Special Grade Cursed Tool: Playful Cloud

The auction house, which normally auctioned off real estate or antiques, had been booked out by Jujutsu Society to hold a cursed tool auction.

Seats filled the spacious hall, but there were few people in Jujutsu Society to begin with, and even fewer qualified to attend a cursed tool auction. At a glance, not even half the seats were occupied.

Still, the average caliber of the jujutsu sorcerers attending was quite respectable. Even the weakest were Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerers, and most were Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers.

Rather than trading barbs, they were far more dangerous when they raised their fists. Demolishing this enormous auction hall would take them mere minutes.

Chinatsu and the others naturally took their seats in the front row, as did the members of the Kamo Clan and the Zenin Clan.

Although those two clans also sat in the front row, they seemed to have placed an entire world between themselves and Chinatsu's group. They would rather squeeze together than move even a little closer to her.

The Kamo Clan and the Zenin Clan hardly had a good relationship. The Three Great Families of Jujutsu Society had always held one another in check, exchanging polite conversation in public while stabbing one another in the back behind the scenes.

But ever since two bearers of the Six Eyes had been born into the Gojo Clan, it had begun to overshadow the other two. If they did not band together and help each other now, the Gojo Clan might crush them so thoroughly that they could never hold their heads up again.

The Kamo Clan Head wore a bitter expression. He was already an old man and had thought the balance between the Three Great Families would last until he was in his grave. Who could have expected this sudden turn of events?

Naobito Zenin smacked his lips without any attempt to hide his feelings. The words "I'm in a foul mood" might as well have been written across his face as he raised his sake gourd and gloomily gulped down its contents.

Neither mentioned the two cursed techniques, Ten Shadows and Blood Manipulation. Those were wounds in their hearts that neither wanted anyone else to reopen.

Little did they know that the heirs to the cursed techniques they yearned for day and night had already been born. The Kamo Clan only had a few years to wait, while the Zenin Clan... well, well, well.

Watching Naobito drown his sorrows from afar, his expression melancholy, put Chinatsu in an excellent mood. She was practically lying in her seat, the corners of her lips lifting into a faint smile.

As her little brother, Satoru Gojo had long since grown used to the smiles that so often appeared on Chinatsu's face out of nowhere. Still, he had absolutely no interest in watching the auction proceedings.

He took a pair of earphones from his pocket and put them straight into his ears. Turning to Suguru Geto beside him, he said, "Wake me when it's over." Then he tipped his head back slightly, folded his arms, and promptly disconnected from reality.

As it turned out, Satoru Gojo had made exactly the right choice. The auction was truly dull, and never mind special grade cursed tools-they had not even seen a grade 1 one.

The Elder shrugged innocently and spread his hands, explaining to an increasingly listless Chinatsu that this was perfectly normal.

"High-grade cursed tools are extremely rare, especially special grade cursed tools. You might not see even one in five or six years. But these are only the appetizers. I imagine the final cursed tool will be grade 1."

Despite the Elder's explanation, the dwindling spark of interest in Chinatsu's eyes continued to fade.

Only Suguru Geto and Shoko were still paying close attention. After all, they had come with specific goals: one wanted a cursed tool specialized for close combat, while the other wanted one that could protect her and keep her alive.

More than half an hour later, Suguru Geto and Shoko still had nothing to show for it. It was not that they lacked the funds, but that they had not found any cursed tools that suited them.

Shoko helplessly spread her arms and gave a long, deep stretch, leaning back slightly. As her posture began to resemble Chinatsu's, the look in her eyes showed signs of following suit.

In contrast to Shoko, who had all but given up, Suguru Geto still held on to a sliver of hope.

Seeing him like that, the Elder could not help offering a few words of comfort. If Suguru Geto found no cursed tool he liked this time, there was always the next auction-or he could take a look through the Gojo Clan's cursed tool vault.

Such generous treatment startled Suguru Geto. He hurriedly waved both hands and declined the Elder's kindness.

After entering Jujutsu High and diligently brushing up on his knowledge of Jujutsu Society, Suguru Geto had come to understand just what an enormous power the Gojo Clan, to which Chinatsu and Satoru belonged, truly was.

The Gojo Clan was a jujutsu family founded by Sugawara no Michizane centuries ago. Rather than being worn away by the passage of time, it had secured its footing and become one of the three firmly established great jujutsu families of the present day.

A clan like that had plenty of treasures in its cursed tool vault, including more than just one or two special grade cursed tools. Suguru Geto did not dare accept the Elder's kindness so casually.

At Suguru Geto's refusal, the smile on the Elder's face did not fade. Instead, it grew even warmer.

Jujutsu High was more than just a place to attend school, even if its official stance was that family status and influence carried no weight there.

Yet a jujutsu sorcerer's future did not lie entirely within Jujutsu High. Once they left the school and entered the real Jujutsu Society, they would discover that strength alone was not enough to secure their footing.

Currying favor with the powerful, fawning over those above them...

Many students who did not come from established families chose that path. It was something the Elder found both distasteful and impossible to do anything about.

He had assumed Suguru Geto and Shoko would be the same. But now, seeing Shoko sprawled in her seat and slacking off alongside Chinatsu, and Suguru Geto refusing such an enormous temptation...

A feeling called relief welled up in the Elder's heart. As the seconds and minutes ticked by, the cursed tool auction finally approached its end-and its climax.

The final cursed tool usually represented the highest caliber of the auction. Ordinarily, it was a grade 1 cursed tool, and most of the attendees from the Three Great Families had come for precisely that.

Under the expectant gazes of the crowd, led by the Gojo Clan's Elder, the Kamo Clan Head, and Naobito Zenin, the cloth covering the final cursed tool was lifted. A long, thick, crimson three-section staff appeared on the display stand.

The moment the cursed tool appeared, a clamor swept through the auction house. They could not sense even a trace of cursed energy from the three-section staff, as though it really were nothing more than an ordinary weapon.

But the instant that three-section staff appeared, Chinatsu, who had been slumped in her seat, suddenly sprang upright as though roused from her deathbed. Her eyes fixed on the cursed tool in shock.

Special Grade Cursed Tool: Playful Cloud!

Wait, if this cursed tool was here...

Chinatsu immediately turned to scan the surrounding seats. Before long, she found a man seated in a dark corner of the auction hall, suppressing his presence so completely that he seemed almost invisible.

The Heavenly Tyrant-Toji Zenin!!!