He looked imposing on height alone, every step radiating the noble arrogance and sharp-edged meanness of one of the Big Three Families.
His wide-sleeved black-and-gold haori framed a broad-collared white shirt, while his pale hakama hung in immaculate lines. Not a single wrinkle was out of place. Every movement was flawless, precise, almost mechanical.
His striking blond hair was styled to perfection. The naturally upturned corners of his phoenix-like eyes, paired with the silver studs arranged across both ears, gave him a beauty powerful enough to overturn every gaze—yet wrapped in a venomous edge.
—Naoya Zen'in.
On him, the very concept of aristocratic arrogance seemed to be embodied to its utmost extreme, without even the slightest trace of gentleness.
His gait, the lift of his eyes, the faint curl of mockery at the corner of his lips—every detail revealed the uniquely spoiled yet sinister aura of this young master.
"That bastard..."
And yet, to certain people, that perfect appearance was nothing more than a skin they found utterly repulsive.
"Hah..."
From the moment Mai Zen'in realized Naoya Zen'in had appeared at the school, she had been suppressing the fury boiling inside her.
Not only in words—her body showed it too.
Her fists were clenched so tightly she nearly drew blood, and she bit down hard on her lower lip.
Ever since she was born, Naoya Zen'in had used sheer tyranny to plunder her life away.
From childhood onward he had beaten and kicked her, ordering her around like a lowly servant. Even now, after growing older, the girl still sometimes saw him in nightmares late at night—dreaming of Naoya Zen'in yanking her hair and laughing wildly.
What broke Mai even more was that she had no one to tell about this humiliation and suffering.
Her father regarded her and her sister as stains on his life. The instant his eyes met theirs, he would fly into a rage.
Her mother, meanwhile, demanded that she and her sister serve Naoya Zen'in properly, because he was the future clan head. The twins were not meant to think about anything else. From the moment they were born, their purpose had been to attend to Naoya Zen'in.
The only person with whom she could truly share joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness was her sister Maki. And yet Maki seemed to have been born with a heart of iron, never showing even a hint of weakness. Every humiliation she suffered in the Zen'in clan only buried another layer of hatred inside her.
That hatred became the fuse that fractured the bond between Maki and Mai.
Mai had never once thought of resisting.
No matter how deeply wronged she was, she would always lower her head and submit. Even if her dissatisfaction had built to the breaking point inside her, she never dared to lash out. She only swallowed broken teeth and blood together.
Father was father. Mother was mother. Cousin was cousin—
Mai Zen'in carried Zen'in blood, and so she ought to devote herself to the Zen'in family until death.
But Maki was different.
To that cold-blooded woman, anything could be abandoned without hesitation—even her own twin sister.
Maki had left the Zen'in clan because of hatred, and someday she would return to it for the same reason.
And Mai?
She could only stand hidden in the shadows, staring at Naoya Zen'in. Looking into those sharp, arrogant eyes of his, she longed to pull out a cursed tool and stab them blind on the spot.
But—
all of it could only remain fantasy.
For her sister, learning stronger jujutsu was for the sake of personally killing Naoya Zen'in.
Climbing to greater heights was for the sake of wiping Naoya Zen'in from society entirely.
The more her revenge brewed, the sweeter it became.
Maki could live for that sweet future moment. Enduring a little longer was no problem for her.
But Mai could never do that.
She knew all too well that no matter how hard she tried, she would never be Naoya Zen'in's equal.
Revenge without sufficient preparation would only make her suffer more.
So the more furious Mai became at Naoya Zen'in,
the more terrible the fear in her heart grew.
"...Mai, what's wrong? You're sweating so much."
Her classmate Kasumi Miwa noticed something was off and turned to ask with concern.
"It's nothing. The weather's just too hot."
Mai forced herself to remain calm and tried to brush it off.
"Uh... wow, Mai, you must really be in amazing shape."
Miwa thought to herself that Halloween had only just passed, and it had even rained cold recently. No matter how you looked at it, today was freezing.
But Mai was on pretty good terms with Todo-senpai, so maybe she had done some special training with that muscle-obsessed lunatic too?
"That guy is your cousin, right? I'm so jealous! You've got such a handsome older cousin!"
But Miwa quickly lost interest in that line of thought.
She stared excitedly at Naoya Zen'in in the distance, grabbing Mai by the arm as she babbled nonstop.
"Whoa! He's ridiculously handsome! Is he a transfer student?! What's his name?! I really hope he transfers into our class! I want him sitting either in front of me or behind me!!!"
"...Naoya Zen'in."
Kokichi Muta—Mechamaru—spoke in a low voice from the side.
"I've heard of this guy. He's supposedly a special grade-one sorcerer. He used to be a famous prodigy in jujutsu circles, and people often compared him to Gojo Satoru. But once Gojo reached the peak as the strongest sorcerer of the modern age, people basically stopped saying that."
"Uh... Mechamaru, what exactly are you getting at?"
Miwa was bewildered.
How had the topic suddenly jumped to her idol, Gojo Satoru?
"At his age, being a transfer student is almost impossible," Mechamaru analyzed calmly.
"He's probably here to be a teacher."
Miwa blinked several times in a row.
Standing on tiptoe, she kept looking over Naoya Zen'in through the crowd. Seeing that young, dangerous, aristocratic face, she really could not imagine that Mai's cousin was from the same generation as the legendary Gojo Satoru.
She had assumed he was at most a year older than them.
At the same time, just like the stunned Miwa, Naoya Zen'in himself was also utterly confused.
"You mean to say... I'm here to be a teacher at Kyoto Jujutsu High?"
"Exactly so."
The principal of Kyoto Jujutsu High, Yoshinobu Gakuganji, nodded.
"Naobito told me you wanted to come to Jujutsu High to temper yourself, but as a special grade-one sorcerer, there is no one among Kyoto's faculty capable of instructing you at your level."
Principal Gakuganji was already putting it politely.
To put it bluntly, there were barely even a few grade-one sorcerers among Kyoto Jujutsu High's teachers.
If Naoya truly wanted someone capable of instructing him, then the only real option would be to go bow his head and ask Gojo Satoru to take him as a disciple.
But the young master of the Zen'in clan kneeling to the Gojo clan's strongest?
That would make him nothing less than a family traitor.
So the brutal reality was—
in the current jujutsu world, there was simply no one qualified to be Naoya Zen'in's teacher.
And honestly, that was partly the original Naoya's own fault.
Even a monster like Gojo Satoru had still gone properly to Jujutsu High.
But Naoya Zen'in had been raised from childhood through elite aristocratic education. As one of the Big Three Families, the Zen'in clan had its own system of instruction. They had never cared about the sorcerer employment certification issued by Jujutsu High. The Zen'in clan could issue its own graduation papers just fine.
That was exactly why a special grade-one sorcerer was called a special grade-one sorcerer—it was a ranking system unique to the Big Three Families and did not require recognition from Jujutsu High.
If Naoya Zen'in had been more than ten years younger, Principal Gakuganji might have reluctantly agreed to let him enroll as a student.
But now he was already in his twenties. What was the meaning of him coming back to Jujutsu High as a student?
Was he supposed to compete with high schoolers for classroom seats?
At that point, they might as well establish a Jujutsu University just to satisfy his thirst for knowledge.
Realizing that, with his current status, becoming a student truly was impossible, Naoya could not help frowning.
Damn it—what happened to the overpowered transfer-student plot where he takes over the campus?
Not that he had originally intended to stoop to crushing kids far below his level.
But becoming a teacher was way too ridiculous, wasn't it?!
After all, the transmigrator himself did not even have a solid foundation as a sorcerer. He only possessed top-tier theoretical knowledge. Who exactly did they think he could teach?
But the matter was already settled. He had little room to refuse, so he could only accept the position.
At the very least, it was still the first step in changing the original plotline.
If he became a teacher in Kyoto, then later on he could still use the school exchange event to establish ties with the Tokyo school and the protagonist group.
It was just a very forced approach, that was all.
Naoya Zen'in slowly walked up the steps.
As Kyoto Jujutsu High's newest teacher, he still had to stand before the entire faculty and student body and deliver an inaugural speech.
The auditorium was packed with over a thousand people.
Students, nobles, teachers...
Their gazes converged on him, like spotlights covering the figure on stage.
Whether they hated him, envied him, or admired him...
those gazes all became something with real weight, as if they wanted to crush the backbone of this transmigrator under pressure.
Naoya Zen'in stood there alone, facing it all.
Before transmigrating, he had never once stood at the center of the world—much less before an audience of this scale.
And yet, something strange happened—
he did not feel nervous at all.
Or rather, he had expected himself to feel very nervous.
But the moment he stood bathed in the attention of the crowd, the transmigrator instead felt that all of this was only natural.
Because in Naoya Zen'in's life, this sort of attention had been nothing more than daily routine.
It was not pressure.
It was proof of status.
Because Naoya Zen'in was heaven's chosen one.
There was no need for surprise, and no need for awe.
Heaven's chosen ones were meant to stand above others.
"Greetings, everyone. I am Naoya Zen'in."
Although inwardly uneasy, Naoya still began his speech with perfect composure.
He had already memorized the contents repeatedly with his eyes closed beforehand, and with the extraordinary memory he had developed through training Projection Sorcery, the speech came out without a single hitch, his voice elegant and clear.
"I was born into the Zen'in clan, one of the Big Three Families of the jujutsu world. I am also the next heir to the clan headship, the leader of the Hei organization, and a special grade-one sorcerer recognized throughout the jujutsu world."
That statement alone was enough to make the students below feel as though they had forgotten how to breathe.
One of the Big Three Families—the Zen'in clan.
Leader of the Hei.
Special grade-one sorcerer.
Any one of those titles, on its own, would have been explosive enough to shake the hall.
And yet the aristocratic young man on stage possessed all of those brilliant accomplishments at once...
In an instant, the students below him began to feel an overwhelming sense of anticipation for their future life at the academy.
With a genius of this caliber presiding over Kyoto Jujutsu High, their own future achievements could only rise higher.
And coupled with Naoya Zen'in's unique aristocratic aura, many of the female students in the audience flushed red, already harboring feelings toward this new instructor that they could not put into words.
Yet unlike the crowd filled with excitement and admiration, one green-haired girl in the noisy audience frowned instead.
Her fists clenched so hard she nearly drew blood. The fury she could barely contain threatened to swallow her whole.
The girl suddenly lifted her head, and the murderous look in her eyes became like a naked blade, stabbing straight toward Naoya Zen'in's heart.
Naturally, that piercing gaze did not escape Naoya's notice on stage.
The transmigrator's relaxed mood instantly sank to rock bottom.
Mai Zen'in.
Maki Zen'in's younger sister, and the original owner's cousin as well.
In the original story, it was precisely because of Mai Zen'in's death that Maki Zen'in fully awakened as the Heavenly Tyrant, which ultimately led to the complete slaughter of the entire Zen'in clan.
Which meant...
this green-haired girl would, in the near future, directly cause his death.
...No. This was still the middle of his speech. He absolutely could not allow someone on this level to affect him.
There were far too many people capable of killing him. A fundamentally weakling like Mai Zen'in did not have the right to cut the line.
Naoya Zen'in quickly calmed himself and continued his speech.
"Jujutsu is a miracle that distorts the world."
"A sorcerer relies on a specific technique, through specific means, to alter reality."
It was a line full of mystery and the unknown.
"Far back in the Heian era, sorcerers were known as onmyoji. Through incantation, hand signs, and borrowed power from gods and spirits, they rewrote reality itself. In that age, cursed energy flourished so greatly that even monsters, demons, and spirits of every kind bowed before onmyoji in fear!"
"Abe no Seimei. Ashiya Dōman. Kamo no Tadayuki..."
"Generation after generation, those who stood at the pinnacle of jujutsu left behind bold, indelible chapters on this land—chapters that belonged only to the strong."
Naoya paused, then swept his eyes across the students below before curling his lips into a mocking smile.
"But what about now? In the modern jujutsu world, there are far too many pieces of trash, living off techniques handed down by their ancestors, staining the honor that ought to belong to sorcerers!"
Those outrageously arrogant words instantly sent the entire auditorium into an uproar.
Not only were the students shocked speechless, even the influential Kyoto figures seated in the front rows could not help frowning.
What exactly had the youngest son of the Zen'in family gone mad about now?!
Hereditary techniques were part of jujutsu history itself—the legacy every sorcerer ought to take pride in.
And he was calling the inheritance left by one's forebears a way to loaf around and live off the past?
Hadn't he himself reached his current position because of a hereditary technique from the Zen'in clan?!
But Naoya Zen'in paid no attention to the dissatisfaction below him. He simply continued speaking.
"As far as I am concerned, jujutsu must never become a privilege monopolized by the noble houses. Ancient jujutsu has already reached the point where it needs to be cast aside. What will rule the jujutsu world next... is modern jujutsu!"
-------
April Special Days *Sale 20%*
patreon.com/RuneA
-------
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (261 Chapter) (Ending)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (190 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (130 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (200 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (89 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (140 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (90 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (150 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (70 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (70 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (130 Chapter)
Arknights : Batman System (30 Chapter)
Chat Group: Swapping Bodies with the Bad-Ending Herta from the Start (80 Chapter)
DanMachi: Why Did My Dungeon Turn Into a Soulslike Game? (130 Chapter)
Losing Money on Uma Musume...What Do You Mean You Actually Won? (120 Chapter)
I'm Gotou Hitori—Who Are You? (40 Chapter)
Were You Ever Even a Uma Musume? Stop Making Things Up! (78 Chapter)
Moon Project: A Full-Time Love Adventure for the Lobotomy Corporation (75 Chapter)
The Leisurely Days of the Hyuga Main House (65 Chapter)
Arknights : A Draco Surviving in a Matriarchal Terra (189 Chapter)
Arknights: What if My Luck Is Too Good? (135 Chapter)
Honkai: The Romance System Only Shows Up After I Marry Mei (55 Chapter)
Arknights: Who Are You Calling Repressed, X?! (145 Chapter)
The Chat Group Only Arrived After I'd Cleared the Game (102 Chapter)
Gojo Satoru Flat-Out Refuses to Admit He's a Supporting Character (40 Chapter)
Chat Group Isn't Supposed to Be Like This! (30 Chapter)
If You're Moriarty...then Who Am I? (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: Since I "Can't See," They Take Turns Stealing My Underwear (50 Chapter)
Arknights: Why Are All My "Brothers" Girls? (54 Chapter)
Danmachi: Start Training Haki (59 Chapter)
Emiya Shirou's Rebirth (30 Chapter)
I Can Get Stronger Just by AFK'ing—So I Joined a Chat Group (50 Chapter)
Endfield: I Can Always Pull Out One Yuan (65 Chapter)
Limbus Company : I Started a Company in Project Moon (50 Chapter)
Lobotomy: Do Cooks of Alley 23 Dream of Bloodfiend Knights? (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: Freya Familia's "One-Blade Shura" (60 Chapter)
DanMachi: Emiya, the Great Hero Becomes the Protagonist (90 Chapter)
TYPE-MOON: One Special Instance Every Week (40 Chapter)
From Danmachi: The Abundance Apothecary (70 Chapter)
Lord Shadow Descends on DanMachi (90 Chapter)
Fuse with Me, Exusiai! (41 Chapter)
Honkai: Star Rail — After I Die, I Forge Their Madness (60 Chapter)
DanMachi: The Last Zeus Familia (95 Chapter)
Endfield: Arknights Heroic Spirit Summoning (75 Chapter)
Toyokawa Family Finances (105 Chapter)
Starting From DanMachi to Become Stronger (90 Chapter)
DanMachi: My Familia Is Made Up Entirely of Heroines from Every World! (75 Chapter)
Arknights: My Intel Refreshes Daily (110 Chapter)
Digimon : I Never Meant to Do Evil, Even Though I Wasn't Chosen (40 Chapter)
Miss Holmes Could Never Be the Losing Heroine! (40 Chapter)
Takayama Gamu at Tracen Academy (40 Chapter)
Legendary Trainer Takes on MYGO (40 Chapter)
Arknights : Yandere Game: The Operators Have Come Knocking (100 Chapter)
Arknights: This Dating Sim Is Seriously Wrong! (120 Chapter)
Arknights : Ch'en Hui-chieh, I'm Done Being the Good Guy! (50 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Wasn't This Supposed to Be a Family Simulator? Why Am I the Family Heirloom? (40 Chapter)
Honkai: Star Rail : The Trailblazer Only Wants a Peaceful Life (45 Chapter)
Arknights: The Unlucky Dad? But I've Got the Chronicle of Time! (55 Chapter)
The Wheelchair War God Is Speedrunning Hogwarts (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: The Elemental Blaster of Orario (45 Chapter)
Playing Honkai in Star Rail (30 Chapter)
As an Alien, I'm Solo Leveling in Warhammer 40K (30 Chapter)
Arknights: A Symbiote's Survival Guide (70 Chapter)
My Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck Is Built Entirely from Stuff I Picked Up (30 Chapter)
I Can Hear the Thoughts of Uma Mutsume (30 Chapter)
Dead-Men Chat Group: Winning the Resurrection Bracket (40 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero: Saving the World While Falling in Love! (40 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: My Breathing Techniques Can Be Leveled Up (50 Chapter)
Type-Moon Age of Gods: Starting with a Simulation as Heracles (10 Chapter)
Terra Love Trap: They All Want Me to Themselves (30 Chapter)
Dimensional Ranking: Top Ten Saviors (30 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen: Naoya Zen'in Wants to Stay Alive! (30 Chapter)
Bleach: This Everyday Multiverse Is Seriously Falling Apart! (30 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it