After the simple greetings, Satoru suddenly pulled back most of his smile. His gaze turned toward Utaha, or rather, the presence within her, his tone carrying a sense of inquiry.
"Alright, introductions are over. Now, Sukuna, I have a question. Since Itadori is here too, I want to ask you."
He paused and said clearly, "Itadori hasn't swallowed any of your fingers. Not a single one. Yet, there are traces of Cursed Energy originating from the same source as yours on him, though they are very faint. What exactly is going on?"
This question had clearly been bothering Satoru for some time.
Normally, one would only become a "vessel" and be tainted by Sukuna's Cursed Energy after swallowing Sukuna's finger. But Yuji was an exception.
In the original plot, Yuji met Satoru only after swallowing Sukuna's Finger, so his abnormality wasn't noticed by Satoru. However, in this timeline, it seemed that by some coincidence, Yuji had not swallowed the finger.
Thus, the various messy traces on his body were laid bare before Satoru's Six Eyes.
First was the presence of Sukuna's Cursed Energy within Yuji.
Just as Kenjaku had planned for a thousand years, Yuji was a "perfect vessel" specifically prepared for Sukuna, sharing a soul-level kinship with him.
A Sukuna finger had even been implanted into his body by Kenjaku in some way since his childhood, like sowing a seed in a petri dish, so that his body would adapt to Sukuna's Cursed Energy from a young age, making it easier for Yuji to control Sukuna in the future.
Secondly, the raw material for Yuji was the latter six phases of the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings, meaning he had Cursed Spirit blood in him. Without Sukuna's Cursed Energy as a cover, this was also seen through by Satoru.
The Death Paintings were nine cursed fetuses created by Kenjaku (Kamo Noritoshi) by combining humans and Cursed Spirits, symbolizing the nine stages of a body after death.
Yuji was the final product of Kenjaku's series of experiments, a "finished product" that integrated the core characteristics of the Death Paintings.
In front of any other Jujutsu Sorcerers, this "nakedness" might still have maintained a facade of normalcy.
Because Yuji was a "perfect work" meticulously crafted by Kenjaku over a thousand years.
His abnormality was so deep within the foundation of his soul and flesh, its design so exquisite and its camouflage so natural, that it had long surpassed the recognition range of conventional Jujutsu perception.
Like a forgery painted with microscopic strokes invisible to the human eye, ordinary observation would only lead to the conclusion of an "ordinary boy with exceptionally good physical abilities," at most thinking he had an extraordinary talent for Cursed Energy.
The truths hidden in the deepest depths—regarding bloodlines, soul grafting, and forbidden experiments—were heavily encrypted and layered with camouflage, constituting a "perfect crime" on a Jujutsu level.
But unfortunately, the one standing before him was Gojo Satoru.
Unfortunately, the eyes observing him were the Six Eyes.
The Six Eyes, those heavenly eyes hailed as the supreme miracle of the Jujutsu World, possessed an insight that was nearly "Law" level in essence.
Before them, everything in the world was dismantled, analyzed, and reduced to the most basic flows of Cursed Energy, compositions of Cursed Techniques, and information units.
Camouflage?
In the vision of the Six Eyes, all camouflage was like snow under the sun, melting instantly to reveal the most primitive and true form beneath.
Sukuna was stumped. If he hadn't had the plot armor of knowing the story, his original self might not even know as much as Satoru could see now.
The air in the classroom fell into a long silence after Satoru's penetrating question.
Utaha could clearly feel that the consciousness of the King of Curses within her was not thinking about how to answer, but was instead filled with an almost lazy silence, mixed with mockery and indifference.
After a while, Sukuna's unique, reverberating voice rang out slowly, coming through Utaha's cheek, his tone full of unabashed "none of my business".
"Heh... Asking me?" He sneered, as if he had heard some absurd joke.
"First of all, I'm not one of your Jujutsu High people. Why should I answer just because you ask? Is your face really that big, Satoru?"
This blunt, almost rude response made Yuji blink. Fushiguro Megumi's lips twitched imperceptibly, while Eriri and Kato Megumi maintained their outward composure.
Satoru himself still wore that smile, as if he had expected it all along.
Sukuna's gaze fixed on the bewildered Yuji for a moment, then quickly shifted away, leaving behind one last meaningful but no longer deep sentence.
"Kid, the source of the trouble on you isn't with me. At least, not anymore. As for the rest... go find out for yourself. That's where the fun is."
After saying that, Sukuna's presence fell completely silent, ignoring the outside world. He tossed back a massive mystery to Satoru and Yuji themselves, like throwing away trash.
Secondly, this matter wasn't something that could be explained in just a few words. If it were, the entirety of Jujutsu Kaisen would be spoiled.
Looking at the grand chessboard of Jujutsu Kaisen, if you carefully count the "BOSS" level characters standing on the opposite side, there are actually only two.
One is Sukuna, whose goal is outrageously pure—to enjoy the thrill of battle, to fight to his heart's content against strong enough opponents, and to savor the joy of combat itself.
And the other is the conspirator who has been hiding behind countless human skins and plotting for thousands of years—Kenjaku.
His goal seems complex but is actually quite simple.
Simply put, Kenjaku's character is essentially that of a mad scientist in the Jujutsu World.
He has little interest in cliché things like power or ruling the world. What he is truly obsessed with is the "possibility of curses." He wants to see how far the boundaries of Cursed Energy, Cursed Techniques, and the line between humans and Cursed Spirits can be pushed, and what kind of amazing (or rather, horrifying) "works" can be created.
His activities over the past millennium have almost all revolved around this core objective.
To collect "rare materials", he traveled through various eras, searching for Jujutsu Sorcerers with powerful or special Cursed Techniques, and used sweet talk (like helping them be resurrected) to sign contracts.
In his eyes, these powerful Jujutsu Sorcerers were no different from Cursed Spirits. They were all precious specimens and a material library for his future experiments.
The later Culling Game and the Players fighting within it were, in his view, merely "living petri dishes" providing data and observing reactions. Like Cursed Spirits, they were consumables.
Compared to Sukuna, who pursues the pleasure of battle, these people didn't even have the value of being high-level thugs in Kenjaku's eyes—they were purely experimental materials.
His experiments weren't just fantasies. The Cursed Womb: Death Paintings—forcing the combination of humans and Cursed Spirits to give birth to nine mutated beings—was one of his early works, exploring the boundaries of the fusion between life and curses.
And Yuji is an unfinished work of this series, a step further, though perhaps abandoned halfway or adjusted in direction for certain reasons.