Zenin Toji

A few days later, in the mountains outside Tokyo.

"Too slow."

The speaker was burly, his lazy expression carrying a hint of arrogance.

"I came straight here after school, Toji."

Zenin Toji—no, he had changed his name to Toji Fushiguro now.

Two years ago, Toji, who had defected from the Zenin Family, had been taken home by a pretty young woman surnamed Fushiguro.

Worried that someone with Toji's personality would not survive out there on his own, the kind and pretty young woman took care of him for a while. Eventually, she ended up giving herself to him as well.

On one hand, Toji had not been famous at the time. To save the old man Naobito Zenin a little face, Toji had not wiped out the Zenin Family. In truth, if the old man had not died, Maki Zenin would not have chosen to destroy the Zenin Family either.

On the other hand, that young woman had known nothing of the Jujutsu World or Cursed Spirits.

When they later married, Zenin Toji changed his name to Toji Fushiguro.

"I married into her family, so I'm Toji Fushiguro now."

The young woman had been both moved and helpless at the time. After all, under the customs of the Island Nation in that era, it was already good enough if a man did not demand that a woman change her surname after marrying him. Yet Toji had voluntarily married into her family.

Unfortunately, not long after Megumi Fushiguro was born, the young woman died in an accident.

"Phew... all right, let's begin. My time is expensive."

Blowing out a ring of smoke, Toji Fushiguro crushed the cigarette beneath his foot, rose to his feet, and led Eiji to an open clearing.

"Hey, let's start."

Toji Fushiguro cracked his knuckles, a wild grin appearing on his face.

Eiji did not waste any words either. He bent his knees slightly as Cursed Energy surged.

"Max Elephant."

The shadow behind him began extending in the opposite direction, defying common sense. A massive pink Asian elephant appeared before them.

"Oh? That's a pretty good punching bag."

After Megumi was born, Toji Fushiguro had once gone to the Zenin Family—not to return to the fold, but to break into their library and pore over every book related to the Ten Shadows Technique.

The reason was simple. While celebrating Megumi Fushiguro's birthday, Eiji had said, "This child is a Ten Shadows Technique user too, just like me."

Toji Fushiguro's response had been, "The kid's yours."

"You expect a bastard son from a branch family who ran away from the Zenin Family at seven to understand the Ten Shadows Technique?"

Under Eiji's disdainful gaze, Toji Fushiguro had left behind one sentence: "If you dare deceive me, I'll kill you."

Eiji, who had read the script: "..."

Then Toji Fushiguro had headed straight for the Zenin Family.

After venting at the Zenin Family, Toji Fushiguro's grief over losing his beloved wife had eased somewhat.

However, since he had never attended school, when Toji recited the records of the Ten Shadows Technique to Eiji, he often left out a sentence here or changed a word there.

You ask why Toji did not take pictures?

Letting you look at them was already a concession. Taking pictures would be going too far. Were you planning to sell all the information on the Ten Shadows Technique?

Naobito, the old man of the Zenin Family, knew that Toji Fushiguro was extraordinary but could not change the traditions the Zenin Family had formed over a thousand years. Thus, he let Toji Fushiguro and Maki Zenin leave, while maintaining some contact with them out of sentiment, so they would not go too far.

This was also why Toji Fushiguro had been willing to send Megumi Fushiguro back to the Zenin Family if Megumi awakened a Technique.

It was the only way Toji Fushiguro, who had never experienced familial affection growing up, knew how to express a father's love.

This was also why, after Toji Fushiguro was summoned through a séance and learned that Megumi's surname was Fushiguro rather than Zenin, he would say, "Thank goodness."

Toji Fushiguro knew the Zenin Family was a den of demons, but he knew even better that he could not properly raise Megumi Fushiguro himself.

If his child awakened a Technique, then only in that den of demons could Megumi receive the best upbringing.

Though parts were missing, the information on the Ten Shadows Technique that Toji Fushiguro brought back still helped Eiji greatly. After all, before the system left, it had only provided information on the Holy Grail External Technique, not the Ten Shadows Technique.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sounds of flesh meeting flesh rang out as Toji Fushiguro, like a champion boxer in the ring, unleashed a storm of attacks upon Max Elephant, the huge, sluggish punching bag.

Every time Max Elephant tried to spray water and force Toji Fushiguro back, it was struck on the bridge of its trunk by a fist and choked itself badly.

Head, trunk, forelegs, hind legs, back, butt.

When he reached its pleasantly firm butt, Toji Fushiguro even changed his fist into an open palm and gave it a few interested slaps.

His fists fell like raindrops, and Max Elephant's enraged roars gradually turned into miserable whimpers.

Max Elephant did not understand what was happening.

To Max Elephant and the Ten Shadows Technique's Taming Ritual, Toji Fushiguro, who possessed not a trace of Cursed Energy, was like a stone by the roadside.

Toji Fushiguro's presence was even less noticeable than the flowers, grass, and trees.

Yet this "stone" was strange. Before it could even test the caliber of this generation's Ten Shadows Technique wielder, this unidentifiable "stone" had rushed over and beaten it until it could no longer take care of itself.

Over ten minutes later, Max Elephant, its brain shut down, was beaten unconscious.

Though the Ten Shadows Technique's Taming Ritual had never encountered such a situation, the rules stated that as long as no outsider intervened—meaning no Cursed Energy other than that of the Ten Shadows Technique user—and Max Elephant lost its ability to fight while Eiji still retained the strength to continue, Eiji was deemed to have successfully tamed it.

Eiji: Taming a Shikigami had never felt this good.

It was just a little expensive. Most of the money he had saved had gone toward paying this commission.

"That was refreshing. Next one."

Toji Fushiguro rolled his shoulders in satisfaction, then tore off his shirt in one motion, revealing a muscular physique that even men could not look away from.

Eiji did not hesitate either, raising a hand to summon the next Shikigami.

"Tiger Funeral."

Tiger Funeral, a Shikigami capable of commanding fierce winds, was one of the strongest offensive Shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique.

The strongest in raw attack power among the Ten Shadows Technique was Piercing Bull. In theory, if that thing ran around the Earth once, it could smash even Sukuna to pieces. The problem was that it was too clumsy: it could only run in straight lines and required a long charging time. Eiji had no need for it against enemies he could kill, and it could not hit enemies Eiji could not kill.

Piercing Bull was exactly the sort of thing that was tasteless to keep yet a pity to discard. Better to save it as fusion material.

Max Elephant was the strongest in area-of-effect attacks. With enough Cursed Energy, Max Elephant could even raise a flood and drown Tokyo.

For single-target attacks, Tiger Funeral was the strongest.

Clouds followed dragons; wind followed tigers.

Tiger Funeral possessed a feline's agility and could command fierce winds to increase its own speed.

Its claws could tear apart Cursed Spirits at close range and launch wind blades from afar. Its bite force surpassed Jade Dog's and was no weaker than Ferocious Dog's.

In a one-on-one fight, such a Tiger Funeral had almost no weaknesses.

ROAR!

A black-and-white tiger even larger than Piercing Bull appeared before them.

Its terrifying killing intent made even Eiji tremble slightly.

"Need my help?"

"No. Go cool off somewhere."

After Tiger Funeral appeared, Eiji realized Toji Fushiguro was smiling even more happily.

Whoosh.

Fierce winds surged forth. Tiger Funeral moved lightly, yet so fast it was impossible to catch with the naked eye.

Boom.

Toji Fushiguro stomped down hard with both feet, launching himself toward Tiger Funeral like a cannonball.

Claws, fangs, whipping tail.

Iron fists, elbow strikes, whipping kicks.

Unlike Max Elephant, which was so clumsy it could only serve as a punching bag, the nimble and highly aggressive Tiger Funeral barely qualified as an opponent in Toji Fushiguro's eyes.

A true battle to the death had begun.