That whole night I secretly spent preparing the lesson paid off!

The two sat down and began discussing Sukuna's domain.

Combining Sukuna's perception with observations from Gojo's Six Eyes, they arrived at the following conclusions:

1. Sukuna's domain was an extremely rare Open Domain. By allowing others to escape its range, it could strengthen the effects of the domain's cursed technique.

-This point was exclusively sponsored by Satoru Gojo as a friendly contribution.

2. Within the domain's range, everything, living or otherwise, would suffer an endless barrage of invisible slashes until the domain was dispelled.

-This point came from Sukuna's own observations... his main subject of observation had been the ground.

3. Although the bizarre structure at the center of the domain would sink as Dismantle destroyed the ground beneath it, the domain's center remained where it had been at the moment of activation. Its range did not move downward along with the structure.

-This point was the result of their joint discussion. After all, Sukuna had stopped descending at a depth of ten meters. Otherwise, he might well have smashed straight through the planet's core.

4. The domain's automatic cursed technique effect consisted only of Dismantle, which could be manually stopped with a thought. The flames had to be released separately.

-This point was Sukuna's intuitive guess. Its accuracy remained to be verified.

With no test subjects available, they could not assess the domain's damage output. That would have to wait for future observation.

"Phew..."

Sukuna let out a breath. He finally understood his own domain.

He did not particularly care about its damage output. All he cared about was whether he would sink into the ground.

To avoid sinking in the future, he actually gave the matter some serious thought for once.

For example, he could keep the domain's range from getting too large, so he would not sink too deep.

Or he could control how long the domain remained active. As long as he shut it down fast enough, Dismantle would not have time to shave away the ground.

Alternatively, he could manually stop Dismantle as soon as the domain appeared, then use it only on individual targets. That required finer control over the domain, though, so he still needed more practice.

Fine, then. The homework just keeps piling up...

Will I ever actually finish it all?...

He felt more like a Jujutsu High student than Yuji did.

As he mulled it over, he casually looked up-

Only to see Gojo shaking with suppressed laughter again, as though recalling something.

Sukuna: "..."

...Goddammit, this infuriating blindfolded bastard!...

Sukuna ground his teeth.

...I really should just never open my domain again!!-

Angry though Sukuna was, he had not forgotten his promise to give Yuji a lesson.

After making a serious effort to study his innate cursed technique, he finally opened his little Inner World classroom.

Inside the Innate Domain, Itadori sat obediently on a pile of bones, looking up with fresh curiosity at his Sukuna standing before him.

Sukuna cleared his throat softly, then imitated Megumi Fushiguro by tapping the nonexistent blackboard behind him.

"Now, class begins-"

"First, let me explain. I have two types of slashes. One is 'Cleave,' and the other is 'Dismantle'..."

Sukuna explained everything with particular care and seriousness. This was his first time teaching Tiger, so he had to do a good job. Absolutely no mistakes.

His serious demeanor was completely unlike his usual self.

Itadori listened intently. Although Sukuna's opening performance had struck him as funny, the earnest expression that followed gradually helped him settle down and focus.

"Cleave" was an ordinary slash that could serve as the main means of attack. The more cursed energy poured into each attack, the more damage it dealt.

"Hachi," on the other hand, calculated damage based on the difference between the user's cursed energy reserves and the opponent's. The greater the difference, the higher the damage. If the user's reserves far exceeded the opponent's, it could kill in a single hit.

After explaining the basics, Sukuna gave Tiger a few examples.

"Against opponents weaker than you, especially Grade 4 or Grade 3 ones, use 'Hachi.' It clears out enemies faster than running over and punching them."

"Against opponents as strong as you or stronger, 'Cleave' is better. You can adjust its power by controlling how much cursed energy you put into it."

"Of course, this is all just theory. You should still try it on different targets later to see how it works. My circumstances are pretty unusual, after all, so I'm not a very good reference."

Sukuna concluded with a perfectly straight face.

After listening to everything, Itadori praised him without reservation. "Sukuna, you explained that really well!"

Hmph, of course I did.

His lesson finished, Sukuna curled his lips into a smug smile.

That whole night I secretly spent preparing the lesson paid off!

After being screwed over twice by his own domain, Sukuna had finally decided to seriously study his cursed technique.

Using it himself was one thing. Teaching it to Tiger was another.

And sure enough, he had discovered the crucial detail-

He actually had two types of slashes!

Until then, he had always used them on instinct, never distinguishing which type he was using.

With his cursed energy reserves, either one felt about the same anyway. Both were straightforward one-hit kills.

But Yuji was different. With his reserves, if he accidentally used "Hachi" against an opponent stronger than himself...

-Wouldn't that just be giving them a light scraping massage?

Sukuna awkwardly dragged a hand down his face.

Thank goodness I checked beforehand this time. I haven't gone too far down the road of screwing Tiger over.

Still...

He sighed again, feeling that his cursed technique was rather underwhelming.

Its damage output depended entirely on cursed energy reserves. Wouldn't someone with less cursed energy be completely screwed with this technique?

Fortunately, he had plenty of cursed energy. Otherwise...

He might really have been nothing more than a cook.

King of Curses? Maybe in his next life.

He felt a little melancholy.

He had no idea whether teaching Tiger these slashes would actually help. Hopefully, they would not turn into nothing more than a massage tool.

That night, in the Trypophobia Forest.

Yes, Sukuna had named the forest.

By now, Itadori could easily run through it all night with the doll strapped to his back at maximum output.

He no longer even needed Sukuna to use Reverse Cursed Technique.

After building up day by day, his cursed energy reserves were already approaching those of a Grade 1 Sorcerer.

Combined with his outstanding hand-to-hand combat skills, killing a Grade 1 Curse was no longer a problem.

Sukuna was especially happy about this. It felt like watching his own child finally grow up.

And Itadori had achieved all of it through his own training. Apart from providing Reverse Cursed Technique, Sukuna had not intervened at all.

Gojo was just as pleased.

Yep, my student really is outstanding. All thanks to my dedicated guidance every night~

"You won't need to do this training anymore."

After a moment's thought, he added,

"By the way, Yuji, have you learned Sukuna's slashes?"

Itadori immediately nodded. "Yep!"

Sukuna had already shared his slashes with him, but he had only used them inside the Inner World. Without a specific target, he had no idea how powerful they were.

He did not want to damage Sukuna's Innate Domain, so he had not dared put much force into his attempts.

He had only used them twice against empty air. Unfortunately, the slashes were invisible, so he could not see anything. He only knew that he had successfully used them.

"All right, then."

With a smile, Gojo assigned him a new task.

"Your task tonight is to exorcise every Grade 4 Curse in this forest-using only slashes."

Sukuna, listening in from the Inner World: [...]

...So you're throwing the curses away now that you're done using them?

Talk about burning your bridges...

-And what a fine job you're doing!!

I've been sick of those curses for ages!!

Hooray, I finally get to say bye-bye to them!~

Trypophobia Forest-see you never!~~