Just on the first day of transmigrating here, Zen'in Naoya smelled the scent of impending death.
Not good.
Really not good.
Although stepping in to interfere with the plot development and allowing Geto Suguru's corpse to be handled by Kyoto would inevitably trigger a series of butterfly effects.
Kenjaku would absolutely not give up on Cursed Spirit Manipulation; he would definitely try every means to steal the corpse again.
Gojo Satoru would absolutely not tolerate his friend's corpse being desecrated; he would definitely try every means to get the corpse back.
That is to say, the biggest villain and the strongest hero in Jujutsu Kaisen both currently had very serious necrophilia, the kind that couldn't be cured anytime soon.
If these two godly figures found out that Zen'in Naoya's plan was to happily send off Geto Suguru's corpse via cremation, their affection meters would instantly max out.
Even taking a taxi to the Zen'in estate's front door right now would be too slow.
Can't everyone just sit down amiably and have a cup of afternoon tea?
Must we fight to the death?
Zen'in Naoya felt he needed to seriously review the situation.
Who tried their best?
Who committed a crime?
Whose playstyle wasn't team-oriented?
Whose drafting lacked human touch?
Admittedly, the transmigrator's performance today wasn't perfectly flawless. His method of roleplaying Zen'in Naoya wasn't high-level enough, and he would occasionally drop a clanger, making a supposedly clever remark that actually stepped on a landmine.
But even if he performed perfectly, could he escape his destined death?
There was absolutely no possibility of that.
After all, Zen'in Naoya was a character in the original work who walked a very extreme path.
When other villains were defeated by the protagonist, there would always be some whitewashing flashbacks. They actually had difficulties: an 80-year-old mother above and a 3-year-old crying baby below; or their family was kidnapped and they were forced into it; or they were forced into rebellion but had a pure nature; or, more clichéd, they committed murder, robbery, arson, and all kinds of evil, but even after suffering three betrayals, they were still a good child.
But this guy Zen'in Naoya was too arrogant.
His arrogance left no room for whitewashing.
Don't talk to me about morals and feelings, don't talk to me about world peace, and definitely don't talk to me about the prodigal son returning.
To put it nicely, he had a "so what if this young master is a demon" vibe.
To put it bluntly, this guy had a pure antisocial personality.
Pure evil.
A pure villain.
So when he kicked the bucket, the audience was popping champagne. Not a single person could find an angle to empathize with this scum.
To put it plainly, if Zen'in Naoya went out to buy a pack of cigarettes right now, he could probably run into ten guys on the street who wanted to kill him.
"...Do evil people also have evil saviors?"
Zen'in Naoya sighed deeply in his heart.
From the perspective of a villain, Jujutsu Kaisen was simply a trash game with no designed clear route. He was purely a tool person responsible for leveling up the protagonist's group.
From his first appearance, Zen'in Naoya was beaten up in various ways. According to incomplete statistics, he acted as a stepping stone for at least 13 characters. But no matter how many times he was stepped on, no one could ever beat him into submission. He belonged to the category where even if you cremated him in a crematorium, all that would be left was his mouth.
It was precisely this "head can be chopped, blood can flow, but hair can't be messed up while acting tough" spirit that won Zen'in Naoya quite a bit of popularity.
After all, Zen'in Naoya didn't manage to kill a single person from his debut to his death, putting him in the category of a highly amusing gag character.
However, for the transmigrator, this was not a good thing.
It meant that the moment he relaxed his vigilance, he really might die a violent death.
The fate of a villain is to welcome inevitable death.
No matter what, he couldn't escape the erosion of Heaven's Will and would eventually end up kicked to death like a stray dog on the side of the road.
If he had system buffs, he might be able to roar "Deep Blue, add points!"
But the reality left to him was only the character's built-in status panel.
Think calmly.
To reverse the situation, there were only two plans right now.
The first plan: kill Zen'in Maki one step ahead of time.
In the original work, Zen'in Maki fully awakened her Heavenly Restriction due to Zen'in Mai's death, and then wiped out the entire Zen'in clan in a fit of rage. Zen'in Naoya was blasted away on the spot with one punch by this super-masculine, murderous female cousin.
Therefore, the necessary condition for Zen'in Naoya to survive was absolutely not letting Zen'in Maki awaken her Heavenly Restriction.
Killing Zen'in Maki preemptively would save him a lot of trouble.
With his current power and status, it would be too easy to kill a deadweight in Tokyo.
But quickly, the transmigrator rejected this idea in his mind.
After all, this was "Rebirth: I am Zen'in Naoya," not Zen'in Naoya living a second life.
Only that atrocious villain could come up with such an evil idea.
He was too extreme.
Although the current situation was indeed not optimistic, with countless pairs of eyes staring at him from the shadows, always wanting to bite off the neck of this genius jujutsu sorcerer and nail him to the pillar of shame in history.
But even so, Zen'in Naoya would not let himself degenerate into scum.
It wasn't that he was acting high and mighty.
If he killed Zen'in Maki, what would he do when the Shinjuku Showdown broke out in full force a year later?
An awakened Heavenly Restriction Zen'in Maki was a crucial combat force against Ryomen Sukuna in the final battle. Even if he changed the plotline and survived, the subsequent plot would only become: "Not even a moment to mourn the strongest Grade 1 Sorcerer Kusakabe, the next to rush to the battlefield is the strongest Grade 1 Sorcerer of the Big Three Families, Zen'in Naoya!"
So right now, he was only left with the second method.
A choice the original Zen'in Naoya would absolutely never make.
"Oda, bring me the list of this year's new students at Jujutsu High."
As Zen'in Naoya spoke coldly, the servant Oda, who was originally spacing out beside him, was instantly startled.
Although he didn't know why his master would suddenly want the student list of Jujutsu High on a whim, Oda hurriedly went out and then rushed back to present a signature book with both hands.
Zen'in Naoya sat on the chair in his bedroom, elegantly browsing the contents inside.
Calling it a list of new students was actually inappropriate.
This signature book was more like a stack of job resumes.
Portrait photos, family backgrounds, attribute abilities...
After reading it, he could only sigh with three words—
Holy crap, doxxing!!!
At Jujutsu High, over 90% of the students came from aristocratic backgrounds. With their affluent families, they were fully capable of paying the exorbitant tuition fees.
But even so, on the day they truly enrolled and became jujutsu sorcerers, the endless financial pressure would completely crush these young people!
Jujutsu sorcerers needed money.
They needed a lot of money.
After all, in the worldview of Jujutsu Kaisen, jujutsu sorcerers were equivalent to magicians, and there was no need to say how much money magicians burned.
Venue fees, training fees, material fees, development fees—all these required astronomical amounts of funding to burn, and there was a high probability that it would all be for nothing!
Tired and poor.
This was the current situation of the new students at Jujutsu High.
Therefore, to allow these new jujutsu sorcerers to successfully complete their studies, a system called Angel Investment Sponsorship became popular at Jujutsu High.
Simply put, it was like playing the stock market.
Wherever there are people, there is a martial arts world.
Not to mention a high-level institution like Jujutsu High, which was deeply involved with the Big Three Sorcerer Families.
Every year, new students could enter the angel investment market. Ultimately, their final exam grades and comprehensive strength in various aspects would determine whether a stock went up or down.
If a new student caught the eye of a big shot, especially an investment from the Big Three Sorcerer Families, then that student's future development in the jujutsu world could be described as a fish in water, soaring to great heights.
Soon, Zen'in Naoya found the name he had been longing for—
[Rookie Jujutsu Sorcerer]
[Zen'in Maki]
[Affiliation: Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College]
[Grade: Grade 4 Sorcerer]
[Gender: Female]
[Origin: Zen'in Clan]
[Innate Cursed Technique: None]
[Sponsorship Amount: None]
[Investment Analysis: Absolutely the deadweight of the first-year students. She has almost no cursed energy and can't even see cursed spirits. Yet, her most outstanding ability as a jujutsu sorcerer is taijutsu. If her future goal is to become a physical education teacher, then she will probably be the first student at Jujutsu High to be expelled for being too good at taijutsu.]
In the photo, the girl tied her green hair into a high ponytail, and the nerdy purple glasses made her originally pretty face look very rigid.
This fierce-looking, aloof older sister gave off a feeling of being quite unapproachable. Even someone with a macho personality like Zen'in Naoya subconsciously felt a trace of fear.
A super-masculine female demon.
If one didn't know better, they would think it was Zen'in Toji reincarnated via Edo Tensei.
"What's the maximum sponsorship limit?"
Hearing Zen'in Naoya's casual question, Oda, although not understanding why this young master of the Zen'in clan would specifically pay attention to his female cousin, answered honestly: "It should be 100 million yen."
100 million yen.
Even for an aristocrat, this expensive amount was not to be underestimated.
But for a Kyoto young master like Zen'in Naoya, this amount of money was just a few pieces of loose silver.
But if he openly sponsored 100 million yen like this, would there be any accidents?
Zen'in Naoya's hand, about to sign, paused.
Investing 100 million yen was already sensational news. Openly sponsoring under Zen'in Naoya's name would inevitably draw the attention of others in the school to Zen'in Maki.
The plot would definitely start to deviate from his grasp. But right now, his biggest trump card was the plot. Before he was absolutely certain, he should maintain the plotline as much as possible.
Every choice he made now was equivalent to racing against the Grim Reaper. He had to think more carefully...
Then, Zen'in Naoya continued looking at the list, and suddenly frowned.
[Rookie Jujutsu Sorcerer]
[Zen'in Mai]
[Affiliation: Kyoto Metropolitan Curse Technical College]
[Grade: Grade 4 Sorcerer]
[Gender: Female]
[Origin: Zen'in Clan]
[Innate Cursed Technique: Construction]
[Sponsorship Amount: None]
[Investment Analysis: The matter created by [Construction] will not disappear even after the cursed technique ends. Although born with weak cursed energy, this girl will definitely achieve something in the field of cursed tools in the future. Unfortunately, due to certain uncontrollable factors, investors are advised to consider thoroughly before entering the market.]
"Mai actually hasn't received any sponsorship?"
Zen'in Naoya pointed at the list.
If Zen'in Maki couldn't get sponsorship, it was because she had no cursed energy and was purely a chosen sports student.
But Zen'in Mai possessed Construction and was Zen'in Ogi's daughter. Her inability to get sponsorship was simply an unimaginable and strange thing.
"Uh..."
Oda's expression was very complex; he wanted to speak but hesitated out of fear.
"Oda, you know I hate it when people waste my time."
"That's because..."
Oda lowered his voice as much as possible.
"Lord Ogi... um... wants to train the independent abilities of his two daughters..."
This servant's way of putting it was quite face-saving.
The correct way to put it was that Zen'in Ogi had directly issued a death order to the jujutsu world, demanding the suspension of any form of assistance to Maki and Mai. This was to make the two unfilial daughters who had disgraced him wake up early, hurry home to work like horses and oxen for the Zen'in clan, find a date to marry them off, and start a new account. That would be about enough.
As a result, the two aristocratic young ladies from the Big Three Sorcerer Families were reduced to the same fate as lowly commoners...
But this was actually a good thing.
One must know that a certain blue-haired, twin-tailed young lady turned from a pure white moonlight into a pressure monster also because she had no money.
It just so happened that Zen'in Naoya lacked everything right now except money.
Is something that can be solved with money to farm affection even an issue?
"...If I sponsor Maki and Mai, do you think they will accept my money?"
Hearing this question that could be considered a death trap, Oda's body trembled violently, and then he stammered: "Well, um... Although Young Master Naoya, you are a Special Grade 1 Sorcerer and the next head of the Zen'in clan whom everyone respects, how should I say this... your two female cousins... are currently in a rather rebellious phase..."
Are you kidding me?!
Asking the twin sisters to accept Zen'in Naoya's sponsorship?!
Is there any difference between that and asking them to bite their lips, lie on the bed, and spread their legs?!
Young Master, you truly are a noble person who forgets things easily.
When you were young, you stepped on Maki and Mai's heads, relying on your older age to bully them in various ways. When us servants saw those scenes, we couldn't wait to go up and punch you...