Chapter 40

The earth element was getting easier to manage.

It took Yuuji a few days more to handle it, yet once he got the concept of the power, he was able to use it with ease. Earth manipulate was one, he is able to use trees and bend them to his will, however Kitsune quickly frowns upon the notion when she caught him in the act of doing such a thing. She also gave him a firm whack on his head for good measures. "Remember who lives in those trees! As well as the safety of the trees themselves" she protested to him.

Instantly, Yuuji vowed to never use the trees like that!

He was able to use his power for all different things, he was over five times stronger than before, and so his strength he had to keep a close eye on. His feet could root into the ground preventing him from being thrown back. As well, his flesh can be manipulated into a harder substance. He is able to turn his fingertips to diamonds and cut various things with ease. It was like Sukuna's slash ability, but this makes the edges a lot crisper.

"Wow… this is really powerful…" Yuuji said.

"Have you grown anything?" Kitsune asked.

"Grown?"

"You can encourage plants to grow. You could make a wonderful garden in a matter of seconds if you desire" she explained.

"Huh, I never thought about it… then again I know just the person to try that with…"

"Young master… you seem to be in higher spirits than before," Kitsune said offhandedly.

He smiled and nodded to her. "I feel a lot better, Suiryu did a performance recently, using my journal of all things for lyrics… but, when the show ended. I felt good again. I mean, he showed the world what I kept bottled up inside of me, so I didn't burden others with it…"

He was suddenly pulled into Kitsune's arms. She held him rather tightly as he returned the embrace to her. "I am sorry for your misfortune, young master. But understand, the moment you obtained Ryujin… it was the happiest any of the divine have been for a thousand years!" she explained. "We are so blessed to have you, and just so you are aware, the lives lost to Sukuna, their souls are at peace. I can promise you, at the same time. With your new abilities and no longer being burdened with the bastard, you will save far more lives than what he took in his era and when he revived." She stated.

Yuuji smiled and nodded. "I know I realized that recently. I'm going to work hard Kitsune, just you see…"

She pulled out of his arms, but she smiled warmly to him. Her hand gently cupped the side of his face like a proud mother. "And I will witness it all," she said gently.

"So… this garden thing, how do I go about doing it? I know one of the brothers is trying to grow one…"

#

Sanso was at a loss.

Everything was struggling in his little plot. He wanted to try this just to see something grow, to see life happen before his eyes. But so far, his plants have refused to sprout or bare fruit. He sighed aloud. "I thought for certain Eso would have good ingredients to use for meals…" he muttered in defeat.

"Sanso!"

He paused and turned to see little brother Itadori. "Yuuji!" he cheered. "Brother, what brings you here?"

He pointed to the plot. "I want to help you, Kitsune… a spirit guide of mine was telling me to try using my power on this. But it's not as straight forward as I would hope it to be…"

"Kitsune?" he muttered, but shrugged his shoulders. "I could use some help. I wanted to grow food for Eso to use in our meals. So far… no luck."

He stepped back as Yuuji approached the plot, then he went on his knees and stuck his ear to the ground! He wanted to say something, but his little brother was very focused at the moment. He waited for five minutes until he sat up once more.

"You are watering too much, there isn't enough air going into the soil so the roots are compacted. Your compost needs another week to mature before it goes into the ground and it has to set at least a month before you plant anything. The roots have burned from the compost."

He froze.

"Brother… how did you know all that?"

He pointed to the ground. "The soil told me," he explained. "It's quite talkative."

"The… soil told you?" he wasn't quite understanding it either way, but he watched on as brother Yuuji began to stick his hands into the ground. The soil turned and fluffed up.

From there he focused. "What were you growing?"

"Peppers, onions, tomatoes, Napa cabbage…" he said offhandedly.

He peered over and saw sprouts starting to form!

Then they grew bigger into little seedlings, then bigger into young plants!

Yuuji stopped as he took his hands out of the ground and brushed off the dirt. "There we go," he said. "I got your started. I could bring them to full maturity but I don't want to take away from your hobby,"

Sanso couldn't believe it as he peered at the garden, it was slowly growing but… it was growing!

"YUUJI!"

"Hey Junpei!"

Sanso was quick to call him over. "Little brother, look what Yuuji did for me!" he said with great excitement.

Junpei smiled and nodded to the garden. "That's great!" he cheered. "Soon we can make salsa and Eso is going to make kimchi!"

"Ooo, you'll tell me when you make it right?" Yuuji asked with a lick of his lips.

"Of course we will, brother… thank you!"

He bowed politely. "Thank you for helping my training… I think I am nearly done with this earth element too, it won't be long until we have to find the other three…"

"Wind, light and darkness, right?" Junpei asked.

"Yeah… I wonder what those three will do to me…" he muttered offhandedly. But he didn't sound upset about the notion either. "I am looking forward to the wind one thought, I think I can safely say what's in store for me for that," he laughed aloud.

"We will just have to tie you down at night when you sleep more than likely," snickered Junpei.