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CHAPTER START---
"Seriously, I guess they don't make Special Grades like they used to, huh?" Kusakabe asks as he looks down at Taiyo, who struggles to get up.
It was now late afternoon, and the duo were still training, exploring the basics of Jujutsu and Cursed Energy together in a training ground at the far end of campus.
Kusakabe rubs the back of his neck, straightening his shirt as he's barely broken a sweat, while Taiyo is covered in bruises and has already discarded his shirt as he's drenched in sweat.
"Remember what I told you," Kusakabe says as the boy stands up, raising his fists to continue the training. "Don't clench up your body or treat Cursed Energy like a super move from a video game. Let it flow, from your gut where it's generated, to your brain where it's controlled, then to the rest of your body where it's used."
Taiyo closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, feeling the energy flow through his body.
His bruises visibly heal, but Kusakabe frowns.
"You're still using far too much Cursed Energy. You have Reversed Cursed Technique to heal yourself, but I think you're simplifying the process too much because of your intuition," Kusakabe says.
"But I'm doing what you said, at least I think I am," Taiyo says. "You said to multiply cursed energy by itself, so two negatives can make a positive, and that's what I'm fairly sure I'm doing."
"Hmm," Kusakabe rubs his chin. "You have enough Cursed Energy to fight someone like me for days, but I've had to wait and let you rest more than a dozen times today alone. This inefficiency really is a pain in the ass."
"I noticed," Taiyo says.
"How come you aren't in a hurry to start shooting heat beams or trying to do Domain Expansions?"
Taiyo shrugs. "You have to learn about safety before you start shooting arrows."
Hearing this, Kusakabe smiles, "Well, at least you're not overzealous. That's dangerous for Jujutsu Sorcerers."
"What about my Cursed Energy Reinforcement, or Cursed Energy Enhancement?"
"You're getting a lot better, you just need more experience," Kusakabe says. "Switching your Cursed Energy from flowing through your body to enhance your strikes, and stiffening up to reinforce your body, that change burns a lot of energy.
Eventually, you'll be able to simply flow your Cursed Energy and let it react subconsciously. Cursed Energy can actually be programmed to do certain things, but we'll get to that later on when we talk about Barrier techniques."
"So I need to be like water, crashing into things with immense force when I move, but if something crashes into me, the surface tension makes it feel like they're hitting concrete, right?"
"Exactly," Kusakabe snaps his finger. "And that just gave me an idea about your Reversed Curse Technique. Instead of thinking about it like '-2 X -2 = 4', think about it like each number multiplied by itself is Cursed Energy, and the multiplication sign itself is also Cursed Energy, used to stabilize it."
"So a cushion between them to soften the process when they crash?"
"Exactly," Kusakabe says. "And the better you get at understanding Cursed Energy like this, the better you'll be at sensing it, too."
Taiyo takes his fighting stance once more, and Kusakabe does the same, raising his hands and signaling his student to come forward.
Taiyo rushes forward, allowing his Cursed Energy to flow as he strikes, and hardens when Kusakabe parries him.
Each contact feels like he's hitting a steel wall, yet the man moves like the wind. Even without his sword, Taiyo could feel the lethality being restrained in each movement.
'So this is the strongest Grade 1, the only Grade 1 to achieve that rank without an Innate Technique,' Taiyo thinks as they continue for a few minutes.
'Windows can't control Cursed Energy, only see it. Managers can control Cursed Energy, but are too weak to be graded, so they aren't in the combat classes and take separate classes on campus. But Jujutsu Sorcerers exorcise Cursed Spirits and Curse Users, who are just people who can use Jujutsu but don't work for our side…
And yet, most of them sit around Grade 3, students usually start at Grade 4. Those with determination can reach Grade 2, and those with talent and discipline reach Grade 1, but all of that is under the assumption that they have an Innate Technique.
Yet unlike all others who lack an Innate Technique, this man was not capped at Grade 3, no, he stands at the top of Grade 1. Principal Yaga mentioned that in a fight, some are better at attacking than him, and if we counted those in the Jujutsu Clans, he'd be even farther down the list.
But he's mastered everything a person can without an Innate Technique. If he were born with more Cursed Energy, he'd likely master the Reversed Curse Technique too, and be able to heal while fighting.
But still, he got this far with hard work, while I'm here, like most Jujutsu Sorcerers. Having 80% of my potential unlocked at birth, only able to grow a bit more.
A Special Grade, the top of the Jujutsu World.
And yet…'
Kusakabe lands a kick to the gut that raises Taiyo off the ground and sends him rolling through the grass.
'He's beating my ass!' Taiyo winces as he's once again on the floor, covered in cuts and bruises from their bare-knuckle brawl.
Or more accurately, an educational Beatdown, since even after 9 hours of training.
He hasn't been able to land a single hit.
"There, now you can try out your new understanding of RCT. Heal up. We're done with the practical training for today," Kusakabe says as he walks over to the nearby shed where their water, clothes, some snacks, and his sword are resting in the shade.
Taiyo sits up, looking up at the cloudy sky as he takes a few deep breaths, then closes his eyes and brings his hands together, as if praying.
Kusakabe sits in the shade and reaches into the small cooler he brought, cracking open a can of black coffee.
He focuses on his new student, feeling the boy's Cursed Energy flowing, better than it did minutes ago when he last healed.
'He learns fast, not anywhere near as fast as Gojo, but I suppose that's to be expected. After all, he is Satoru Gojo,' Kusakabe thinks. 'But I suppose this boy's advantage is his visualization and imagination. Gojo struggled to perform Red and learn RCT to heal himself because of his Six Eyes.
Seeing Cursed Energy gave him a logical understanding of it, at least as much as anyone can have. Because of that, he couldn't understand that to heal, you need to multiply '-2 x -2 = 5', because the multiplication sign is also Cursed Energy.
He's so divinely talented that it leads him to try and solve the unsolvable black box of Jujutsu.
But this boy is the opposite. This boy creates more black boxes. He knows the input, and the output, but since the black box is everything between those two that we don't understand, he doesn't overthink and lets his intuition guide him.
Gojo sees Jujutsu as science, because he can 'see' it so well, but as someone so late to join the game and with that soul resonance boosting his intuition of Jujutsu, this boy views it like magic instead, and allows it to solve itself.
Gojo molds Jujutsu into the perfect key for whatever lock he's trying to open, but Taiyo simply pours liquid metal into the lock and lets it mold into the key, then he'll struggle to get it out, but after that, he can refine it and add it into his arsenal.'
Narrowing his eyes at his student, Kusakabe feels his RCT already becoming much more efficient, and instantly understands the perfect teaching method to pass on everything he knows to this student.
'This kid has a lot more Cursed Energy than Gojo, but his efficiency starts at the other end of the spectrum. He'll have to get to the other side by training his ass off. Good thing he's used to that kind of life.'
"How was that?" Taiyo asks as he gets up, walking over to Kusakabe.
"Much better, almost halfway tolerable," Kusakabe says. "We've got a month to train before the school year starts and you become an official student. At that point, you'll get a student ID and officially be a member of Jujutsu Tech, and we'll have to start going on missions."
Taiyo is silent for a moment, then looks over at Kusakabe after opening a bottle of water.
"You said they'd give me hard missions. You seemed a bit scared," Taiyo says.
"I am, because I'm not stupid," Kusakabe says. "You and Gojo are Special Grade, which basically translates to 'God loves me more than almost everyone else', even more so for Gojo. I got this far because I want to live. It's that simple. But now I've been put in a dangerous situation."
"How dangerous?"
"Well, Principal Gakuganji and the entire Conservative Faction probably hate you, just like they don't like Gojo, or maybe even more so since you're more in the public light."
"I'm not giving up everything I worked for because of powers I didn't ask for."
"Which is usually enough for you to be executed," Kusakabe says. "But between you being Special Grade and Gojo having some kind of plan for you, they can't do anything."
"What do they want, anyway?"
"To keep Jujutsu Society as it was five hundred years ago," Kusakabe says. "Modern Jujutsu is melding with technology. Some Innate Techniques of this generation are inseparable from technology, and they hate that above all.
They want to stifle the new generation and continue holding all the power for themselves, political power, that is. Their main opposition is Gojo and Tokyo Jujutsu Tech, since this is effectively Gojo's headquarters."
"And if he kills them, it would cause more chaos than it's worth, and they'd just get replaced, right?"
"Exactly," Kusakabe finishes his coffee, takes out a lollipop, and pops it into his mouth. "And since I'm your teacher, I'll probably get caught up in whatever crap they throw at you."
"But you agreed anyway, because Principal Yaga asked you to."
"He's a friend, and I owe him, a lot," Kusakabe says with a bitter smile. "Anyway, hopefully I can cram all the knowledge you need into that brain of yours. And sooner rather than later, since once you're strong enough to handle missions without me, I'll be a lot safer."
"Yeah, that makes sense, so, how much more do I have to learn?"
"Everything," Kusakabe says, taking a serious tone. "Your RCT is garbage, your Enhancement is too wasteful, and you make it obvious which limb you're going to strike with since the flow of Cursed Energy is easy to read. The same thing with your Reinforcement. Your overall efficiency is holding back your senses, so there's that. And those are all the things we need to work on before delving into Barriers, Domains, and pushing your Innate Technique to the limits."
"Sounds like fun," Taiyo smiles before taking another sip of his water. "And Domain Amplification?"
"We should work on that after we start your Domain Expansion training, but we'll get you to understand the basics if your fight with Gojo is approaching and we haven't gotten to Domain Expansion yet."
"I figured you'd need to amplify before expanding, or did I get that wrong?"
"Well, there isn't a particular order," Kusakabe says. "But generally, people start by mastering their Domain Expansion first since Domain Amplification is like wrapping yourself in the Domain Barrier, without adding your Innate Technique to it.
So think about it like Gojo cloaking his fists in Unlimited Void, but without the sure hit effect. Because if it has that empty space where his Innate Technique should be, when another Innate Technique touches it, the Domain Amplification enters a Cursed Energy clash with it, and can nullify it if it wins."
"I see, and since it's probably easier to start by building a Barrier for your Innate Technique, it's usually easier to start there and build a full Domain Expansion, before you try to just cloak yourself in an empty barrier."
"That's also why people without Domain Expansion can't use Domain Amplification," Kusakabe says. "The brain adjusts when you use certain things. When you use a Domain Expansion for the first time, it makes creating Barriers like that much easier. So for people like me, even with all my mastery of Barrier techniques, my brain literally doesn't know how to begin wiring itself to perform a Domain Expansion."
"That means I might already have a Domain Expansion, right?"
"Yeah, probably," Kusakabe says. "But people can only use one Domain Expansion per day because of how exhausting it is on your Cursed Energy. And with your horrific efficiency, using it could cost so much energy that you're likely to instantly pass out, and it collapses anyway."
"I see, so that's at the back of the list."
"That and your Maximum Technique, which is just when you've unlocked the full potential of your Innate Technique, think of it like a final move in a video game."
"Giant fireball," Taiyo instantly says.
Kusakabe shrugs, "Maybe."
"Are there any other Barrier Techniques to learn before Domain Expansion?"
"I'll show you Curtain on your first mission," Kusakabe says. "That's essential to know. There are also Simple Domains, I can teach you that, but I can't teach you any Simple Domains from the New Shadow School, that requires a Binding Vow with the headmaster of the school to be taught."
"What's the vow?"
"Every time you use it, you send him a piece of your life force, nothing that you'll miss unless you use it a lot," Kusakabe says. "But I'd say that's a fair trade for reducing the effects of attacks and protecting yourself from Domain Expansion sure hits, somewhat."
"No thanks. Is there anyone who didn't take the vow that knows it?"
"Gojo saw someone use it once and learned it instantly, but he does it instinctively, so he can't teach it," Kusakabe says.
"Hmm," Taiyo glances over at Kusakabe, smiling mischievously. "So, if I already knew it, you could explain how yours worked after, right? Since that would just be you following the pact of showing your hand."
Kusakabe chuckles, "Yeah, but you'd have to figure it out on your own first."
"Gojo figured it out."
"Ha, comparing yourself to Satoru Gojo is a good way to go insane," Kusakabe says. "Your talent to his, is the dirt below our feet to the stars high above."
"Damn, I thought Jujutsu is supposed to be fair."
"It is," Kusakabe says. "But for Satoru Gojo, it plays favorites…"
END CHAPTER---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]