But that was the battlefield. Real martial arts did not value flashy appearances, but how quickly they could kill someone.
Perhaps cursed spirits did not have such weaknesses, but a sorcerer's enemies were not limited to cursed spirits born from curses. There were also humans who were sorcerers themselves.
Different factions produced different beliefs, and conflicts of interest naturally arose between them. Where there were conflicts, there would naturally be fights.
Anyway, he would take whatever came his way. Too many skills never weighed a person down. As long as it was something the Sharingan could copy, Natsu Hiraku would accept it all.
Time slowly passed. Ido Shuichi was already sweating, and every punch he threw was mixed with copious sweat. Though his breathing had grown rapid, his fists remained steady.
My eyes are so tired...
Natsu Hiraku was not having an easy time either. His sunglasses blocked part of his vision, making the Sharingan more taxing to use than usual. Worse still, his brain needed patching up.
This was what they called suffering and happiness intertwined.
Learning new knowledge thrilled his mind, but the heavy burden was becoming more than he could bear.
He felt so sick that he wanted to vomit. The world before his eyes seemed to be spinning. So nauseating. His eyes hurt so badly. He could barely keep learning.
Before he realized it, red blood had begun streaming down his flushed face beneath the sunglasses. Ido Shuichi noticed Natsu Hiraku's abnormality and stopped moving.
Blood ran across Natsu Hiraku's face and dripped onto the ground. Ido Shuichi cried out in surprise:
"Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine..."
Natsu Hiraku deactivated the Sharingan and lowered his head, gasping for breath. His sunglasses fell to the ground from the sweat, while blood from the corners of his eyes mixed with his perspiration and stained his entire face red.
"Fine my ass! What happened to your eyes?"
Ido Shuichi was beginning to panic. This was the first time he had seen someone study martial arts until his eyes bled, and for a moment, he had no idea what to do.
"Master Shuichi, get me a towel. I'll be fine after resting for a while."
"Oh—okay. Wait there. Don't die. I'll call an ambulance right now."
Ido Shuichi came to his senses and hurriedly pulled out his phone, then ran to the corner to grab the towel they used to wipe sweat after training. Though it was for wiping sweat, it was washed after every use, so there was no need to worry about infecting a wound.
"No, really, there's no need. This happens often. Don't call emergency services."
Natsu Hiraku hurriedly stopped him. He had encountered this situation right after transmigrating, after all. Back then, it had probably been caused by overusing his eyes right after awakening them. This time was the same.
"..."
"You really don't need it?"
Ido Shuichi hesitated with the hand holding his phone. No matter how he looked at it, Natsu Hiraku did not seem like the type to joke with his own body. Besides, the kid was slippery as hell.
The more someone was like that, the more they valued their own life above all else.
"There's really no need. Just give me the towel. I remembered everything from earlier. Once I rest for a while, we can spar. It's just that I can't keep learning anymore."
"You learned it?"
Ido Shuichi handed over the towel and looked at Natsu Hiraku skeptically. If anyone else claimed they had remembered nearly everything after one look, he definitely would not believe it. Every move and stance involved complicated attacks, and one had to know how to adapt to the situation.
But this kid... it was possible. He was just too uncanny.
After wiping the sweat from his face, Natsu Hiraku tried to open his aching eyes, but failed every time. For some reason, he could sense that his eyes had reached saturation.
Not the kind of saturation from filling them with cursed energy. Rather, it felt as though his eyes had reached their limit. He did not know what would happen if he broke through that limit, but he could feel that limit clearly. Perhaps something would happen the next time he pushed his eyes to the limit. Or perhaps nothing would happen, and he would simply go blind.
After all, ordinary eyes could not withstand that much bleeding. The Sharingan might be ruined too.
He needed to use them carefully.
If he went blind, he would be like Gojo Satoru. Gojo would wear black bandages, while he wore white ones. Gojo could see the road, while he would navigate by sound. They would be known throughout the martial world as:
The Black and White Fiends!
After all, Gojo had white hair and black bandages, while he had black hair and white bandages.
It made perfect sense!
Though he could not open his eyes for the moment, his body could still move. Under Ido Shuichi's curious gaze, Natsu Hiraku bent down and fumbled around on the floor, picked up his fallen sunglasses, placed them on the table, then slowly stood and took a few steps forward.
Then, before Ido Shuichi's stunned eyes, Natsu Hiraku began moving his body. Though his punches were clearly weak, his form was exceptionally standard.
The weakness in his punches was understandable. He had looked so frail just moments ago. It was already astonishing that he could move at all, let alone maintain such perfect form, as if he had copied it exactly.
Had he really learned everything?
As time passed, Ido Shuichi found it more and more unbelievable. From beginning to end, it was as though Natsu Hiraku had copied and pasted every move, displaying them all in flawless detail. His body was also becoming increasingly powerful.
Ido Shuichi could not help but praise how monstrous he was. He called bleeding from his eyes an ordinary occurrence, and even while his body was weak, he seized the time to familiarize himself with the memories in his mind. Why did someone who looked so slippery work this hard?
Even someone like Ido Shuichi, who had fought on battlefields for years, seemed unable to fathom his unique way of thinking. The only thing he could do now was teach him well. If his master had called him a freak back then, then Natsu Hiraku was a monster.
A genuine... monster.
The figure in his mind rapidly moved through the forms, and Natsu Hiraku imitated them as best he could. He had always believed that only by becoming strong could he live peacefully. Only by working harder than others could he develop quickly. Time waited for no one.
His eyes were much better, but he still could not open them. They simply did not hurt as badly as before.
The cursed energy drained from his body was also slowly recovering along with the negative emotion of pain. The amount was small, but enough.
His weakened body gradually recovered under the reinforcement of cursed energy. Very few of the remembered moves remained in his mind. Though those moves were complicated, they ultimately emphasized three words: steadiness, precision, and ruthlessness.
The moves he had learned merely gave him more ways to adapt. Neither aspect could be lacking.
When you had moves, you could not hold back. When you were ruthless, you could not be without moves.
Even with a body full of martial skill, hesitating once on a rapidly changing battlefield could get you killed. A vicious person who did not practice martial arts had only one path: death.
Of course, those quick to defect to the enemy were exceptions, provided they had value to be exploited.
As the final move in his mind ended, Natsu Hiraku stopped as well. He took a deep breath and gently opened his eyes, looking at the familiar world before him.
For some reason, the fear buried in his heart had dissipated. He feared losing the light and losing these eyes. If that happened, all his efforts would seem so mediocre.
A world without light was bleak, as if he were walking through an abyss of fear while being watched by cursed spirits lurking everywhere. The feeling made Natsu Hiraku uncomfortable all over.
"Are your eyes really okay?"
Ido Shuichi stared fixedly into Natsu Hiraku's eyes. After all, he had bled so much earlier. It would be a lie to say Ido Shuichi was not worried.
"Sorry for making you worry, Master Shuichi. My eyes are fine. Want to spar?" Natsu Hiraku smiled slightly. The smile only made his pale complexion more apparent, and the exhaustion in his eyes could not be concealed, but he still acted as if nothing had happened.
This brat really treated his body like it was made of iron?
Ido Shuichi frowned, turned, and walked toward the training dummy. He waved him off. "No. If you fail the test tomorrow, I won't teach you again. Get back and sleep."
"This..."
Natsu Hiraku pursed his lips. He wanted to test his current strength more thoroughly, but his master had clearly seen how exhausted he was and did not want to fight.
Helplessly, he said, "Yes, I understand, Master Shuichi."
"If you understand, go back. Don't interrupt my training."
After shouting that, Ido Shuichi began striking the training dummy before him. The echoes of "bang, bang, bang" rang through the room as Natsu Hiraku glanced at him and left directly.
Though he had learned much tonight, he still felt some regret. Training without actual combat was hollow. Actual combat was the only standard for testing strength and the fastest path to growth.
If conditions allowed, Natsu Hiraku could even study for an entire day without eating or drinking. As long as his eyes could endure it, either he or his teacher had to die.
But there was nothing he could do after being sent away. That was enough for today.
"Ring-ring-ring..."
The alarm clock by the bed rang. Natsu Hiraku slowly opened his eyes, turned it off, and sat up to look at the faint light filtering through the gap in the curtains, his gaze seemingly filled with confusion.
A familiar alarm, but this did not seem to be his room...
Smack!
The sudden sound echoed through the room. Holding his face, Natsu Hiraku complained, "Enough already. I got so absorbed in training that I forgot I'm no longer at Jujutsu High. I'm on a protection mission."
After slapping himself awake, he picked up the backpack by the wall. It contained not only his Cursed Tool, but also his clothes.
After getting dressed and washing up briefly, he headed out. It was around 5:40 now, a perfect time for a morning run. Of course, he could also learn something from the other guards. Whether they were skilled or not, everyone understood martial arts differently, and he could learn something from them.
Only this way could he ensure that he was becoming stronger every moment. This was what it meant to accept whatever came his way.
Facing that powerful cursed spirit, Natsu Hiraku could only do this for now. A permanent increase of 100 cursed energy was a qualitative change for him. It would let him use the Great Fireball Technique one more time, or maintain the Sharingan for longer.
As for the 15 points, there was no need to mention it. If he abandoned this mission, heaven and earth would condemn him, and his entire life would have been wasted!
Pushing open the villa door, he said to the two guards on duty, "Good morning."
The two turned around. Seeing it was Vice-Captain Natsu Hiraku, they saluted. "Good morning, Vice-Captain Hiraku."
"Morning. By the way, where is Captain Shuichi?"
"The captain is on patrol. Vice-Captain, are you looking for the captain to spar?"
The other person cut in, "Vice-Captain, what did you learn from the captain last night? Can't you teach us?"
"You want to learn?"
Natsu Hiraku asked with interest.
"Of course."
Both of them longed to learn the captain's martial arts, even if it was just a little. After all, rank here was determined by strength. If they learned even a little, they might be able to challenge Murata Shoichi. Once Natsu Hiraku left, Murata Shoichi would still be the Vice-Captain.
The position of Vice-Captain was the highest honor in the team. As for why it was not Captain... they could not beat him. He was simply too fierce, like someone from an entirely different world.
"No."
After saying that, Natsu Hiraku waved and left, leaving the two with disappointed faces.
What a joke. If they wanted to learn something, they could apply for a duel and beat him first. If they could beat him, no one would envy however much they learned. After all, they had won!
A fist was the only hard truth. That saying never changed. Whether in immortal cultivation or a future metropolis, only those with powerful strength would be respected.
He was not some great philanthropist. Their captain would not even teach them, yet they expected instruction from a temporary Vice-Captain like him?
He had barely taken two steps when he ran into Ido Shuichi, who was patrolling. Natsu Hiraku quickly stepped forward and said, "Good morning, Master Shuichi."
"You're up pretty early. Have your eyes really recovered?"
Ido Shuichi looked slightly surprised to see Natsu Hiraku awake so early. Normally, recovering from injuries consumed a great deal of stamina. In such circumstances, people slept more deeply than usual, some so deeply that thunder could not wake them. Yet this kid was up this early. Was his body really made of iron?
"Sorry for making you worry, Master. It's only a small matter," Natsu Hiraku continued flattering him. "Tonight, I'll be at yesterday's training location promptly at eight. Please don't hold back during today's sparring session."
"Fine. I'll wait for you at eight tonight. Don't think I have no other moves to deal with you just because you learned a few things. Don't get too arrogant. You still have a long road ahead."
Ido Shuichi looked proud. After thinking about it all night, he had figured it out. The other party called him master, so naturally, he had to raise him as a disciple. His disciple was this talented—of course he was proud.
That was what he said, but if he had learned this fast back then, forget being proud—he would have dared to piss on his master's head.
"Understood. Then I'll go find two people to train with. Master, please continue your training."
Natsu Hiraku nodded to show that he understood, then waved and left. He was going to find the two gate guards from yesterday. They had said they would train together, and he could not break his word.
Though breaking it did not seem like a big deal, he would still feel a little guilty. He could also observe their martial arts. Killing two birds with one stone—why not?
At that moment, the two stood at the main gate.
"Do you think Vice-Captain Hiraku will come train with us?"
"Who knows? But as the Vice-Captain, he shouldn't go back on his word, right? If he teaches us, we'll soar to greatness!"
"You make it sound nice. He's the Vice-Captain. That position is earned through strength. It'd already be great if he came to train with two weaklings like us, and you still want him to teach us?"
Go-in Roku looked disdainfully at Ryusui Ruo Bing beside him, as if saying, Stop fucking dreaming. This is our fate.
Ryusui Ruo Bing shrugged and said unconcernedly, "Maybe the Vice-Captain is kind-hearted. Just because you don't dream doesn't mean you should stop me from dreaming."
"You looking for a beating?"
"Bring it on! We were both assigned to guard the gate, which means we're about evenly matched. You think I'm scared of you?"
"..."
Go-in Roku was speechless. Their strengths really were about the same. After holding it in for a long time, he finally said, "Fuck!"
Before you continue