Jujutsu Kaisen: Sukuna's Strongest Innate Techniques, Ranked

Sukuna is one of contemporary anime’s most divisive antagonists. On one hand, he is a complete menace, beloved for the extent of his villainy, as well as his impact on the world of Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen. As a shōnen antagonist, Sukuna resided in fundamentally uncharted territory, as it would frequently appear that whatever the Jujutsu Sorcerers of justice tried to do to thwart his plans of casting the world into another dark age of blood and sorcery, he would almost always prevail. Sukuna had a plethora of abilities and a lot more experience than anyone who tried to oppose him, making him seem almost unbeatable at times, especially after the body-swap incident.

However, Sukuna’s own original abilities were already sufficient to prop him up as one of the most powerful characters in the Jujutsu Kaisen universe. So, what are Sukuna’s strongest Innate Techniques?

Wait, What’s an Innate Technique?

Jujutsu sorcerers make use of “Cursed Techniques” in combat. For many, these techniques are manifested at a young age and are present from birth. They are directly connected to the individual and do not exist outside of them. As such, Innate Techniques cannot be copied or stolen. It is for this reason that both Kenjaku and Sukuna resort to body-snatching to gain access to particular Cursed Techniques, because those techniques were actually Innate Techniques.

In the cases of both the Zen’in and Gojō clans, these techniques manifest themselves every few generations and are directly connected to their respective lineages rather than within a sole individual. These techniques, the Limitless and Six Eyes of the Gojō clan and the Ten Shadows Technique of the Zen’ins, are the most powerful in the Jujutsu Kaisen universe, and are each other’s hard counter.

In the past, a wielder of the Six Eyes and Limitless techniques together could only be bested in combat by the wielder of the Ten Shadows Technique. This is why, throughout Jujutsu Kaisen, it is constantly alluded to that Megumi is the only character who can actually defeat Gojō in combat, and how that is done is through his consistent use of Gojō as a barometer in his battles – he often uses the logic that the opponent in front of him is not Gojō, and therefore is beatable, not realizing that the reason he looks at it that way is because he is the only one with a Cursed Technique on the level of Gojō's Six Eyes and Limitless combination.

Anyway, examples of Innate Techniques also include Yuta Okkotsu’s Copy; Mahito’s Idle Transfiguration; Nobara Kugisaki’s Straw Doll Technique (correctly identified by Mahito as a ridiculously dangerous ability for how it affects the soul, which is why he killed her), among others. Sukuna’s Innate Technique, Shrine (or “Kitchen”, depending on your persuasion) has two main states: Cleave and Dismantle.

Cleave

A cutting technique like Dismantle, Cleave is applied against powerful opponents and reacts proportionally to the Cursed Energy poured into it, as well as the Cursed Energy of the target, adjusting its efficacy accordingly. Unlike Dismantle; however, Cleave requires contact with the opponent. It is one of Sukuna’s most devastating abilities and was used to kill Ishigori, the single most powerful Sorcerer in the Culling Games, at least when it comes to maximum Cursed Energy output.

Spiderweb

Cleave, when applied to the inorganic, spreads outward like a spider-web, cutting the object along the threads of the web based on the toughness of the object (since objects don’t necessarily have Cursed Energy).

Divine Flame

Divine Flame can only be used after Dismantle and Cleave have both been used. Using a Binding Vow, Sukuna circumvents the technique's short range and lack of speed by making it inaccessible to him while fighting multiple opponents, unless the battle is taking place within his Domain. Remember, the Domain Expansion is a powerful technique because it enacts a region in space where the Cursed Technique of the caster is guaranteed to hit, meaning that Sukuna’s Malevolent Shrine (or Kitchen) is a region where the inanimate objects are hit with Dismantle, and the living with Cursed Energy are hit with Cleave, which satisfies the activation condition of Divine Flame.

At this point, Sukuna’s Domain becomes the region where everything within is relentlessly slashed and broken apart to the point of being pulverized, and then those pulverized particles are then hit with thermobaric explosions – the result of the ignition of oxygen (or any kind of cloud of gas) without the need for a substance that catalyzes the explosive reaction. The “gas” in this case is the particles that were ripped apart by Dismantle and Cleave. This technique is so powerful that it became the trump card with which Sukuna managed to defeat Mahoraga. The flames do not only create an explosion, but they trigger intense pressure and shockwaves that annihilate everything within the Domain. This is by far Sukuna’s most powerful attack on paper, but within various contexts, it could potentially be countered, especially by someone like Satoru Gojō.

Dismantle

Dismantle is the default offensive move that allows Sukuna to unleash invisible slashes that cut through the opponent. The ability can be directed with the hands, or without them, and can be used against inanimate objects, Curses, and of course, people. The scary thing about Dismantle is the way Sukuna can use it both offensively and defensively in a variety of ways. The slashing doesn’t have to be wide strokes; it can also be a number of mini-slashes surrounding a limb and oscillating in a way that makes the appendage like a chainsaw of sorts. This application allows Sukuna to handle his opponents’ weapons and attacks with his hands without injury, not to mention that it can also be used in tandem with hand-to-hand combat for more devastating flurries. The strength of the Dismantle ability depends on the amount of Cursed Energy poured into it.

World-Cutting Slash

After stealing Megumi’s body and deploying Mahoraga against Gojō's Limitless, Sukuna uses the same adaptation mechanic to vastly improve Dismantle into an ability capable of cutting space, slashing through Gojō's Infinity and thus bifurcating the strongest Sorcerer of the modern era. This iteration of Dismantle is known as “World-Cutting Slash”, and is far more devastating because it retains the invisibility of the original technique, and pairs it with impossibilities like cutting through space itself. In Chapter 119 of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga, Dismantle is described as a move specifically for the slashing of objects without Cursed Energy. The fact that it is the technique that put an end to the strongest Sorcerer of the modern era makes the World-Cutting Slash application of Dismantle Sukuna's single most powerful Innate Technique that actually belongs to him.

Ten-Shadows Technique (via Megumi Fushiguro)

Sukuna had his eye on Megumi from as early on as the Fearsome Womb arc, when he and Yuji encountered a Special-Grade Curse (emboldened by one of Sukuna's fingers) at a juvenile detention facility. Megumi escaped the situation while Yuji stayed back to buy him some time; however, the Special-Grade was far too powerful for both of them at the time. After Sukuna made light work of the Curse, Megumi's problems were compounded as the King of Curses had temporarily gained unfettered control of Yuji's body. Outside the facility, Sukuna accosted Megumi after learning that Megumi possessed the Ten Shadows Technique, but only after asking the boy why he felt inclined to run away from the Special-Grade Curse. Basically, Sukuna's long game was to snatch Megumi's body, and in doing so, gain access to the Cursed Technique of one of the three major clans in the Jujutsu world, the Ten-Shadows Technique. However, it was only because he saw immense potential in Megumi – Sukuna had no idea about the Ten-Shadows Technique's ultimate application.

The most notable use of the Ten-Shadows Technique is the summoning of the Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga, a Shikigami capable of adapting to any and all phenomena, rendering it fundamentally invulnerable in combat. This beast is so powerful that not a single wielder of the Ten-Shadows Technique has ever been able to tame it, except for Sukuna. In addition to developing defensive adaptations, Mahoraga can also adapt its attacks, rendering them more effective the longer it battles an opponent. When Sukuna learned of Mahoraga when Megumi summoned it during the Shibuya Incident, piquing Sukuna's interest in Megumi further. It is through his taming of Mahoraga, and use of its adaptive ability on Dismantle that turns it into the attack that eventually kills Satoru Gojo.