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While training on the grounds, the Kyoto students were suddenly called by Nagino.
"What's the matter, sensei?"
"We got some important orders from the HQ. Considering the timing of their arrival, I am hoping that you all know that these are related to the aftermath of Good will event," said Nagino in a serious tone.
Naoya, Utahime and Kuroko looked at the papers in Nagino's hands and got a bit curious about them.
"First of all, Kuroko, you have been recommended for a promotion by the higher-ups. Effective immedieately you will act as Semi-Grade 2. You will be assigned your evaluating sorcerer shortly for a detailed analysis of your capabilities. Congratulations," said Nagino with a smile.
"Congrats, Tetsuya!" cheered Naoya excitedly and patted the boy's back.
"Congrats, Kuroko. Do your best in further evaluation," added Utahime.
"Um. Thanks," replied Kuroko.
"Alright, alright, stop chattering. I have more announcements to make. Celebrate later," said Nagino.
"Ieri, your evaluation that was on hold has returned, and you have been promoted to Grade-2. Congrats to you too."
"Yay~"
"Way to go, senpai."
"As expected of our senior."
The two boys clapped, making Utahime feel prouder.
"Lastly....I still can't believe that they agreed to this..." muttered Nagino and looked towards Naoya.
The students looked at their teacher with confusion, not understanding why there was a dreadful look on the man's face.
"...Zenin, you have been assigned to a mission to subjugate a potential Special Grade cursed spirit," said Nagino with a serious look on his face.
Hearing that, Naoya and the others widened their eyes in surprise. The emergence of a Special Grade cursed spirit was nothing short of a disaster. The amount of damage it could cause is something that no one could calculate, from levelling a city block to levelling multiple cities or even more. The range was too wide for ranking them.
The only thing that could be said confidently about them is that normal sorcerers won't be very effective against them. Grade-1 sorcerers are considered elites, but that was just for the normal ranking sorcerers. Anomalies were out of their jurisdiction. They might hold out the Special Grades, but a decisive victory against them was almost impossible for Grade-1 sorcerers.
Special Grade sorcerers were the only definitive hope to fight against Special Grade curses, and Naoya understood that very well.
The only thing that confused him was why Nagino, a seasoned sorcerer, was acting like that after reading the news.
He soon got that answer.
"...You will be accompanied by another sorcerer from the Tokyo Jujutsu High. Satoru Gojo will be joining you on this mission," said Nagino with a helpless tone, already imagining the issues that were going to arise because of the team.
Naoya blinked in surprise, and soon a smile appeared on his face.
"Satoru is coming too!!!"
Utahime understood why Nagino was worried, and she shared his sentiment. Seeing Naoya's happiness confirmed her worries even more.
*Ring~**Ring~*
As if on cue, Naoya's phone started ringing.
Naoya looked at it, and it was indeed Satoru calling him.
"Satoru!"
"Naoya!!"
"You heard?"
"I heard!!!"
The two of them started talking excitedly about the mission, and each detail made Nagino question HQ more.
Like that, the two of them chatted for a while before Naoya pretended to cut the call and walked away.
In Tokyo, Gojo did the same, moving away from his friends.
"So, what do you think is the real reason they are deploying both of us?" asked Naoya seriously.
"I don't know. Knowing how much of a nutjob those higher-ups are. They should be trying to keep the two of us apart, especially after getting the recent reports about us," replied Satoru.
The two special grades might act as if they don't care much about the things going on around them, but they were more aware than anyone about their situations.
Something fishy was going on in the HQ, and the two of them were somehow getting dragged into the mess, but about what it was, the two had no idea.
"...Are they testing us or something?" said Naoya.
"Highly possible. They might be trying to see how in check can the two of us be...a Special Grade curse just appeared on time..." added Satoru.
"...Well, we will deal with the issues when they arrive. I will have some of the insiders gather the information," replied Naoya and shrugged his shoulders.
"I will do the same."
Being part of the prestigious clans, the two of them had no shortage of subordinates and spies planted across various important and strategic places, including the clans, Jujutsu HQ, and even the government.
"Still, let's enjoy this outing after so long. Let's go out to play before and after the mission," said Satoru.
"Sure. On that note, if the curse is good, can I keep it?" asked Naoya.
"Sure, no issues to me. Suguru might pout later, though. He was grumbling that you had more Special Grade shikigami/ cursed spirits than him, and since then has been planning to get more," said Satoru and chuckled.
"Welp, finders keepers. Sounds like a him problem to me," replied Naoya.
"Haha. He will fume with anger if he hears that. Well, see you soon."
"Bye."
The call ended, and Naoya headed back home. He needed to pack up for the mission and inform the kids and Kagenori, too.
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The next day, Naoya got in the car sent by the Jujutsu division and headed towards the site.
"Good Morning Zenin-sama," greeted the driver.
"Good morning," replied Naoya with a smile.
"Any idea about the mission? Mr...."
"You can call me Sato, Zenin-sama. As for the mission, I will tell you about the details," said the man, and started speaking.
Naoya listened intently to the mission details and got a basic idea of what they would be dealing with.
The mission site was Mt. Fuji, where a cursed spirit that looked like a dragon had made a base.
Let's be clear once again, a f*cking dragon had taken Mt. Fuji as his base.
The dragon lacked intelligence, but its destructive power was enough to give it a Special Grade status.
It was officially titled [Rainbow Dragon] by the HQ, and it had already killed many Grade-1 and Special Grade-1 sorcerers who were not even able to make as much as a dent in the curse.
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{Just clarifying before you all start pointing fingers at me. Yes, Rainbow Dragon is unranked in the official material, and I am taking the liberty of making it a Special Grade curse.
As far as I know, a Grade-1 sorcerer is supposed to be able to easily defeat Grade-1 curses, and so is the case for other Grade-1, 2, and 3 sorcerers. I don't think normal Grade-1 sorcerers can defeat the dragon easily. Also, Special Grade curses are beings that can destroy cities easily, and the Dragon could quite literally do it just by flying around the city and destroying the buildings.
Plus, it's a dragon. I am gonna say that it's based on the fear of dragons. That's gotta amount to something.}
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Naoya was now more than excited to get the cursed spirit in his arsenal. Strength didn't matter much to him when the thing was a fricking dragon.
'Seriously, getting a cool shikigami and after that hang out with Satoru. Can this day get any better?' thought Naoya with a smile.
It most certainly could.
When Naoya arrived at the location, he got off and saw Satoru already waiting for him. His gaze landed on him, but soon moved away from him. There was someone more important than him.
"Ruriko-san!" called Naoya excitedly and as if teleported near her.
Satoru blinked in surprise. He was not even able to see Naoya move and get past him.
He turned around and saw Zenin talking happily with his mom.
'...I should have stopped Mom from tagging along,' thought Satoru.
"Naoya-kun. Long time no see~" said Ruriko with a smile.
"I am here too, you know?" called Satoru.
Naoya looked at him with an uninterested gaze and 'shoo'd him.
A few veins popped up on Satoru's face, seeing that reaction, and he thought to fire a [Purple] at the ungrateful bastard.
"What are you doing here, Ruriko-san?" asked Naoya.
"Satoru told me he was going to Mt. Fuji, and I wanted to go on a hike. So I tagged along," replied Ruriko.
"Oi. Idiot. Do you not know how dangerous it is to bring Ruriko-san here?" asked Naoya and smacked Satoru.
"I told her to stay behind since it was dangerous to be here. But she insisted and told me that I was not confident enough to deal with the curse. It was a matter of pride now," replied Satoru, and rubbed his head where he was smacked.
Naoya looked at Satoru as if he were looking at the world's biggest idiot.
"Fufu~ Don't be harsh on him, Naoya-kun. I pushed my way through."
"Sigh. Whatever, I will make sure that you are safe, Ruriko-san. You can count on me," said Naoya and tried to act reliable.
"My~ So dependable~" said Ruriko with a teasing smile.
"Haha."
Seeing his friend and mother like that, Satoru unconsciously started forming a [Purple] around his fingertips.
Naoya looked at the glow and looked at Satoru dead in the eyes, warning him to deactivate the technique. He didn't want Ruriko to get caught in the attack.
Satoru stared back for a while before deactivating the technique. Knowing Naoya, he would surely fold him once he gave that look.
Once they were done joking, Naoya assigned Satoru to be Ruriko's bodyguard. His technique was better suited to keep her safe. Not to mention, he had a cursed spirit to capture, and that was his priority at the moment.
He asked Satoru to stay at the foot of the mountain with Ruriko until he gives him a signal.
He went ahead to deal with the dragon, and just as he expected, he wasn't disappointed at all.
The dragon was huge, with a pale, glowing body and bulging golden eyes. It was resting around the tip of the mountain and was eyeing Naoya, the intruder that entered its territory.
The hostility in the curse's eyes was clear, and this made Naoya even more excited.
The cursed spirit rose from the ground and floated in the air before letting out a roar.
*ROAR!!!!*
The roar echoed in the surroundings, but that didn't make Naoya flinch even a bit.
[Emerge from darkness-]
He started the chant, and soon a curtain covered the area, making sure that no one saw what was happening inside.
The dragon was already charging towards Naoya at full speed, ready to tear through the human.
However, the moment it got closer, a shadowy giant army emerged from Naoya's shadow and grabbed the dragon's neck before throwing it away.
[Mahoraga] [Zankyo]
Two humanoid shikigami emerged from Naoya's shadow and eyed the dragon.
"Rough it up. Don't kill it, though," ordered Naoya.
"Understood," replied Zankyo, while Mahoraga just gave a nod and jumped towards the dragon, landing directly on its head and smashing it through the mountain.
Zankyo looked at the scene and materialised a giant cannon above him and pointed it towards the dragon.
Cursed energy started gathering inside it as Sephiroth jumped out of the crater and threw the dragon towards Zankyo.
*BOOM*
The blast hit the Dragon, sending it flying and plastering it to the ground once again.
Naoya looked at the curse and was a bit surprised at the result.
The dragon may not be able to damage him or his shikigami, but it too had not sustained any major injury. Just some cracks on its scales.
'... Its speciality is its defence, huh.' thought Naoya.
Naoya knew very well that Zankyo and Seph were holding back, but still, the curse looked mostly fine. He wanted to test its durability some more, but considering that they were fighting at a famous tourist spot, he didn't want to destroy the mountain completely.
He already had some idea about the dragon, and that was enough for him to consider adding it to the roster.
He got closer to the curse that was not warily looking at Naoya, who was being followed by the two shikigami.
The curse knew well that the opponents were not someone he could defeat, but they, too, could not kill it easily.
Sadly for the dragon, it was wrong.
[CTR: Shadow Containment]
The shadows around the curse started swirling and soon engulfed the dragon, and started to tear it apart.
It was taking some time considering its durability, but after a while and a lot of struggle later, the dragon's defences finally broke, and its actual body started to break.
"Its durability is no joke..." muttered Naoya.
It took him a full 15 minutes just to break the dragon's scales, and in the meantime, it tried to get out of the shadows again and again but was bonked back in by Seph and Zankyo.
Still, five minutes later, the dragon finally got subjugated.
The shadows disappeared, and Naoya finally sighed.
He could still feel the dragon rampaging a bit in his shadow, but it was starting to calm down.
"Thanks, Seph, Zankyo. You two can go now."
The shikigami gave a nod and sank back into the shadows.
Naoya wanted to check out the dragon as soon as possible, but right now, he had company waiting for him and decided to postpone the appraisal for now.
"Well, time to go back to Ruriko-san. Today was very fortunate," muttered Naoya and made his way down the mountain.
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At the Jujutsu Division HQ:
In a closed-off, dark space enclosed within countless barriers, a group of people was discussing something.
There were two tables and both had several pictures laid across them.
On one of them were the pictures of:
Naoya Zenin
Satoru Gojo
Suguru Geto
On the other table, there were the pictures of:
Yuki Tsukumo
A black-haired girl with braids.
The people in the room looked at the descriptions and were discussing something amongst themselves, and after discussing for a while, they came to a conclusion and circled the image of the black-haired girl while crossing out Yuki's