Chapter 38: The Importance of Weapons! (BONUS)

At the same time, Satoru stood next to Toji, a smug expression on his face.

The six-year-old boy's sky-blue eyes gleamed with excitement, and despite his youthful appearance, his grin carried a confidence far beyond his years.

At this moment, enlightenment had already begun to dawn upon the world.

If someone were to ask him why he was smiling, he would have answered without hesitation, because this was a Zanpakutō, and this Zanpakutō had been forged by his younger brother!

Satoru was determined to see all of Satoshi's ambitions come to fruition.

Zanpakutō, Zanpakutō! Sode no Shirayuki and Suzumushi—these cursed tools are unbelievably powerful. I have to get Satoshi to forge a unique and ridiculously cool Zanpakutō for me.

Haha, seriously? This is it? This is supposed to be a kendo competition?

All their weapons are broken, what else is there to compete with? If it weren't for the Suzumushi that Satoshi forged, Shunichi would've lost miserably this time.

Satoru stroked his chin as he looked at the shattered swords littering the dojo floor, nodding in satisfaction.

Let's see if anyone in the Gojo family dares to look down on my little brother now.

Satoru had always been aware of the Twin Curse Faction's hostility toward Gojo Satoshi and the Neutral Faction's indecisiveness.

Before, since Satoshi had only managed to forge a single Zanpakutō, Satoru had kept his emotions in check. But now, he had no reason to hold back.

The existence of Satoshi's Zanpakutō gave him absolute confidence and more importantly, it secured Satoshi's position within the clan.

"Toji, what do you think? Looking forward to your future Zanpakutō?"

Satoru nudged Toji's ribs playfully, his face brimming with excitement.

"I am, but you should be more excited than me, right? You're definitely getting yours before I do."

Toji raised an eyebrow. Though he admitted he was looking forward to it, he maintained an indifferent expression.

"Of course!"

Satoru didn't argue. He firmly believed that as soon as Satoshi mastered the rules of forging Zanpakutō, his priority would be to create one for him first.

That was the agreement between them as brothers.

"Still, the Suzumushi that Satoshi forged is absurdly strong. It's easily on par with a Grade 1 cursed tool."

Satoru activated his Six Eyes and closely observed Suzumushi. Given its current performance and the mysterious abilities inherent in all Zanpakutō, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to classify it as a Grade 1 cursed tool.

Of course, Satoshi had previously mentioned that Zanpakutō couldn't be judged by the same ranking system as standard cursed tools.

But for now, until Satoshi established his own ranking system, Satoru and Toji could only measure Suzumushi against the conventional classifications.

"It's at the level of a Grade 1 cursed tool? Just that alone makes it impressive."

Toji nodded.

"I've seen the kind of strength a Grade 1 cursed tool possesses back at the Zenin Clan, and this isn't any weaker. As long as Suzumushi's ability isn't completely useless, it definitely qualifies as Grade 1."

Neither Toji nor Satoru believed for a second that Suzumushi's ability would be useless.

After all, they had already seen how overwhelming Sode no Shirayuki was.

A Zanpakutō personally crafted by Satoshi wouldn't be inferior. If Suzumushi ever failed to live up to expectations, the fault could only lie with Gojo Shunichi for not being able to fully wield its power.

…

"How about we end the match here?"

Shunichi glanced around at the eerie silence in the dojo and finally spoke up.

Their opponents no longer had weapons were they expected to fight barehanded?

This was supposed to be a kendo match. Without swords, how could it be considered kendo?

Were they really expected to use the so-called "sword of the heart" to fight?

Shunichi's voice shattered the tense silence. The spectators snapped out of their daze and immediately began whispering among themselves.

"The Gojo family's weapons are insane! Master Shunichi's sword is on a completely different level from Master Saemon's, there's no way he could have lost."

"Yeah, this wasn't even a fair fight."

"If they had been using the same weapon, Master Saemon definitely would've won."

"But a kendo match at this level allows different weapons, right? It's not like Master Shunichi did anything wrong. It's just that the weapons our Yagyū family provided for Master Saemon were… lacking."

The moment someone from the Yagyū family said this, the other disciples of the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū fell silent.

Only now did they truly grasp the importance of weapons.

Yet, the Yagyū family had never held much influence in the world of jujutsu. They had even resorted to challenging the Gojo family just to maintain their reputation.

Given their limited standing, how could they afford to invest more resources into their kendo masters?

It wasn't that they didn't want to, it was that they simply didn't have the means.

And even if they had the money, could they just buy a sword like Suzumushi off the market?

On the other side, the disciples of the Gojo family's Kyokushin-ryū were bursting with excitement.

"Master Shunichi is incredible! Even though it's a bit one-sided, that was seriously satisfying! What was the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū thinking, trying to show off in our Kyokushin-ryū dojo?"

"Right? Even though Master Shunichi hasn't been around much recently, he still came prepared! Using his weapon as his trump card, maybe this was his way of showing his dissatisfaction with Yagyū Shinkage-ryū?"

"Honestly, can you blame him? Master Shunichi has always had a fiery temper, and now the Yagyū family is trying to use him as a stepping stone? No one would take that lying down."

"You were so cocky before, but now you're dead silent, huh? I know it's a bit rude, but watching Master Saemon's expression right now is priceless."

As the Gojo Kyokushin-ryū disciples observed Yagyū Saemon's fluctuating expression, some of their excitement was replaced with a hint of sympathy.

Even Yagyū Saemon himself probably hadn't expected things to turn out like this.

Many spectators remained immersed in their own discussions, their thoughts mirroring those of the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū disciples.

"Kotetsu, I've never seen the weapon Master Shunichi is using before. Didn't he always use Cicada? When did he switch swords? It looks so unremarkable, but its strength is unbelievable."

Kotetsu found himself surrounded by a group of fellow disciples. Though they all trained under the same school, close friendships still formed within the dojo.

The reason he had been chosen to call Gojo Shunichi earlier was simple, he was the disciple that Gojo Shunichi valued the most.