from the wounds. I did it quickly to prevent any of them from understanding what I had done. I wanted to keep the spear a secret from Sukuna for as long as I could.
All they saw was my arm waving around, and then each of them had a new wound on their arms. After that, I noticed Eso was charging forward with Kechizu coming in from the side, their blood already flying towards me. I jumped out of the way, causing the two to crash into each other, and as I came back down, I sent a kick towards them, knocking both of them away.
"Bro, it's really him, Gojo, he's like they said. What do we do?" Kechizu said in a near whimper, hiding partly behind his older brother.
Eso looked conflicted for a moment before his face settled. "We need to retreat and tell our big brother about this." He said after a moment.
"Not so fast, you two. We need to talk first." I said, walking over to the two death paintings and pointing at Eso. Best to ask directly. "Can you feel your brothers? On a level beyond physically, I mean."
He gave me an odd look before responding. "Yes, I share a bond with my brothers. We used to be one, even now we are connected, even to our still sleeping siblings."
"Good, now focus on that connection and tell me, can you feel him?" I asked, pointing at Yuji this time.
"Huh, why me?" Yuji asked, confusion clear in his expression.
Eso and Kechizu exchanged a look, as if wondering why I would ask such a question. But seeing that I was serious, Eso closed his eyes for a moment.
I didn't know exactly how this blood sensing worked, but it was likely some extension of their unique biology as a death painting and their blood control technique. They were all similar enough in their biology that their blood might have been considered part of one being, and they could sense the others' blood in a way similar to how they sensed and manipulated their own.
After a few seconds, Eso went through a range of emotions very quickly, from confusion to anger to happiness, and before I knew it, he was running over and hugging Yuji, lifting him off the ground.
"Little brother, it's you, oh, I can't believe I didn't realize it. Will you forgive us?" He asked, continuing to hold the now-very-confused teen.
"Yeah, why didn't you say anything?" Kechizu also asked.
"Hey, what the hell is going on? Why are you guys suddenly so weird? Why does this keep happening? Am I doing it?" Yuji asked
"Uh, Gojo-Sensei, what's going on exactly?" Nobara asked as she tried to make sense of the scene before her.
"Those two are part of a set of nine cursed objects created one hundred and fifty years ago by the most evil sorcerer in history, Kamo Noritoshi. He found a woman who could give birth to half-curse, half-human offspring and forced her to go through nine pregnancies, but each one was aborted early, creating the cursed womb death paintings." I explained. "They had been in storage beneath Jujutsu High ever since, but after the attack during the goodwill event, three of them went missing. They were the oldest of the group: Choso, Eso, and Kechizu. I have reason to believe the Kamo Noritoshi was actually Kenjaku, and I think he was involved in Yuji's birth as well."
"How is that possible? Yuji said he never knew his parents." Nobara exclaimed.
"Exactly, he never knew them, and despite everything, he just so happened to be the perfect vessel for Sukuna. Who's to say Kenjaku didn't create Yuji similarly to the death paintings, designing him as a vessel nobody else in history has survived eating one of Sukuna's fingers after all."
Nobara didn't have a response after that, trying to understand further what this could mean. Despite warnings from the higher-ups, I had told the students at least what Jujutsu HQ had put out about him: that he was a dangerous curse user who was public enemy number one.
As the two brothers kept pestering Yuji with questions, Megumi and Junpei finally emerged from under the bridge, both of them seemed rather beat up, but not as bad as you might expect after a battle with a Special Grade.
"Satoshi-Sensei, what's with those two? Aren't they our enemy?" Megumi asked
"Not anymore, turns out Yuji is their brother, so we're all good now," I say in response.
He gives me a blank stare before letting out an overly dramatic sigh and taking a seat on the ground. Junpei seemed somewhat concerned still over Yuji and went over to the three brothers to try to save his friend from being hugged to death.
Things hadn't gone so bad; now we had even more allies, and they would be important very soon. It was October 29th, after all, the worst was still yet to come, and I was likely about to finally come face to face with a powered-up King of Curses in Shibuya.