Uhe others, Ryuji remained calm and collected. He wasn't the least bit angered by Sukuna's taunts. Instead, he gazed at Yuji, or rather, Sukuna, with a faint smile of i.

  "Were y to provoke me on purpose?"

  "..."

  Sukuna's mog ughter cut off abruptly. He fell silent, his expression darkening.

  "It seems Gojo's impression of you was a little off," Ryuji remarked lightly. "You're not just a brute with no sense of restraint. You're resourceful and ing."

  Ryuji's words carried no malice, but the underlying point was clear: Sukuna's fa?ade of recklessness had likely deceived even Gojo Satoru.

  In truth, Sukuna hadn't bee the King of Curses a thousand years ago simply because of his overwhelming strength. No one was born invincible, not even Sukuna. Being a monster with four arms and unparalleled physical power wasn't enough to guarantee survival.

  The fact that Sukuna had risen to power and thrived during such a brutal era spoke to his intelligend guile.

  If anything, Sukuna pretending to be a simple-minded brute was his greatest act of deception.

  "I assume yoal was to provoke me inting out the fingers," Ryuji said calmly.

  "..."

  Sukuna's expression grew even darker, and his silence all but firmed Ryuji's analysis.

  "You bastard," Sukuna growled, dropping all pretense.

  Now that his pn had been exposed, Sukuna no longer bothered to adifferent. There was no point in hiding his i anymore—su approach didn't suit him anyway.

  "What?!"

  Yuji practically jumped to his feet. Hearing Ryuji's analysis and Sukuna's response left him dumbfounded.

  "You're telling me you're actually ing?!"

  Yuji stared at Sukuna as though he were a pletely different person. Until now, he had believed Sukuna was nothing more than a loud, reckless brute who spent all his time yelling about killing people. The revetion that Sukuna had this level of scheming shocked him to his core.

  "..."

  Sukuna didn't even bother answering Yuji's outburst. Only someone as simple as Yuji would fail to realize what kind of person Sukuna truly was.

  "Idiot," Sukuna muttered coldly.

  "What did you just say?!" Yuji snapped back, gring at Sukuna. "Say it again if you've got the guts!"

  Maki and Nobara exged gnces, both sighing helplessly.

  This was just like Yuji. His rea was typical and not particurly surprising.

  However, Maki's attention quickly shifted back to Ryuji. Her expression grew serious as she recalled Gojo's words.

  "Gojo-sensei said Sukuna is extremely dangerous. We 't let him regain his peak strength," Maki said, her voice tinged with .

  Her words carried weight, and Nobara nodded in agreement. Sukuna's reputation wasn't built oy boasts, it was backed by a bloody history of terror.

  "Tsk," Sukuna scoffed dismissively.

  "The sorcerers of this era are pathetie's more cowardly than the . Are you all so afraid of me returning to my full power?"

  Despite his mog tohere was a hint of frustration in Sukuna's words. The two missing fingers were a gring issue for him. Losing one finger could be pensated for with other methods, but losing two meant his resurre would be inplete.

  "..."

  Ryuji remained unfazed by Sukuna's taunts. His calm gaze remained locked on Sukuna as he raised his hand.

  "Third Dimension."

  In the blink of an eye, space ed around Ryuji's hand, and two cursed fingers emerged from his personal dimension.

  "...What?"

  Everyone froze.

  Sukuna's eyes widened, his mog grin disappearing. Even Maki and Nobara were stunned into silence, unsure of how to react.

  Yuji, still mid-argument with Sukuna, was left pletely speechless.

  "Ryuji!" Maki's voice trembled slightly as she spoke.

  Though she had never seen Sukuna at full power, his title as the King of Curses alone was terrifying enough. The thought of Ryuji willingly returning two fio him made her uneasy.

  "..."

  Ryuji held up a hand, signaling for Maki to remain quiet.

  Though relut, Maki chose to trust him and stayed silent.

  "What are you doing?" Sukuna asked, frowning deeply.

  He was genuinely fused. He had expected Ryuji to mock him for his earlier ploy ahe fingers locked away. Instead, Ryuji was now handing them over without hesitation.

  Ryuji tossed the fioward Sukuna casually, as if they were insignifit.

  "..."

  Sukuna caught the fingers but didn't e them immediately. Instead, he stared at Ryuji, trying to gauge his iions.

  "What's yle?" Sukuna asked warily.

  His arrogance was momentarily repced with unease. Sukuna hated this feeling, it was as if Ryuji were looking down on him, as if this entire exge were beh him.

  "Ryuji-san!" Yuji's voice anicked as he finally found the words to speak. "You 't let him have those! Do you know what'll happen if he gets his full strength back?!"

  Yuji knew better than anyone how dangerous Sukuna truly was. The thought of him being fully resurrected sent a chill down his spine.

  "It doesn't matter," Ryuji said calmly, his expression unging.

  His fidence wasn't arroga was certainty.

  Sukuna narrowed his eyes, still holding the fingers without ing them. He couldn't uand Ryuji's mihis wasn't fear, nor was it foolishness. It was something else entirely. And that irritated him.

  ***

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