Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
A cursed technique inherited from the Zenin family, the Ten Shadows Technique. Using shadows as intermediaries, the technique allows one to summon ten different shikigami: nine animals and one monster.
Divine Dogs, Nue, Toad, Great Snake, Max Elephant, Rabbit Escape, Round Deer, Piercing Ox, Funeral Tiger, and finally, Divine General Mahoraga.
And that was the damn quirk I'd just acquired from the runestone. Now that I knew what to look for inside me, inside my aura, my quirk, my soul, I could see them, all nine animals. The tenth remained hidden. Mahoraga was slipping away from my sight.
But that wasn't important for the moment. I focused specifically on the nine animal-type shikigami. Eight of them seemed... dull, blurry, unresponsive, immovable, and inaccessible. I wasn't eligible to use them. But there was one that was. It seemed completely alive, eager to get out.
Canonically, when someone inherited the Ten Shadows technique, they came away with a copy of the divine dogs, which were completely available for use. But that wasn't my case; I could sense the wolves were completely unusable, but what I could use was—
"Izumi?" I looked up and saw Taylor and the others who were looking at me worriedly.
"Is everything okay, Miyamura? Is something wrong with your quirk?" Aizawa asked, his eyes shining slightly.
"No… actually, I'm better than ever… I just discovered that keeping things in my shadow is more of a side effect… my quirk's main ability is something else." I said simply. All four of their eyes widened slightly.
"Really?! What can you do?!" Ruby asked excitedly.
"Summon animals," I said simply. All four of them blinked. I laughed lightly and separated myself from the rest, my hands moving almost entirely on their own, like something I'd been doing for years, even though it was the first time my hands had formed an animal shape.
I looked at my projected shadow, specifically at my shadow's hands. They formed a rabbit. My body seemed to drip shadows and create a small puddle beneath me, and with a small pop, a rabbit emerged from the shadows. We all stared at the rabbit.
"Oh, my cookie! That's such a cute bunny!" Ruby laughed happily as she grabbed the rabbit. The rabbit tried to struggle out of Ruby's grasp.
"It looks like a normal rabbit." Aizawa said as he snatched the rabbit from Ruby and grabbed it by the ears.
"That's adorable. It suits you," Taylor said amusedly.
"Does he have a tattoo?" Azula asked as she looked closely at the rabbit. "What a rebellious rabbit," she scoffed back. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the rabbit from Aizawa's hands. The rabbit clung to me eagerly. I rested it on my shoulder, and the rabbit snuggled up to my head.
"It's so adorable," Ruby said, her eyes sparkling.
"It's name is Rabbit Escape," I said simply as I petted him. The four of them looked at me in confusion. "From what I understand, they aren't normal animals I can summon, but rather, each one has its own ability, its own Quirk, that they can use to aid me." I said with a smile. The four of their eyes widened.
"It's like winning the power lottery!" Taylor said incredulously. And I nodded. And not only that, if it really was a copy of what the ten canon shadows could do, that means it could fuse them together—at a quick count, that's around 500 different fusions, not counting Mahoraga. It was just ridiculous!
"And what can the rabbit do? Did you name it... Rabbit Escape? Did you name it, or did it come with the quirk?" Azula asked, looking closely at the rabbit. I shrugged.
"It seemed appropriate. And... I'd better show them." I said, smiling playfully at him. Everyone nodded quickly. "Let's do this." I told the rabbit as I dropped him into my shadows. I took a deep breath and began to use large amounts of my aura.
I injected my aura and channeled it into Rabbit Escape. It quickly began to use its special ability. From my shadow, more and more rabbits began to emerge rapidly. Dozens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of rabbits instantly exploded, flooding the entire street where we were standing. I started to laugh out loud as I let myself be carried away by the seemingly endless wave of rabbits.
I could feel a large group of rabbits being killed, and my attention immediately went to Aizawa. He was using his quirk while looking at the rabbits. To my surprise, all the rabbits in his vision began to turn into shadows, clearing large areas, but the rabbits were everywhere, and they just kept multiplying.
"Izumi! Stop them!" I heard Taylor squeal as she was crushed by large numbers of rabbits and suffocated to death. With one last laugh, I made the rabbit escape, and then all the copies stopped and instantly exploded into shadows that seemed to drip before melting into the ground and disappearing.
I looked at the four people, and they were slightly disturbed as they stared at the shadow at my feet, searching for more rabbits.
"What the hell was that?!" Azula asked in disbelief as she straightened her clothes once more. I laughed lightly.
"Escape from the rabbit, not the strongest of animals, but it has the quirk to multiply in enormous numbers. They will serve as a distraction." I said with a wide smile.
"That was amazing!!" Ruby squealed happily. "What other animals do you have?!" Ruby asked excitedly, I grimaced.
"I only have Rabbit Escape," I said with a grimace.
"Didn't you say there were ten?" Aizawa asked, confused. I nodded.
"I can feel them. There are definitely 10, but 9 of them are… disabled? Inaccessible? I don't know why, but I can't use them." I said completely sincerely.
"A quirk with conditions?" Aizawa asked, frowning. "It's rare, but not unheard of. Especially since it came from a runestone, which makes it more abnormal than natural quirks. Do you have any idea how one could be unlocked?" Aizawa asked. I hummed lightly.
"Not really? They're just... there. I know how to summon them, but I don't think it'll do anything." I said simply. I placed my hands to form the shape of a dog with my shadow. Just as I feared, absolutely nothing happened. I changed the shape of my hand to all the other animal shapes. Nothing.
If we followed canonical rules, then I was supposed to perform an exorcism ritual and defeat the new shikigami in single combat in order to use them. But... how the hell do I invoke a ritual with a Quirk? How was the ritual canonically summoned? I couldn't recall Megumi ever doing it.
The only ritual Megumi consistently used was the Mahoraga. And it was frustrating. Megumi was frustrating to watch. She barely improved her cursed technique simply because she had an "invincible" trump card. The moment she lost in any way, her first instinct was to commit suicide by summoning the Mahoraga. Ridiculous.
Yes, Mahoraga was nearly invincible under the right conditions. But ignoring the full potential of all the other shikigami was ridiculous.
But back to the taming rituals. I couldn't recall Megumi using any of them. Whenever she acquired a new shikigami, it was off-screen, which was frustrating at the moment. But even if I did know, I doubt it would be of any help. Aura wasn't cursed energy, and shikigami didn't exist as such. There shouldn't be any ritual to tame them.
"No, nothing." I said with a sigh of disappointment.
"There were 9," Aizawa pointed out. I blinked at him and tilted my head in confusion. "You made nine shapes: a dog, a bird, a toad, a snake, an elephant, a rabbit, a deer, a bull, and a tiger. What's the tenth?" Aizawa asked, my eyes wide.
"Do you know about shadowgraphy?" I asked, surprised. Aizawa snorted and pointed at the ground.
"No, the figures are pretty good. The shadow figures were pretty accurate." Aizawa said simply.
"Ah... right." I said simply with a crooked smile. "And the tenth... it gives me a really bad feeling. I know I probably can't summon it, but it's a horrible idea to do so." I said with a grimace.
"Can you tell what they do?" Taylor asked, confused. I wrinkled my nose. I didn't see the point in hiding that information. Rabbit Escape was just like its canon counterpart, so I expected the rest to stay the same.
"If I'm not mistaken and reading my aura very incorrectly...yes. Divine dogs can tear more easily with their fangs and are good trackers. The Nue, the bird, has great speed and emits lightning. The toad has a long tongue capable of snaring enemies or bringing someone to safety inside its body."
"The great snake is massive, like… very huge. Elephant Max, it can expel large amounts of water. Rabbit Escape, you already know. The piercing ox can charge with immense force, but it can only move in a straight line. The longer the charge, the more powerful it will be."
"The tiger… that one confuses me. So, I'll skip it for now. And finally, the round deer. I guess the best summon I'd want to unlock is the ability to instantly heal serious injuries." I sighed. The eyes of the other four present widened.
"You... you're fortunate." Azula said dryly as she recovered from the shock.
"That's incredible, Izumi. It may not be a direct improvement to your strength, but it certainly increases your versatility tremendously," Taylor said, her eyes shining.
"Animals with quirks! That sounds amazing! Too bad you can't summon the rest yet." Ruby said with a pout.
"Truly amazing, Miyamura. You just have to figure out how to use the rest of your animals. It may be time. Some grow slowly and improve in some way, such as accumulating quirks. You just have to figure out what it takes to use them effectively. It's not a good role model, but Moord Nag, is a good example of a summoning and accumulation quirk." Aizawa said with a grimace. I nodded.
"I'll have to experiment." I said simply. Aizawa nodded. "But before that, there's one more thing I want to try." I said before Aizawa left. Aizawa sighed.
"Alright, let's get this over with. What is it?" Aizawa asked. I grimaced as I summoned the escape rabbit once.
"Kill him." I said simply as I grabbed the rabbit.
"Wait, what?! You want to kill him?!" Ruby asked, horrified. I grimaced.
"I feel like… something bad will happen if the summon is killed. And I want to know exactly what it is so I don't get caught off guard in the middle of an important fight." I said honestly. Everyone grimaced.
"Are you sure? The worst that can happen is you lose it forever. It's rare for a quirk to disappear like that. But summoning quirks are always rare," Azula said with a frown. I grimaced.
"I know, but I want to know. As useful as Rabbit Escape is under certain conditions, I'd rather have no doubt about the usefulness of my Quirk than have it fail in the middle of a fight." I said honestly. Everyone nodded. I took a deep breath and immediately moved my hand quickly and decapitated my shadow.
Rabbit Escape was instantly killed and turned into a pool of shadows. I felt the sensation of Rabbit Escape's figure inside me close in tightly, darkening and becoming more opaque, becoming much more inaccessible than the other nine figures. I felt my stomach drop. I immediately felt a surge of energy surge out of Rabbit Escape.
The energy first sought out the nine figures, but since they were all sealed, the energy directed itself toward me and filled me immediately. I shuddered as I felt something shift inside me. I felt stronger, lighter—certainly not much, but I had definitely become slightly stronger.
"Pfff!" I blinked and looked at the girls, who were trying to hold back a laugh as they looked… over my head. I looked up, but I didn't see anything above me.
"Miyamura... why do you have bunny ears?" Aizawa asked slowly. I froze in place and reached up to find precisely what Aizawa had said: a pair of bunny ears growing out of my head. I could hear my three fiancées burst into laughter. I started to blush slightly.
"It's not funny!" I snapped in their direction.
"Oh my gosh! He has a fluffy tail!" Ruby squealed from behind me. My eyes shot wide open, and I looked behind me without hesitation. I stared in horror as a bunny tail twitched on my back. Azula was the first to snap and start laughing out loud, but the others quickly followed. Even Aizawa had a small, amused smile on his face. My face blushed deeply.
"I'll kill them all." I groaned in embarrassment.
" Ignore them. You know what changed besides your appearance?" Aizawa asked amusedly. I growled loudly and glared at my fiancées before sighing and inspecting myself once more.
"It was... weird, when the Escape Rabbit was killed, I felt like his power was trying to bond with one of the other animals, but since they weren't... available, it bonded with me." I said with a frown.
The only thing I could come up with was Totality. When a shikigami was killed, the power they left behind was inherited by another shikigami. It increased their base stats, and they acquired the abilities of the slain shikigami. Or so the theory was, the only display of said power was the divine dogs, and Nue: Totality - Merged Beast Agito, which was never confirmed if the shikigami involved in the 'fusion' were sacrificed by Sukuna to create it.
I inspected myself once more and frowned. I felt slightly stronger. The difference wasn't much, and it was certainly barely noticeable. I suppose inherited strength from a rabbit certainly wouldn't be much help. Finally, I searched for the most essential thing and found it.
I took a deep breath, and with a slight mental flex, I split myself in two.
"This... this is weird." I said simultaneously from both bodies. I looked up, and everything was duplicated. Having two bodies was terribly confusing; I felt everything duplicated but different. The points of view were completely different. The noises, the sensations, and all the stimuli were distinct from one body to the other; it was truly disconcerting.
"Izumi?" Taylor asked with wide eyes, both of my bodies immediately looking at her.
"Apparently… I can inherit the abilities of my sacrificed summons." I said with both bodies once more before both bodies grimaced. "I have to learn how to handle this," I said with a grimace.
"Two Izumis!" Ruby squealed, surprised and terribly delighted. She moved quickly and began inspecting us both, her eyes wide with excitement.
"And you said you had other animals with more quirks? Does that mean by sacrificing them all, you could have a massive boost and nine different quirks?" Azula asked, surprised. I thought I'd hear jealousy in her voice now that some of Ten Shadows' potential had been revealed, but her voice sounded genuinely curious, with no malice or annoyance in it.
"That... is horrifying. In a surprising way. Just thinking about some of the combinations you've made with these new... Quirks, it's incredibly strong. That Ox Charging ability, along with Thunderclap and Flash or Godspeed, would be a terrifying combination." Taylor said, thoroughly impressed. Aizawa and the other two shuddered slightly at the thought. I grinned wildly.
"I like the way you think, Taylor," I said with both bodies at the same time.
"This... is incredible. How strong are your clones?" Aizawa asked, fascinated. I blinked and began inspecting both bodies once more. I quickly grimaced.
"Almost as strong as a civilian." I grimaced. Aizawa wrinkled his nose.
"And how many?" Aizawa asked. I focused once more and began cloning myself. One after another, they began to appear, and I had to close my eyes as they all appeared. I'd only gotten to about 30 of them, and my head was already pounding with information.
"Taylor. You're a monster." We all said at the same time. Taylor looked confused.
"It's just me. I'm not cloning my consciousness. I have to control each body individually and get feedback from all of them. This amount of clones is my feedback limit. Now, however many I can effectively control will surely be a smaller number." I said with a grimace. Taylor snorted amusedly.
"I remind you, I spent three days completely catatonic after the first feedback. Maybe you should do the same," Taylor pointed out. All of my bodies stopped as I considered this, only to feel my clones being immediately eliminated.
"No one's frying their brains," Aizawa growled, his quirk active, in my direction. I pouted.
"Mmm, Izumi's new additions hold up even under Aizawa-sensei's quirk." Azula pointed out, and we all looked up at my head.
"Is it temporary, or did you just become a bunny boy?" Ruby asked curiously. I stopped and paled.
"I hope this isn't permanent!" I exclaimed in panic. The girls laughed at my misfortune, and I began to look at my quirk once more. I frowned when I quickly found Rabbit Escape still inside me. It seemed to be disabled, almost the same as the others, but in a very different way than the other shikigami.
It was as if Rabbit Escape were dead, while the others were simply asleep. The same difference. But with one significant difference. It seemed Rabbit Escape was slowly regenerating.
"Oh." I said simply, a feeling of relief running through my body. I hadn't lost Rabbit Escape. But if I didn't completely lose Rabbit Escape, would Totality still exist? I explored my new Quirk once more and found a timer. I didn't know that could exist inside someone. It wasn't even exact; it was just a feeling. I had about two hours left.
"What did you discover, Miyamura?" Aizawa asked seriously.
"Oh yeah… this… fusion, is temporary. It will last about two more hours. The good thing is, the bad feeling I had about sacrificing my summon, wasn't as bad as I feared. Rabbit Escape will be disabled for about a day until it regenerates. After that, I guess I can summon it and use it again, or keep sacrificing it to have its quirk for a while. That's nice to know." I said with a gleeful smile. This opened so many doors! A quirk full of versatility just got even more versatile!
"That's good to know. Try to figure out more uses for your new quirk. Unlike the others who had over a decade to get used to it and discover their quirks. You're just starting out with yours, so take your time. Also, if you're about to experiment with something dangerous, don't hesitate to call me."
"Normally, we would let students experiment with their Quirk alone unless we see they are hurting themselves in some way. But you are an S-Rank Hunter with an aura befitting your rank. It would be dangerous if something got out of hand," Aizawa said finally. I sighed and nodded.
"Understood, sensei. I'll be bothering you then." I said with a lazy smile. Aizawa grimaced.
"You really are a troublemaker. You'll be disturbing my sleep." Aizawa grunted ruefully. I laughed lightly. "Okay, do you have a name for your Quirk? Do you want me to notify you and add your new Quirk to your personal information?" Aizawa asked simply.
"Ten Shadows. It's a fitting name. And go for it. I don't plan on hiding it. Well, maybe I'll say in public that I haven't used it yet because no one has been a strong enough challenge for me to use it, but only to prevent people from thinking I got a runestone. I don't want Draw Sword connecting the dots and coming to bother me." I grimaced. Something that was echoed by everyone.
"Yeah… let's do that. You might sound arrogant, but after your festival, you have the right to be. I'll take the information to Nezu, and he'll take care of all the paperwork." Aizawa said before nodding. "If that's all, I'll take my leave. Congratulations, Miyamura! You're now half a step away from being considered for the National Hunter category if you can master your new Quirk." Aizawa said mockingly before turning around and leaving.
"A National Hunter?! Aizawa-sensei thinks you'll be a National Hunter, Izumi! That's amazing!" Ruby squealed happily before gasping. "I'll be married to a National Hunter!" Ruby gasped. I rolled my eyes. Taylor was just looking at me in amusement, but Azula was looking at me lustfully while biting her lip.
"I hope it's the power that's turning you on, not my bunny ears," I said dryly. Azula woke up from her trance and snorted.
"Mmm, I don't know, bunny boys are sexy." Azula said while purring.
"Oh, oh, oh! Can we get you a bunny suit?!" Ruby asked with a leer. I shuddered violently.
"No!" I said firmly, rejecting the idea.
"Hmm, I remember when we first started dating, you said you'd dress up as anything if I dressed up the same. What do you say, we get bunny outfits for ourselves so Izumi can wear one?" Taylor asked with a knowing smile in Azula and Ruby's direction. Both girls stopped and smiled widely.
"What?! No!" I tried to stop them.
"Taylor, you're having a streak of good ideas," Azula said with a lascivious smile.
"I refuse!" I said again loudly.
"I'll start looking on the internet!" Ruby said happily.
"Don't ignore me!" I snapped. But the three of them just ignored me as they crowded around Ruby and her scroll. I groaned loudly. Me and my stupid mouth.
Well… I'll be able to see the three of them in bunny outfits. That was a reasonable compensation… yes… an excellent compensation.
"You know what, screw it, get one for Darkness too." I gave up. If you can't beat them, join them. I walked over to Ruby. The three girls giggled in amusement.
If I were forced to do it, I'd thoroughly enjoy half of my deal. Especially if I could use my clones for 'that.'