At the same time, Satoru stood o Toji, a smug expression on his face.

  The six-year-old boy's sky-blue eyes gleamed with excitement, ae his youthful appearance, his grin carried a fidence far beyond his years.

  At this moment, enlighte had already begun to dawn upon the world.

  If someoo ask him why he was smiling, he would have answered without hesitation, because this was a Zanpakutō, and this Zanpakutō had been fed by his younger brother!

  Satoru was determio see all of Satoshi's ambitions e to fruition.

  Zanpakutō, Zanpakutō! Sode no Shirayuki and Suzumushi—these cursed tools are unbelievably powerful. I have to get Satoshi te a unique and ridiculously cool Zanpakutō for me.

  Haha, seriously? This is it? This is supposed to be a kendo petition?

  All their ons are broken, what else is there to pete with? If it weren't for the Suzumushi that Satoshi fed, Shunichi would've lost miserably this time.

  Satoru stroked his as he looked at the shattered swords littering the dojo floor, nodding in satisfa.

  Let's see if anyone in the Gojo family dares to look down on my little brother now.

  Satoru had always been aware of the Twin Curse Fa's hostility tojo Satoshi and the ral Fa's indecisiveness.

  Before, sioshi had only mae a single Zanpakutō, Satoru had kept his emotions in check. But now, he had no reason to hold back.

  The existence of Satoshi's Zanpakutō gave him absolute fidend more importantly, it secured Satoshi's position within the .

  "Toji, what do you think? Looking forward to your future Zanpakutō?"

  Satoru oji's ribs pyfully, his face brimming with excitement.

  "I am, but you should be more excited than me, right? You're definitely getting yours before I do."

  Toji raised an eyebrow. Though he admitted he was looking forward to it, he maintained an indifferent expression.

  "Of course!"

  Satoru didn't argue. He firmly believed that as soon as Satoshi mastered the rules of f Zanpakutō, his priority would be to create one for him first.

  That was the agreemeween them as brothers.

  "Still, the Suzumushi that Satoshi fed is absurdly strong. It's easily on par with a Grade 1 cursed tool."

  Satoru activated his Six Eyes and closely observed Suzumushi. Given its current performand the mysterious abilities i in all Zanpakutō, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to cssify it as a Grade 1 cursed tool.

  Of course, Satoshi had previously mentiohat Zanpakutō couldn't be judged by the same ranking system as standard cursed tools.

  But for now, until Satoshi established his own ranking system, Satoru and Toji could only measure Suzumushi against the ventional cssifications.

  "It's at the level of a Grade 1 cursed tool? Just that alone makes it impressive."

  Toji nodded.

  "I've seen the kind of strength a Grade 1 cursed tool possesses back at the Zenin , and this isn't any weaker. As long as Suzumushi's ability isn't pletely useless, it definitely qualifies as Grade 1."

  her Toji nor Satoru believed for a sed that Suzumushi's ability would be useless.

  After all, they had already seen how overwhelming Sode no Shirayuki was.

  A Zanpakutō personally crafted by Satoshi wouldn't be inferior. If Suzumushi ever failed to live up to expectations, the fault could only lie with Gojo Shunichi for not being able to fully wield its power.

  …

  "How about we end the match here?"

  Shunichi gnced around at the eerie silen the dojo and finally spoke up.

  Their oppos no longer had ohey expected to fight barehanded?

  This was supposed to be a kendo match. Without swords, how could it be sidered kendo?

  Were they really expected to use the so-called "sword of the heart" to fight?

  Shunichi's voice shattered the tense silehe spectators snapped out of their daze and immediately began whispering among themselves.

  "The Gojo family's ons are insane! Master Shunichi's sword is on a pletely different level from Master Saemon's, there's no way he could have lost."

  "Yeah, this wasn't even a fair fight."

  "If they had been using the same on, Master Saemon definitely would've won."

  "But a kendo match at this level allows different ons, right? It's not like Master Shunichi did anything wrong. It's just that the ons yū family provided for Master Saemon were… g."

  The moment someone from the Yagyū family said this, the other disciples of the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū fell silent.

  Only now did they truly grasp the importance of ons.

  Yet, the Yagyū family had never held mufluen the world of jujutsu. They had eveed to challenging the Gojo family just to maintain their reputation.

  Given their limited standing, how could they afford to i more resources into their kendo masters?

  It wasn't that they didn't want to, it was that they simply didn't have the means.

  And even if they had the money, could they just buy a sword like Suzumushi off the market?

  Oher side, the disciples of the Gojo family's Kyokushin-ryū were bursting with excitement.

  "Master Shunichi is incredible! Even though it's a bit one-sided, that was seriously satisfying! What was the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū thinking, trying to show off in our Kyokushin-ryū dojo?"

  "Right? Even though Master Shunichi hasn't been around much retly, he still came prepared! Using his on as his trump card, maybe this was his way of showing his dissatisfa with Yagyū Shinkage-ryū?"

  "Holy, you bme him? Master Shunichi has always had a fiery temper, and now the Yagyū family is trying to use him as a stepping stone? No one would take that lying down."

  "You were so cocky before, but now you're dead silent, huh? I know it's a bit rude, but watg Master Saemon's expressiht now is priceless."

  As the Gojo Kyokushin-ryū disciples observed Yagyū Saemon's fluctuating expression, some of their excitement was repced with a hint of sympathy.

  Even Yagyū Saemon himself probably hadn't expected things to turn out like this.

  Many spectators remained immersed in their own discussions, their thoughts mirr those of the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū disciples.

  "Kotetsu, I've never seen the on Master Shunichi is using before. Didn't he always use Cicada? When did he switch swords? It looks so unremarkable, but its strength is unbelievable."

  Kotetsu found himself surrounded by a group of fellow disciples. Though they all trained uhe same school, close friendships still formed within the dojo.

  The reason he had been chosen to call Gojo Shunichi earlier was simple, he was the disciple that Gojo Shunichi valued the most.