"Huh? I poured my heart out so earnestly, and that's what you think of me?!" Sakurada Niji looked ready to cry, gently covering his eyes with one hand as he successfully loaded the Gojo personality [Special Manipulative Innocent Edition].
"Ah... no... that's not... um, sorry!" Naoya Zenin panicked. What was this? Someone who had easily beaten him suddenly looked about to burst into tears right in front of him. He had no room to think about anything else; all he could do was apologize first.
In Naoya Zenin's experience, strong people were always cold and aloof. He had thought Satoru Gojo was an exception, but he had never expected that Gojo was not only an exception, but also a source of infection.
"I never thought Niji-chan would end up turning into Gojo after all." Watching Sakurada Niji's performance in the arena, Utahime felt she had nothing left to live for.
"What do you mean, turning into Gojo~?" Satoru Gojo fanned the flames right in front of Utahime.
"They're different. Satoru usually never takes anything seriously... but... all right, I really can't explain exactly how they're different." After a moment's thought, Suguru Geto gave up trying to argue the distinction between Satoru Gojo and Sakurada Niji.
"How long are you two going to stay up there? If you're finished, get down here!" Masamichi Yaga shouted at the two in the arena.
In the matches that followed, Sakurada Niji defeated every student from the Kyoto School without breaking a sweat.
As expected, Naoya Zenin was the only one who could put up any sort of fight. If Kenjaku has someone among the students the Kyoto School brought this time, this won't have the deterrent effect Mr. Yaga wanted at all.
Sakurada Niji rubbed his chin, and inspiration immediately flooded in. He had come up with a good idea!
"Mr. Yaga! Let the students from our school come down and give me some practice too!" Sakurada Niji wanted to take this opportunity to personally instruct his two juniors, then try fighting Satoru or Geto.
Masamichi Yaga understood what Sakurada Niji had in mind.
"Haibara, you go first," Masamichi Yaga told Yu Haibara, who was already itching to try.
"Yes, Mr. Yaga!" Yu Haibara felt his blood boil with excitement. He could hardly wait to challenge his senior.
Yu Haibara jogged over to Sakurada Niji and bowed to him.
"Please instruct me!" Yu Haibara said loudly.
"Louder! I can't hear you!" Sakurada Niji shouted at Yu Haibara. Possessed by his inner drama king, he began playing the part of a drill instructor.
"Please instruct me!!!!" Yu Haibara roared at Sakurada Niji with every ounce of strength he had.
"Good! That's the spirit! Just what I'd expect from my junior! I'll make sure to teach you properly!" Sakurada Niji's ears were ringing, and he felt a little regretful.
"Come on, you attack first," Sakurada Niji said, standing where he was as Yu Haibara put some distance between them.
"Yes, sir!" Yu Haibara immediately activated his cursed technique, turning red all over.
So that's why he always felt so familiar. I only just realized Haibara has the same voice actor as Rock Lee. Their personalities are really similar too!
Yu Haibara was certainly slower than Naoya Zenin, but he was still much faster than an ordinary jujutsu sorcerer reinforcing his body with cursed energy.
Yu Haibara threw a straight right at Sakurada Niji's face. Niji swiftly reached out with his right hand and caught Haibara's fist, then pressed his left hand against Haibara's elbow joint, pinning the attacking arm.
Realizing that his right arm was locked in place, Yu Haibara hurriedly punched at Sakurada Niji's face with his left hand, trying to force Niji to release his elbow. But Niji did not let go. Holding Haibara's right arm, he crouched, dodging the attack while pulling Haibara's entire body toward him.
Seizing the moment, Yu Haibara turned with the pull and fell forward, then kicked both legs toward Sakurada Niji's stomach, forcing him to release his right arm. The instant Niji moved away, Haibara rolled backward and got to his feet.
There's no question Haibara has decent fighting skills. His technique has serious drawbacks, probably because he hasn't found a sensible way to use it. Hopefully the Kamo Clan's experience will help him.
After standing up, Yu Haibara was bright red all over, and his eyes were bloodshot. He roared and attacked Sakurada Niji again, but Niji timed his advance and tripped him in a single move.
Does keeping his technique active for too long affect his thinking?
"Haibara, turn off your technique," Sakurada Niji told him as he lay on the ground.
Sakurada Niji stood nearby and watched Yu Haibara get to his feet without attacking him.
Haibara's technique controls the speed of blood flow inside his body-a stripped-down version of Blood Manipulation. Used properly, it could achieve the effects of Flowing Red Scale.
"Haibara, you need to learn to control blood flow in specific parts of your body. That's how you'll make proper use of your ability, conserve more cursed energy, and last longer in a fight," Sakurada Niji told Yu Haibara.
"Geto will teach you hand-to-hand combat, Satoru will help analyze how to use your technique, and I'll teach you my special footwork. As for Reverse Cursed Technique... leave that to fate..." Sakurada Niji realized that, apart from Shoko, everyone was quite suited to teaching.
"Thank you for your guidance!" Yu Haibara bowed to Sakurada Niji again, then withdrew to the edge of the Training Ground.
Outside the arena.
"Someone at that level gets to step into the ring..." Naoya Zenin sneered from the sidelines.
The nameless cannon fodder beside him said nothing, merely lowering their heads in shame.
"Nanami~ It's your turn~" Satoru Gojo sneaked up behind Kento Nanami and spoke in an eerie voice, but he failed to frighten him.
Everyone had already become immune to Satoru Gojo's antics. They all looked at him with the indulgent concern one might show a mentally challenged child.
"Nanami! Good luck!" Yu Haibara cheered Kento Nanami on.
"Yes, I'll give it a try," Kento Nanami replied flatly.
Kento Nanami stepped onto the Training Ground and bowed slightly to Sakurada Niji.
"Please instruct me, Sakurada." Kento Nanami's voice was calm. He had no particular expectations for this fight, nor for his own cursed technique. He felt that he would never become a Special Grade Sorcerer, no matter what he did.
"Same old Nanami. You still seem so lifeless~" Sakurada Niji felt sure that Kento Nanami was thinking about getting this over with as quickly as possible.
"All right~ Come at me." When Kento Nanami said nothing more, Sakurada Niji could only gesture for him to attack.
Kento Nanami drew a short blade wrapped in white cloth patterned with black spots from behind his waist and slashed at Sakurada Niji.
Nanami's technique can forcibly create weak points. Even with the huge gap in our strength, he can still hurt me. Fighting him without using my technique will be difficult.
Sakurada Niji was about to draw Skyward Support to block Kento Nanami's slash when he suddenly spotted a problem.
What if Nanami cuts the blade apart? It cost three hundred million...
Without dwelling on it, Sakurada Niji turned sideways to evade Kento Nanami's slash. Nanami shifted into a horizontal cut, following the direction of Niji's dodge. Niji traced a vertical line in front of himself with one finger, blocking Nanami's sweeping blade.
Nanami needs to measure the spot he wants to attack in advance. So I'll create a line to block him after he commits to his attack.
Sakurada Niji kicked toward Nanami's chest. Nanami blocked with the flat of his blade and used the impact to retreat.
Then Nanami took the initiative, swinging his blade at Sakurada Niji in an unbroken barrage. Niji dodged whenever he could, and whenever he could not, he used his technique to create "lines" that blocked the slashes.
Suddenly, Nanami destroyed one of Sakurada Niji's "lines," startling Niji into hastily pulling his leg back.
...Can Nanami now quickly judge an object's length and where to strike it? Did he cut through my "line" because it has a measurable length?
No, it's probably just that Nanami's Critical Hit depleted the "line's" HP, making it disappear. It's hard to imagine how much damage a Critical Hit combined with Black Flash would do. To conserve cursed energy, Sakurada Niji had grown accustomed to creating increasingly thin threads of cursed energy to capture the air and form "lines" in space. But now, Nanami's damage output was high enough to cut straight through those lines with their extremely low "HP."
Outside the arena.
"Nanami doesn't have much cursed energy left. Every 'line' Niji creates obstructs him, so he has to keep using his technique to cut through them. Niji's ability to wear someone down is terrifying," Suguru Geto said of the fight in the arena.
"The 'lines' Sakura-chan is making have less and less HP~ He still has about sixty percent of his cursed energy left. He's helping Nanami practice~" Satoru Gojo took off his sunglasses, revealing his sky-blue Six Eyes as he observed the two fighting.
"Nanami's technique is powerful, but its effect is too one-dimensional. It can only improve the precision of his slashes," Satoru Gojo commented, putting his sunglasses back on.
"If Nanami wants to reach a higher level, he has to learn Domain Expansion," Satoru Gojo said, watching Nanami, whose cursed energy was almost exhausted.
"That special method Sakura-chan has for Domain Expansion might help a lot of Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers." Suguru Geto suddenly recalled the "framework" Sakurada Niji constructed in advance when opening his domain.
"Building that sort of 'framework' might guide jujutsu sorcerers toward connecting with their own domains," Suguru Geto said.
"Niji has his own understanding of cursed techniques. After all, he even came up with Cursed Technique Extension, something we'd never heard of before." Suguru Geto held Sakurada Niji's control and development of cursed energy in high regard.
Inside the arena.
"That's enough, Nanami. You've improved a lot already. Your slashes are more precise, and your split-second reactions have gotten much faster too. In the future, you can try practicing without those glasses you use as an aid," Sakurada Niji told the thoroughly exhausted Nanami.
"Yes... sorry for the trouble." Kento Nanami had noticed his own improvement too. It stood out clearly in a fight against another person. The cursed spirits he had faced before had done little to improve his technique's precision, while the "lines" Sakurada Niji created made excellent targets for him.
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