I put a lot of effort into this essay so please I would love to hear your theories and opinions I don't want this to be tossed in the gutter. I will be responding and making future/follow up posts.

I've always thought about this because Projection Sorcery (PS) is cool asf. I think with a better Cursed Energy (CE) pool and physical stats base PS might be able to reach special grade level too, but a technique reversal would definitely help. I will proceed to go about my current understanding of PS and the possible ways its Cursed Technique Reversal (CTR) could work.

Description of Cursed Technique Reversal (skip if you want):

From what we know CTR, which is achieved by running positive energy into an innate technique, is often a "flipped" power compared to when a sorcerer runs negative (the default application) into their technique. We see this with Gojo's CTR, red, being the power of repulsion, as opposed to when he uses his innate technique with negative energy which results in the power of attraction, Blue. This is the same for Kaori's Anti Gravity System which follows the same logic, with the default application being anti gravity and the reversal application being gravity.

Description of Projection Sorcery (skip if you want):

PS allows a user to imagine a set of movements in 24 "frames" that will take place over a second and the user follows these movements after plotting out the frame. Deviating from this path will cause the user to suffer a 1 sec freeze frame penalty in place (or if their path excessively denies the laws of physics). If a PS user touches a person or inanimate object with their palm the technique is applied to them they will have to follow this same system. This is often implausible for most leading to them being frozen in frame for a second themself (especially if they have no idea how the technique works). For inanimate objects they are automatically suspended in frame probably because they lack the ability to think.

P.S. I will not go over how PS provides speed or specifics on how PS operates it works because I don't wish to cause off topic discussion and will make a separate in depth post on PS in another post for I wish to only discuss CTR. The only thing you need to know for this post is consecutive use of PS allows acceleration to "stack up" allowing the user to go even faster the longer they use it.

My Theory:

PS is a modern technique that is based around the concept of animation and frames. A more complicated technique like this leaves a lot of ambiguity to be had around a "reversal" concept of this. To make things simple, when watching an animation, normally the frames are moving forward in a predetermined order set by the animator (sounds a lot like PS huh). The most basic reversal of this that I can see is to watch said animation in reverse order, or in other words the user can forcefully follow the movements they've already taken in their predetermined path in reverse. Essentially one of the main drawbacks of PS in combat is the committal path the user is forced to take. With this concept in mind using RCT would allow the user to follow their actions in reverse meaning they could willingly break committing to a path if it's dangerous mid way at the cost of using more CE (since RCT takes x^(2) more CE to perform).

Now this sounds a little underwhelming so let elaborate on how significant this is.

First of all as we all know our goat Naoya lost twice because he could not deviate from his set path (one of those losses leading to his death). This CTR automatically allows the user to bypass this fatal flaw of PS and would've without a doubt allowed Naoya to beat M*ki in their 1v1. Second this could be a feinting type ability akin to that of Todo's Boogie Woogie. Those who can react to a PS user because they are low on acceleration stacks or said person has really good precognition will obviously defend/counter against an attack, however the PS user could unnaturally reverse their movements backwards and try again but still carrying the same speed and force they had previously (since rewinding an animation will continue it right back again once you've stopped).

However I haven't even targeted the real meat and bones of this which is what happens when a PS user applies this CTR on another object or person via their palm? From what makes sense to me if PS user has unlocked the ability to use CTR, if they touch another person or object with their palm and force their technique upon them, they have two options:

1. They can apply the default application of PS which most of the time results in the 1 sec freeze frame of the opponent or object

2. They can apply the reversal application, reversing any amount of actions (and potentially changes of state as a result) the object/person has undergone within the last sec.

I would like to highlight how OP this would be.

This could reverse potentially fatal wounds of allies or the user themself. Likewise could even revive people who have definitively died in the past second if the user if fast enough. The changes of state is certainly an op ability, but if we limit the ability to only movements or motion that happened to the person/object the CTR is being applied to, then the combat utility is especially useful for endless combos and stun locking.

Possible Caveats:

1. The user cannot control amount of frames reversed: The user may not be able to control amount of frames reversed meaning they would have to go back to the start of their actions instead of doing feints and counters but this helps with the Techniques safety at least. Likewise if they can't control this then when the CTR is applied to an object/person via the palm then they will move to the start of their actions in the entire last second.
2. If the user CAN control amount of frames would they be forced to still follow their predetermined path?:

- 2a) Yes: Feints are still possible but amount of counters are limited during combat and you would sometimes be better off reversing all actions within the path to the start.

- 2b) No: This itself is ideal, allowing for extreme flexible combat potential but sort of takes away the skill floor of PS after learning CTR

- 2c) Limited to a window of 24 frames (Fav and most likely IMO): The user is forced to "use up" 24 frames in their predetermined path and reversing frames counts as "uses" also. For example lets say I travel 16 frames of my predetermined path but decide I want to go back 4 frames. I have 20 frames worth of "uses" so far and must use my last 4 frames uses I have leftover by reversing even more or following the frames that occur after the point I reversed to so I can fulfill the 24 frame rule. The best way this could be used is I travel 21 frames but I realize I will be countered in the next 3 frames so instead I reverse 3 frames, dodging the counter and fulfilling all 24 frame "uses". This frees me to create a new path off the bat to counter. Of course failing to meet the 24 frame rule or purposely deviating from the path results in 1 sec self freeze frame. This is my favorite theory because it still keeps the sort of battle IQ and skill the original PS had instead of a free "get out of jail card".

3. The possibility that the "reversing of changes of state" is not accepted: This can be exchanged interchangeably among the previous caveats. Honestly this doesn't actually matter as much to me (surprisingly) because 2c is plenty enough for me to be satisfied but this is cool and would definitely guarantee special grade status.

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Whadya guys think. I've always wanted to write my own fanfic lowk cause I always got these ideas floating about in my head but I wasn't sure if I should so expressing my creativity turned into this ig.

also sorry for any bad grammar or run on sentences.

Hot take: Naoya didn't lose to Maki because of arrogance at all and pretty much did everything he possibly could've done to win.

Naoya absolutely did acknowledge Maki, her strength, her durability and even her pain tolerance. Which is pretty insane for him given his misogynistic statements. Yeah, he refused to believe that Maki was on the level of Toji but he didn't believe for a second that Maki just straight up couldn't beat him, quite the opposite.

Naoya literally looks back at his mistake against Choso and says "I won't stop! I won't make the same mistake as before!"

I'm certain this means 2 things.

1. He "won't stop" as in he won't stop stacking. He fought Choso completely unstacked and stopped to have a conversation with Choso, letting him yap about brotherly love, which led to him losing

2. He won't make the same mistake of underestimating his opponent and will simply go all out immediately. Against Choso, he was smiling, toying with him, posing on him and just over all having fun even though his main goal was to injure him severely and possibly kill him so he can kill Megumi.

Against Maki, he does neither of those things. He immediately starts fighting her and keeps stacking nonstop while attacking her from all sides. I don't even think he expects these punches to kill or even severely harm her because in the end he proclaims that he'll punch through her at top speed in order to win.

But he made a very good play against Maki by trapping her in pretty much the worlds longest air combo to avoid giving her even a moment to counterattack.

Contrary to popular belief, I don't think Maki tricked Naoya at all in the final exchange of the fight. She crouched down in the Shiranui-gata stance and intended to have Naoya crash into her, more than likely betting on his arrogance to try and beat her with a head on collision.

Naoya sees through this trick, knowing that if Maki catches him, he would more than likely lose, even if it broke her ribs. He is confident that despite being very stacked and nearing top speed, crashing into her wouldn't blow her off her feet. He believes that Maki could absolutely stop him in his tracks with her body alone. And he believes she has the pain tolerance to defeat hin in that scenario despite the pain of having her ribs shattered.

He is thinking this highly of a woman despite being a huge misogynist for the entire arc, proving that he is not at all having his judgement clouded by his misogynistic beliefs or even his belief that Maki isn't on the level of Toji. The fact that he's humble enough to believe he can't overpower her directly at near top speed alone proves that.

So instead of crashing into her, he runs past her while slapping her arm to freeze her, and I don't know about you, but to me, Maki looks visibly shocked by his choice.

Then the narrator reminds us that unless she follows the 24 fps rule, she'll be frozen while Naoya is moving at top speed.

I genuinely do not believe the anime gave this scene proper justice because in the manga, they're practically screaming at you that Maki IS in danger here if she doesn't clutch up.

Maki turning around and punching Naoya while following the 24 fps rule was absolutely a last ditch effort to avoid getting pulverized.

Maki #10. Fuck no. I hate that bitch.

Chojuro #9. Weird creepy old man

Mai #8. Annoying. Never liked her from the beginning.

Nobuaki #7. Pretentious annoying and lazy SOB.

Megumi #6. Depressing lil bitch.

Toji #5. I love him but he's probably boring to talk to

Naoya #4. MY GOAT. Unfortunately even I have to admit he's a dick.

Naobito #3. Honestly seems like a chill dude to talk to.

Jinichi #2. Canonically a nice and awesome gym bro.

Ranta #1. ADORABLE TWINK! I'M GETTING HIM PREGNANT!

I don't even know why I have to explain this but so many of y'all act like he was putting his all behind these punches.

Naoya himself said that he didn't care about killing Choso or Yuji and that he only planned to make sure they couldn't be a nuisance by breaking their legs or something.

Why would he put force behind punches against someone he literally views as fodder?

You think he put any real effort in his punches when he was styling his hair? Of course not. He was flexing.

But I'm sure y'all need proof so let's list some facts.

1. Naoya while unstacked pummeled Choso against a pillar and didn't even crack it until he started putting actual force in. And yet Choso still couldn't move and was basically stunlocked unable to use his CT. Eventually he did break the pillar but that absorbed most of the energy and Choso simply went through and fell to the ground rather than hitting the wall.

2. Naoya while unstacked in his fight with Maki after they traded blows for a bit frozen her in a frame, punched her and kicked her once and that alone had the force to shatter a large hill and send her flying towards the next mountain several meters away at high speeds.

I'm sure there's at least one stubborn person who will still say "Well if he was holding back then why would he stab Choso?" because I've heard that argument before.

Naoya stabbed Choso because he thought Choso was a human, and any normal human blood manipulator would have a hard time stopping the bleeding while fighting simultaneously. Remember, he doesn't care about killing Choso, he's toying with him and just wants to make sure he can't be a future problem but he's still having fun. Naoya makes it very clear he's very knowledgeable of blood manipulation seeing as he saw Choso use flowing red scale stack and immediately knew he focused it into his eyes to percieve and react to Naoya's movements but Naoya was already prepared for a counterattack.

If Naoya planned to kill Choso with the knife then why the hell would he stop at one stab while admitting that he knows blood manipulators are obviously good at preventing bleeding? If he wanted him dead then and there then he could've given him the Toji v Gojo treatment.

The pillow hands slander has to end I swear.

"Naoya has zero wins" bullshit. He embarrassed Yuji and Choso before Yuta pulled up.

Pillow hands my ass

If Naoya didn't touch her in an attempt to freeze her then there's no evidence to say she'd be fast enough to counter his top speed punch.

Unstacked Naoya is relative to Maki in H2H combat, and once he freezes Maki a single time, he’s just able to outpace her for the entire fight.

While he’s semi-stacked, he has the AP to cause internal damage with his strikes and make blood rush out of Maki’s head (having less blood doesn’t make you any less durable, FYI), and Naoya thinks that if he ran into an on-guard Maki at full speed, he could shatter her ribs and thinks he can punch straight through her if she’s in a frame. that attack would literally kill most people for the simple fact they wouldn’t be able to figure out projecting sorcery’s gimmick that fast

But then he gets one-shotted by a Supernova. 😑

He has the speed, AP, DC, hax, CQC, and strength to be a top 10 contender, but his durability is really holding him back. he’s at my top 13-15 spot

Anyways, I’m a firm believer that he gets more durable the faster he goes. How else can his body handle going Mach 1 and surviving running into Maki’s fist at said Mach 1? But I have literally no proof for this, so it’s a headcanon for now.

Each will get it seperatly

Megumi while being domain ambed was struggling under the pressure of 3 tons for a full minute

For reference, shibuya yuji (nowhere near heavy hitter level) was able to lift and throw 2 ton cars with no issues whatsoever

Ranta> megumi baby🗣️

Note: before you say anything. No Megumi can't summon his shadows in that state due to the force making him unable to use hand signs. No he can't go into his shadow unless they are in a closed space. Ironically Ranta's CT showed to make lighting making shadows almost nonexistent