Chapter 156
Rumble—!
Outside the Curtain, the ground suddenly began shaking hard enough to send Ijichi and the other support staff scrambling in panic.
For a moment, everyone assumed it was an earthquake.
Ijichi’s experience told him otherwise.
This was not tectonic movement.
The tremors were being caused by an enormous release of energy from within the Curtain.
He stared toward the abandoned shopping district in disbelief.
’What the hell is happening in there?’
’Who could produce that much power? Was it that boy?’
’But how old is he?’
The questions lasted only a second before training took over.
Whatever was happening inside had gone far beyond the original mission parameters. This was no longer something he could handle alone.
They needed reinforcements immediately.
Ijichi pulled out his phone and made the call.
"The number you have dialed is currently outside the service area. Please try again later."
Ijichi stared blankly at the screen.
’Gojo-san... why do you always become unreachable at the worst possible moment?’
...
Inside the Curtain, three vast spheres of blue energy expanded at once, swallowing the enormous cursed spirits around them.
The three battle zones were only a few dozen meters apart.
Once the Rasenshuriken reached their full size, their violent currents began interfering with one another.
They resonated.
Then they merged.
A single monstrous vortex of wind formed over the shopping district, nearly a kilometer across.
Shrieking chakra blades tore through everything trapped inside.
Millions of microscopic edges repeatedly pierced and shredded the cursed spirits from within, drawing screams of agony from creatures that barely possessed enough intelligence to feel fear.
"RAAAARGH!"
The pain was so intense that it forced clarity into their chaotic minds.
For the first time, they all shared one coherent thought.
’Escape.’
’Run as far away as possible.’
But once Wind Release: Rasenshuriken caught something inside its field, escape was little more than a fantasy.
The curses possessed flesh tougher than steel, bodies capable of enduring modern weapons, yet the storm of wind-nature chakra riddled them with holes in seconds.
Blood erupted into the air, only to be scattered by the gale. The process repeated until there was almost nothing left.
Their master was not having a much better time.
"Urgh!"
Geto failed to avoid one of the violent currents and was slammed into a wall.
The crushing wind pinned him there, leaving him unable to move.
Plastic bags, cans, dumpsters, and even chunks of concrete became high-speed projectiles, battering everything in their path.
An ordinary sorcerer would have been reduced to pulp—or, at best, left bruised and broken beyond recognition.
Geto managed to summon several durable cursed spirits and use them as living shields.
Even so, he had to cover his face against the storm.
’What kind of technique is this?’
The power of the Rasenshuriken shocked even him.
An attack of this scale was already comparable to one of his Maximum techniques.
In other words, Kiriya’s offensive power had already reached special-grade territory in at least one respect.
And he was still so young.
’No cursed energy, yet he controls an entirely different power source.’
’No innate cursed technique, yet he can produce attacks like this.’
’How many secrets are hidden inside that body?’
Geto’s shock quickly became desire.
If he could acquire Kiriya’s body, he might uncover the source of that strange power and learn how those techniques worked.
That knowledge could bring his great cause one step closer to completion.
The storm continued for nearly a full minute.
When it finally subsided, a large part of the shopping district had vanished. In its place stood a crater hundreds of meters wide and more than ten meters deep.
The mountain-sized cursed spirits were gone.
Only dense cursed-energy residue remained and Kiriya was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did he go?"
Geto searched through the settling dust.
He did not believe Kiriya had died in his own attack. That would have been far too ridiculous.
A figure burst through the haze.
Kiriya landed at the edge of the crater and immediately reached toward the energy left behind.
Despite firing three Rasenshuriken, he did not look particularly exhausted.
After reaching Level 3, the potential of his Sage Body had developed even further.
His total chakra reserves had grown enormously, allowing him to unleash all three techniques while still retaining plenty of strength.
Which was why, the moment the attack ended, he had rushed over to collect his spoils.
"Hah..."
An overwhelming tide of pure energy poured into him.
It was dozens of times greater than what the Semi-Grade 1 curse had provided.
The power flooded into his eyes, filling them with that familiar, icy pleasure.
Kiriya could feel something inside them rapidly expanding and transforming.
His ocular power.
From Geto’s perspective, the two tomoe inside each of Kiriya’s wine-red eyes began spinning faster and faster.
Then a third appeared.
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan had awakened!
"Finally..."
Kiriya turned his head and caught his reflection in a shard of broken glass.
Three black tomoe rested inside each blood-red iris, deep and beautiful like polished obsidian.
He covered his right eye with one hand and raised his head.
Then he broke into a thoroughly Uchiha-mad laugh.
"Keha... hahahahaha!"
"This feeling is incredible!"
His spiritual power and ocular strength had risen dramatically, but that was not what excited him most.
More importantly, he had found a clear path forward.
He did not need to kill a blood relative.
He did not need to gain love only to suffer its loss.
He did not need to create tragedy with his own hands simply to force his eyes to evolve.
He could continue advancing without sacrificing the people he cared about!
"The eyes changed..."
Geto stared in amazement.
He had no knowledge of the Sharingan and could not understand the exact difference between two tomoe and three, but his experience as a special-grade sorcerer allowed him to sense the transformation clearly.
Kiriya had grown substantially stronger.
"So that’s how it works."
Geto’s mouth curved into a grin.
"His eyes absorb the essence left by cursed spirits and use it to evolve."
"He was after my curses from the very beginning."
Geto shook his head, amused.
"I got played."
Strangely, there was no anger in his expression.
If anything, he looked like a senpai admiring a particularly talented junior.
Kiriya possessed no cursed energy, but Geto had already begun regarding him as a sorcerer.
He absorbed cursed energy.
He could use unusual techniques.
He could exorcise cursed spirits.
The only meaningful difference between him and a normal jujutsu sorcerer was the power source.
And with eyes that valuable, simply killing him would be a waste.
Bringing him into the fold might be far more useful.
"Hey, kid."
Geto’s smile faded, and he spoke with genuine seriousness.
"Why don’t you join me?"
Kiriya stared at him.
"What?"
They had just spent the last several minutes trying to kill each other, and now he wanted to recruit him?
Did Geto genuinely believe his charisma was so overwhelming that Kiriya would immediately bow and swear allegiance?
"You want to exorcise curses and absorb their energy, correct?" Geto continued calmly. "Come with me, and you’ll have as many cursed spirits as you could ever want."
As a special-grade sorcerer who wielded Cursed Spirit Manipulation and commanded thousands of curses, Geto had every right to make that claim.
Kiriya grinned.
"Idiot! Once I kill you, all those curses will be mine anyway."
The conversation died instantly.
Geto froze for a moment.
Then Kiriya’s sheer arrogance made him laugh.
"You’ve become rather full of yourself after killing a few pieces of fodder."
"Oh?"
Kiriya licked his lips, his gaze turning openly predatory.
"So you still have better stock hidden away?"
"Bring it all out while you can. If I’m in a good mood after I finish eating, maybe I’ll let you live."
"You truly have no idea how vast the world is."
Geto shook his head.
There was no point continuing the discussion.
Arrogant young men rarely listened until someone beat humility into them.
A small reptilian curse appeared and wrapped itself around his shoulders.
It opened its mouth and produced a red three-section staff.
Kiriya’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
He recognized that creature.
It was the Inventory Curse originally tamed by Toji Fushiguro. After Toji’s death, it had fallen into Geto’s hands.
Despite being only a Grade 3 cursed spirit, it possessed an extremely useful ability: the space inside its body could store weapons and other objects.
Toji had used it to carry his collection of cursed tools.
The red three-section staff Geto had just withdrawn was one of them.
Playful Cloud.
A special-grade cursed tool with no technique engraved into it.
It relied entirely on raw physical force, amplifying the user’s strength and converting it into overwhelming destructive power.
It also had the advantage of being almost absurdly durable. It could be used to beat a special-grade cursed spirit without breaking.
Of course, its effectiveness depended entirely on the wielder.
In the hands of an average sorcerer, it was little more than a very sturdy staff.
In the hands of a master of close combat, it became one of the deadliest weapons in existence.
At its best, it had allowed its wielder to fight a special-grade sorcerer head-on and brutally destroy a special-grade curse.
Dagon would have had some very bitter things to say about that.
By drawing Playful Cloud, Geto had made his intentions clear.
He was finally going to fight seriously.
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