Summary
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen chapter #266-#267.Before the final battle againstSukunainJujutsu Kaisen, Uraume revealed that they couldn’t find Sukuna’s last finger, with Sukuna assuming that Gojo hid it somewhere to delay Yuji’s execution indefinitely. While the mystery of the missing finger was never directly addressed, it was later implied that Rika ate it so Yuta could copySukuna’s Shrine technique, and that seemed to put the plot thread to rest.
At first, it seemed likeJujutsu Kaisenwas done dealing with Sukuna’s fingers, but all of that changed with chapter #266. As Yuji and Sukuna’s final fight inside Yuji’s Domain got underway,Jujutsu Kaisenchapter #266 ended with the reveal of Sukuna’s final finger being sealed in a mysterious location, meaning that both Sukuna and the audience were misled about Rika eating Sukuna’s last finger.
All of that led to even more major developments in the final battle with Sukuna, and it was great to see all that play out inJujutsu Kaisen’s final five chapters.
Sukuna’s Twenty Fingers
The Cursed Items That Kickstart Jujutsu Kaisen’s Plot
Sukuna’s fingers are a major part ofJujutsu Kaisen’s plot. The story, in fact, begins with the appearance of one of them in Yuji’s high school and the protagonist ingesting one to save Megumi is what really kicks Gege Akutami’s tale off. These twenty fingers belong to the legendary renegade sorcerer of the Heian Era, Sukuna, who used them to transcend the age and his death.
Over a thousand years before the beginning ofJujutsu Kaisen, Sukuna accepted Kenjaku’s offer to participate in his plot involving the Culling Game. They formed a contract, and Kenjaku divided Sukuna’s soul into his twenty fingers, turning them into cursed objects,allowing Sukuna to reincarnate after his death, which happened when Yuji ingested one of the fingers and Sukuna’s soul took residence in his body. This happened because Kenjaku had already sealed one of the fingers inside Yuji’s body at birth.
These items were incredibly dangerous. As the seals put on them by jujutsu sorcerers weakened, they started to attract curses. At the beginning of the story, Tokyo Jujutsu High has recovered six of the fingers, but ultimatelynineteen of them are revealed, all ingested by Yuji first and then Megumi (after Sukuna takes over his body), leading to the King of Curses reincarnating at almost full strength, with only one finger missing.
How Yuta Gained Sukuna’s Shrine Technique Explained
Yuta & Gojo’s Final Gambit Against Sukuna
This final finger was supposedly fed by Yuta to Rika to obtain Sukuna’s Shrine technique.Jujutsu Kaisenchapter #266revealed that the mysterious gauntlet Yuji had been wearing in the final arc was to hide that he was missing a second finger in addition to the one Sukuna ripped off to take over Megumi’s body. It was a major cliffhanger for chapter #266, and fortunately,Jujutsu Kaisenchapter #267 quickly revealed thatRika ate one of Yuji’s fingers to give Yuta a copy of the Shrine technique.
As for how that played out, in a flashback to everyone’s month of training, Yuta asked Gojo to let Rika eat Sukuna’s last finger, which only he knew the location of, but Gojo rejected the idea because it was more advantageous to keep something with a direct link to Sukuna. Because of that, the only way for Yuta to gain the Shrine technique without sacrificing Sukuna’s finger was for Rika to eat one of Yuji’s fingers, as while Yuji had yet to develop his version of Shrine, Gojo already confirmed that it existed within him with his Six Eyes.
Sukuna’s Final Finger Finally Redeemed Jujutsu Kaisen’s Most Wasted Character
Nobara Returns To Jujutsu Kaisen With Incredible Style
The reveal of Sukuna’s last finger was a great twist, but there was far more to it than that. Since Gojo insisted that maintaining a connection to Sukuna could be useful, that meant he had to have a plan for it, but it didn’t factor into his fight or any other fighting with Sukuna. Halfway throughJujutsu Kaisenchapter #267, however, Gojo’s true plan for Sukuna’s finger was revealed:Nobara, awoken from her apparent coma, used her cursed technique to strike at Sukuna’s soul through his fingerand prevent him from opening his Domain again.
Naturally, Nobara being alive conflicts withJujutsu Kaisenchapter #265 all but confirming her death, but an earlier chapter established that people were keeping things from Yuji in case Sukuna still had a mental link with him. Therefore,Yuji was deliberately led to believe Nobara was deadso Sukuna would have no way of learning she was alive. Nobara’s the only other person who can directly attack Sukuna’s soul, so it makes sense that Gojo and other characters kept her hidden as another possible trump card.
Nobara’s return is something of a mixed bag, however. On the one hand, Nobara’s lack of development and plot relevance has always been a sticking point with people, especially when things had progressed to the point that Nobara had spent more of the manga possibly dead than she had spent it alive. As such,Nobara being one of the key players in Sukuna’s defeat can be seen as a bit of redemption for how much she was wasted inJujutsu Kaisen, even if it only happened within the last five chapters of the manga.
Conversely, it’s that lack of screen time that makes Nobara’s return draw some criticism. This doesn’t change how little development and screen time she’s had, even from before she was put in a coma, and as great as it was to see her return, this happening in the final five chapters ofJujutsu Kaisenonlyemphasizes how much the series wasted her character. The last few chapters might do something to give her more development, but with how much ground there’s left to cover, that doesn’t seem likely.
Has The Battle Against Sukuna Finally Ended?
Is Jujutsu Kaisen’s Final Villain Finally Beaten?
Thanks in no small part to Nobara using her cursed technique on Sukuna’s finger, Yuji landed one big hit on Sukuna after another, including hitting him with the effect of his Domain, and chapter #267 ended with Yuji hitting Sukuna with a Black Flash so devastating that it made his eyes roll back inside his head. In one previous panel, Sukuna can also be seen spitting out one of his fingers. The past few chapters have made it clear that as powerful as Sukuna is, he’s been on his last legs for a while now, so Yuji’s final blow to Sukuna inJujutsu Kaisenchapter #267 could bewhat finally puts an end to the King of Curses.
That could easily not be the case, of course. Sukuna has been an infamously hard opponent to deal with for the past year of fighting, and even with how much damage he’s been dealt, he’s still overcome the heroes at nearly every turn thanks to his constant use of Binding Vows and just being far above everyone in power. With that in mind,the combination of Nobara’s Resonance and Yuji’s Black Flash might not have been enough to defeat Sukuna, and more of the final stretch of chapters might be spent on more fighting until Sukuna finally goes down.
Even without the announcement thatJujutsu Kaisen’s final arconly has five chapters left, the series was clearly in its endgame.Jujutsu Kaisenchapter #267 bringing inSukuna’s final fingerto defeat him is a perfect bookend to how theJujutsu Kaisenstory started, so it wouldn’t make sense for it to continue for much longer.
Jujutsu Kaisen
Jujutsu Kaisenis a Japanese anime and manga series created by Gege Akutami. The story is set in a world where Cursed Spirits, born from negative human emotions, prey on humanity. It follows high school student Yuji Itadori as he becomes entangled in the world of Jujutsu Sorcery after swallowing a cursed talisman—Ryomen Sukuna’s finger—and becomes the host for one of the most powerful curses. Yuji joins the Tokyo Metropolitan Magic Technical College to learn how to combat curses while searching for the remaining fingers of Sukuna to exorcise him permanently.
