Chapter 353: 353 Jujutsu Kaisen 18
I had a lot of concerns because of Utahime. I had promised to teach her techniques, but the problem was that, as Satoru said, she was truly clumsy. I could tell immediately from our first sparring session on the first day of training. That day, I realized for the first time that there exists someone even more clumsy than ’Kazuya Sata.’ So, under the pretext of figuring out the direction of her training, I paused her training for a while.
’How on earth did she learn to dance in that state...’
After thinking it over, I concluded that a frontal confrontation was hopeless, so I decided to teach her long-range attacks, rapid movement, and talisman techniques. This was to enable hit-and-run tactics.
Just then, the training ground in front of the mansion was completed. After reinforcing it to be even sturdier with my [Matter Manipulation] ability, I called Utahime over.
"Utahime, after careful consideration, I think a frontal confrontation is out of the question. You’re too clumsy—even if you train hard, it’ll be difficult to catch up to other sorcerers."
"Eh... then what should I do..."
"Run, obviously."
"Eh???!!!"
Utahime was greatly flustered by my words.
"Now, I’m going to teach you techniques, but first, let’s form a binding."
"Yes..."
"The reason for the binding is, of course, to maintain the secrecy of all the techniques I teach you. Also, if you ever have a student you absolutely want to teach, you must get my permission first. That person will also need to form a binding."
"Then, what conditions will you set?"
"If you fail to maintain secrecy... suicide... that’s a bit much, so... hmm... just become my concubine."
"Eh???!!! Why such a condition..."
Utahime was flustered and blushed at the condition I proposed.
"I thought this level would be necessary to ensure secrecy."
After thinking for a moment, Utahime accepted the condition.
"I’ll do it! I will! It doesn’t matter as long as I keep the secret, right?"
"Good."
Thus, I formed a binding with Utahime.
"First, I’ll teach you the technique ’Shadowless Body Technique.’ This footwork is specialized for evasion and movement."
The Shadowless Body Technique was a light-foot technique used by a famous master thief from Nano Machine, which I had modified to suit cursed energy. As I said, it’s specialized for evasion and running away rather than direct confrontation.
I used magic to draw two types of footprints on the training ground. One was for rapid forward movement, and the other was for evasion.
"Starting today, practice this footwork by stepping on these footprints in order. You need to be able to do it naturally."
At my words, Utahime looked closely at the footprints I had drawn and said to me.
"It looks easier than I thought."
"Try it."
"Okay."
Utahime didn’t even make it a few steps before her legs tangled and she fell.
"Ugh!"
Thud!
Thus began Utahime’s physical comedy for a while. As expected, since she was clumsy, it seemed it would take some time to learn.
Along with this training, I decided to teach her Reverse Cursed Technique. Because only by learning Reverse Cursed Technique could she learn the Dantian Storage Technique that I had created with Uraume, and only with the Dantian Storage Technique could the Shadowless Body Technique truly shine.
"Originally, Reverse Cursed Technique is something you should master on your own to naturally understand the core of cursed energy. But Utahime, you might never master it even if you live a lifetime, so I’m going to guide you through it. To be honest, this method isn’t good. It cuts into your future growth potential. But I think it can’t be helped. I hate to say it, but Utahime, you don’t have much talent."
"I-is that so?"
Having spent the entire morning training in footwork, rolling around on the training ground floor, Utahime’s hair was a mess, her clothes were filthy, and she kept rubbing her ankles as she listened, clearly in pain.
"Let’s eat first."
I secretly took two lunchboxes from my [Inventory] and ate with Utahime. Perhaps because they were ’leisure life’ lunchboxes, she ate very well. After eating and resting briefly, I placed my hand on Utahime’s back, manipulated her cursed energy, and induced the creation of positive energy, helping her awaken Reverse Cursed Technique.
"Ah... so this is the feeling. Multiplying cursed energy."
"Yes. This afternoon, practice Reverse Cursed Technique. Don’t forget the feeling. And if possible, use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal your own ankles."
"Yes, understood."
The next day, Utahime came to the mansion carrying various bags. It seemed that since the distance from where she lived was considerable, she decided to just stay in the room next to the children’s.
After a week passed and Utahime began using Reverse Cursed Technique proficiently, I started teaching her the Dantian Storage Technique in earnest. Utahime was amazed that cursed energy could be stored in the body, just like Uraume.
"That such a method existed..."
"From today, after training ends and before you go to sleep, store any remaining cursed energy in your dantian using the Dantian Storage Technique."
"Understood."
Originally, energy circulation is best done in the morning. Because it awakens the stagnant blood and energy from the night, activates metabolism through fresh air and sunlight, and increases overall energy and focus for the day. However, unlike traditional energy circulation methods that draw in external energy, the Dantian Storage Technique uses one’s own cursed energy to store it, so it’s more beneficial to store the remaining cursed energy at the end of the day before sleep.
That day, after training ended and I returned to the mansion, Uraume was there.
"You’re back after a long time. Everything fine at the school?"
"Nothing particularly serious."
Uraume handed me two boxes. Inside was a confection called ’Kinman’—a custard-like white filling inside a castella-like shell—a specialty of Akita City.
"Nanami and Haibara asked me to give these to you as thanks."
"Really? So they completed their mission without any issues."
"Yes. Because of that incident, the school faculty filed a complaint with the higher-ups, and apparently they will be implementing a policy to classify cursed spirit grades more precisely."
"That’s good news. Since you’re back after a long time, have something delicious to eat before you go."
"Understood."
Thus, Haibara survived. I didn’t know how much Haibara’s survival would affect the original story, but for now, I would have to watch.
"Um, Master. Is Uraume’s ridiculously large cursed energy also due to the Dantian Storage Technique?"
Utahime had started calling me ’Master’ a few days ago.
"Yes, you noticed well. She’s my younger sister, so of course she learned it."
"Then if I work hard, I can eventually have that much cursed energy too?"
"Yes. But in Uraume’s case, she was born with a large amount of cursed energy to begin with, so even if she uses her stored energy, she replenishes it quickly. In your case, it won’t be as fast."
"I suppose so."
"But storing cursed energy increases your total usable amount, so you can definitely gain an advantage over other sorcerers. That’s why it’s a secret technique, and why I set such a binding."
"Certainly... any sorcerer would covet a technique like this. But it seems difficult to teach unless you’re the teacher..."
Utahime was right. In this universe, concepts like the dantian and meridians are unfamiliar. Moreover, if taught incorrectly, it’s easy to fall into deviation. In other words, it’s not easy to imitate.
Just then, Tsukumo also returned to the mansion on her bike. As summer approached, it was the season when cursed spirits increased, so Tsukumo had also been coming and going frequently to exorcise them.
"I’m back~"
"Good timing. You haven’t eaten yet, have you?"
"Yeah, I’m starving."
"Then let’s grill some meat today. Uraume is back after a long time."
"Oh~ really? So today we get to eat food made by the Head Priest?"
"Yeah, I’ll make it for you after a long time."
Having stayed at the mansion for a long time now, Tsukumo knew how delicious the food I made was. So today, I decided to grill pork belly, along with potato salad, a few side dishes, and seafood soybean paste stew. Even the kids ate very well.
Two months passed after that.
"Master, even when I use the footwork, I’m not that fast... Am I just untalented?"
It seemed the time had come for her to voice this doubt. Utahime had held back, but an ordinary person would have quit after a month.
"I was wondering when you’d say that. Try using the footwork while concentrating cursed energy on your feet through the Dantian Storage Technique pathways."
"Huh? Ah... yes."
Utahime took her stance, circulated her cursed energy, and began stepping in the footwork pattern. Then, running at tremendous speed, she couldn’t control it and fell, tumbling over.
"KYAAAH—!!!"
CRASH BANG BANG!!
"Are you okay?"
"Ughh... my back... my knees..."
"Good grief, you can’t even use what you’ve learned. Reverse Cursed Technique!"
"R-right... Reverse Cursed Technique... ngh..."
Utahime struggled to use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal her injuries and started to get up.
"Utahime, your Reverse Cursed Technique is too slow. When you get injured, you need to use Reverse Cursed Technique immediately. If you’d been attacked in that time, you would have died instantly."
"Yes... But anyway, that was really fast. I never dreamed it would be this fast. It’s going to take time to get used to, isn’t it?"
Utahime was amazed at the increased speed when she used the footwork while circulating her cursed energy, but I was thinking differently. Setting aside her not being used to the speed yet, her use of Reverse Cursed Technique was too slow, perhaps because she’d never been injured like this before. Rather, it seemed she hadn’t even thought of it.
In a real battle, that would be a death sentence. While there might be side effects from learning Reverse Cursed Technique in a makeshift way, I think the cause was that I trained her too softly because I liked her.
"Hmm... fine! Starting tomorrow, you’ll practice getting used to the speed in the mornings, and in the afternoons, we’ll play tag. So you can use it in real combat too."
"Understood."
The next day, in the morning, she started running, gradually increasing her speed to get used to it.
"Wow! I can run this fast!"
Utahime was happily enjoying her speed, unaware of what hell awaited her in the afternoon.
"Huh? Master, what’s that squeaky hammer you’re holding?"
"You’ll find out soon enough."
After lunch, when she saw me standing there holding the squeaky hammer, Utahime asked.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
"Ow! Ah! Master, wait! Ow! That hurts!"
"If you have time to talk, run while using Reverse Cursed Technique!"
Thus began the hellish game of tag. Of course, I adjusted my speed.
The reason for this training was to make her use Reverse Cursed Technique naturally even in combat. It was also to get her body accustomed to higher speeds, and simultaneously to train her evasion footwork.
Thwack!
"Ow!"
"Reverse Cursed Technique!"
Until evening, Utahime continued the endlessly hellish tag game, getting hit by the squeaky hammer. Drenched in sweat, she barely sat down to start dinner, wearing a bitter expression as she grumbled. Of course, thanks to Reverse Cursed Technique, she had no injuries.
"What exactly is in that squeaky hammer? Did you put rocks in it? Why does it hurt so much!?"
"I wrapped the hammer in cursed energy, so of course it hurts. If you don’t want to get hit, run faster. And I taught you evasion footwork too—why do you just keep getting hit? Use it!"
"Easier said than done..."
And so, the next day, the day after that, and the day after that, Utahime continued her hellish running, getting hit by the squeaky hammer. It was so hard that she looked forward to the days when she taught the children. After about two weeks, she finally started to dodge while running.
"Oh~ good! That’s it! Keep doing that!"
"If I’d known it would be like this, I never would have asked to train—!!!"
Utahime, drenched in sweat and panting, shouted resentfully but kept running.
After another two weeks, now fully adapted, she nimbly dodged the squeaky hammer left and right. Even when she got hit occasionally, she quickly recovered with Reverse Cursed Technique and kept running. So I introduced a change.
Overnight, the training ground became filled with all kinds of obstacles. Utahime seemed surprised.
"Huh? When did these..."
"Surely you didn’t think the running course would always be flat? From now on, you need to practice dodging obstacles while running."
"Just when I thought I was getting used to it..."
With the environment changed, Utahime couldn’t adapt and started getting hit again.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
"Run! Reverse Cursed Technique!"
"Ow! Wait! Ow!"
After another month like that, she could now naturally use evasion as well as Reverse Cursed Technique even with obstacles present. But she was definitely clumsy. Even with my [Master] ability, which speeds up learning, it took over two months to get to this point. Teaching an ordinary sorcerer would have taken about a month.
"Hmm... this should be enough. From now on, we’ll only play tag in the mornings. In the afternoons, you’ll learn other techniques."
"Finally..."
Utahime was so happy she even shed tears. The training must have been that painful.
"The Shadowless Body Technique can be considered the best among learnable footwork techniques. But even after struggling to learn this, there are innate techniques that are faster. So the auxiliary technique you need to learn is the ’Hisakawa Talisman Technique.’"
The talisman technique I would teach Utahime was an original creation, mixing ninjutsu from Naruto and talisman techniques from Jujutsu Kaisen.
I showed Utahime three talismans.
"From left to right: Explosion Talisman, Illusion Talisman, and Sealing Talisman. To explain in order: the Explosion Talisman does exactly what it says—explodes. The Illusion Talisman creates a dummy identical to the user to deceive the opponent. And the Sealing Talisman quickly creates a barrier around the area that slows down the opponent."
"Oh~ I see. But the talismans look just like movie tickets."
As Utahime said, the talismans had a perforated line at the bottom like movie tickets, making them easy to tear off.
"Right. You tear off the perforated part at the back of the talisman, and then tearing that part activates the talisman. Let me show you."
I demonstrated immediately. I attached the Explosion Talisman to a spot, tore off the back part, distanced myself a bit, and then tore the detached part. It exploded with a tremendous noise. With a blast similar to a grenade, Utahime seemed very surprised. Of course, I had set up a barrier, so the sound wouldn’t have been heard around the training ground.
BOOM!
Rattle!
"Huh! I didn’t know talismans could explode this big. If used well, this could be used as a remote bomb, couldn’t it?"
"Right? And if you stack several talismans, the explosive power increases. But be careful—you could get caught in it yourself, so maintain proper distance."
"Understood."
"Second, the Illusion Talisman."
I placed the Illusion Talisman on the ground, distanced myself again, and tore the back part. A dummy identical to me appeared where the talisman was, mimicking my movements exactly.
"Wow~ how does that work... From a distance, it’s so identical you’d never notice. But up close, the cursed energy is slightly different, so you might notice..."
"That’s true, but low-intelligence cursed spirits or in chaotic situations, it would be hard to notice. Finally, the Sealing Talisman."
I placed the Sealing Talisman on the ground near where Utahime was standing, distanced myself, and tore the back part. Utahime then had difficulty moving.
"M-my body feels so heavy."
"Right? The Sealing Talisman is the easiest of the three to make, and if used well, it can also support allies."
"I see."
I handed Utahime three leather bags filled with talismans that could be attached to a belt, along with the belt itself.
"In the mornings, continue playing tag while using talismans. In the afternoons, I’ll teach you how to make talismans, so learn that."
"Understood."
From that day, Utahime began learning to make talismans. Because she had to infuse cursed energy consistently and precisely, it was difficult, and the defect rate was high, but nonetheless, Utahime persisted in making talismans.
After half a year passed, she could use talismans freely and even began using them with her own strategies. By then, she started becoming genuinely difficult to catch up with. Of course, I was still suppressing my abilities and speed to some extent, but still.
"Excellent, isn’t it?"
"Right? I’ve done a lot of research, you know."
"Now, I think you’re ready to learn another technique."
"Huh? This isn’t the end?"
"No. What good is being good at running away? They just won’t chase you."
Utahime seemed to realize an important fact only after hearing my words.
"Come to think of it, you’re right. I can’t believe such a serious weakness existed... I was just starting to get happy thinking the training was ending."
"Cursed spirits are often low-intelligence and charge in mindlessly, but you won’t just be fighting cursed spirits."
"That’s true. There are also curse users..."
"So you need a way to harass the opponent from long range. I’m going to teach you that technique now, so listen carefully."
"Yes."
"First, the first method is technique reversal. Your Solo Forbidden Area’s neutral technique enhances the target’s cursed energy and output, right?"
"Yes."
"Then what does technique reversal do?"
When I asked, Utahime thought for a moment, then slapped her palm.
"Of course! It lowers the target’s cursed energy and output. Since I can increase it by 100% with song and dance alone... so with technique reversal, I could probably reduce the target’s cursed energy and output by 50%!"
"Exactly! But that alone isn’t enough. Your Solo Forbidden Area takes time to activate, and if you have a teammate to finish things off, that’s great, but if not, you’ll have to finish things yourself. So you need a second technique."
In Jujutsu Kaisen, interestingly, when cursed energy is used with an innate technique, it often produces effects greater than the energy input, so using techniques is usually the best method. Excluding techniques like Construction Technique, which have terrible efficiency. However, I had previously devised a long-range attack method based on the thought, ’Couldn’t I attack using only cursed energy without a technique?’
But even after creating it, I never actually used it because I focused on using techniques. That doesn’t mean it was garbage. It’s just that innate techniques are often overwhelmingly powerful; what I created was actually more straightforward. The more you train, the more cursed energy you invest, the more powerful it becomes.
I set up a brick on the training ground, gathered cursed energy at my fingertip, compressed and rotated it, then fired it toward the brick.
"Bang!"
BOOM!
The brick exploded with a loud noise. The technique I used was reminiscent of Yusuke Urameshi’s ’Rei Gun’ from Yu Yu Hakusho.
"Huh! That looks just like a lump of cursed energy, but its destructive power is pretty high, isn’t it?"
"Yeah, if you just fire raw cursed energy, the destructive power isn’t that high. So you need to compress it and add rotation. That increases the destructive power. But ironically, adding rotation makes it prone to scattering due to inertia. So the key is to put more effort into compression. The more you compress it, the more strongly you can rotate it, and the higher the destructive power."
"I see. Then what’s the name of the technique..."
"Death Beam... no, it’s ’Cursed Wheel Cannon.’"
"Th-that’s... Death Beam, no, Cursed Wheel Cannon... that wasn’t just made up just now, was it?"
"O-of course not!"
For the rest of the day, Utahime looked at me with a suspicious gaze.
