"—A Rasengan?!"
Eriri's exclamation echoed through the study.
She pointed at the pale blue sphere of light in Genji's palm, her eyes wide. "That's—that's exactly the Rasengan from Naruto! Even the rotation is the same!"
Genji looked at the sphere of light in his hand, then at Eriri, with a perfectly natural expression.
"I invented it first. He must have copied it from me," he said calmly, slightly closing his fingers. The sphere of light dispersed with a soft pop, turning into tiny specks of light. "This technique is called the 'Cursed Energy Vortex.' It's one of the techniques I developed a thousand years ago. The manga author you mentioned… probably heard rumors about this technique from somewhere and then artistically adapted it."
Eriri opened her mouth, but for a long time, no words came out. She looked at Genji, then at her own lips that had almost shouted "Rasengan," and suddenly felt that the world was too absurd.
Genji popped a potato chip into his mouth and continued, "The principle of the 'Cursed Energy Vortex' isn't complicated. It's about creating a temporary cursed energy compression field through hand seals, causing the cursed energy to rotate and overlap at high speed. In nature, rotational force is often more effective than direct impact—like water whirlpools and wind tornadoes."
Eriri still found it hard to believe. "But… why did you turn the moves from manga into reality? Weren't you a modern person in your previous life?"
"I was a modern person in my previous life, but I actually invented this move first," Genji shrugged. "And why… it's simple. Because it works."
He paused, and his expression became more serious.
"Eriri, why do you think I created acquired techniques? For fun? To show off? Or, as you said, to 'plagiarize manga'?"
Eriri was stumped. She opened her mouth and whispered, "How should I know…"
"To save people," Genji said, his voice very calm, but each word carried the weight of a thousand years. "Or, to enable more people to save people."
He put down the bag of potato chips, clasped his hands before him, and indigo cursed energy flowed in his palms, outlining the contours of Heian-period Kyoto.
"In my time, cursed spirits ran rampant, and curse users were everywhere. Ordinary people had no power to resist cursed spirits, and sorcerers… were too few in number, too scattered, and their moral standards varied widely. Many sorcerers only cared about their own cultivation or served the nobility, with no concern for the lives of ordinary civilians."
On the image outlined by cursed energy, several blurry figures appeared—some cultivating, some fighting, and some coldly watching a village in the distance being attacked by a cursed spirit.
"I thought," Genji continued, "that to quickly create enough power to quell the cursed spirit attacks across the land, it wouldn't be enough to rely on just me and a few talented sorcerers. I needed to make more people combat-capable—even if it was just basic combat."
The image changed, showing many people dressed simply, with weak fluctuations of cursed energy.
"Sorcerers without innate techniques," Genji said. "They were born without special techniques, and their total cursed energy was low. They were considered 'inferior' in the jujutsu world at that time, only fit for chores or being cannon fodder. But their numbers were ten times greater than those with techniques."
He clasped his hands together, and the faint figures began to form hand seals—simple, unadorned seals. With the seals, their palms lit up with different lights: fire, water, lightning, wind, and earth.
"So I focused on them," Genji said. "I spent three years researching the fundamental properties of cursed energy, developing the hand seal system, and creating self-binding contracts… Finally, I developed the 'acquired technique' system. Through specific gestures, incantations, and self-binding, sorcerers without innate techniques can temporarily change the nature of their cursed energy and gain basic combat abilities."
In the image, those initially weak figures used flames to drive back cursed spirits, used water currents to trap monsters, and used lightning to shatter cores.
"Although the power isn't as good as innate techniques, and the flexibility and upper limit are also much lower," Genji said, "at least they have the ability to protect themselves and the chance to protect others. A Grade 3 sorcerer who has mastered the 'Flame Bullet' might not be able to defeat a Grade 2 cursed spirit, but at least they can hold it back, giving the villagers time to escape."
He withdrew the cursed energy, and the image dissipated. Silence fell over the study, broken only by the faint sound of traffic from outside the window.
"That's why I created acquired techniques," Genji looked at Eriri, his deep indigo eyes crystal clear. "Not to show off, not for fun, and not to 'plagiarize manga.' Simply so that more people could live, and protect others so that they could live."
Eriri stared at him blankly. She remembered the usual Genji—lazy, snack-loving, curious about all things modern—and couldn't imagine that this person would do such a thing a thousand years ago.
Not to become stronger for himself, not for power and glory, but to give weaker sorcerers the ability to protect the weak.
"You…" She whispered. "You're really… such a busybody."
A typical tsundere line. But Genji understood what she meant. He laughed.
"Yes, I'm a busybody," he picked up the chips again. "Otherwise, how do you think I spent those thousand years? Besides playing house, setting up barriers, and teaching my younger brother to manage the clan, I had to find something to do."
Utaha quietly watched this scene, her crimson eyes shining with complex light.
As a creator, she understood better than Eriri what it meant to recreate techniques from fictional works into reality. It required not only power but also a deep understanding of the nature of energy, the rules of the world, and unparalleled creativity and systematic thinking.
Genji had not only done it, but done it a thousand years ago. He had created a complete system that could be learned and passed down.
This was a true "miracle." Not the power to destroy heaven and earth, but the wisdom to benefit all people.
"Lord Zen'in Genji," Utaha said quietly, "the technique system you created… is it still being passed down today?"
Genji was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head.
"I don't know," he said calmly. "Before I left, I left all my research notes, training methods, and seal diagrams to the Zen'in clan, and had them teach it publicly. Theoretically, as long as the jujutsu world hasn't completely broken the inheritance, this system should still be circulating."
He paused and added, "But looking at the current level of jujutsu… I doubt they studied it well."
Megumi Katou listened quietly, her black eyes fixed on Genji throughout. She had rarely spoken, just quietly observed, her presence as faint as usual.
But at this moment, she suddenly spoke softly:
"Lord Zen'in Genji, when you did all this… were you tired?"
Genji turned his head and looked at her.
Megumi Katou's expression was calm, but in her eyes flickered a faint, almost invisible curiosity.
"Tired?" Genji repeated the word, thinking for a moment. "Sometimes. But most of the time… it was 'worth it.'"
He floated to the window, turned his back to the three of them, and looked out at the night view of Tokyo.
"Do you know what makes me happiest?" He said, very softly. "It's not that those later sorcerers called me a 'god,' not that the emperor bowed to me, and not that the Zen'in clan enshrined me."
He paused.
"Once, in the ruins of a village that had been attacked by a cursed spirit, I saw a young sorcerer who had just learned the 'Water Flow Surge'—his cursed energy was weak, his hand seals were clumsy, and his hands were trembling with nervousness—but he stood in front of the villagers and used a thin stream of water to hold off a Grade 2 cursed spirit for five minutes, waiting for reinforcements."
Genji turned around, a genuine, soft smile on his face.
"He survived, and the villagers survived too. Later, he became the guardian of that area, teaching over a dozen students, three of whom later developed their own variations of acquired techniques."
"At that moment," he said, "I felt it was worth it. Everything I did was worth it."
Silence filled the study.
Eriri lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously tracing the edge of her tablet.
Utaha's pen stopped on the paper, the ink blotting into a small blob. Megumi Katou looked quietly at Genji, her black eyes reflecting the light, and also reflecting the young man standing by the window—his slender figure, yet seeming capable of bearing an entire era.
After a long time, Eriri looked up, her blue eyes shining with determination.
"Teach me," she said. "The acquired techniques. I want to learn."
Genji raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have your innate technique to practice?"
"I'll practice both!" Eriri clenched her fists. "I have plenty of time anyway! And… and if I encounter a cursed spirit again in the future, I can at least help you a little, instead of just hiding behind you every time!"
╔══════════════════════╗
📘 Want more?
Join me on Patreon for bonus chapters
and early access!
🔗 https://www.patreon.com/cw/OverlordD
╚══════════════════════╝