Night fell.
Inside an izakaya on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Nanami and Tokiwa lifted the door curtain and found Itadori and Fushiguro already sitting inside.
“Oh, Tokiwa, you guys are so slow!” Itadori greeted with a smile.
“Nanami-san.” Fushiguro nodded at Nanami.
Tokiwa sat down with a smile: “The journey was quite long, after all.”
Nanami rubbed his forehead: “Tokiwa-kun, I only said I would treat, you didn’t have to call all the first-year students over.”
“I didn’t call everyone.” Tokiwa smiled.
“Kugisaki isn’t here, is she?”
Hearing this, Itadori complained: “That girl Kugisaki said she went to eat some high-end cuisine.”
Fushiguro chimed in: “She probably just didn’t want to eat with us boys.”
Itadori was surprised: “Eh, is that so?”
“Forget it.” Nanami stood up to order.
“Student Fushiguro, Student Itadori, you guys go order too. This meal is on me.”
As a former white-collar worker at a financial firm and now a Grade 1 Sorcerer at Tokyo Jujutsu High, Nanami naturally had substantial savings.
“Yay!” Itadori cheered.
Although they had all already eaten dinner, as Jujutsu Sorcerers with immense physical energy expenditure, handling a late-night snack was no problem at all.
They sat around the counter, enjoying oden and skewers while watching a 90s Japanese drama playing on an old TV.
The oden at this izakaya leaned towards the Kansai style, with a clear broth and light flavor, reminding Tokiwa of the corn and pork rib soup from his previous life.
Tokiwa didn’t actually like eating radishes much, but the white radish in the oden broth, stewed until soft and melting at a touch, had a unique flavor.
‘Life now isn’t too bad.’ Tokiwa sighed contentedly.
‘If it weren’t for the threat of death, the profession of a Jujutsu Sorcerer wouldn’t be half bad.’
Watching Itadori daydreaming to the side and Nanami biting into a red bean daifuku, Tokiwa swallowed the last meatball.
‘Shibuya…
huh.’
‘Before that time comes, I will change all of this.’
…
Tokyo Jujutsu High, student dormitory.
Tokiwa turned off the faucet, dried his body, and walked out of the bathroom.
Three minutes of hot water to flush out sweat, three minutes of cold water to shrink pores, three minutes of warm water to wash clean.
‘Although I’ve become a Jujutsu Sorcerer, my physical fitness still can’t compare to a Super A-Class Hybrid…’
Tokiwa sat by the bed and took out Geto Suguru’s notebook again.
‘One step at a time, one bite at a time.’
‘My Cursed Technique is already comprehensive enough: I have ranged attacks, burst damage, crowd control, detection, and melee combat…’
‘Counting shigurekiri, I should barely be at the level of a Semi-Grade 1 Sorcerer.’
‘But these four attributes are still my weak points.’
‘During this time, I’ll focus on physical training and Cursed Energy control.’
While reading the notes, Tokiwa guided his Cursed Energy to wrap around his entire body like water.
Two minutes.
Three minutes.
As time passed, Tokiwa increased the output of his Cursed Energy.
Ssss——
About five minutes later, a faint, needle-like pain came from the areas where the Cursed Energy flowed.
The weaker areas, like his fingertips, even became congested and cracked.
Tokiwa withdrew the Cursed Energy, a slight conjecture forming in his mind.
If the human body is a container, then Cursed Energy is the liquid inside.
He had increased his total Cursed Energy by allocating points, but his physical strength was lacking.
The volume of the container didn’t increase much, but the liquid more than doubled out of thin air, so the pressure naturally rose accordingly.
He wasn’t born with the physique of a Jujutsu Sorcerer, which might be related to this.
Tokiwa was thoughtful:
‘It seems I need to improve them simultaneously: physical strength and total Cursed Energy…’
He moved his mind and opened the system panel again.
[Points: 68]
Although it wasn’t enough for a ten-pull, time was tight, so he decided to pull anyway.
And so…
Above the illusory panel, five beams of blue light flashed.
‘Holy crab…’
Tokiwa looked at the rewards in his inventory with half-lidded eyes.
[Obtained Attribute Points *4, Skill Points *4, Ability Enhancement Card (B)]
‘The difficulty of obtaining points has increased, but the number of Attribute Points and Skill Points only doubled…’
‘I know what an Ability Enhancement Card is, but what does the (B) stand for…’
[Name: Ability Enhancement Card (B)]
[Effect: Strengthen a C-Class ability to B-Class for a short time.]
“Haha.”
Tokiwa suddenly laughed, feeling relieved.
“It’s actually a youth version.”
“I’m really going to discipline you properly, Flame Sorcerer System.”
Although this item was essential for the battle against the Special Grade Cursed Spirit in a few days.
But he only had three extra fire abilities.
Among them, Lord Flame was strengthened to A-Class using a large enhancement card, and Magicians Red was already B-Class.
Clearly, the only one who could use this item was the big general, Fireball Jutsu.
“Feels like such a waste…” Tokiwa’s face was filled with regret.
Whether in the original Naruto series or through his own practice, Fireball Jutsu could only be considered a mediocre technique.
Although it had a large range, the wind-up was too long, the flight speed was too slow, and the damage was just average.
“Sigh.”
Tokiwa sighed.
“What else can I do? I’ll just have to make do with it.”
Although, at this point, new abilities didn’t provide a significant boost to Tokiwa’s strength.
But he still hoped to draw a new high-limit ability to replace the target of the enhancement card.
He added the four Attribute Points he drew to “Physical Strength,” and this crucial attribute finally reached Level 2.
He continued studying the notes and practicing Cursed Energy control.
When his energy was exhausted, Tokiwa lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
The night passed without incident.
“Tokiwa-kun Ryuichi.”
Early the next morning, Assistant Supervisor Mr. Fujita stood in front of the student dormitory with a respectful expression.
“Your student ID and promotion certificate have arrived.”
“Oh, thank you.”
Tokiwa took the two documents he handed over.
The student ID contained his name, enrollment status, date of birth, and a headshot, with his rank recorded as Grade 2.
‘Hmm, as expected.’
After all, he had only participated in two missions in total, so it was naturally impossible to be rated as a “Semi-Grade 1” — someone who is “close to Grade 1 but hasn’t passed the assessment.”
And the promotion certificate was a piece of paper resembling a certificate of merit.
The recommender for the promotion was Kento Nanami, and the certificate was stamped with the seal of The Higher-Ups.
“Then I shall take my leave.” Mr. Fujita, who looked a bit like a short, chubby version of Ijichi, bowed.
“Hmm.”
Tokiwa said goodbye to Mr. Fujita.
“Is the efficiency this high? The Higher-Ups…”
“They are in such a hurry to give me the Grade 2 Sorcerer title; they probably want to send me off on dangerous missions.”
Tokiwa sneered in his heart.
During the mission at Inunaki Village, Tokiwa ignored the regulations and called Gojo Satoru, who was executing another mission.
This action must have made The Higher-Ups extremely unhappy.
He didn’t complete his own mission and also wasted personnel from other missions.
Most importantly, it was a provocation to their authority.
And as The Higher-Ups, The Higher-Ups had ten thousand ways to make life difficult for Tokiwa.
For example…
Sending the four first-years to the Juvenile Detention Center where a “Special Grade Cursed Womb” was born, to let the Special Grade Cursed Spirit teach Tokiwa a lesson.
On the surface, they also had high-sounding reasons.
Jujutsu Sorcerer manpower shortage, two Grade 2s and one Grade 3 is not a low combat strength, the mission objective is only to transfer survivors, the Cursed Womb might not fully manifest…
And if this action could simultaneously eliminate the ticking time bomb, Itadori Yuji, that would be even better.
“Then bring it on.”
Tokiwa sneered and crumpled the promotion certificate in his hand.