The Kamo Clan

Noon.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the foliage, scattering dappled patches across the forest floor. Kashimo leaned against a tree, the Ruyi Staff cradled in his arms, watching Rinko gasp for breath as she braced herself against a trunk nearby.

"At this rate," he drawled, "we won't reach the summit even by nightfall."

Rinko raised her head, fine beads of sweat glittering on her forehead in the sunlight. Her face was flushed, her chest heaved, and even the hand resting against the tree trembled slightly.

"We've..." She paused for breath. "We've already walked several miles today. Can't we rest for a while?"

Kashimo said nothing. He simply watched her.

She had followed him along more than twenty li of mountain trails in half a day. The girl didn't even realize how absurd that was. A fourteen-year-old girl, with no cursed energy and no training whatsoever, had managed to keep up with him on her own two feet.

And she still hadn't collapsed from exhaustion.

The corners of Kashimo's mouth lifted slightly.

Had the potential of her heavenly restriction already begun to emerge?

"Come on." Kashimo slung the Ruyi Staff over his shoulder and turned to continue uphill. "The plan is to reach Edo before the festival starts."

Hurried footsteps came from behind him, accompanied by panting she tried to keep quiet.

Kashimo led the way at a measured pace, just fast enough that Rinko could barely keep up.

His reason for going to Edo was simple. A festival would draw people from far and wide, including plenty of sorcerers. He needed to improve quickly, and no one knew better than he did that fighting was the fastest way to improve.

Not counting Gojo Arashi and Zenin Sawa, of course.

Fighting those two was still risky.

He still hadn't fully worked out how to get past Limitless, and Mahoraga would be even harder to fight. If things went sideways, that would be one hell of a mess.

So he would start with the small fry.

He glanced back. Rinko had her head lowered, concentrating on the trail, her little face taut as though she were battling herself. Sweat slid down her cheeks, but she couldn't spare the effort to wipe it away.

Kashimo turned back, his lips curling slightly.

The girl could certainly endure.

Kashimo's voice drifted back from ahead, casual and level, as though he were commenting on the pleasant weather.

"If you hate me, then work hard to get stronger."

Rinko's steps faltered noticeably.

Kashimo kept walking without looking back, the Ruyi Staff swaying gently over his shoulder with each step.

"Give everything you have to getting stronger, to catching up with me. Give everything you have to standing on the same level as me."

He paused.

"That's what I expect of you."

A breeze passed through the forest, rustling the leaves. Sunlight filtered through the foliage, casting dappled light and shadow across his white robes.

"And I think it's what your father expected of you, too."

Soft footsteps sounded behind him as Rinko started walking again. This time, they were steadier and a little faster.

The mountain trail continued winding upward.

The Gojo Clan.

"A festival..."

Gojo Arashi sat in the seat of honor, tapping the armrest twice with his fingers.

The Zenin Clan had just announced that it was closing its doors to outsiders. They probably wouldn't attend an event like that anymore. Sawa was too busy covering things up to bother joining the festivities.

But others would go.

Sorcerers scattered throughout the land, both known and unknown, would emerge for the festival. What was an occasion like this best suited for? Recruitment. Probing. Seeing who still had some ability, and who could be drawn over to the Gojo Clan's side.

He knew better than anyone the situation the Gojo Clan currently faced.

The New Shadow Style supported him, but that amounted to little more than a stance. Lord Tengen never appeared, so he couldn't count on him. The other fence-sitters had long since been cowed by the Zenin Clan's formidable forces and flocked to their side.

To break the stalemate, he would have to recruit allies himself.

Gojo Arashi's fingers stopped.

He raised his eyes and instructed the servant beside him.

"Prepare the carriage."

He paused.

"We're going to Edo."

The Kamo Clan.

The once-illustrious estate had become so quiet that it was almost desolate. For several years now, it had been as though something had set its sights on the clan, each generation declining further than the last. By Kamo Fuji's generation, only an empty shell remained.

And now, the Kamo Clan's head lay on his sickbed, suffering beneath a curse whose origin he did not know.

His entire body was swollen and rotting, his skin a hideous purplish black. In places, stark white bone was even visible. Every breath was torture, broken rasps escaping his throat.

A stranger stood beside his bed.

A line of stitches crossed the man's forehead. His expression was calm, as though he were looking at something perfectly ordinary.

"Clan Head Kamo."

Kenjaku spoke in an unhurried voice.

"Forgive my bluntness, but your life is nearing its end."

Kamo Fuji opened his eyes. His clouded gaze shifted toward the man beside his bed. He wanted to say something, but the moment he opened his mouth, he coughed up black blood.

Cough, cough-

Blood splattered onto the bedding, spreading into a dark stain.

He didn't ask who the stranger was or why he was there. None of that mattered anymore.

Summoning all his strength, Kamo Fuji raised a hand and pointed toward the door.

"Call... call an attendant..."

The candle flame flickered.

Kenjaku watched Kamo Fuji dying on the bed, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. He leaned down, lowering his voice until only the two of them could hear.

"Clan Head Kamo, are you really willing to accept this?"

Kamo Fuji's clouded eyes shifted, and an indistinct sound emerged from his throat.

"The legacy of Blood Manipulation ends with your generation. The name of the Three Great Families has been tarnished in your clan's hands. Are you simply going to lie here and wait for those people to mock you after you die?" Kenjaku's tone was calm, but every word cut deep.

"What was it they said? 'The Kamo Clan is finished.' Doesn't that grate on your ears?"

Kamo Fuji's fingers twitched, veins bulging faintly beneath his rotting skin.

"...What... do you mean?"

Kenjaku straightened, clasping his hands behind his back.

"I can help you. Not keep you alive-you won't survive, and you know that yourself. But you can make your death mean something."

He paused, his gaze settling on Kamo Fuji's face.

"Do you know who placed this curse on you?"

Kamo Fuji's eyes flickered.

"It... it was..."

"Gojo Arashi." Kenjaku finished for him, his certainty making it sound like a statement of fact. "The Gojo Clan's Six Eyes fears the potential of your clan's Blood Manipulation. Think about it. Hasn't the Gojo Clan been keeping you down all these years? At every gathering of the Three Great Families, haven't they humiliated you, openly and otherwise?"

Kamo Fuji's breathing quickened.

"But... I have no proof..."

"Proof?" Kenjaku smiled. "Wouldn't your death be the best proof of all?"

He took a scroll from his sleeve and unfurled it. The document was covered in writing and prominently stamped with the Gojo Clan's crest. The impression was somewhat blurred, but still recognizable.

"This is a secret letter written by Gojo Arashi himself, outlining plans to ally with several sorcerer families and eliminate any chance of the Kamo Clan recovering. Can you guess who smuggled this letter out?"

Kamo Fuji stared fixedly at the document, his rotting hand trembling as he tried to reach for it.

Kenjaku pulled it back.

"Call your attendants in now and have them summon Zenin Sawa. Tell them that before you die, you have something important to disclose, something concerning the survival of the Three Great Families." Kenjaku's voice was as light as a wisp of smoke.

"Zenin Sawa will certainly come. He's just closed his doors to outsiders, so this is precisely when he needs information. Tell him Gojo Arashi cursed you and intends to annex the Kamo Clan's lands after your death. Beg him to uphold justice for you in the name of the alliance between the Three Great Families."

A glimmer appeared in Kamo Fuji's eyes.

"Will he believe me...?"

"He will." Kenjaku smiled. "Because he needs this."

What he left unsaid was what Zenin Sawa needed most right now: a distraction. So many members of his clan had died, and the Forbidden Vault had been blown up. If word got out, Zenin Sawa would become the greatest laughingstock in Jujutsu Society. But what if, at that moment, the Gojo Clan was exposed in a scandal for "secretly murdering the Kamo Clan's head and plotting to annex a fellow clan"?

Everyone's attention would turn to Gojo Arashi.

The tragedy in the Zenin Clan would naturally be buried.

As for whether Zenin Sawa would seize the opportunity to move against the Gojo Clan?

That would depend on his choice.

Kenjaku lowered his eyes, concealing the sinister gleam within them.

Meanwhile, Kamo Fuji had already struggled upright, summoning the last of his strength to shout toward the door:

"Someone... someone... summon the Zenin Clan's head... hurry..."