Chapter 2: Heavenly Restriction and the Eight Gates!
After extorting Yuki Tsukumo, Zen'in Shinsuke brought her to a well-furnished loft. The décor was elegant, the kind of place that screamed expensive.
"Come in."
Shinsuke pulled out a key and unlocked the door with practiced ease.
"Wait—don't tell me this is your place?"
Yuki stepped inside, her expression full of disbelief as her eyes swept across the spacious room.
Where had this guy gotten the money for such a luxury apartment? Could it be… swindled from someone?
Suspicion flickered in her heart.
"Of course it's not mine. Do I look like the type who'd spend money on a house?"
Shinsuke shot her a sidelong glance.
Why waste money buying property? With his skills, freeloading off the right woman was far more cost-efficient.
"…Good. That's good."
Relief washed over Yuki, her heart feeling just a little lighter.
"Alright, let's get this over with."
Back in the bedroom, Shinsuke stripped off his shirt without hesitation and flopped onto the bed, lying face down as if he'd gone through this routine countless times.
Yuki's eyes couldn't help but linger on the explosive muscles sculpting his back. Her throat bobbed slightly as she swallowed, her face tinged with red.
Even though she'd seen his body more than once before, every time brought a subtle wave of discomfort—an unfamiliar, distracting heat.
Handsome, and built like that too… he really was born to live off women.
Shaking her head to banish the thought, Yuki placed her palm gently against his back. A stream of pure cursed energy flowed into his body.
Shinsuke's heightened perception allowed him to feel it distinctly—the cursed energy coursing through his muscles, probing and searching for the mystery behind his Heavenly Restriction.
The truth was, Yuki's strained relationship with the Jujutsu higher-ups came from more than just her defiance.
She fundamentally disagreed with their ideology.
To her, exorcising curses was only a temporary measure. It solved symptoms, not the disease.
In this world, every human carried cursed energy within them, though most never sensed it.
Those who could perceive and control cursed energy became sorcerers. Their main duty was to exorcise curses—malevolent beings born from accumulated negative energy—and protect ordinary people.
But not all sorcerers were protectors. Some abused their powers, committing crimes and acts of terror, threatening society itself. These outcasts were called Curse Users, enemies to both sorcerers and civilians alike.
Yuki, however, believed that the true solution to curses was to eliminate cursed energy altogether. If the world had no cursed energy, curses could never manifest in the first place.
And as far as known human history was concerned, only two people were born completely devoid of cursed energy.
One was Zen'in Toji, of the Zen'in Clan—infamous as the Sorcerer Killer.
The other was the man lying before her now—Zen'in Shinsuke.
Coincidentally, the two of them were blood brothers.
"Done with your research yet? My time's precious, you know."
Zen'in Shinsuke's body tensed as veins bulged across his skin like writhing dragons, rejecting the cursed energy coursing through him.
"Phew…"
Exhaling softly, Yuki Tsukumo withdrew her pale hand, looking helpless.
"Seriously… why?"
"Why is it that your body alone can exist without producing cursed energy?"
For once, Yuki's composure cracked. She had spent years—and a small fortune—only to end up empty-handed. She felt completely ripped off.
"I told you, give it up already. Stop wasting your time. You'd be better off killing a few curses and making some cash. Eating well and living comfortably matters more than this nonsense."
After so many years of dealing with Yuki, Shinsuke knew exactly what she was after.
"No way. Let me keep researching! I can feel it—if I just have more time, I'll figure something out."
Yuki's expression was dead serious. She had noticed a pattern: the longer her cursed energy stayed inside Shinsuke's body, the stronger the repulsion became. If she could maintain it longer—or pour in even more—maybe she'd uncover the true mechanism of Heavenly Restriction.
"That won't do. If there's no money involved, I'm out."
Shinsuke waved her off flatly. This woman always tried to freeload—give her once and she'd keep coming back forever.
"…Fine. I'll pay you. Triple."
Veins popped on Yuki's forehead as she held up three fingers.
"One last time. If nothing comes of it, I'll really give up."
She'd already sunk four or five years into this, wasting both time and money, with zero results. Swearing to herself, Yuki resolved this would be the final attempt. Instead of stubbornly fixating on Heavenly Restriction, maybe she should focus on other ways to fix humanity—like turning every person into a jujutsu sorcerer.
"Alright, but this really is the last time. After this, don't bother me again."
Shinsuke reluctantly agreed. To him, lying around while someone else handed him money wasn't a bad deal at all. And in the end, Yuki would never figure anything out anyway.
Easy money without lifting a finger—besides Yuki Tsukumo, who else could possibly offer that? Even living off women usually required some effort.
To Yuki though, it was like paying for a product and never getting to use it—a deeply frustrating experience every single time.
"This time I'll push my cursed energy harder. If you can't take it, say so."
Taking a deep breath, Yuki's gaze hardened. Don't disappoint me. Not this time.
The next instant, her cool hand pressed against Shinsuke's back again. A torrent of cursed energy surged violently into his body, instantly triggering rejection.
His veins bulged grotesquely.
Shinsuke's expression twisted as, deep in his mind, the strange, almost technological-looking scripture began to tremble violently.
BOOM!
A wave of searing heat burst from his body, forcibly ejecting all the cursed energy inside. The sheer force knocked Yuki off balance, sending her stumbling back several steps before she regained her footing.
"What the hell?! Is that also Heavenly Restriction?!"
Her eyes sharpened. How could it be so overwhelming?
"Hah…"
Suppressing the raging energy within, Shinsuke's reddened skin slowly returned to normal.
"My body and cursed energy were never meant to coexist. This kind of reaction isn't surprising."
Still, even he hadn't expected this. Yuki had injected cursed energy into him plenty of times—by now, his body should've been used to it. But it seemed the golden scripture in his mind wasn't so tolerant.
Lowering his consciousness, Shinsuke glimpsed the book resting quietly in his inner world—
Eight Gates Release Formation.
That's right—the pinnacle of taijutsu!
It had appeared suddenly on his eighteenth birthday. Maybe because in his past life, he'd collapsed while watching an AMV of Might Guy's battles… either way, it became his golden finger in this world.
When it first appeared, he had been ecstatic. A late cheat was still a cheat! And what could be more perfect than Heavenly Restriction paired with the Eight Gates?
With his body already pushed to its natural limit by Heavenly Restriction, he thought he'd be able to open the Gates instantly and crush the entire jujutsu world.
But then reality hit him—he had no chakra. He couldn't even open a single tenketsu, let alone the Eight Gates.
Fortunately, the system wasn't completely heartless. The Eight Gates method had been slightly revised: instead of relying on chakra, it now drew on the body's natural vitality—blood and qi.
By refining the flesh to the extreme, one could awaken a physical energy that flowed like blood essence. Using that to open the Gates achieved the same effect as chakra.
In other words, his Eight Gates were now pure taijutsu—designed to push the human body's power to the absolute limit.
The only catch? Refining that blood energy was insanely difficult.
He opened the scripture in his mind. Intelligent characters floated into view:
Gate of Opening: 100%
Gate of Healing: 100%
Gate of Life: 100%
Gate of Pain: 11%
…
Gate of Death: 0%
So far, he could only fully open the first three gates. The boosts weren't outrageous, but they sharpened every aspect of his physical state—speed, aura, momentum.
With Heavenly Restriction already granting him monstrous strength, he estimated he'd need at least the first five gates, up to the Gate of Limit, to make a real leap in power.
Soon. As long as he slowed down a bit on freeloading and pushed his training harder, it wouldn't be long before the world learned what true taijutsu was.
After all, the Eight Gates' power scaled directly with the user's body.
Guy's Fifth Gate and Lee's Fifth Gate were not the same thing.
And with Heavenly Restriction fused with the Eight Gates, the result would be nothing short of terrifying.