Gojo's foot slid back through the dirt, leaving a shallow trail as he barely deflected Naoya's latest strike.
Naoya's speed was no longer just fast—it was overwhelming
This version of Gojo at this time can't use any form of teleportation at all, although he still can track Naoya with his Six Eyes, but can't react as fast or make a counterattack.
Then it happened.
A clean hit.
CRACK—
Naoya's fist connected with Gojo's ribs—just barely past Infinity, the Domain Amplification finally piercing through.
Gojo's eyes widened a fraction.
Naoya's smirk widened a lot more.
"Got you."
Gojo's body was sent skidding sideways, crashing through a boulder. Dust exploded outward as Naoya dashed after him like a missile, pressing his advantage.
Gojo coughed as he rose from the rubble, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.
For the first time in his life, Gojo Satoru had been struck—truly struck—by someone who wasn't supposed to be able to touch him. Not by surprise, not by a trap. Head-on. A clean, brutal hit that left a throb in his ribs and a metallic taste in his mouth.
His Six Eyes whirred, analyzing every thread of cursed energy Naoya was burning through.
"Tch… He's still accelerating?" Gojo thought, clenching his jaw.
Naoya didn't give him the luxury of standing still.
He was already there.
BOOM—!
Another blow. Gojo raised his arm just in time to block, but the sheer force of Naoya's punch launched him off the ground again, tearing through air like a ragdoll flung by a storm.
"If this continues..." Gojo realized mid-air, his thoughts sharpening under pressure, "I might actually lose."
Naoya was relentless. Before Gojo could land, he was already there—above him, silhouette framed against the fractured sky.
Both palms slammed downward.
CRACK!
Gojo hit the earth like a meteor. The ground cratered under him, earth and rock erupting outward in a brutal shockwave. Trees bent backward from the blast, birds scattered in frantic flocks, and for a moment, everything fell silent.
"He's so damn fast," Gojo growled, rising from the rubble. Dust clung to his uniform. Blood was at the corner of his mouth.
He adjusted his stance, teeth clenched.
His fingers twitched.
"MAXIMUM OUTPUT—BLUE!" Gojo roared, snapping his hand forward.
A deafening whooomph shook the entire forest as cursed energy twisted reality itself.
Space collapsed inward in a violent implosion, the very air screaming as it was torn from its place in the world. The gravitational pull was so intense it began ripping the already shattered landscape apart—trees uprooted and shredded, massive chunks of earth crumbling and getting sucked toward the singularity.
Gojo's hands moved with precision, controlling the core of the technique like a conductor guiding a violent symphony.
He wasn't aiming blindly—he was sculpting the destruction, clearing out the terrain, uprooting any potential cover Naoya could use.
And if he could land a hit? Even better.
"Let's see you dodge this." Gojo muttered.
Blue's pull intensified, and for a moment, everything was being consumed.
Then—
A flicker.
Naoya blurred through the collapsing space, weaving between the last few trees, vaulting off broken branches and slabs of earth—charging straight toward the heart of the implosion.
"He's charging in again?" Gojo's eyes narrowed, instincts flaring.
"No. He's aiming for the blind spot in the technique—!"
Naoya launched himself into the air, twisting mid-flight. A thin veil of cursed energy shimmered around him like a cloak—Domain Amplification, humming with raw power. For a split second, it cancelled the crushing pull of Blue, letting him slip through the chaotic gravity like a knife through silk.
WHAM!
Naoya's hand clamped down on Gojo's wrist, locking it in place before the sorcerer could redirect the attack.
"Gotcha."
Then the barrage began.
Fists blurred, each blow reinforced with brutal precision. Naoya didn't just strike—he overwhelmed. Punches hammered into Gojo's ribs, shoulders, torso—every movement calculated to suppress Infinity, break his balance, and erase his defense.
Gojo gritted his teeth, caught in the storm of hits—but he wasn't idle.
His free hand curled back, cursed energy swirling like a cyclone.
"You want a counter?"
"Here."
CRACK!
His fist rocketed forward—a Blue-enhanced strike—and slammed into Naoya's gut.
Naoya's eyes widened, spit flying from his mouth as the force exploded through his core.
BOOM—!
The hit launched him backward, crashing through what remained of a boulder, flipping and tumbling through the air like a broken doll.
But he twisted mid-flight, muscles tightening, and slammed into the ground on his feet—barely upright.
Blood ran down the side of his mouth, his breathing ragged… yet that grin—crooked and defiant—never left.
"That hurts like hell," Naoya thought, wiping his mouth. "Thirty seconds left, huh?"
Both stood in the clearing, bruised, bloodied, barely holding themselves together.
And yet—both smiled.
Cracks of tension split the air as cursed energy surged again.
"FUCK IT, DOMAIN EXPANSION!" Naoya roared, the frozen air shattering like glass around him, his will boiling over. He didn't care anymore. He wanted the win. No—he needed it.
"REVERSE TECHNIQUE: RED!" Gojo, without hesitation, tried to use a technique that he couldn't possibly use at his current skill—just so he wouldn't lose.
And just as both of them unleashed—
WHOOOM—!
A third presence exploded into the clearing, slamming between them like a thunderclap.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!"
Suguru Geto landed with force, his voice cutting through the madness like a blade. His hair whipped in the cursed wind, and his aura was furious.
"At this point you guys are trying to kill each other!" he barked, looking between the two like they were rabid animals.
Naoya's Domain halted mid-formation, unstable cursed energy fizzling around him.
Gojo's hand, still trembling with the half-formed Red, dropped slowly to his side, his chest heaving.
Silence fell—thick, and heavy.
No excuses. No jokes. Just the undeniable truth is clear.
For the first time in his life, Gojo Satoru had lost.