Chapter 17

The skeletal spine of the tempestuous God of valor materialized and overlaid over his with a clack of cursed energy.

The accompanying rib cage followed, just as the sheer amount of cursed energy he was exhibiting forced Jogo and the other unnamed spirit to jump back.

Jorogumo turned her head to him. The other special grade curses long forgotten behind her as she beheld him call God.

The spine elongated and formed a plated skull above him, while a clavicle and scapula manifested, with the accompanying four skeletal arms growing out with empty palms grasping for something.

Jorogamu stared in a mixture of rapturous joy and surprise, even as she stretched out a hand as if to touch him from a distance. His cursed energy dipped further.

Naked muscles formed and enhanced by cursed energy grew out in a sudden macabre display, spreading over hardened bones and giving bulk to a hollow frame.

"What are you?" Old woman Kugisake whispered in shock as she watched his Susanno manifest.

The Heavy armor of a war-born God manifested, spreading out and covering muscle-clad fingers with a gauntlet formed of cursed energy, before metastasizing to cover the four-armed form of his Susanno in protection that rivaled anything a God could fathom.

He could feel the pressure build-up at the back of his eyes. After his healing under Shoko, he underwent long practices to know his new limits with this new source of energy.

The tengu-fanged mask of his Susanno snapped erupted from behind the skull to snap shut above him. In the same instant, the heavy sake bottle that held the Totsuka sword formed in his secondary right hand, and the mercurial form of the Yata mirror manifested in his primary left hand and gave unrivaled protection to that side.

He let out a heavy breath and touched his dry cheeks, there was no bleed-through, so his older body could successfully withstand the strain of the Susanno. Even if cursed energy was not optimal for its usage.

But this was not a complete one. Not a full manifestation of what he could be. He could almost taste it.

The complete Susanno. A feat he could not accomplish in his past life because of his sickly physique. But now, all he had to do was push for it a bit.

He shook off the temptation easily and focused his gaze on the main threat.

"What is this child?" Jorogumo called out with rapturous glee. "What've you brought me?"

He stared back at her and replied to her.

"Your end."

Sword of Totsuka

The liquid and ethereal form of the snake-cutting sword sprang out of the sake jar at the call of Its name. It molded itself to fit the empty primary right hand of the Susanno.

"Impossible. That blade has been lost for multiple millennia," Jorogumo said even as she took a step back for the first time. Glee and fear fought for supremacy on her face.

He swung low.

That single swing cleaved through the air. The infinitely razor-sharp blade cut in a wide arc, slicing effortlessly through trees and vegetation. The forest trembled as the force of the blow created a shockwave, causing the destruction to ripple through the forest as nature succumbed to the power of the sword.

A heartbeat later, there was an entire section of the forest that was wiped clean as well as a mountain range that was split in half horizontally.

He looked down at the split and surging torso of the cursed spirit; Jorogumo even as she stared back at him. Her composure completely broken. Black eyes rolled in her sockets as her facial expression finally settled on one emotion.

Fear.

"This is not the end," he promised her. For it truly wasn't.

Her hands quickly slapped together as her unfathomable cursed energy exploded out in a wave of force. Her lost lower half started to grow back out. Slower than usual as residuals of the blade of Totsuka clung to her frame. But that was not her focus, he realized with trepidation, just a side effect.

With a twist of her hand, she locked her fingers and spread them outward. Palms snapping out facing him. The hand sign formed a complicated spider web.

Domain Expa—

He reversed the blade and plunged it down tip first, burying it in her torso in one sharp movement.

The red dots that lay above her brows slowly forced themselves open to reveal pitch-black orbs, that closed back a second later as the essence of her being was drawn into the ethereal sword.

"Ha—" she barked out in laughter. The fear that was on her face dispersed into a soft smile. "You beautiful and blessed thing. I'll be watching you grow." With those last words, she was sucked completely into the sake jar.

A stab of pain came a second later, and he let go of the technique. The armor-clad form of the Susanno slowly lost its heavy god-forged armor as his cursed energy dip stagnated.

The heavy armor dissipated, followed slowly by the muscle deterioration and the skeleto—

A blur, and the one-eyed figure of the other special grade was in front of him with his palm stretched and a grim look on his face.

Cursed Technique: Disaster Flames

The sudden point-blank explosion of fire and energy hit him but was blocked and dispersed alongside the weakened rib cage of his Susanno. The following shockwave blew him out of the Susanno. With a simple act of skill, he forced his body to flip mid-air and land feet first before skidding the rest of the way back.

"You are no ordinary human. I don't know what you are," the cursed spirit walked forward with a frown on its face. "But I know I can't let you live. Not if we want a world where cursed spirits reign supreme."

He ignored the words. It was supposed to be dead. That was what the mountain-cleaving slash was truly for.

His eyes spotted a weird seed-like structure that emerged from the ground with an opening in front. The other curse spirit was still inside with its single arm pressed elbow-deep into the structure. They went underground then.

With that acknowledgment, he straightened up to his feet and cracked his neck to the side. One down, two to go.

The volcano-head cursed spirit formed a hand seal and four insect-like miniature curses with red-colored butts and sharp forward-facing stingers sprung out from the top of his head and formed around him. They looked like an unholy mixture of a beetle, a dragonfly, and a mosquito.

Cursed Technique: Ember Insects

They shot forward like supercharged arrows, and he slammed his foot into the ground in response. The upturned rocks rocketed into the pathway of the miniature cursed spirit, and everything went up in an explosion of fire.

Jiki planted his feet into the ground before blurring forward and into the flames, with a sudden explosion of force, he sped through before the cursed fires could burn him and came out of the other end with a hand cocked back to the surprised face of the cursed spirit.

He snapped his fingers together, locking them in a knife shape, before plunging them deep into the cycloptic eyes of the cursed spirit. "AHHH" With a piercing cry of pain, the cursed spirit lashed out blindly with a fire-covered arm that Jiki diverted upward, before retaliating with a kick to the side that sent the cursed spirit back.

Jiki braced himself and made to follow before giant roots burst out of the ground like a spears, aimed at his vital organs and forcing him to backtrack.

He moved his scarlet eyes to the source of the roots. The other special grade. For some reason, it just stayed in the structure and watched them fight. Its only interruption so far had been this spear of roots.

"You bastard!!!!!"

He looked up in time to dodge an axe kick that planted into the ground hard enough to crater it.

He skipped to the side predicting another blow, only for the cursed spirit to let out a black toothed smile. Its cycloptic eyes had recovered even if it had a tinge of red at the edges.

Jiki looked down at where he was about to land and his eyes pierced through the group to see the trap. There was a volcano-like protrusion slowly forming underground and forcing its way out.

He skipped lightly on the ground before jumping further back. A split second later it erupted. The explosion of fire blocked his vision for a second, and the curse burst out of the fire to bury a fire-clad fist that folded him over.

It was learning from him. He realized with a raised brow.

The following blow was diverted to the side by his forearm even as he dodged another disaster fire strike.

The cursed spirit's technique made him realize something he had thought he lost in his rebirth.

Ever since he regained his memories, he had behaved like he was still in the elemental nations.

He had treated cursed energy purely like chakra for so long. Trying to mold it into his previous life's techniques.

While his method had proven applicable in some, like reinforcement and his activation of the Sharingan.

It had proven borderline impossible, as indicated by his struggle with genjutsu and his inability to perform a single ninjutsu.

Another straight palm at his head was deflected, and a second later the heat of intense fire blasting out of the palm dried the sweat that had formed on his face.

Yet he kept his unblinking eyes on the cursed spirit. He watched the way its curse energy ebbed and flowed even without any hand signs.

Ducking under a spinning kick, he lashed out with his leg to deflect the second kick downwards. With his feet stomping down hard on the cursed spirit's leg, the technique it had sent down the leg blasted out fire from Its feet, with his own feet pressing down on the cursed spirit's.

Innate techniques were not often created manually after all. He had known that even with the barebones knowledge the clan had fed him in preparation for Jujutsu high.

They were already carved into the brain and were simply triggered, in the same way, the knowledge of each person's Mangekyo was carved into the brain and soul of every Uchiha that unlocked it.

The curse spirit was forced to bear the brunt of the technique blowback as Jiki jumped back a heartbeat later as the ground within ten feet erupted from the inverse volcanic explosion of the technique.

But unlike limitless, fire was not just a technique. It was a naturally occurring phenomenon. There was still a process it went through. A process the cursed technique followed. A process he was deeply familiar with.

Force.

Pressure.

Intent.

All he had to do was go back to the roots of Ninjutsu before it was bastardized and weaponized by the first Uchiha. All he had to do was go back to the concept of Ninshu.

Ninshu was originally created to give people a better understanding of chakra, themselves, and other people. The cursed spirit knowingly or unknowingly made use of that same principle, using cursed energy it instinctively applied Ninshu and forged an intrinsic connection between itself and the concept of fire that created it.

Jiki could feel his Sharingan spinning wildly in his sockets as he tried to pick up the cursed spirit in the ash and smoke that surrounded him. He was only half present in this fight as the consuming elation of enlightenment felt like it was burning a scorched pathway through his brain.

The sudden flying kick from his left almost caught him off guard, but he spun on the spot and dodged the kick by a hair's breadth. Before sending out a knee that was countered with a Palm strike mid-air. A palm strike that scorched the cloth and skin off his knee.

Yet the force of the knee strike was enough to send the cursed spirit rocketing into the smoke. Even the sensation of fire burning his skin fueled his enlightenment.

To stay still in combat was to die. So he moved.

Instead of connecting to people, the cursed spirit held tight to the concept of fire.

Fire was both a primal force and transformative energy.

Fire was hungry, consuming, and purifying.

Fire was the driving force of the cycle of destruction and rebirth.

Fire was also the easiest element to connect to as it reached for you just as much as you reached for it. Hoping to scorch you just as much as you hope to wield it to your ends.

Like all Uchiha, He knew fire.

He met the cursed spirit halfway as they clashed once more, a human fist found its way buried into the gray-white throat of the cursed inhuman facsimile of flesh. Just as the ground Jiki stood on erupted flames blasted out, an attack he dodged easily. It was losing its previous calm edge and growing feral. Had it truly never faced a real opponent?

Fire. Immolation. Combustion.

All it needed was the spark to bring it to life. With that thought in mind, Jiki kicked the cursed spirit back to create distance and raised up a trembling hand, before stilling it with a force of will.

He closed his eyes as he formed a single-hand tiger seal. A hand sign to mold his cursed energy into a facsimile of what he wanted, the knowledge of how to bring the technique to work employing combustion, and finally, the intent to burn.

The coming-of-age technique came to him with clarity. Even with his eyes closed, he could pick up on the way the cursed spirit ran through the smoke and waited for it. The moment it was in front of him, he snapped his eyes open and activated the technique with a flex of will.

Cursed Technique: Fire style - Great Fireball

The sudden explosion of fire and light brought the world into startling clarity as the technique bloomed in front of him.

The cyclopean red-eyed visage of the cursed spirit widened in shock, even as it spread out a hand towards the great fireball.

The detonation of the technique destroyed everything in front of him, combustion even as the fire spread outwards seeking what to further burn and destroy immolation.

He let out a shaky breath as his body trembled from the stress he had put it through. Finally, the smoke cleared off, and he could see his opponent once more.

The cursed spirit was unsurprisingly alive. He noted with a soft chuckle. Its right hand has been reduced to nothing. Its clothes had been burnt, Its gray flesh was cracked and broken. Yet it still stood.

"How?" It asked Jiki, even as its voice cracked.

The great fire ball was not the greatest fire style technique, but still It should've been dead after taking it headfirst, but somehow it had survived even that.

With a tilt of his head, Jiki noted that it must've had some innate resistance to fire. Yet right now, its cursed energy was exhausted and as low as his.

It took a wide-eyed threatening step towards him, as the cracked flesh fell off, and its skin regenerated slowly.

Jiki's ears picked up the sudden displacement of air from behind, and his soft smile widened into a sharp and uncharacteristic grin, even as the cursed spirit looked behind him with a frown.

He could feel eyes trail his injuries from behind before a soft familiar voice called out in the wake of the displacement.

Its usually jovial tone had the intensity of cold death, and for the first time, Jiki felt like he was not alone again.

"I'll kill you."