Location: Third Communal House, Washing Yard
Time: 07:00 AM (June 14, 1896)
Hanzo stepped down hard on the thick bamboo pedal.
CREAAK.
The heavy hemp rope pulled tight against the wooden frame.
Two thick wooden rolling pins squeezed violently together.
SQUELCH.
A stream of dirty, soapy water poured out of a gray hakama.
The water splashed directly into the muddy dirt below the basin.
Hanzo grabbed the dry uniform and tossed it into a clean wooden cart.
THUD.
Fourteen months had passed since he built the first mechanical wringer.
He was now seven years old.
He looked down at his own arms.
His gray shirt felt noticeably tighter across his shoulders.
His nightly limit-break training everyday had reached exactly two thousand four hundred consecutive strikes.
His muscles were packed tightly with dense, heavy fibers.
Hanzk purposefully forced his cursed energy output to remain fifteen percent during the training to match with other kids.
Tokichi walked over carrying a pile of wet cloaks.
The bald servant dropped the pile onto the wooden table next to Hanzo.
SLAP.
"...Ah, my back is actually surviving this week," Tokichi breathed out heavily.
Tokichi wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
"...I finished my entire section in an hour," Tokichi added with a wide grin.
Hanzo gave him a bright, casual smile.
"...You just pedal really fast, Tokichi-senpai," Hanzo replied politely.
Sadako laughed from the basin to his left.
She stepped on her own wooden pedal.
CREAAK.
"...Don't let him trick you, Hanzo," Sadako teased. "...He just dumps them in the lye and runs them through without scrubbing."
Tokichi crossed his arms and scowled at her.
"...The soap is at work," Tokichi argued loudly. "...That is the whole point of using it."
Sota dragged a wooden bucket of clean water across the mud.
SCRAPE.
"...I am just starving," Sota complained. "...I want lunch already."
Hanzo chuckled quietly and grabbed the heavy bucket from Sota's hands.
"...Let me help you with that, Sota-senpai," Hanzo offered.
He easily lifted the heavy bucket and poured it into Sota's basin.
SPLASH.
Sota patted Hanzo on the shoulder.
"...Thanks, kid," Sota smiled.
The communal house treated him exactly like a beloved younger brother.
His invention had completely changed their daily lives.
Matron Ota walked out onto the wooden porch.
She held her long pipe in her right hand.
"...Hanzo," Ota barked across the muddy yard.
Hanzo immediately stopped washing.
He wiped his wet hands on his gray pants and jogged over to the porch.
He bowed respectfully.
"...Yes, Ota-san," Hanzo answered.
Ota looked down at him.
"...The Main Estate members came by yesterday," Ota stated bluntly.
She took a slow drag from her pipe.
PUFF.
"...They saw the wringers," Ota continued. "...They took the design and ordered every single branch house to build them."
Hanzo blinked and looked up at her.
"...They said it will give the servants more time for other chores," Ota explained.
She lowered her pipe and stared at his face.
"...They did not offer a single coin of reward or recognition for you," Ota finished. "...It is simply expected."
Hanzo kept his face perfectly innocent.
He gave her a massive, bright smile.
"...I am just glad I could help the family, Ota-san," Hanzo smiled cheerfully.
Ota gave a short, quiet grunt.
"...You are a good boy, Hanzo," Ota said.
She waved her pipe toward the wash basins.
"...Finish up and wash the mud off your feet," Ota instructed. "...You have your Jujutsu class to attend."
Hanzo bowed deeply again.
"...Yes, Ota-san," Hanzo agreed.
He turned around and walked back toward his basin.
His cheerful smile immediately dropped.
'Zero credit and zero pay.'
He let out a slow, quiet sigh.
The feudal system was completely rigged from the top down.
It reminded him exactly of the corrupt people in his past life.
Hanzo grabbed another dirty hakama and threw it into the soapy water.
SPLASH.
He didn't actually care about the money or the clan's praise.
The foot-pedal wringer saved him three hours of manual labor every single morning.
Those three hours were his secret training time.
That was the only currency he actually valued.
He gripped the rough wool and started scrubbing.
SCRAPE. SCRAPE.
--<>--
Location: Branch Dojo
Hanzo slid the wooden door open.
SLIDE.
He stepped into the warm dojo and wiped a spot of mud off his pants.
Twenty children sat on small woven cushions across the tatami mats.
He walked to the middle row and sat down right next to Ren.
"...My stomach doesn't hurt anymore when I use cursed energy," Daiki bragged from the row behind them.
Daiki held his hand up to show off a steady blue glow.
Yumi rolled her eyes and swatted Daiki's hand down.
SMACK.
"...You have been saying that every single day for a year, Daiki," Yumi complained. "...We all know."
Hanzo smiled and rubbed his sore shoulder from last night limit break training.
"...It looks really good, Daiki," Hanzo lied politely.
Ren leaned over and bumped Hanzo's elbow.
"...Did you notice the back row is empty?" Ren whispered.
Hanzo looked over his shoulder.
The cushions usually reserved for the thirteen and fourteen-year-old students were completely bare.
"...Yeah, where are they?" Hanzo asked.
Ren puffed his chest out slightly.
"...They got assigned to actual perimeter patrols this morning," Ren gossiped. "...My dad said they are hunting real curses in the woods today."
Hanzo nodded slowly.
The clan was finally putting the older kids to work.
CLACK. CLACK.
Instructor Shizuka tapped a piece of white chalk against the large blackboard.
The entire room immediately fell silent.
Shizuka was a female Grade 2 sorcerer with sharp eyes and her dark hair pulled into a strict bun.
The clan elders kept her off the front lines and assigned her to teach Jujutsu theory instead.
"...Quiet down," Shizuka commanded. "...We are done talking about next barrier techniques."
She drew a large circle on the board.
"...Today we start stationary Bounded Fields," Shizuka announced.
Hanzo picked up his ink brush and unrolled his blank paper.
RUSTLE.
"...Most of the world outside of Japan has very little cursed energy to none." Shizuka explained. "...The curses over there are weak and nonexistent."
She drew four small squares inside the large circle.
"...Japan is completely different because of Master Tengen," Shizuka stated.
Hanzo stopped moving his brush.
'The immortal shut-in.'
He remembered the thumb-headed character from his past life's anime.
"...Master Tengen maintains four pure barriers across our entire country," Shizuka continued. "...It traps and concentrates the world's cursed energy right here."
"...Sensei," Kenta spoke up.
Shizuka turned around and looked at the ten-year-old veteran.
"...How does one person cast a net over an entire country without running out of energy?" Kenta asked.
Shizuka set her chalk down on the wooden tray.
CLACK.
"...A barrier is not just a wall of raw energy, Kenta," Shizuka answered.
She walked closer to the front row.
"...You have to visualize the exact distance and shape in your mind," Shizuka explained. "...You lay down an rule and establish a strict condition."
She pointed a finger at her own temple.
"...If you set a rule like 'Curses cannot enter, but humans can leave,' the universe enforces it," she finished. "...The stricter the condition, the less cursed energy you actually spend."
Hanzo stared down at his blank scroll.
'It is just structural mathematics.'
He visualized a bridge blueprint in his head.
If he wanted to build a bridge, he just needed to calculate the load-bearing limits, tension, and material density.
Bounded Fields were the exact same thing.
You just replaced steel and concrete with spatial coordinates and conditional logic.
'Higuruma did exactly this.'
Hanzo remembered the lawyer from the manga who reverse-engineered complex domain mechanics just by reading the legal rules.
If a sorcerer could do the rapid mental math, they could weaponize a barrier in the middle of a fight.
Hanzo gripped his ink brush tightly.
This was the most underrated technique in the entire era.
He absolutely needed to master this before he tried to steal the Cursed Womb Death Paintings.
The paintings leaked massive amounts of highly concentrated negative energy.
If he just picked them up, the Kamo elders would track him instantly.
'I have to cast a flawless, airtight barrier around them to mask the radiation.'
Shizuka reached into her kimono sleeve.
She pulled out a small, buzzing cicada she caught from the courtyard.
BUZZZZ.
She placed the insect on the wooden floorboards.
She raised her right hand and crossed her index and middle fingers.
"...Watch closely," Shizuka ordered the class.
FWOOSH.
A tiny, semi-transparent black dome snapped into existence directly over the insect.
It was exactly the size of a teacup.
The cicada flew straight up and slammed into the invisible roof of the dome.
THINK.
It dropped back down to the floor, completely trapped inside the six-inch space.
"...I mapped the exact radius," Shizuka stated. "...And I set the condition to trap living tissue."
The children leaned forward and stared in pure awe.
Daiki's mouth hung wide open.
Hanzo dipped his brush into his inkwell.
TAP.
He started frantically sketching geometric formulas next to the Japanese kanji on his scroll.
He had exactly nine years left to turn this math into a weapon.
--<>--
Location: Kamaishi Village, Iwate Prefecture
Time: 07:32 PM (Next Day)
A man pulled the thick hemp rope tight against the wooden dock.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"...Hurry up," another man grunted. "...The tide is pulling hard tonight."
The old fisherman tied a heavy knot on his own boat.
A deep, vibrating hum suddenly echoed from the dirt paths behind the beach.
RUMBLE.
The man dropped his rope.
The wooden planks under his feet violently jerked sideways.
CRACK.
Jiro lost his balance and fell hard onto his knees.
THUD.
"...Earthquake!" a woman screamed from the dirt road.
The violent shaking tore through the coastal village.
Clay roof tiles shattered against the dirt.
CRASH.
The violent tremors did not stop.
They dragged on for five agonizing minutes.
Jiro gripped the edge of the dock and gasped for air.
The shaking finally slowed down to a dull rumble.
Jiro looked out at the dark ocean.
The water was rapidly sucking backward away from the beach.
WHOOSH.
It exposed miles of black mud, jagged rocks, and flopping fish.
Kenzo's eyes went completely wide.
"...Oh my god," Kenzo whispered.
The old man grabbed Jiro by the collar and hauled him up.
"...Run to the hills!" Kenzo screamed at the top of his lungs. "...Leave everything!"
The villagers panicked.
Mothers dropped their wooden baskets.
People scrambled over the cracked dirt roads in pure terror.
A deafening, terrifying roar drowned out their screams.
ROAAR.
A one hundred and twenty-foot wall of black water blocked out the night sky.
It crashed down directly onto the wooden village.
SMASH.
Thousands of homes turned into completely unrecognizable splinters in a single second.
The sheer, concentrated panic and despair spiked the ambient cursed energy of the entire country.
--<>--
Location: Tokyo Imperial Palace, Chiyoda
Time: 07:40 PM
The heavy wooden pillars of the imperial quarters groaned violently.
CREAAK.
Emperor Mutsuhito gripped the wooden armrests of his chair.
He kept his face perfectly calm.
The paper sliding doors slammed open.
SLIDE.
Four royal guards rushed into the room with their hands on their sword hilts.
"...My Lord!" the lead guard yelled. "...We need to evacuate you to the gardens!"
Dust rained down from the ceiling tiles.
A tall man stepped out from the shadows of the hallway.
He wore the traditional white and purple robes of a high-ranking Onmyoji retainer.
"...Hold your ground," the retainer ordered sharply.
VMMMM.
The violent shaking inside the Emperor's room completely stopped.
The royal guards froze in confusion.
They could hear the distant sounds of buildings collapsing outside the palace walls.
They could see the trees in the garden violently whipping back and forth.
But the floorboards beneath their feet were perfectly still.
The retainer lowered his hand and bowed deeply to the Emperor.
"...You are perfectly safe, My Lord," the retainer stated calmly.
The Emperor slowly let go of his armrests.
"...The shaking outside is severe," the Emperor noted.
The retainer nodded once.
"...Onmyodo's pure barrier holds the foundation of these grounds," the retainer explained. "...It completely neutralizes the earthquake."
The retainer stood up straight.
"...The commoners will suffer tonight," he added coldly. "...But the royal family remains untouched."
The Emperor closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.
--<>--
Location: Kyoto Underground, Reggie's Office
The underground office smelled heavily of cheap tobacco and damp dirt.
Reggie Star sat behind his large mahogany desk.
He rapidly counted a stack of yen bills with his right thumb.
FLICK. FLICK.
Koji paced back and forth across the small room.
"...The Zenin clan in Osaka," Koji muttered. "...We can ask for double our usual rate."
Reggie didn't look up from his money.
"... Take the contract," Reggie decided. "...But we demand a forty percent upfront deposit." This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Koji rubbed his temples.
"...The Zenin elders will never agree to forty percent," Koji argued.
Reggie picked up a small ceramic teacup.
"...They will when another squad dies tomorrow," Reggie laughed.
He took a sip of the bitter tea.
SLURP.
A low, vibrating hum suddenly echoed through the floorboards.
RUMBLE.
The entire underground office violently jerked sideways.
"Whoa!" Koji yelled.
Koji lost his footing and slammed hard into the wooden wall.
THUD.
The tremors from the northeast finally hit Kyoto.
The ceiling beams directly above Reggie's desk cracked loudly.
CRACK.
Dust and dirt rained down onto the stacks of yen.
"...The support beams are snapping!" Koji screamed in panic.
Reggie dropped his teacup.
CRASH.
He reached inside his dark suit jacket.
He pulled out a thick wad of printed merchant receipts.
He channeled his cursed energy directly into the paper.
"...Contractual Recreation," Reggie commanded.
The receipts burst into bright orange flames in his hand.
FWOOSH.
The burned paper instantly converted back into physical items.
Three massive, iron-reinforced wooden pillars manifested out of thin air.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
The heavy pillars slammed vertically into the dirt floor.
They wedged perfectly against the cracking ceiling beams.
The roof groaned under the shifting earth above them.
CREAAK.
The iron-reinforced pillars held firm.
And the ceiling stopped collapsing.
Reggie brushed the dirt off his expensive suit jacket.
He stood in the dirt and completely ignored the shaking room.
He closed his eyes.
He felt a massive, suffocating wave of negative cursed energy rolling across Japan from the coast.
It was a country-wide spike of pure terror.
Reggie opened his eyes and grinned widely.
"...Millions of people are terrified right now," Reggie noted casually.
Koji picked himself up from the dirt.
"...What does that mean?" Koji coughed through the dust.
Reggie grabbed his leather bag and shoved the yen inside.
"...It means the Big Three clans are about to lose complete control of the country," Reggie smiled.
He tossed the bag over his shoulder.
"...Our independent network is going to extort them for every single yen they have."
--<>--
Location: Kamo Main Estate, Washing Yard
RUMBLE.
The muddy dirt of the washing yard bucked violently.
Hanzo dropped the wet uniform he wore and scrubbing.
He immediately widened his stance in the mud.
He pushed his twenty-five percent cursed energy straight down into the soles of his feet.
He connected himself directly to the shifting ground.
"...Get away from the porch!" Tokichi screamed over the noise.
Tokichi grabbed eleven-year-old Sota by the back of his shirt.
He dragged the panicked boy backward into the open dirt.
CRACK.
The wooden support beams of the communal house splintered loudly.
Sadako let out a terrified shriek.
She scrambled on her hands and knees and dove straight under the heavy wooden sorting table.
Hanzo kept his balance and looked toward the center of the estate.
The Main Family houses sat on a raised stone foundation.
Noritoshi Kamo stood on the highest curved roof of the main hall.
Eight older clan elders stood in a wide circle around him.
Noritoshi Kamo slowly raised his hands.
He crossed his index and middle fingers.
The eight elders instantly mirrored the exact hand sign.
"...Emerge from darkness," Noritoshi chanted.
The voices of the elders completely pierced the deafening roar of the earthquake.
"...Blacker than black."
FWOOSH.
A colossal, semi-transparent black dome snapped into existence.
It covered the entire Kamo estate in a fraction of a second.
The moment the dark barrier locked into the dirt, the violent shaking completely stopped.
The mud settled instantly.
The wooden washing carts stopped rolling.
Hanzo could still hear the roar of the earthquake destroying the rest of Kyoto outside the walls.
Inside the black dome, the earth was perfectly still.
"...We are safe," Sota gasped from the dirt.
Sota buried his face in Tokichi's chest and sobbed.
Tokichi patted the boy's back and stared up at the black sky in pure relief.
Hanzo stared closely at the barrier.
His engineering brain traced the structural geometry in his head.
The clan leaders did not just cast a wall to keep falling debris out.
They calculated the exact kinetic force of the earthquake in real-time.
They used the Bounded Field as a literal shock-absorber to stabilize the tectonic shifting beneath their feet.
Hanzo thought about Instructor Shizuka's lecture from that morning.
'Master Tengen covers the entire country.'
He looked at Noritoshi Kamo lowering his hands on the distant roof.
'Between the two of them who has an upperhand in skill and experience?'
The terrifying utility of the technique sent a heavy shiver down Hanzo's spine. He wanted to learn it and derived countless techniques from it.
He needed to push his own barrier skills to the peak.
--<>--
Location: Sanriku Coast (Tohoku Region)
Time: 06:00 AM (Next Day)
The 8.2 magnitude earthquake had fractured the sea floor the previous night.
It violently displaced billions of gallons of ocean water.
Thirty minutes later, a devastating tsunami slammed into the Sanriku coast.
The waves reached a terrifying height of one hundred and twenty-five feet.
They crushed over nine thousand wooden homes into absolute splinters.
They wiped entire fishing villages completely off the map.
Twenty-two thousand civilians died in a single, brutal hour.
The ocean water was currently choked with shattered wood, broken fishing boats, and thousands of floating bodies.
In the world of Jujutsu, mass death of this scale left a permanent scar on the physical world
Twenty-two thousand people experienced the exact same agonizing fear of drowning simultaneously.
That sheer, concentrated volume of negative emotion sank directly into the ocean.
Deep underwater, miles off the coast of Iwate, the dark Japan Trench sat in absolute freezing silence.
The heavy cloud of negative cursed energy pulled downward like a sinking iron weight.
It hit the bottom of the trench and began to swirl.
It rotated violently in the pitch-black water.
The energy condensed and thickened from a loose gas into a heavy, viscous liquid.
A grotesque shape began to bulge in the freezing darkness.
Thick veins of dark blue cursed energy pulsed across its uneven surface.
THUMP.
A deep, echoing heartbeat vibrated through the trench.
THUMP.
It was a cursed spirit.
It sat safely at the bottom of the ocean.
It fed directly on the residual fear of the water and the twenty-two thousand dead civilians above it.
The era had just birthed an oceanic Special Grade cursed spirit.
--<>--
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