"The snow is beautiful, Naoya. Like a field lit by ghostly lanterns."
Kenjaku looked at her blurred reflection in the window. The noise of children from the next carriage rose and fell beside her ears, strangely lonely.
"Don't you think so?"
The train rumbled south. The mont it entered the Kiso Mountains, the snowy view outside the window was swallowed by heavy darkness.
This was the starting point of the Great Tunnel Complex, the dangerous snowbound route that had to be crossed between Nagano and Kyoto.
It was made up of eleven consecutive snow-proof tunnels, cutting through the heart of the heavy snowfall zone on the Sea of Japan side. Snow piled up several ters thick year-round, and the rock walls were wrapped in frozen snow and shells of ice.
According to legend, several avalanches occurred during the construction of the tunnel complex. The worst of them killed twenty workers.
Because there were no backup escape routes, and the tunnels were less than a hundred ters apart, anyone trapped inside after an avalanche blocked the entrances and exits would be sealed completely in that frozen darkness, with no chance of getting out alive.
Naoya Zenin did not answer.
He stared hard at Kenjaku's face.
The tunnel lights flickered across her beautiful features.
The woman simply smoked with elegant ease, as if she were chatting with an old friend she had not seen in years.
She did not look like a thousand-year-old monster of unfathomable power at all.
She did not even feel like a Jujutsu Sorcerer.
Naoya Zenin could not sense even the faintest trace of Cursed Energy from her. If not for that stitch line, he would have instinctively assud the woman across from him was nothing more than a strikingly beautiful ordinary person.
Facing Naoya Zenin, who had already entered combat readiness, the uninvited guest Kenjaku remained perfectly relaxed.
She tilted her head slightly, then turned her gaze back to Naoya Zenin.
"There's no need to start fighting so quickly, is there?"
Kenjaku chuckled.
"I haven't even finished my cigarette yet. Before that, why don't we sit down and talk for a while?"
Then, completely ignoring Naoya Zenin's opinion, she pulled a cigarette from her pocket and offered it to him.
"Are you used to ladies' cigarettes?"
"...I don't smoke."
Naoya Zenin was not pretending to refuse because he was wary.
It ca from this body's original habits. This young master of the Zenin Clan simply did not like smoking.
"Really?"
Kenjaku shrugged in disappointnt.
"Jujutsu Sorcerers are under so much pressure. Can you really hold up without smoking? Personally, I think a good woman needs cigarettes and light, flowing clothes."
As she spoke, she lit a second cigarette and muttered complaints to herself.
"Well, a young master from a great family like you wouldn't understand. After all, you have so many ways to relieve stress. Beautiful won, fine wine, sports cars, mansions... How could you understand moths like us, who have never seen light in our lives? The mont we see a fla, we throw ourselves at it with everything we have. It doesn't matter if we burn ourselves to death, or even burn the whole world down. As long as it's warm, that's enough."
"...What exactly are you trying to do?"
Naoya Zenin ignored Kenjaku's endless rambling and questioned her instead.
"Mm, now that is a good question."
Kenjaku nodded.
"I simply wanted to et you and ask you a few things. Unfortunately, ever since we t, you clearly haven't answered a single question of mine."
"Because I don't know you at all."
"How heartbreaking, Naoya-san. I never thought you would say sothing so cruel."
Kenjaku instantly put on a tearful expression.
"Fine, you stole Suguru Geto's body. I can accept that as a lesson learned. But now you're even trying to secretly lure away my foolish son. As the young master of the Zenin Clan, you keep relying on your power to bully a poor single mother like , and now you're turning around and pretending you don't know ? You bastard, do you even have a conscience?"
This beautiful woman poured out her grievances endlessly. Her miserable act was tragic enough to win the sympathy of passersby on the street.
If this reached Tokyo Jujutsu High, Naoya Zenin would spend the rest of his life branded as a scumbag who bullied married won.
But Naoya Zenin did not react at all.
As always, he only stared fixedly at Kenjaku, afraid that the slightest lapse in caution would send him falling into her trap, beyond any hope of recovery.
"Tsk. Boring. You really are no fun."
Kenjaku considered her sense of humor unmatched in all of Japan, and over the past thousand years, she had collected more jokes than anyone could count.
She had not expected Naoya Zenin to be completely immune to this approach.
Could it be that she really had no talent for cody?
This Mara was genuinely a little hurt.
"So that ans there's nothing to discuss?"
Kenjaku showed a helpless expression.
"Are you really that eager to die?"
In an instant, terrifying Cursed Energy erupted.
Only then did Naoya Zenin finally realize that Kenjaku had been suppressing her Cursed Energy the entire ti, keeping her presence tightly restrained.
That colossal amount of Cursed Energy was like thick maple syrup spreading through the air. Just breathing it in made him feel as if he were about to drown, and for a mont, his entire body could not move.
This was the first ti Naoya Zenin had ever felt the absolute gap between himself and a true powerhouse.
Not even Satoru Gojo had ever brought him this much pressure.
He felt as weak and helpless as that Grade 3 Cursed Spirit had been when facing him.
Every muscle in his body tensed, and he did not even dare to take a full breath.
Because the system notification that had not sounded for so long suddenly ca back online at that mont, buzzing frantically as if it had broken.
[True Na: Kenjaku.]
[Mara · Prismatic Rank]
[Kenjaku's origins are unknown, its age is unknown, and everything about its past is unclear. People only know that it has worn more than a thousand faces. It has been the evil monk Dōkyō, Matsunaga Hisahide, Saigō Takamori, Noritoshi Kamo (Ancestor), Kaori Itadori..... No one knows what its true face really is. Perhaps even Kenjaku is only a stolen na.]
[Effect: Kenjaku can possess multiple [Innate Techniques] and perfectly inherit the mories and technique proficiency of the sorcerers whose bodies it takes over.]
[Infinite Martial Arts · Prismatic Rank]
[Kenjaku has studied martial arts from across the world and understands every recorded technique chanism from ancient tis to the present, the flow of Cursed Energy, lethal combat moves, and the weaknesses of secret arts. It knows all Cursed Techniques, Taijutsu, Barrier arts, and cursing arts inside and out, and has insight into countless thods of battle.]
[Effect: Kenjaku can see through every move within its range of understanding, and can freely use any martial art within its range of understanding regardless of the strength of its physical body.]
[Pitch-Black Will · Prismatic Rank]
[Kenjaku and Tengen represent the two extre sides of immortals. It pursues evolution at every mont and chases its desires without pause. Its pitch-black will, deep and dark as an abyss, represents unwavering resolve and determination. For the goal it wishes to achieve, Kenjaku can pay any price without hesitation, even treating its own life as a disposable bargaining chip.]
[Effect: Kenjaku's attributes do not decline as its health decreases. It possesses near-immunity to ntal interference, and under any circumstances, it can bring out the peak condition of its physical body.]
....
....
Looking at that long string of status panels, Naoya Zenin could barely breathe.
No way.
I have to fight Kenjaku???
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