After they picked up Nobara, Gojo led his first year students to a desolate, run down building in the middle of nowhere, hoping to test their combat ability.
"This… this isn't Roppongi." Yuji said, crestfallen.
"Oh but it is, my dearest Itadori!" Gojo dramatically exclaimed, spreading his arms wide for dramatic effect.
"As your teacher, I need an adequate understanding of your abilities as Jujutsu Sorcerers. So, you and Kugisaki here are going to find the curse hiding in this building, and EXORCISE IT!"
"You…. YOU'RE JUST TOYING WITH US COUNTRY FOLK!" Nobara yelled, balling her fist at the offending paintbrush.
Yuji spoke up curiously, "Gojo-sensei, how do you know there's a curse there?"
Gojo held up a finger. "Curses are created from accumulating negative emotion, as such they frequently appear in creepy, run down areas like the one we have here. Additionally, there's a graveyard right next door, add those two together and you get a gnarly curse soup!" He explained.
"Ah! So that's why there was a curse at the school back then…" Yuji spoke.
Nobara looked offended. "Wait, so you don't even know THAT!? Sensei, what kind of idiots are you pairing me with? I'll have to do all the work myself!" A look of realization dawned on her face.
"And YOU!" she yelled, turning and angrily pointing her finger at Megumi. "Why aren't YOU coming? Don't tell me you're planning to sit back and relax while we're fighting for our lives in there!?"
Megumi's already gloomy face soured further.
"I didn't even do anything…" he muttered.
"EXACTLY!"
Gojo waved his hands, trying to calm Nobara.
"Like I said, you two are going in because I need a good grasp of your strength. I already have a good understanding of Megumi's ability-"
"Lack of ability." Sukuna butted in, the mouth on Yuji's cheek disappearing just as fast as it appeared.
Silence stretched around them, the whole group freezing in place with the sole exception of Satoru Gojo of course (and Yuji but he's the vessel so he doesn't count.).
After a few more tense seconds, Gojo spoke up, ending the brief interlude.
"Well anyways-"
— — —
A few days later, Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara were exiting a theater.
"Man, that movie was so good! I think infinity war might be one of my favourites!" Yuji exclaimed.
"Yeah but I don't see how the avengers will possibly beat Thanos." said Megumi
Nobara clicked her tongue. "Well obviously they're gonna take the gauntlet and undo the snap, duh!"
"Jututsu sorcery has come a long way since my death."
Megumi froze, face paling. Nobara looked warily towards the mouth on Yuji's cheek.
"This….'Thanos', I wish to fight him." Sukuna stated, seeming to be completely serious.
...
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Yuji laughed uncontrollably as Nobara snickered in the background
"Are you doubting my fighting capabilities? I could defeat him!" Sukuna proclaimed boldly
"No, it's not that, It's just-" Nobara began before fully breaking into laughter as well.
...Was it something he said?
"Sukuna," Yuji began, "Thanos is a fictional character!"
"Ah, but didn't we see it on the big screen? Like the phone things you showed me?"
"Sukuna it's- it's a movie!"
Sukuna smiled internally, although he was sure he seemed silly, it was quite entertaining to interact with his favourite characters like this.
The surrealness of seeing his favourite characters, the reassurance granted by his newfound strength, this sense of freedom and ceaseless anticipation of the coming plot, where else would he experience such a novelty?
He'll cherish these moments forever, no doubt.
'Ah, but I probably should do my best to help Yuji, right?' sukuna mused.
Thinking back to the original story, after being thoroughly traumatised by Red Judas and the 'Curse of Kindness' Mahito, Yuji tried his absolute hardest to simulate being an emotionless brick, developing his 'cog in the system' mentality where he decided to go about his life with the sole purpose of killing curses.
Obviously, trying to preserve the current Yuji as much as possible would be a much better option than allowing canon to take its course.
Otherwise, he'll try to show off, only for Yuji to declare: "It doesn't matter." and turn him into a waffle without even having the courtesy to take his hands from his pockets.
If he had no trouble doing it to a 4-month old infant, he definitely wouldn't hesitate to do it to an elderly 1000-year old innocent grandpa like him!
Speaking of that infant, he should spend some effort trying to convince him to be less evil and join his side. Even if it was a seemingly impossible task, he absolutely had to try!
At 4 months old during Shibuya, Mahito was already beginning to grasp at the edges of the 'strongest' category.
Possessing potential leagues above potential man, a capability for learning surpassing Dabura, malice beyond Sukuna, an intellect above Kenjaku, the strongest cursed technique in the verse, and being the strongest theoretical naturally occurring curse created from the greatest fear of humanity, I present to you, Mahito!
Looking at his accomplishments and especially when one considers his extremely short life, Mahito's talent was extraordinarily terrifying.
Even just looking at his performance in Shibuya alone, he was able to go bar for bar with Yuji in black flashes, was able to comprehend the true form of his soul, was not only able to copy Gojo Satoru's 0.2 second domain expansion after seeing it once, but also improve it, and was the only person other than sukuna to dodge an attack from post-awakening Gojo.
It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that if Mahito was able to survive Shibuya, he wouldn't be out of place in Blue Judas vs Red Judas, becoming a 'Purple Judas' capable of defeating the other two.
Although, the fight would be lengthened considerably, and they would have to play 'Bloody Mary' for the remaining runtime.
After all, aside from Judas, Bloody Mary is the next best song choice, who in their right mind would play Bad Romance?
That would be better suited for Vessel vs the King of Kindness.
Anyways, this way we could actually see a three-way domain expansion instead of what happened at Sendai, with the second greatest curse in history, Kurourushi, wanting to see if domains tasted better than iron.
So, Mahito redemption arc was on the table, and it could actually be possible to change him considering that both Jogo and Hanami hold varying levels of hatred towards humans. Seeing Jogo's death scene, it could even be deduced that what he desired most was recognition from others rather than destroying humanity.
As stated by OGkuna himself, what Jogo sought was the position of humans in the world's hierarchy.
Meanwhile, Hanami just liked nature.
These curses were ultimately in conflict with humanity for differing reasons, and there are curses with no malice towards humanity itself such as the inventory curse or Rika, though Rika is a vengeful cursed spirit rather than a naturally occurring one.
This proves that it should be possible to make a curse more amiable towards humans, right?
Aside from obtaining a Mahito for his party, Sukuna wondered what other long-term goals he should have.
…
Fully reviving Toji?
Yeah. That seemed doable.
He could hear Megumi stifling a laugh, the group of first-years still making fun of his earlier statement.
Just for that, he was gonna make sure Megumi experienced the canon 'parental discipline' before he brought Toji fully back.
Maybe even a little more than canon.