Choso vs. Naoya Zenin is a battle fought by the special grade Cursed Womb: Death Painting, Choso against the special grade 1 sorcerer of the Zenin clan , Naoya Zenin. It is fought in the abandoned remains of Shibuya when Naoya holds off Choso so Yuta Okkotsu can execute his "little brother" Yuji Itadori.
Prologue
Naoya goes to Tokyo in search of Yuji to use his execution as an excuse to lure out Megumi Fushiguro. He finds Yuji with Choso, who he doesn't recognize, hunting for cursed spirits and drawing lots of attention to themselves.
Naoya uses his speed to engage the pair and whacks across Yuji's face. His speed even allows him to parry Choso and put avoid any damage before his opponents can counterattack. Yuji and Choso notice something strange about Naoya's speed but their scuffle is interrupted by an intense presence.[1]
Yuta Okkotsu, Yuji's officially appointed executioner, arrives to fulfill his duty. Naoya is quick to make it clear that they're on the same side, introducing himself as Maki's cousin. He asks that after Yuta wins he wait to inform the higher-ups. Naoya still wants to use Yuji as bait for Megumi but he doesn't want Yuta to know that. Yuta agrees and leaves Choso to Naoya.
Choso recognizes that Naoya possesses immense speed with a hidden trick to it. Getting into a chase with him would bode poorly for Yuji, so Choso decides it's best to hold him off. Yuji is concerned but Choso tells him to focus on getting away from Yuta at all costs. Choso believes this is best because now his little brother won't have to fight human sorcerers or feel bad about leaving him behind. Ready to fulfill his duty as an older brother, Choso gets in front of Yuji and tells him to meet at yesterday's spot.[2]
Battle
Choso folds his hands into the signature stance to activate Convergence and attempts to block Yuta so Yuji can get a head start running away. However, Naoya uses his blinding speed to kick Choso's arms upward, allowing Yuta to dash right past him. Choso is surprised that they predicted he would try to stall Yuta. Without any time to react, Choso's head gets pulled into a fierce forearm smash. The quickness of Naoya's attack takes Choso off guard and he's knocked back a few steps.
Naoya saw Choso use Blood Manipulation earlier, and as a member of the Zenin Family, Naoya has information on the Kamo Family and knows all about their inherited technique. He doesn't know why Choso has the ability to use it but he doesn't fear Blood Manipulation outside of Piercing Blood. What the Zenin clan sorcerer does know is that Piercing Blood requires Convergence. Confident that his speed will make charging up the technique impossible, Naoya states that "this is checkmate" and that it's time for his adversary to die. Choso doesn't back down and replies that Naoya will be the one to die after trying to kill his little brother.[3]
Moving with blistering speed that makes him imperceivable to the human eye, Naoya circles around Choso's back. He gets behind Choso's field of view and touches his chest, trapping the Death Painting inside a frame using Projection Sorcery. Then he disappears and comes back with more momentum in an instant, using it to fuel a right hook that smashes Choso out of the frame and into a stone pillar, cracking the frame.
Completely overwhelmed, Choso can't figure out this cursed technique works and doubts Naoya will bother disclosing it. Naoya's speed presents an issue that isn't just being able to use Convergence. Choso can't even find the opportunity to control blood outside his body. Surprised someone that who appears to be human can withstand so many high-speed attacks, Naoya asks who his opponent is and how he's so tough. Choso simply replies that he's the oldest of ten siblings and activates Flowing Red Scale: Stack![4]
Naoya doesn't take Choso's response as a proper answer and circles around him again. This time Choso is able to follow his opponent's movements as he turns his body and attempts to counterattack with a palm thrust. While moving at such an intense speed, Naoya is still able to process that Choso has adjusted. The blood manipulator is focusing Flowing Red Scale into his extraocular muscles to raise his dynamic visual acuity, allowing his eyes to keep up with his opponent's previous imperceivable movements. Naoya ducks under Choso's counter and stabs him in the lower abdomen with a knife in a reverse grip. He fully extends his arm to accentuate the blow and slams Choso a fair distance away into the wall.
Choso recovers his balance and expresses frustration over the stab wound that's now spewing blood all over his leg onto the ground. Naoya reveals that he used a hidden knife because Choso is so tough. He thinks is unbecoming of sorcerers to use weapons and keeps his knife a secret. Naoya's older brothers carry katanas and he hates them for being weaklings who are inferior to their younger brother.
In direct contrast, Choso believes that older brothers are role models regardless of the path they walk. Naoya scoffs at the sentiment but Choso suggests it's entirely possible that Naoya could be strong because his brothers are weak. Whether they excel or if they struggle, an elder brother serves as an example for their siblings to follow or avoid. Choso finally provides a proper answer to the question from earlier and states he didn't have an older brother to guide him and that's why he kept making mistakes. Nonetheless, Choso has continued to walk the path ahead of his little brothers and that's why he's strong.
Choso allows a massive volume of blood to spill from his body onto the ground. He manipulates it into a wave of blood that rushes towards Naoya, confusing the sorcerer while he backs up to avoid it. Naoya doesn't understand how someone can bleed so much and live, but Cursed Womb: Death Paintings can convert cursed energy into blood. Choso uses his hands to guide the wave of blood and forces Naoya back even further. Naoya moves quickly to avoid touching the blood but he loses sight of his adversary.
Suddenly, the rotating blood chakram that is Slicing Exorcism bursts out of the wave. Naoya ducks under it with ease and thinks that this attack is so slow that his opponent might actually still be dying of blood loss. However, this was just a distraction and Choso reappears next to his target with his hands already folded and Convergence activated. Suprised, Naoya narrowly dodges the Piercing Blood beam that comes straight at his head. Piercing Blood ricochets off the wall behind him and Naoya quickly moves to the other side of the beam to avoid it. Dodging forward puts Naoya closer to the massive wave of blood, however, so he runs on the wall and tries to avoid letting any of it touch him.
Choso runs on the blood wave and delivers a spinning kick to the body that his opponent blocks. Naoya defends the attack but a decent amount of Choso's blood splashes on his Hakama. He notices right away that Choso is controlling the blood to increase the weight on his legs in hopes to reduce his mobility.
By the time Naoya looks back up, Choso already has Convergence activated again and repeats back to Naoya that "this is checkmate". Confident that he can clear the distance between them and avoid Piercing Blood by moving at 24 FPS with Projection Sorcery, Naoya goads Choso into going for the finish and begins rushing towards him.
As soon as Naoya makes his move, Choso remains still, confusing him. Naoya expected Choso to activate Piercing Blood right away. However, Choso has another move that he developed on his own after honing Blood Manipulation for 150 years. He activates Supernova, generating an explosion of blood that fires bullets in every direction like a buckshot.
As a Choso original, Naoya has no prior knowledge of Supernova and suffers a direct hit. Numerous small blood bullets piece Naoya's body as he runs right into Choso's cursed technique, receiving massive damage. Victorious, Choso apologizes for the brutal finish of the fight and expresses that he simply can't understand someone not loving their brothers.[5]
Aftermath
Immediately after Choso defeats Naoya, Yuta suddenly walks up behind him. Choso notices him too late, and by the time he turns around, his face is already meeting Yuta's fist. The executioner is dragging Yuji's body behind him and knocks out Choso with a single hit while walking past him.
While shrouding his free hand in positive energy, Yuta goes up to Naoya and notices him in a dire state.[6] On the ground from the bloody onslaught, Naoya's pride is more damaged than anything. He looks up at Yuta and is irritated that the young man is looking down on him.
Naoya's displeasure intensifies when he starts vomiting and is forced to realize that he's been poisoned. This makes him finally realize that Choso is a full-fleshed curse and surmises that his body is rejecting the non-human blood. Yuta offers to heal Naoya using a reverse cursed technique in exchange for informing Jujutsu Headquarters that Yuji's execution has been carried out.
References
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 139 (p. 12-18).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 140 (p. 4-6).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 140 (p. 7-10).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 141 (p. 16-19).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 142 (p. 1-17).
- ↑ Jujutsu Kaisen Manga: Chapter 142 (p. 18-19).
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