A Young Girl’s Ten Shadows [Youjo Senki/Jujutsu Kaisen] (2025)

A Young Girl's Ten Shadows

By Special FX and Icura

~o~

Chapter 2: The Zenin Clan

~o~

Staring down at her reflection on the waters of the koi pond, Tanya could not hold back the grimace that came to her face. That was because her appearance wasn't one that she was used to at all. Her blonde hair had been styled into a bun, her eyebrows had been plucked until they were thin strips, and the skin of her face was lightly powdered, giving it an almost ethereal look.

The blue kimono that she was wearing was larger than her small frame, obscuring the details, but it was fitted to her waist by a sash that had been expertly tied. The floral patterns on it were eye-catching, and she could tell that the material that composed the clothing—just from feel alone—was probably ridiculously expensive, maybe even worth hundreds of thousands of yen. It probably should have been expected, given the traditional taste of the family she had joined, but It was something that she never needed to wear before. Of course, with her birth family, it had always been a choice, but here, it was mandatory due to how many traditional rules they had.

Still, it wasn't too surprising, given the tastes of the super rich. All the same, it was restrictive and hardly suitable for running, much less combat, which was what she had been recruited for in the first place.

The past two months had been a whirlwind of change. The more cursed energy she had, the more attracted those monsters—no, those curses—would be to her. Without training to contain and suppress the leakage of her cursed energy, it wouldn't be long before she would catch the attention of something far more dangerous.

Therefore, her parents had to leave her behind here.

Her mother was crying the whole time, and her father could barely look her in the eyes. However, she didn't begrudge them. They were good parents, but there was no way that they would be able to deal with something like this. She had even said so, though that had only made her mother cry harder. In the end, she had to even accept her father's repeated apologies, even though he really had nothing to apologize for.

After all, they couldn't do anything against Being X's machinations. It was beyond the scope of any reasonable expectation for parental duties.

And it wasn't like she couldn't visit them when she grew older. As such, she didn't really feel the need to shed any tears or become overly emotional. The Zenin were her family on her father's side anyway, so it wasn't like she was going to some random strangers. It was unfortunate that she had to give up her family name, but that was to be expected. Thus, she was now Tanya Zenin instead of Tanya Degurechaff, though people will probably now know that she was half-blooded instead of a full foreigner.

Frankly, it wasn't really a concern for her either way.

Her quality of life did not change much, though the Zenin clan was far richer than what she had been expecting out of what was essentially a clan of ghost hunters. The first month had been mainly settling into the family compound—a rather large amount of prime real estate with building designs and architecture reminiscent of the feudal era—and showing off her Ten Shadows technique at least several dozen times. There were plenty of relatives whom she had to meet, and that was not including the many servants who attended to the family's needs. She had even been assigned some caretakers of her own.

The hierarchy of the compound was simplistic in nature.

From top to bottom, there was the clan leader, the elders, the elite sorcerers, the average sorcerers, the sorcerers-in-training, and the non-sorcerers. However, there were some exceptions like the clan leader's sons. While she hadn't met all of them yet, she could tell that she had left a good impression on the ones that she did. That said, she still needed to greet the heir apparent, the youngest son. It was odd for them to skip over seniority like that, especially to a four year old, but for a ghost busting family, she supposed that they were more focused on potential and capability than anything else. After all, she had heard that he was apparently a genius.

The second month was the start of her education and training.

It was intense, as expected, but it wasn't as difficult nor as rigorous as the training she had subjected the recruits of the Imperial 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion to. To put it into perspective, the training regime of her previous life was supposed to cause all the recruits to drop out since it was based on what would have made her drop out personally. It was supposed to stop the force from being formed, thereby letting her get a nice desk job instead. However, she had underestimated those battle maniacs, and in the end, they had made it through her training in one piece.

Compared to that, this training wasn't overly strenuous, and she frequently exceeded expectations.

The one area that she didn't do well in, however, was in etiquette lessons. While she could understand the need for etiquette, these weren't modern ones. These were traditional etiquette lessons that were only applicable in an extremely limited number of occasions and almost exclusively in Japan. Why was a tea ceremony necessary? It would be honestly far more productive to train alcohol tolerance for after-work socialization with a superior instead.

Not that they would allow her to drink, regrettably. At least, not at this age.

Her reflection in the pond broke apart when a koi came up to the surface, its mouth gaping as if waiting for food that she didn't have.

"Tanya, would you like to feed the koi?"

"No, it's fine."

A woman in a kimono appeared next to her in the distorted reflection, having stepped up to her side. She was in her late twenties with plain features and even plainer clothes. Despite that, she wasn't one of the hired maids; she was actually a distant relative of hers from one of the branch families. In spite of being related, there was only one reason why this woman would be relegated to babysitting duty.

It was because of her low amount of cursed energy.

Cursed energy originated from negative emotions, and the accumulation of it would result in curses. These cursed spirits were usually just mild inconveniences, but if they gained enough cursed energy, they could become aggressive and dangerous. That was when jujutsu sorcerers had to step in, using their cursed techniques—powered by cursed energy—to destroy these curses.

It was essentially fighting fire with fire.

It was a never-ending war conducted in the shadows since ancient times, in conjunction with the government's cooperation and support. These clans and families were important because the ability to utilize cursed energy was passed down through genetic bloodlines, and a constant stream of sorcerers was necessary to ensure that modern society remained stable, especially considering the casualty rate. What would happen if people knew that these curses—essentially malevolent ghosts—that they couldn't see could kill them? It would become pure anarchy and contribute to a total breakdown of society.

The funny thing was that curses mostly only manifested in Japan for some reason. The rest of the world seemed to generally be curse-free except for a few exceptions. She did not understand how that worked, but that was simply how the world was. It was essentially a domestic problem, not an international one.

Tanya glanced down at her right hand. More specifically, her thumb.

The snake cursed spirit had ripped it off before she had awakened her innate technique. Fortunately, the Zenin clan had someone who could reattach it using their techniques rather than surgery. Surprisingly enough, while it wasn't instant, it only took a week for her thumb to fully heal and feel no different from how it was before being severed. Surgery would have taken far longer, both for the process and the aftermath. Not to mention the rehabilitation that could be necessary.

In any case, her self-imposed break time was over. An employee was useless if there wasn't sufficient training, and she had no desire to get maimed again when Being X's manipulations came into play.

Because when it came to Being X, it was always a 'when', and not an 'if'.

"I would like to practice my cursed techniques now," Tanya said, breaking the silence.

"Of course." The woman bowed. "I will have a dojo cleared for your use at once."

Tanya was considered a valuable asset in the eyes of the clan, but if she did not continue to better herself, her stock would drop. The clan had invested a significant amount of resources into her, so she had far higher expectations to meet than any other regular member of the clan—or so she had been told. If she wanted to maintain her value in the clan and keep the high level of investment needed to fight Being X, she had to keep working on her skills as a jujutsu sorcerer.

No matter what, she needed to be ready for whatever Being X had in store for her. Even if she were to take a plane to another country like Germany—especially since she knew the language—she probably wouldn't be able to escape. With his machinations, there would probably be a sudden, international outburst of vicious ghosts in the city she was staying in. She sincerely doubted that Berlin had any veteran jujutsu sorcerer who could help combat such a thing.

Until she had enough strength to drag that fake deity down, Tanya Zenin—formerly Degurechaff—needed to train and prepare.

~o~

Naoya Zenin was a genius.

Everyone in the clan had told him so, so it had to be true. They all said that he was destined to be the next head of the Zenin clan. At four years old, he had even awakened his innate technique, Projection Sorcery. The very same cursed technique as his father, unlike the rest of his worthless older brothers. In fact, even without that, none of the other children in the clan could compare to his jujutsu or his cursed energy output.

Why was that the case? It was simple.

Naoya was simply better than everyone. All of them were just so pathetic that it was laughable. Even his own older brothers had far less potential than him; they couldn't even awaken the innate technique of their bloodline. What was the point of having older brothers who were inferior to him? He supposed that it was funny to see them struggling so hard just to become mediocre existences.

The most wretched ones of them all though were the clan members who had pitiful amounts of cursed energy. Some of them couldn't even see curses at all!

The miserable looks on their faces were always amusing to see.

What was even the point of their existence? Naoya had thought about that for a while now until he came to the sudden realization: they only existed so he could laugh at their pitiful faces! It was all so simple! He should have realized it earlier. He was the greatest, so of course they could only exist for his amusement. They fawned over him, even when he pushed them into the mud.

However, things changed after that peasant child's arrival. She monopolized most of his father's attention, though he couldn't really understand why.

He had heard the rumors circling around the Zenin household of a foreign girl with the legendary Ten Shadows technique. Apparently, the future of the clan, but so what? Who cared if she had the Ten Shadows technique? She was just some peasant girl while he was the greatest.

Father was probably just interested in her for her innate technique. However, what could a girl possibly amount to? Without talent and ability, even the best bloodline would be worthless. The whole clan would eventually get bored with talking about her soon enough.

However, everyone's interest in her didn't wane.

In fact, it only seemed to grow the more time passed. Father had not trained with him in over a week. Naoya did not understand. She was just some stupid girl who lucked out on being born with the Ten Shadows technique.

It infuriated Naoya to no end.

One day, after overhearing a servant whisper about her becoming the next head of the clan, Naoya had enough. After beating and stomping on the servant, he decided to rectify things. Since everyone was so incompetent that they couldn't even realize his greatness, he would simply have to show them.

It wasn't difficult to find her.

Even if he hadn't seen her a few times before in passing—her foreign features made her stand out—he already knew where she was living. Father had moved her into a room within the Hei district, a section in the compound where all of the clan's elite jujutsu sorcerers resided. His own room was in the same district, though he had never bothered to speak with the girl until now. Why would he bother wasting his time to meet with her? He wasn't like the rest of the masses who got obsessed with the newest shiny thing.

If anything, she should have taken the time to meet with him, the next head of the clan. The fact that she didn't spoke much of her stupidity, though it was probably a given considering that she was a girl.

After speaking with a maid, he found her in one of the training dojos that was exclusively reserved for members of the Hei. He could feel her cursed energy emanating from the building as he got closer. Reaching the sliding door to the dojo and bypassing the guard standing by it, Naoya slammed it open and stepped inside.

Unsurprisingly, the blonde-haired girl was in the center of the room, swinging a training sword as if it would somehow make her a swordsman. However, there was a reason it was called swordsman and not swordswoman. Her movements were amateurish. It disgusted him that someone like this had taken the spotlight over him. Even with the addition of cursed energy into the weapon, it did nothing more than add a teensy bit of power which did nothing for her lack of skill and finesse.

The blonde lowered her wooden sword upon seeing his face, no doubt to simper upon him like all the other girls in the clan.

"Ah, hello. You must be Naoya," she greeted, letting the cursed energy dissipate from her weapon. "It's nice to meet you."

Naoya sneered in response.

"What kind of pathetic display for swordsmanship was that supposed to be?"

"...it's to be expected," she simply replied. "That's why training exists."

"By yourself?" Naoya sneered. "Are you stupid, girl?"

Her smile became strained. "My name is Tanya."

"That's a dumb name. Change it."

The girl simply stared at him in confusion like the fool she was. For the girl that his father was doting upon, her worth in his eyes was lessening by the second.

"I said change it!"

"No."

"Hah?" Only then did his frown turn into a condescending smirk. "Do you know who you're talking to?"

"Even if we don't take into consideration the child abuse laws that are probably being mitigated due to the necessity of jujutsu sorcerers, employers should still be held to the same standard employment laws as the rest of the nation, especially in consideration of its highly volatile and hazardous work environment. I do understand that this field of work has a very long history that has allowed many archaic rules to stay in place despite modernization, but undercutting modern standard operating procedures to give preferential treatment would only lead to corruption, especially when in consideration to your egregious order to drastically change the personal effects of an employee. An order which has nothing to do with my current work and constitutes a violation of my rights as a Japanese citizen, even mitigated as it is under jujutsu sorcerer laws and backroom deals."

Naoya just blinked in response, many of the words flying completely over his head.

"...hah?"

"In other words, my name has nothing to do with my work, and I believe this is a gross overreach of authority. If you wish, we can bring this to arbitration with your father."

"..."

Naoya stepped back outside and slammed the sliding door shut.

What was wrong with that girl? And why was she using such complicated words? He hadn't understood a single thing she was trying to say. Was she simply showing off? Attempting to prove her superiority over him with her way with words?

As if some stupid girl could be smarter than he was. She just knew some fancy words, that was all. Anyone could do the same if they just looked at a dictionary. Who did that stupid girl think she was? He was the greatest!

Determined to salvage his wounded pride, Naoya stormed off to the Zenin compound's library and pulled out a dictionary along with a thesaurus from the shelf.

~o~

What a failure.

Naoya Zenin had left without so much as saying another word. As the current heir to the clan, Tanya assumed that he would have been taught better manners than that, but it was important to head off issues.

While an unfortunate fact, the children of company presidents and CEOs sometimes believed that they had more powers than they did, leading to interferences in the workplace and causing detrimental decreases in work efficiency and profitability. Worse was the fact that, regardless of ability, these progenies tended to be propped up by nepotism to take their parent's position. That meant that the future prosperity of the company depended significantly on these factors that could not be sufficiently controlled.

Essentially, Naoya Zenin was likely to become her superior in the future so that was why she had tried her best to greet him warmly.

Eye contact and a smile, the necessary components for forming a good first impression. After all, it would only benefit her in the long run to have good relations with the potential future head of the clan. A future position—if she can maneuver it—of a secretary and bodyguard would net her safety from the orders of the ruling powers in the clan since she would only be beholden to him, the clan leader. Though, it wouldn't do to invest too much either, due to the fickleness of clan politics that could see him be demoted, exiled, or assassinated. Those, historically, seemed like typical enough themes.

Still, the next time she saw him, she would have to try to introduce herself again.

The second wouldn't have as much impact, but she could still compensate for that with increased eye contact, a more expressive smile, and a firm handshake. All foundational prerequisites for conducting an excellent interview that could be applied to most social scenarios. Admittingly, the target of all this was a child, but these were techniques built upon decades of studies on human nature. Sure, a child was not the same as an adult, but he should still have the same built-in instinctive responses, albeit less developed.

Now that she thought about it, maybe she should pick up a textbook on early childhood development. While she could deal with logical, rational working-class members of society, children were and had always been outside of her expertise, mainly due to the jobs being far below the careers that she usually aimed for in both social status and annual salary. However, considering that it would now affect both of those criteria, it was probably time to study up on the subject.

Though, that was something to worry about in the future.

For now, Tanya turned her attention back toward her training instead. Holding the wooden sword in her hand firmly, she attempted to imbue it with cursed energy once again. During her fight with the snake curse, she had imbued the kitchen knife with curse energy subconsciously, but her attempts to actively reproduce the same levels consistently only proved partially successful.

Cursed energy was volatile and difficult to control.

Fortunately, practice time was something that she had an excess of. Jujutsu was everything in the Zenin clan, so honing one's cursed technique and energy was something expected of every member of the clan. She had been born with talent, but if she did not polish that talent, it would all be for naught.

That would be like lying down and waiting for Being X to stomp her to death.

The wooden sword in her hand glowed with a dull blue hue as she poured some of her cursed energy into it. Being able to control cursed energy to the point where one could imbue objects with it was important for a jujutsu sorcerer. That was because curses could only be harmed by cursed energy. A sword by itself would not be able to damage a curse. However, a sword imbued with cursed energy could not only harm it, but eliminate it completely.

This much was enough for a warm up.

Tanya decided to summon her shikigami for the next part. Unfortunately, it was actually a bit awkward to make the hand symbols to do so while she was holding a sword, forcing her to do it at a strange angle. Thankfully, it still worked. Her shikigami slowly rose from her shadow, lifting up in the air without needing to flap its wings.

Seraphim floated over her head, patiently waiting for her next order. She didn't know why her first shikigami was an angel. All the users of the Ten Shadows technique in history were given a pair of divine dogs as their first shikigami. It must have something to do with that damn Being X, she just knew it. Most likely as a way to gain more followers or to simply spite her.

Seraphim turned its attention toward her, as if noticing her sudden shift in mood.

Shikigami were rather intriguing in that, instead of mindless drones, they appeared to be sentient. Summoning a shikigami required cursed energy, but after the initial cost, the shikigami would be able to sustain itself until it was destroyed or called back. They were essentially soldiers who had a hiring fee, but required no salary and would obey any orders, even ones resulting in their own demise.

Truly, summoning shikigami was the best cursed technique she could ask for.

Instead of having to fight in the frontlines herself, she could simply send out her shikigami instead. The only issue was that if her shikigami perished, it was gone for good. Fortunately, the Ten Shadows technique allowed her to have up to ten different shikigami, just like its namesake. Seraphim was the freebie that came with her technique, but for the other nine shikigami, she would need to obtain them herself. This was done by summoning them through a ritual and defeating them, thereby taming them.

Since those shikigami were a part of her technique, she already knew the names of each.

The basic knowledge was instinctively ingrained into her when she had awakened her innate technique, essentially a cursed technique passed down genetically through a bloodline and usually awakened roughly at five years old, give or take a year. She had been fortunate in that regard, being able to inherit the Zenin bloodline's cursed technique that only manifested every so often in their long history.

While the Ten Shadows took a bit more investment than other cursed techniques, she was confident that, with time, she would be able to tame all of the shikigami except for one. The final shikigami in her Ten Shadows technique was the only one where she was uncertain, and the only one that remained the same as past users of the technique. The old scrolls within the Zenin clan's archives—which had taken some negotiations with the elders to gain access to—said that it had never been tamed by anyone in the clan's long history.

Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga.

It seemed that along with the divine dogs, it was a recurring staple that came along with the Ten Shadows technique. Of course, the divine dogs had been replaced by her angel shikigami, courtesy of Being X. Why Being X didn't replace Mahoraga, which should be outside of his supposed pantheon, was beyond her. After all, Mahoraga didn't fit the same theme as Seraphim. Of course, this had no near relevance to her since she didn't plan to try to tame him for a very long time, if ever.

In an exorcism ritual for taming, death was a very real possibility. It was unfortunate, but the taming had to be done solely by herself and her summons; any outside help would negate the results of the ritual.

Tanya dropped the wooden sword in her hands and formed another hand sign with her fingers.

It was about time that she obtained her second shikigami. She didn't know when her performance evaluation would be, but given Naoya Zenin's remarks on her sword skills, she couldn't afford to be caught off guard again. Taming her second shikigami within such a short period of time should provide a big boost to her current status in the eyes of the clan head.

Naturally, she would start with the weakest shikigami. Since it was her first attempt at the ritual, she didn't know how it would go, but she had already taken precautions with her attendant. One of the Hei—the most elite sorcerer group in the clan—was stationed nearby, ready to intervene if she were to run outside. She poured cursed energy into her hands, letting a dull blue hue form around them.

"Meek Sheep."

~o~

Naobito Zenin took a long drink from his bottle of sake before he let out a satisfied burp. The drink tasted better than normal. Though, that was probably because of the good mood he was in.

The fact that the clan had managed to obtain a Ten Shadows user during his reign as clan head boded well for his legacy.

Her Ten Shadows technique was abnormal, rather than the patented divine dogs that all the Ten Shadows users throughout history possessed, hers was an angel instead. The shikigami's strength was no worse than that of the divine dogs; it was even most likely greater. Her Seraphim wielded a spear made of positive cursed energy, making it deadly against curses. Perhaps it was due to her foreign blood mixing in with her Zenin blood that altered her Ten Shadows, but a shadow was still a shadow in the end.

Abnormal or not, her potential as a jujutsu sorcerer was unrivaled within the clan, even among those who had awakened an innate technique.

Sure, it cost a chunk of the clan's finances, but money comes and goes. Tanya was worth all of it and more. Not only did she possess the Ten Shadows, but the girl was a genius and a prodigy as well. It had only been a little more than two months since she had awakened her innate technique, but she had already managed to obtain her second shikigami.

The Ten Shadows technique, a large pool of cursed energy, and a keen mind. Like many other legendary jujutsu sorcerers in history, she was blessed at birth. Mastering her cursed energy in just that short amount of time was nothing short of remarkable either.

It was just a pity that she was born a woman.

Had she been born a man, it would have been a foregone conclusion for her to be the next clan head after himself. If he were to make her his heir apparent now, there would be yammering and protests due to her gender and foreign blood. Still, if she were to keep growing at the pace she was, it wouldn't matter in the end. They would eventually be forced to overlook it in the presence of an overwhelming power.

His own rise into the position of clan head was similar in that regard. His Projection Sorcery was a relatively new cursed technique at the time and did not have the same prestige as some of the other cursed techniques within the clan. There had been protests and yapping from the rabble that supported Ogi—who possessed a more well-known and prestigious cursed technique—for the position instead. He swiftly silenced them all by becoming an overpowering existence, to the point where no one else in the clan could rival him as a jujutsu sorcerer.

It was likely that Tanya's own rise would be similar. However, for now, just her existence within the clan was enough.

The timing in which the clan had managed to obtain her couldn't have been better. The Zenin clan, the Gojo clan, and the Kamo clan had always been known as the three great families in jujutsu society. Throughout their shared history, the balance of power was always constantly shifting. Legendary jujutsu sorcerers would rise and fall, making waves in the power dynamics between the three great clans.

In recent years, the balance had shifted once again.

A brat was born into the Gojo clan with both the Six-Eyes and the Limitless cursed technique. It was the first time something like that had happened in over four hundred years. He could only chalk it up as an unavoidable misfortune that Satoru Gojo had been born during his reign of the Zenin clan.

The independents had already sent over their fair share of assassins and kidnappers, to little effect. Even as a child, Satoru Gojo's power had already dwarfed the average jujutsu sorcerer. There was even a bounty on the brat's head, but he strictly instructed his clan not to get involved. If he was implicated in such attempts, there would be nothing worse. He just had to treat it like a natural disaster, a taint on his legacy. Perhaps, that was why he started drinking so much.

All of that changed, however, once Tanya had arrived.

The Zenin clan now had a weapon of their own to rival the Gojo clan. Throughout jujutsu history, the Ten Shadows technique had always been the Zenin clan's countermeasure against the Gojo clan's limitless technique. Whether it was simply good fortune or even fate bringing together another Six-Eyes Limitless user and Ten Shadows user again, Naobito didn't care.

His legacy was now set.

The timing really could not have been any better. With the annual summit of the three great clans coming up, it was perfect. The Gojo clan would show off their six-eyes brat as usual and flex their muscles, and then he would reveal the existence of Tanya.

It was time for the balance of power to shift once more.

~o~

Authors' Notes:

Icura: Another chapter done.

Special FX: The CEO of misogyny is defeated by big words.