So, out of all the v3 ultimates, do you think they were ALL groomed for their positions? Or like, only some/most? I've seen you mention it a few times, just curious.
Well, the point regarding the Ultimate talents, is that the Ultimate Initiative had a terrific amount to gain from using and abusing all of them, especially someone like Kirumi, who became absurdly powerful as the shadow Prime Minister. Though since we don’t know all that much about the Initiative (or... perhaps we can’t and for a good reason), it’s going to be a question mark.
I think one of the biggest clues though, is the fact of Maki spelling out the existence of her cult organisation in the main story- that is, if we know with great detail that one of the Ultimates is organisation-associated for Ultimate growth, and there’s someone else who is associated with a cult more vaguely (Angie), that means we can make inferences that something is up with the others’ histories, too. Hell, Miu all but spells outright that her brain was tampered with, and brain-tampering was one of the most shocking conspiracies of HPA.
In Shuichi’s case - despite not being outright said, in the case of Maki - there is a fairly clear path where grooming could have happened- isolation (well, relative), escalation, and then the goal, seemingly without knowledge. For others it may not be so clear, but it could be inferred by odd ways they behave (Tenko, Angie and Korekiyo for control via psychological abuse). There’s also connection to (possible) organisation agents (priest, master, noble, professor, Prime Minister...), and as it happens, Shuichi becoming a detective means being connected to a particularly grand organisation- namely, the police (...welp).
So in short, yes; however subtly, I’d say most, if not all the Ultimates were controlled or otherwise taken advantage of, regarding their Ultimate growth. The main problem is showing the ‘How’ and ‘What’ beyond the possibility, though that’s only natural because having everyone so obviously organisation agents would be way too suspicious. Plus those who are groomed into roles - for innate qualities they are unaware of, at that - would not be spelling it out.