Huff… huff…
Heavy breaths echoed through the dim room. Uchiha Kisuke stared into the mirror, eyes locked on the scarlet reflection of his two-tomoe Sharingan, and sighed.
Another failure.
Though disappointment weighed on him, he still forced himself to jot down his thoughts in a worn notebook. The script was neat, deliberate, and not native to this world.
Kisuke wasn't born here. He came from elsewhere—another life, another world. The pride of awakening in the Uchiha clan had quickly turned to dread once he grasped the reality of this era.
Weakness meant death.
Despite training relentlessly, Kisuke's talent was nothing exceptional. If not for the unnatural strength of will he carried over from his past life, he likely wouldn't have survived this long on the battlefield. The Sharingan had kept him alive—barely.
Even now, he kept his abilities hidden. Activating his eyes in front of others was a risk he couldn't afford. The stronger he appears the more dangerous missions he would be sent to, so he resolutely chose to keep low profile for the moment.
He aimed for the Mangekyō Sharingan. That was the next step—the only step. Everything beyond that could wait.
"Was it not enough?" he muttered, flipping through the last page of notes.
He had crafted illusions to simulate emotional trauma, trying to shock his mind into awakening the next stage. But deep down, he always knew it wasn't real. No matter how vivid the illusion, his awareness undermined the effect.
Still, even if it failed, he managed to develop a new genjutsu, so this meant it wasn't a total failure.
But Kisuke knew that Genjutsu became worthless in the later stages of the story if you don't have Mangekyo.
In addition, the war outside now seems to be coming to an end. Perhaps it is the final madness. Except for the villages that have announced surrender and ceasefire, the remaining villages have also launched the final madness against Konoha.
This is the most dangerous time. Although Kisuke survived the previous battles, he cannot guarantee that he can survive the next battle.
He packed up the scrolls carefully. They were full of notes—battle tactics, observations, and timelines. A way to organize his thoughts and plan carefully.
He'd written down everything he could recall. Not just to gain advantages—but to benefit from the situation.
Then with a seal, he blew a small fireball and burnt the notes. As long as he knows the general ideas, he didn't need to have these notes to be found.
While he watched it burn, he thought, 'still, two tomoe isn't enough.'
Without the Mangekyō, how could he stand against the monsters lurking in the years ahead? The coming bloodshed… the purge of the Uchiha clan, and shit that follows… it all loomed on the horizon.
"I need a breakthrough," Kisuke whispered. "Or I'll die like the rest."
Thinking of this, he called the system in his mind.
A cold mechanical chime echoed in his head.
[Jujutsu System]
Available Functions:
— Technique Archive: Access to a wide range of Jujutsu Kisukesen abilities, weapons, domains, and cursed tools.
— Point Shop: Use points to purchase techniques or upgrades.
Unfortunately, unlocking even the weakest cursed technique required points. A lot of them.
There were two ways to earn them.
The first—and supposedly easiest—was to kill enemies and absorb their soul and chakra, which the system would convert into negative energy. Dangerous, yes, but at least it was straightforward. Slit a throat, survive the fight, get paid.
The second method? Far worse.
Kisuke's mouth twitched.
To earn points this way, he had to fight a template of a Jujutsu Kisukesen character from their debut to their peak—starting at 0% strength and climbing to 100%. Not only will he get points as rewards, there is also a chance to inherit the character ability. It sounded doable at first.
Until he saw who the system gave him.
Kisuke closed his eyes, and the world around him vanished.
In an instant, he stood within his mindscape—a vast, empty expanse of endless white.
And across from him stood his opponent.
A teen.
Thin, lean, around his age. Snow-white hair. A grin stretched across his face. His hands rested in his pockets like he owned the place, and sunglasses sat snugly across his eyes.
It was a version of Satoru Gojo, no older than sixteen.
"Yo," Gojo called out casually. "Ready for the beating again?"
Kisuke sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Out of every curse-user in existence," he muttered, "I just had to get the walking cheat code with baby fat."
Kisuke didn't respond. A flurry of kunai shot toward the white-haired brat across the field. Here, he could manifest any weapon he desires.
Gojo didn't even blink.
The weapons froze mid-air, suspended like flies in amber.
"Oh? You're still trying that?" Gojo said, tilting his head. "Cute."
Kisuke narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, well, maybe one day you'll forget you're allergic to effort."
With a lazy flick of his wrist, Gojo redirected the kunai back at Kisuke—twice as fast.
Kisuke ducked, cursed, and narrowly avoided getting turned into a pincushion.
This was their routine now. Kisuke throws everything he has.
Gojo doesn't even take his hands out of his damn pockets.
"You're getting faster," Gojo said thoughtfully, tapping his chin. "Almost at the level of… hmm… a mildly annoyed sloth."
Kisuke growled, chakra flaring as he rushed forward with kunai buzzing with curse energy.
Gojo simply tilted his head. The blade passed clean through—an illusion?
No. It was Infinity.
Kisuke stumbled as the resistance vanished. Gojo hadn't moved an inch.
"You really should study physics," Gojo sighed. "Understanding infinity might save you a lot of wasted swings."
Kisuke fell back, panting.
"You know," he muttered, wiping blood from his lip, "it's really generous of you to keep showing up just to remind me how weak I am."
Gojo grinned.
"Hey, what are imaginary best friends for?"
Kisuke gave him the finger before starting to fight again.
****
Kisuke collapsed onto one knee, sweat dripping from his chin as he clutched his ribs. At least two were cracked—again. Across from him, the smug little tyrant in training was still as pristine as a porcelain doll.
Teen Gojo tilted his head, hands still in his pockets, the faint shimmer of Infinity warping the air around him.
"That all for today, sparring buddy?" he said with that insufferable smile. "You're bleeding in exactly seventeen places, by the way. Eighteen if I count your pride."
Kisuke spat to the side. "You're lucky you're fictional."
Gojo grinned wider. "Aww. You say the sweetest things when you're broken."
Dragging himself to his feet, Kisuke waved him off. "Yeah, yeah. I'll come back tomorrow. Maybe next time I'll humble you more than you think."
"Unlikely. But hey, optimism suits you."
Kisuke turned, the white expanse of his mindscape already fracturing as he prepared to leave.
"Later, cheat code."
"Bye, filler character," Gojo waved goodbye.
The space collapsed.
Back in his consciousness, Kisuke opened his eyes with a grunt and pulled up his system panel with a thought. A sleek, holographic window slid open in front of him.
[SYSTEM PANEL]
Name: Uchiha Kisuke
Template Synchronization: Satoru Gojo — 9.8% (+0.005)
JJK Shop: [Open]
Points: 11650
Acquired Abilities:
Reversed Cursed Technique (Healing)
Chakra Conversion: Chakra → Cursed Energy
Kisuke stared at the Gojo Template progress and sighed.
At the very beginning, when Gojo still looked more like a brat with potential than a walking apocalypse, Kisuke could win. Occasionally. He remembered those days fondly.
But once Gojo started instinctively using Infinity, the balance shattered.
Now, even with two tomoe activated, Kisuke couldn't land a single real hit. His Sharingan could trace movements, see chakra flows, even glimpse the twitch before an attack—but none of that mattered when space itself refused to let you make contact.
The worst part? This wasn't even peak Gojo.
"This guy isn't a template," Kisuke muttered, rubbing his temples. "He's a bug report."
Still, there was a silver lining.
His losses weren't entirely in vain. The system still rewarded him with minor progress, and even rarer—bonus skills. Thanks to that, he unlocked Chakra Conversion, allowing him to turn chakra into cursed energy. It was inefficient, slow, and painful at first.
But that cursed energy… it was exactly what let him evolve his Sharingan to two tomoe.
A twisted fusion of chakra and cursed power.
He tapped the most expensive item he had bought so far:
[Reversed Cursed Technique] — Acquired
A healing method born from inverting negative energy into positive—something only a handful in the JJK universe could do. He had spent nearly all his early points to purchase it.
But in wartime, that choice had saved his life more times than he could count.
Pain faded. Wounds closed. Bones mended themselves. It was like carrying a personal medic in his core… assuming he didn't pass out first from the energy drain.
Of course, it didn't work on chakra recovery, but it was enough.
Especially for someone like him—alone, wounded, hunted.
"I'm still losing," Kisuke admitted quietly, "but at least I'm losing slower now."
He closed the panel.
Tomorrow, he'll fight Gojo again. If he had a choice, he will fight him right away, because even if he lost, he will still be rewarded with small progress.
Unfortunately, he could only fight Gojo for one hour once a day. A damn mechanism so that he wouldn't exploit it for points.