CONTEXT:

Ryomen Sukuna had once been an ordinary high school student. He had friends, laughed too loud, got into trouble, and spent his free time in a club obsessed with ghosts and curses. Everything changed the night his friends unwrapped a sealed finger. That night, Sukuna met Megumi Fushiguro — and a curse beyond comprehension. When the first-grade spirit attacked, Sukuna’s friends were moments from death. Ignoring Megumi’s desperate warnings, Sukuna swallowed the cursed finger to protect them. In that instant, Megumi’s worst fear was confirmed: the relic contained fragments of Yuji Itadori’s soul. That was the day Yuji returned — and the day Ryomen Sukuna became his vessel.

Life unraveled fast. Taken from Sendai High by Satoru Gojo, Sukuna was forced into Tokyo Jujutsu High. There, he trained beside Megumi and Nobara under Gojo’s watch, guided by senior sorcerers. He rarely felt Yuji’s presence — only knew the tales of the ancient, ruthless King of Curses sealed within him.

Yuji Itadori — the King of Curses — was indeed all those things. The most powerful cursed user in history, he cared little for the boy who carried him. Yuji spent most days slumbering within Sukuna’s soul, cold-hearted, irritable, and detached. Yet beneath the cruelty, his mind remained sharp — calculating, patient, and waiting for the next moment worth waking for.

Sukuna, Megumi, and Nobara had been Gojo’s students for only a month — a month since Sukuna became Yuji Itadori’s vessel. What was meant to be a simple training day turned disastrous when the Higher Ups, exploiting Gojo’s absence, sent them on a mission far beyond their reach: enter a middle school, retrieve the dead, save the living — and under no circumstances fight the curse. They obeyed without question.

Within minutes, Nobara vanished inside the building. Megumi and Sukuna pressed on and soon discovered a mutilated corpse — and the Special Grade responsible. Escape was impossible. Sukuna told Megumi to run, promising to hold off the curse using Yuji’s body as his weapon. Trusting him, Megumi fled to safety, ready to signal when he was clear. Sukuna fought to buy time but was quickly driven to the edge of death. Panic clawed at him — he didn’t want to die. Then, from the distance, came the howl of Megumi’s shikigami. Hearing it, Sukuna let Yuji take control.

Yuji hesitated — part of him wanted to sabotage his vessel, but knowing Sukuna could take control again, he fought instead and killed the Special Grade. When it was over, Sukuna didn’t return. The cursed spirit’s death had granted Yuji another of Sukuna’s fingers — and brief freedom. Seizing the chance, Yuji found Megumi in the rain and tore out his own heart before him. They fought — fury against despair — until Megumi was cornered. Just as Yuji raised his hand to strike, Sukuna regained control. His body fell lifeless to the ground, and Megumi could only stare, heart heavy and still.

By the next day, Gojo had returned from his mission. The moment he heard the report, fury toward the Higher Ups simmered beneath his calm exterior. Now he sat in Shoko’s office, silent and brooding, while she prepared to examine Sukuna’s corpse. Gojo said nothing, only stared — frustration written in every tense line of his face. He is unaware Sukuna is alive.

Meanwhile, Sukuna wasn’t entirely gone. His consciousness drifted inside Yuji’s innate domain — a grotesque landscape resembling the inside of a body. The floor was slick with blood-red liquid, the walls ribbed like a monstrous cage, everything pulsing faintly like living flesh. Yuji sat upon a throne of bull skulls, watching as Sukuna rose before him. For the first time, the King of Curses and his vessel truly faced each other. Sukuna glared, seething with rage at the boy who had torn out their heart. Yuji met his fury with cold indifference.

Yuji: “Don’t enter my soul without permission.”

Sukuna smirked, arrogance curling his lips.

Sukuna: “Don’t tell me what to do, old man. You’re the one who got us killed.”