Genuine question, can anyone think of a good reason Yuta can’t easily win basically any fight barring Gojo/Sukuna with this method?

Step 1: Use shrine to draw a bunch of blood. The cuts don’t even need to be deep. Nearly anything will do.

Step 2: Activate clairvoyance and take the ton of blood he just drew.

Step 3: Win

One proc allowed him to weave Sukuna, and the tiniest drop of blood saved Charles’ life against Hakari. If Yuta had the amount shown on Yuji to work with, is he not just unstoppable?

DISCLAIMER: I don’t believe in the premise that his domain was max output. This is just a fun hypothetical for if you do. I won’t be offended if you guys have criticisms or anything; I’m not attached to this scale at all.

258 and 262 are the same Malevolent Shrine

To start off, we need to establish that the domain Sukuna used in chapter 262 is the same as the one he used in 258. This is easy enough, as he uses the same hand sign, the domain has the same altered appearance, and Sukuna’s condition hasn’t really changed. Most importantly though, is the narrator’s statement. The key words are “previously imposed 99 second time limit”. This tells us that Sukuna is making the exact same trade offs as he did in 258, which are what allowed him to recover that output in the first place, in exchange for said timer. The timer was imposed by his inability to use domain with those specifications for a normal amount of time.

Refinement, and Yuta’s Clash

Now for the fun part. The other thing we know about Sukuna’s improvised Malevolent Shrine is that it “maintained the highest degree of difficulty”, meaning the barrier itself wasn’t any less refined than it would normally be. Furthermore, the narrator reiterates that it’s “such a high level domain”, and specifically notes only one trade off to having recovered its output, that being the time limit. Not to mention, barriers are a matter of skill (as Yuta states), so it shouldn’t have been affected anyway. Essentially, both domains would have to be no different from that of a healthy, 20F Sukuna. Therefore, Yuta clashed, using his own skill and output, with the equivalent of a healthy 20F Sukuna, no different from Gojo. Meaning he could unironically give Jogo the same treatment Gojo did.

Explaining Yuta’s statement

You might say that malevolent shrine can’t be full output, because Yuta cites Sukuna’s fatigue as one of the reasons he can hold out for 3 minutes. To that, I’d just say that he only means Sukuna isn’t going to immediately annihilate him in H2H because, while the domain is normal, Sukuna himself is still fatigued. After all, why would Gege still be talking about the effectiveness of the domain itself? He already covered that when the narrator straight up said that basketball domain would last for 3 minutes, and Yuta already spoke on his improved barrier skill. The only factor left to account for is whether HE can hold out. THAT’S what he’s telling us.

TLDR; 258 MS = 262 MS, so if you believe that 258 MS is healthy 20F output, then you must also believe that Yuta = Gojo in domain clashes.

Like I said, I don’t believe in it being healthy 20F level. I’m just sayin, if you do, you can’t escape it - all roads lead to Yuta upscale.

Yuta isn’t the only one that benefits from it. Rika sees what he’s seeing too. That means their already insane advantage by virtue of being 2v1, compounds with every proc of clairvoyance.

I’d also like to point out that he can instantly draw an insane amount of blood with shrine, allowing him to give clairvoyance a huge kickstart right away.

That is all

Yuta went through Gojo’s memories thoroughly, one by one. Naturally that should include his black flashes, especially since he’s looking to decode the method behind using hollow purple, which was most recently used immediately following four of them.

The deepened understanding of CE is recalled by regular memory. Kenjaku’s CT seems to replay memories in even more vivid detail, considering they can be actively watched as many times as needed for information.

There’s precedent for at least the first black flash granting a huge amp.

So, how much of a buff did Yuta get? How much stronger is he EoS than he was at the start of Shinjuku?

1. Awakened Rika can crack (post domain) Ryu’s skull to make him bleed from the head. This is the same guy with arguably the best durability feat barring the top 2 (shrugging off a 16F dismantle). In her FM form, she can leave a healthy, fresh Ryu with a bloody bruise. Using only one hand, her weakest form can pressure Sukuna into pushing back at her with all four arms. The same Rika can fully restrain one of Sukuna’s arms in each hand, forcing him to use shrine to escape.

2. You can’t just one shot Rika anytime. She’s just as, if not even more durable than Yuta is. If you want to argue that she gets one shot, you first need to prove that Yuta would be one shot, which, yk, defeats the purpose of going for Rika. Her getting KOed was a special case of being unguarded due to her timer ending, as you can see be her surprised “!!” and raised fist (as if she’d intended to throw a punch instead). Earlier, we see her withstand a heavy blow from the aforementioned healthy, fresh Ryu with little difficulty beyond annoyance. The KO situation is more or less a callback to Yuta’s earlier statement about needing to properly guard.

3. Rika’s healing is insanely good. She was able to fully heal from Sukuna’s slashes before Yuta’s blood could even fly away from his body. Meanwhile, Yuji was still down and out, and remained that way for some time - long enough for Sukuna to have an internal monologue about the plan to catch him off guard. Furthermore, Rika kept Yuta alive while he was both cut in half and not inhabiting his body. This is especially impressive considering RCT being half or less as effective when used on others.

Overall: Please give Rika the consideration she deserves when scaling Yuta and putting him in matchups. It’s not at all ridiculous to say he’s two heavy hitters in one. Even on her own, given her toughness and RCT prowess, basically nobody is putting her down before her five minutes is up (barring domains of course).

That is all.

R1: They get punched in the ribs/sternum.

R2: They get punched in the face.

How do they do?

Genuine question - do the heavy hitters and anyone below them not get badly damaged by Yuta’s punch here?

Pic 2 somewhat related.

Yuta punches through Sukuna’s teeth and rips his tongue clean out with his bare hands. Sukuna is obviously weaker here than he was at the start of the AML fight, but even after taking JL, the SSK to the heart, and losing two arms, he’s still comfortably stronger than heavy hitter level fighters. (Specifically Yuji, Maki and co.).

Furthermore, these teeth are supported by the muscles of his entire torso and abdomen, not to mention they’re much larger than regular teeth. In theory, they should be even stronger than if it were his face being hit.

So forgive me if I’m glazing, but I don’t see how someone well below this Sukuna’s level of durability isn’t getting absolutely rocked from this one blow.

It’s easier to reread 248 and 249 but these are the key panels.

Rika starts killing them, then Kenjaku adds his rule. Cut back to 248 and we see that only TWO panels after the rule was added, Yuta has already made it back. One attack from Sukuna later, and Rika gets there too.

Am I crazy for thinking that Rika must’ve killed 99% of them within mere seconds here? I don’t think Yuta even needed to get involved cuz he wasn’t killing while Kenny was yapping to him. Mind you, this is Rika’s weakest form.

This includes his high grade curses too, which would be intelligent.

Basic Rules of Sky Manipulation:

- Sky Manipulation treats the sky, or rather space, as a surface that can be warped according to the user’s will. This can be done via the hands, or, seemingly to a lesser extent, passively. Uro is able to use the sky as “clothing” which exists constantly, so long as her technique can physically be used, (i.e. not on burnout or otherwise disabled) [Slide 1]. It can also be used to float or fly through the air [Slide 2].

- Opponents, parts of opponents, or objects - including attacks, which enter warped space, become warped themselves. This renders the part of the opponent affected useless, and can persist for some time after the user stops directly touching the space [Slide 3]. For objects or attacks, their trajectory can be altered according to how the space is reshaped [Slide 6]. 

- Attacks from Sky Manipulation, specifically Thin Ice Breaker, are capable of bypassing conventional defences, making them unblockable [Slide 4], [Slide 14].

- The user can affect very large portions of space, especially with respect to attacks [Slide 5].

More Specific Applications:

- Uro uses Sky Manipulation to completely shield herself from a wide range granite blast, coming out unscathed. This shows that the user is able to avoid any and all damage from directed AOE attacks, regardless of attack range, assuming they can react in time [Slide 7]. Note that “reacting” in this case is no slower than reflexively throwing up one's hands to block.

- Uro easily blocks Yuta’s punch using Sky Manipulation, which results in his reinforced gauntlet being completely shattered [Slide 8]. This shows that it can be used to cause an opponent to harm themselves, as a mere side effect of stopping their blow.

- Sky Manipulation is frequently used to advantageously manipulate distances.

- Uro rapidly closes a great distance between Yuta and herself, allowing her to catch him off guard with an attack [Slide 5, right]. 

- Yuta initiates Sky Manipulation far from Sukuna, but the sword thrust manages to reach him [Slide 18].

- Similarly, Yuta uses Sky Manipulation to swing at Sukuna, initiating the attack from outside his reach [Slide 16], [Slide 17].

- Yuta redirects Ryu’s attack from a notable distance away, then seamlessly gets close to him when attacking with Thin Ice Breaker [Slide 9], [Slide 10], [Slide 11].

- Yuta uses Sky Manipulation to fly above Sukuna, out of his reach [Slide 12].

- Yuta is able to alter the trajectory of Ryu’s granite blast when it is already high in the air [Slide 13, top]. This suggests that Sky manipulation can be used to warp people and objects from a substantial distance away.

Offensive Power

Sky Manipulation, specifically Thin Ice Breaker, offers unblockable and extremely high burst damage accompanied by significant knockback. Using it, Sendai Yuta was able to make Ryu vomit blood, as shown in slide 11. Note that Ryu is able to easily withstand dismantles from 16F Sukuna, and serves as a benchmark for high durability, even compared to the Shinjuku cast. 

Attacks that make use of Sky Manipulation are massively stronger than standard strikes:

- An elbow from Uro [Slide 3] was shrugged off by Yuta with little to no issue, while Thin Ice Breakers forced him to use RCT, contributing to his (massive) reserves being noticeably drained [Slide 19].

- As previously stated, a simple block completely destroyed Yuta’s cursed tool [Slide 8].

- Fully Manifested Rika’s punches are likely > Yuta’s, and left Ryu with noticeable bruises, but his Thin Ice Breaker caused blood vomiting, indicating immediate internal damage; A major step above bruising.

Yes, Sky Manipulation Completely Shuts Down CQC Fighters - Debunking a Common Talking Point

With all that said, it's time to take a look at actual combat applications, specifically against “Punch kick merchants” like Yuki, Yuji, Hakari, Ryu, Kashimo, etc. As we established, Sky Manipulation is frequently used to initiate powerful attacks from a significant distance - well outside the physical reach of the aforementioned characters.

This means that in a combat situation, unless the sky manipulation user gets completely blitzed (ie attacked before they can react), they will always be able to manipulate the space in front of them, allowing them to simultaneously attack and defend from a safe distance. Using Yuta as an example, the interaction plays out as such: 

- Yuta and punch kick merchant start a distance apart 

- Yuta pulls the sky in front of him, as seen in slides 1, 10, 16, and 18.

- At this point, his opponent cannot attack him at all, because if they enter the warped space, they will be disabled like Yuta was aginst Uro, leaving them completely open.

- Alternatively, they can keep their distance. This results in the same problem, however - Yuta can simply launch a high AP, unblockable Thin Ice Breaker like he did against Ryu. The attack range is incredibly wide, meaning dodging the shockwave is not an option.

- The attack sends them flying away. Rinse and repeat.

Key points here: 

1. SM users will always be able to attack H2H merchants first, as they have far greater effective range via the aforementioned distance manipulation.

2. The H2H merchant cannot attack at all while space is warped.

3. The H2H merchant cannot block the SM user’s attack.

4. The SM user attacks and defends all in one simple move.

5. The H2H merchant is sent flying and forced to heal. This distance can be immediately closed by the SM user, in order to press the advantage.

“Sky manipulation’s defence isn’t that good for H2H. Unless they’re fast enough to stop the punch midway like Uro did against Yuta, it’s useless!” 

This is a completely false talking point that I see way too often. Sky manipulation isn’t a frame-perfect parry reliant on speed, it’s complete area denial. The manipulated space can essentially be as large as the user wants - in slide 1 Uro grabs a section of sky easily large enough to cover her entire body, in slide 7 she does the same to avoid the wide range granite blast, and in slide 5 she’s seen attacking massive areas. 

The warp effect doesn't just only work in the instant she's pulling the sky. She blocks Ryu’s AOE granite blast preemptively. If it was some tiny window of timing, she’d never be able to block an AOE sustained beam like that. If you attack warped space, you’ll be disabled by it, end of story. 

As was just discussed, all the user needs to do is grab the sky from any distance beyond striking and they’re totally free to attack without worry. 

Some additional points

Yuta chose to use cursed speech to bypass Uro’s Sky Manipulation. This carries a lot of weight because cursed speech is best saved as a surprise - using it so early suggests that he felt there was no other way to get past her defences, even with Rika. Furthermore, he chose to use Dhruv’s CT to secure a guaranteed hit, which revealed his nature as a Copy user, running the risk of eliminating another element of surprise early in the fight.

Similarly, Uro was the first to be taken out when her CT went on burnout, again showing that the only way to beat a competent SM user is to somehow disable their CT entirely.

Yuta’s usage of Sky Manipulation in his domain was severely gimped by being limited to one use per sword. Full access to the technique would make him even more dynamic.

Conclusion

Overall, Sky Manipulation is a cursed technique that perfectly blends high offensive power and nigh-absolute defence. If you have no way of attacking other than fists, kicks, and even heat seeking laser beams, you’ll need to be an entire blitz tier faster if you want to beat a sky manipulation user. It’s absolutely perfect for use in situations like a domain clash - every attack is unblockable, and even one is enough to cause major internal damage.

In conclusion, sky manipulation IS allat, Yuta upscale.