Grandpa!"
"What? Don't tell me you don't think she is pretty?"
"That's not the issue." I protested. On the side note, Kasumi was pretty.
"Then what is? Aside from her scheming family, she has no flaws at all. I don't get you sometimes. Other princes your age all have several lovers. Even the ones who had no chance to inherit the throne are the same. And yet, here you are, not showing any interest in other girls. No, that's not true.You do have three beautiful girls in your subordinates but I never hear any news about you going anywhere with them. I am getting old, you know. I really want to see the face of my great grandchildren before I die."
...
...
...
...
I merely deadpanned at him.
"I am not ready to be a father right now, Grandpa. Give me some time. You will have your great grandchildren."
"Well, as long as that happens, I have no problem."
...
"By the way, I saw the information given to us by the Stairs Daimyo about the Princess. It is said that she is the daughter of the fourteenth concubine of the Stairs' Daimyo's son who died along with him in the ambush but I know for sure that Princess Kasumi's mother was not his concubine."
This was something which had struck me when I was reading everything.
"Really?" He asked, confused.
"I am pretty sure she wasn't a concubine."
"Must be another lie that bastard made up then. Well, what does it matter who her mother was? In fact, it's good if she is not related to that bastard's family. The girl is good. You should spend more time with her. I have seen how she takes care of you and I have no problems with her either."
"Alright, don't go in that direction." I stopped him from going off into his great grandchildren drama again.
"Okay okay, sheesh. Can't an old man state his wish nowadays?"
And thus continued our banter.
_________________________________x____________________________________
Today was the day that the information about Rōen was completely gathered.
I looked at all the information and got to know what Rōen is and how strong it is.
Apparently, it wasn't some kind of Tailed Beast like being. It wasn't a chakra construct either. It was just a mutated monster which could absorb the chakra of other beings and live almost eternally.
It was as strong as a tailed beast, but only One Tails. That would explain the five months time needed to extract the information about it.
That means, I cannot use it repeatedly like I had wanted to like a tailed beast.
Dammit, that changes many things.
I will have to come up with another method.
Still, it was not something I could let go.
Even without that, it could still serve as a sacrifice for a ritual to use in a summoning and that kind of power could be used to summon someone strong.
It might just be the deterrent we need to keep away people with bad thoughts. It also reduced the difficulty of the whole mission as I just had to sacrifice the wolf instead of seal it inside me. That's something far easier to do. I just needed some practice for something like that.
Maybe this time I will use that Jōnin as a sacrifice to summon someone stronger?
Until now, I had been saving stronger shinobi prisoners for the previous soul ritual. Now, I had no such needs.
Still, with Rōen being a failure, I will have to find other targets for my experiment.
Another very important thing which had happened recently was the Grimoire getting charged for World Travel.
It had enough energy to send me to another world and bring me back once. I could have gathered this energy far faster if I had been using my own energy but I have been using my own energy for training and summoning everyday. I barely had any extra energy to spare for this.
I still couldn't control the world I was travelling to but each world gets recorded in the Grimoire and a return trip to that world would only take half the energy next time.
I had to make some preparations before doing so, like preparing enough funds if I wanted to buy something, all in Gold and precious jewels, mastering basic genjutsu to avoid problems. I already knew the transformation technique but some genjutsu will always be more helpful.
__________________________________x___________________________________
I stood in front of Kuina, facing her once more.
"Start!" At Kanae's instructions, we both shot from our places, clashing in between, sending shockwaves around us.
I felt the weight of her attack and twisted my sword, letting her attack slip by as I took a step forward, intending to strike her with my next move.
She was however one step ahead and quickly rotated her body in a dance-like motion, getting behind me.
I quickly dove forward, dodging her attack before kicking the ground and using the force to turn around and attack.
She faced me head on, clashing with me.
"Don't forget to breathe, Kazuya-san. Breathe!" Kanae shouted from the side and I realised that my breath had faltered and picked it up again.
Total Concentration Breathing was hard, especially during fights.
Kuina however was not giving up her attacks and continued pursuing me.
The clashes got faster and we separated before suddenly releasing the first gate at the same time and rushing at each other again.
Our clashes continued before I felt my boost from the opened gate fading away and used all my strength to attack. She replied in kind, the resulting clash shattering the swords...again.
"Dammit! This is the fifteenth sword." She complained looking at the shattered sword in her hand.
Yeah.
This was becoming a problem for us.
"Chakra blades are stronger but getting them is not easy. I have already told Kensho to get us some but it will take some time. I will try to find the location of the Kusanagi Blades. It's just that those blades are very famous and might attract the eyes of some unscrupulous ninja."
"You need to man up a bit. We need to stop being so afraid." She huffed but didn't pressure me anymore.
I sighed.
RIght now, I was using all my summoning attempts to summon precious metals and jewels for trade in other worlds after world travel.
I could understand her frustrations though.
The lack of good swords was holding her back. In fact, even in this fight, I was going full strength without any weights while she was wearing her weights even now.
Not to mention, I had told her about the kind of people she would have to face in her world and how strong Zoro becomes and thus she didn't want to get left behind.
Kuina was very competitive.
"I will get something to solve this problem." I promised.
She nodded and then left for training.
I sat there, regaining my breath. Even with my physique, opening the gate and fighting was hard.
Kanae handed me a towel and sat beside me.
"You shouldn't blame yourself, you know. We all know how hard you work but there is only so much one can do by themselves. In fact, Kuina is also feeling frustrated because she is not being able to help you out."
"Hmm?"
"You two are friends, aren't you?" She asked.
I nodded.
"And that's why when she sees you working so hard and cannot do anything, she feels frustrated. Unlike you however, the only thing she can do well is swordsmanship but now even that is being hindered. It makes her feel useless."
"But that's not true. She is already the strongest one among us."
"That she is...but she is not strong enough to protect everyone. Kuina is a very good girl. She wants to share your burdens with you. We all do...even Seraphim."
"Sera? Hahahaha, yeah, she would sooner use me for her Tsubame Gaeshi training." I laughed out loud."That's not true, you know. In fact, did you know that vampire ninjas have a strange custom?" She asked, smiling mysteriously.
"What custom?" I asked, taking a bottle from my side and taking a sip of the water.
"If they kiss someone, they are considered married to them."
I spat out the water immediately and looked at Kanae who was still smiling calmly.
"You are kidding right?" I asked, stunned. There was no way...
"No. I was told this by Sera-chan herself."
"But that was an accident. You all saw it yourself." I protested.
"Yes. But Sera-chan is very serious about it."
"No way. She is the type to kill me and then kill herself rather than accept something like that." I retorted.
"Sigh, you don't know how a woman's heart works, Kazuya-san."
"That woman tried to kill me the first time she saw me, ya know. I am saying this from experience."
"And your experience with women is...not very good, is it?"
...
Low blow, Kanae. Low blow.
This was something I would expect from Kuina, not you.
As the days passed, we were growing closer to each other.
Kuina, Saitō, Kanae and now even Sera, they have become my close friends.
I told them what I knew about their worlds, except Seraphim, whose world I knew almost nothing about.
The most I could remember from that world was the existence of a chainsaw wielding magical girl and sometimes a guy wearing the same magical girl costume...
I was pretty sure she would look at me like I was some kind of a pond scum if I told her this...that's why we didn't have much to share between us.
Still, we were getting closer. And now, I find this.
That night we gathered for another ritual. This time, the Kodon Jōnin was brought with us.
Preparing a ritual to assist with the summoning was a lot more complicated.
It took me several hours to get the ritual circle ready.
Finally, when everything was done, I threw the woman in the circle and stood outside it, summoning my Grimoire.
"Let's hope this works." I said to myself.
I want someone strong to help us with the Rōen mission.
And then I felt a drain in chakra.
Even my Jōnin level chakra went dry almost instantly and I fell to my knees, biting my tongue to not lose my consciousness.
A strange scene took place in front of us.
The body of the ninja in the ritual circle was compressed, turning into a ball of flesh and blood. It started spinning in the ritual circle, releasing a red light before slowly taking the form of a person. Slowly, the ball turned into the form of a man.
He was a tall, muscular man with mid-length straight black hair that reached to his ears. His eyes were green, and he had thin black eyebrows and a scar on the corner of his right lip.
When the process was completed, the man just looked at himself and muttered. "Huh, so that was not fake. I thought I was hallucinating due to blood loss." He then looked at us and asked. "So, you all seem to be the people who summoned me for some help. What do you need?"
I stepped forward. "Hello. My name is Kazuya Katsuyoshi. I summoned you to help us to help protect my country. May I know what to call you?" I asked.
"Protect your country? What happened, did Japan go to war again? I thought those days were left behind."
"Umm, this is not Japan. You are in a different world."
"...seriously?"
"Yes. I made sure you would know it when being summoned. Did you not hear?"
"...I was kinda bleeding out, being stared at by that white haired demon when I heard the voice. I accepted before I could hear anything else."
...
"That's...I am sorry I guess."
"Don't be. If I wasn't here, I would be dead. Being alive feels better. So, a new world eh. That's certainly something I haven't heard of before. Oh, name's Toji by the way. Toji Fushiguro."
...fuck.
_________________________________x____________________________________
I looked at the guy who was devouring enough food for fifteen people with no care in the world.
This didn't look like someone who was on the verge of dying and was summoned to a new world.
The first thing he did was ask for food and I provided him that.
While this was happening, I thought about this summoning.
Toji said he was dying so it must have been a fight with Gojo but there were no injuries on his body.
Did the sacrifice neutralise it?
Moreover, Toji would be equal to a taijutsu specialist jōnin or even elite level in terms of his physique but he still needs training in other aspects of chakra.
I am sure that he would be a force to be reckoned with when he learns the Eight Inner Gates technique.
In fact, the Eight Inner Gates fit him too well and even without that, just having chakra alone would make him far stronger. Maybe I could get my first Kage level fighter out of him if things go well.
The guy finished eating and looked at me. "So, now tell me what I need to do."
...
"What? Why are you looking confused? Despite what you might think, I cannot read minds, you know."
"No, no. I know that. I was just a bit surprised that you agreed so easily."
"Well, I was dying and now I am here, suddenly healed and alive. I accepted the deal. I have lived enough to know these things don't come for free. So, what do I need to do?" He answered with a shrug.
"I..."
I explained the whole situation to him
"That's interesting. So, how strong would you say I am compared to these...ninjas?"
"A jōnin in terms of physique but you would die in a fight against one." It's better not to make him overestimate himself.
He raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "Really?"
I nodded. "I know quite a lot about you and your world, both past and the future."
"Hoh, and what does the future hold?"
"Are you sure you want to know?" I asked.
"I have nothing to lose, so why not?"
"Very well, since you chose it, I will not hide."
I went on to explain to him the future events of Jujutsu Kaisen and almost an hour later, the guy's face was a sight to behold.
"Send me back, now." He said in a no nonsense voice.
"I can't."
"Why?!"
"I am not strong enough. I could probably open a portal to your world but I am just not strong enough right now. Moreover, what can you even do if you go back? As you are now, Gojo would kill you either way."
"I can take him on."
"No, no you can't. Not anymore. You had your chance and you lost it. Satoru Gojo is now forever beyond your reach."
I saw him clench his fists and glare at me.
"I will send you back when I can and even help you out to the best of my abilities, this is a promise. But until then, you need to help me too. In fact, use this chance and become stronger. You can learn things here that will make you nigh invincible in your own world." I convinced the guy over the whole night before he finally calmed down but only after I made him a promise… something I knew he would agree to.
By the end of it, we had an agreement between us.
I will help him get stronger and send him back to his world, or at least summon his son and step-daughter here in case something happens to him and in return, he will help me to the best of his abilities.
When I asked him if he was fine with it, his reply was.
"I am used to being hired for this kind of work. This time I just have to work for something other than money. Something far more important."
And so, I had Toji Fushiguro join the team.