After settling Zhenwei Zenin in, Naomitsu called old Principal Rakaji and asked him to arrange a private car to pick him up.
As one of only two teachers at Kyoto Jujutsu High, he naturally enjoyed that privilege.
Half an hour later, the car arrived. Naomitsu slid into the back seat and found Utahime Iori sitting there with her arms crossed.
"Utahime, what brought you here?"
For once, Utahime Iori did not scold Naomitsu. Instead, she warned him with concern and a hint of caution.
"Don't you know? You're already on the bounty board! One billion yen! Even Satoru Gojo was only worth a hundred million when he was young!"
Naomitsu leaned back against the leather seat, utterly relaxed. He might not have Limitless or the Six Eyes, but that did not mean those losers could kill him.
"Don't worry, Utahime. I'm stronger than you think."
With his cursed energy now in the millions, Naomitsu could not withstand a World-Cutting Slash, but he could easily take Sukuna's Dismantle.
As for Cleave, Naomitsu currently had less cursed energy than Sukuna. Taking it head-on would turn him into a bloody mist in a second.
But there were only two people in this world at Gojo and Sukuna's level. With his current strength, Naomitsu could be called the strongest beneath those two.
Given time to develop his domain and cursed energy, anything was possible.
"We're almost there. Thank goodness we made it safely."
Utahime Iori had stayed on guard the entire way. Seeing Kyoto Jujutsu High up ahead, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Just then, however, a heavy truck charged straight toward them. Its target was clearly Naomitsu's private car.
"Oh no! Naomitsu! Jump out!"
Utahime Iori opened the door, intending to jump out with Naomitsu, but he reacted even faster.
The shadow of the shikigami Great Serpent emerged from the shadow space and burrowed straight into the ground, lying in wait at the spot where the truck would collide with their car.
Boom!
Great Serpent erupted from underground, sending the heavy truck tumbling into the air. The thirty-meter serpent's scales gleamed like forged metal.
"Pathetic! Keep driving!"
The driver had seen plenty in his time, too. Though he initially froze in fright, Naomitsu's reminder brought him around, and he hit the accelerator, driving past Great Serpent and the overturned truck.
"Was that the Ten Shadows Technique?"
The serpent had stunned Utahime Iori. She had seen Megumi Fushiguro use the Ten Shadows Technique before, but his version was worlds apart from Naomitsu's.
"Utahime, do you know why they want to kill me?"
Naomitsu was puzzled. He had done nothing and spent most of his time at home. These people were utterly bizarre, putting a bounty on his head and hunting him down.
Once Utahime Iori recovered, she began to explain.
"It has to do with what Lord Tengen announced a while ago. Just as cursed spirits grew stronger and stronger after Satoru Gojo was born, the balance of this world has been broken.
"And they want to hunt you down because they believe you broke that balance again. What's more, you're even more terrifying than Satoru Gojo, to the point that you've caused gaps to appear in the barriers.
"They think everything will return to normal as long as they kill you. And if things continue as they are, all of Japan will fall."
Naomitsu scoffed, finding it even more ridiculous. They were actually pinning the blame on him, when every bit of his strength had come from his own hard work.
I'm not as kindhearted as Satoru Gojo. If you want my life, you'd better be ready to pay with your own.
I'll crush the weak without a second thought and turn the strong into reserve statues for my domain.
After getting out of the car, Naomitsu discovered that Naoya Zenin had arrived at some point. He was holding a dying man, presumably the truck driver.
"Boss! I caught this guy!"
He tossed the corpse onto the ground, then swept back his blond hair with a flamboyant flourish. Naomitsu shot him a speechless glance. He had clearly been the one to kill the man himself.
"Boss, I'm telling you, I'm terrifyingly strong now. I might actually have a shot at competing for clan head."
Whoever had boosted Naoya Zenin's confidence had apparently made him delusional enough to contemplate challenging Naomitsu again.
"No rush. Today is your assessment. Come over with Aoi Todo later. If you fail, you'll repeat the year and stay a first-year alongside the next incoming class."
Naomitsu patted Naoya Zenin on the shoulder. The smile on his lips gave Naoya a bad feeling.
"You're fast. Go call all the first- and second-years over. Tell them to gather on the field. I'll be assessing all of you together today."
With a whoosh, Naoya Zenin vanished. He had vaguely sensed anger simmering within Naomitsu.
The coming assessment probably would not be so simple.
A few minutes later, six people had gathered on the field. When they saw Naomitsu arrive, all of them rubbed their hands together, eager for the assessment.
"Teacher! Who are we fighting this time?"
"Are we fighting the second-years? Or your shikigami?"
Naomitsu grinned and raised his head to look over the six of them. Under their bewildered gazes, he formed the hand sign for Domain Expansion.
"Domain Expansion!"
"Three Births, All Things!"
At first, none of them understood what Naomitsu was doing. But the moment they heard "Domain Expansion," all six lost their composure.
They had thought they would be fighting shikigami, only for him to open with his ultimate move and expand his domain. That was special-grade territory! How were they supposed to fight that?
Naomitsu's domain enveloped the six of them. The black sphere was larger than last time, growing from a little over ten meters to more than twenty.
Perhaps the change had something to do with the increasing number of statues inside Three Births, All Things.
Inside the domain, the scenery remained the same.
The Azure Lotus, the Bodhi Tree, three Naomitsus, as well as Round Deer, Rika, and Okkotsu.
"Teacher? Why did you pull us into your domain?"
"Teacher? You're not planning to kill us, are you?"
"Boss! I'm actually fine with repeating the year!"
The six chattered away until Naomitsu raised a hand and pressed it downward. In an instant, all six fell silent.
Naomitsu then began explaining his domain.
Explaining its abilities was a binding vow that allowed the domain to grow. Just as Naomitsu had done with Rika and the others last time, this was the only way for his domain to keep developing.
Of course, this trait was unique to Naomitsu's domain.
"The domain's rule is that no one can use cursed techniques. You can only use cursed energy in a tug-of-war against me. This assessment will pit the cursed energy of all six of you against mine alone."
After hearing the rules, all six breathed a sigh of relief. This did not seem that hard. After all, cursed energy reserves were fixed. However much he had, could it exceed their combined total?
"Teacher! You said it!"
"Haha! We've got this in the bag!"
"Teacher! Your domain is so useless! It doesn't have any offensive power at all!"
Naomitsu remained silent and looked at the other two cursed-energy bodies beside him.
He had 1.4 million cursed energy, and those two immobile cursed-energy bodies had 2.8 million between them.
Never mind these kids-even bringing in another dozen or so people would be no problem.
"My cursed energy is disappearing so fast!"
"Huh? Wait! Something's wrong! My cursed energy is almost gone!"
"It really is! This is way too fast!"
In less than a minute, all six began crying out in panic. And before long, some of them could no longer hold on.
Before you continue