Chapter 10

Itadori wondered about the school grounds, unable to speak, eat or do much of anything at the moment. He sighed aloud to it all, wondering what will happen next. 'Great, I'm going to be a dragon' he thought sarcastically to himself in his mind. 'Still, it's worrying Suiryu as it is me. How could this have been forced? How? Who had the strength to do such a thing and why?' he thought.

There were far more questions than answers in his mind, worst still, according to his brother, this is just the start of it. Basic things change so it indicates that he is going through the transition, the worst is yet to come apparently!

"Yuuji!"

He paused as his voice was called out, he turned and saw Nobara running towards him. "Yuuji, there you are! I was wondering if you're doing okay? Do you need anything?" she asked.

He smiled and waved off her question, it's not like he can go out in public, although his curse marks are gone, his clothing still hides his extra arms and his lower eyes are easy to close.

"Oh, if you do need anything, you let us know right?" she asked and held up her phone.

He nodded and held up his and gave a thumbs up.

When she left, he sighed aloud, wondering what to do with himself. Perhaps, the only thing he could do is work on the chakra energy Suiryu just developed for him…

#

"Huh…" Gojo paused.

He has read through a small portion of the books, but came across something rather grim in the history of the Tooru family. He remembered the necklace that Yua wore, the one that showed the elders as proof of her family lineage, but what startled him most was this. The necklace was used as a sign for the other family members… marking the next host of Ryujin. "They pass this responsibility on to the strongest member of the family to contain the dragon when the time was needed. The one wearing the necklace would be sacrificed in order to house the dragon…" he paused to the words. "I don't know if she knew about that…" he muttered. Then again, she must have considering she was in Tibet with these very books at her disposal.

He continued to read on. "Any who wears the necklace are marked for the next host of Ryujin…" he snickered at the thought considering that right now, the one wearing such a thing was Suiryu! He doubts Ryujin is going anywhere to say the least, but he wonders still…

He kept reading.

"The dragons are the most sought after creature in the divine users and cultivators, one has believed if they obtain the dragon they obtain its power over the divine. No creature below a dragon can refuse it's request or command." He paused, it makes a lot of sense considering all those divine users that tried to see Yuuji for themselves, not to mention try and sway him over to their side. If one has such power, they could command all the creatures of the divine to do their bidding… just like with curse users who abuse their power.

Also a former friend he had…

"So total world domination to say the least, I remember those tooth fairies…" He never told Itadori this, but he has watched him cultivate his divine energy. Gojo saw first hand the destructive power of those little fairies with razor sharp teeth. He shuttered at the thought if someone unleashed a whole swarm into the city! So that power in Yuuji is greater than he thought. "So… what now… anything on baby dragons or something…"

He sifted through the pile until something dropped from the table. It was a small book but it peeked his curiosity. Going over the notes, he found what was written. "Let's see… if one possesses a dragon, they cannot obtain anything else within their bodies… that's obvious," he muttered. But the more he read, the more he began to see something was coming. "Two dragons cannot occupy the same space…" this made him pause. "Two cannot… but if that's the case, does this mean…" he bounced his left foot in thought, trying to process the notion. "Either Ryujin takes over and Yuuji is gone… or Ryujin leaves…" he whispered.

He's starting to see a double hit here. Someone would obtain the dragon if Ryujin leaves, and Yuuji becomes and open vessel once more for the curse or divine. OR if Itadori becomes a dragon himself, then it's two dragons they have to use…

"Damn it," he muttered. "This is getting a lot more complicated than I thought." For all he knows, both factions are at work here. Someone from the divine and someone from the cursed side are both seeking out Itadori to get what they desire.

"But, if that's the case… is that why Suiryu has the necklace?"

No one ever considered the idea that Suiryu himself is also vessel material, since he came from Sukuna, king for curses, but still, he was made from Itadori's blood and flesh. Something wasn't sitting well with Gojo. He stopped reading for the time being and decided to take a break.

He packed up the books and took them to his quarters. Yet as he arrived he paused and saw Suiryu sitting in his living room reading. "Found anything good?" he asked.

Gojo put the books away. "I wouldn't say good. Also, how did you get in here?" he asked.

Suiryu merely shrugged his shoulders to it all. "So, what was it that you found?"

He paused as he tried to find his words carefully. "You are right, this transformation is forced, but there's more than one party at work. There has to be."

"Curse and divine working together huh…"

"You knew then why did you ask me?"

"That's the extent of my knowledge, I sense curse energy but with what happened to Yuuji, that has to be divine intervention you could say?" he said and smirked. "What else you got?"

Gojo took a seat across from Suiryu and pointed to the necklace. "Has anyone tried to take that from you?"

Peering down he reached into his sleeveless t-shirt and took out the pendent. "Not yet, but I know it's a target. I took out some hitmen a while back, one was speaking about the pendent and stated there was a buyer for it. So, it makes we wonder if there is something more to this pendent than what we realize." He explained and tucked it back in his shirt.

"Someone is after that, then."

He smirked to the notion. "Yeah well, someone is going to die if they try and take it from me. Why, what's so important about it? Besides the fact it belonged to Yua."

Gojo told him about the history of the Tooru family, how the pendent is used to mark the next host of Ryujin. Yua had it since she was destined to be the host. But then he shuttered at the thought. "Shit, she would have been even more traumatized than losing her family to curses…" he said offhandedly. "She would have had to watch a family member die to break Ryujin free from his prison…"

"Don't see the big deal about the necklace here…"

Gojo continued. "Well, the other thing I read is this… no two dragons can occupy the same space."

Immediately he got Suiryu's attention. "The fuck…" he muttered, but then paused to think it over. "Son of a bitch that's the notion the whole time, a two for one."

"Maybe even three…" Gojo said as he noticed the paper Suiryu was reading. "Divine users drink the blood of a dragon to gain their power… this is a sure method used to grow one's abilities…"

Suiryu took the paper back and read it once more. He tossed it to the side with a sneer. "So, we're going to have to kill some people for this…"

"Question is who?" Gojo stated. "We're working on the fifth hand of Sukuna, we got the divine users who have since stepped up their game in trying to obtain Itadori for themselves…"

"You know I will erase them from this world on a whim…"

"Never said I doubted you," Gojo replied with a smirk, but the smile vanished. "Yuuji is really going to need our help."

He nodded in agreement. "Makes me all the more worried as to the cultivation method being forced upon him, despite there being no record, there is just something about him consuming dragon milk…"

Gojo nodded, as he appeared to think it over. "Do we stop letting him drink it?"

"Do that, he starves to death. He can't eat anything, even if it's a smoothie, he won't touch it anymore. His body has become too dependent on the milk, we can't cut him off." Suiryu let off an exasperated sigh. "What the fuck is going on here?"

"I don't know, but all I can say is that we got two forces working against us."

"No shit."