In a quiet ramen shop, two sorcerers sat at a high table, facing a T.V. relaying the recent news, without mentioning the alien threat. Ramen shops have mostly gone 'out of style' since everyone could order delivery for dirt cheap because humans weren't needed for the service. It also just wasn't as popular as it was 70 years ago.
The only two customers in the shop were Satoru Gojo and Naohiro Zenin. If a non-sorcerer looked at the two, they wouldn't hear them talking. They used a basic curtain to muffle the sound so they could discuss Jujutsu matters without outsiders listening in.
"So, you're telling me that the higher-ups are planning on starting a war with the Zenin clan if they don't hand over Mikoto?" Gojo could hardly believe what he was hearing. "The aliens are at their front door, and they are deciding to attack one of the three big clans if they can't get their hands on a girl?"
Naohiro put his chopsticks on his bowl. "That's about the gist of it." He rested his head on his fist. "But it's obviously a bluff. They gave the Zenin clan three days for a reason. Those guys would've attacked immediately if they had the resources to fight."
Gojo put his hand on his chin. "Three days, huh? Seems too coincidental." He then came to a realization. "If I remember correctly, that girl has the Ten Shadows. I don't know if I should feel offended or honored."
Naohiro picked up his chopsticks. "Going this far just to kill a near 100-year-old man is kinda funny, I'm not gonna lie." He glanced to his left at Gojo. "Even though they sent a pretty strong alien, they want to jump you by adding Mahoraga to the mix."
Gojo tilted his head to the side. "It doesn't make sense, though. If they tried using Mahoraga by getting her to kill herself, couldn't she just run up to Jujutsu HQ, summon Mahoraga, and kill every one of those geezers and bum sorcerers that they send to the Zenin clan?"
Naohiro gave a helpless smile at the irony of Gojo calling the higher-ups geezers. "I'd prefer you not talk about my granddaughter getting killed, although she won't die no matter what happens." He rested his head on his hand. "If it's Naoki, he can handle it. It's not going to take long for him to realize that the higher-ups are desperate and flinging around their 'power' to try to get what they want without having the strength to back it up."
Gojo gave a sly smile. "You've been real lazy ever since you left the Zenin clan. Now that I think about it, you've always shoved responsibility onto Naoya."
Naohiro gave him a deadpan stare before his smile turned slightly sad. "Well, especially in this era, nobody needs a Naohiro Zenin." Then he blinked. "Unless there is a weird alien invasion that came out of nowhere." Naohiro silently thought to himself. 'What the fuck happened after Yuta killed Kenjaku!? Did the merger create aliens or some shit?'
Gojo grumbled. "69 years later, and the higher-ups are still a pain." A thought hit him. "We could go kill them all…but then they would be replaced. The only way to get results is to become a Jujutsu terrorist, and even that has its problems. Sigh, it sucks when you can't punch your way through problems."
Naohiro smirked. "You see that license thing?" He had a hard time holding in a laugh. "Pft, forcing sorcerers to get a 'driver's license' for sorcery is probably up there with them trying to execute me in the dumbest things they've tried to do."
A small smile showed up on Gojo's face. "We're strong, so it doesn't matter. Something you can't say for the rest of this era. In the past, all you needed to do was get strong." Gojo blinked as he realized what he said. "Damn, I didn't think I would say the 'back in my day' line."
Naohiro blew on the bowl to cool down the ramen. "Threatening the Zenin clan is definitely up there, too, especially with my kid and Mikoto. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Mayumi showed back up. She's a very sentimental person."
Silence permeated the room, and both sorcerers' smiles faded.
Gojo broke the silence. "Look, I'm glad we got to talk like this again, but I know why you decided to show up now." He turned to his right and looked at Naohiro, leaning his head on his hand with his elbow on the counter.
Naohiro looked up at the TV. "I'm heading out in three days." His eyes weren't focused on the screen. "Some guys known as the Deskunte are probably heading here, so I'll nip that problem in the bud before a real war starts. I got intel that there are way more than 50,000 who can use Jujutsu. I'm not needed since Yuji can handle things here if the Simurians step out of line."
"That so?" Gojo asked the main question on his mind. "Why did you disappear—leave everything behind?"
Naohiro raised an eyebrow. "What, you want me to teach Jujutsu for eternity and rule the world from the shadows?" He turned back forward. "Let this old man retire. I've already passed on the torch to the next generation. If the world needs me, I'll be there. So what if I'm strong? Ruling the world is too tedious. That's all there is to it."
Gojo looked back up at the TV. "Listen, don't interfere with my fight against the alien guy." Naohiro glanced at him as Gojo continued. "I wanna give it everything I've got. When we fought in Shinjuku, neither of us got to fight with everything we had."
One of the main reasons he wanted to talk to Gojo was to discuss his fight with Dabura. The two sorcerers knew that Gojo 'giving it everything he's got' would likely kill him.
Naohiro was originally planning on killing Dabura right then and there, but decided against it once he saw the look on Gojo's face. It was obvious that the only reason he wanted to live longer was to fight someone strong.
No matter how powerful someone is, the weaknesses that come with age are inevitable for those without immortality. Even someone of Gojo's caliber isn't immune to it. At 97, his body can't handle the same strain of peak sorcery like he could at 28.
The two went silent once more.
Naohiro paused for a moment and finally made a decision. "Hey, I think it's about time I told you a story." Seeing Gojo's confused look, Naohiro huffed a laugh. "Just humor me for a moment. The story is called 'Jujutsu Kaisen'. It follows the protagonist Yuji Itadori, who ate Sukuna's finger and incarnated the King of Curses."
"A story about Yuji? Alright, I'm interested," Gojo replied with an intrigued smile.
Naohiro gave a knowing smile. "I'll also tell you how a regular kid named Sora reincarnated into this story as a human-Mahoraga named Naohiro Zenin."
-
Oof
A strike to Naoto's stomach caused him to go rolling on the ground. Looking up, he saw the dark-skinned Eso with a smirk and his hands on his hips. "I was told you can adapt. Show me what the grandson of the strongest sorcerer can do~."
This caused Naoto's eye to twitch. Truthfully, he always hated it when people pulled the 'grandson of Naohiro' card because it pushed unrealistic expectations on the young Zenin.
However, Naoto noticed something as he stood back up. "Why aren't you using your technique?" Eso's and Kechizu's technique [Rot] gives them corrosive blood, but he hadn't used it in their fight.
Ever since they started fighting after Choso suggested it, Eso has used nothing but physical strikes. Yuji had noted aloud that there is a certain threshold of damage he needs to reach before his body can adapt and change to fit the situation. Eso had been purposely modifying his strikes to a point where Naoto couldn't adapt.
Making his strikes hurt, but keeping Naoto's technique trait from activating. Even though he wasn't as strong as Choso or Yuji, he was still in the upper echelon of sorcerers in the Heisei era.
Eso shrugged. "Why should I use it? It decays your body, so you would eventually become immune to it. It would be a waste of cursed energy."
In the past, he was on par with a special-grade curse, but over the years, he, Kechizu, and Choso have trained in their blood-cursed techniques. Yuji could only do surface-level training since he quickly surpassed his other brothers.
This has led the brothers to reach the peak of grade 1 sorcerers, while Choso made it to special grade, though not nearly at Yuji's level. Going all out, Choso might match and win against the special grade Naoya of this timeline when he was at his strongest.
"So do I need to be a masochist for my technique to work?" Naoto gave a baffled expression.
He had already healed the damage accumulated throughout the fight. His adaptations might not currently be applied, but his ability to heal using cursed energy still functions. In fact, it was basically automatic.
Healing with cursed energy is twice as efficient as Reverse Cursed Technique, making it extremely valuable if a sorcerer could use it, especially if you have a 'smaller' cursed energy pool, but it is impossible for regular sorcerers due to the properties of negative energy.
Not only that, but it naturally comes to curses and Shikigami, unlike the insane training needed for Reverse Cursed Technique. This is why Naoto Zenin lacked talent in Reverse Cursed Technique. It was simply because his body was already suited for Cursed Energy healing.
Yuji, watching from the side, sitting at the same table that Tengen used to, had a knowing smile. "Why do you automatically assume that you need to be hurt for your body to adapt? After all, you aren't Naohiro, nor are you Mahoraga."
Naoto had only felt his body change during his fight in the garage, so he had only the direct case study: Damage Taken = Body Changes.
"What's stopping you from altering your body without outside interference?" Yuji said softly, which caused Naoto to pause. "Even I don't know how your trait works fully, but there is definitely more we haven't uncovered with its activation conditions."
Each Shikigami's abilities have activation conditions for their traits. Cursed Spirits have cursed techniques, only when at the highest grades, such as Mahito's [Idle Transfiguration].
Another difference between Shikigami and Curses is that Shikigami are given various traits, whereas Curses are not in most cases, because Shikigami are made using a medium of a user's cursed energy, rather than being spawned with negative energy.
Mahoraga adapts to phenomena it encounters that hinder it, Rabbit Escape multiplies, Junpei's Moon Dregs produce poison, Nue produces lightning, and more.
Eso spoke up with a raised eyebrow. "So are we going to fight, or am I going to just stand here for the next hour?" Although he didn't want to interrupt Yuji, he was getting impatient.
Kechizu yelled at Naoto. "Fight already! I'm bored!"
Naoto scratched his hair and gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry, sorry." He then turned toward Eso, and his gaze hardened. "Alright, let's keep going."
However, the astute would notice spikes slowly protruding from his arms.