Ten Shadows

(The worldbuilding is slightly altered. Manga like Naruto don't exist in this book's setting... no need to argue about it.)

(Leave your brains here.)

Japan, December 7, 1989.

The Zenin Clan.

"Clan Head! Clan Head!"

A man dressed in traditional samurai attire rushed into a room. "My child... my child, he's..."

"Ogi, what's all the fuss about... you're old enough to know better!"

An elderly man with a drooping mustache picked up his sake gourd and took a swig. "Unless it's the Ten Shadows Techni-passed down through our clan..."

"My son summoned the Divine Dogs..."

"It's only a couple of Divine Dogs..."

Naobito Zenin shot upright like a dying man jolted from his sickbed, seemingly forgetting what he had just said.

"What did you say? Divine Dogs? Take me there, now!"

The two raced off and soon arrived in the delivery room.

The midwife was holding a dozing baby boy with black hair and black eyes. What astonished Naobito Zenin, however, were the two wolflike creatures beside her, one black and one white.

"That's it... that's it..." Naobito Zenin laughed heartily. "This is the Ten Shadows Technique!"

He then took the baby boy from the midwife's arms and held him high. "This is a blessing bestowed upon our Zenin Clan by heaven!"

Seemingly awakened by his voice, the baby slowly opened his eyes, and the Divine Dogs vanished.

"It seems this little fellow doesn't have enough cursed energy to keep the Divine Dogs summoned for long..."

The delight on Naobito Zenin's face did not diminish. "From this moment on, he is the twenty-seventh Clan Head of the Zenin Clan!"

"In other words, our next Clan Head!"

Ogi Zenin could barely contain his delight, but inwardly, he was already making plans. This was a crucial opportunity for him to become Clan Head!

Suppressing his joy, he asked, "Clan Head, do you mean that?"

Naobito Zenin gazed fondly at the baby in his arms, ignoring Ogi Zenin. With a doting expression, he said to the child, "Since you're a blessing, we'll call you Ze."

"Wah, wah..." The baby could not speak yet, so he could only clap happily to express how he felt.

"Keep this news within the clan. Don't let it spread, and make sure Ze Zenin is well protected."

Not long afterward, in a mansion on the other side of Tokyo that was even larger than the Zenin Clan's estate...

Unlike the ancient, austere Zenin estate, this mansion had a more modern style, with an impressive array of modern amenities inside.

"The Six Eyes! The Six Eyes have appeared for the first time in a hundred years!"

A group of elders cheered excitedly. "Now our Gojo Clan will surely rise to the pinnacle of Jujutsu Society once more!"

"Grand Elder..." A young man approached the elder at the head of the group. "According to our informant, news just came from the Zenin Clan. It seems a Ten Shadows user has been born..."

"What?!" The Grand Elder's pupils constricted as he muttered, "How could this be? How could this be? How could there be such a coincidence?"

"Could all of this be the fate of the Six Eyes and the Ten Shadows?"

"Are the two destined to fight until one emerges victorious?"

A belief in this destined conflict began spreading through the Gojo Clan, but the clan's higher-ups soon put a stern stop to it and issued an explicit order forbidding the spread of one piece of news:

"Suppress all news of the Ten Shadows!"

Seven years quietly passed...

"Ding~ Congratulations, host. You have obtained the [Sasuke Uchiha template]."

"Due to the world you inhabit, Sasuke's full abilities will activate when your life is threatened. Your abilities are currently restricted..."

"My life could actually be threatened in this world?" Ze Zenin curled his lip in disdain.

"Currently available abilities: lightning cursed energy, fire cursed energy, Amenotejikara."

"The host can use Sasuke Uchiha's various ninjutsu through fire and lightning cursed energy."

"Wow, the system's feeling generous this time. It gave me Amenotejikara straight away."

A boy lying beneath a large tree smiled absently. "I thought the enormous amount of cursed energy and early cursed technique awakening it gave me at birth were already ridiculous enough."

The boy had spiky black hair and was currently pursing his lips, his complexion fair. What others would have found unsettling were his scarlet eyes, which seemed capable of stealing a person's soul.

"Looks like three tomoe is my limit for now... but I seem to be able to use the Rinnegan's ability ahead of time."

The boy was none other than Ze Zenin. In his previous life, he had been reading the latest update of Jujutsu Kaisen outside the company where he worked. He never imagined that merely complaining about his boss would lead to his boss cursing him and dragging him into it. Looking back now, that boss definitely could not have been an ordinary person...

"Nue!" The boy formed a hand sign, then made a gesture resembling wings.

A giant orange owl with a mask over its face emerged from the shadows before Ze Zenin.

"Let's see if I can imbue myself with a shikigami's ability at this stage, like Sukuna..."

"Chidori!" A spark of lightning suddenly appeared in Ze Zenin's palm, then spread to engulf his entire hand. Its piercing cry sounded like a thousand birds chirping at once.

"Hahahahaha... I finally did it!" Ze Zenin was overjoyed. "Now, Piercing Ox, you old bastard, when you charge at me, I'll just raise my hand and hit you with Chidori."

Ze Zenin threw his head back and laughed with his hands on his hips. Then, with a thought, Nue's wings appeared on the white Divine Dog. At this point, he had finally grasped the basics of the Ten Shadows Technique!

His booming laughter seemed to carry across the entire mountain. Toji Zenin, who had been sleeping up in the tree, frowned. "Can you keep it down, you little brat? Stop disturbing my sleep!"

"Sure, sure..." Ze Zenin narrowed his eyes at the muscular man above him. "Teacher, it's about time you taught me a little more. I still haven't learned anything."

"Shut up..."

Toji growled down at him. "It's only been two years. If I keep teaching you, you'll probably learn everything I know. If we end up enemies someday...

how am I supposed to fight you? You're a damn monster."

"Not at all..." Ze Zenin guiltily looked away, not daring to meet Toji's eyes. "My admiration for you flows like the mighty Yellow River~"

"Get lost. You're taming Piercing Ox yourself this time. Helping you tame Max Elephant earlier already wore me out."

"Come on... Teacher."

"Fine, I'll stop coveting your Soul Liberation Blade!"

"Piss off!"

Ze Zenin sighed. It looked like his plan to make Toji do the work had fallen through after all. As he spoke, he formed the ox hand sign. "Piercing Ox!"

The ritual to tame Piercing Ox began.

The moment the words left his mouth, an enormous bull charged at Ze Zenin.

The Ten Shadows Technique's Piercing Ox! The farther he ran, the more damage he dealt-a monster with a truly broken mechanic.

"I'll use this..."

"Toad!"

Two Toads emerged from Ze Zenin's shadow. Their long tongues then wrapped around Piercing Ox's horns, briefly slowing his ferocious charge.

"Chidori!"

Ze Zenin raised his Chidori and, relying on the perceptive power of Sasuke's Sharingan, swiftly rushed in front of Piercing Ox.

As the lightning in his hand struck, Piercing Ox turned into a shadow and slipped into Ze Zenin's own.

Sensing Piercing Ox appear within his shadow space, he could not help smiling.

He was like a player fighting a boss. Before this, he had been stuck on Piercing Ox for months.

Toji looked up from the tree, an indescribable shock in his eyes. "He actually pulled it off..."

Ze Zenin was not even ten years old yet!

"Well?" Ze Zenin smiled at Toji up in the tree. "I'm pretty strong, you know!"

Toji jumped down and sized him up. "Sometimes I really wonder how old you are. One moment you're all brooding, and the next you're just like a little kid..."

Ze Zenin rolled his eyes and said flatly, "Growing up early is perfectly normal in a family like this."

That's true enough...

Toji waved a hand dismissively. He had brought this situation on himself-

If anything was to blame, it was that moment of curiosity two years ago when he had gone to see the clan's so-called Ten Shadows Divine Child.

Ever since that day, this brat had haunted him like a ghost, pestering him every single day...

"Go ahead and summon him."

"Okay."

Ze Zenin murmured, "Shikigami, Round Deer!"