Chapter 2

It only felt like I had drifted off to sleep for a few moments. I opened my eyes to find my head going toward the light. I felt pressure from all around me that was trying to force me out. It was uncomfortable, but there was nothing I could do but sit back and wait for the process to end. I was no expert on childbirth, but as time ticked by and the force trying to expel me from my mother's body got weaker, I began to worry. Eventually, I found it hard to breathe, and I was cursing my luck as I slowly began to suffocate.

That was when a new, all-encompassing light blinded me. I felt strong hands reach down and lift me up before washing me off and wrapping me in a blanket. I was then presented to a woman who I had thought was a corpse until I saw her move. This woman I was handed to was my mother, of course. She looked down at me weakly and let out a soft smile that was filled with many complicated emotions. I was only with my mother for a few minutes before a different woman picked me up and took me away.

As I was carried away, I thought about how crazy it was that I had actually been reincarnated into Jujustu Kaisen. As that thought surfaced, I skimmed through the series in my mind. Unsurprisingly, I found that I could only remember names, appearances, techniques, and some other general details about the plot. Luckily, I could remember all the technical information about the power system that gets brought up late in the series. I checked my status again, only to find that pretty much everything was still locked. I figured that it would all unlock by the time I reach age six.

That meant that I would have plenty of time to sort out everything before I start grinding my technique and cursed energy. It also gave me plenty of time to figure out the clan situation. I was broken from my thoughts by the woman who was carrying me. She veered off the path leading to a cluster of houses that I thought we were going to. She made a beeline for a large house at the center of the clan compound. As we walked, I took my first looks around at the Gojo clan compound.

I first noticed how busy the compound was, it reminded me of some small towns I had visited in my past life. The compound was roughly situated into two circles, the inner circle contained all the sorcerers and the clan head's home/clan meeting area. There were a few secret training grounds in the inner area as well. Ordinary people are never permitted to enter unless under very specific circumstances. On the other hand, the outer area was full of ordinary people who worked for the clan without knowing about the sorcerous side. This was where I noticed the small-town atmosphere with small shops bustling with people.

I also noticed that there even seemed to be some tourists walking around taking photos as well. I wondered if that was how the clan made some money aside from the money members gained from jobs. It made sense to me that the clan would want to have more ways of making money than just sending clan members out to risk their lives just to finance the clan. It was pretty smart for whoever had implemented the strategy to draw tourists, probably with the pitch that a real, still functioning, historical Japanese clan lives here even in the modern day.

This was all information that I learned over time, though, for the first few years of my life, I was only permitted to stay within the inner sanctum due to my lineage and for the sake of my protection. As I was carried to the massive building at the center of the compound that first time, I was only able to catch a few glimpses around before we passed through an entrance to the building. I was brought through long hallways, passing many guards stationed around the building before we reached our destination. My journey ended in a large room that was obviously used to hold meetings, but there were only three other people in the room at this time.

One was an old man with snow-white hair and a short beard that made him look like some old wise sage. That image was only tarnished by the subtle cruel glint in the man's eyes and the way he seemed to look at everything around him as if assessing its worth. The other man in the room was younger, only having streaks of grey in his black hair. It was obvious from his appearance that he was the older man's brother. His eyes had the same hard glint, but I could see his eyes soften a fraction as he looked at me. The last person in the room was a child, but I could tell who it was just from one glance, a young Satoru Gojo.

He wore a blindfold, but as we approached, he lifted it briefly, allowing me to catch a glimpse of his bright blue eyes. He grinned broadly as he saw me, but the old man spoke before he could do or say anything.

"So this is the new addition to the clan, huh?" The man said, sounding powerful despite his clearly advanced age.

The old man's brother replied after a prolonged moment, "Yes, he may be no six-eyes limitless user, but he is the son of Emi and I, so he will be powerful,"

The old man, who was clearly the clan leader, merely raised a single eyebrow at his brother's outburst, "Let's hope so, brother,"

The tension in the room was defiantly uncomfortable, but it was broken when I started to rapidly float up into the air. I struggled for a moment, but after realising there was nothing I could do, I sat back and tried not to tense up too much. I looked over and saw that, of course, the one causing me to float was Satoru. The woman holding me tried to grab me before I got out of her reach, but I flew like a little fleshy rocket toward the space in front of Satoru. I looked up at him disapprovingly with my little baby eyes, but he simply laughed and began to poke my cheeks.

Nobody made any moves to stop him, even though the woman and my father looked like they wanted to. Then, the reality of my situation began to truly settle it. It was a weird time for it to hit me, but seeing the power that Satoru commands even as a child due to his status made everything feel so much more real. Watching my father hesitate to say anything to a literal child who couldn't be more than 10 or 11 years old was the final nail in the coffin. Despite the crushing weight of reality settling in on me, I wasn't afraid or scared, but everything just felt more real.

Whereas I had seen one of my favorite anime and manga characters a moment ago, I now saw my very real cousin, who is next in line to become the leader of one of the most powerful clans. Even with my system, I realized that this wasn't a game. In that moment of realization, I could have crushed that voice inside of me, telling me that I wasn't better than anybody in this world just due to my status as a reincarnator, but I didn't suppress that voice. Despite taking everything more seriously now, I didn't crush that bit of superiority and selfishness inside of me since I knew it would be important in the future.

I kept that pride that bordered slightly on arrogance burning deep inside. After all, both Sukuna and Satoru say in the series that a selfish mindset is the key to truly becoming one of the strongest. Mindset is what separates the strong from truly entering the realm of the strongest. I wasn't sure when or even if I would have my Honored One moment, but I figured that keeping that slight feeling of superiority would aid me in achieving that moment in the future. Satoru must have seen something in my face because he stopped harassing me and asked a question to my father.

"Uncle Akira, what's his name," He asked in a childish voice.

"His name will be Arima Gojo," My father announced proudly.

'Apparently, that's about as much excitement as I can stand for the day,' I thought to myself as I began to drift off to sleep. The last thing I saw before falling asleep was the childish face of Satoru looking down at me before the woman managed to pry me out of the air and back into her arms. Then everything went dark and I fell fast alseep.