Ten days remain until the Shibuya Incident.
These ten days were a living hell for the students of Tokyo Jujutsu High.
No, it was worse than hell.
Because their instructor was the man known as Yoru.
"Too slow!"
"Faster!"
"If this is all you've got, you're just walking to your death in Shibuya!"
On the training grounds, Yoru's voice thundered like a sudden crack of lightning.
Clutching a wooden sword, his figure flickered like a phantom as he wove through the students.
Every strike of his blade landed with surgical precision on their openings.
Clack!
Clack!
Clack!
Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, Nobara Kugisaki, Maki Zenin, Toge Inumaki, Panda...
In a single instant, almost everyone was sent flying, crashing heavily onto the ground.
Groans and cries of pain rose from every corner.
"So... so strong..."
Yuji struggled to his feet, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
After all the growth he'd experienced recently, he thought he had become much stronger.
But in front of Yoru, he still felt like an infant who had just learned to crawl.
That overwhelming pressure was even more terrifying than facing a Special Grade Cursed Spirit!
"Stop whining and get up!"
Yoru gave them no room to breathe.
"Yuji, your Divergent Fist is interesting."
"Using the delay in explosive force to create a secondary impact is a solid idea."
"However..."
"It's too unrefined!"
Yoru walked up to Yuji and tapped his chest lightly with the wooden sword.
"Scattered power means low efficiency. Try to feel it..."
"Concentrate your entire body's strength—your breathing, your muscles, your blood flow—into a single point."
"Don't aim for two separate impacts. Instead, stack them together to trigger a qualitative change!"
"Like... this."
BOOM!
Yoru struck a nearby boulder with a casual-looking punch. There was no thunderous roar.
But a second later.
The massive rock began to disintegrate from the inside out, crumbling into a fine powder!
It was the result of extreme concentration and penetration of force!
"Is this... an advanced version of the Divergent Fist?!"
Yuji stared in awe.
He felt as if a new door was swinging open before him.
"And you, Megumi."
Yoru turned his gaze toward Megumi Fushiguro.
"Your Ten Shadows Technique has limitless potential. You already managed to manifest an incomplete Domain Expansion, Chimera Shadow Garden, back at Yasohachi Bridge."
"But that isn't enough. A half-baked Domain like that won't last three seconds against a Special Grade."
"Why is your Domain incomplete?"
"Because you're still subconsciously limiting yourself, thinking you need a closed space to manifest it."
"Shadows..."
"They aren't just a medium for summoning Shikigami. They are a part of your body, your weapon, and even..."
"The universe within your soul!"
Yoru tapped his foot.
The previously still shadows suddenly surged to life, transforming into countless black spikes that instantly surrounded Megumi.
"Try to dive into the shadow. Become the shadow yourself. Don't look for boundaries. Instead, let your shadow..."
"Blanket the entire world!"
"Only when you stop relying on your environment and start making the environment adapt to you..."
"...will your complete Domain descend."
Megumi fell into deep thought.
He looked down at the shadow beneath his feet, a flicker of realization in his eyes. 'If I can reach that level...'
'Maybe I really can find the final piece of the puzzle for that Domain!'
"Maki-senpai."
Finally, Yoru looked at Maki Zenin.
The girl who, like him, possessed no cursed energy and was treated as garbage by her clan.
She stood there now, gripping her polearm and panting heavily as she watched him. There was no fear in her eyes, only a hunger for power.
"Your physical capabilities are exceptional."
"Heavenly Restriction gave you a body far beyond normal humans, but you haven't fully tapped into its potential yet."
"You're too fixated on 'seeing' the curses."
Yoru tossed her a pair of custom glasses—completely opaque sunglasses.
"Put these on."
"From now on, no looking with your eyes. Use your skin, your ears, your intuition..."
"Feel the flow of the air, catch the enemy's killing intent. When you can hear the breathing of all things..."
"...you will no longer need those glasses to see curses."
In the days that followed.
The high school's training field echoed daily with screams and the sound of crashing impacts.
Yoru was like a tireless machine, pushing the students past their limits over and over again.
He didn't just teach them combat techniques.
He taught them how to use Breathing Styles to strengthen their physical bodies.
Although they couldn't master Sun Breathing like Yoru, simple Total Concentration: Constant was enough to boost their physical performance by an entire tier!
Day 5.
Yuji finally landed a perfect Black Flash.
The black sparks were thicker than ever before, their destructive power multiplied several times over!
Day 7.
Megumi successfully dove into the shadows, moving through them freely and appearing without a trace.
Day 9.
Wearing the opaque glasses, Maki successfully parried three of Yoru's attacks while her eyes were closed!
The polearm seemed to come alive in her hands, each swing producing a sharp whistle as it tore through the air.
That was...
The embryonic stage of a Breathing Style!
Finally, the evening of the 10th day arrived.
The setting sun dyed the entire training field a blood-red hue.
Everyone lay collapsed on the ground, unable to even lift a finger, but their eyes were brighter than they had ever been.
It was confidence.
Absolute trust in their own strength, forged through thousands of trials.
"Excellent."
Yoru sheathed his wooden sword and looked at the group of young sorcerers who had undergone a total transformation.
On his habitually tense face, a long-absent smile finally appeared.
"Now..."
"You are finally qualified to stand on that battlefield."
"Remember this feeling. Remember this pain. Because tomorrow in Shibuya..."
"This pain might just save your lives."
The group looked at each other and then burst into laughter.
Their laughter held exhaustion, but even more so, it held heroic spirit.
"Don't worry, Yoru-sensei! (Even though they were in the same year, everyone called him that in private.)"
"We definitely won't hold you back!"
"I don't care what kind of Special Grade shows up—we'll kill them as they come!"
"We're going to show those Rotten Oranges..."
"...what the strongest generation really looks like!"
Yoru watched them, but his heart didn't fully relax.
He looked up at the sky, where the clouds were growing heavier, as if signaling the approach of a storm.
On the system panel, his Synchronization Rate was still stuck at 30%.
No matter how much he trained, he couldn't move it another inch.
'A bottleneck...?'
Yoru clenched his fist.
He knew that training alone wasn't enough to break through this plateau.
Only true life-and-death combat, the kind of limit-breaking battle where one searches for hope in the depths of despair...
...could lead to a true awakening.
"Bring it on, Shibuya."
"Let's see what kind of stage you've prepared for me."
"If it's not exciting enough..."
"...I might just have to..."
"...burn all of Tokyo to ash!"
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