Tokyo, Chiyoda Ward.
Morning sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, spilling across the spacious living room.
Rin sat on the sofa, idly turning a uniquely shaped short blade in his hand.
The Inverted Spear of Heaven.
Its craftsmanship was exceptional.
The rule embedded within it could forcibly interrupt the flow of energy, making it an ideal weapon against the flashy cursed techniques of this world.
Click.
Rin casually tossed the Inverted Spear of Heaven into the Kamui vortex in his right eye, then looked up at Toji Fushiguro, who had just come out of the underground training room.
Now dressed in clean black compression gear, Toji's steel-like physique stood out even more.
After being treated with Yang Release, his condition was at its peak. Even the lingering dullness in his eyes had faded.
"Boss, you called?" Toji walked over to the bar, grabbed a can of beer from the fridge, and popped it open with one hand.
"I'm taking you somewhere."
Rin stood and adjusted his collar.
"I keep my promises. Since I said I'd let you crush those who looked down on you, there's no need to wait."
Toji paused mid-sip.
"Where to?" he asked, though he already had a guess.
"Kyoto. The Zen'in Clan."
At that name, Toji's grip tightened slightly. The aluminum can creaked under the pressure.
He fell silent for a moment, then drained the rest of the beer in one go, a cold, feral grin spreading across his face.
"Let's go."
…
Kyoto. The Zen'in Clan estate.
As one of the Three Great Clans, its grounds were vast, its architecture steeped in the style of the Kamakura era.
Towering walls and heavy wooden gates stood as symbols of the family's authority, built over a thousand years.
Outside the main gate, two guards in traditional attire chatted idly.
Then—wirl~ weoom~!
The air distorted slightly.
Two figures stepped out from thin air.
The guards were momentarily startled, but the moment they recognized the scarred man, their expressions turned hostile.
"Toji? You worthless trash without Cursed Energy actually dared to come back?"
The guard on the left sneered openly.
"This is one of the Three Great Clans. Not a place for a monkey like you. Get lost."
In a clan like the Zen'in, where cursed techniques were valued above all else, someone like Toji, who possessed no Cursed Energy, was considered the lowest form of filth.
Even after all these years, that ingrained prejudice had never changed.
Rin kept his hands in his pockets, not even sparing the guards a glance as he walked straight toward the main gate.
"Break it," he said calmly.
At the order, the grin on Toji's face turned savage.
He stepped forward, ignoring the katanas drawn against him, and slammed his palm straight into one guard's face. Lifting him like a chick, he swung the body and smashed it violently into the other guard.
Bang!
Bones shattered, tendons snapped, and blood sprayed as both men were sent crashing into the heavy gate, which exploded apart under the impact.
Wood splinters flew everywhere.
The commotion instantly alerted the entire Zen'in estate.
Shrill alarms rang out as elite sorcerers from the "Kuroi Squad" and "Hei" poured into the courtyard, surrounding Rin and Toji.
"Enemy attack!"
"It's Toji! That stray dog brought someone with him!"
Several senior members of the Zen'in Clan stepped forward from the crowd. One of them, a middle-aged man with short hair and cold eyes, glared at Toji.
"Toji. Trespassing on the main house and attacking guards. You're asking to die."
Toji picked at his ear, ignoring them completely, and looked at Rin instead.
"Boss, should I kill them all?"
"No need to rush."
Rin's gaze passed through the crowd toward the main hall deep within the compound.
"The main one is coming."
Just as he finished speaking...
"It's barely morning. What's all this noise? You've even disturbed my drink."
A voice, aged yet full of vigor, rang out.
The crowd parted automatically.
An old man with a thin mustache, dressed in a loose kimono and carrying a red gourd, walked forward at an unhurried pace.
Zen'in Naobito.
The twenty-sixth head of the Zen'in Clan. A Special Grade 1 sorcerer.
He was also considered the most open-minded head in the clan's history.
Naobito tilted his head back, took a swig of alcohol, wiped his mouth, and fixed his gaze on Toji.
"Toji. You've been gone for so many years. What brings you back today?"
His tone lacked the open disdain of the others. Instead, it carried a faint, casual familiarity.
"Old man, I'm not here for a family visit," Toji replied with a sneer.
Naobito shook his head, hanging the gourd at his waist.
He had not become clan head through lineage alone, but through sheer strength.
More than anyone, he understood the terrifying destructive power hidden within the body of this man with no Cursed Energy.
"If you're not here to visit, then breaking the gate means you owe us an explanation."
Naobito's eyes sharpened as he stepped forward with his right foot.
Hum~~!
Projection Sorcery activated.
Time split into twenty-four frames, each movement pre-calculated within his field of vision.
This cursed technique granted Naobito a speed second only to Gojo Satoru.
His figure vanished from where he stood and appeared almost instantly in front of Toji.
Without any flourish, he threw a straight punch at Toji's chest.
Toji reacted immediately.
The heightened perception granted by his Heavenly Restriction allowed him to clearly track Naobito's movements.
Instead of retreating, he stepped forward and met the attack head-on.
Bang!
Their fists collided mid-air with explosive force.
A violent shockwave burst outward, staggering the surrounding members of the Kuroi Squad.
Naobito slid back a few steps with the recoil, shaking his slightly numbed wrist. A trace of admiration flickered in his eyes.
"You've grown stronger, Toji. But without a cursed tool, brute strength alone won't be enough against cursed spirits."
"Against you old fossils, my fists are enough."
Toji cracked his neck, ready to charge again.
"That's enough."
Rin's voice cut in, halting the clash.
He walked past Toji into the center of the courtyard and faced Zen'in Naobito calmly.
"I didn't bring him here to spar with you."
Naobito narrowed his eyes slightly.
He had noticed this black-haired youth from the start.
There was no trace of Cursed Energy, yet someone as arrogant as Toji was standing behind him like a subordinate.
More importantly, the youth's presence reminded him of a classified report from Jujutsu Headquarters the previous night.
A man who had stormed Headquarters alone and forced the higher-ups to abolish the Star Plasma Vessel plan.
"Young man, I don't believe I've seen you before."
Naobito spoke cautiously.
"What is your relationship with Toji?"
Rin did not answer.
A crimson hexagram appeared in his right eye.
The space beside him twisted, and with a wet thud, a grotesque worm-like mass of flesh dropped onto the ground at Toji's feet.
It was his weapon-storage cursed spirit, Ushi, which had been taken earlier.
"Take your equipment."
Rin spoke without turning back.
"If you're acting as my bodyguard, don't go around empty-handed. Don't embarrass me next time."
Toji's eyes lit up the moment he saw Ushi returned.
He picked up the cursed spirit and let it coil naturally around his neck, then reached a hand into its mouth.
Inside were his weapons.
The Special Grade Cursed Tool, the Inverted Spear of Heaven, and the Chain of a Thousand Miles.
A fully armed Heavenly Restriction monster and an unarmed one were two entirely different things.
A suffocating, bloodthirsty killing intent burst from Toji, sweeping across the entire Zen'in estate.
The clan members who had been shouting moments ago all turned pale, instinctively stepping back.
They remembered.
The fear of being dominated by this man.
Naobito's expression shifted as well.
He looked at the crimson pattern in Rin's eye and the spatial technique he had just used, and the suspicion in his mind solidified.
It was him.
The man who had forced Jujutsu Headquarters to submit.
___
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