Kamo Shizumi did not hurry to leave.
He lingered at the fast-food restaurant until around three in the morning before finally departing.
If he went too early, “Rokudo Chinnō-ji Temple” would not even be open yet…
In fact, it was literally a small tourist attraction.
Although it was technically open year-round, visitors could only enter after nine o’clock each day.
Because Kamo Shizumi himself had some respect for these strange and mysterious things, he had originally planned to wait until the temple opened before entering properly and paying his respects.
But after seeing the actual admission fee, he made his decision within 0.2 seconds.
—Are you kidding me?
You want me to pay?
I might as well climb over the wall and take a look!
After all, Kamo Shizumi did not receive a salary for his work.
Unlike the jujutsu sorcerers next door, who even received dedicated pay when going on missions for Jujutsu High.
Old mother did not pay him anything…
Once you used up your money, you could only beg for food yourself, right?
Around five in the morning, Kamo Shizumi secretly climbed over the wall and slipped inside.
Along the way, he also took the opportunity to cram himself full of knowledge about the place.
The temple had apparently already been built around the eleventh century.
It had undergone a series of maintenance and renovations afterward, and overall, it had been fairly well preserved.
It was quite a respectable ancient-style structure.
Kamo Shizumi briefly looked around.
It was pitch-black, so he could hardly see anything useful…
Of course, the more concrete and convincing evidence was that he did not sense any response related to cursed energy.
Kenjaku had always acted with a purpose.
He should not be the kind of person who would treat someone like an idiot just for the sake of messing with them.
“…”
Probably.
Before long, Kamo Shizumi had already made a complete circuit around the temple, but he had not discovered any obvious response.
Just as he scratched his head in confusion, he looked toward the distance and belatedly realized something.
He had specifically searched for this place earlier.
The location once described as the “Mouth of Hell” was also known as “Rokudō no Tsuji.”
It was not inside the temple, but along a small road nearby.
Following the signs within the temple grounds, Kamo Shizumi began heading in that direction.
At the same time.
Kenjaku, sitting on the balcony of an apartment while flipping through a physical book from his collection, heard movement behind him and casually turned his head halfway around.
“Welcome back. How did the mission go?”
Hanami emerged from the shadows, walked forward, and handed over the object it was carrying.
Sukuna’s finger had been successfully recovered.
The sealing talisman was intact, with no signs of damage…
After performing a brief inspection and confirming that the seal was secure, Kenjaku nodded in satisfaction.
“Good work. Get some rest for a while. There will be other things that I need you all to take care of later.”
Just as he had said before, there was still that white-haired lunatic outside who could fly all over Japan with the Limitless.
Under such circumstances, Kenjaku could only minimize the amount of time he spent openly moving around.
By comparison, cursed spirits had a naturally advantageous position.
Thanks to their inherent advantages, as well as the various ridiculous decisions routinely made by the jujutsu higher-ups, they could actually act quite “freely” during this period.
Unexpectedly, however, Hanami did not turn around and leave.
It simply remained standing, its strange and intimidating face staring directly toward Kenjaku…
In silence.
Snap.
Kenjaku closed the book in his hands and turned his head halfway around.
“What is it? Is there something you want to ask?”
“Kamo Shizumi…”
After a brief pause, Hanami spoke in its usual calm tone.
“That person is your creation, is he not? Do you have any special plans for him later?”
“Let us say that he is one of my proudest creations. As for any special arrangements… I cannot really say there are any for now. Why?”
Hanami did not answer immediately.
It seemed to ponder, or perhaps carefully consider how to phrase its words, before continuing.
“Then find a way to make him stronger. Right now… he is too weak.”
Cursed spirits did not have many companions, so when circumstances allowed, they would also choose to cherish these “hard-won” friendships.
Although they had not known each other for particularly long, from Hanami’s perspective, the two of them had already become companions.
“Hah, he has already gotten along with cursed spirits this well? That really is unexpected.”
Kenjaku smiled and turned his head back.
With the distant light beginning to brighten the horizon, he narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke in a peculiar tone.
“This is a rare opportunity… I am in a very good mood today. Would you like to listen to some of my ‘ramblings’?”
“…”
Hanami had no idea what he was planning.
But it did not matter.
Hanami was essentially a weed, after all.
Kenjaku regarded it as nothing more than a talking vegetable, and his desire to talk happened to be overflowing…
He was already prepared to launch into a one-sided monologue.
“I told you before. Muku is a fictional concept I developed based on the Death Paintings, my contemplation of immortality and indestructibility, and the idea of rebirth that follows.”
In other words.
“In a certain sense, he is also one of my aspirations. However… one uncontrollable specimen is already enough.”
As he slightly raised his head, Kenjaku chuckled.
“As a point of comparison, I need another individual completely under my control, personally guided and carefully nurtured by my own hands, drop by drop.”
Back to the main point.
“You just said that you were worried about Muku’s strength, correct?”
—Although gossiping about someone behind their back was somewhat inappropriate, to be completely honest, that was indeed the case.
“Yes.”
“That is merely the surface. As long as he retrieves everything I designed for him beforehand, his strength will increase tremendously.”
If Kamo Shizumi had been listening in, he probably would not have been able to resist complaining.
—You did not hide a second Sukuna somewhere for me, did you?
No, please.
That would be way too disgusting…
After all, the jujutsu world was different from Naruto.
If something happened to you, Sukuna would only laugh at you mercilessly, take advantage of the situation to squeeze out some benefits, establish a binding vow, and then kick you aside at the first opportunity.
It could only be said that Sukuna had actually shown some restraint when it came to Yuji.
After all, that guy really had eaten people in his previous life…
If he suddenly got hungry during the possession and went off to enjoy himself, then after Yuji regained control of his body, there was a very good chance he would have to cry while getting his stomach pumped.
“What exactly did you do?”
Hanami rarely showed any emotional fluctuation.
And that was understandable.
Kenjaku kept talking in circles, yet never provided any useful information.
A person like this would probably get cursed by nine out of ten readers if he ever wrote a novel, with people wishing that his future children would be born without buttholes…
So, to put it bluntly.
“I left six very interesting things for him.”
Kenjaku seemed to savor his own words.
He spoke slowly, enunciating each word as though he were carefully chewing over every syllable.
“Oh, right. To describe them somewhat more accurately… I prepared no fewer than six ‘Special Grade Cursed Objects’ that only he can use.”