008 Iigation - Hinata’s POV

  Hinata walked through the dimly lit streets, her hands tightening around the strap of her bag. She had no idea what Naruto must be feeling, losing his memories like that. If it were her… if she woke up one day with nothing but scattered fragments of who she used to be—would she even trust herself?

  No. Probably not.

  She exhaled slowly, steeling her resolve. She had to be more fident. She couldn’t afford to hesitate.

  She had a pn.

  tinuing her part-time jobs would only be a liability now. She had no idea what kind of information-gathering teiques Jujutsu Sorcerers had, but if they were anything like shinobi, then it was better to assume the worst. She couldn’t risk dragging i people into this mess—people who had taken her in so kindly despite knowing nothing about her.

  So instead of heading to work, she pulled out her phone and typed a message.

  —I apologize for the sudden notice. My family member, who had been in a a, has woken up. We will be moving to another city to recover. Thank you for everything.

  It was short. Simple. Believable.

  A small lie to mislead arag her past movements.

  Hinata hovered over the send button, guilt pooling iomach. She wished she could thank them in person, bid them a proper farewell. But she couldn’t take that risk.

  Adding to that guilt was the lie she told Naruto.

  She had told him she’d be going to work today. Instead, she was dedig the entire day to iigating Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High.

  Hinata gnced up, spotting the train station ahead.

  She tightened her grip on her bag and stepped forward.

  She had work to do.

  Hinata moved through the streets, her gaze flitting to every reflective surface, every shadow stretg along the pavement. She wasn’t being followed—she was sure of it—but paranoia had been gnawing at her ever since she and Naruto fled her pce.

  She o know what they were dealing with.

  Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High.

  If Gojo Satoru had sought them out, then this pce had to be important. But she wasn’t reckless enough to call the number directly. If they were anything like shinobi, she couldn’t risk leaving a trace that led back to her.

  So, she would iigate in a way that didn’t tie back to her—or Naruto.

  She had sidered asking strao make the call for her, but that was too na?ve. She didn’t have the luxury of trusting random civilians, nor did she want to involve i people in whatever this was.

  Instead, she decided on something more discreet.

  The i.

  Hinata stepped into a dimly lit i café, the faint hum of puters filling the air. The pce was seed off into rows of wooden cubicles, eae narrorivate, enclosed by wooden dividers that were just high enough to keep prying eyes away. Inside, each station had a slightly worn-out chair, a desktop monitor, a keyboard, and a pair of bulky headphones hanging from a hook on the side.

  She approached the ter, handing over a few bills.

  "One hour," she murmured.

  The cashier barely spared her a gnce, handing her a slip with a station number. She walked down the aisle, slipping into her assigned cubicle. It felt a little cramped, but at least it rivate enough.

  Sitting down, she stared at the keyboard and mouse.

  Hinata had used the i a few times before, but she was still clumsy with it. The world she came from didn’t have this level of teology—at least, not for the average person. Taking a deep breath, she pced her hands on the keyboard and carefully typed:

  Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School.

  Her fingers felt stiff, hesitating over the keys, but her eye-body coordination made up for it. She pressed Enter.

  The s flickered, and a list of search results appeared before her.

  Hinata scrolled through the search results, her pale eyes narrowing as she skimmed through ss of information.

  Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School had a sister school in Kyoto, though there wasn’t much detailed information about either institution. On the surface, the school was registered as a private religious high school, which made sense if they were trying to keep their real purpose hidden. But from what little she could piece together, this wasn’t an ordinary school—it was likely a training facility for Jujutsu Sorcerers.

  So, Gojo Satoru wasn’t lying.

  That didn’t make her feel aer.

  Hinata tapped the keyboard, refining her search.

  Jujutsu. Sorcerers. Curses.

  She wasn’t sure what exactly she was looking for, but if Jujutsu Sorcerers were this world’s version of shinobi, then there had to be some kind of underground knowledge about them. Or at the very least, rumors.

  She scrolled further.

  Mentions of Curses were scattered throughout online forums, urban legend sites, and even social media threads. People described strange, supernatural occurrehings that sounded suspiciously like the strange monsters she fought with—but the ats were insistent. Some dismissed them as halluations. Others insisted they were real.

  One particur forum thread caught her eye:

  "Ghosts and exorcists are real???"

  The inal post had a blurry photo attached—something that might’ve been a person in dark robes, mid-bat with what looked like a… twisted shadow? The image was grainy, but there was something about the way the figure moved that reminded Hinata of a shinobi in battle.

  She scrolled through the replies.

  "Fake. Obviously edited."

  "No way, my cousin’s friend saw something simir in Shibuya st year!"

  "Guys, I swear I saw someone exorcise a monster downtown. The guy had white hair and a blindfold. No joke."

  Hinata froze.

  White hair. Blindfold.

  She quickly typed Gojo Satoru into the search bar.

  The results loaded instantly.

  What she didn’t expect… was that he had a social media at.

  And not just any at. A verified one.

  Hinata hesitated, then clicked on his profile.

  Her s was instantly filled with pictures of food… or just his own face.

  Dozens of selfies.

  Gojo Satoru posing with oversized desserts. Gojo Satoru sipping bubble tea. Gojo Satoru wearing sungsses over his blindfold.

  Hinata stared.

  Yeah… He was a firmed narcissist.

  His test status update read:

  "Throughout Heaven ah, I alone am the Honored One."

  She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

  Then exhaled.

  That expined a lot about his personality.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t find anything clusive. There were no real details about Jujutsu High, no official records of what it actually taught, and nothing substantial about Jujutsu Sorcerers. If they were like shinobi, then it made sehey wouldn’t advertise their existence openly.

  It seemed eveer had its limits.

  Still, she had learned a few things.

  And now, she had even more questions.

  Hinata leaned ba her seat, fingers resting lightly on the keyboard. The glow of the s illuminated her thoughtful expression.

  This was a big opportunity.

  Despite her flicted feelings, she couldn’t deny the potential bes of accepting Gojo Satoru’s invitation. If Jujutsu Sorcerers truly existed and wielded some kind of supernatural power akin to chakra, then perhaps—just perhaps—they also had the means to send her and Naruto home.

  That slim possibility was enough to make her pause.

  She had spent weeks surviving in this strange world, avoiding anything that could jeopardize their safety. But the more she learhe more she realized that staying hidden forever wasn’t a viable pn.

  They needed answers.

  And if Jujutsu High could provide them, then wasn’t it a risk worth taking?

  “Still… I need more information.”

  If this was a shinobi mission, her move would be clear—gather intelligence before making a decision. And what kind of kunoichi would she be if she didn’t exhaust every resource avaible to her?

  With a quiet sigh, Hinata logged out of the puter ahe i café, stepping into the bustling energy of the shopping mall. The air smelled of fried food, perfume, and artificial ess from the air ditioning.

  Her step required a little creativity.

  She adjusted her hoodie, slipped into a secluded er, and activated the Transformation Teique. Her form shifted, her facial structure altering just enough to resemble an ordinary mall-goer—someone who could easily blend into the crowd.

  With her Byakugan, she sed the area, seeking out potential targets. Not for violence—just temporary borrowing.

  She zeroed in on a businessman distracted by a phone call, his attention elsewhere as he held his device loosely. Hinata moved quickly, brushing past him with a carefully pced step. A momehe phone was in her sleeve, and the man hadn’t even noticed.

  She repeated the process with two more people, pocketing multiple phones before slipping into a restroom stall.

  Now, time to test the number.

  Taking the first phone, she dialed the ta the business card Gojo had given her.

  It rang.

  A moment ter, a voiswered—not Gojo’s.

  "Tokyo Jujutsu High. Who is this?"

  Hinata kept her voice steady, shiftioo sound more mase. "I have some questiarding Curses and Jujutsu Sorcerers."

  Surprisingly, they answered.

  She learned about Curses—how they were maions of ive humaions, how they lurked unseen by normal people, and how Jujutsu Sorcerers were tasked with exorg them.

  But when she subtly shifted the versation, asking about supernatural abilities in general, they became tight-lipped.

  "We don’t discuss that with outsiders," the voice stated firmly.

  That was iing.

  Hinata tried a different approach. On the call, she preteo be a Jujutsu Sorcerer, vaguely alluding to being a freencer.

  "Which school did you graduate from?" the voi the other end asked, clearly skeptical.

  Hinata didn’t have an answer. But instead of hanging up on her immediately, the person on the liioned something ued—

  "If you’re really a Sorcerer, you should already know where to look for information. Or are you telling me you’ve never visited the J-?"

  J-?

  The call disected before she could ask further.

  Hinata’s mind raced.

  J-.

  A dark website? A private work?

  It seemed like a pce where Jujutsu-reted information was exged.

  Her heart pounded with a mix of excitement and apprehension.

  Now, she had a new lead.

  Yet, she tinued oing the number a few more times… just to be sure.

  Hinata exhaled slowly, fiightening around the phone in her grasp.

  It was a simple, almost meibsp;process at this point.

  Steal a phone.Make a call.Interrogate.Return the pho.

  Each time, she altered her tone, at, and speech patterns, making herself sound like a different person. A worried civilian. A curious researcher. An eager recruit. A skeptical rival.

  It was a delicate game—gathering as mutelligence as possible without drawing suspi.

  Each call provided small but valuable pieces of the puzzle.

  From what she could gather, Tokyo Jujutsu High wasn’t just a school. It served as a base of operations for Jujutsu Sorcerers—a tral hub where missions were assigned and Curses were monitored. It was both a training facility and a base of operations.

  And then there was Gojo Satoru.

  When she asked about him, the reas were… telling.

  "He’s a first-year teacher at the school.""You don’t want to get on his bad side.""Gojo-sehe stro.""That guy? He does whatever he wants. But if you’re looking for power, you won’t find ater."

  It was always the same. Fear. Respect. Wariness.

  Even within his own anization, Gojo Satoru was a force to be reed with.

  Hinata returhe test stolen phoo its oblivious owner and quietly slipped away.

  She o know more.

  Finding another i café, she paid for an hour aled into a wooden cubicle, surrounded by the faint hum of puters and the muffled chatter of other users.

  This time, her focus was entirely on Gojo Satoru.

  With a bit more effort than usual, she entered J-.

  Hinata blinked at the s, fingers pausing over the keyboard.

  A fan club?

  She had spent the st twenty minutes navigating the dark website someone had tipped her off about—an underground forum where people discussed Jujutsu Sorcerers, Curses, and is that never made it to mainstream media.

  But she had not expected to stumble upon aire dedicated fan page fojo Satoru.

  Her lips twitched as she read the thread titles.

  "The Blue-Eyed King: Gojo Satoru Appreciation Thread #112""How SomeoHIS Strong AND This Handsome?!""Gojo Satoru—A Blessing or a Menace?"

  She clicked o of morbid curiosity.

  The posts ranged from serious analysis of his bat skills to eous thirst ents about his looks.

  One user wrote:"Bro is so OP the higher-ups are terrified of him. If he actually wao, he could probably overthrow the entire Jujutsu Society."

  Another added:"I’d let him exorcise me any day if you know what I mean ( ?° ?? ?°)"

  Hinata shuddered and quickly scrolled past that.

  As ridiculous as some of these posts were, they painted a sistent picture of the kind of man Gojo Satoru was.

  Hinata couldn’t help but pare him to Kakashi-sensei.

  Like Kakashi, Gojo owerful.Like Kakashi, he had a mysterious covered eye.Like Kakashi, he was a teacher.

  But Gojo Satoru wasn’t just highly skilled—he was high-profile.

  Too high-profile.

  From what she gathered, Gojo had the power and influeo move the Jujutsu world just by existing. He was an anomaly—to, too uable, too untrolble.

  Ahis was the man who had sought her and Naruto out.

  Hinata leaned ba her chair, eyes narrowing.

  “What exactly does he want with us?”

  Hinata scrolled through the dark website, her Byakugan inactive but her focus sharp.

  This pce… It was nothing like the standard seargines she had used earlier. The website was barebones, mostly text-based forums and hidden threads, but the information here was far more revealing than anything she had found before.

  Hinata leaned ba the stiff chair of the i café cubicle, rubbiemples. The dim glow of the puter s illuminated her furrowed brows as she processed everything she had uncovered.

  This type of information gathering wasn’t her specialty. She wasn’t an infiltration expert, a saboteur, or a spy. She had been trained in trag, in bat, in sensory teiques—but not in digital research or deception. Her skill set was built for the world of shinobi, not modern Japan.

  But that didn’t mean she would give up.

  She worked hard making discreet phone calls through stolen devices, switg voices, ats, and speaking patterns to pry out more details about Jujutsu High. She scoured through dark web forums, pieg together fragments of rumors, leaked files, and hushed whispers about Jujutsu Sorcerers and their operations.

  And in the end, she had her answer.

  Going to Jujutsu High was too risky.

  The pce was more than just a school—it was a stronghold, a aer, and possibly a recruitment ground for Jujutsu Sorcerers. If she and Naruto walked in blindly, they would lose trol of their situation. They would be examined, questioned, and maybe eveained under suspi.

  They had too many unknowns.

  Could Jujutsu Sorcerers detect their ins?Could they track chakra?Would they see Naruto’s Kyūbi as a threat?There were too many possibilities—too many ces for things to g.

  A…

  There was also an opportunity.

  Jujutsu High was the one pbsp;with sorcerers strong enough to bat Curses on a rge scale. If anyone had the knowledge or power to help them return home, it would be them. But they couldn’t go in recklessly.

  If—and only if—they had Gojo Satoru’s personal bag, the risk would be signifitly lower.

  Hinata exhaled. That man was ridiculous, arrogant, and etric… but he also seemed powerful enough to throw his weight around. If he truly wahem to e, he might shield them from suspi.

  But could they trust him?

  Hinata shut the puter down, leaving the dark web behind. She would o think carefully about their move.

  Ohing was clear—they weren’t walking into Jujutsu High without a pn.