The Inumaki Clan Prodigy [Jujutsu Kaisen]

Isamu swung his sword towards his advancing opponent, the opponent bent his knee and dashed to the side, barely avoiding the blow. He counter attacked with a swing from his own sword, a wooden one to contrast Isamu's wrapped edge.

Isamu's dark haired opponent recoiled a bit when Isamu blocked the strike. Despite Isamu being on the lower end of average in strength among the 1st grade sorcerers, he was still a 1st grade. This simple difference in grade was clear to his opponent, he was like a wall, attacking it head on was no use unless you were of equal grade or had something to even the odds like a heavenly restriction or a very good technique.

Isamu's opponent had a good technique but techniques were not allowed in this particular spar. So the jujutsu sorcerer crouched low, letting Isamu's sword continue on above his head. Now that Isamu's sword was out of the way, the boy stood and struck out at Isamu with a foot towards the mid section.

Isamu, in an unexpected turn of events for his opponent, threw his sword into the air before slipping out of the way of the kick. Now out of harms way, Isamu grabbed the offending appendage with both arms before kicking out at the boys other knee.

Left with no support to hold up his body weight, the boy promptly fell on his ass. Isamu then grabbed his blade from the air on its journey to meet the earth. He planted the blade in the grass right next to his sparing partners head. Far enough from him to not do any damage but close enough to convey that Isamu had missed out of mercy and not out of incompetency.

"Wow Megumi, I knew you sucked but I didn't think you'd suck thaaat much." Maki said while approaching the pair.

"Yeah, both of you are suuuppper weak in close combat." Panda agreed, also joining the group, referring to Megumi and Nobara.

It had been a week since the two were recruited to jujutsu highs goodwill team, leaving a bit over a month until the event. Megumi and Nobara were still struggling in close quarters combat but had improved somewhat.

Maki and Panda had both decided to exaggerate how much they sucked so they would try harder, like what they had just done.

"You're no better, you've improved but you've got zero chance against any competent fighter." Maki directed towards Nobara who was lying face down in the grass of the field.

Isamu had laid her out a few minutes ago before doing the same to Megumi. It was uncommon for Isamu to be involved in their training. The life of a 1st grade sorcerer was a busy one and the spare time Isamu did get was better used with Maki or doing his own personal training than smacking around a few first years.

Isamu pulled his blade from the ground with ease and grew to his full height, now looking down on the still prone Megumi. 'You did… alright.' Isamu wrote on his note pad, neither Megumi or Nobara understood his hand signs after all.

Isamu's praise was the hardest to garner, besides maybe Maki's. As a 1st grade and an expert swordsman, he had high standards. "It doesn't feel like it." Megumi said, as gloomy as ever.

'Your physical prowess needs a lot of work, you're slow and your strength is lack luster to say the least. But you're smart enough in battle and if you were allowed to use your technique against me too, you might give me some trouble.' Isamu wrote.

"If you didn't have your technique that is?" Maki asked a bit rhetorically with a smile the others rarely saw while Isamu was blessed with the sight often. Isamu just signed in agreement.

Panda and Toga didn't see the signs and the first years couldn't understand the signs but they all guessed Isamu agreed based on Maki's laugh. "How is your shadow project going Megumi?" Panda asked.

For almost any jujutsu sorcerer who used cursed tools, carrying them was a hindrance when not in combat. This was part of the reason fighting unarmed was not uncommon for sorcerers or curse users.

Normally, Panda would carry spare tools when on missions. Megumi, when faced with the same problem, had discovered that he could store cursed tools in his shadow and pull them out when needed.

He was still working on it and the project was not without its issues. "It's going well, but the added weight is off putting when fighting, it will take some getting used too." Megumi said.

He was referring to one of the downsides of the ability. Any mass he put into the shadow, he would feel the weight of. If he put a 10 pound staff in the shadow, he would feel a 10 pound force weighting down on his body. This was also why he didn't throw entire arsenals in there and carry around enough weapons to equip an entire army.

"Inumaki, can we spar in hand to hand now?" Megumi asked Isamu. Hand to hand was not Isamu's preferred style but he was good enough to fend for himself so he agreed.

Maki watched as Isamu squared up with Megumi and began pummeling him. The last year had been the best year in recent memory for her, ever since she had made it official with Isamu.

Through she hated that she was unable to spend much time with Isamu. He was always training or taking in some missions. Even when he was spending time with her, his mind was elsewhere. Still, she enjoyed her time with Isamu.

To say Panda, Toga, or even Gojo were surprised by their relationship would be a complete lie. All they got when they told them were some "about time"'s. Maki smiled at the memory before she turned to Nobara.

"You have a lot of work to do. You're even slower than Megumi and that's saying something." Maki criticized.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not exactly a close range fighter so I've been putting it off." Nobara responded, finally standing up from her prone position on the grass.

"Focusing on the main aspects of your fighting style is fine, spreading yourself too thin is a thing after all. But you need to be proficient in every aspect at the least. For example, Isamu is an expert swordsman and prefers fighting as such. But as you can see, he's pretty good in hand to hand combat. He even has long range options like his throwing knifes or just chucking his sword at you." Maki explained, enjoying bragging about her boyfriend.

"Wow." Nobara muttered as she watched Isamu and Megumi fight. Megumi had just thrown a left hook which Ismau slipped before grabbing his wrist and twisting it, opening Megumi up to a punch in the face.

"So I'll be helping you become at least mediocre in close range combat and decently fast during the next month!" Maki declared.

——

"Are you going to save him?" Asked the monk, sitting on a cliff side while looking down on the strongest sorcerer and one of his defeated allies.

The monk received unrecognizable speech in return but somehow, he was able to understand it. "No one from jujutsu high can see my face quite yet, so I am unable to do so. But feel free." He said while standing up and walking away into the forest.

The cursed spirt the monk had been talking to was a large, tan humanoid with black lines running across their entire body. It had a helmet like head that didn't cover their teeth, branches for where the eyes are supposed to be, and two black lines that zig zagged down their face. They wore black baggy pants that were held up with a white sash, and a white cloth covering their left arm.

The cursed spirit did not respond as they looked down on their comrade getting his head stepped on by Satoru Gojo while Sukuna's vessel stood by, spectating. They then jumped off the cliff towards the two humans and the cursed spirit.

——

"Nobara, Megumi, you will both be heading out with Isamu later today once he gets here." Maki announced as she walked down the stairs towards the track and field where Panda was sparing with Megumi while Nobara and Toga watched on.

They both looked confused as they looked at her. Panda was quick to capitalize on his opponent's split attention and ended up pinning Megumi to the ground in a head lock. Once Panda let Megumi go and gave a few words of advice, he joined Nobara and Maki on the sidelines.

"What do you mean? What are we gonna do?" Nobara asked.

"You'll be going on a mission. Isamu was recently assigned a mission involved a semi-first grade cursed spirit. And since the team event is focused around exorcism and curses, he figured it'd be a good idea to bring you along and get you some experience. Don't worry, Isamu is easily capable of taking care of the curse on his own, so if it gets dangerous, he'll handle it." Maki explained. It had been about a month since they started their training for the event and they both needed some more experience.

"Really? If I exorcise this curse, does that mean I become a semi-first grade sorcerer? They make bank right?!" Nobara asked, excited by the prospect of getting a pay bump.

"No, that's not really how it works. You'd probably have to show yourself capable of defeating one by yourself with relative ease multiple times. You might even need a recommendation from a semi-first grade sorcerer or higher." Maki asked, disappointing Nobara immensely.

"Why doesn't Isamu just recommend me for a promotion then?" Nobara asked.

"Because if he did and you did somehow become a semi-first grade sorcerer, you'd be expected to take on missions of that level. And since your power isn't of that level yet, you'd probably die." Maki explained with a bit of condescension in her voice.

"Where will we be heading?" Megumi asked.

"To Sendai."

——

Isamu sat in the back seat of a black, run of the mill but still high quality car driven by assistants. Megumi and Nobara were to his left and were listening to Nitta, their assistant, explain the curses suspected origins and so on and so forth. Isamu paid enough attention to know what he was dealing with but he wasn't very focused on her words.

Instead, he was thinking of ways to improve his cursed technique. To be more specific, how to realize a maximum technique. He'd been thinking about it ever since that night when he awakened to his extension technique.

Before he even started the process of making a maximum technique, Isamu needed to know what he wanted out of one. He thought back to his battle one year ago and asked himself what would've been the most help in that battle. To tell the truth, a better handle on his extension technique was enough.

His extension technique was great for that, giving him a way to still make use of his technique even if his opponent knew how to defend against it. While having a unblockable maximum technique would certainly be nice, Isamu didn't think it was a necessary.

Isamu was currently working on a way to make even his normal, basic commands unblockable. So it was best to not try to fit that aspect into the maximum if he could eventually make it unblockable anyways.

Isamu wanted something for prolonged fights. Something to wear down his opponents with. The opponent he had in mind was Rika. Not because he was planning to fight Rika, but because she was the most powerful opponent he'd seen that wasn't Gojo or Geto.

If he fought Rika, a durable, fast, and strong fighter with nearly unending reserves of cursed energy, what would he want going into such a fight? An idea was forming but it wasn't quite complete…

He was awakened from his trance when the car stopped and Nitta waved them out. Isamu and the others stepped out to find an abandoned dentist's office. Isamu didn't like going to the dentist either so it made sense for such a place to be cursed, he didn't like anyone touching him at all if he was being honest, with two exceptions.

"Creepy, I really hate dentists." Nobara exclaimed while a shiver ran through her body.

Isamu began to write on his note pad which drew the attention of Megumi and Nobara. 'Unlike 2nd grades and below, semi-first grade have a cursed technique. Be careful, the simple jump from a 2nd grade and a semi-first grade is vast. You two will be leading the charge. Pretend I am not here, I will only step in if you get in over your head.' Isamu finished before heading inside with both of them on his tail.

Isamu was quickly overtaken by Megumi and Nobara. Megumi summoned his demon dog to act as a scout. Isamu was surprised by its larger form, it kind of looked like a black werewolf. Isamu liked werewolf's and he was kinda envious of Megumi's technique.

Nobara held her hammer at the ready while she held three nails in her other hand. Her balance and grip on her hammer had gotten better over the last month since they'd began their training with him and Maki. Nobara was more Maki's student than his however.

Megumi also took out his black, scimitar like sword from his shadow. Megumi's swordsmanship had gotten better but it was still lacking. He was nowhere near Isamu or even the swordsman Isamu had killed during The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons. It was not because Megumi sucked, Isamu was just extremely talented with the sword.

Nothing appeared for sometime. They just walked around. Megumi and Nobara were tense the whole time, Isamu's warning about semi-first grade curses being on a whole different level going a long way towards keeping them on edge. Isamu just strolled behind them, hands in his pockets while his mind was else where.

He always seemed to be somewhere else, thinking about something else. If he wasn't sparing, fight, or training he was thinking about doing one of said things.

*Crunch*

They all heard a menacing crunch from a nearby room. It sounded like an animal with a powerful jaw crushing bone during a meal. Megumi was surprised, why hadn't the demon dog warned him before they had gotten so close?

"Don't move."

Isamu commanded casually. The curse was hanging from the ceiling and was about to cut Nobara's throat open before Isamu had stopped it. Both first years spun and Nobara punched a nail into the curses head off of instinct.

The curses screamed in pain before dropping from the ceiling and dashing away. It was a stringy and thin creature. It had skin as black as tar and didn't have a single hair on its body. Each of its fingers looked like kitchen knives but were probably much sharper.

"It most likely has some kind of illusion technique. It probably made the sound to distract us with its technique before sneaking up on you and trying to attack." Megumi explained his theory.

"Let's get after it, my nail is full of my cursed energy so I can tell where it's going. We need to find it before it decides to remove it from its body." Nobara explained while running off in a direction, quickly followed by Megumi, his shikigami, and Isamu.

Nobara led them to a pitch black, windowless room with a door creaked open. The demon dog burst into the room while Nobara yelled out its exact location. The demon dog lashed out at its supposed location.

Its sharp claws bite deeply into the walls and floors as wooden chunks flew into the air. But no curse was struck.

"Don't move."

This time, it was Megumi who Isamu saved. It seemed that the curse knew it was being tracked, dropped the nail into the room, and hid outside to get another sneak attack. This time, Megumi slashed at the curse and managed to remove an arm before it fled once more.

Megumi quickly passed the limb to Nobara who took out a straw doll. She put the thin arm onto the doll before hammering a nail into it.

"Resonance!" Nobara yelled. A shriek was heard in the distance as Isamu felt the curses presence fade as the cursed energy it was made of dissipated.

——

"It went that bad huh?" Maki asked Isamu who had just summarized the events of the mission to her. Isamu has separated from Nobara and Megumi a while ago. By the time they got back to jujutsu high, it was rather dark so training was a no go.

"You had to save them twice? Geez, they're sort of hopeless." Maki stated while resting her head on Isamu's shoulder. They were both sitting casually on Maki's couch in her dorm. Maki leaned against him and looked up at him.

She could tell he was tried, not just from that days activity either. He'd been pushing himself for the past year. Maki's theory was that he felt useless. Isamu had shared with her the details of the night and how he had killed two first grade equivalent curse users.

While she was impressed, being able to kill two first grade sorcerers by yourself was very difficult, she understood where he was coming from. Even though the two were powerful, they would be no match when compared to Geto or Yuta. If Isamu had made it to jujutsu high quickly and in good enough condition to fight, he wouldn't have been of much use.

He would've been a hindrance to Yuta. Maki figured that's why he had been pushing himself well past his limit. Always thinking of more power, to train and become strong enough so that he could fix all of the problems and his loved ones wouldn't have to move a finger.

Maki felt lucky and sad in that moment. Lucky for being able to call such a kind and loving man her lover. But she felt sad for Isamu, she wished he didn't push himself so hard but she recognized the need for it. She was just sad they lived in a world where he needed to push himself so hard.

Isamu was probably the most active first grade sorcerer. Kusakabe was too lazy, Mei Mei was too pricey to make it worth enlisting her services much, and the others were too weak to handle the work load Isamu had.

Isamu took on two missions every single day. The average for a first grade was about three or four missions a week. Isamu did this for a few reasons. One, he gained combat experience and got better at adapting to new techniques.

Two, and most importantly, it helped him grow his cursed energy pool. When a cursed spirt is exorcised, the cursed energy it is made up of dissipates into the environment. Some of it leaking into the sorcerer who killed it. This meant, for every cursed he exorcised, he added a little bit to his maximum cursed energy pool.

The amount gained was dependent on how powerful the curse was. A fourth grade would give such an insignificant amount that it wasn't even worth mentioning while a special grade would provide a substantial boost. The first grade curses Isamu took care of on the regular gave a decent amount but nothing to truly write home about.

This meant, over the last year since The Night Parade, Isamu had slowly but surely increased his maximum cursed energy pool. Originally, using Yuta as a measurement, Isamu had about a fifth of Yuta's total cursed energy pool if you don't count Rika.

Now, Isamu was sitting just below half of Yuta's total reserves. Maki was impressed and proud of Isamu. But she also knew too much work would lead to burnout and a terrible crash.

"Why don't you take it easy until the goodwill event? Pass over your missions to Gojo or something and rest up." Maki suggested, going at it from a practical angle.

Isamu just turned his head away from her in a clear sign of denial. Maki just sighed, seeing that the nice way wouldn't work.

"You will. I'm sick of watching you work yourself to death. So for the next week until the goodwill event, you will take it easy." She commanded.

Isamu just turned back to look her in the eye, seeing she would not give and he'd rather take a week off than have a fight with Maki, Isamu rolled his eyes in defeat. He then shifted positions on the couch as Maki scooted over. Isamu began his week of relaxation laying his head in Maki's thighs as she played with his hair.