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A day had passed since the clan meeting, and now, as evening settled in, Naoya, Haruto, and Mako stood outside the Zenin estate, waiting for their ride to arrive for the mission.
Haruto and Mako were dressed in the clan's signature uniform. Naoya, on the other hand, was dressed in clothes that he felt were more comfortable to move around in, although these too were custom-made for Jujutsu sorcerers.
Naobito and Kagenori soon came in sight, seeing which the older Zenins bowed to Kagenori.
Naoya looked at the two and, not wanting to make them feel awkward or insulted, bowed to Kagenori as well.
"At ease."
The three stood straight and looked at the current and the acting clan head.
"This will be Naoya's first mission, but being the highest-ranked of the three of you, he will be leading the team," said Kagenori.
Mako and Haruto's brows raised in surprise. Naoya was no different. He was a competent fighter, but leading others on a jujutsu-related mission might be beyond his abilities.
"With all due respect, clan head. Naoya is far too young and inexperienced to lead the team," said Mako.
"Age has never interfered with protocol. A higher rank member of a squad will assume command during a mission. That's the rule for all the squads within the clan. As for inexperience, he will learn through practical training. It is your job as seniors within the clan to guide him in things he is unfamiliar with," replied Kagenori.
Mako wanted to retort, but fell silent at Kagenori's reasoning. Clan rules precede common norms.
Naoya wanted to argue as well. He didn't want to lead when he was the least experienced in the bunch. The same thoughts belonged to Naobito, who looked at his father with a small glare. Bringing clan rules into this situation was unfair of the old man. He picked this group because he believed that Haruto, who had a relatively good relationship with Naoya, would be a good squad member to guide him. The same was with Mako; he was experienced and had no deep grudges with Naoya and would guide him as well.
But out of nowhere, the clan head decided to let the clan rules into his perfect plan and make Naoya the leader of the group. Not to mention, considering that the mission came for the Hei squad, it meant that the threat was at least Grade 1 level.
Naobito facepalmed and sighed deeply at the situation, not knowing what to do.
This gesture was not missed by Naoya, who understood that the mission was a huge trouble and now he didn't want to even go on the mission, let alone lead the team. Safety was better than clan rules.
Naoya wanted to ask to let someone else take the leader post, but one glare from Kagenori stopped him.
"Now go," ordered Kagenori and as if waiting for his words, a car arrived to pick them up.
The three boarded the car with a heavy air around them, and once they were a bit away from the clan, Naoya turned towards the two older teammates.
"So, how are these things usually done? Grandpa made me the leader, but let's be real. I don't know anything about how these things are usually done."
Mako stared at the kid for a while and was about to say something, but Haruto raised his hand to silence him.
"Naoya-kun. You are the leader now. You need to make decisions from this point on. We will intervene if things are too out of line and could pose danger, but apart from that, you need to handle this on your own," said Haruto with a serious look on his face.
Naoya was taken aback by the serious Haruto, who, in his opinion, was a lazy man not at all bothered by the things going on around him.
And yet, the same man was now in a serious mode.
Mako glared at Haruto, not at all satisfied with the arrangement, but decided to shut up. He was the lowest-ranked among the group after all, and now that even Haruto had taken the role seriously, he could not push through on his own.
Naoya wanted to voice his complaint at such coarse logic, but seeing that both the older Hei members were silent, he kept the complaint to himself and decided to think of what he needed to do afterwards.
Soon they reached their destination, and the car came to a stop.
Naoya and the other two got out of the car and were greeted by two suit-wearing individuals.
The individuals looked at Naoya with a curious gaze, wondering what a kid was doing at the site, but first decided to approach Haruto and Mako.
"Hm? People from the Jujutsu Division?" asked Haruto.
"Yes. Haruto-sama, Mako-sama. We will be assisting you in this mission and will keep a watch while you perform your duties," said the older-looking of the two.
"Speak to our superior on that matter. He is the one leading the mission," said Haruto and gestured towards Naoya.
The two looked at Naoya and then back at Haruto, wondering if the man was joking. However, seeing Mako sigh at the situation, they realised that was not the case.
The two looked back at Naoya once again, who gave an awkward wave to the two of them.
"Greetings. I am Naoya Zenin, Hei rank 5, and for some god forsaken reason, the leader of the mission," introduced Naoya.
At his introduction, the two men widened their eyes in surprise.
Naoya might not be an official sorcerer, but he was already famous in the jujutsu world as the most likely heir of the Zenin clan and the one who inherited the clan's signature technique. Not to mention the rumours of his stunt of defeating seasoned members of the Hei were circulating amongst the people was there as well, though his introduction as a rank 5 Hei member certified the rumour's claim
"Greeting, Naoya-sama."
The two bowed in unison.
Naoya nodded back at them. He was used to this kind of behaviour now, since the servants back the estate acted in the same manner.
"Can you explain the situation at hand. Leave nothing out. Tell me as much as you can," asked Naoya with a smile.
The two looked at him awkwardly. They had dealt with all manner of Zenins and were quite familiar with the Zenin 'humility', but Naoya's attitude caught them off guard.
Still, the two were professionals and acted in the same manner and decided to explain the situation at hand.
Haruto was bored by the long discussion and was starting to show signs of going back to sleep. The man had a surprising talent for sleeping while standing.
Mako, on the other hand, was already itching to go in. He was not fond of the boring discussion going on right now.
Naoya listened to everything intently and had a small diary and pen in hand, noting down every detail the two of them were telling about. He would rather prepare for hours than half ass things and cause an accident for himself.
After the entire discussion was over, Naoya finally stopped writing, making the two personnel from the Jujutsu division look at the kid with weird expressions. Jujutsu sorcerers were weird; they knew that, but an overly cautious sorcerer and that too a prodigy from a major clan, was not something they expected to encounter.
Naoya went through the entire notes quickly using his technique and started making a possible strategy.
The place they were about to explore was a ruined arms factory that had been caught up in an accident a few years ago and had to be shut down. Some delinquents and yakuza have been using this place as their personal 'playground 'since then, but for quite some time now, the same people have been dying in mysterious ways.
The police did some investigations, but they too had not got any results, and even among them, many people have died. The situation was too paranormal for them, and as such, Jujutsu sorcerers were employed. Some sorcerers with reconnaissance-type techniques have investigated this place beforehand and have confirmed sightings of multiple grade 2 curses and a possibility of higher-level curses being present there as well.
'...Isn't this situation too dire for my first mission? And they want me to lead? Don't they care about their lives? Don't they care about mine?' thought Naoya.
He looked at his teammates.
One was sleeping while standing with his arms crossed.
The other was tapping his feet on the ground, clearly displaying his irritation at being made to stand for such a long time.
'...For some reason, I think I should lead anyway.' thought Naoya.
"Alright. Let's get this over with. Haruto-san, Mako-san," called Naoya, making the two older Zenins snap out of their thoughts and look towards their 'leader'.
"I will be sending out my shikgami to do a quick survey of the terrain and check for the possible cursed spirits. After that, we will move accordingly," explained Naoya.
Mako and Haruto nodded, to which Naoya nodded back and summoned the rabbit army from his shadows, and let the rabbits spread out and check the surroundings.
Maou, as usual, stayed behind and kept a connection with the army.
Soon, the rabbits gave back a response as multiple sounds of explosions were heard from the building.
This alerted the sorcerers, and the two older Zenins looked towards Naoya, waiting for their orders.
Maou summoned more rabbits from Naoya's shadow as the rabbits arranged themselves to form words explaining the situation to Naoya.
"The cursed spirits are scattered in five places throughout the area," muttered Haruto.
"Something stronger is present in the deeper area of the factory," muttered Naoya.
"How are we going to move ahead?" asked Mako.
Naoya thought for a while, then marked off some areas on the makeshift map provided by Maou and the demon army.
"I will take care of the cursed spirits in these three routes. I want you two to pick one of the remaining routes each, and after clearing them, head to the deeper part and deal with the possible Grade 1. Is that fine?"
"No issues. Less work for me," said Haruto in a tired tone.
"Making us fight the stronger cursed spirit. Well, making us fight the real danger really shows the difference in skill after all," said Mako with a smirk.
Naoya looked at the man and wanted to remind him of the day he beat him once again. Still, if he wanted to take the dangerous one, then he was totally fine with that.
"Well then, that's decided. Let's get moving. You both. Set up a curtain and make sure to look out for danger," said Naoya.
The Jujutsu division personnel nodded and started chanting to set up the veil.
Naoya began stretching to warm up for the battle ahead.
Haruto gave himself a few light slaps to blow away the sleepiness, while Mako equipped a pair of fingerless gloves, which Naoya assumed was a cursed tool.
Once the barrier was set up, the three sorcerers moved towards their respective routes.
Naoya secretly sent a rabbit behind them to inform him if something went wrong.
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While slowly walking towards his first destination, Naoya kept killing some weaker Grade 4 curses that were moving around aimlessly.
"So many cursed spirits? Why are so many gathered in this place?" thought Naoya to himself.
While he was pondering, he finally reached his destination and was greeted by the sight of multiple Grade 2 and Grade 3 curses moving around. Some of them were chewing on what Naoya presumed to be humans, considering that a lot of magled ones were present around him.
"So that's what happened to the delinquents and Yakuza people," muttered Naoya and looked a bit disgusted by the sight.
The curses, on the other hand, were excited to see a new prey. One of the Grade 3 curses pounced on Naoya, baring its teeth, ready to chomp off Naoya.
However, before it could even touch Naoya, the curse's body split in half and moments later, the curse spirit dissipated into cursed energy, successfully getting exorcised.
Naoya already had Shisui in his hands, and he looked towards the spirits with a disinterested expression.
"Come at once. I have to deal with two more groups after I am done dealing with you," ordered Naoya and gestured for the spirits to come at him.
As if understanding his taunts, the curses growled in anger. Some even roared and bared their fangs and claws at Naoya.
Shisui's blade simply radiated cursed energy, making the curses even more interested in the prey.
All of them launched at Naoya, ready to end the foolish prey.
However, Naoya's figure blurred slightly before becoming normal a few seconds later, and an instant later, all the cursed spirits in the room were slashed apart by Naoya, who simply lowered his short sword and walked away without even looking back.
The remains of the spirits started disintegrating back into cursed energy, and soon the room was silent, leaving behind only the dead and mangled remains of the humans that the curses killed.
"...Am I somehow too strong?" muttered Naoya, wondering about himself.