Ever since Sukuna first took over Itadori’s body, there have been theories speculating that the two of them are related somehow.

While these theories may have sparked due to the similarities in appearance of Yuji and Sukuna, some interesting plot developments that followed in the manga, were taken are further hints to the connection between the two.

Kenjaku’s involvement in Itadori’s birth and, definitely, Sukuna recognizing Itadori as “the boy from that time” strengthened the speculations, and made fans wonder if these two had a past connection. Chances of Itadori being a reincarnation of Sukuna were also floated.

And, it seems like the speculations weren’t far off the mark after all. In JJK chapter 257, we finally get some answers that we have been waiting for!

What is Itadori’s relation to Sukuna?

To answer in short, Itadori is Sukuna’s nephew!! Itadori is related to Sukuna via his father, Jin Itadori, who is a reincarnation of Sukuna’s twin brother.

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Now, the twin brother theory is something entirely different. However, that did creep into how Itadori and Sukuna are related.

When it was revealed that Kenjaku was Itadori’s mother, it sent the fandom into a frenzy. However, questions were raised as to why the flamboyant schemer had chosen Jin Itadori as a parent to Yuji.

Yuji certainly wasn’t created on a whim. Knowing Kenjaku, Yuji was the culmination of years of his research on optimizing cursed energy and surpassing the human potential. So, Jin had to be consciously chosen by Kenjaku.

But why? Was it his genes? Or his cursed technique?

These questions begged to be answered for a long time. And in chapter 257, we finally understand the Jin conundrum better.

According to what Sukuna said in the chapter, Jin Itadori was the reincarnation of Sukuna’s twin brother, the very same twin-brother he had consumed/absorbed while they were in the womb.

JJK 257 本誌

Sukuna: I was meant to be born as a twin, but I rejected that fate. my mother must have been starving, so before I starved too, I ate my other half in her stomach. then that soul cycled on and on until finally pairing with Kenjaku.

— Jさん💥( ֊’ ‘֊) ✄—✄—✄—✄ (@soukatsu_) April 21, 2024

We don’t really know how this particular reincarnation worked, but we can draw some conclusions.

Since jujutsu sees twins as a single entity, the soul of Sukuna’s other half probably didn’t get extinguished even after the body was consumed in the womb. Similar to how there’s hints that Mai’s soul stayed back in the sword she created for Maki, the soul of Sukuna’s twin brother went through cycles and finally got reincarnated as Jin Itadori.

Kenjaku probably realized this and decided to use Jin Itadori, and the essence of Sukuna’s twin inside of him, in order to create/give birth to Yuji.

So that makes Sukuna Yuji’s uncle, technically speaking!

When you read this development for the first time, it might feel like a retcon. However, that’s not the case. This development, and especially, Jin Itadori being as important of a factor in Itadori’s birth had been hinted in the manga.

Foreshadowing for the moment:

In chapter 1, when Yuji goes to visit his grandpa, the latter had some final words to say to him. And as Wasuke Itadori mentioned, it was regarding Yuji’s parents. But Yuji brushed his grandpa off, and we never got to know what he wanted to say.

But now, I guess we can make some educated guesses.

In chapter 143, we see that Wasuke was wary of Kaori Itadori, since she was possessed by Kenjaku. However, it wasn’t just Kaori that Wasuke wanted to talk about, but about both his parents.

I believe Wasuke’s dialogue from chapter 1 was the very first hint that Gege gave us, suggesting that both his parents had an important role of sorts in the JJK universe.

On top of that, we still aren’t aware about what happened to Jin Itadori. Did he die? Did Kenjaku kill him? We might possibly get the answers to these questions in the near future.

The second major hint that we got was from Sukuna himself like I mentioned earlier in the article. In chapter 214, after seeing a display of Itadori’s raw strength, Sukuna notes that “the boy is from that time” and then goes on to say that Kenjaku does the grossest of things.

I guess this is when Sukuna first put together Kenjaku’s plan and noticed that Itadori was related to him via his twin brother! However, for us readers, this was the second biggest hint that suggested Yuji’s relation to Sukuna and also that Kenjaku had done something really vile in the process of creating him.

We still don’t have a complete grasp on why Kenjaku created Itadori, however, I guess that too something which will be revealed soon, even though he might seem dead for now.

What are your thoughts on Yuji and Sukuna being related to each other? Let me know them in the comments below!