The Cursed Warehouse

New chapter is live.

Settle in, take your time, and let's see what waits in the dark 🖤

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Time passed, second by second.

The longer Naobito remained silent, the more impatient Itsuki became. Waves of overwhelming cursed energy rippled slowly through the shadows around him.

He had deliberately shown the Ten Shadows Technique the night before to give the old man a natural reason to step down.

If the Zenin Clan could not become a tool in his hands, then it would be better off destroyed.

The clan had no special grade sorcerer.

And Itsuki, who now controlled Kamui: Phasing, had nothing to fear from them.

As a defensive ability, Kamui: Phasing rivaled Satoru Gojo's Infinity.

Kamui: Annihilation was a terrifying spatial technique capable of tearing through even Infinity.

Now that he had awakened and gained initial control over his own power, Itsuki had every qualification to aim for the top.

But before he became untouchable, caution was still necessary.

What he lacked now were records on special cursed tools, information on the endless variety of cursed techniques in the jujutsu world, and enough money to hire or mobilize curse users when needed.

Those were the reasons he had not wiped out the entire clan last night.

He was treating this rotten family as fuel for his rise.

But if it could not be controlled...

With the Gedo Statue's vast cursed energy flowing through him, the shadows at Itsuki's feet began to pulse as if they were about to spread downward.

Killing intent poured through the room.

Only then did Jinichi realize something was wrong. His whole body tensed, and he scrambled to his feet, instinctively taking a combat stance.

Naobito's expression shifted.

After a brief hesitation, he sighed.

"I agree."

"After the meeting ends, I will announce it to the clan."

Naobito was not especially attached to power.

He had hesitated because of Itsuki's personality, and because everything the boy had shown from last night until now was tyrannical, violent, and murderous.

Nobuaki's death last night had happened only because he blocked Itsuki's path.

What kind of absurd reason was that?

A captain-level figure had been killed without mercy over something so small.

Naobito feared that if he stepped down now, half the clan's sorcerers might be dead before long.

The Ten Shadows Technique made Itsuki the undisputed next head of the Zenin Clan.

Naobito simply had not expected him to demand power this quickly.

He had planned to spend a few years teaching the boy, using that time to smooth away the resentment Itsuki carried toward the clan.

Seeing the old man yield, Itsuki drew his cursed energy back and gave his second demand without a change in expression.

"Send half the clan's sorcerers to capture cursed spirits alive and imprison them in the depths of the cursed warehouse."

When no answer came for a while, his voice turned colder.

"Old man, I am the clan head now. You only need to obey."

The sudden change in status clearly did not sit comfortably with Naobito.

But looking at Itsuki, who seemed ready to exterminate the clan whenever he was displeased, the old man could only sigh and agree.

"Give me the key to the cursed warehouse."

Itsuki gave the order as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Naobito did not hesitate.

He had intended to hand it over today anyway.

Not daring to come too close, he took out a key reinforced with cursed energy and tossed it toward Itsuki.

A claw flashed out of the shadows, caught the key, and sank back into Itsuki's shadow.

Itsuki gave Jinichi, standing beside Naobito, one cold glance, then turned toward the cursed warehouse.

Before leaving, he ordered without looking back, "I will be staying in the cursed warehouse for a while."

"Send any captured cursed spirits and organized intelligence to me immediately."

At those words, Naobito's defeated look changed.

He stared after Itsuki, a strange light in his eyes.

"Good," he said. "I will have everything organized and sent over."

Jinichi stared at him, baffled by the sudden change in attitude from the clan head.

No.

From the former clan head.

Only after Itsuki disappeared from view did Jinichi ask, "Old man, what was that?"

Naobito ignored the shift in how Jinichi addressed him. He took two or three steps to the corridor, sat down, and lifted his gourd.

After taking a long pull from the gourd, he glanced at the place where Jinichi had been sitting in the room earlier. His expression turned difficult to read.

"I thought that child was simply drowning in the power he had suddenly gained, using it to vent everything he suffered before."

"That was why I hesitated. I feared that power would make him look down on everything."

"But if he is actively asking for intelligence and information from the outside world, then he is not just some reckless brute."

"That's enough to make you happy?"

Jinichi walked back toward the room, still confused.

"You don't feel even a little resentment after that brat forced you to hand over the clan head's position?"

He broke off.

At last, Jinichi understood why Naobito had suddenly dragged him through the doorway earlier.

He stared at the place where he had been sitting, then at the hole in the courtyard wall behind it.

His expression tightened with horror, and he swallowed despite himself.

He had not seen it from his earlier angle.

Only now, after walking closer, did he realize the missing section of wall lined up perfectly with where his head had been.

"Old man," Jinichi snapped, turning sharply, "didn't the clan head order half the sorcerers to capture cursed spirits?"

"Why are you still standing here?"

Naobito froze.

His silver mustache twitched with anger.

Then he saw the fear hidden deep in Jinichi's eyes, and a faint smile touched his face as he stood to pass down the order.

The members of the Hei answered only to the clan head. Jinichi could not command them.

So Naobito had to deliver the new clan head's order himself.

Itsuki pushed open the doors of the cursed warehouse and looked around the forbidden Zenin site built inside a hollowed-out mountain.

This was his first time entering.

He knew cursed spirits were imprisoned in its depths only because he had read about it in the original manga in his previous life.

Rows of cursed tools lined the wooden racks, each one wiped clean and kept in perfect order.

There were more than a hundred of them. Each was worth tens or even hundreds of millions of yen, a clear measure of the Zenin Clan's wealth and resources.

Itsuki glanced over them briefly, then lost interest and walked deeper in.

Compared with the Uchiha gunbai, most of these were not worth much attention.

He pushed open the door covered in sealing talismans.

Roars echoed up from the staircase below.

A cruel smile spread across Itsuki's face.

He stepped onto the stairs and slowly descended into the dark.

The shadows beneath his feet and the void beside his shoulder began to boil with the same savage excitement.

Twenty minutes later.

"Not enough."

"Still not enough."

"These cursed spirits, this cursed energy, these negative emotions... none of it is enough."

Bathed in a rain of blood, his white robe dyed scarlet, Itsuki looked every bit like the child-shaped reaper from the night before.

The massive Divine Dog and Great Serpent moved through the cursed spirits with frightening agility, slaughtering and tearing apart the twisted monsters.

The giant hand reaching out from the space beside the boy's shoulder swept lightly across the chamber, grabbed handfuls of cursed spirits, and dragged them into the void, devouring the cursed energy inside their bodies.

Itsuki was not idle either.

Grinning broadly, he lunged forward, grabbed the nearest cursed spirit, a monster several times larger than himself, and tore it apart with his bare hands.

A rumble rose from the depths of the cursed warehouse, and the crazed laughter echoing through the cavern walls made the sorcerers and servants waiting outside feel their skin crawl.

They stood at the entrance holding stacks of intelligence files and books, wanting to step inside but unable to make their legs obey.

Every tremor from below made their hearts jump.

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