(Pov Satoshi)
It has been about two weeks since I woke back up, and after an additional check to make sure I didn't have any permanent damage, I went right to training. The only thing that indicated I had been injured was the new scar I had from the cursed tool. I wasn't that upset, though it was pretty cool looking, and it had an awesome story behind it instead of it being the result of doing something dumb as a kid, like most scars. I had also been officially promoted to Grade 1, something they had held off on in case I didn't make it.
I had massively increased the amount and difficulty of my training, including somewhat frequent spars with Satoru and Geto. The first thing I needed to figure out was how to control my new abilities, as my strength and speed had especially increased to a point that I was accidentally breaking things, and I kept going farther than I meant to when moving around. While those aspects were difficult to deal with, they did just require learning how to modulate my physical aspects, eventually allowing me to control myself. The increased sense was much harder to deal with. I had good senses before, especially my hearing, but now it had risen to a level beyond anything I thought possible, and it was a bit of a pain.
Suddenly, I could hear just about everything around me. I could hear a heartbeat at 8 meters, and when people got closer, it sounded like a drum being beaten right next to me, not to mention the sound of their breath. The worst part, though, had to be my increased sense of smell and, to a lesser extent, taste. As it turns out, curses smell like death for the most part, and while I wasn't eating them the same way Geto did for his technique, the inventory curse still lived in my stomach and had to be eaten, and he was right, they taste awful. The new senses were much harder to regulate, given that you can't really control your own senses, but after a lot of effort and nearly going crazy from being able to hear at least five different clocks at all times, I found a way to control them in a way.
While the training was going on, I was also sent on more missions, as now that I was a Grade 1, I could be sent on more dangerous missions on my own, which gave me a good outlet to test my new skills. It was incredible being able to use the kind of moves that had been impossible before my awakening. My speed had increased to the point I could move without being seen, even when right in front of someone, and the only person who could track my movement was Satoru with his Six Eyes. My strength had increased to a point that allowed me to nearly effortlessly overpower others even when they reinforced themselves with cursed energy, and this was without mentioning my new arsenal of cursed tools.
Unfortunately, my original katana was unsalvageable after being broken, and while I was upset, the feeling was overshadowed by the tools contained within the inventory curse. When it bonded to me, the spirit still contained the Soul Split Katana and the Playful Cloud cursed tools, and even better, it had swallowed the Inverted Spear of Heaven before Satoru had time to destroy it, meaning I got to keep it. Along with these main weapons were a series of other tools that, while they weren't as powerful, could still be very useful. The first of these was the Chain of a Thousand Miles, which had the unique property of being endless as long as one end was hidden from view. The others were a series of weapons that had varying sizes, from long-handled spear-style weapons to the small Slaughter Demon, which had survived the battle with Toji.
The one I tended to use the most, besides Playful Cloud, was a naginata-style cursed tool called Fearless Glaive. It had no special ability, unlike some of the Special Grade tools, but it was still very useful. As I trained and went on more missions, I began to make a name for myself beyond being a Grade 1 sorcerer. I was taking on more dangerous missions, including missions to exercise Special Grade cursed spirits, and the most important one was what allowed me to finally reach Special Grade.
It was in my second year at Jujutsu High when I was sent on a mission to disrupt what was believed to be a cursed womb that could become Special Grade. As such, I had been sent to exorcise it before any major damage was done. When I arrived, and the window had set up the barrier, I entered the building that housed the spirit. The place was an old office building, and at some point, one of the employees was murdered in the central lobby. Nobody ever managed to solve the case, and it's believed the worker became a vengeful curse as a result.
When I entered the main lobby, the environment around me shifted, and I realized I had passed through a barrier. The situation further revealed itself when the curse tried to attack, launching a blast of cursed energy at me from the side. I dodged it with little trouble, and when I turned, I got a better look at what I would be dealing with. It was humanoid in shape, though much taller than average, and its skin was a whitish gray color. On its head, there were four lines, and the two near the middle held four total eyes, and it wore a loincloth on its lower body. This was a Finger Bearer, a Special Grade cursed spirit that was formed from ingesting one of the Special Grade cursed objects, Sukuna's finger. They were powerful and tended to be even more sadistic than a normal cursed spirit, not to mention they also possessed a very basic form of a domain, which I had unknowingly entered.
This would be an interesting fight, no doubt. The Finger Bearer prepared another of its blast attacks, but before it could fire, I jumped up to its level and hit it down with an overhead kick. Before it could recover, I drew Fearless Glaive and dropped down, slicing one of its arms off. The curse jumped back and then restored its arm with cursed energy. Since cursed spirits were made of cursed energy, they could heal themselves using their cursed energy, similar to how sorcerers could use RCT. It wasn't as impressive, though, as any halfway decent Special Grade could do it by just circulating their cursed energy. Still, I don't want to give it a chance to do anything fancy, so I charged forward, bringing the blade up and piercing through the creature's head and then, for good measure, using the leverage to pull the head off completely.
As the Finger Bearer began to dissolve, I approached the residue and found the finger it had consumed. It was freaky looking, covered in an odd purple wax, and it emitted enough cursed energy that holding it made my hand tingle. Looking at the finger, I couldn't help but think about future battles. Sure, things had definitely changed now with the survival of Riko and Geto not going full evil, but it was still likely that Sukuna would incarnate within Yuji in about twelve years. When that happened, if things went like the original, then it would culminate with Sukuna stealing the body of Fushiguro Megumi and using it to kill Satoru and nearly kill many of the others before being defeated by a combination of the strongest amongst Jujutsu society. I had no idea what would happen this time, though, but something told me I would one day need to fight Sukuna, and if that happened, I had no choice but to win if I wanted to save my brother.
With that thought, I left the building to return to Jujutsu High with the defeat of the Finger Bearer curse and the retrieval of one of Sukuna's fingers. I was officially promoted to a Special Grade sorcerer. There was still much to do, though not just personally either. With my second year beginning, there was a new first-year student, Ijichi Kiyotaka. He wasn't particularly strong, though, but he did seem to have a talent for creating barriers. Nanami and Haibara, as my fellow second years, had grown as well, both now having officially reached Grade 2, and they were beginning their training to become Grade 1 as well. Then there were the third years, the same as before, but Geto stuck around this time, which was nice. Then there was Shoko; we had been spending more time together since I woke up, and it was good. Satoru liked to tease me about it, but I found myself coming to appreciate her presence, especially her calm personality, which helped me unwind.
The next few years would be chaotic. I knew soon enough would be the time when originally Geto would find the Hasaba twins being held captive, resulting in him killing the entire village, but this time, things would be less violent. Also, shortly after, Satoru would go and collect Megumi, after what he had been told by Toji, and I had my own plans as well, can't be a special grade without collecting children, I suppose.