Two Proposals

Kana Shizumi was still letting his thoughts wander. After a brief daze, he gradually came back to himself and opened his mouth.

"Although, although I'm doing alright compared to others... if I can choose, I'd still like to be a little stronger..."

How humble. He could only be extremely humble.

After all, while he theoretically stood ahead of 90% of sorcerers, the ones who appeared in the story were literally that remaining 10%. What could he do about that?

He couldn't exactly get kicked away like a dog the moment he showed up...

Listening to Kana Shizumi's statement, Kenjaku glanced at him.

No one knew exactly what Kenjaku was thinking. For now, he merely pursed his lips before letting out a brief chuckle.

"You don't expect me to help you reach Sukuna's level, do you?"

Kenjaku spread his hands, his tone carrying a hint of teasing.

"I can't even reach that level myself."

That wasn't untrue...

Although Kenjaku had always appeared extremely composed in the original work, giving people the sense that no matter what difficulties he encountered, everything remained within his expectations.

Yet on the eve of the Shinjuku Showdown, when he encountered Satoru Gojo, who had teleported up from the bottom of the sea, he had still seemed utterly helpless—after all I've done to mess with you, you can still get out?

Considering that if Sukuna hadn't been there, Kenjaku probably would have been treated to a live performance of "excuse me, coming through."

Back to the point.

Kana Shizumi naturally knew Kenjaku's strength, and he also understood that Gojo and Sukuna had always been in a league of their own in the original storyline.

But Kenjaku's strength wasn't really reflected in combat. After all, he was the foremost researcher in Jujutsu Kaisen, and his specialties lay in research.

After all, he was capable of handcrafting the Tiger Heavenly Emperor.

So when he fought Yuki Tsukumo in the original work, it was, in a sense, a brawl between the clerical staff of the heroes and villains...

That somehow made perfect sense?

Of course, the fundamental reason was that Kana Shizumi wasn't satisfied with his current state.

At the Semi-Grade 1 level, he was probably around Choso's level during the Shibuya Incident.

He could easily deal with some third-rate figures, but if he ran into Itadori, he'd probably get knocked unconscious in three punches...

No. The more he thought about it, the more crappy it felt!

"It's fine if it's just a little stronger than I am now. Is there really no solution?"

Perhaps his attitude was simply too sincere, or perhaps Kenjaku had simply been pleased by the food... He pondered for a moment, then swept his gaze over Kana Shizumi before speaking thoughtfully.

"I understand... In that case, I'll give you two proposals."

There really was a solution?!

Kana Shizumi jolted upright. As he sat up straighter, his expression became far more serious.

"First, continue collecting Six Paths Tsuji Cursed Objects. For you, they're the greatest aid to increasing your strength... Once you collect all six, your power will improve by leaps and bounds."

Kana Shizumi caught the wording Kenjaku used.

Improve by leaps and bounds?

He had to admit, he was looking forward to it a little. Given the personality of a researcher like Kenjaku, he must have carefully considered his wording.

But then came the problem.

How am I supposed to collect them... I have absolutely no clue! Japan is so huge—where am I supposed to look?

As the person involved fretted over this, Kenjaku leaned back slightly and reached into his robes with his right hand, feeling around for a moment.

Then, he took out an object and placed it on the table.

"Take this with you. I told you before that I would give it to you."

Kana Shizumi focused his eyes on it and immediately recognized the bracelet taken from the Kamo Cursed Vault.

"I modified it a little. Now it's just right for you... It can sense the specific locations of Six Paths Tsuji Cursed Objects. The closer you get, the stronger its reaction will be. It should help you collect them."

Kana Shizumi was briefly stunned before understanding.

So it was a detector...

But just as Kenjaku had said, this thing would be a huge help!

After all, what troubled Kana Shizumi now was their locations. With this cursed tool assisting him, he could accomplish twice as much with half the effort.

"Thank you, Father."

"You're welcome. Besides, you've always had rather good luck. I think that even without this thing... you should still be able to collect them all."

Kenjaku looked toward Kana Shizumi with a faint, ambiguous smile and spoke softly.

"After all, you've already recovered the Abyss-Severing Blade, haven't you?"

"..."

Kana Shizumi froze for a moment, then gave an embarrassed smile and carefully took the bracelet into his hand.

—He had never told Kenjaku that he had recovered a Cursed Object.

Yet the other party spoke with such absolute certainty, as if he had known beforehand.

"Uh... well, I just happened to run into it..."

"No need to be nervous, Unblemished. I'm merely stating a fact. I have no intention of finding fault with you."

Kenjaku smiled and shrugged, seemingly unconcerned with what he had just said. Then he continued softly.

"As the aggregate of Six Paths Tsuji Cursed Objects, I believe you possess a unique attraction by nature... Even if you do nothing, these things will gather toward you by their own methods, like rivers flowing into the sea."

If he had to put it bluntly...

Right.

"Fate... perhaps? I don't really believe in that sort of thing, but seeing your situation, I can't think of any other possibility for the time being."

Kana Shizumi had no desire to delve into anything so mystical. What he cared about now was how Kenjaku had obtained that information.

"How exactly did Kenjaku know?"

If he didn't figure that out, he wouldn't be able to eat or sleep in peace.

Kana Shizumi even recalled that shot in the Jujutsu Kaisen opening, where Kenjaku looked down while holding a tube... It was terrifying. Could Jail Mom be "peeping" at everything he did like that every day?

Please, give the kid some freedom...

"Speaking of which, where did you collect that Cursed Object before?"

Kenjaku turned halfway toward him and spoke casually.

"Didn't I tell you to return directly yesterday? Did you go somewhere else afterward?"

Kana Shizumi's expression did not visibly change when he heard that.

But deep inside, some subtle thoughts surfaced.

Wait, wait, wait.

It seemed that he had caught hold of some fleeting "inspiration," and now he tried to reason further from it.

Why would Kenjaku say that? Shouldn't he be 'omniscient' about my affairs?

But judging from the current situation, Kenjaku seems capable of grasping only some of the facts, while remaining unaware of other things?

After 0.2 seconds of frantic brainstorming.

Kana Shizumi found the key point!

"Could it be that Kenjaku doesn't know exactly where I went?"