The Hidden Pieces – Chapter 55

The Hidden Pieces – Chapter 55

The pile of books had gotten smaller.

Not by much, but enough.

Ren had gone through 7 of them in the last 5 hours. His eyes burned. His neck ached. His legs were folded under him like a monk mid-meditation. But he was still reading.

Still devouring.

Still buzzing.

Every sentence made his mind light up. Every diagram. Every annotation. Every side note scribbled by some dead sorcerer five generations ago—it was all adding up to the same thing.

He had been missing something crucial.

And now?

Now he'd found it.

Ren laughed.

Loud.

Then he grinned so wide he felt his cheeks stretch.

"Chanting and hand signs!!" he practically shouted to no one but the room. "Holy shit! That's what I was missing!"

He leaned back, looking up at the ceiling like he'd just cracked the code to the universe.

"I'm so STUPID," he muttered, laughing harder now. "How did I forget about this? I watched JJK, like, what? Three times? And I STILL forgot about hand signs and chants? It's literally in the first few arcs!"

But then again…

Ren rubbed his chin.

It wasn't emphasized much in the anime or manga.

Most sorcerers didn't say their techniques aloud unless it was flashy or emotional. And most hand signs were shown mid-fight, hidden by angles or stylization.

Sukuna used one before casting Dismantle or Cleave. That weird twist of his fingers before sending it slicing through the air.

Gojo's "Red" and "Blue" also came with gestures. Pointers. Flicks. Palm facing up, palm facing down.

Ren thought back to Mahito's weird lotus-hand gesture when he activated Idle Transfiguration.

There was a pattern.

And now?

Now Ren finally saw it.

"Chants and signs," he said again. "Cursed energy output stabilizers. Flow amplifiers. Target locks. So that's why my cursed energy was so damn wonky sometimes."

He flipped open a thick red-backed book called Energy Flow: Internal Circuits and Projection Rituals.

One chapter had a section highlighted:

"Those with advanced control often pair their cursed techniques with gestures or internalized chants. This creates reinforcement pathways to optimize flow direction, precision, and attack efficiency."

Ren sat back, stunned.

He blinked.

"...So basically… my technique was nerfed this whole time because I didn't even know how to do the spiritual equivalent of turning the faucet the right direction."

He closed the book.

And he smiled.

It was a hungry, excited, almost unhinged kind of smile.

"Okay. Okay, okay—so I don't have chants or signs in my technique yet… But what if I make them?"

He paused.

Then he whispered to himself.

"Binding vows."

That changed everything.

If he designed a chant and hand sign combo and tied it to a binding vow, he could lock in effects—force consistency. Pay the price, yes, but earn stable outputs in return.

He could use the chant to sharpen his threads.

A sign to fire them faster.

Even automate bursts of cursed energy through certain motion combos.

It wouldn't be infinity, no.

But it would be his.

Ren slammed the book shut and stood up, practically shaking with adrenaline.

Now he knew what his next step was.

For the next five hours, Ren didn't stop.

He read more—everything he could find on binding vows, cursed technique amplifiers, structural output, and spiritual relays through muscle tension. His notebook (a new one Gojo had given him casually in the morning) was already half full.

Ren had never loved a notebook more in his life.

What Gojo thought was just "giving the brat some reading material" had turned into Ren's most valuable treasure chest.

And what was truly insane?

The books on Reverse Cursed Energy and Domain Construction were just sitting there.

Waiting.

He hadn't even touched those yet.

He almost couldn't believe it.

"This is the best fucking day ever," Ren muttered as he sat cross-legged on the floor, arms wide, staring at his new world of knowledge.

"Honestly… coming here just for these books was worth it…"

He leaned back, laughing like a man who had found paradise.

"Not only that… I actually have time," he whispered.

And then…

His voice went quiet.

"...I should have about two months before Geto starts his war."

It was the first time he said it aloud.

Two months.

That was the countdown.

The calm before the storm.

But now?

He wasn't scared.

He wasn't uncertain.

Because this time, for once...

He had everything he could ever want.

Time. Space. Books. A room. Rika. Kai2.

Ren sat there for a few more seconds in silence.

Then—

Pop!

Kai2 wiggled out of Ren's shadow like a startled eel.

The tiny fish-curse blinked up at him, one eye drooping slightly, its body glowing faintly red from the cursed energy residue in the room.

"Ah!" Ren grinned. "You're out!"

Kai2 chirped softly and nuzzled up to Ren's leg.

Ren reached down and gently patted its slimy head. "You're going to become stronger, little guy. Way stronger."

Kai2 made a low warbling noise, confused but content.

Ren smiled. "The next two months are going to be fun."

Kai2 looked up at him with something that could almost be called admiration.

Then, sensing its master's manic energy bubbling again, it quietly slithered back into Ren's shadow.

Ren stood and stretched.

Cracks ran through his spine.

Time to return to the roots.

He pulled out a clean scroll of paper and sat back down at his desk, flipping to a fresh notebook page marked: Red Cursed Circuit—Improvements.

Now that his brain had cleared and the foundation had been found, Ren finally understood his technique's true weaknesses.

Before this?

He was trying to copy Gojo.

Automate the Red Cursed Circuit like Gojo did with Infinity—make it always active.

But that was dumb.

No, worse.

It was delusional.

Gojo was Gojo because of Six Eyes.

He didn't just have massive reserves and perfect control—he had auto-feedback optimization. His cursed energy fine-tuned itself.

Ren was smart.

But he wasn't Gojo.

And now, finally, he accepted that.

"So I'll do it the Ren way," he muttered.

He picked up his pencil.

Wrote the first vow:

"When I form the seal of Threading Claws, Red Stitch's velocity is tripled, but costs increased cursed energy flow."

Then another:

"When I chant the phrase 'Bind and tear, thread of red,' output sharpness increases for 5 seconds."

He stopped. Reread it.

And grinned.

"Yeah. That's doable."

Ren always wondered how Sukuna could throw his Dismantle so fast, so clean, and so reliably.

But now?

He understood.

Sukuna didn't just chuck it.

He wove it.

He used a hand sign.

A flow gesture that pushed cursed energy through the air and carved through the battlefield.

And Gojo?

Even his little pointer flicks and lazy palm waves carried purpose.

Every gesture amplified a function.

Every motion became a channel.

Ren laughed.

Loud.

Manic.

Wild.

The kind of laugh that came when puzzle pieces finally locked into place after days, weeks, or months of blurry confusion.

"What I thought was impossible…"

He stood up, arms raised.

"...is now absolutely possible."