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A short chapter since I got a bit of time between my work. Enjoy it though. The regular schedule will still take some time to be back so very sorry about that.
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A few days passed by since Naoya and Satoru went on the mission.
They had quite a lot of fun, but now things were back to normal.
Currently, Naoya was training the [Rainbow Dragon] that he got that day, teaching it some formations and working with him and the other shikigami.
Just as he predicted that day, the dragon had insane durability.
The dragon also seemed to have gained the ability to boost his defences even more if, for some reason, its already insane defences are breached. It wasn't at Sephiroth's(Mahoraga) level, but the dragon could potentially become unkillable if it were not one-shot.
This new ability works by creating stronger scales if its scales were broken by any attack, and the shikigami is not killed. The improved scales takes place of the broken scales, and every scale on the dragon's body adapts to that increased durability.
Naoya wanted to name the dragon Rayquaza or Ray for short, but the moment the twins lay eyes upon it, they yelled out Shenron, making it the Dragon's official name.
Naoya showed the new shikigami to the twins and his grandpa after he was done checking it out, and although they were quite amazed to see a dragon-cursed spirit/ shikigami, the thing that Maki and Mai liked most about it was that now the two had a cooler ride to fly on.
Done with his morning routine, Naoya freshened up and made his way to the school and spotted Kuroko sleeping in the class the moment he entered.
Seeing that there was still some time before the classes started, he decided to let him be for now. The boy officially got his Grade-2 supervisor and was now constantly being assigned solo missions for evaluations, and it was taking quite a lot of toll on his low stamina.
Naoya looked at Kuroko, and there were no scratches or bruises on him, hinting that he did not get hit much during missions at all. His presence concealment was too much against Grade-2 curses, and the single strike buff is insta-kill too.
'He must be under a thorough scrutiny by the higher-ups. In a way, he is more dangerous than Satoru and me.' thought Naoya.
Special Grades like him and Satoru were walking disasters, sure, but their movements could be tracked, and they knew when and when not to give information to them.
Kuroko, on the other hand, can simply sneak in without anyone even batting an eye, gather the needed information and get out of the place without anyone knowing.
Sure, there would be some traces afterwords but by that time the damage would have been done.
Naoya took his own seat and decided to relax for a while.
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Once school was over, Kuroko was once again fetched by his supervisor for a mission, much to the boy's annoyance. He seriously considered using his technique to stay hidden for a few days.
Once he was gone, Naoya started focusing on new tricks. During his time with Satoru, he hinted that he was working on something new and knowing the white-haired anomaly, he will most certainly succeed in that too. Now, that can cause some issues for Naoya, and he was not planning to give Satoru the advantage.
His [Ten Shadows] and [Projection Sorcery] have advanced a lot. All shikigami were unlocked, and he has mastered the CTR of both techniques as well. The only technique that hasn't progressed much is the [Solid Shadow], his most recent technique.
He thought of gaining Kagenori's insights on the technique, considering that he was the master of the technique, but the old man had the cliche habit of riddling his clues, making Naoya break the puzzles to gain a new understanding. It's not like he doesn't understand why the old man was doing that, but it was still annoying.
Coming to an understanding of a technique might take longer, but ultimately, it gives a better and more personal understanding of the technique. In Jujutsu, the image that one has of their technique separates people who might have the same technique.
The latest hint that the old man gave him was:
"Against me, a domain has not lasted longer than 15 seconds."
If Kagenori was telling the truth, then the old man was amazing. Domains are considered the pinnacles of a technique, which were almost impossible to deal with. Even anti-domain techniques could just help you get some more time against the domain, and if it is a high-level domain, then your movements are quite restricted since maintaining the anti-domain technique while moving is difficult.
If Kagenori mentioned it to Naoya, then it has to be related to [Solid Shadow]. The only question was how? Binding vow? Chants? Cursed Tools? He had no idea. The old man refused to give hints anymore, making Naoya a bit annoyed.
Still, the Zenin clan didn't raise a quitter. A complainer, sure, but not a quitter. He will complain to his absolute limit but still make sure to reach his goal.
Currently, inside a curtain, Zankyo was using his domain to trap Naoya and Utahime. Utahime was mastering her [Simple Domain] while Naoya was trying to understand what his grandpa might be hinting at.
Naoya was sitting seriously on the ground, trying to brainstorm ideas. Zankyo occasionally fired a blunt projectile at Naoya from time to time since he was ordered to do so.
Even if Kagenori had a way to counter the domain, he would still need to be able to use anti-domain techniques to be able to use his technique before getting hit.
Utahime, who was struggling to maintain the simple domain inside Zankyo's domain, looked at Naoya, who was effortlessly using the technique and felt a bit frustrated.
Zankyo looked at both of them and felt that today, both his master and the priestess were acting a bit the same. Both looked quite frustrated.
After their training was over, it was time for them to leave. Nagino approached them.
"Zenin, Iori, just giving you two a heads up. The school would be closed for a week."
"Hm? Why all of a sudden?" asked Utahime. She has not witnessed such a thing happen before.
"Tsukumo is out of town as usual. I have been assigned a mission that will take a few days, and after that, you and Zenin will be dispatched in two days. Just received the orders from HQ. Seeing that most of us will be absent on different days, conducting regular classes would be a hassle. Enjoy two days of rest. This time, your mission will be longer. Here are the details," said Nagino and handed the assignment details to Naoya.
Utahime peeked in as well and started to go through the details.
Once Naoya was done reading, he handed the sheet to Utahime for her to be done with reading.
The mission this time was investigating and neutralising a curse user group.
Curse users are humans who could use jujutsu, but rather than being affiliated with Jujutsu HQ, they use these powers for personal gain and societal harm.
Curse users are a common adversary that sorcerers face, aside from the cursed spirits, but they were a bit more complex, considering human enemies were capable of thinking.
The issue this time is that a group of curse users seemed to be collaborating with each other for some big project. Along with looking into this group, other documents highlighted their potential involvement, and the most common ones included human trafficking.
Reading the info, Naoya was already in a bad mood. Most of the victims were kids, and that was a big no-no in Naoya's books.
Utahime was done going through the document, and she too was frowning.
She was involved in curse user missions before, but something this big and ugly involving them was something new.
"...How much are we allowed to do?" asked Naoya.
"Zenin...the higher ups has mentioned just to investigate and neutralise. The level of methods is not explicitly stated by them....I am not allowed to say this, but let's just say a birdy told you this. They want to see how you perform and act in these situations," said Nagino.
Naoya blinked.
'Another test....whatever, I am getting free regin in a way.' thought Naoya.
"You two will be deployed in two days, so prepare accordingly and go with the mindset that you might need to be on duty for a long period," warned Nagino.
Naoya looked at Nagino and simply shook his head.
Utahime somewhat understood what Naoya was thinking, but this time, she felt it was all right to go a bit crazy.