December 28, 2018. Tokyo No. 1 Colony.
On the rooftop of a high-rise building.
The rooftop door was shoved violently open. Yuji Itadori stepped out, muscles coiled, fully prepared for an ambush. But as he scanned the area, there was no one in sight. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and stretched out his senses. Still, he detected no massive presence of Cursed Energy.
He was looking for Ryomen Sukuna. Clearly, he hadn't found him. But that was fine. He had one more trick up his sleeve.
"SUKUNAAAAAA!" Yuji roared at the top of his lungs.
Ryomen Sukuna never used an Information Lock to hide his whereabouts. Anyone checking the player roster could easily pinpoint his location. Moreover, Sukuna never refused a challenge. If you tracked him down and screamed his name, he would inevitably grant you a swift, brutal death. There had never been an exception.
Normally, if someone dared to scream Sukuna's name like this, he would have casually sent a 'Dismantle' flying their way to cleanly sever their head. But today, Sukuna simply wasn't in the mood.
"Stop your incessant shouting, Yuji," an irritated voice drifted down from above him. "There are only three days left until the final decisive battle. Look around you—everyone else has quieted down. Yet here you are, howling like a rabid dog at my doorstep. Where are your manners?"
Yuji whipped his head upward. There, lounging casually atop the rooftop water tank, was Ryomen Sukuna. Yuji was genuinely taken aback. "You? Actually complaining about killing?"
"What do you take me for? A homicidal maniac?"
"Are you saying you aren't?"
"Of course I'm not," Sukuna scoffed, his tone dripping with disdain. "Those who kill purely for the thrill of killing are just pathetic, mindless insects. Do not compare me to such filthy bugs. I kill to eat. I kill for my own pleasure and enjoyment. I savor the taste of human flesh—women and infants being absolute delicacies. I am not some classless butcher who kills just for the sake of it. If I see those mindless freaks, I slaughter them on sight."
A cannibalizing ghoul acting morally superior to a serial killer? Yuji's voice turned to ice. "I've never once seen you cherish a human life."
"A herd of livestock. Why on earth would I cherish them?" Sukuna sat up from his lounging position, folding one leg while letting the other dangle off the edge of the water tank. "Perhaps my words just now gave you the wrong impression. Did you actually think I harbored some sort of special affection for humanity?"
Sukuna let out a cold, mocking laugh. "Heh. Do you feel 'affection' for a flock of sheep? Do you feel 'affection' for wild weeds? To me, a human is equal to a sheep. A human is equal to a weed. I despise noisy sheep. So, whether it's a sheep or a human, if it bleats loudly in my ear, it dies. I despise useless weeds. So, whether it's a weed or a human trying to lecture me about 'human rights', it dies."
A wave of visceral nausea surged from Yuji's stomach, crawling up his throat. He wanted to vomit.
He had always known the King of Curses was an entity of pure evil, but he had never fully grasped the sheer, unfathomable depths of that depravity. Sukuna wasn't delusional; he didn't lack the cognitive ability to distinguish between humans and livestock. He understood the difference perfectly well. But understanding it didn't stop him from actively equating them anyway.
Ryomen Sukuna was a Jujutsu Sorcerer who, fully aware of the reality of the world and the sanctity of life, consciously chose to exist solely to serve his own grotesque whims.
If a homeless beggar stood on a corner screaming about ruling the world, people would just point and laugh. If that beggar actually tried to act on it, a single trained police officer would quickly introduce him to reality, slap on a pair of silver bracelets, and toss him in a cell to sober up.
But if it was a warlord in an era of chaos? Or a cunning, well-connected politician? The nature of the threat completely changed. Why?
Because their spheres of influence were entirely different. The scale of devastation they could unleash was entirely different. And, most importantly, the number of people they could butcher was worlds apart.
It is often said that the more knowledge a person possesses, the more terrifying their depravity becomes.
The King of Curses was exactly that. He held the most advanced, esoteric knowledge in the world. He wielded the most overwhelming, cataclysmic power. His mastery of jujutsu, his combat experience, his predatory instincts, and his learning speed were at the absolute pinnacle of existence. In terms of pure learning ability, he arguably surpassed even Satoru Gojo.
And because of that, his twisted nature caused unimaginable carnage. A thousand years ago, he slaughtered humans and deities alike, completely uncontested.
And now, having awakened in the modern era a millennium later, the results would be no different. Yuji breathed heavily, his chest heaving as he roared, "Sukuna... you really are beyond saving!"
Sukuna remained uncharacteristically calm. He looked down at the furious boy below him. "I thought, at the very least, you would respect me for this."
"Me? Respect you?"
"Those decrepit maggots at Jujutsu Headquarters. They wanted to execute you without a second thought, didn't they?" Sukuna stated casually. "Leaving the past aside, you now possess the absolute power to wipe out the entirety of Jujutsu Headquarters single-handedly. If those insects crawled back to you right now, arrogantly demanding your execution, ordering you to close your eyes and kneel so their blades could cleanly sever your neck... would you weep tears of gratitude?"
Yuji opened his mouth. "Of course I wouldn't! But I also wouldn't—"
"Would or wouldn't." Sukuna brutally cut Yuji off, his tone flat. "You chose 'wouldn't'. You use your overwhelming power to terrify them into submission, but you stay your hand at the very last second, right before you kill them. You think you've shown them mercy. You think you've given them enough 'face', and that they'll stop coming after you. What a pathetically naive delusion!"
Sukuna's eyes narrowed, his voice dropping to a lethal chill.
"Because you didn't kill them, they will view you as weak and exploitable. They will believe their 'noble bloodlines' are the divine mandate that allows them to survive. And so, they will exhaust every ounce of their intellect to scheme against you, to plot your downfall, because it costs them absolutely nothing! They will view their treachery as justified, as a law of nature. And you? The freak who refuses to be controlled? You will always be the anomaly. You will always be the monster that needs to be eradicated."
Yuji froze. Hidden within the venom of Sukuna's words, he caught a faint, shadowy glimpse of the King of Curses' past.
In the original timeline, Sukuna once admitted there were two moments in his life where he was offered a chance to regret his path, but he rejected both. This proved that Sukuna wasn't entirely devoid of empathy from birth. In the distant past, there must have been a fleeting moment where he harbored mercy—a moment that could have changed his destiny. Yet, he actively crushed it. Why? Because experience taught him that mercy and weakness were nothing more than the soil for his own grave. That lesson had shaped him for a thousand years, and it still dictated his existence today. Perhaps only in death would he genuinely reconsider his choices.
But that was the original timeline—words spoken in the void after his ultimate defeat. Here, in this moment, Ryomen Sukuna felt zero remorse. On the contrary, his survival and absolute dominance perfectly validated his twisted philosophy.
"Why is Satoru Gojo allowed to do whatever he pleases? Because he's so incredibly merciful?" Sukuna sneered at Yuji, his expression dripping with contempt. "No. It's because he is overwhelmingly strong, and ruthlessly violent! I know the ugly faces of those higher-ups better than anyone. They haven't changed in a thousand years. They fear power, not virtue. The more benevolence you show them, the more eagerly they will plot to slit your throat. From ancient times until now, there has never been a single exception."
"So, how do you deal with them?" Sukuna enunciated every word like a hammer strike. "Slaughter them! Slaughter! SLAUGHTER! Only by butchering their armies, obliterating their willpower, and massacring every last one of those foolish maggots will they finally understand terror! Only then will they learn to offer me virgin sacrifices every year. Only then will they finally learn to shut their mouths and stop whining their self-righteous drivel in my ears!"
Yuji's heart wavered for a fraction of a second. He had lived through the betrayal. He had been set up to die by Jujutsu Headquarters. Because of that agonizing firsthand experience, he sickeningly realized that Sukuna's twisted logic held a horrific kernel of truth...
But Yuji quickly violently violently shook off the dark seduction. He glared fiercely back at Sukuna. "What about Mahito, the King of Cursed Spirits, then? Are you calling him weak?"
"He is strong. But he possesses the true demeanor of the strong," Yuji argued. "He doesn't spread mindless terror. He abides by rules. He actively integrates into modern society. He's even willing to sit down and have a pleasant conversation with the leader of the opposing faction, even forming a Binding Vow. He holds absolute power, yet he's willing to negotiate with the heart of the weak."
"The 'demeanor of the strong'? Pity and composure?" Sukuna's voice turned venomous and raspy. "You haven't seen the real him. I have. When he dragged me back from the Underworld and resurrected me, he unhesitatingly slaughtered me nineteen times. Every single time, he carved off a piece of my soul and used it as bait, forcing me to sit here like a good dog, waiting for a chance to wipe away my humiliation. He calculated my personality. He calculated my strength. He even calculated exactly how much amusement I could provide him. Is *that* what you call the 'demeanor of the strong'?"
To this day, Sukuna had never forgotten the burning humiliation inflicted upon him by the King of Cursed Spirits. He could never forget the agonizing torment of having his soul physically torn apart. But at the same time, Sukuna knew exactly why Mahito did it. It was completely intentional. Mahito wanted to keep him trapped here, generating massive amounts of Cursed Energy Residuals, squeezing every last drop of absolute utility out of his existence.
Yes, on the surface, the 'King of Cursed Spirits' appeared vastly more merciful and dignified than the 'King of Curses'. But the reality? Just hearing the title 'King of Cursed Spirits' was enough to tell you exactly what kind of abhorrent nature that creature possessed! Sukuna knew the depths of Mahito's vicious cruelty. That cruelty was branded into his very core, fueling a roaring inferno of hatred in his heart.
And now, this naive brat was preaching to him about 'the demeanor of the strong'...
"You make me sick, brat." Sukuna clicked his tongue in disgust. "It's exactly because of pathetic fools like you that I find humanity so utterly beyond salvation."
Yuji immediately fired back, "That's because it's impossible to have a conversation with you! The only way to communicate with you is through our fists. Otherwise, I'm certain Mahito wouldn't have resorted to treating you like that!"
Sukuna actually barked a laugh at the sheer absurdity of it.
He pointed down at Yuji, chuckling darkly. "Excellent. Marvelous. Every time I consider giving you a shred of respect, you open your mouth. Honestly, I should have just cleaved you into ribbons the second you walked through that door, just to spare myself the agony of listening to your delusional garbage."
"You? Giving me respect?" Yuji scoffed.
Sukuna casually hopped down from the water tank, landing silently on the rooftop. Yuji instantly dropped into a defensive stance, raising his guard. It was the starting posture for 'Simple Domain'. After his brutal near-death clash with Sukuna, Yuji finally understood the absolute necessity of defense. He had specifically purchased the jujutsu knowledge for Simple Domain and had been practicing it relentlessly over the past few days.
But Sukuna didn't even spare him a glance. He casually strolled past Yuji, walking to the edge of the rooftop and peering down. The Dream Migration was eerily silent. The deathmatches between sorcerers had almost entirely ceased; only the occasional, distant shriek of a Cursed Spirit echoed through the ruins.
"I couldn't care less about the thoughts of others," Sukuna said quietly. "But I suppose, having been trapped inside your body for so long, I was forced to become intimately familiar with yours. When other people charge at me, I just see mindless stupidity. But when you charge at me... I can inexplicably see the thoughts racing through your head. You feel fear. But far drowning out that fear is an unshakeable, ironclad will. Forget this being the Dream Migration—even if we were in the real world, you wouldn't hesitate to throw away your own life to raise a blade against me."
This wasn't Sukuna being uncharacteristically sentimental. It was the raw, unvarnished truth.
In the original timeline, Sukuna had experienced a similar revelation. At the bitter end of their final clash, he found himself genuinely stunned while facing Yuji. He actually stopped to reflect, empathizing with the sheer, immovable weight of Yuji's determination. It was a realization that hit him with staggering force, enough to make the King of Curses pause mid-battle.
And the same held true now. When Yuji came seeking him out, Sukuna could have instantly ended his life with a single flick of his wrist. Yet, he chose not to. He chose to engage in this limited conversation.
He truly had given Yuji Itadori a measure of respect. It wasn't a lie.
If absolutely anyone else had dared to spout such brazen disrespect to his face, they would already be a pile of bloody cubes. Yuji was the sole exception. He was the only one allowed to stand in front of the King of Curses, say those things, and remain breathing.
Yuji fell silent. He, too, remembered the days they shared a single body.
In the world of *Jujutsu Kaisen*, if Satoru Gojo was the biggest hypocrite, Yuji Itadori was undoubtedly the runner-up. He had inherited Gojo's messy complex, constantly taking the weight of the world onto his own shoulders. He blamed himself for every single person Sukuna slaughtered while using his body. He blamed himself for Megumi's possession. He branded himself a sinner who needed to atone. He felt so guilty he couldn't even bear to face his friends. And the absolute climax of it all:
At the very, very end, Yuji had offered Sukuna an ultimate ultimatum. If Sukuna agreed to crawl back inside his body and accept lifelong imprisonment under Yuji's watch, Yuji would spare his life.
Yes. He was going to *spare* Ryomen Sukuna.
Thank God Sukuna possessed the pride of the absolute pinnacle and flat-out refused. If he had accepted, there was no telling what horrific catastrophe would have inevitably followed. Yuji clearly hadn't considered the apocalyptic consequences if Sukuna ever found a way to slip his leash. At that moment, Yuji must have been channeling Satoru Gojo's sheer delusion, fully convinced that *he* was the one exception, that *he* alone had the capability to permanently suppress the King of Curses.
How utterly laughable! A kid who hadn't even graduated, with less than six months of jujutsu experience, genuinely believing he could act as a permanent warden for the mythological King of Curses—a monster capable of instantly replicating Kenjaku's technique to split his soul into Cursed Objects after seeing it just once.
And now, hearing Sukuna's words... Yuji felt remarkably foolish.
In the heavy silence, Yuji finally spoke, his voice low. "I didn't come here to fight you. I came because I have a question."
"Heh. I figured as much." Sukuna wasn't surprised. He knew Yuji's personality inside and out. If the boy hadn't been backed into an absolute, inescapable corner, he never would have sought help from the King of Curses.
"I'm in a generous mood right now," Sukuna declared. "I'll permit you to speak of your troubles."
Wait, was Sukuna actually being accommodating? Was he going to act like a mentor?
—Absolutely not!
In the original timeline, Sukuna had only entertained Yuji in his innate domain because he knew his defeat was imminent. He had already accepted his fate, so he was willing to listen to Yuji's final words.
But the current situation was vastly different. Sukuna didn't believe for a fraction of a second that he was going to lose. He was bursting with absolute confidence. His only intention was to listen to Yuji's desperate plea, mock him relentlessly for it, and then feed him a string of convoluted, useless cryptic bullshit just to watch him struggle!
Yes, Ryomen Sukuna was exactly that petty and malicious. Never doubt it.
*No act of malice is too small to commit.* That was Sukuna's guiding principle in life. It was his personal aesthetic!
"I want to ask," Yuji said, taking a deep, steadying breath. "How do I commit 'deicide'?"