Reborn as Naoya Zenin: I Swear I Came Back for Revenge! [3]

“Projection Sorcery, Projection Sorcery—come out already!”

In the young girl’s room, Naoya Zenin gripped her wrist and desperately tried to sense the cursed technique lying dormant in her flesh.

At this point, even she was starting to panic. If she did not awaken her cursed technique, she would be treated like any ordinary sow of a woman and sent off to the Gojo Clan as a marriage pawn or whatever, forced to marry that Satoru Gojo or whoever—absolutely not!

No—calm down. From what she knew of Satoru Gojo in her previous life, a naturally born powerhouse like him would never take interest in some petty little family marriage arrangement. He was absolutely destined to live his whole life alone, so there was no need to worry too much.

Wait. If Satoru Gojo refused to cooperate, there was a good chance they would substitute some branch-family child from the Gojo Clan instead. Wasn’t that even worse?

She still had to awaken her cursed technique as soon as possible.

But while that was what she wanted, reality refused to cooperate. She could clearly feel it. Her cursed technique was hidden there, carved beneath her skin, within her body, and yet she simply could not use it—as if it were deliberately rejecting her.

And it was not only the cursed technique itself. A cursed technique still required a trigger to awaken, but the basic skill of manipulating cursed energy should have come easily with the memories of her previous life.

Yet for some reason, even her cursed energy—though she could clearly sense it—refused to obey her. The unfamiliar sensation made it feel as though it was not her cursed energy at all, but someone else’s.

Ever since the last Zenin clan meeting, she had been trying to call out her cursed technique and gather her cursed energy. But every attempt over the past half month had come to nothing. Naoya propped up her chin and fell into thought.

It couldn’t possibly be because this body was some useless woman… and therefore unqualified to use a cursed technique, right…?

Even Naoya Zenin would never accept something like that. Whether one could use jujutsu had nothing to do with being male or female.

“No way… It couldn’t be because of that, could it…”

An absurd yet strangely reasonable guess flashed through her mind.

At the very end of her previous life, she had died as a cursed spirit. By the time she came back to herself, her soul had awakened in this baby girl’s body, returned once more to human form.

But could a soul that had become a cursed spirit really return to its original state?

Cursed spirits had no physical bodies. The logic behind how they used cursed techniques and cursed energy was completely different from that of humans. It was freer, more intuitive. Even now, she still remembered how the world had suddenly opened up before her.

As a cursed spirit, Naoya Zenin had reached the utmost extreme of Projection Sorcery, a height even old man Naobito had never attained…

DOMAIN EXPANSION—TIME CELL MOON PALACE.

But if her soul remembered the sensation of being a cursed spirit, remembered the feeling of using a cursed technique as a cursed spirit, then after returning to a human body, could she still use that cursed technique?

There was no precedent. For a human, becoming a cursed spirit meant death. Returning to being human was impossible, so there was no way to confirm the answer.

“But… if that’s really it, am I supposed to only get my cursed technique back after becoming a cursed spirit? What kind of joke is that!”

Naoya clasped both hands behind her head and sprawled on the floor without a shred of decorum, one leg crossed over the other and swinging idly as she racked her brains for other possibilities. If that disciplinary maid saw her like this, she would certainly pull out the ruler and scold her harshly.

“Come to think of it… it’s been noisy outside for a while now. How am I supposed to think like this?”

Naoya blamed the blankness in her mind on the racket outside. Annoyed, she got to her feet, pulled open the room’s sliding door, and looked out into the courtyard.

“Hey, I said—”

No one paid her any attention. Servants and maids hurried back and forth beneath the veranda. She listened closely and heard what they were shouting.

“She’s giving birth!”

“Hurry, Ogi-sama’s wife is giving birth!”

So that was what was happening.

Naoya’s mouth curved into a cold smile as she walked forward along the veranda. The Zenin Clan lived together in a vast old Japanese estate. Even though the outside world had already reached the modern society of 2002, where civilians lived in high-rises, used telephones, came into contact with the trendy internet, and spoke of space and international perspectives, the Zenin Clan still lived like an Edo-period warrior house, shut away inside an expansive estate.

After passing through the garden archway, she saw it—the residence of Ogi Zenin’s family. The clan physicians who served the clan were gathered in front of the door, waiting solemnly.

Naoya had arrived at just the right time. Not long after she stopped there, a loud infant cry came from inside the delivery room.

“She’s—she’s given birth!”

“Ooooooh!”

The gathered clan members broke into cheers, and for a moment, the air was filled with joy.

You won’t be laughing in a little while, Naoya thought coldly.

The clamor then rose from the courtyard.

“Is it a boy or a girl? Is it a boy?”

“Let me see—it’s a bo… it’s a girl.”

“Ooooh—it’s a girl.”

“It’s fine. What about cursed energy? Bring the cursed tool for testing cursed energy, hurry!”

“It’s here, it’s here!”

“Test her!”

“Let me see… Huh?”

“What is it? How much did it measure?”

“That’s strange. There’s no response. Is it broken?”

“Broken? How could that be—give it here. You just don’t know how to use it!”

“…”

“Could it really be broken? How? Come here, let me try it on you. Strange—it’s working fine.”

“Wait, forget the cursed tool. Look at Ogi-sama’s wife. She seems to be in pain!”

“In pain… Isn’t it over? Wait, what does that mean?”

“My god, there’s another one!”

…

The Zenin Clan, which had just been filled with excitement, soon fell into an eerie silence. Only the interweaving cries of infants rang out.

News came from the delivery room—the mother and children were safe.

But everyone’s face wore an odd, strained expression.

Because along with that news came the established fact that Ogi’s wife had given birth to two baby girls.

In the eyes of ordinary civilians in the modern age, twins signified double happiness, two blessings better than one.

But to the Zenin Clan, which adhered strictly to ancient jujutsu traditions, twins were an ill omen through and through.

Not every clan member clearly understood what taboos twins carried regarding cursed technique activation, jujutsu contracts, or ritual ceremonies. For most of them, only one deeply rooted belief had been carved into their hearts:

Twins meant misfortune.

Whispers gradually spread.

“They’re actually twins…”

“And one of them seems to have no cursed energy fluctuations at all…”

“Seriously? Then wouldn’t that make her the same as that person?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. There’s still an extremely faint trace of cursed energy…”

“Twins are way too unlucky…”

“Ogi-sama looks thunderous right now.”

“Keep your voice down. Ogi-sama must have his own plans—”

BOOM!

Violent cursed energy suddenly erupted. A sharp wave of sword energy flashed and vanished in an instant. By the time everyone came back to their senses, half of the Japanese-style room serving as the delivery room had already collapsed, bricks, stones, and roof tiles flying everywhere.

“Waaaahhhhhhh!”

Ogi Zenin stood beside the collapsed building, his whole body trembling uncontrollably. His long sword was already drawn, and he gripped the hilt tightly as he let out a crazed roar that even drowned out the infants’ crying.

Inside the delivery room, the exhausted mother had closed her eyes. The two swaddled infants wailed endlessly on the bed, yet by some miracle, neither had been struck by the falling debris. Everyone around them was so frightened they fell deathly silent, not even daring to breathe loudly.

“Tsk, tsk—if you hate them that much, just kill them. What’s the point of slashing up the room with a sword? Are you trying to scare people to death?”

A contemptuous, disdainful voice came from the side. Everyone looked toward the sound in terror and saw a girl dressed in a black juban standing at the courtyard gate, her expression arrogant.

“I mean, if you’re going to do it, aim at the target. Don’t be so wishy-washy. What kind of look is that? Aren’t twins supposed to be unlucky? As jujutsu sorcerers, aren’t we meant to exorcise misfortune? Especially when they’re useless baby girls.”

Naoya walked forward slowly, step by step. Ogi Zenin’s brows twisted together, and he demanded sharply, “You’re Naobito’s child?”

“That’s right.” Naoya walked up in front of Ogi Zenin and tilted her head back with all her strength, looking straight at him.

“Sounds like you understand your position quite well.” Ogi Zenin forced down his towering rage and slammed his long sword back into its sheath, his tone ice-cold. “But I refuse to give you people what you want.”

“Position? I’ve never—”

VMM.

Naoya had only gotten halfway through her sentence when someone abruptly covered her mouth. By the time she realized what had happened, Naobito Zenin was already standing behind her.

“Well, well, this is my fault for failing to discipline my child properly. Sorry for the trouble. Please, carry on. We’ll be taking our leave now!”

Tch! This damned old man!

He must have used jujutsu. Naobito Zenin had appeared before her in an instant, and immediately afterward—after so many years—she experienced once again the godlike speed of Projection Sorcery.

It was a rule-based cursed technique that could divide one second into twenty-four frames, allowing the user to preset movements and execute them at high speed in order to achieve continuous high-speed movement and attacks. And Naobito Zenin was the jujutsu sorcerer currently acknowledged as the fastest in jujutsu society.

What Naoya Zenin had inherited was precisely this cursed technique.

WHOOSH, WHOOSH—!

Light and shadow shifted rapidly before her eyes. By the time the scene fully settled, the two of them were already standing in their own courtyard. Naoya felt the world spin around her, but fortunately, she could just barely steady her mind.

She turned back and saw Naobito Zenin sitting on the wooden steps in front of the veranda, his expression unusually serious.

“Listen, Naoya.”

“Huh?” Naoya instinctively took half a step back, but the dizziness had not yet faded. Her legs went weak, and she landed on her backside on the ground.

“Those things you said—who taught you to say them?”

“Who… Who taught me? Why don’t you tell me which things you mean?”

“All that talk about killing, misfortune, uselessness… You shouldn’t say things like that,” Naobito said slowly.

Naoya’s brows twitched.

“Does that need to be taught? Isn’t that what everyone says?”

“Who is everyone?” Naobito’s expression was grave.

“I mean—everyone is everyone! Every person I’ve seen, every word I’ve heard, all of it says the same thing. In this estate, everything my eyes can see—everything.” Naoya spoke with disdain. She had no idea what fit this bastard old man was throwing now. In her previous life, he had clearly spent more than ten years as clan head with perfect peace of mind.

Hearing this, Naobito froze for a moment and said nothing more.

“Anything else? If there’s nothing, I’m leaving.”

Naoya looked at the silent Naobito. Seeing that he made no move for a long while, she turned to go.

“Wait.”

Naobito’s voice came from behind her.

“Naoya, you have a mind of your own now, don’t you? I admit I’ve underestimated you all this time.”

“Oh? I’m glad you finally understand that.”

The corner of Naoya’s mouth had only just lifted when Naobito ignored her rude tone and continued.

“So there’s something I may need you to do.”

“I’m not interested in playing games with you—”

“You really don’t make much of an adorable daughter. But don’t be in such a hurry. As long as you handle this properly, I can grant you one request—anything.”

Naobito clasped his hands together and bared his teeth in a grin.

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!