Jujutsu Kaisen: False Dawn

It was the next morning.

Ren sat in silence on his mat, legs folded, arms rested over his knees, and breath steady. His eyes were half-lidded, but his mind was working at full throttle.

He'd made progress. Tremendous progress, even.

But it still wasn't enough.

"Too slow," he muttered, fingers curling inward. "I'm improving, but not fast enough. At this rate, I'll be a corpse before even reach Grade 2…"

His cursed energy control had improved. His reflexes had sharpened. He could now maintain his cursed energy output for longer, and Red Stitch was becoming a part of his daily motion like muscle memory.

But he wasn't delusional.

Ren knew how this world worked.

Foundation was everything. True strength came from cursed energy control, a solid body, and a refined technique. And he had one of those: a cursed technique.

But not one that inspired terror.

"Red Stitch," he whispered, looking down at the subtle flickers of crimson thread pulsing between his fingers.

It was… fine. Maybe even creative.

But it wasn't Limitless.

It wasn't Ten Shadows.

It wasn't even Cleave or Dismantle.

Ren sighed.

In his heart, he knew: if someone else in this world had been given this technique, they'd be doomed to mediocrity.

And yet… he smiled.

"I have something no one else does."

He tapped the side of his head.

Knowledge.

---

He leaned back, staring at the ceiling of his small apartment.

Gojo Satoru. The strongest. Not just because of his technique, but because he had the Six Eyes to support it. His control was insane. His foundation was flawless.

But his technique helped.

Sukuna. The King of Curses.

What even was his cursed technique? The "Shrine"? Cleave and Dismantle? Or just pure mastery of jujutsu theory turned into raw, destructive form?

Ren didn't know the answer.

But he had a theory.

Sukuna's cursed technique was self-made.

"Cleave and Dismantle weren't the start," Ren muttered, grabbing his notebook. "They were the result. Sukuna refined them through binding vows. He split his technique, lost something, then regained it tenfold."

That idea resonated deeply with Ren.

Sukuna had refined his slashes, studied Mahoraga, and mimicked and absorbed.

His strength came from control and knowledge and a truly terrifying cursed energy pool.

Ren couldn't mimic the last part. His cursed energy pool was tiny by comparison.

Every day he trained, he felt it: the edge. He reached it by nightfall. Running dry after a few hours of testing. Sometimes even less.

So that option was closed.

And even though he had ideas for evolving Red Stitch, he lacked something else.

Understanding.

He had the theory, sure.

But Jujutsu wasn't a textbook.

It was practical.

You needed to feel cursed energy. Push it. Twist it. Bleed it. Burn with it.

And that's what Ren lacked.

Control. Practical understanding. Cursed energy intuition.

He clenched his fists.

"So what can I do?"

---

He stood up and began pacing, letting cursed energy wrap around his arms slowly.

"If I can't brute force cursed energy, and I can't upgrade Red Stitch yet, then I have to bridge the gap. Somehow."

He began experimenting—again.

Binding vows?

Maybe.

But they only worked when you had something to give up.

Right now, Ren had nothing.

He couldn't risk his health. He couldn't risk his cursed technique. And giving up time or power didn't make sense unless the payoff was massive.

He burned a few hours testing low-level vows anyway—vows that slightly improved his cursed energy sensing and that made him move 5% faster for 30 seconds. The results were underwhelming.

Plus, Kai2 was still weak, barely floating. Ren did not want to risk destroying his test subject, so he could not use his weak cheat...

He sighed, kneeling on the floor again.

And that's when he noticed the way Red Stitch responded.

It twitched.

More than usual.

He summoned the thread again.

It shimmered and swayed with the rhythm of his cursed energy.

Then Ren had a thought.

A stupid one.

A crazy one.

"What if Red Stitch isn't the problem…"

He narrowed his eyes.

"…what if it's the solution?"

---

He stared at the crimson threads in his palm. They were made of cursed energy. Structured. Tactile. Reactive.

What if he could use them not just as weapons, but as wire?

What if…

"What if I shred my own body?"

He stood.

Excitement buzzed through his chest.

He ran the first test.

A Red Stitch thread coiled around his wrist.

He pushed cursed energy through it—slowly, carefully—like threading a needle through his own aura.

It resisted.

Then responded.

He linked a second thread from his forearm to his shoulder. This one was trickier. He almost lost it. But it held.

The moment the second thread linked?

His cursed energy started flowing more steadily down his right arm.

It was subtle.

But real.

"Holy shit."

He grinned wide.

"This is it."

But in the next movement, the thread broke apart, leaving a paper cut on Ren's shoulder and arm...

Oww!

I forgot the red stitch for some reason. It can't coat around my skin... it breaks...

Hmm... huh? Wait...

Oh, that's a stupid idea... no, it won't work...

But there are other cursed techniques that work inside their users bodies...

And Ren smiled once again, a bittersweet but happy one, because he had another idea...

A truly crazy one.