My Shinobi Academia: The Legend of the Guardian of Light
Chapter 1
First Encounters
The incident occurred suddenly.
For those witness to it, it was a normal day—a school day, at that. Students and teachers gathered for their early morning homeroom in the glass tower home to an alumni of famous students.
It was a calm day. An exceptionally normal, boring day, as days tended to be at school.
For the witnesses of the incident, the day would be an omen of extraordinary experiences to come—both good and ill. The incident would be marked by a sudden, all consuming blinding white light just outside the windows of the academic building, glaring brighter than the sun at the peak of noon. Those who dared to peer closer rather than shield their eyes and bury their heads against their desks, anticipating the worst, would see a violet flicker fly from the light like a bolt of lightning, followed by the unmistakable sound of shattering of glass.
It would strike fear into the hearts of some, ignite the flame of the protectors, and ruin an exhausted teacher's entire morning plan.
However, for Amaririsu Yūhi, a young shinobi of the Leaf Village and descendent of the prestigious Uchiha and Nara Clans, the incident—which was actually an accident—was less like jumping through a door and more akin to being dragged through it by a monster. One moment she was on solid ground, the next she was being yanked by an invisible force and flung like a rag-doll through time and space, rapidly reappearing above ground at a high velocity.
She felt the familiar flutter of her insides associated with falling from great heights. She saw a bright light reflect in glass, then her own reflection suddenly flying towards her.
"Ah, crap!"
Or, well, that's what she tried to cry out. There wasn't time to curse; in fact, there was barely time to lift her arms to shield her face.
By the time the word "ah," left her mouth, she was shooting through the tall rectangular pane of glass with velocity and force that would leave cannonballs envious. If cannonballs could feel envy, anyway.
Glass unzipped flesh, tore through fabric. It buried into the unsuspecting victim of a space-time accident.
Still, instinct guided the kunoichi. She kept her senses, rolled through her landing, spinning onto her toes and sliding over the tile floor, the tips of her left hand's fingers gliding over the surface. Her right hand, on instinct, immediately reached for her tantō and gripped the hilt as she slid to a stop.
Thin rivers of blood trailed down the length of her arms, pouring from the cuts on the inner and outer sides of the limbs. She could feel the shards of glass embedded in her skin, feel warm blood dripping down the bridge of her nose to her chin, down her legs and across her torso.
Something had gone wrong, it didn't take a genius to know that. And she was hurt, badly. The glass had torn straight through her purple tank top and the mesh armor she wore beneath it, designed with a single long sleeve covering her left arm and sleeveless on the other. The long-sleeve hid the brutal scars that now rested beneath it; scars carved by Lightning Nature chakra in a sacrifice to save an enemy named Haku—a kindred spirit in this cruel world of shinobi.
Quickly she pressed her hand to her forehead, feeling the cloth of her precious bandana, colored purple like her tank top. Sewn on the inside was a promise, a promise left behind by her beloved cousin and Big Brother, Shisui Uchiha: I'll always be with you.
No tears, it seemed, but she'd check it more thoroughly later.
Her hand moved to her collarbone, feeling her Leaf headband hung around her neck, and then the pendent of the Uchiha Fan and Nara Clan crest fused together. Both were still there, intact. Her black shorts and sandals were more or less unscathed, she noted with a quick glance.
Overall, not too bad. If she ignored the blood and pain.
There was a reason shinobi didn't dive through glass windows without breaking them with a ninja tool or explosive first. And this was it. She needed to figure out where she was, assess any possible threats.
Crimson burned in her right eye, veins bulged along her left temple, towards the piercing lavender eye bearing a scar of betrayal through her blue eyebrow, eyelid, to the bottom of her orbital bone; these eyes, the Sharingan and Byakugan, enhanced her visual acuity, the former being her kekkei genkai, her birthright by blood, and the latter being a final gift of a dying friend—brother—named Ryu.
In an instant the kunoichi took in her foreign surroundings.
A classroom? Is this the Academy? No, she shook her head faintly. This room isn't set up like the Academy. The desks are all wrong; every student is on the same leveled plane, with a desk per student rather than the long desks we use. And the students…
They were caught in varying states of shock or hiding behind flipped over desks to escape the shower of glass she caused. And these kids… They were older than her and absolutely the strangest group of people she'd ever seen.
There was a girl with pink skin, pink hair and small horns on her head to the kunoichi's immediate left. A long tongue was wrapped around her waist, yanking her behind a fort of upturned desks. The tongue belonged to a slightly more normal looking girl—if one looked past the inhuman length of her tongue, which brought to mind bad memories of the rogue Leaf shinobi Orochimaru. Her hair was long, sea-green, and the ends were tied in a neat bow.
One row deeper was a boy with a muscular tail. Another row over she noticed the tallest and broadest of the boys, whose appearance made the kunoichi tilt her head slightly.
Was he a super fan of her sensei, Kakashi Hatake? He wore an almost identical mask. His pale grey hair was swept forward, covering his right eye.
The boy huddled his towering frame defensively over two people. The first was, to the naked eye, either a pair of floating clothes with a female anatomy or an invisible girl. The other was an almost completely normal girl with dark purple hair stylized with an asymmetrical fringe; almost normal except the long, tube-like earlobes bearing some sort of body modification attachment at their ends.
There were others. An incredibly short boy with purple ball like hair, who wailed incessantly and seemed to be crying already. A feisty red-haired boy who was using himself as a shield between the kunoichi and his fellow students. Among them was a boy with a head that resembled a raven or crow. There was a boy with a head of hair colored white on his right side and red on his left; he had a nasty burn scar on the left side of his face.
There was an exceptionally busty girl at the back of the class, with a spiky ponytail to put most Nara to shame. A boy with fluffy dark-green hair and still others to count.
One that caught her attention was a female student, whose right temple was shaved to the back of her ear and edge of the crown down to the flesh beneath, whose thick black hair, scattered with icy-white highlights like random bolts of lightning, was parted from that edge to lay over her left shoulder. She bore a deep scar through her bottom lip.
The girl was Body Flickering through rows, upturning desks as a distraction while grabbing stunned classmates and dragging them to the back of the classroom.
In total, Amari counted twenty-one students. It took her but a breath to process every little detail, the gift of her visual prowess.
The kids were dressed in school uniforms—white button up shirts, grey jackets, dark green pants for the boys and dark green skirts for the girls. A few looked primed to attack.
They never got the chance.
Eyes snapping to her right, Amari took notice of the one adult in the room. He was quite slender, with a worn-out appearance that made the Nara wonder if he was an insomniac or if he simply failed to sleep the night before. His facial hair was disheveled—did he shave, ever?—and his black hair was shoulder-length and messy.
Does he know how to brush it?
To top it all off, his black outfit looked pretty ragged, as if it was his one outfit to wear day in and day out except for the odd occasion when he washed it. It was a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants, which he tucked into his boots. One distinguishing feature on his face was a scar below his right eye, over his ocular bone.
At that moment, when they locked gazes, his eyes flashed red. His mess of hair stood on its ends.
Amari's dōjutsu deactivated on their own, her chakra suddenly disrupted as if he'd shut off all of her chakra points.
Not good.
The adult grabbed the grayish cloth scarf, bundled together like mummy wrappings.
"Clever move, Villain," he spoke in a dangerous tone which resembled elite Jōnin like her sensei, her adoptive mother Kurenai Yūhi, and Asuma Sarutobi when they battled the Akatsuki together.
He launched the scarf at her, and it reacted unlike any piece of cloth she could recall seeing. It snaked around her body, controlled like the chakra threads shinobi of the Sand Village used to control their Puppets.
"But not clever enough!"
"Hey, wait a minute!" she pleaded.
Leaping with physical strength and speed she was thankful Kakashi and Kurenai forced her to build up, she evaded the scarf weapon, flipping back and up onto the tall door behind her, then quickly pushing off again to reach the ceiling, evading the other end of the scarf.
The disruption of her chakra made it impossible to stay connected. Grunting, annoyed, she shot off the ceiling at the adult, intent on ending this fight before it could escalate further.
He surprised her with a fluid evasion, sidestepping her attempted tackle. Conversely, she surprised him with her agility as she landed gracefully, rolled away from his scarf weapon, rose and blocked his flying knee.
Amari slid back, pieces of shattered glass parting behind her heels, crunching beneath her sandals. The air, she noted, rapidly began to chill. Sensing danger, she leapt and dashed a half-circle left, jumping and running along the chalk board as a trail of ice, formed out of the ice wall that suddenly appeared in front of the students, chased her.
"Ice Style?" she murmured beneath her breath, leaping directly at the adult.
The adult didn't block her kick. He showed his own agility, ducking beneath the blow, balancing on one leg as he struck with the other.
The kunoichi blocked the blow and used the momentum of the strike to throw herself into a backflip. She landed on his podium, hand instinctively returning to her tantō, secured behind her right shoulder on a black harness resembling her cousin's.
"This fight is pointless," Amari said. "Yield. I don't want to hurt you if I don't have to."
"Hmph."
He blinked. His hair fell. Chakra flowed normally through her body once more. But she didn't attack immediately or reactivate her dōjutsu. This could be an international incident if she harmed a member of one of the other Nations. Or if she allowed them to steal her eyes or harm and kill her.
"Yes, it is pointless. For you, anyway. Do you think I'll just let you walk free and cause further damage or injuries, Villain?"
He's stalling, she recognized. I don't think I saw him blink that entire time, so…
Unlike her, he was revealing too much of his abilities by relying on his dōjutsu so much. She hadn't even used a single jutsu yet, while his limitations were becoming far clearer.
However, although he is relying on his chakra disrupting dōjutsu, this man is highly trained and skilled in hand-to-hand combat, as well as using that scarf weapon of his. It'll be a tough battle if he keeps disrupting my chakra, especially if I keep limiting myself to taijutsu.
But, she lowered her hand from her blade, I can't risk an international incident by harming him with my kunais or tantō. He's only doing what he must to protect his students, no matter what it takes.
Still, why call me a villain? It's so strange. He's not wearing any headband I can see, and he hasn't made mention of mine. Is this a shinobi Village? He would have called me a Leaf shinobi by now, right? Or said something about my Sharingan and Byakugan.
Her bandana wasn't covering her left eye. She hadn't seen the need to maintain its secret when training alone.
What did she do then? Attack? Defend? If this was like the Academy of the Leaf then reinforcements were surely on the way, which ran the risk of being captured or killed by these foreigners.
This is such a drag. How did I end up accidentally traveling between Nations? Argh, and I seriously thought I finally figured out how to use the Flying Raijin, she groaned internally.
"I find your use of the word Villain to be archaic, honestly," she replied steadily. "And insulting. Hero? Villain? Those words are subjective constructs, defined by whoever is writing the narrative. Our world isn't that black and white." She cast a quick glance to his students. "If that's what this Nation is teaching its next generation, that they are Heroes and whomever they fight are Villains, then this is a Nation of fools."
The teacher narrowed his eyes at her but said nothing.
"It's naïve to believe you can divide people into such definitive factions. Life's a lot more nuanced than that," she said. "I've met Demons and so-called monsters, and every single one of them had hopes and dreams. They had hearts. They were all human. Flawed, maybe. But we all are. They weren't unworthy of redemption, like this society of heroes and villains you see."
"An interesting thesis, kid. I might've given you extra credit for the well-constructed lecture. Unfortunately for you, this isn't a Philosophy class." The teacher grabbed his scarf. "It's only homeroom."
His eyes flashed red again. His hair rose.
Despite her injuries, Amari smirked. She kind of liked this guy. Unfortunately for him, she hadn't only written a lecture for this class, but also a theory on how his dōjutsu worked. And she was confident she had a definitive conclusion.
"Consider my lecture free of charge, Sensei," she replied cooly.
"This kid," he smirked.
"Damn Villain! I'll kill you!"
The shout came from a student. A positively feral student with ash-blond hair and darkness in his crimson eyes.
"Stay out of this, Bakugo!" the teacher warned.
He was ignored.
An explosion erupted from the feral student's palms—some sort of kekkei genkai Amari didn't recognize from any of her studies. He launched into the air, over the ice barrier and drew his right palm back, crackles of a new explosion already beginning to form on his palm as a twisted grin pulled onto his face.
The twisted grin became a barely uttered gasp of pain, drowned out by another, smaller explosion. Smoke and ash filled the classroom and Amari's nostrils, but she was undamaged.
Suspecting further interference from the students, she had been primed to move at a moment's notice. The feral student hadn't expected that. He thought she was distracted, so he tried to make a name for himself by defeating the intruder.
A costly mistake. She launched from the podium with greater speed of a trained shinobi, caught his attack arm by the wrist, smashed his insides with a crushing blow and twisted his hand to face his torso.
The explosion, while small, sent him flying back over the ice wall. Not unconscious, just pissed off. Amari landed back on the podium with grace.
"Kacchan!" the dark-green haired boy cried out.
"I'm not finished with you yet!" he bellowed, aiming one palm at her and the other at the desks—and students—below him.
"Boys and their fragile egos," she muttered, prepared to evade.
She didn't have to. The teacher's eyes flicked over to his student, cutting off his jutsu before it could launch again.
"What th— my Quir—"
He crashed to the floor unceremoniously.
The teacher's decision to look away was a mistake. Her chakra returned.
Disappearing in a blur of speed, Amari rushed around the adult, slid the door open and shut it behind her all before he could set his eyes on her again. The teacher cursed beneath his breath, then declared the student—Bakugo—would receive detention for his reckless actions.
An alarm, she realized at that moment, was blaring through the building.
He has a dōjutsu that disrupts chakra flow, she panted. Warm blood slid down her skin, tickling her as it dripped and plopped onto the floor. She leapt with chakra to the ceiling, connecting to it and rushing away from the doorway. He called me a Villain. So did his student. His student has an explosive kekkei genkai I've never heard of before. Another has real Ice Style, like Haku.
She dashed towards a set of stairs, ignoring the pain of her injuries and the headache inducing alarm. Behind her a door slid open roughly. Then her chakra was disrupted, again.
"Damn it," she hissed, flipping out of the fall and landing on her feet
And he isn't wearing a shinobi headband anywhere to signify his Village. I checked with my Byakugan and I don't see one. What does that mean? Am I in a smaller Nation?
Amari leapt down the flight of stairs, turned and leapt down another into a new hallway. She scanned the area, head and eyes turning and flicking in all possible directions.
Which way? Did she follow the stairs down, jump out another window? Where would reinforcements look for her? Where was she even?
But those strange attributes of his students… Could it be unknown kekkei genkais? How could one small Nation have so many in one place? And why are there so many windows?! No one in their right mind would have this many structural weaknesses in a shinobi nation Academy.
It was asking for trouble. An invading force would—
"YEAAAHHHHHHH!"
The amplified scream shook the entire hallway. The glass vibrated violently, it shook and trembled on the verge of shattering. Amari cried out in pain, hands flying up to cover her ears in vain as she collapsed to her knees. She grit her teeth, face scrunching.
Too…loud! Is this a Sound Village gadget?
"Grr! Arrgghh!" she groaned, vision fogging.
I… I feel like I'm going to pass out. Have to…keep moving.
Pushing onto her feet, she tried to Body Flicker again.
Nothing.
"It's that dōjutsu again," she hissed when her chakra refused to function properly.
The piercing, faux rock star yell ended as she staggered towards the stairs. At that moment, cloth wrapped around her left wrist and tightened into something akin to steel. It tugged the weakened kunoichi chest first onto the cold tile floor.
"Nice work, Mic," the first adult she encountered thanked the faux rock star.
"No problem, Eraser Head!" He sounded like he had more exuberance than Might Guy.
However, the Uchiha, full of simmering anxiety, physical pain and withering patience was done playing games. She was furious.
"Where…" Amari growled, slowly rising back to her feet.
"The hell…"
She gripped the stiff scarf in her left hand, locked eyes with the pair of adults.
"Am I right now?!"
The disheveled teacher was joined by a man wearing an ensemble of black leather, the studded jacket of which he upturned the collar of; he also wore sunglasses indoors, strangely enough, and spiked his long blond hair upwards in a huge tuft.
They both looked at her suspiciously. Then they began to feel it. The air chilled, thinned. Killing intent flooded the hallway, constricting around them. They grew tense. The alarm blared incessantly.
"What shinobi Villages are you from? What Nation? You can see my Village displayed right here!" She pointed to the headband hanging around her neck. "I get it. I flew through that glass window without warning, but I assure you it was an accident."
"And yet you dress like an obsessive fan of the Hero Killer: Stain. Except you decided purple was your color, kid," the disheveled adult replied.
"Hero Killer? What the hell is a Hero Killer?!" She growled. "Never mind that. What Nation are we in right now?"
"You're not the one asking questions, Villain."
"On the contrary."
His hair fell. She Body Flickered.
The Uchiha reappeared on the floor, sliding between the disheveled adult's legs, his scarf still attached to her wrist. He released the scarf, foreseeing her attempt to use it to tie him up. She rose to her feet and Body Flickered for her real target: the blond.
The blond faux rock star saw nothing. She appeared in a crouch behind him, swept his legs out, pinned him chest first against the ground and placed a kunai to the speaker system over his throat. All in a matter of seconds.
The disheveled adult whirled around, cursed under his breath and unleashed his dōjutsu on her again.
"Don't even try to attack," she said coldly. "The same goes for you, blondie. I even feel like you're building up a scream and I'll destroy this expensive looking gadget. And you better hope I don't plunge my blade too far, otherwise your throat will be next."
One cold onyx and lavender eye met the red eyes of the disheveled adult, who snarled at her but made no move.
"I understand how your dōjutsu works better than you realize," she continued. "It requires full eye contact on the individual you target to disrupt their chakra, but you can only maintain it as long as your eyes are open."
Just like the Mangekyō ability I possess: Ōkuninushi.
"You've obviously trained to keep your eyes open longer, but each interval is shorter than the last," Amari dissected. "This time it was twenty-five seconds. How long will the next be? Twenty-four? Twenty-three? Even less?
"And your little gadget reminds me of the Sound Village," she directed to the blond. "Is your Nation working with Orochimaru? Did he supply this amplifier system to you? If your Nation is willingly working with that scumbag, I see that as reason enough to consider you my enemies. And you don't want that right now. I am very annoyed at the moment."
"Dōjutsu? Chakra? Orochimaru? Sound Village? Speak rationally. These words mean nothing to us. And that gadget is a legal Support amplifier. Break it and you'll be paying for it."
"I am speaking very rationally, believe me," she replied coldly. "Don't play games with me. The power in your eyes is an unknown dōjutsu, it disrupts my chakra when you look at me with it activated."
"I don't know where in Japan you're from, kid, but my ability isn't called a dōjutsu. It's called a Quirk."
"Japan?" she repeated, ignoring the sinking feeling in her gut. "Is that the name of your Nation?"
"Yes. It's part of the continent of Asia," he drawled as if it were obvious.
Amari narrowed her eyes. "I've never heard of either of them."
"Then how are you speaking the language?"
"This is the language of the shinobi continent."
"Now who's playing games." His hair fell as he shut his eyes, annoyed. "There's no such thing as a shinobi continent."
"Yes there is," she refuted firmly as the sinking feeling grew worse. "I'm from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, of the Land of Fire. It's one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations. We suffered an Invasion from the Sand Village and the Sound Village, the latter of which is run by Orochimaru. He's a rogue Leaf shinobi."
"Uh, I've never heard of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, and I have listeners from all over the globe," the blond tried to be helpful. "Shinobi are ancient, my little listener."
"They're…what?" Amari gasped.
"Hm. What's the last date you remember, kid?" the teacher asked.
She told him.
The disheveled man sighed. He gestured to the window.
"Take a look outside, kid. It's better we get this over with now."
Her stomach was churning. It felt like eels were wriggling around in her intestines. He didn't tell her the date, he didn't say much at all. Yet he said enough. Too much.
No, no. It couldn't be what he was silently suggesting. It couldn't…
Amari removed her blade and stepped towards the window, head whirling. What she saw drew a sharp gasp out of her. She stumbled away from the window as if she'd seen the death of her world in a vision.
Because, in a way, she had.
Beyond the Academy campus were structures unlike any she had ever seen before. Towers of glass, standing as tall as two Hokage Towers stacked on top of each other. Paved streets with strange metal constructs rolling over them.
This was not her home. This wasn't even her era.
"Oh no. No, no, no, no."
The crack of a whip drew her frightened attention down the hall. A woman dressed in skin tight white latex beneath a very revealing black dominatrix outfit—accessorized with rhinestones—and equipped with a leather whip was strutting down the hall, a sadistic gleam in her eyes.
"What a naughty girl you are, infiltrating our campus. Are you prepared for your punishment!"
"Midnight, stand down," the disheveled adult sighed. He sounded sad on Amari's behalf. "She's not a Villain. She's not even from our time."
"Huh?" The sadistic gleam vanished. She lowered her whip, rested her free hand on her shapely hip and took on a curious expression. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Amari couldn't breathe. Panicked thoughts, screamed at the top of her lungs, echoed within her mind. Perspiration was mixing with blood, her body was trembling.
This wasn't real. This couldn't be real. Her home, her family and friends…
"No. No. This is— this is all wrong."
Without thinking, she took off down the stairs, struggling to breathe as she raced for the exit. The walls were closing in around her, darkening her world. The exit doors refused to budge when she tried to escape into the open air, where she was certain fresh air would wake her up from this nightmare.
Her entire body was quivering violently. She breathed in and out, felt her chest heaving with every breath, yet felt no oxygen enter. Her entire world began to spin.
The kunoichi stumbled away from the door, into a giant mass of man. Had she been in her right mind, she may have sensed the power irradiating off of him. She may have realized he possessed power beyond the likes of the Fifth Hokage and possibly all Hokage before her.
Instead she could only look up at the man in a gold pinstripe suit, whose muscular frame and well-defined physique made her appear like a toddler next to a full grown adult, whose short blond hair was swept back, with two distinct tufts sticking up above his head, creating a sort of V-shape. The hair cast a dark shadow over his face, but two blue orbs glowed beneath them.
He was smiling widely, but his eyes did not match his smile. His eyes glowed with concern.
"Help…me," she pleaded, eyes shimmering.
Then Amari collapsed to her knees, unable to breathe, tears flowing freely from her eyes. She grabbed at her chest, feeling too tight to breathe, and let out a terrible wail of purest grief, agony and fear.
The giant of a man, without a word, knocked her out with a chop to the neck. She succumbed to the peace of unconsciousness instantly, at which point he carried her to the Nurse's Office.
Because that's what Hero's did when a young girl cried out for help.
They helped.
"Dismissing the students now is irrational."
The disheveled man, Shōta Aizawa—known as the Erasure Hero: Eraser Head—leaned against the counter of the Nurse's Office. This impromptu meeting to discuss the child from the past consisted of himself, the principal of U.A. High School, the school Nurse, Present Mic, Midnight and finally the Number One Pro Hero: All Might.
Nemuri Kayama, better known as the 18 and Over Only Hero: Midnight, ran her hand—jingling with singular handcuff—through the varying layers of her spiky dark purple hair. After a soft sigh, she continued to gently scrub the blood stains off the child's arms, face, neck and legs.
The school nurse, best known as Recovery Girl, was a short, elderly woman who was just below four feet in height. She wore a thoughtful expression on her weathered features, watching the discussion from her seat beside the bed.
Present Mic—Hizashi Yamada—was surprisingly and pleasantly quiet, for a change. He leaned beside the door, lips screwed in a frown.
Principal Nezu, a stout man who appeared like a combination of a white-haired dog, a mouse and a bear and was a full foot shorter than the Nurse, stood with straight posture and his paws clasped behind his back; he was a rare case, an animal who manifested a Quirk.
All Might stood next to the window, his muscular form replaced by a lanky, painfully thin man. Such was his fate and his secret since the fight a few years back.
"They think we've been attacked by Villains," Present Mic said. "And it's possible someone from the outside captured a photo of that light this little listener appeared from. If the media catches wind of it, they'll turn up the pressure on U.A."
"Then we control the narrative," Eraser Head countered. "We tell that media circus that it was a Support class accident, or a student playing an irrational prank on his fellow students and we've promptly expelled them for it. Most students didn't see what happened, so they can be told it was a drill. Only my Class knows she exists, and if I tell them to keep it to themselves, they'll keep it to themselves if they don't want to be expelled.
"Classes should continue as usual. If we release them all now, then the media will know something serious occurred."
"You're not usually one to involve yourself with matters pertaining to the media, Aizawa. What gives?" All Might asked curiously.
He sighed. He found the media to be a tedious minefield best avoided or outright ignored most days. They got in the way of real Hero work. Their irrational behavior could crucify even the most righteous of Hero's if they thought it could advance their careers. So no, he didn't involve himself with the media if he could help it.
This wasn't one of those times, unfortunately.
"If the world learns of this girl's existence, there will be chaos," he said. "As far as we know, she has at least five Quirks. One is a speed enhancement, another is the ability to connect herself to any surface, her right eye also changed color, her left eye transformed as well and the other is the ability to transport herself through time." He eyed the group seriously. "We cannot afford a media circus surrounding her. Our enemies will want to capture her for themselves and twist her Quirk to their means."
All Might nodded. "I don't want to imagine what the League of Villains might do with that kind of power." He glanced to the unconscious child. "Or what fate would befall this young girl if they did learn the truth of her Quirk."
"Or what damage she might do if they turned her into a Villain," Present Mic said. "I don't know a whole lot about ancient shinobi, but this little listener is definitely trained in hand-to-hand combat. And she is actually pretty frightening for a kid."
"Well, I can confirm she has seen battle," Recovery Girl spoke up. She turned to face the group. "It is possible she was even tortured. Her left arm and shoulder are covered with deep scars from what appears to be a blade of some sort. There is also the scar over her left eye."
"I wonder… Perhaps she doesn't possess Quirks at all," said Principal Nezu in his high-octave voice. "We are assuming her powers relate to ours, because we believe she is from the distant past. However, I have another theory. According to your conversation with her, Aizawa, she is from a shinobi continent. She claimed you wield a power called a dōjutsu."
"Right," he nodded.
"What are you suggesting, Principal Nezu?" Midnight asked.
"She may not be from a different time, but a different world not at all unlike our own."
"This is beginning to get over my head," Present Mic whined.
"There are many theories about the existence of a multiverse, but no evidence as far as our scientists have discovered. But let's say she is from a different Earth. It is highly possible her powers evolved differently than our own. Isn't that exciting!"
"She's dangerous," Aizawa cut in. "She may have the appearance of a child, she may even be a child, but don't let her appearance or age fool you. This girl is a skilled soldier. She has reflexes and situational awareness that rivals young Pros. She'd destroy my class in one on one combat. We need to keep the knowledge of her existence minimized."
"I agree," Nezu nodded sagely. "We will send the students back to class effective immediately. I will speak to the rest of the U.A. faculty privately. Please assure your students there is no threat."
"Principal Nezu, what are we going to do with this young lady?" All Might asked. "If what you said is true, then it's possible she may not have a way back to her home. Our world may be her home now. And though she may be a soldier, she is still a child who has lost all of her family and friends. That would crush many adults. I can't imagine the heart ache it will cause a child."
"For now, we will let her rest. Should she be unable to return to her home, I will ensure arrangements are made for her wellbeing. It is the least we can do."
The meeting was adjourned.
Aizawa returned to his homeroom, hoping for the kid's sake that she could return to her home, and also cooking up a plan on the chance she couldn't.
It was only rational to consider all possibilities.
As the final bell of the school day rang, Class 1-A as a whole exhaled a collective sigh of relief.
It was abnormal, to say the least. While they did encounter normal academic courses throughout their day, such as mathematics and modern literature, which few considered jovial or entertaining, the classroom was generally cheerful and encouraging even at the end of the day. It was hard not to feel even the slightest bit excited; this was the famous U.A. High School, home to alumni like All Might, Endeavor and other famous Pro Heroes.
Ever since Quirks first appeared, humanity had become a superhuman society straight out of a comic book. And with the rise of superhuman powers, so too did the profession of Pro Heroes. But the hard truth is that no one is created equal. Even though Quirks existed in the majority of the population, there remained a small percentage of people who were Quirkless—powerless normal people who weren't gifted or special.
Izuku Midoriya, a fluffy dark-green haired plain looking boy, once counted himself among them. It was devastating. All he wanted to do was become a Pro Hero like his idol: All Might. He wanted to save people with a fearless smile, but fate handed him a different set of cards.
That is until the day his entire life changed. The day he met his idol, who told him the one thing he wanted so desperately to hear.
"Young man, you too can become a hero."
Entrusted with his idols special Quirk, an ability that allowed the user to pass their amazing power onto a new vessel, he went from a Quirkless nobody with a crushed dream, to wielding a Quirk on the road towards his dream to become the world's greatest hero.
It hadn't been an easy road so far. Inheriting All Might's Quirk—One For All—didn't magically turn him into a Pro. One For All was too much for his fragile body to handle at first, leading to many broken fingers, arms and legs as he tried his best to prove himself, to reach out to friends lost in darkness and defend others.
Their first term was almost at its end. Their finals were right around the corner, and though that alone had been enough to fill some of his classmates with anxiety, the sudden appearance of a Villain crashing into their classroom left them all on edge.
This wasn't their first brush with a real Villain. Between the incident at the U.S.J. and the recent encounter with the Hero Killer: Stain, the members of Class 1-A had witnessed the essence of true evil—survived it, if only by the skin of their teeth at times.
Still, the classroom always felt like a sanctuary of safety, a place where no Villain could ever hope to attack them. The teachers—a faculty consisting of Pro Heroes—and the security measures around campus would surely stop them.
None of them could anticipate a Quirk like that girl's, one that seemed to vomit her out of a sudden burst of light. Warp Quirks were extremely rare even in their superhuman society.
Bad enough the League of Villains has one Warp Quirk user, now there's another, he thought as he looked at the taped off window. And it looked like she inherited Stain's image, based on all those knives and the bandana.
But…
Midoriya frowned and lowered his eyes to his desk.
In his mind's eye he saw her again, the wild blue hair reaching her waist, the youthful innocent face marred by a scar, and thwarted by the hardened eyes of a…soldier.
She was…just a girl. Younger than my entire class.
"I've met Demons and so-called monsters, and every single one of them had hopes and dreams. They had hearts. They were all human. Flawed, maybe. But we all are. They weren't unworthy of redemption, like this society of heroes and villains you see."
Her words left a dreadful knot in his stomach. It was the job of a Hero to defend society from Villains. But…was it wrong of him to want to save her? With her skill, her talent for combat and unknown Quirk, she could be a rookie Pro already—there was such a gap of skill between them and her, he could feel it.
Yet she inherited Stain's image. Not his ideals. Stain sought to purge society of who he deemed were fake heroes.
"The streets will run with the blood of hypocrites!"
Stain saw himself as a martyr, willing only to die by All Might's hand. But first he had to change society, return it to the path of being what he determined as true heroes. No fame, none of the money or the celebrity. Strangely, Midoriya understood his intentions, even if the way he went about them were evil.
What were her ideals? What made her choose the path of Villainy?
Can she be redeemed, too?
"Midoriya."
"Huh?"
The aspiring hero, startled awake from his brooding, turned his head to his right, to the two friends standing beside his desk.
Closest was Tenya Iida, the disciplined Class President of Class 1-A. He watched Midoriya with a concerned expression, pushing his square-lensed glasses up the bridge of his nose. The other, standing beside Iida with her hands clasped behind her back and a curious glint in her warm auburn eyes, was Ochaco Uraraka—the first real friend he made at U.A.
"Are you okay, Deku?" she asked.
"Oh, heh, yeah," he smiled awkwardly.
"You're thinking about that Villain, aren't you?" Iida asked.
He sighed and nodded. "I know Mr. Aizawa said we should just forget about her. Or, well, said we have to forget about her." Their no-nonsense teacher threatened to expel them for speaking of the incident beyond the classroom walls. "But…I suppose I still haven't processed it all yet."
"That's perfectly natural!" Iida declared, robotically chopping a hand through the air, his neatly parted short dark blue hair shifting with his movements. "The incident occurred without warning, and we were put right back to work as soon as it finished. Perhaps you should go speak with Recovery Girl. It may help."
"No, it's nothing like that. Honestly, the intensity of it all hasn't really bothered me."
"What are you talking about?!" wailed a voice from behind him, small hands pushing against his back. Minoru Mineta, the shortest person in all of Class 1-A, a friend and…well, he was best known as the pervert of Class 1-A, too. Unfortunately. "How can you say that didn't bother you?! I nearly peed my pants when she attacked!"
Also known for oversharing his bladder functions when under stress.
"Grow a pair, you perverted crybaby!" shouted Katsuki Bakugo.
Midoriya sighed. He'd grown used to his childhood classmate and bully's outbursts.
"At least I don't have detention."
"What'd you say?! I'll kill you!" Bakugo's eyes were white with rage. Mineta, wisely, hid himself behind Midoriya. "I had that Villain right where I wanted her! If he hadn't canceled my Quirk she'd have been done for!"
"I doubt that," came the calm and steady reply of Shoto Todoroki. The perfectly symmetrical red and white-haired boy approached the conversation with his normal reserved expression. "She predicted your attack and countered it perfectly, without ever taking her eyes off of Mr. Aizawa. Furthermore, she fought while injured, without her Quirk and without using any of her weapons, and it took the teamwork of two Pro's to catch her."
"Don't talk to me, Icy-Hot! You're the one who failed to capture her first!"
"Exactly," Todoroki nodded once. "She has excellent battlefield awareness, with precise decision making while under pressure."
"Todoroki's right," piped in Momo Yaoyorozu sagely, Vice Representative of Class 1-A.
She sat at her desk, playing with the large strand of black hair hanging on the right side of her face, too short to fit into the long spiky ponytail she wore her hair in. Of all of Class 1-A, in intelligence alone, Momo Yaoyorozu was at the top of the class, wielding an amazing Creation Quirk which required the genius intellect she possessed.
"She targeted Mr. Aizawa directly after Todoroki's attack, drawing close so none of us could interfere with their battle without possibly hurting each other or our teacher in the process. The Villain also possessed an impressive level of spatial awareness and acrobatics. And that's all without her Quirk or weapons. Objectively speaking, I can think of only one student among us who may stand a chance alone. I think she would pick the rest of us off with how she countered Todoroki's Ice perfectly, and then turned your Quirk against you, Bakugo."
"Tch!"
"I'm with Yaoyorozu," Midoriya nodded. "Even with my Full Cowling, I doubt I'd have stood much of a chance against her." He looked up at Iida, Uraraka and Todoroki. "Although our individual Quirks could work to overwhelm or catch her in one on one battle—like if Uraraka caught the Villain with her Zero Gravity, or Todoroki was able to fight her on a battlefield alone, or even if Iida outmaneuvered her with his Engine legs—but…"
He brought his hand to his chin. "In a way, that's also our greatest weakness. All of us rely so much on our Quirks, even Mr. Aizawa. Versatile Quirks like Asui's—"
"I told you to call me Tsu!" the green-haired girl corrected from across the room, from the group of female classmates gathered together.
"Ri- Right! Sorry, Tsu!"
Toru Hagakure and Mina Ashido, the other two girls, giggled. He swore they said his name and the word cute in the same sentence.
Tsuyu Asui was one of the most levelheaded individuals in the class, honestly. During the U.S.J. Incident, her emotional support helped Midoriya stay calm when they were surrounded by Villains. But she was pretty adamant on her friends calling her Tsu, and the boy was nervous by nature around girls anyway. This was a common exchange between them; he doubted he'd ever get it right at this rate.
Talking to girls was hard.
"Uh, like I was saying," he continued awkwardly, "a versatile Quirk like Tsu's Frog Quirk, or Tokoyami's Dark Shadow or Kacchan's Explosion or Shoji's Dupli-Arms or Jiro's Earphone Jacks or Ojiro's Tail—"
"Midoriya, you're beginning to list the entire class," Todoroki informed.
"Ri- right! Sorry! It's just that everyone in our class has really unique and amazing abilities! And—"
"You're a massive fanboy, we know."
That voice silenced him instantly. He peered beyond his friends, to the girl sitting on her desk. Around her were Kyoka Jiro, Mezo Shoji and Fumikage Tokoyami, her seatmates and friends.
"Igarashi! Get off your desk this instant!" Iida demanded, hands robotically chopping the air like he was attacking invisible villains.
"Dude, chill," Kyoka Jiro replied with an easygoing smirk, twirling one of her long earlobes around her finger. "I'm pretty sure this desk was in a dusty closet somewhere before she sat on it."
"That's not the point!"
"Are you insinuating I'm fat or something, Class Rep?"
"Wha—" Iida looked absolutely appalled by the accusation. He rested a hand over his heart and gasped. "I would never insinuate anything of the sort! I have nothing but the utmost respect for my fellow female academics! And— Wait, you're distracting me! You know very well I meant nothing so scandalous and immoral!"
The girl with white highlights in her thick black hair chuckled deep in her throat, smiling mischievously as she always had.
"He's always so noisy," Tokoyami sighed from his beak. "Must you provoke him, Igarashi?"
"Must I? No. But will I? Now there is the titillating question, my melodramatic friend. Mineta, whisper the word titillating and I'll punt you out the window so fast you'll fly through time and space to a world where your balls won't grow back after they're removed."
Midoriya heard the pervert gulp. He could almost feel him sweating, struggling immensely against his perverted nature. Jiro snickered behind her hand. Shoji smiled behind his mask. Yaoyorozu sniffed in disapproval at the pervert. Tokoyami shook his head at Igarashi, though he was obviously darkly amused. Todoroki didn't seem to care what happened.
Fear was a powerful motivation, though, and if there was one female student Mineta feared, it was Igarashi.
"Now that he's dying on the inside," Igarashi continued, "what was your analysis of the Villain, Fanboy?"
Fanboy, it wasn't a cruel nickname or hurled at him by her to put him down. But…Yukiko Igarashi was his first childhood friend. She had defended him from Bakugo's bullying for a few years, before she changed. He never blamed her for it—the death of her beloved father crushed his friend, left her broken inside. She stopped reacting to Bakugo's taunts, stopped running in to save him, stopped caring about school and life.
One day she just…vanished. He never knew where or why. Not until after the incident with the Sludge Villain, when a Villain attacked the train he and so many others were riding on, derailing it completely. It was as he was hanging by his fingertips, holding a wounded child in one arm as the train car they were in was about to fall over the edge of a bridge that she reappeared.
Yukiko Igarashi saved his life that day and the lives of many others, in an incident caused by a group of outlaws she once considered family. From what All Might told him, the group became divided between two factions: Her honorable ideals and the new leader's grief stricken ideals to make the world understand his suffering. Suffering Yukiko empathized with, but could not allow to corrupt the family she found.
"Young Igarashi tried her best to steer him away from darkness," he recalled his discussion with All Might. "But, in the end, she realized it was impossible. So, she made contact with my smaller form, believing me to be a former sidekick of her father's."
"Why would she think that?"
"Her father was a valued friend. He was a good man, a true hero at his heart. When I finally found the courage to approach her, I had already sustained my injury and…she knew All Might was unable to save her father. I feared she'd reject me as All Might, so I approached her in my injured state, told her I was a retired sidekick of her father's."
"Oh. But…how did you know she needed help with the outlaws?"
"I didn't. I went searching for her at the behest of her sister, who had grown worried over what path Young Igarashi was embarking on. I went to help her become the hero I believed she could be. As a result, I learned of her situation."
"…She pushed her Quirk to its limit to save us. She…would've died without you rushing her straight to the hospital."
"Yes," All Might nodded, voice low. "I feared I had failed to save her too. But Young Igarashi's actions prove that she has a heart of a hero. Self-sacrifice, that is the trait any true hero possesses."
"Fanboy, it costs extra to stare," Igarashi smiled with mischief. Midoriya felt himself blush. He averted his eyes. "You have everyone here on the edge of their seats, willing to listen to you ramble on. Don't leave your audience waiting."
"It would be easy to judge her for the path she embarked on, Young Midoriya. Many will. Like that scar through her lip, her past actions will follow her everywhere. However, I implore you to look beyond the surface. There is more to Young Igarashi's situation than the crimes she is an accomplice to. She seeks to reform, to be a hero like her father."
"All of you with your judgmental eyes… Grr! I can't stand it! What do you know about me, huh?! What do you know about the life I've lived?! What right do any of you have to judge me when you've never lost anyone at all! You've never cried yourself to sleep, begging for your dead father to come back! You've never lived in fear of one of your parents! None of you know anything. You don't know what it's like to fear your own power. You don't know true pain, so don't you dare judge me!"
"It's not just a Heroes duty to defeat a Villain in battle. We must save people, even if that means saving them from themselves, Young Midoriya."
"Ri- right. Sorry," he spoke up.
Yukiko, back when you yelled at our class, I was ashamed because I realized I'd ignored All Might's advice and judged you the same way Kacchan and the others were at the time. I failed to even try to understand your circumstance or your feelings, when you've always gone out of your way to understand others. I failed to be your friend.
Only Jiro, Shoji and Tokoyami never looked at you like a Villain, or with distrust or suspicion. They didn't judge you for your past. Kacchan, Todoroki, all of us did. Yet you kept trying to find a path forward, trying to find your reason to be a Hero.
I wish I could've helped you. Because…you were my first hero. I idolized All Might, but you were in my life, Yukiko. You were my hero.
Yet…even with One For All I've only ever been a burden to you. I…
"Before you can even think of saving someone else, first you have to be able to take care of yourself, Fanboy."
I haven't been able to save you, when you always save me.
"Our classes Quirks are all versatile in some manner," he began. "And those who know how to use them at their highest level would stand a greater chance against that Villain. But she showed a Pro level of situational awareness and skill. Like Todoroki said, it took two Pro's teaming up to finally stop her, so any battle against her wouldn't be like those low-level Villains we faced during the U.S.J. incident.
"Out of all of us, there's only one person whose Quirk and fighting ability together could match hers."
He looked back to Yaoyorozu and motioned with his eyes towards the person in question. She nodded in agreement to his assessment.
"Igarashi holds the greatest chance of fighting that Villain," she stated. "When Mr. Aizawa took his eyes off her to cancel Bakugo's Quirk, the Villain appeared to teleport behind him and escaped, briefly. Shoji, however, was able to hear her footsteps, which means she's like Todoroki and Igarashi, wielding two Quirks. One is a Warp Quirk—that's how she broke into our classroom. The other is a speed based Quirk.
"Because of her ability to Warp and enhance her speed to appear as teleportation, she would be the worst match for the likes of Todoroki, who relies heavily on his Ice and Fire to attack and defend him from attack. He wouldn't be able to predict her movements to counter properly. She'd likely wear him down. It's not that Todoroki's hand to hand combat skills are lacking in any way, but she showed a far greater skill in the art."
"I agree," Todoroki nodded. "A victory wouldn't be impossible. But it'd be unlikely for most of us. Even you, Bakugo."
"I'd kill her, Icy-Hot. And I'll kill you, too," he replied in a deadly voice.
"Sure."
"Igarashi, on the other hand, wields not only a versatile Quirk that would allow her to match the Villain's speed, but she has a high level of proficiency in close-quarter combat," Yaoyorozu continued. "Even if they were to exhaust their Quirks, the Villain and Igarashi would still possess the skill to fight one another without it. That's what made the Villain so dangerous. She didn't need her Quirk to fight any of us. Neither does Igarashi."
"Bow before me, mortals," Igarashi deadpanned.
"Careful we do not inflate her ego too much," Tokoyami implored amusedly. "The door is only so wide."
"I'll take care of it." Jiro jabbed her friend in the side with her Earphone Jack.
Yukiko yelped. Then leapt off her desk, prepared to take her vengeance. Jiro, wisely, hid behind Shoji's massive frame, snickering.
"Easy, Yukiko," Shoji calmed. "You don't want Mr. Aizawa to give you detention again for fighting in class, do you?"
"No," Yukiko grumbled beneath her breath. "I'll lay you out later, Kyoka."
"Lay…her out…" Mineta whispered, drooling as he bit his nails.
Two long earlobes extended between the gathered students and stabbed into Mineta's head. He wailed horrifically as Jiro sent her heartbeat thundering into him. Izuku seized up in his seat, afraid he might be attacked too.
By the time the assault ended, Mineta was still drooling, but not for the same reasons as before. He was face down on his desk, drooling over himself in a stupor of pain.
"Little scumbag," Jiro cursed, nose scrunched, blush on her cheeks.
"He is quite the fiend," Tokoyami nodded sagely.
The class slowly began to empty out after that.
Midoriya looked one last time at the broken window before he joined Iida and Uraraka.
I hope she gets a second chance.
I hope someone can save her from herself, too.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shipudden or My Hero Academia, nor do I make any profit from the writing of this fan fiction. Naruto and Naruto Shippuden is authored and co-owned Masashi Kishimoto and published by Shueisha and Viz Media. My Hero Academia is written by Kōhei Horikoshi and published by Shueisha and Viz Media. All copyrights belong to their respective owners. This is merely a fan creation.
A/N: Hello everyone! Some important notes here about this story and its posting schedule.
For those of you who have read the My Hero Arc from my other fan fiction Naruto: A Red Eye Hidden by Shadow, featuring Amaririsu Yūhi as its protagonist, this cross-over is pretty much the same with only a few added scenes here and there to add context to Amari, her backstory, and what has occurred in her world for those who haven't read it. More on my reasons for posting this as a separate story at the end.
For those who haven't read Naruto: A Red Eye Hidden by Shadow, fear not. You do not necessarily need to jump over to Naruto: A Red Eye Hidden by Shadow to understand all that occurs in this story since it's predominantly focused on Amari's space-time accident dropping her in this alternate My Hero Academia world. There will be mentions of events in Amari's world, which has altered from the original canon timeline, and context to those changes and her interpersonal relationships with the characters from that world throughout the story.
Also, the original character added to this story, Yukiko Igarashi, was introduced and fleshed out in this arc initially, so you'll learn about her as we go. I also intend to write a My Hero fanfic centered around her and this alternate world, but I'm still waiting for the My Hero series to finish so I can get an idea of where everything lands and construct a story that doesn't follow the canon path precisely. That way its different and fun.
Anyway, if you have any questions about Amari, an event that you don't feel is explained well, feel free to ask in a review or in a private message and I'll do my best to explain, if it isn't explained in a later chapter.
Now, if you haven't read Naruto: A Red Eye Hidden by Shadow and find that you want to after or while reading this, I'll give you some fair warnings. First off, it's really long. Like over two million words and still on-going long.
Second, I started writing it I think about eight years ago, and I'd only seen up to the Chunin Exams at that time. I didn't really have a grasp of the world, its lore, or how chakra worked, I didn't have any real plan, and my skills at writing weren't all that great at the start, so there will be some plot holes and self-indulgence in those first twenty or so chapters. I also stuck way to close to the canon timeline through the first several chapters, which meant despite the butterfly effect I know so much more about now, Amari's character didn't change a whole lot of the story at the start.
Good news, if you can stick through those twenty or so chapters and get past my very early days of writing and lack of knowledge when I didn't have reliable internet or know where to research the lore like Master Jiraiya researching a bathhouse, canon takes a huge divergence in a fun but serious way, I correct my previous errors, and my writing improves. Plot holes get filled and there is less self-indulgence and more serious story telling, or that's what I've been told by some critical but fair reviewers. I start to flesh out the whole cast, like Sakura, Hinata, Shikamaru, Shino, Sasuke and Naruto, the Hidden Mist Village characters, and much more.
So, if you can stomach over two million words and are interested in seeing how Amari's story began and how its going, check out Naruto: A Red Eye Hidden by Shadow. Just keep in mind that I was less than a novice at the start and you may enjoy yourself. I haven't had the time to really sit down and fix the beginning to reflect the story I wish I could've told at the start, and the story I've been able to tell since, but I will sooner or later.
Now then, the reason this arc is being posted as a separate story is because I have some one-shots I'm working on for My Hero Academia and the alternate universe from Amari's trip to the My Hero world, specifically involving Kyoka Jiro and Yukiko Igarashi. I've started writing them whenever I get a spare moment in my day when I'm away from the computer. However, since you would have to read to chapter 99 of Naruto: A Red Eye Hidden by Shadow, which is probably about a million or so words into that giant beast of a story, this was the easiest way I felt I could introduce people to this alternate world and its events.
So, there are one-shots coming, though it will likely still be some time before they do since I'm writing more than My Hero one-shots in those spare moments, including but not limited to Cyberpunk 2077 and Mass Effect at this time, a lot of My Hero and Naruto specific ideas, and more from worlds like Dragon Age, Star Wars, and Gundam somewhere down the line.
So there are those My Hero one-shots to look forward to if you've already read this arc. However, feel free to read along again if you like, but please try not to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't yet read it. Also, this won't interrupt current posting schedule since I've already edited this stuff.
As for the posting schedule, it will be every other Friday. So not next Friday but the Friday after will be the next update, on the same day I post for Naruto: A Red Eye Hidden by Shadow.
Anyway, with all of that out of the way, I hope you all enjoyed this introductory chapter to My Shinobi Academia: The Legend of the Guardian of Light! This is still one of my favorite arcs I ever wrote in Naruto, so I hope you will enjoy it just as much as I did!
Thanks for reading!