Death Painting Arc

This fourth storyline, billed in the anime as the Origin of Obedience Arc, sends Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara to look into a cluster of bizarre killings. Their inquiry draws them to Megumi's old middle school and the cursed grounds nearby, where they meet two of the incarnated Cursed Womb: Death Paintings. The arc doubles as a showcase for Megumi's growth and a sobering look at what it means to kill enemies who feel like family.

Supervised by Akari Nitta, the three students examine a series of victims who all perished at their own open entrances, struck down by a curse waiting in the threshold. The trail leads to Saitama Urami East Junior High, Megumi's alma mater, where they discover every victim had once been found unconscious under Yasohachi Bridge. As Megumi connects the danger to his sister Tsumiki, who once visited the spot, he insists on confronting the bridge curse immediately and his friends follow. Meanwhile, Mahito and the Geto imposter implant the Death Paintings into human hosts, incarnating Kechizu just as the students cross the curse's barrier.

Inside, Yuji takes on Kechizu while Megumi and Nobara hunt the mole-like bridge monster. Kechizu's elder brother Eso drags Nobara out and reveals the Death Paintings are hunting a finger of Sukuna. After Megumi exorcises the bridge monster, he finds a finger bearer concealed within, far stronger than the one he faced before. Battered, he stops measuring himself against Yuji and lets his cursed energy run free, summoning a domain expansion of his own for the very first time to destroy the special grade. The brothers then turn their Rot Technique on the group. Both Yuji and Nobara are poisoned by the decaying blood, forcing Nobara to wound herself with Resonance to fight back. The pain sharpens their focus enough to ignite Black Flash, and they critically injure both siblings. Nobara finishes Kechizu, and after a desperate escape attempt, Yuji ends Eso as well.

Watching the brothers weep for each other leaves Yuji and Nobara shaken, and they acknowledge they share guilt in the deaths of two beings who were, in their way, human. Choso, the eldest of the Death Painting brothers, learns of his siblings' demise and informs Mahito and Geto, the three soon discovering the first-years were responsible. Back in Tokyo, Gojo is pleased by his students' success and pays Mei Mei to advocate for their advancement, leading her and Aoi Todo to put five students forward as candidates for promotion to grade 1: Megumi, Yuji, Panda, Nobara, and Maki. In a quieter coda, Nobara reconnects Yuji with a former classmate, Yuko Ozawa, who decides to keep her feelings to herself after appreciating his sincerity.