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CHAPTER START---
Under the afternoon sun, Kusakabe and Principal Yaga sit at a small pond within Tokyo Campus.
Kusakabe holds his fishing rod, trying to clear his mind and focus on the serenity around him, and ignoring Panda trying to scoop the fish out of the pond. Beside him, Principal Yaga is busy enjoying a cold beer while reading some alerts on his phone.
"Can't you do anything about this?" Principal Yaga asks.
"Can't you? You're the principal."
"You're his direct teacher, you know what that means in our world."
Kusakabe scoffs. "I'd think you of all people know we can't fully control our students, especially the Special Grade type."
Yaga narrows his eyes at Kusakabe for a moment, then finishes his beer.
"Sorry."
"Whatever, but that is exactly the problem. Some of this doesn't add up."
"Meaning?"
"Taiyo is Special Grade, powerful enough to draw blood from Gojo of all people. He's definitely a monster in every aspect, and hates how restricting the Jujutsu Society is—"
"And is a celebrity."
"Yeah, all the more reason for the higher-ups to kill him, right?"
"On paper, yes."
"So why haven't they tried?"
"Because Gojo is covering for him, isn't he?"
"No, he's not. I asked him this morning, Taiyo is operating independently. At best, I assumed they believe he and Gojo are close because of the exhibition matches, but they really aren't."
Kusakabe turns to Yaga. "What are you getting at, that he's got a sponsor?"
"Possibly. But it's more like they are planning to use him in some scheme. If he's able to truly challenge Gojo, they'll make a move for sure."
"Now you're being ridiculous. But where does this leave us with the other problem?"
"Geto hasn't made any moves recently. He's turtling, but that last attack on the Inumaki Clan caused a big commotion. Some more of this and Gojo won't be able to protect him politically."
"Doesn't mean we can kill him."
"That may not be as impossible as you think. Geto has always relied more on the brute force and numbers provided by his Innate Technique above all."
"It lets him summon an army. Why wouldn't he?"
"What I'm getting at is he likely doesn't have a Domain Expansion yet."
"That's impossible, it's been a few years since he left."
"Trust me, I know this much about him. He's not the type to continuously refine his Jujutsu, and he's always been crappy at using Barriers. If we get the green light from Gojo to remove him, even if Gojo won't help us—"
"Yuki and you have Domain Expansions. But we'd still have a legion of Cursed Spirits to deal with. And if we assume Taiyo won't help us, it still doesn't look good."
Principal Yaga looks out at Panda for a moment, considering how unstable the future of the Jujutsu Society was. "We could have an army."
Kusakabe puts down the fishing rod and turns to his friend. "If you do that, you'll confirm your Special Grade status, and put a massive target on your back."
"But it could be enough to secure a victory."
"And get you killed afterward. And if we kill Geto, Gojo may not want to support us against the higher-ups."
"It would also be handing the higher-ups the blueprint to make their own army. They wouldn't waste time in controlling Jujutsu Society more strictly after that."
"Is that a risk you can take?"
"It's a better risk than Geto wiping out all the humans in Japan. He broke into the Inumaki Clan's armory. They say he didn't steal anything, but that doesn't mean he didn't learn anything from there."
"A clan that old must have some deep knowledge. And the fact that he hasn't attacked anyone since is worrying," Kusakabe casts a bored look at the pond, seeing Panda finally catch a fish before throwing it back into the water. "Why are our students so troublesome?"
"That's what we get for being great teachers. They saddled us with the Special Grade knuckleheads."
"After today, I'm rid of mine. Taiyo is a 2nd-year student now, he doesn't need me anymore. Back to the peaceful days of dodging missions."
"How about you become principal so I can do that instead?"
Kusakabe laughs. "Gojo put you in that position instead of me, so no thanks. Besides, your connection to Tengen is important, she trusts you. What does she think of all this?"
"She's been quiet. Usually that's good."
"Yeah, usually…"
Minutes later, both men sense Taiyo approaching and stop their conversation, turning to see him stepping off the stone path and walking over to them.
Kusakabe raises a brow at the long rectangular box in Taiyo's hand as he gets up, and Principal Yaga walks over to Panda at the pond.
"What's that?" Kusakabe asks.
Taiyo casually tosses the box over to him, and the man easily catches it. "Yours, try it."
Kusakabe clicks open the latch and opens the ornate wooden box, revealing a sheathed Katana within.
The handle and sheath were blood red, with ornate golden accents, and a black tassel featuring a flame charm at the end. The dimensions were the exact same as Kusakabe's usual Katana, but he could feel that this blade was slightly heavier.
He takes the sword and hands Taiyo the box, moving it about to get a feel for it. "Feels fine, just a bit heavier."
"Good thing you have super strength. Now draw it."
Kusakabe smiles and draws the sword, noticing the regular metallic color of the blade with a blood red edge matching the handle. He closely inspects it, seeing red kanji markings down the entire length of the blade on both sides.
"These are Barrier seal tags."
"Yeah, I've been working on this project for a while."
"Where did you learn this? How did you learn it so quickly?"
"All I do is work and train, and besides, Special Grade."
Kusakabe nods, accepting the flimsy excuse. He then takes a step back and moves through a basic Kendo form with the blade.
"Those seals on the blade help form a Barrier on it, and separate it from the handle with the same Barrier."
"Separate it from the handle?"
"Flow some Cursed Energy into it, and you'll see why you wouldn't want the Barrier to include the handle."
Kusakabe nods and flows neutral Cursed Energy into the blade, and it immediately glows bright red. "Wow…" His eyes widen as wisps of flames appear periodically as Immolation ignites any particles in the air that touch the blade.
"Figured you wouldn't want the handle to raise the atomic heat of your hand."
They all stare in amazement at the blade, and Taiyo hears Panda asking Yaga for one in the distance.
"Yeah, guess not. But how did you create this so quickly? Creating a Cursed Tool takes years of either saturating it with an Innate Technique, or specific study and mastery."
"Cursed Tools have Barriers on them that contain the Innate Technique, so I just focused on the Barrier first, then filled it. It became a lot clearer after a recent breakthrough with my Domain Expansion."
Kusakabe waves the blade around a few times before deactivating it. "Takes a lot of Cursed Energy."
"Yeah, well, I don't think most things can handle even one strike from it, so that should be fine."
"Fair enough. Is this your parting gift as my student?"
"Oh please, you'll always be the teacher I bother when I need something. But not exactly, this is part of a set. I just need a bit more time to figure out the mechanics of the other sword."
Kusakabe sheathes the blade and clips it to his sword belt. "Did that one also come from a breakthrough with your Domain Expansion?"
"Mmm, not yet. I'm working on that part of the process. Barrier Techniques really are the height of Jujutsu, but climbing the mountain is such a pain."
"Would you prefer it to be easy?"
"Hell no. What's the point of an accomplishment if it was easy, right? Besides, if everything were easy, then competing would have as much value, and you know how I feel about that."
Kusakabe snaps his fingers. "That reminds me, you should head over to the 1st year dorms before you leave today, the new kids are there."
"Oh, that Hakari guy?"
"Yeah, and the gi—" He stops himself. "And Kirara, that one is a bit…you'll see when you meet them. But I think meeting him will help you a lot. Someone rarely has an Innate Technique that first manifests as a Domain Expansion…"
END CHAPTER---
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