The air was thick with silence.
Dark clouds loomed above a dying forest — trees gnarled and crooked, their roots twisting like veins through parched, cracked earth. Wind howled through the dead leaves, rustling like whispers of souls long forgotten. And amidst this desolation, a figure lay still.
His white hair clung to his face, streaked with dried blood and dust. The iconic blindfold had been lost somewhere in the void. His body — clothed in a tattered black shirt and torn white pants — bore signs of battle, of sacrifice.
And yet... his face remained as calm and smug as ever.
Gojo Satoru stirred.
His fingers twitched first. Then a sharp inhale. He sat up slowly, hand bracing against the dry ground as cerulean eyes opened to a world he didn't recognize.
"What… the hell…?" he muttered.
He looked around — unfamiliar trees, skies with an eerie hue, a strange silence. There was something off. Something different.
Gojo stood, stretching his back with a soft groan. "So... this isn't the afterlife, huh?"
He focused, reaching within himself to gather cursed energy. But—
Nothing.
His eyes narrowed.
He tried again, focusing harder — tapping into the bottomless well of negative energy that once made him invincible.
Still... nothing. Not a spark. Not a flicker.
He clenched his fists. "No way. Am I... cut off?"
But the moment he looked outward — he felt it.
A rich, swirling current of negative energy all around.Thick, raw, unrefined. His Six Eyes saw it instantly, like black smoke rising from everything in the forest. The trees, the ground, even the wind carried it.
Yet… he couldn't 'touch' it.
"What's this?" he whispered. "There's negative energy here, but I couldn't use it? Me?"
The absurdity of it unsettled him. He, the strongest jujutsu sorcerer, couldn't even channel cursed energy in a world saturated with it.
He sat down, cross-legged, eyes glowing faintly as he activated his vision on a deeper level. The world sharpened. He could see down to the atomic level — even beyond that. Tiny threads of energy pathways flowed through everything living.
And then he noticed something odd.
Amidst the sea of negativity, there was another force — brighter, almost warm. It glowed blue, red, green — flowing inside the trees, deep within the earth, and faintly in the air. It was like cursed energy, yet its nature was... opposite.
"What's this?" he murmured.
He leaned closer to the threads, observing how they twisted and pulsed. "This positive energy… it feels alien, but also familiar at the same time. Like... it's been purified."
Gojo smirked. "Guess this world has its own version of jujutsu."
But just as he was getting lost in thought — something shifted.
His body tensed.
A presence. Sharp. Sinister. Twisted.
His instincts screamed. For a split second, he thought "Sukuna? " had followed him even here. The same oppressive sensation pressed down on him.
Gojo stood up in an instant, his body in battle stance — though not in his prime, his reflexes remained the same.
From the thick foliage, something emerged.
Tiny footsteps. Then a child.
A blonde-haired boy, no older than ten, holding three fish with a big grin... and yet eyes filled with hesitation and loneliness.
"What's wrong with this child?" Gojo muttered.
The energy from him, wild, unstable, yet frighteningly potent was what Gojo had sensed. A strange, burning chakra resided inside the boy… and something dark was sealed within it.
The boy blinked up at Gojo and furrowed his brow. "What are you looking at, mister? This spot is mine!"
His voice cracked slightly, a thin veil of bravado hiding a sliver of fear. Gojo's senses always sharp noticed it immediately.
Gojo softened.
He chuckled, putting his hands on his hips, wearing his usual cocky grin. "Oi, calm down, gaki. I'm just sightseeing."
"Gaki?" Naruto huffed. "Don't call me that! You don't even have a forehead protector! You're not a ninja… are you some weirdo?"
Gojo tilted his head, feigning offense. "Weirdo? That's rude. I'm an incredibly handsome person, thank you very much." while thinking "Ninja? "
Naruto scowled, hugging his fish tighter.
And for a moment, Gojo stared at the boy's bright blue eyes… and saw someone else. A fragment of someone he wishes to protect the better end.
"...He reminds me of Itadori," Gojo thought. "That same stubborn spark."
Naruto studied him, too. "What's with this weird guy? His clothes are wrecked. He looks like he got into a fight with a bear. But his face is... clean? And what's with his eyes? They're freaky!"
"…You're tall," Naruto finally added, as if that was an insult.
Gojo laughed out loud. "Thanks, kid. I get that a lot."
Then he crouched, looking Naruto in the eyes. "So, what's your name, kid?"
Naruto hesitated. "Why should I tell you, huh?"
Gojo mock-gasped. "Ouch. And here I thought we were bonding over fish."
Naruto turned away. "Tch… fine. I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Remember it, 'cause I'm gonna be Hokage someday!"
"Hokage?" Gojo blinked.
Gojo grinned, putting on his signature flair. "I'm Gojo Satoru — the strongest sorcerer to ever live. I was 'the' guy. You know, the unbeatable, untouchable, outrageously good-looking one?" is what he would like to say, but he only said " I'm Gojo Saturo " While smiling sadly.
Naruto blinked. "You talk weird."
Gojo let out a deep laugh. "You're not the first to say that."
Then silence settled between them.
The wind shifted.
And for a moment, Gojo looked up at the foreign sky a soft, pale hue so much like his own eyes, clear, yet entirely unfamiliar. It wasn't the sky of modern time, or the sky he saw before death. This one pulsed with with a different energy, almost positive instead of negative energy.
He breathed in.
"Yeah... this definitely isn't home," he murmured.
The world around him was still. No hum of modern Tokyo. No buzzing of cursed spirits. Only wind brushing against leaves, the distant sound of a waterfall, and the eerie calmness of a land untouched by his era.
And yet, he felt something.
Sadness. Deep. Alive.
"He was stranded. Alone. In a world full of unfamiliarity. "
But somehow… this strange world didn't feel hostile. And this kid Naruto, he had something inside him. Something sinister similar to that of Sukuna… and something that's also hopeful at the same time?
Gojo stood up and stretched. "Well then, Naruto Uzumaki. Mind if I tag along for a bit? I've got a feeling you're going to show me something fun. "
Naruto looked skeptical. "Only if you help me carry these fish."
Gojo chuckled again and picked up two of them effortlessly. "Deal."
As the two began walking toward the nearest riverbank, neither of them realized…
One a sorcerer who had lost everything.
The other a boy destined to save his world.
And in that forgotten forest, fate had taken its first step.