Reborn as Naoya Zenin: I Swear I Came Back for Revenge! [2]

“Ah! Good morning, you bunch of bastards! Seeing every last one of you standing here in one piece has completely ruined this beautiful day!”

The man himself had yet to arrive, but his voice came first. Then, with footsteps thundering across the wooden floor and a flippant laugh, a tall figure in a gray-blue haori barged in.

Naoya had thought she was the last to arrive. She had not expected that bastard father of hers, Naobito Zenin, to be even more sluggish than she was.

Compared to the old man in her previous memories, whose hair had gone frost-white and whose temperament had only grown more eccentric with age, the present Naobito had not yet gone fully gray. His temples were touched with a few streaks of frost, while most of the hair on his head was still black. Even so, that arrogant, disgraceful bearing of his had remained exactly the same for decades.

“How rude, in the presence of the clan head!” said a thin man seated in the second seat on the left, his brows drawn tight. His name was Ogi Zenin, also a Special Grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer and one of the pillars of the Zenin Clan.

“The clan head hasn’t even said anything yet, Ogi. You’re awfully impatient!”

Naobito slanted a glance at his brother and burst out laughing. Then he turned and took the second seat on the left.

“You bastard, if you don’t understand—”

“Ahem! Enough.”

The old man seated in the place of honor had a face carved deep with wrinkles and was so aged he hardly looked human. He tapped the floor with the cane in his hand, signaling for the two of them to be quiet.

He was the current head of the Zenin Clan.

That’s right—Naoya had been the legitimate child of clan head Naobito, but at this point, the man who would later become clan head had not yet taken the position.

“Then let us begin.”

The meeting was held in the Zenin Clan’s council hall.

In the end, it was only a Japanese-style room built on a more spacious scale. The space inside was limited, and only the family’s jujutsu sorcerers were allowed to enter and sit. Everyone else had to kneel in the courtyard outside and listen.

Naoya’s small body struggled left and right through the gaps in the crowd. She kept rising onto her toes, desperately trying to squeeze toward the council hall. But all she could see in front of her were adults’ backs. She could not make anything out, only hear the indistinct voices coming from inside.

“Stop right there, you ill-mannered thing!”

A large hand seized Naoya’s wrist and dragged her roughly backward. She looked back. This guy—she had some impression of him. He seemed to be one of Naobito’s sons as well. The old man had fathered many children in his life, but Naoya was the only legitimate one.

Still—in a family of jujutsu sorcerers like this, power came first in the end. Main family or branch family, legitimate child or otherwise, the prerequisite for grasping anything was awakening a cursed technique and becoming a powerful jujutsu sorcerer.

Those without a cursed technique were naturally discarded without mercy. Just like the young man in front of her. He clearly had Naobito’s blood, yet because he had no cursed technique, he had been sent off to the Kukuru Unit, that odd-job unit meant to take in useless people. What was his name again…? Naoya thought hard for a while. It seemed to be… something like Kaisai Zenin?

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Naoya asked with a frown. She was not afraid of some guy who was destined never to have a cursed technique and could never become a jujutsu sorcerer, even if he carried the title of older brother.

She remembered that in her previous life, this man had not even dared lift his head when he saw her.

“You brat! Who taught you to speak to your elder brother like that? I’ll discipline you in Father’s place today!”

Without the slightest hesitation, Kaisai swung his palm. Naoya gave a cold laugh, and her mind instantly reacted to dodge. But this still-young body could not keep up with the speed of her awareness. It went stiff and refused to move.

SMACK!

The palm struck her face. The force shoved Naoya back two steps, and she fell back onto the ground. The kimono she had worked so hard to put on was smeared with mud. Kaisai took a step forward and grabbed her by the collar.

“If you still can’t behave—”

Before Kaisai could finish speaking, a sharp pain shot through his hand. Naoya had opened her mouth and sunk her teeth deep into his arm.

“Ugh—!”

“Let go, you brat!”

He shouted and flailed his arm, but Naoya bit down and refused to release him. The Zenin clan members in front heard the commotion behind them and turned around one after another.

“What is going on? How dare you make a scene during the meeting?”

“How disgraceful! You’ve thrown away the Zenin Clan’s dignity!”

“Who’s making all that noise? Drag them out! Don’t disturb the clan head’s discussion!”

“Quiet, all of you, quiet!”

Naturally, the noise below disturbed the senior figures in the hall. The clan head rose shakily to his feet. The people of the Zenin Clan moved aside one after another, revealing Naoya and Kaisai at the back.

“Who is that?”

“Clan head, she is my daughter,” Naobito said, also rising to his feet.

“Like father, like child,” Ogi Zenin sneered.

“Explain,” Naobito said, his expression unreadable as he stroked his beard.

“F-Father, I was only disciplining my little sister—” Naoya finally let go and dropped to the side, while Kaisai hurriedly went down on one knee.

“Oh? You mean to say you tried to discipline a child, only to get bitten by that child and yelp like a dog?” Naobito said with a cold laugh.

“I… I…”

“Enough, Naobito.” The clan head settled back onto the seat of honor. Kaisai looked as if he had been granted amnesty, and everyone let out a breath of relief.

“This daughter of yours—how old is she?”

“Let me think… nearly seven,” Naobito replied.

“Bring her up and let me have a look.” The clan head waved a hand.

Naoya climbed up from the ground, spat out the bloody foam in her mouth, and patted the mud from her clothes. Then she said under her breath to Kaisai, “Just you wait…”

“You!” Kaisai lifted his head, only to see that Naoya had already run toward the council hall.

Naoya stood before the old clan head.

“What is your name?” The old clan head studied the girl before him. The kimono that should have looked neat and elegant was now covered in mud and dust.

“Naoya. Naoya Zenin,” Naobito answered before Naoya could even open her mouth.

“Has she awakened a cursed technique?” the old clan head asked.

“Not yet. But she was born with a decent amount of cursed energy. If she can awaken a cursed technique, she’ll make a fine jujutsu sorcerer,” Naobito said again.

Naoya listened silently at the side, and her heart could not help sinking. She remembered that in her previous life, she had awakened Projection Sorcery at six years old. Yet now, for some reason, she was nearly seven and still could not grasp the slightest sense of it.

The old clan head nodded.

“Decent cursed energy—even I can feel it.”

“But it is still not enough!”

The old man stopped looking at her, and his voice suddenly rose.

“Cursed energy alone is not enough. One must also possess the family’s inherited technique.”

“This is precisely why I summoned you all here today.”

“The Gojo Clan’s Six Eyes is already twelve years old, and he possesses Limitless.”

At this point, the clan head paused. His gaze swept around everyone present before he continued.

“An ancestor of the Zenin Clan once used our inherited jujutsu, the Ten Shadows Technique, to engage the Gojo Clan’s Six Eyes ancestor in a great battle. In the end, both of them died.”

“From that day on, our two families have held a grudge against each other.”

“Now a new Six Eyes has already appeared in the world. But what of our Zenin Clan? Among the new generation, who has awakened an inherited technique? When that Six Eyes grows up, what will we be facing?”

“You are right to consider this, clan head,” Naobito and Ogi replied at the same time, lowering their heads.

The old clan head looked at Naoya again.

“Talented jujutsu sorcerers often awaken their cursed techniques at five or six. Naobito, do you think she still has a chance?”

“I don’t have the ability to make such a claim one way or the other,” Naobito replied indifferently.

Listening to the exchange between the two of them, Naoya vaguely sensed something bad coming. The old clan head struck his cane heavily against the floor.

“This old man has undeservedly occupied the position of clan head for decades. Now I am already a candle in the wind, with little time left. But the Zenin Clan cannot fall. Someone in the new generation must shoulder the burden—not an ordinary jujutsu sorcerer, but someone with the strength to stand against the Gojo Clan’s Six Eyes, someone capable of supporting the entire Zenin Clan.”

“Ogi, is your wife also about to give birth?”

“Yes, clan head,” Ogi Zenin said, lowering his head. “I will not disappoint you.”

The old clan head glanced at Naoya once more, then raised his head and said, “If no one can awaken an inherited technique, then we will have to find a way to ease relations with the Gojo Clan. When the time comes, this child has an acceptable appearance and is of a suitable age. Send her to marry that Six Eyes brat from the Gojo Clan—of course, that is only a last resort.”

“Clan head, I fear that would be inappropriate. It still requires careful consideration… Besides, you still remember Toji…” Naobito stroked his chin as if he wanted to say something, but before he could finish, the old clan head cut him off harshly.

“Do not mention that monkey.”

“In any case…” The old man’s aged gaze swept over Naobito and Ogi. “The position of next clan head will be decided between the two of you. That is what I wished to announce today.”

“Dismissed!”

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!