Weak.
Worthless.
Useless.
These were the words that had been used to describe him.
But now, sitting atop this apartment complex, the wind billowing his cloak around him, a faceless metal mask hiding his face as he scanned the area, he felt powerful.
A glint of metal had him standing, dropping silently down into the alley, where a man was mugging a young middle schooler.
"Just hand over the bag and there won't be any problems." The man sneered. Holding a knife up to the boys face.
"Balance." The cloaked figure called out, his voice strong and quiet, making the thug look over to the cloaked man, "Balance is the cornerstone of life, good cannot exist without evil to challenge it, you cannot have the dark without the light to cast the shadow."
"Get outta here if ya know what's good for ya, ya loon." The thug growled, keeping the middle schooler pinned.
"I am balance," he continued, walking towards the man, "I am the servant without a master."
"You asked for it!" He snapped, throwing the knife with the aid of his aiming quirk.
A hiss of power bathed the alleyway in Crimson, a red blade of energy easily cut the knife in half.
"I am justice." He growled, the tip of the blade scorching the concrete as he continued to walk.
"W-w-what the hell!?" The villain spluttered, dropping the boy and stumbling back towards the entrance of the alleyway, "who are you-" He was silenced with a choke as the man raised his hand in a gripping motion; the thug was raised up off the ground, clutching his throat as he struggled to breath. With a gesture he went flying towards the man, the red blade of the lightsaber stabbing into his chest as he let out a cry of pain.
"I am Ronin." He whispered as he turned off the lightsaber, allowing the man to collapse, dead.
Ronin clipped his lightsaber back to his belt, looking down at the middle schooler who hadn't run, "enjoy the night." He said quietly as he turned and began to walk away, his footsteps echoing in the now silent alleyway.
"W-why did you do it?"
Ronin paused, looking back at the student.
"Why did you kill him?" He asked, looking down at the dead body before looking back to Ronin, eyes alight with passion, "he didn't deserve to die!"
"Imbalance will meet its end on the edge of my blade." Ronin said, looking ahead once more, "this is the Way."
"It's not! He could've been arrested, taken to the police! He didn't need to-" he stopped as suddenly the man sprinted towards him, lightsaber igniting as he slashed towards the boy's neck, stopping just a hair's breadth away.
The youth swallowed, a drop of sweat falling from his brow and sizzling on contact with the blade.
"I sense much fear in you," Ronin said, up close the boy could see the yellow tinted glass that covered his eyes, "cowardice, an aching longing to be better, a want to be a hero, and the drive to see it done." Ronin stepped back, the ruby blade disappearing once more, "continue on your path and you will make a fine warrior for the light," he turned on his heel and began walking away once more, "fall, and you will receive a visit from me."
With that Ronin disappeared, leaving Eijiro Kirishima to slowly slide down the side of the building, taking big gulps of air as he tried to calm his nerves.
He could barely tell the heroes what he had learned upon their arrival, so shaken by the mans actions and words, what he knew was somehow that man had been able to read his mind; no, not his mind, his feelings.
He had a lot to think about now.
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One Week later.
Tsukauchi Naomasa was a veteran detective of over twenty years.
He had seen every manner of crime and criminal you could think of, but the newly dubbed Ronin was a new breed.
"Forty deaths in one week." He muttered, looking at a cork board with the pictures of the victims of the man surrounding the grainy security tape picture they'd been able to get of him, "all of them criminals of the worst kind."
"Most of these men have been wanted for years on violent charges." Chief of Police Kenji Tsuragamae barked, "the others were first offenders, but the offense they were caught in…"
"I'd have killed them too if I wasn't a cop." Officer Rin Tsukanai muttered, scratching at the rough five o'clock shadow on his cheeks, "he's also captured a total of thirty villains, petty thieves and druggies that were getting a bit too violent."
"So he has morals, but who is he? And where did he get that weapon." Naomasa muttered.
The door burst open and a patrol officer came running in, "Ronin struck again!This time he killed two heroes along with five villains!'
"He killed heroes?" Tsurugamae asked in shock as the police in the office scrambled to grab their things before rushing outside to their cruisers, Naomasa grabbing the patrol officer as they went, "tell me about the victims!"
"Heat Vision and Vector attacked him when he was killing some Yakuza thugs." He said as they sped towards the scene, "I don't know why he attacked but my partner was there! He can give you more information!"
The line of cruisers quickly arrived at the crime scene, where several heroes and paramedics were loading body bags, one being closed up and offering the sight of a plague mask before the zipper came up.
"Follow me." The patrol officer said as he jumped out of the car; leading them to an EMS bus, where a shaky patrolman was staring down at the concrete with a vacant expression, blood splattered on his uniform and face.
"Patrolman Nakamura?" Naomasa asked as he approached.
The patrolman flinched and looked up, his eyes widening, "P-P-P-Police Officer Tsurugamae!" He stuttered, jumping to his feet and saluting as the police chief walked up behind Naomasa.
"At ease Nakamura." He said gruffly, "what happened here?"
"It...it was crazy…" he deflated, collapsing back onto the car, resting his head in his hands, "I had heard some arguing while Shamada was getting some Udon, so I went to investigate and there were...there were vector a-and Heat Vision, arguing with the Yakuza about their payment, and one of the Yakuza saw me…" he shook his head before looking up, "I'd be dead if it wasn't for Ronin."
"Vector and Heat Vision working with Yakuza?" Tsukanai muttered, "I've worked with them before, they aren't crooked."
"He's telling the truth." Naomasa said grimly, looking at the body bags, "is there anything else you can remember?"
"He...he said something about balance…" he muttered, "he said he was justice…"
"Thank you for your time Nakamura." Naomasa said kindly, turning away from the patrolman as they walked back to the cars, "crooked or not, the heroes will be out for blood." Naomasa muttered.
"Not to mention five dead Yakuza from the Shie Hessaikai," Tsukanai added, pulling a cigarette out, " they won't keep quiet for long."
"Not only that but this was a daylight attack," Tsurugamae growled, "his usual MO was night time, he's getting bolder."
"It's only been a week!"
"It doesn't matter," Naomasa sighed, "he's killing people and he's not restricted to the night, we need to alert all hero agencies to be on the lookout."
"May God help us all." Tsukanai muttered.
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Three weeks later. Four hours before the start of the UA entrance exam.
He had been meditating when he sensed it.
A force user was in this area, who dealt heavily with the dark side, the corrupted miasma of the force attracted him in the early morning hours; the sun barely peeking over the horizon as he approached a small access panel, with a timid wave of his hand the door popped open with a green light, allowing him to walk through and close the door behind him.
He wasn't raised in a barn after all.
The door had deposited him in a large simulated forest. The natural flow of the force is offset by the unnaturally placed trees; perhaps in a few decades it would grow on its own and become a true forest, but he wasn't there to ponder on human placed trees and their chances of blending into their new environment.
He walked deeper into the forest, they were close, and heading towards the main building of this impressively gigantic campus, perhaps they had been hired to steal information? Or were after a target in the school-
-he disappeared.
Ronin paused in a clearing, looking about in suspicion, his lightsaber in hand.
For a few moments nothing happened, Ronin closed his eyes and focused, attempting to find any nearby signatures that were familiar.
Instead he found over a thousand slowly walking towards the main campus.
"Smart…" he muttered, putting his lightsaber up, "I must meditate on this, I pray he doesn't make a move while I discern answers."
A gust of wind and Ronin was gone, nothing to suggest he had been there in the first place.
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Toshinori Yagi watched as the entrance exams began, thousands of UA hopefuls were duking it out in the simulated cities provided and destroying robots.
His Protégé Kirishima was especially doing good, the boy had come out of his face off with the villain Ronin with more determination than ever, even finishing the beach clean up with a month to spare.
A month used to train up One For All.
Now he was running with red arcs of electricity flying off his body, hardened fists crashing through robots as his points rapidly climbed.
"A good crop this year." Nezu said conversationally, "I believe we have the highest number of participants this year."
"Quantity doesn't equal quality." Midnight started.
"And it's our job to find that quality." Snipes muttered.
"Who's that yo?"
The room looked over at Present Mic, who was staring at his terminal in confusion, pointing at a small figure sitting on the security wall of Training Ground Gamma.
"Let's see." Power loader said, typing on his keyboard and displaying the screen on the main monitor, zooming in until-
"-its Ronin!" Cementoss exclaimed, jumping to his feet alongside everyone else, staring at the dark cloaked individual, sitting cross legged atop the wall. Unmoving.
"What's he doing here!?" Present Mic yelped.
"We have to stop the entrance exam!"ectoplasm said, reaching for the emergency switch.
"Wait."
Nezu's calm voice had all the teachers freezing, looking back to the rodent who was staring at the unmoving villain. "He's not being aggressive, stopping the entrance exam and confronting him may cause a panic, Aizawa." The man raised his head from where he was still in his sleeping bag, watching the screen as well, "detain him quietly, I will send All-Might should he turn violent."
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Quirks.
How did he forget about quirks during his time away from earth? The physical embodiment of the force manifesting itself in a myriad of ways that always fascinated and excited him when he was younger.
But that wasn't what he was here for, his meditation had led him to this site, he just needed a little longer.
Without moving his head, his hand shot behind him and caught the scarf-like capture weapon that had been intent on wrapping him up, he pulled it taut so his attacker couldn't pull it back to him, "I don't enjoy people interrupting my meditation," he said pointedly, not looking back as he let the scarf go.
"What are you doing here?" Aizawa asked, surprised that the man had been able to stop his weapon.l, his muscles taut and ready for a fight.
"Tracking." Ronin said simply, still immersed in the force, "I was tracking a dangerous criminal and it led me here."
"You're not doing any kind of tracking I've seen." Aizawa muttered, slowly relaxing as he realized he wouldn't attack if I can keep him talking, we might be able to wait out the exam and have All-Might come and detain him.
"It won't work." Ronin called, making Aizawa tense once more, "I'm sure the number one hero is strong enough to stop me, but I'll be gone soon, faster if this piece of filth reveals themselves faster."
"Who are you tracking?" Aizawa demanded to know, "a student?"
"A trespasser," Ronin responded, "a dangerous one, the force moves darkly around them, but they have suppressed their connection to make it harder for me to track."
"Why would they be here?" Aizawa questioned, "how do you know you're not wrong?"
"I rarely am." He chuckled, "call it a hunch." His eyes opened behind the blank face of the mask, "she's on the move."
"She?" Aizawa questioned as Ronin stood.
"Yes, she. She's moving and heading towards-Bakugou!" He exclaimed shooting off into the city.
"Get back here!" Aizawa shouted, chasing after him with his capture scarf, "Nezu this is Erasure! Ronins going after a trespasser! I'm moving to detain both of them!"
Ronin landed in a dead sprint on the street, quickly turning through the winding roads of the faux city as he neared his one time friend, who was rudely asking a figure clad in black what they needed.
A flick of his wrist and his lightsaber blazed to life, the slash meant to take her head stopped by another blade of red.
"Another sith?" The woman asked in confusion. Her face covered by a cloth shawl. And her yellow eyes narrowed hatefully at him.
"I am no sith." Ronin growled as he disengaged and struck again. Their lightsabers hissing and spitting as they clashed.
"Evacuate! Everyone!" Aizawa shouted as he reached the fight, the other test takers were running in terror, screaming as the two villains fought.
Ronin held a hand up and sent a scrapped bot flying for the woman who easily cut it in half.
"DIE!"
The powerful explosion shattered the windows on the street, Bakugo rocketed forward with another explosion ready, "you think you can stop-hurk!"
The explosive teen froze in mid air, grasping at his throat as the woman stepped out of the smoke, unharmed, "perhaps you're better off dead." She growled, raising her lightsaber.
Lightning forced her to drop bakugo and let out a scream as she finally brought her lightsaber down, absorbing the pure force energy as Ronin strode towards her. Lightsaber at his side.
"Run!" Ronin snarled at the gasping blonde boy.
"D-don't tell me what to do…" he growled out as Aizawa ran forward. Capture scarf wrapping around rubble and sending them flying for the woman. Who used an enhanced jump to get atop the building, Ronin following.
"Are you alright?" Aixawa asked the boy.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." He growled, slowly standing back up.
"Nezu! Send in All Might!" Aizawa called into his radio, "these two need to be stopped now!"
Meanwhile Ronin and the mysterious Sith woman continued to trade blows, their sabers a whirl of red and white as they clashed.
"You're that vigilante the heroes are dying to capture." She sneered as she locked their blades together, "the so called Balance."
They separated again, standing off against each other, "why are you targeting a student?" Ronin asked, pacing around her, with her mirroring his movements.
"My master wanted him Alive, but I believe the boy would serve his purpose better while dead."
"I won't allow it." He growled, slowly levitating a large pipe from behind her.
"You won't be alive to stop us." She snarled, turning and cutting the pipe in half as it came flying towards her, twirling around to catch Ronins blade against her own.
"FEAR NOT CITIZENS! WHY?"
The two force users disengaged, jumping onto different buildings as All-Might slammed into the one they had been on, standing tall and proud.
"BECAUSE I AM HERE!"
"Hallelujah." Ronin said dryly while the Sith discretely hit a button on her vambrace.
"Both of you are under arrest! Come quietly!" All Might demanded.
"I've got prior engagements after this," ronin muttered, "I'll have to decline."
"We can actually agree on something." She sneered as a loud roar of engines filled the air.
Ronin was barely able to dodge the red hot blaster fire that peppered both roofs, the Sith jumped and landed on a speeding craft, laughing at their misfortune as she disappeared into the sky.
"Damn it." Ronin growled, standing back up, "all that work, for nothing." He began to walk away, intent on trying to track the ship once he returned to his own.
"Did you forget about me villain?"
Ronin whirled around, barely able to stop All Might's punch a few centimeters from his hand.
The sheer power between the two seemed to explode, sending All Might sliding back while Ronin was launched into the air, his feet clipping the security wall before he disappeared over its edge.
"Damn it! He was able to match the strength of my punch." All Might stated, launching himself after him, looking over the edge in confusion.
"Did you see where he landed?" Aizawa asked, landing beside him.
"No, hes gone." All Might sighed, looking at Aizawa, "who was that woman?"
"Someone Ronin was tracking, which means no one good."
"Hmm, and the student they were fighting over?"
"Bakugo Katsuki, he's currently detained by hound dog." He looked back towards the faux city.
"Detained? Was he with Ronin?" All Might asked.
"No. But Ronin knew who he was, we'll have to question him, find out what he knows." He sighed, "I couldn't keep up with those two." He admitted, All Might looking down at him in surprise, "their reflexes, those powers...Ronin caught my capture weapon with ease, even knew how to restrain it before I could recall it."
"Very dangerous." All Might sighed, "he was also able to match the power of my punch, it wasn't full strength, but that doesn't matter, he was unprepared, next time-"
"-next time we'll capture him." Aizawa said pointedly, "now let's go, we have a exploding blonde to interrogate."
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Aizawa massaged his temples as he walked towards his apartment,Bakugo had no information for them, having no clue who Ronin could be, nor how he knew him.
"The shitty extra didn't need to interfere! I had that handled!
Explosive ego aside, Bakugo hadn't lied, so he was released with a patrolman following them home just in case.
The words he had exchanged with the man, as well as his stature and the familiarity with Young Bakugo lead the teachers to believe that Ronin was a teenager, which complicated things immensely. Was Ronin working on his own? Was he being forced to do the things he was doing? Who trained him and gave him these weapons? All these questions went unanswered and only served to confuse those involved.
The exam had been allowed to finish for the other areas, the attack and subsequent fight had happened in the last few minutes before Nezu could release the Zero Pointer, but had served well as a substitute, leaving less work in the way of clean up once they warned Young Bakugo to not talk about the accident as anything more than apart of the entrance exam.
With a jingle of keys he opened the door and stepped in, freezing when he felt something...off about his apartment; slowly, he pulled his knife from the sheath on his back, looking around as he moved through the apartment, watching the dark corners for any attackers.
He reached his counter and spied an odd device sitting on its surface, a sticky note with an arrow pointed at a button on the side and the words "power" written on its surface.
Aizawa hesitated, he didn't know who had placed this here, he should call Naomasa and turn it over to his task force.
But his curiosity got the best of him and he picked it up. Looking at the weird device for a few moments before pressing the button.
The device beeped and a familiar voice spoke through it, "I'm pleasantly surprised you turned it on Aizawa," Ronin mused, "I assumed you would hand it over to a detective."
"What can I say, curiosity got the better of me." Shouta muttered, "what do you want Ronin?"
"Simply to explain why I gave you this commlink."
"How'd you even find out where I lived?" Aizawa asked angrily.
"I have my ways." He rasped, "the force moves in mysterious ways Shouta Aizawa, the dark forces of the Sith have reared their heads and laid their sights on UA; I want to know why, this commlink is a direct emergency line to me, should the Sith appear simply turn the commlink on and it will send a distress signal to me."
"Why are you doing this kid?" Aizawa asked, his voice quiet and uncharacteristically gentle, "are you being forced? Is someone controlling you?"
"I am as in control of my actions as you are, balance must be maintained. Are you really turning down free help?"
"Even if you're helping us, even if I trust you, you do realize that you'll be arrested as soon as the Task Force tracks you down."
"I welcome the challenge, goodnight Mr. Aizawa, I pray you do not have to contact me anytime soon."
With that the commlink went quiet and shouta put it in his pocket with a sigh. "What are you getting yourself into shouta?"
Deep in the forests outside of Mustafu, a KL 1400 light freighter sat undisturbed, vines and moss covering most of its surface; Inside, in the captain's quarters, sat Ronin, who slowly put his commlink up before raising his hand.
A small drawer opened and two Holocrons floated out towards him. One was cubed and glowed a soft blue. The other was a pyramid and glowed a harsh red.
"There is no dark, or light side." He said quietly as they stopped a few feet in front of him, "there is only the force."
Slowly the two holocrons began to come apart, their pieces slowly circling Ronin as he settled into meditation.
"I will do what I must to keep the Balance, the Balance is what keeps me together."
The pieces slowly began to glow white, voices began whispering back to Ronin.
Balance,
Yes, balance.
The disciple brings balance, the disciple brings peace.
"There is no good without evil, but evil must not be allowed to flourish."
Perfectly balanced.
The disciple has learned much.
We have learned much.
"There is passion, yet emotion, serenity, yet peace, chaos, yet order."
Jedi, Sith, names for the galaxy at large.
You want to protect your world.
You wish for peace for your world,
We can give it,
We can achieve balance.
"I am the wielder of the flame, the protector of balance." With a gesture the holocrons put themselves back together, the red and blue glows returning as they gently settled back in the drawer.
"I am the holder of the torch, lighting the way." Ronin said, standing as he reached up to pull his helmet off, revealing long dark green hair and brilliant emerald eyes, "I am the keeper of the flame, soldier of balance." He moved to the viewport of the ship, staring up at the stars. "I am a guardian of balance."
"I am a Gray Jedi."