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The first rays of sunlight crept through the paper windows, gently illuminating the Zenin estate. Birds chirped softly outside, their cheerful melodies completely at odds with the pitiful figure kneeling beside the koi pond.
Naoya Zenin. Still in the same position as last night.
His head hung forward, drool sliding down his chin, arms trembling slightly even in sleep. The servant who had been assigned to watch him sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that night.
"...Young master, it's morning."
Naoya's head jerked up, eyes half-open. "Five more minutes…" he mumbled weakly.
"You've been kneeling for the whole night, young master," said the servant.
"Huh?" Naoya muttered, still half-asleep. He glanced forward, noticing the familiar koi pond.
"Oh..." he murmured before closing his eyes again as his body wobbled forward.
The servant immediately moved, catching the boy before he fell into the pond.
That woke Naoya up instantly, and he finally realized what was going on.
He tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't move. He tried to put his hands down, but the stiff muscles screamed in protest.
"I can't feel my arms!" Naoya said with a dumb look on his face.
He tried lowering them — only for pain to shoot through his shoulders. "Ahhh! Damn it, they've turned to noodles!"
The servant quietly pretended not to hear the young master cursing under his breath as Naoya stumbled to his feet. He winced, stretching his stiff body, before mumbling, "At least it's over…"
That wish was short-lived as he soon spotted a familiar figure behind him, looking at him with a cold, unreadable gaze.
"...Let me live," pleaded Naoya, begging his father for mercy.
"Go rest. We'll train after breakfast," said Naobito before walking away.
"...I'm going to start a union," Naoya muttered as he hobbled back to his room, his steps wobbly and dramatic, like a war veteran who'd seen too much.
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Inside his room, Naoya plopped face-first onto his futon. The warmth of the bedding almost lulled him back to sleep.
But he decided to shake his drowsiness away, remembering what he had noticed on his way back to the room.
He lay on his back and stared at the ceiling, willing the system to appear.
Ding~
The translucent blue screen appeared before him the moment he thought about it.
____________________
Name: Naoya Zenin
Title: Body Stealer, Possible Zenin Heir
Cursed Technique: Locked
Cursed Energy: 570/570
STR: 18 (+3)
DEX: 12 (+2)
VIT: 33 (+3)
INT: 17 (+2)
LUK: 13 (+1)
Extra Points: 9 (+1)
Achievements: More(+)
_____________________
"So my stats go up naturally as well. I don't need points for that. Reasonable — I am growing naturally, after all," muttered Naoya.
He then looked at the timer that still had an hour left before he could add points.
He opened the Achievements tab to check if there were any new rewards to collect.
> Walk 1 km on two legs — (1 point) [Collect]
Naoya clicked Collect and heard the soft chime.
He then checked the list of ongoing achievements.
> Run 1km on 2 legs (1point) (0.58/1 km)
> Kneel for 10 hrs (1 point) (7/10 hrs)
>Walk 1km on 4 legs (1 point) (0.3/1 km)
>Walk 10km on 2 legs (1 point) (1/10 km)
After going through the list, these were the only achievable ones for now.
Sighing in annoyance, he closed the tab and waited for the timer to run out so he could assign his points.
Though while waiting, he slowly drifted off to sleep.
"Naoya-sama, breakfast is ready," called a voice from behind the door.
Hearing no response, the servant opened the door and peeked inside, only to find Naoya fast asleep.
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After being shaken awake, Naoya was now seated at the breakfast table with his father, who, as always, looked like the embodiment of discipline.
Naoya, on the other hand, felt soreness all over his body — though it wasn't as bad as in the morning.
While chewing his food, he silently opened his status screen.
____________________
Name: Naoya Zenin
Title: Body Stealer, Possible Zenin Heir
Cursed Technique: Locked
Cursed Energy: 570/570
STR: 18
DEX: 12
VIT: 33
INT: 17
LUK: 13
Extra Points: 10 (+1)
Achievements:
_____________________
He stared at the screen for a while before he allocated his points.
____________________
Name: Naoya Zenin
Title: Body Stealer, Possible Zenin Heir
Cursed Technique: Locked
Cursed Energy: 615/615
STR: 20 (+2)
DEX: 13 (+1)
VIT: 35 (+2)
INT: 20 (+3)
LUK: 15 (+2)
Extra Points: 0
Achievements:
_____________________
Giving one last look at his stats, he mentally sighed as his gaze fell on the "0" next to Extra Points.
I'll need to earn more soon, thought Naoya.
From the side, his father and the servants were watching him with puzzled expressions.
The kid was already on his eighth bowl of rice and showed no signs of stopping.
Naoya, oblivious to their thoughts, simply ate — worrying about his stressful future.
-----------------------
Later that day during training, Naoya noticed that he had made progress in manipulating cursed energy. He was now able to move a ball of cursed energy from one hand to the other, and even summon two such balls simultaneously — though the latter was slower.
Naobito looked at his son with his usual cold gaze, though inwardly, he was quite satisfied with the progress.
"All right, you will learn something new today. Practice your control during your free time," said Naobito.
Naoya looked at his father and asked without hesitation, "When do you even give me free time?"
The stick landed cleanly on his hand, making him wince in pain.
"I give you plenty of rest," said Naobito flatly.
Naoya wanted to protest but decided that was a bad idea.
"Now, you'll work on your cursed energy output. The amount a jujutsu sorcerer can release at a time almost certainly defines what rank that sorcerer is. You might have a lot of cursed energy, but being unable to utilize it won't make you a high-rank sorcerer," said Naobito in his strict tone.
Naoya nodded in understanding.
Naobito gestured to a servant, who brought him a stick.
Planting it in the ground, Naobito took ten steps back and gathered cursed energy in his hand.
With a wave, the energy shot forward and struck the stick, sending it flying.
"I controlled my output, but that's the gist of what you'll be doing," said Naobito.
"That's it?" asked Naoya. No stance, no buildup, nothing?
"That's it," replied Naobito.
Naoya nodded and moved away from the stick.
He copied Naobito's actions, gathering cursed energy in his hand before flicking it forward.
Nothing happened. The energy didn't leave his hand at all.
Naoya frowned at the rippling energy over his palm and flicked again.
Still nothing.
"Make it so that the cursed energy leaves your hand by the end of the day," said Naobito and walked away.
Today's training didn't require him to pay special attention to form, so Naobito decided to handle clan affairs. Training his son was important, but clan leadership took priority.
Naoya watched his father leave and thought he could take it easy today.
However, knowing his father, he immediately scrapped that thought. He was probably being watched already.
Naoya continued trying for hours. No progress.
Frustrated, he looked at the nearby trainees sparring and walked toward one of them.
"Hey, nii-san!" called Naoya.
"H-Huh? What is it, Naoya-sama? Do you need my assistance?" the older boy stammered. A Zenin calling him nii-san didn't sit right with him.
"Can you fire cursed energy from your hands?" asked Naoya.
"Hm? Yes, I can do that easily," said the boy, realizing what Naoya wanted.
"How do you do that. I have been trying to fling it off my hands like father but it's not working at all." said Naoya demonstrating his sticky cursed energy.
The older boy now knew his guess was correct and was about to answer the young Zenin. However before he did he looked at the instructors and elders around him wondering if he was allowed to do so.
After getting a clear nod from one of the elders, the boy sighed in relief and looked back towards Naoya.
"Naoya-sama, firing cursed energy is the final step of this training. You need to master the first step first."
"What's the first step?"
"Being able to gather and mold cursed energy without direct contact," explained the boy. He raised his palm, gathering cursed energy until a small orb formed — floating slightly above his skin.
"Cursed energy is tied to negative emotions, and since you're the source of your emotions, it clings to you. You should learn to make it detach while maintaining control."
Naoya nodded and gathered cursed energy in his hand and tried to follow what the older traiee showed him only to fail at that.
"It's difficult," he muttered.
"It should be," said the trainee. He drew his wooden sword. "Perhaps you should start by coating an object. The longer the object, the better and then slowly move forward from there." said the boy as he coated the wooden sword in cursed energy before releasing most of it only leaving some at the tip of the sword.
Naoya nodded. He looked around looking for a sword too. Only to see none was in sight.
He was about to ask the servant to bring him once before his gaze fell on the stick that was impaled in the ground.
"It's longer than the sword." muttered Naoya looking at the stick that was bigger than him.
Pulling it off the ground Naoya used his energy to coat the stick in it and almost instantly the energy moved coating the stick completely.
Theis garnered surprised looks from onlookers. They were not expecting the young boy to be able to do so in the first try. Afterall that trick too demanded a fair bit of control.
Naoya smiled seeing that he was able to atleast do that and then tried to imitate what the older trainee showed him.
.
.
.
Hours passed by, most of the trainees were gone for their break. It was lunch time afterall. However there stood a single boy who continued to train diligently.
"Stay there damn it!!!" yelled Naoya in annoyance.
He had improved from his first try but he still couldn't stabalize the cursed energy at the tip of the stick.
And although the servants have informed him that his lunch was ready, the young Zenin didn't move from his spot. He felt like he was close to mastering that trick and him finishing early meant that he could take the rest of the day easy since his father was not there to monitor him today.
Unbeknownst to Naoya, Naobito was looking at the training ground with a satisfied smile on his face. He was confused why his gluttonous son was not present for lunch, but seeing his determination while being on the training ground made him happy. For such a diligent son he promised himself to train him hard.
'This one might be worth investing in.' thought Naobito.
Naoya felt a shiver went past hus spine.
'Again? Who is wishing for my suffering?' thought Naoya before focusing back on the training,
.
.
.
A few more hours passed as the sun began to set.
Naoya still stood on the training ground — now with a triumphant grin.
At the tip of the stick floated a stable orb of cursed energy.
"Finally... I'm free for today!!!" he shouted joyfully.
Dropping the stick, he fell onto the ground, smiling.
A familiar voice spoke from behind. "Sleeping on the ground? Punished again?"
Naoya turned and saw Toji.
"No, just finished training. Nii-san, where are you coming from? Your clothes are disheveled," Naoya noted.
Toji looked at himself — his kimono indeed messy. "Whooped my brother's ass after he charged at me," he said with a smirk.
"Why did you two fight?"
"I laughed at him for being made fun of at the meeting."
"...This won't come back to bite me, right?" Naoya asked worriedly. After all, it was him who embarrassed Jinichi.
"It probably will. Best of luck," Toji said casually.
"Why?!"
"It's the Zenin clan. Most of them are moody babies," Toji shrugged.
"I won't die, right?" Naoya asked nervously.
"...Who knows," Toji replied — and Naoya caught the underlying meaning.
Toji looked at the panicked kid. He could almost see the gears turning in his head.
"Nii-san!" Naoya called suddenly, eyes lighting up with a plan.
"...What? I don't like that look," said Toji warily.
"You said that you beat your brother right?"
"'Whooped his ass' were my words but sure." replied Toji.
"Then be my bodyguard and save me from danger." said Naoya as he slowly walked towards Toji and looked at him with puppy eyes.
"Huh?"
Toji didn't know why but he almost felt a bit of pity after seeing those eyes.
Too bad for Noaya, Toji too was a cold blodded Zenin.
"Huh, no. Too bothersome."
"Eh? Please. I am nowhere near strong to save myself if I get attacked by Jinichi nii-san!!"
"Sounds like a you problem."
"You dragged me into this!"
"Me? You were the one who mocked his ugly mug. I just fanned the flames."
"Please, Toji nii-san! Save your adorable younger cousin!"
"Where's he. Let me kick him in the face and make him less adorable." Toji deadpanned, looking around.
"...You're mean, nii-san."
"Glad you noticed," said Toji with a smirk.
Toji smirked seeing the pouting young Zenin. He looked at him for a while before he picked up the stick from the ground.
"You know what would be funny?" asked Toji.
"What?" asked Naoya.
"If you beat the crap out of my trash brother yourself." said Toji, grinning maliciously.
"...I don't like where this is going." muttered Naoya slowly backing away.
Toji's grin widened. "Want to learn the art of ass-whooping from me?"
"No thank you! I already train enough!" Naoya said, backing several meters away.
"Oh, too bad. Maybe I should tell my brother you called him 'worse than trash' for losing to a 'failure' like me."
"When did I say that?" asked Naoya.
"You didn't. But he doesn't know that." replied Toji.
"....You are blackmailing me."
"I am blackmailing you," Toji confirmed without shame.
"Why?!"
"To cause some chaos in this den of snakes," said Toji as he hurled the stick at Naoya with some force behind it.
Widening his eyes in surprise, Naoya immediately stepped aside — the stick whooshed past him and impaled a nearby rock.
Seeing that scene Toji smirked.
'I was right. His senses are sharp.' thought Toji.
Naoya on the other hand looked at the stick that was stuck in the rock with horror. One moment of delay and he would have been skewered.
'What the hell is wrong with this clan?!?!?!' thought Naoya in panic.
"Come here at midnight," said Toji, walking away without waiting for an answer.
Naoya slumped to the ground. "Why me, God? What have I done wrong? So much suffering... Have some mercy!"
Ding~
As if answering his prayer, the familiar chime rung.
> Cursed Technique Unlocked