Special Grade Tool

Shuichi sat quietly inside his house. A multitude of men went about around him, carrying various construction materials with them.

It had just the day before that Naobito had rudely decided to come over and destroy his house, something he did not appreciate at all.

Even so, the forceful binding vow that prompted him to provide all those benefits left Shuichi feeling satisfied for now.

Speaking of which, the things that had been promised had already been delivered just the previous night.

As per the deal, there were a total of 10 cursed tools, 6 first grade ones and 4 special grades. Along with that, all sorts of technique manuscripts were given, relating to barriers, anti domain techniques and technique reversal applications.

Speaking of which, I have yet to test out my reversed techniques. I wonder how they'll turn out to be... Shuichi felt giddy with anticipation and chuckled.

Opening up his inventory, he took a look at the 4 special grade tools he had received.

Two of them were swords. One was a short sword that resembled a wakizashi, enchanted with the property of 'glass break'. It turned an impact into one that triggers a chain reaction that travels through the intended medium. Making the said medium 'shatter' like a glass cup falling onto the ground. It wasn't as strong as it's description might make one believe.

However, it was something that made Shuichi remember the Quake Quake fruit from One Piece.

The short sword was aptly named, 'Crack Edge', a name that wasn't particularly great in Shuichi's preference.

The second blade was instead a complete sword. A double edged weapon of steel with a skull adorned at the base of the hilt. The blade had a light purple hue and suffused into the surrounding air.

It was enchanted with the power of 'Air Pressure Propulsion'. The skull at the base could fire off strong jets of wind that propelled the blade forward, making it do extra damage. Again, not particularly strong. It was named 'Purple Wind'; another name that Shuichi did not appreciate but was too lazy to change.

The 3rd tool was a standard musket. Enchanted with the power of 'piercing', it increased the power of bullets several dozens of times, making it akin to an anti armor sniper rifle. It was named 'Cowboy Dream' and was made by a sorcerer in London.

The fourth and final tool was a normal looking axe. Enchanted with the power of 'cutting down trees with a single chop'. Named 'One fell Swoop'. Another weak tool.

It could be said that the Zenin clan took the chance to dispose of useless special grade tool, however, that could not be further from the truth.

Even the weakest special grade tool, no matter how useless it may be, sold more than 100 million dollars on the market. With the price range of high end one's reaching as much as 750 million.

And even then, he could make better cursed tools than these ones in the matter of moments.

As such, Shuichi was completely satisfied. It was only free money.

Getting off the sofa, he stretched his body, hearing his joints give out a 'pop' sound.

I guess I will complete the special grade tool request of the Higher ups. After that, I'll officially begin the training of my personal sorcerer gang.

With a nod, Shuichi headed over to his workshop, leaving the multitude of men to fix everything.

While leaving, he could not help but think of the humiliation the zenin clan would have to face over their clan head being defeated by him.

Of course, there was no way the news of the fight could be leaked. But with the Zenin clan head sending such precious resources over to his house, and the sorry state that Naobito was left in yesterday, any person with brains could figure it out.

And... perhaps he had taken one teeny tiny picture and sent it to jujutsu high. Just maybe...

~~~

"Hahaha! That old man must be pissed!" Gojo Satoru guffawed, his white hair gleaming under the sun.

"You have to tell me." Geto said, putting his hands into his pockets. Beside him, Shoko, the girl of the trio sat chuckling softly.

They all sat together at the stairs that led down towards a glistening blue pond. The sun was about 60 degrees in the sky, still far from being overhead.

The slanting light made the pond appear like a pandemonium of colours and different shades, striking a beautiful scenery.

At the center of the pond, a large stone jutted out from the water, holding a small structure atop it. It was something that looked like a shed, meant solely to escape from the sunlight or perhaps the rain. It was four pillars that held a roof at the top, leaving room of 4 people to comfortably stand under it.

Gojo Satoru, the most eccentric of the trio continued to laught loudly, almost bordering on hysteria.

"That guy Zenin Shuichi turned out to be pretty interesting, wouldn't you say?" Geto Suguru asked simply.

Satoru stopped laughing for a moment, taking in shallow breaths. "You don't say. I didn't think much of him the first time we met. But hey, he turned out to be great at stirring things up." He replied.

At the side, Shoko quieted down, thinking of something.

"You're right. He is a bit interesting." She said finally. Satoru and Suguru looked at her in mild surprise. It was seldom that their friend, Ieiri Shoko would take interest in anyone, much less partake in a conversation that included such topics.

"Hoh? Is our beloved Shoko finally beginning to break out of her shell?" Gojo asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Suguru chuckled at his remark.

Shoko didn't show much of a reaction except shaking her head. "It's not everyday that you get to see someone get through infinity and punch your stupid face.

"That alone is enough to push that person to the top of my 'interesting person' list. He's someone worth knowing if one wants to deal with you." She said.

"What?! You mean you like me being punched in the face?!"

"Did I stutter?" She said. "I most certainly do." Suguru said from the side.

Satoru sighed, throwing a glare at both the other members of the trio.

"Don't glare at me, you might lose those eyes of yours." Suguru taunted.

"What? I dare you say that again!" And Satoru, it turns out, when the other party is Geto, gets easily angered.

"I said 'you'll lose your eyes'. So what? Do you dare to do anything?" Suguru asked, getting up from his seating posture.

Satoru also stood up, his crystal blue eyes shining under the light of the sun.

"As if you can do anything in the first place." said Gojo, throwing his glasses into the air and holding them afloat; folly showcasing his infinity.

"Not like you have the guts to attack anyway." said Suguru, pointing behind him. Quickly, a dark black crack formed into the air, shattering like glass and out gazed a large red eyeball. Various strands of a thick musty liquid extended out from the crack, slowly pulling on its edges, trying to pry it apart.

"Is that your final say?" Satoru inquired, getting closer to Suguru.

"It might be. Who's to know?"

The tension became palpable, to the point that silence was the only thing that reigned supreme between them.

However, unexpectedly and out of nowhere, a fist landed on each of their heads.

Bam! Bam!

"Stop your useless banter!" Shoko, in a rare display of a loud voice shouted at them, a cigarette lit and held tightly in-between her lips.

"If you want to make trouble, go to the training field! Don't do this at the Zen pond!" She finished.

Both Satoru and Suguru plucked out their tongues and rolled their eyes, while simultaneously throwing up their hands; a gesture of 'surrender'.

Shoko huffed, annoyed at the pair.

Sometimes, I feel like their mother... she thought dejectedly.

"Say... what do you think is the essence of cursed energy?" She asked out of the blue.

Both Satoru and Suguru turned to look at her, with Suguru being the first to reply.

"It's the manifestation of negative emotions. Something that symbolizes the deepest atrocities of man and man's own capacity for evil and malevolence." He said, his eyes darkening over for a split second.

Shoko inwardly shook her head, not satisfied with the response she had received.

"Satoru?" She probed the white haired teen, who stood in thought at her inquiry.

After just a moment, he spoke.

"...According to me, cursed energy is the driving force of nature." He said, sitting back down. "Cursed energy permeates the world and everything in it. Perhaps it goes even beyond it, who knows?

"Cursed energy births autonomous creatures of malevolence, provides abilities that defy all forms of commonplace logic and science, provides such powers that can overturn the world at its head. Techniques evolve as per the overall state of the world as do people.

"In fact, I think that cursed energy might not be a spontaneously arising force. It might be something that is autonomous in itself; or at least something that can gain semi sentience due to the multitude of emotions it arises from." Gojo Satoru looked towards the blue sky. The clouds that went about in the endless blue reflected off his crystal eyes.

"Human thought changes the way cursed energy and the world works. And similarly, cursed energy changes the way the human mind functions. Can one not be considered somewhat equivalent to the other? Two halves of the whole?" Satoru's voice began to trail off towards the end.

Suguru and Shoko looked on, a bit weirded out about the entire thing.

Why is he monologuing like he's in an anime? Was what was on both of their minds.

"Well! That's all just speculation though! Such deep thoughts are better left to the philosophers!" Satoru said, yelling out his thoughts bare.

"Sigh! As expected, you'll always be an idiot." Without skipping a beat, Suguru's remark came from behind with a sigh.

"Huh?! Said the one that eats curses on a daily basis!" Gojo brought his hand to his mouth, making a vomiting motion. "Blerghh! Are you sure all that curse hasn't yet corrupted your mind?!"

Suguru head suddenly pulsed with a vein. He bashed his teeth together, looking over Gojo with a 'smile'.

As he retorted, Shoko simply ignored all of their shenanigans. As long as they did not resort to a fight, it was alright to be somewhat mean to each other.

She closed her eyes, thinking over Gojo's words and their possible implications to the final solutions of 'the true essence of cursed energy'.

Cursed energy... The Universe has yet more mysteries left to unravel still.

~~~

Yaga Masamichi walked into the meeting chamber of the higher ups.

The darkness around him seemed to stretch on endlessly. Slowly, one by one, the lights turned on.

Turn by turn, the paper shoji doors revealed themselves, a rough silhouette reflected onto the doors.

"Yaga Masamichi, do you know why we have called you here today?" One of the elders behind the doors asked.

Yaga stroked the small tiger doll in his hand. "I have some idea of it. Is it about Zenin Shuichi?"

The room quieted down for a just a second, before one of the elders roared behind the door.

"That insolent brat! Dares to do such a shameful thing! He's courting death!"

Perhaps it was a Zenin clan elders, no, surely it was a Zenin clan elder. Yaga was somehow sure of that fact.

"Calm down. With the Great Harae on its way, we must tread carefully."

"Any action that may cause unforseen situations to arise must be avoided."

"The ritual is of extreme importance. We cannot risk anything."

Such words came from all around the room in response to the roar of the elder.

The elder clicked his tongue behind the door, which was strangely heard throughout the room.

Then without, the interruption of the elder, the rest of the higher ups continued.

"Yaga Masamichi, we want you to make Shuichi aware of the entire matter related to the Great Harae." One of them said.

"Do not tell him about the sacred treasure yet." said another.

"Oh we can't have that." said another.

Masamichi stood still, stroking his tiger doll on the head.

"And what of the three treasures of Hokkaido? He will figure it out regardless." Yaga said.

"He's bound to at sometime. What we want is to hide it so long as he takes to prove his worth. If he can create a strong special grade tool in little time, then that may be the point at which we tell him of what we want from him." An elder said in one breath.

Yaga nodded heavily.

"Then, we want you to make him aware of the Great Harae ritual. Tell him to be ready to be sent to Hokkaido at the time."

"I will do so."

With that, Yaga was allowed to walk out of the room.

Sacred Treasure... Yaga thought, feeling a bit doubtful if Zenin Shuichi could indeed accomplish it.

~~~

A/N: I can't write character interactions well...

Anyway, give me your stones!