Several days later, Kenjaku, finally finished with his busy schedule, returned to his small courtyard in the Kamo Family compound.
After repeatedly checking the barriers of his hidden storages across the country, he received the post-battle report from Jujutsu Headquarters.
Only then did he finally understand how Tamamo-no-Mae had managed to infiltrate his hidden storages.
Feeling relieved, Kenjaku began to consider his next move.
In his eyes, this era was the closest he had ever been to realizing his dream.
Tengen had failed to assimilate with the Star Plasma Vessel and had begun evolving into a higher lifeform.
More importantly, the current Tengen was closer to a Cursed Spirit than a human.
This made her a perfect match for his specialization.
Moreover, this era presented him with an extremely suitable body: Geto Suguru.
Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
After thoroughly analyzing Suguru's technique, Kenjaku felt it was practically an Innate sacred vessel prepared by fate for his Possession.
Many troublesome problems would become much simpler once he acquired Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
For example, the barrier of the Culling Game.
Originally, Kenjaku had planned to find a way to establish a Binding Vow with Tengen or to seize control of her barrier.
But now, Tengen had become a Cursed Spirit.
And this era also had Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
When Kenjaku first learned of this, he laughed so hard that his stitches almost came undone.
However, to fully achieve his goal, he still needed to resolve several problems.
First, how to occupy Suguru's body and seize his technique.
The current Suguru had grown to a terrifying level.
Not only did he possess multiple Special Grade Cursed Spirits, he also had trump cards like Yamata no Orochi and Ootengu.
Of course, that wasn't the most important issue.
After all, Kenjaku still had many hidden storages, and with adequate preparation, he still had a chance to defeat Suguru.
The real problem was Suguru's companions.
Whether it was Gojo Satoru, the Six Eyes user he already understood well.
Or Azuma Eichi, whom even he found extremely troublesome.
Unless he found a way to separate the three, Kenjaku had no confidence in taking down Suguru.
He was already using his full power just to deal with one Suguru.
If two more joined, he truly couldn't handle it.
So, his plans for the near future were already set.
The first was to find a way to split up the trio.
Ideally, he would have them turn against each other.
Even if that wasn't possible, he at least needed to isolate Suguru.
Kenjaku was confident in this area.
Unlike Tengen, who was a thousand-year-old technical shut-in unable to understand human nature and secluded herself in a small chamber, Kenjaku had interacted with countless powerhouses over the centuries and had a very precise grasp of human psychology.
So, he already had a plan to slowly corrupt Suguru.
In fact, this plan had been set in motion over a month ago, even before the Battle of Sendai.
This was the least of his concerns.
The second issue was how to deal with Eichi and Satoru.
This was also his most troublesome problem.
Over the past thousand years, he had encountered the Six Eyes multiple times.
He had been defeated by them and had also killed them before they fully matured.
Because of that, Kenjaku had a deep understanding of the Six Eyes' power.
And Satoru's talent and strength were the greatest among all Six Eyes users in history.
"What a headache. Gojo Satoru can already use Domain Expansion, right? A genius who can use Domain Expansion in his teens..."
In the Battle of Sendai, Satoru's aerial battle with Ootengu had drawn massive attention.
He was arguably the most watched individual, aside from Artoria, who had used her Holy Sword twice.
Soon after, Kenjaku picked up a brush and wrote down three words: Technique, Cursed Object, and cursed tool.
Satoru's Limitless was powerful, but not invincible.
At the very least, Toji's Inverted Spear of Heaven could break through Limitless.
Kenjaku had witnessed it firsthand during the Star Plasma Vessel incident.
If he hadn't seen Toji defeat Satoru, he wouldn't have appeared to intercept Eichi and buy Toji time.
Nor would he have lost Yamata no Orochi, one of the top-tier specimens in his entire collection.
But it didn't matter. As long as he took over Suguru's body, he could reclaim Yamata no Orochi.
"It seems that collecting Techniques, cursed tools, and Cursed Objects that can counter Limitless will be my priority for a while."
As long as he obtained a trump card capable of threatening Satoru,
Kenjaku was confident that, with his wisdom and resources, he could deal with Satoru.
"Next, Azuma Eichi."
To Kenjaku, this enemy was no less troublesome than Satoru.
The Ten Shadows Technique could handle various scenarios.
Combined with that external Technique, the Holy Grail.
Due to the emergence of hypothetical Heroic Spirits and Eichi's constant release of Type-Moon anime, games, and other works,
Information about the Holy Grail was already semi-public within the Jujutsu world.
So, Kenjaku had plenty of intel on Eichi.
Eichi didn't care about this.
Just like how Satoru openly used his Domain in front of Yuji and Sukuna without hiding it.
Although Eichi didn't deliberately spread information about his technique,
He also didn't bother keeping it secret.
As long as one was strong enough, there was nothing to fear.
This was the philosophy Satoru upheld. And before encountering Sukuna, it had always held true.
Kenjaku originally thought Sukuna didn't reveal his technique because he thought it unnecessary.
In reality, Sukuna considered technique disclosure beneath him, far inferior to the Binding Vow-based "loan" method of gaining something for nothing.
Sukuna: It comes with a Binding Vow.
Eichi had once asked Satoru why he didn't use Binding Vow loans.
Satoru replied, "I don't want to be bound. And besides, Binding Vow loans? Aren't those for weaklings who don't have these things to begin with? Why would someone as powerful as me resort to petty tricks?"
Eichi: "..."
Case closed. The reason Satoru lost to Sukuna was because this pampered young master had everything since childhood and never learned how to take out loans.
"As expected, I can only target Azuma Eichi himself..."
Kenjaku propped his chin with one hand, muttering as he stared at the material on Eichi.
Eichi's strength was well-rounded. Ten shikigami, paired with various Heroic Spirits, allowed him to handle any battle.
And these Heroic Spirits were exceptionally powerful.
However, compared to Satoru, Eichi had a weakness that wasn't quite a weakness.
That was Eichi himself.
To defeat a shikigami user, one must first defeat the user.
This was a recognized truth in the Jujutsu world.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock came at the door.
"Come in."
Swish.
The sliding door opened, and a woman in a kimono knelt down, offering a document with both hands.
"My Lord, this is the information you requested."
"Place it there and leave."
"Yes."
The woman respectfully placed the document down, then quietly left the room.
Kenjaku wrote a few words under Azuma Eichi's name, then picked up the document she had delivered.
As he opened it, he froze.
"My Cursed Spirit Manipulation ran away?"
The news of Suguru heading overseas made him pause.
"Did those Curse Users hit him so hard he fled?"
Kenjaku was momentarily baffled.
"Whatever. As long as he's away from Satoru and Eichi, it's fine. Worst case, I'll go abroad and catch him."
What Kenjaku didn't know was that,
After leaving, Suguru had already gathered a group of reliable comrades.
There was Miguel, the African black arm acknowledged by the prison warden.
And Larue, who could suppress Sukuna with overwhelming control.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)