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Naoya jumped out of the crater and walked towards the others.
The moment he got closer, the ominous, cursed energy from the finger was felt by them, and their eyes immediately went towards the finger.
Naoya didn't hide it as well, these cursed objects, especially, the fingers of the King of Curses comes directly under the jurisdiction of the Jujutsu division. These fingers needed to be sealed since they were literally indestructible, and prolonged exposure to them was harmful to any life form.
Even Naoya, right now, was holding it with his hand covered in shadows.
"Found this finger from the curse. Seems like the curse was not old enough to evolve into a Special Grade finger bearer," said Naoya.
"This needs to be sealed immediately!" responded Utahime in worry and took out some talismans.
She laid the talismans on the ground in a formation, and Naoya placed the finger in the middle.
She formed a hand seal and looked at Naoya. Naoya made a similar hand seal and gave a nod.
The common method for sealing cursed objects was well known since it was important to isolate them from the environment, and the two of them did just that.
[Bound by name, bound by sin.What lingers shall not wander.What rages shall not answer.
By vow unbroken and shadow unyielding,I deny you flesh, I deny you will.
Sink into stillness.Return to silence.Be sealed.]
The talismans got filled with cursed energy from the two sorcerers and started revolving around the finger.
Soon, the talismans wrapped around it and sealed the finger.
Seeing the sealing succeed, Utahime sighed in relief.
Naoya simply picked the finger from the ground and tossed it to the personnel from the Jujutsu division.
"I believe we don't need to give any report. You saw all that happened, right?" asked Naoya.
"No need, Zenin-sama. We already witnessed everything. Thank you for your hard work," said the two Jujutsu division people.
Utahime looked at them and felt a bit bad. She came here too, and though she didn't help in the fight, she did help in sealing. They could be grateful to her, too.
'Sigh, well, in front of a Special Grade sorcerer, I really won't get any credit,' thought Uthaime.
"Good job, senpai~" said Naoya with a smile and raised his hand for a high five.
Utahime blinked in surprise and looked at the smiling junior of hers.
She stared at him for a while before she sighed, smiled as well and high-fived.
"Good job. You worked quite fast," replied Utahime, feeling a bit glad that she was not entirely neglected by everyone.
"Well, the curse was quite weak. I would have been ashamed of myself if I had taken longer. Honestly, I could have ended in an instant if I had blown up the entire building," said Naoya.
"WHY ARE ALL YOUR SOLUTIONS RELATED TO BLOWING THINGS UP?!" asked Utahime in anger.
Naoya shrugged his shoulders and said, "Art is explosion."
"Don't quote Deidara!!!!" yelled Utahime.
Naoya fell silent and blinked in astonishment.
Utahime looked back at him, wondering why the boy had gone silent.
However, it only lasted a moment as she felt her shoulders being grabbed by him.
"Senpai! You read Naruto, too?" asked Naoya with his eyes glittering.
"H-Huh?" muttered Utahime in surprise, not knowing what just happened.
Right now, Naoya found someone who potentially was interested in a work he was invested.
Satoru was not interested in Naruto, saying that Kakashi was copied and based on him. He was even hell-bent on asking for compensation from the mangaka.
There was Izumi as well, who shared his interest, but right now, he was too far away from him, so discussing with him was not easy.
Now, here was Utahime, who seemed to read it as well.
"E-Eh? W-Well, I do, but is th-" replied Utahime, not understanding why it was important.
Utahime herself didn't know about sharing her hobbies with others and could not understand why Naoya was acting like that.
"Who is your favourite in it?" asked Naoya.
"Eh?.... Well, I didn't think about it?" muttered Utahime.
'What is happening? Is this his tic? Like Tsukumo senpai's type tic?' thought Utahime. She was well aware of the eccentric nature of Special Grades, and maybe she was experiencing Naoya's right now.
"Eh? How can that be? Well, whatever, I like Jiraya," said Naoya.
"Huh? Why? He is a pervert?! Kakashi is much better than him. Heck, even Sasuke is better than him, and he is just a gloomy kid!" replied Utahime.
Naoya waved his finger in denial.
"You don't understand. Sure, he is a.... connoisseur of beauty. He is a man who, despite doing all sorts of antics, is strong and more dependable than anyone. That's how it should be, being strong while knowing your priorities and goals," replied Naoya.
"Huh? What dependable? He just keeps getting punched around by Tsunade! I would have even taken Tsunade as your answer. Considering you are a boy and she has....well, you know," said Utahime.
"...Who said I don't like her? Most straight men will. Some more than others," replied Naoya with a shrug, and inevitably his gaze moved towards Utahime's chest.
As if perceiving where he was looking, she followed his gaze as well and blushed in embarrassment and slapped Naoya with full force.
'I deserved that...' thought Naoya, now having a handprint across both his cheeks.
"Pervert!!!"
"I apologize," said Naoya and bowed.
She stared at Naoya for a while before she simply walked towards the car and took a seat.
At a distance away, the two people from the Jujutsu division and the man who drove the two here were looking at the drama unfold.
"His fault," muttered all of them in unison, and gave a nod.
Naoya knew that too, and he too went back in the car and apologized to his senior once again.
"Well, then, folks. I guess I should take my leave. I need to drive them back," said the driver, and bade his farewell to the comrades he made today.
"Lucky dog," replied the other two realizing that this man would be seeing the drama on his way back home while the two of them were stuck with their transport job.
.
.
.
On their way back, after repeated apologies, Utahime forgave him since she started to feel annoyed by them.
After remaining silent for a while, Naoya started the discussion once again, and though initially Utahime was not that much interested in the talks, she slowly started to join in and by the end of it was deeply involved in the discussion, so much so, that she didn't even realised that they reached the jujutsu high and upon realizing she felt a bit sad.
The driver shared her feelings. He, too, was sad to have to leave now.
After the driver was gone, Naoya and Utahime stood in front of the giant staircase for a while.
"Well, I should get going..." muttered Naoya.
"Me too....Didn't know talking with you would be this fun....don't misunderstand though, I still find you annoying!" replied Utahime.
"Really? Well, I am glad. I don't want my image to change. Annoying you is fun."
"You annoy your seniors for fun?!"
"Pretty much," replied Naoya with a shrug, making the said senior resist the urge to smack him.
Seeing that he could still annoy her made Naoya smile.
"Tch. Whatever. I am going. See you tomorrow," said Utahime.
"Wait. Take this," said Naoya, and made a hand sign and summoned Sparkles, the Nue, out of his shadows.
"He will drop you off at your dorm. Making you climb all the way back would make me feel bad," added Naoya.
Utahime eyed Naoya, trying to guess if he was still messing with her, though seeing the genuine expression on his face made her drop her guard.
"Alright. Thank you," said Utahime and got on top of Nue.
Naoya nodded and looked at Nue.
"Fly as fast as you can, though, make sure you don't drop her," ordered Naoya.
The owl shikigami nodded and took flight.
"Wait? Huh? WAHHHHH!!!!! ZENINNNNNNNN!!!!!!" screamed Utahime in panic as Sparkles flew as fast as it could.
Naoya chuckled seeing that, and made some solid shadow bindings on Nue, to make sure Utahime didn't fall.
A few moments later, Nue returned, though the owl had a paper in its mouth.
Naoya took and opened the sheet. Inside it was a message from Utahime.
"I WILL KILL YOU!!!!!"
"Haha. Like you can," muttered Naoya and sent Nue back inside the shadows and clicked a picture of the 'threat' and pocketed the sheet.
Naoya looked at the sky. It was already dark.
"Well, let's go back. I am hungry."
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A few months passed by,
Currently, Naoya was having a spar with Yuki without the use of their cursed techniques.
The other Special Grade sorcerer from the Kyoto branch was surprisingly present today and randomly declared to have a spar to remove some 'rust' on her.
Naoya didn't know what rush or why she was not on a mission, but he wouldn't deny the chance to get a proper spar. Not having Toji was a huge bummer for him, so having Yuki ask him for a spar was a godsend.
"Kids!"
Suddenly, the principal's voice echoed throughout the field, making all four of them stop their training.
They approached the principal and Nagino, who was standing there.
"I have an announcement to make. The older students already know this, but let me announce it for you all," said Gakuganji in an authoritative tone.
"In a week, we will be having the goodwill event."
The moment he said that, Naoya's eyes widened in surprise.
"What's a goodwill event?" asked Kuroko.
Nagino took the opportunity to explain.
"As you know, just like our school in Kyoto, there is another branch of Jujutsu High in Tokyo as well. Once a year, we have a competition of sorts between the students of both schools. As you can guess, it is a jujutsu-related competition, so be prepared for a fight with the students from their school," said Nagino.
"Since we won last year. This time, the event will happen in our school," added Utahime.
"They were just okay last year, but this time, they have the Special Grade from the Gojo clan. I can't wait to fight him," said Yuki.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, senpai. Satoru will be fighting against me. As his father, it is my duty to whoop his ass," said Naoya.
"Huh. But I want to fight him too. Pick someone else," complained Yuki.
"Hey, you cannot just butt in between. Satoru and I chose each other before the school began. I am not giving him to you. He is mine."
"Before school is not counted. I called dibs on him first."
"I don't think so."
The two special grades started glaring at each other.
Gakuganji looked pleased. This was how their attitudes should be. Victory would be Kyoto's this year as well.
Kuroko was already in deep thought. Planning for the competition. He might not be a strong sorcerer, but planning for competitions, now that was his specialisation.
Utahime simply massaged her forehead and asked something that had been bugging her for a while.
"Sensei, correct me if I am wrong....This year, in Kyoto, three Special Grade sorcerers would be fighting it out on the same battlefield," said Utahime.
"Yes....oh shit...." replied Nagino.
"....Let me go make some calls," said Gakuganji realizing how bad things were turning out to be.
Meanwhile, two of the three Special Grades were having a thumb fight to decide who gets to fight Gojo.