Shinku Mono

## Portrayal

**Shinku Sakamoto** is a main character of the story Demon Slayer: Blade of the Night. He is a Demon Slayer, working for the Demon Slayer Core, and is currently the Sand Tsuguko, under the Sand Pillar Suguru Sunarashi.

## **Appearance:**

Shinku Sakamoto is a tall, slender boy with an sickly pale completion and light blonde hair, which he inherited from his Irish mother. Shinku notably wears a tired, dead expression nearly all the time, while also failing to show much emotion. To an outside observer, he expresses himself about as well as a wooden plank.

Shinku has deep eyebags that never seem to fade no matter how well rested he is.

Shinku wears a traditionally colored Demon Slayer Uniform, and originally wore a white overcoat, but eventually swapped it for a light tan variant, due to how easily the first one got dirty.

Shinku often wears his naginata wrapped around a long piece of cloth. When not carrying the weapon, or in cold weather, he uses the cloth as a scarf.

## **Personality:**

Shinku is an odd person upon first meeting. There are several layers on how well one can meet him. The first impression many get of him is a cold, distant man that doesn't seem to care for anything or anyone, and has an intense hatred for the very concept of demonkind, even more than the average slayer. Once you share a conversation or two with him, Shinku will dump his entire past on you, hiding very little details about himself, usually using the story as a means to prove a point. However, only once you truly know Shinku and befriend him, can you understand his entirety

Shinku is a man plagued by intense guilt. He regrets being the one that ended all his family's lives, even if they were demons. He insists that demons are animals and unredeemable by nature not because he truly believes that, but that's what he wants to believe, and if it is true, maybe he can truly sleep well one day. He exposes his past, in the most negative and casual light possible for the sake of coping, as if repeating over and over the event, trivializing it, would make it any better on his part.

Shinku is someone that is not fearless, but still incredibly reckless. With his ability to suppress his own negative feelings, he can push his fear down to nearly all the time throw himself onto the opponent, only fighting with more strategy when no lives are on the line.

Since he was a child, Shinku was always riddled with fear, though the traumatizing years he spend being his family's drinking tap have desensitized him, and since then, Shinku barely reacts to pain, even if his feeling of pain is amplified. He hunts demons with barely a thought, wishing to end them as painfully as possible, and feeling an intense disgust, to the point where he specifically chose a longer weapon to be further away from his opponents.

That belief was shattered, however, when Shinku began to work with Ueru. Being familiar with him already, the demon girl insisted on understand why Shinku thought the things he did, and slowly but surely, she managed to break his walls, understand how he felt, and ironically making him fall in love.

Ueru's care for him, and her constant attempts at understanding him forced Shinku to rethink his perspective on demons, originally finding it hard to reconcile that maybe not all demons were bloodlusted monsters by definition, that some, but not all, could be saved. That belief was temporarily suppressed when Ueru was brutally killed by Akaza, insisting his newfound belief that Ueru was just "the one good demon", rather than one of a few. After the six month timeskip, Shinku is determined to make good on his end of the deal, and see demons as more than monsters in her memory, even if he has ways to go.

Shinku's nature is that of protection. He wishes to protect and care for his friends, his biggest wish is to never have them suffer, and wants to be the one to shoulder their burdens, seeing no issue in that. His sacrificial nature has been denoted as dangerous by Suguru Sunarashi, his master, but Shinku does not see fault in this trait of his.

Shinku is someone that has very little physical ties to the world. He doesn't particularly care for money, and he doesn't much care about any sort of position of power. He understands their importance, but fails to put any actual tangible worth in them. Shinku's views on possession and value can be defined by one phrase "One man's treasure are those around him". This does mean that losing someone he loves pains him significantly. Ueru's death was a horrible experience for him, and he didn't know her for long. Shinku had reached a state of misery where he could barely speak, and simply desired to be around his friends until he eventually got better. However, the feeling that grief would never cease, and that he would never be enough to protect his friends, the same way he wasn't enough to protect Ueru, had the powerlessness accumulate so much Shinku burst into laughter, as a cheap way of coping.

Shinku is capable of appreciating moments of levity between him and his friends, engaging in pointless conversations about fish with them in Tokyo, and even sharing a rivalry with Iwajima. He is also very careless when it comes to insults, replying to Hachu, who was pestering him just prior, that he was indeed a great doctor, and that he was thankful. The overwhelming sincerity he randomly displays tends to overwhelm people. Sometimes he does this intentionally.

## **Synopsis:**

Shinku was born into a relatively prestigious family, and despite being deathly scared of everything because of his enhanced feeling of pain, Shinku led a pretty good life. That is, until Enmu turned his entire family into demons, save for him due to his Special Blood, a feature that made his family keep him alive and fed, however, stuck to the wall as a tap so that they could get drunk at any time. He proceeded to escape the confinement once he reached puberty, and after spending but a month of the Sand Sect training, Shinku came back, and massacred his family.

## **Abilities:**

**Superhuman Strength:** Shinku is incredibly physically strong, being the second in terms of sheer strength in his group, only behind Iwajima, who is outstanding in that department. Shinku is capable of launching his naginata at the speed of a bullet by merely tossing the weapon, and even stopping a moving car by thrusting his naginata downward, piercing through its frame and the pavement under it, with relative ease.

**Superhuman Speed:** Shinku has many feats in terms of speed, one of them is being capable of even using his self-made Eighth Form, which requires him to be moving so incredibly fast that he creates afterimages naturally, and attacks so swiftly that it appears as if he's coming from every direction, incarnating a sandstorm in terms of how quickly he can jab his weapon.

**Tactical Intellect:** Shinku, while failing to display this trait more often than not due to his recklessness, has been shown in casual sparring to be a master tactician, picking and choosing targets and Forms to use, while relying on the opponent's own movement to determine what they're going to do, and calculate the way to proceed after dodging or blocking the blow.

**Indomitable Will:** Shinku is someone that is suicidally resistant. He often jumps directly into targets, and no matter how much damage he takes, as long as he doesn't fall unconscious, he will not cease fighting. Shinku's determination to follow his own path also tends to put him at odds with the Demon Slayer Core and his superiors, seeing how he insisted on refusing the position of Tsuguko if it meant he would no longer travel with his friends.

**Enhanced Touch:** Shinku naturally possesses a strengthened feeling of touch, as to his entire skin is incredibly sensitive to most stimuli. While enduring pain during his time as a drinking tap, he has shut down this talent of his, and only now does he use it again. It does require concentration to enter a state where he uses it to its fullest. Using this sense, Shinku can feel very minute vibrations in the air, to the point where he can fight while entirely blinded by merely feeling the air around him move. Two drawbacks of this ability is that Shinku needs to be shirtless for it to be activated while he uses it for maximum effectiveness, and he feels six time the pain that he would normally feel.

**Marechi Blood:** Shinku's blood is a rare type of blood that renders demons drunk when consumed, similarly to Sanemi Shinazugawa's own. That said, Sanemi's blood is naturally stronger, making it so demons will tend to simply fall asleep or go feral, rather than have a state of drunkenness like Shinku's provides. This trait of his interested Enmu, who induced his family into locking Shinku up, and keeping him alive for the sake of using his blood like alcohol.

**Total Concentration Breathing:** Shinku has successfully mastered Total Concentration Breathing, the first step into achieving a realm of power reserved for Pillars. He is, therefore, capable of using strength much beyond that of a regular human.

**Repetitive Action:** Mastering the technique after talking to Iwajima about it during the timeskip, Shinku can use Repetitive Action successfully. He activates the technique by uttering the phrase "I'm Sorry".

**Demon Slayer Mark:** Composed of countless stitch-like marks appearing all throughout his body, Shinku's Demon Slayer Mark is now somewhat mastered, and even if he gets incredibly drained after use, he doesn't damage his own body, nor fall unconscious.

## **Fighting Style:**

**Naginatajutsu:** Shinku is extremely adept at wielding the Naginata, a weapon that is entirely unconventional for the Demon Slayer Core, and is, therefore, a talent self-taught by Shinku, who found it difficult to wield the kusarigama properly. Shinku's skill with the weapon is immense, as he alone was capable of adapting all of the current Sand Breathing Forms, and then proceeded to add three more on top of them.

### **Breathing Style:**

**Sand Breathing** *(Suna no Kokyu)*: Shinku is extremely adept at the Sand Breathing, being capable of creating three new Forms for it, all the while naturally choosing a weapon that fits the style, despite being so different from the traditional kusarigama.

#### **Techniques:**

* **First Form: Buried in Dunes** *(Ichi no Kata: Ume Rareta Sakyu)* - The user performs two continuous slashes from opposite directions in quick succession, with its cuts having a powerful range and damage

* **Second Form: Desert Blade** *(Ni no Kata: Sabaku no Ha)* - The user begins to perform powerful, long ranged horizontal slashes, reaching a massive area and going under the opponent's defenses

* **Third Form: Shrivel and Die** *(San no Kata: Chidjinde Shinu)* - The user performs quick, skin-level cuts on the opponent, over and over. This can be used as a defensive Form

* **Fourth Form: Sand Cannon** *(Shi no Kata: Suna Taiho)* - Throwing away their weapon, the user launches their spear full-force against the opponent, tearing through any defenses and stunning them.

* **Fifth Form: Booming Sands** *(Go no Kata: Todoroki Suna)* - The user jumps up in the air, swinging their weapon downward and striking with all their strength and weight.

* **Sixth Form: Desert Whirlwind** *(Roku no Kata: Sabaku Senpu)* - The user slashes all around themselves with their weapon continuously. This Form is designed to be used while moving, and to tear through a multitude of enemies

* **Seventh Form: Malevolent Punishment** *(Shichi no Kata: Kyoakuna Batsu)* - The user kicks the ground back, dashing while biding their time to thrust their weapon, causing immense damage with this singular attack.

* **Eighth Form: Infinite Sandstorm** *(Hachi no Kata: Mugen Sunarashi)* - The user jabs all around the target continuously, causing damage from omnidirectional attacks, performed so fast the used doesn't even appear to move. This attack tires the user out, however, and is designed only to attack a single target.

* **Ninth Form: Barren Breeze** *(Ku no Kata: Kaze no Koya)* - The user takes a powerful stance, using their enhanced sense of touch to map their surroundings completely. Using the range of the weapon, the user will thrust and pierce anything that enters their range.

## **Equipment:**

**Naginata:** An odd, experimental choice of weapon, Shinku chose the naginata, a weapon composed of a long wooden handle that is then topped off by a single-edged blade that is similar to that of a katana, while the handle and the blade are separated by a handguard. Shinku's weapon in particular has a bronze-colored blade, as is expected to be considering he is a Sand Breathing user, and the handguard is that of a whirlwind-like shape done in light tan with a silver border. Despite being traditionally similar to an European Glaive, which is designed for simply long-ranged slashing, Shinku uses the naginata very similarly to a spear. The handle was originally made out of wood, but upon being broken by Haragiri, the weapon was fixed by Ueru to have a bamboo handle. This handle, due to being also powered by her Blood Demon Art, is more resistant than the original handle, and is harder than metal, despite the appearance.

## **Familiars:**

**Sakyumaru:** Shinku's Crow, Sakyumaru is somewhat shy, requiring Shinku to be away from his group in order for the crow to actually deliver any information to him.

**Yorumaru:** Shared with his group, Yorumaru is a demon serpent that has displayed at the very least affection for the main group, while also providing support in battles with its abilities.

## **Battles:**

* Shinku, Ryo and Iwajima vs Dokuro
* Shinku vs Shuwan
* Shinku vs Iwajima (Sparring)
* Shinku, Ryo, Taro, Iwajima and Fubuki vs Hisame
* Shinku and Ueru vs Mihenkei
* Shinku and Ueru vs Aku
* Shinku and Ueru vs Mihenkei
* Shinku, Ryo, Taro, Kanjuro, Iwajima, Fubuki, Gikuro, Aya and Yushibo vs Akaza
* Shinku vs Sand Sect Lieutenants
* Shinku vs Suguru
* Shinku, Iwajima, Taro, Ryo and Yorumaru vs Kosui

## **Trivia:**

* Shinku's name is very simple in meaning, translating into "Hardship, struggle", but being composed of the characters for "Parent, Guardian" and "Emptiness". Both meanings are very indicative of Shinku's personality as a whole. His actual surname, [Sakamoto], means "The One Who Lives at the Bottom of the Slope", which has an interpretation applying to Shinku.
	+ His fake surname, [Mono], means "Thing", as it comes from the local legend formed from him, being of the "Crimson Thing/Crimson Person" or "Yoko Mono", and due to coincidence, Shinku's name also means crimson, so he chose to adopt the fake surname as a means to abandon his original family entirely.
* Shinku's favorite food is chocolate. In fact, he has a strong sweet tooth
* Shinku is a clean freak, and knowing this, chose a new coat that wouldn't appear to be as dirty as the first one, so he wouldn't be as bothered by the dirt.
* Shinku's openness level is about 80%
* Shinku's favorite color is green.
* Shinku is seen to be incredibly, almost comically handsome. And while he isn't above using his looks to gain favor, he never did so as he never needed to.
* Shinku's tired and dead appearance is entirely incidental. Even if his family was normal and he'd grow up finely, he'd still have that exact expression plastered on his face.
* Shinku's naginata was wrongfully said to be an odachi a few times in the earlier chapters.
* If he was in Kimetsu Academy, Shinku would be the annoyingly single guy, that gets letters from girls all around the school, but simply didn't want a relationship yet and ignored them all. He'd be hated by most males that weren't his friends, and even those would get angry at him every single Valentine's Day. He would also be the vice-president of the music club, which was created due to the dissatisfaction at Mr. Kyogai's class. And while Shinku is the vice-president, he and the de-facto president Kaguya are nearly equal in power, and he also tends to be a mediator when she ends up being too brash.