The Inumaki Clan Prodigy [Jujutsu Kaisen]

As Isamu left the meeting room, the guards closing the doors behind him, he thought of the meeting and the elders odd behavior.

Harumi was normally more, what was the word… lowkey? He was not as he was in the meeting anyway. He was normally quieter, acting like the very old man he was.

So what was up with all of this? He wasn't the only one either. Aimi, despite how much of a bitch she was, wasn't stupid. Not stupid enough to convey what Isamu thought she was about to.

Haruto too, was acting weird. Isamu expected him to be angry or at least disappointed in him for "abandoning" the clan. But no, he was all proud, like he was welcoming back his star student. None of it made sense.

As he thought the entire situation through, he walked through the halls of the clan estate, eventually finding himself in a small garden, the sky expanding above. He remembered this particular garden too.

It was the one he often visited in his youth. The one he found the most peace in. It's purple flowers doing wonders to calm his mind. It was only after he took a seat, his mind soothed by the gardens vibe, that it clicked.

It was an act. An act to get him to listen to them. They knew he respected Harumi and wanted to use it to their advantage. Isamu's fists clenched as a look of anger managed a surface from beneath his mask of calm and collected confidence.

He stood suddenly before walking hastily towards where he'd come. He was leaving, no doubt about it. To hell with all of them.

He slipped past the guards with ease, eventually reaching an exit which could lead him to his car, the assistant supervisor still waiting for him to return. He could leave easily, and he intended to.

Until he heard a scream, which turned to many screams, the screams of women and children. Then the yells of men, which too, turned to screams of pain. Isamu turned to face the direction he'd heard them from but stopped himself from running towards them.

Were they deserving of his protection? The clan who'd praise him as easily as they'd discard him. He hadn't forgotten how they'd treated him.

They constantly flipped flopped on their views of him. All depending on how strong he was. How valuable he proved himself to be. Are such a conditional people worthy of his protection?

Before Isamu could actually think it through and make a decision, his body already did. Subconsciously, his feet started to move full speed ahead, directly into the origin of the screams of agony.

Isamu decided that he'd figure it out later, for now, he had people to save. Despite his mixed emotions on the topic, they were still people. Isamu could not bring himself to abandon others, even those that did not treat him well.

It was a flaw in the opinion of many. Even his own. But Isamu could not rid himself of it to save his life. If he really wanted to be a dick about it, he could just demand compensation after the fact.

It wasn't long before Isamu arrived at the scene, his quickness serving him well once again. What he found was both surprising and unsurprising. On one hand, he found plenty of destruction, ceilings collapsed, walls splintered into pieces, roof titles scattered everywhere.

Everything one might accept to see when a clan estate was attacked. Except for one aspect. There were no bodies. Not even any blood. But Isamu was not so hopeful to assume they'd all made it out and there were yet to be any casualties.

No, it was something else. Maybe a technique of some kind?

Isamu heard the slightest creek to his right and turned, throwing a knife on instinct. And to his mild surprise, he'd actually hit something. Not wood or stone, but flesh and blood. The flesh of a cursed spirit.

A single, three fingered red hand was in view, the rest of its body coming out from around the corner in short order. The knife, embedded in one of its fingers, was pushed out by the curses regeneration before the wound was healed completely.

The curse was small and fat, maybe four foot. It was red with black stripes over its face. It sorta looked like an octopus mixed with a slug of some kind. A white robe, or maybe it was just a cloth, wrapped around its body.

Judging by the speed at which it healed and its overall feel, Isamu knew for a fact it was a special grade. But Isamu wasn't all that worried. He knew he was strong enough to take down low level special grades and judging by its appearance and aura, it seems that was exactly what he was dealing with.

Unsheathing his katana with practiced ease, Isamu rushed the cursed spirit. He would waste no time in dispatching it and getting out of this dreadful place.

——

Harumi grunted in pain as the wooden spike plunged into his right shoulder, splattering blood around the room in an instant. He unsheathed his sword and struck out in the same motion, quicker than a blink of any eye.

The old swordsman felt some resistance so he knew he hit something. But it was not enough to be a person, maybe a projectile then? Harumi would not know for sure. He was too busy being slammed into a nearby wall.

A wall of roots was the culprit of said slamming, Harumi's sword arm too slow to properly block due to his opening injury on his shoulder. Wood splintered, glass shattered, and roof tiles cracked as Harumi was thrown into the night sky.

Harumi worked to right himself in the air. Just as he did, gaining a decent view of the estate below, he saw the same wave of plants reshape itself into a mass of spiked, spear like roots. It wasn't exactly an ideal object to cushion Harumi's fall.

"Dissipate." Said Kenji form below, causing the mass of roots to slowly disappear, like it was slowly phasing out of existence. It was a smart command in Harumi's opinion.

It was a test more than anything. If the roots were created and could be dismissed as such, their side learned a good weakness of the technique while saving Harumi. If they were real roots simple controlled via cursed energy, the mass would still lose its form and their side would learn more about the technique.

The fact they were created was both worrying and advantageous. To be able to use such a technique was a scary thought as it was no doubt extremely costly. So to be able to use it in such a way meant you had to have huge pools of cursed energy.

But it was also advantageous for as long as they had cursed energy to dismiss the roots using cursed speech, they shouldn't be in too much trouble.

"Combust." Aimi said from below, causing a tall, humanoid creature of flame to become obvious to Harumi and everyone else. Another smart move, damaging the opponent while also making them easy to see and keep track off.

As Harumi finally neared the ground, he rolled with expert skill, neutralizing nearly all of the damage he might have taken otherwise. He was glad he wasn't shot too far into the air.

Harumi waisted no time in rushing the flaming man in front of him, his comrades behind him, Haruto joining him in his attack.

"Sprout." The thing in front of them said, like they were somehow speaking directly into their minds instead of their ears.

As soon as the words were translated, Harumi felt an unimaginable pain erupt from his already wounded shoulder and arm. He was too stunned by the sudden pain to stop a flaming hand from implanting his skull.

——

Isamu dashed to the side, moving out of the way of the jet of water seeking to puncture his brain. The stone wall behind him was pierced straight through, reminding Isamu a lot of the Kamo clans 'piercing blood' but it was a good amount slower so Isamu didn't fear it all that much.

Isamu sprinted towards the origin of the water jet, the octopus like cursed spirit. As Isamu closed the distance, it opened its mouth once more.

Isamu ducked to the side, predicting another beam of highly condensed water. But the cool, salty liquid was not what he was met with. Instead, a tsunami of skulls and bones exploded out of the curses mouth, its area of effect too wide for Isamu to dodge with a single duck, not while so close.

Isamu was forced back and buried under a large mound of human remains but was otherwise unharmed. So that's where the clansman went.

Isamu dug himself out of the unearthed graveyard, just as he reached its surface and his head was exposed, he was met with another jet of water.

Luckily, Isamu was able to avoid a deadly fate with a last second lean of his head, his lightning fast reactions saving him once more. Something that happened a lot in a sorcerers line of work. A jujutsu sorcerer without good instincts or quick reaction times or both was usually too dead to even make it to grade two.

Isamu finished pushing himself out of the mountain of the estates former residents before rushing the cursed spirit once more. Still, he was forced to slow his approach when another jet of water made itself known. It seemed that's all the cursed spirit could even do.

Once Isamu was able to get close, too close for the curse to effectively use its streams of water, it was an easy clean up. Isamu flowed like water, ironically, as he cut the curses left arm clean off. He followed it up with two slashes to its face, cleaving its left eye out in the process.

The curse opened its mouth to try to fire again. Isamu didn't mind the attempted retaliation, all it did was give him a fine route straight to the curses head. Isamu plunged his sword into the curses grey matter through its mouth in quick order.

Isamu stepped back as he withdrew his blade, which was now covered in purple blood. After a moment, a face of confusion overcame Isamu's usual bland expression. Why wasn't it turning to dust?

Before Isamu would react, a large meaty red fist was slammed into his face, the force so great it blasted him off his feet and into a nearby pillar.

——

Aimi watched on in pure shock as Harumi's head was pierced by the invaders flaming hand. His arm was covered in thorn covered vines which had suddenly grown from within him, distracting him far too much.

Akio rushed in, quickly taking up Haurmi's position on the front line. The room was suddenly filled with a yellow glow as Akio activated his technique.

He was the odd one out among the top players of the clan. For he was the only one to not possess the Inumaki clan's inheritance. Instead, he was gifted with a rather unique cursed technique.

Aiko aimed his palm at the beast and fired a beam of pure sun light. The creature raised its hand, summoning many roots to protect its still flaming self. The beam struck the wood, burning a hole straight through.

The invader was not out of options however. Instead of dodging or creating new roots, it simply raised the hand it used to kill Harumi, his body still dangling from it, and used his corpse as a shield.

Akio hesitated before stopping the ray from burning away the body of the old swordsman. It seemed Akio had a soft spot somewhere. The creature saw this opening and took advantage, charging the group, body in hand.

"Don't move!" Aimi shouted as Haruto, Kenji, and Akio readied themselves. Haruto rushed in as soon as he heard the words of Aimi, ready to take advantage of the opening created by his comrade.

But to his, and all of their, surprise, the thing didn't stop. Haruto was caught off guard and took a heavy blow to the abdomen from the flaming being. He grabbed the things wrist and tossed it over his shoulder to get it away from him.

He tsked at the light burns on his hands but he was fine otherwise. The thing rolled to its feet before raising its human shield once more. Unfortunately for it, it seemed Aiko had overcome his sentimental feelings.

A ray of light burned a hole the size of a dinner plate through Harumi's chest before continuing on to hit the creature. Unfortunately, no similar hole was made in the creature. This just confirmed what the constant flames were already telling the Inumaki clan force, their opponent was extremely durable. Almost impossibly so.

Much to their surprise, the flames started to die out as a white light began to cover its body. The flames disappearance revealed to them their target, a cursed spirit. It's plated and tattooed form covered in scorch marks, especially where it was hit by the sun beam.

"It's using Domain Amplification." Akio spoke. As a non-cursed speech user, he was the only one present who could speak without fear. "That's how it prevented Aimi's command to stop earlier."

"It's actually good for us. If it turns it off, Aimi's command will work once more and set it ablaze and we'll be free to pummel it while its cursed technique is turned off." Akio explained further.

"You are correct. But it doesn't matter. You will lose and your clan will be destroyed. Your people are far too much trouble." The cursed spirit "said."

"Please. Die, and become sages."

——

Dagon was surprised by the little human in front of him. The fact that he was powerful enough to defeat his cursed womb stage was not the source of his surprise of course, any half decent first grade could do that.

No, what surprised him was how well he fared against Dagon's real body. It'd been a hand full of minutes since he'd been released from the womb and still, the boy was performing admirably.

Sure, he'd taken a few bleeding wounds from the constant assault from Dagon's endless amount of fish like shikigami. But it didn't seem to affect him much so Dagon guessed they weren't serious wounds. The only attack that had done good damage was his initial surprise attack.

Dagon knew he'd have to step things up if he wanted to help Hanami with the elders. So he did. For the first time since the fight started, Dagon stepped forward into melee range.

"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain." The boy said, crouching low and sheathing his sword. The shikigami around him, each one gunning for his head, disappeared into smoke as the jujutsu sorcerer spoke once more and drew his sword.

"New Shadow Style: Morning Sun Sword Drawing."

Dagon shot out many shikigami out of his mid section at the last moment, not expecting the sorcerer to be prepared for his charge. His shikigami were cut down in 3 slashing attacks, each infused with more strength than should've been possible considering the boy's build.

3 more slashes hit Dagon in the next instant. The arm he'd raised as a final line of defense was cleaved from his body with one, his eye was gouged out with the next, and a long, diagonal slash spanning his entire torso appeared with the third.

Dagon opened his tentacled maw and spat out a truly gargantuan amount of water, forcing the sorcerer back. He also mixed in many piranha like shikigami into the waves, severing to amplify the deadliness of the attack.

Dagon had been fooled, that much was clear to the octopus like cursed spirit. The sorcerer had played up the damage taken by the initial punch while holding back his own power. As a result, Dagon had underestimated him. He hadn't gone in with enough cation and suffered for it.

Dagon was unable to hear the words which escaped the sorcerer lips but it seemed to do something. For the moment after his will was conveyed to the world, Dagon's waves of salty ocean water exploded in every direction, leaving their battlefield wet and soggy but otherwise absent of deep water.

"You are stronger than I believed, it seems. I will have to take it up a notch."

——

Haruto blocked a heavy handed right hook from the cursed spirit before ducking and spinning into a sweeping leg kick. The curse was not completely toppled but was still thrown off its balance.

Its tree branches for eyes met a flying knee from the clan head a moment later, cracking them off. Simultaneously, Akio fired a scorching ray towards its knee. The effect was heavily weakened due to domain amplification but it seemed the curse wasn't good enough with the technique to completely nullify the technique.

The curse fell back from the combined effort of the three, Haruto quick to grapple it into a guillotine hold, having stayed on the ground after his leg sweep. As the curses head was pushed into the ground, its spine popping as Haruto tried his best to snap its neck, Akio and Kenji closed in.

They both grabbed an arm, putting the cure spirit into two arm bar holds. With each of them trying their best to break the cursed spirit, it had no chance but to deactivate domain amplification.

The curse was suddenly set ablaze once more by Aimi's ongoing command, forcing Haruto and the others to drop their holds and scramble away from the thing. Roots emerged from the ground as it went on the offensive.

"Twist!" Aimi shouted, commanding the now vulnerable creature the second it stood back up.

Its right arm twisted slightly, no doubt breaking the bone and tearing the flesh, but it was far from the full destruction Aimi hoped for. She signed towards Akio the moment after the curse began using domain amplification once more. He quickly ran over to join her in the back rank as Kenji and Haruto withdrew as well.

Akio wrapped a hand around Aimi's throat as his palm glowed a warm yellow. Akio's technique allowed him to embody the two sides of the sun. The scorching tyrant and the cultivator of all life.

Their plan had worked, for the most part. They never intended to break the curse through grappling techniques. All they truly wanted was for the curse to drop its technique. That way, the flames would continue to burn away its cursed energy as Aimi commanded it more, dealing even greater damage.

Haruto watched the curse who seemed content to stay back and heal its injuries. It wasn't particularly skilled in hand to hand combat, about average. But its physique was excellent. It was far out of all of their weight classes, making every blow landed significant. Not to mention the durability of its fists, making each punch feel like you were being swung at by a stone club.

That paired with superb durability and superior range and Haruto found himself faced with quite the adversary. But he was confident in their victory. It was simply a bad match up. The Inumaki clan were known as the bane of cursed spirits after all.

This was for one main reason, cursed spirits couldn't protect themselves from cursed speech. Not in the same way as humans could. For some physiological reason, curses couldn't reinforce their brain or ears in the same way. Perhaps it was a balancing act by the universe.

Curses could regenerate without needing to learn reverse cursed technique. Far outperformed humans in physical capabilities. Had large amounts of cursed energy compared to a sorcerer of the same grade and so on. In return, there were some things they just couldn't do.

This left the curse heavily disadvantaged. Which made Haruto wonder. Why send it here? The mere fact that it knew domain amplification means it must be working with a powerful and knowledgeable cursed user. So why not come yourself instead of sending a cursed spirit?

The only thing sending a cursed spirit would do was give the Inumaki clan elders a chance to grow more powerful, to make break throughs in their techniques. Why would such a curse user want that?