Reborn as Naoya Zenin: I Swear I Came Back for Revenge! [1] & Synopsis

I am Naoya Zenin.

After that damned woman, Maki Zenin, killed me twice—once when I was human and once when I was a cursed spirit—I was granted a miraculous third life.

I returned to the moment of my birth.

Only… this time, as a detestable woman.

Naoya Zenin.

No matter what, I will have my revenge.

…

When asked who the kindest person in the Zenin Clan was:

Megumi Fushiguro: Hm? Naoya?

Maki Zenin: It depends on the situation, but probably Naoya. That’s only my personal opinion, though. To me, she’s like a mother.

Mai Zenin: Probably Naoya, right? But if you counted six-year-old Naoya-nee, ten-year-old Naoya-nee, fifteen-year-old Naoya-nee, and twenty-year-old Naoya-nee separately, the result would probably change.

My name is Naoya Zenin.

That’s right. I am Naoya Zenin, legitimate child of Naobito Zenin, head of the Zenin Clan—one of the Big Three Sorcerer Families of modern jujutsu society—and his own flesh and blood.

The so-called Big Three Sorcerer Families are the three colossal powers at the summit of jujutsu society: the Gojo, Zenin, and Kamo clans. These three families command top-class cursed techniques passed down through their bloodlines, their forbidden storehouses are piled high with cursed tools, and they serve not only as jujutsu society’s sharpest blades for exorcising cursed spirits, but also as the core of power that maintains order throughout the entire jujutsu society.

That’s right. By now, anyone should understand the weight of my status. As the eldest child of the direct line, having awakened the clan’s inherited Projection Sorcery, I was meant to inherit the entire Zenin Clan as a matter of course, then ascend to the very peak of jujutsu society.

Yes. That was how it should have been. No, more than that—it was only natural. A destiny carved into existence itself.

Even if some bizarre twist of fate has made me a woman in this life, that destiny will not waver in the slightest.

…

“Naoya-sama, please finish getting ready at once. The master of the house has summoned the entire clan for an important announcement. If you delay any longer, you will miss the clan meeting.”

Irritating.

Bone-deep irritation crawled slowly up her spine.

“Naoya-sama? Naoya-sama? Did you hear me?”

Irritating beyond belief.

“Stop rushing me, you damned old hag!”

Rage too fierce to suppress burst from her throat, and she hurled abuse at the woman waiting outside the door. That damned maid was nothing but a lowly attendant. She acted respectful and obedient on the surface, but deep down she had no understanding whatsoever of hierarchy—

SMACK!

The bamboo ruler cut through the air with a sharp whistle and struck the bare skin of her thigh. In an instant, a glaring red mark rose to the surface, and burning pain exploded along her nerves.

Unthinkable. A mere lowborn woman dared lay a hand on me—

“Naoya-sama, a lady should not use such vulgar language. Please be sure to remember that.”

“You—you dare!”

SMACK!

The bamboo ruler came down again, this time striking the side of her hip. The pain itself was secondary. The humiliation and fury of being punished by a mere maid rushed to her head like scalding blood.

Her fists clenched until her knuckles turned white, the joints cracking. But in the next moment, the words that came from beyond the door drained all the strength from her body, and her hands loosened helplessly.

“Naoya-sama, it is precisely because Naobito-sama heard that your words and behavior have been improper lately, and that you have shown no understanding at all of the order between superior and inferior, that he specially sent me to discipline you. Every word you say today and every action you take, I will report to him without a single omission.”

You bastard. How dare you humiliate me like this—once I awaken Projection Sorcery, I’ll make you pay it back a hundredfold, a thousandfold…

“F-fine—I know! You don’t need to come in. I’ll dress myself!”

In the end, the vicious words churning in her heart never made it past her mouth. The girl now called Naoya forced out those broken words through gritted teeth, then abruptly raised her hand and slammed the sliding door of the bedroom shut, rattling the frame with a dull thud.

…

“Hah—”

Naoya took a deep breath and barely managed to press down the hostility roiling in her chest.

The full-length mirror beside her reflected her current appearance with perfect clarity.

She was a little girl of only six or seven.

She wore a thin blue sleeping robe, her bare feet planted on the cool tatami. Long black hair fell to her collarbones. Her skin was an overly delicate porcelain white, and only her overly delicate face still held the flush left by her earlier shame and anger. Yet her eyes were filled with a hatred utterly unsuited to that childish body.

“Where did it go wrong?” Naoya stared at herself in the mirror and asked inwardly.

The memories of her previous life had ended at the instant a cold flash of blade split her body open. That crude, wretched tomboy, without a shred of femininity to her, had killed him twice.

The first time, he had been Naoya Zenin, captain of the Zenin Clan’s Hei, a Special Grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer who bore Projection Sorcery. The second time, after his death, he had been a special grade cursed spirit formed from his unwillingness and obsession.

The memories of being a cursed spirit had long since blurred within chaotic hatred, but every moment of the decades he had lived as a human remained as clear as yesterday.

The moment he closed his eyes, those twin sisters, along with their lowly mother and all those faces he hated to the bone, would crowd thickly into the darkness.

By the time he came back to himself from that hatred, he had already returned to this familiar estate—back to a time when the Zenin Clan was flourishing, powerful, and at its zenith, nothing like the fragmented ruin it would later become.

It was still the Zenin Clan that held enormous power over jujutsu society. He was still the legitimate bloodline of the clan head, Naobito Zenin. The only difference was that he had gone from the eldest son of the direct line, watched by all, to a newborn baby girl.

Where exactly had it gone wrong? If this was only a rebirth, why had even his sex changed? Naoya as he—no, Naoya as she was now thought it over and over, and in the end, found only one absurd reason: compared to his previous self, he had been born a full six years later in this life.

Just because of that? Papa, couldn’t you have tried a little harder?

Forget it. Things had already come to this, and it was nothing more than a trivial mistake. Naoya gave a cold sneer in her heart. It was only a female shell. The Naoya Zenin in her soul had never changed. A woman’s nature was obedience and endurance, and once he awakened his cursed technique, he was destined to stand at the top and rule over everything. Therefore, she could never be a woman in the ordinary sense—

“Another five minutes have passed. Are you ready? If you do not know how to dress yourself, I can come in and help you.”

The maid’s utterly flat voice once again pierced mercilessly through the sliding door.

“Wait! I’m putting it on right now!”

Naoya instinctively trembled all over, then raised her voice as if trying to cover it up and shouted back. Flustered, she bent down and grabbed the kimono scattered across the tatami.

“How do you even do this again…”

Naoya weighed the smooth fabric in her hands. In both her past life and this one, she had been a precious child of the Zenin Clan. Forget dressing herself and tying her own sash—even washing up in the morning or undressing at night had always been handled by maids with lowered eyes and obedient hands. As for this life, when she was younger, there had been no distinction between boys’ and girls’ clothing, yet for some unknown reason, the family had recently lost its mind and insisted that she change into women’s clothing.

And the one thing she refused was to be forced into this sort of clothing by that lowly, insolent disciplinarian maid.

“It’s just one piece of clothing… I can do it myself.”

She began trying to put the garment on. The sleeves twisted into knots, the collar kept ending up reversed, and the sash at her waist either fell apart the moment she tugged it or tightened into a dead knot. In no time at all, she had worked up a thin sheen of sweat from sheer frustration.

By the time she barely managed to get the clothes onto herself, the little girl reflected in the full-length mirror had her garments crooked and twisted, the tips of her hair damp with sweat. She forced on a fierce expression, but it could not hide how miserable she looked.

Come to think of it, this face was another thing she hated seeing most. Though it carried some traces of her previous life, after becoming a woman’s bone structure, and with that hairstyle on top of it, she had somehow begun to resemble those hateful twin sisters.

Once I awaken my cursed technique, I’ll find a chance to dye my hair back to blond—just like before.

Thinking that, she looked away and pulled open the door again.

“At any rate—this is good enough, right?”

She puffed out her chest to hide her panic and looked up at the maid. The maid looked over Naoya’s appearance and said nothing for a long while.

“What—do you still have something to say?”

“Naoya-sama…”

With a soft sigh, the maid crouched down and began straightening the girl’s collar.

From top to bottom, shoulders to collar, sash to tabi, she smoothed out the wrinkles and arranged everything properly.

“Naoya-sama, next time, please let me help you.”

“No—absolutely not.”

The maid sighed again. She said nothing more, only rose and took Naoya by the hand.

“Wait! What are you doing?”

“We should hurry over. You are already late.”

T/N: WAOHFIASHFOASHFOASH yes yes this is already being translated by the lovely walnut chan but! like you guys know i dont read anything but my translations…………. soooooooooooooooo translating this!! go check them out! they already have 80+ chapters!

This is a fan translation of 重生直哉，我真是来复仇的 by 三角麦冬 Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!