"So, how did trai…ning…go…?" Anah trailed off as she saw the frown on Toji's face as he sat down, looking at her husband and he sighed while scratching the back of his head.
"It went…okay for the most part."
"Then I nearly couldn't stop myself from caving Chung's skull in." Toji answered and Anah blinked at the brutal honesty from her son before looking at Xemu to see him giving a hesitant nod.
"Basically, but you did stop yourself."
"Only because I heard you shout. If I didn't…"
"Sweetheart, may I ask why you were going to do that? Was there perhaps something that triggered you to do so?"
"No, I guess I did feel somewhat resentful for the fact that I had earthbending, but was forced to be unable to do anything so it just forced itself out."
'Now, time to see if you really care or not.' Toji was sure that his new parents loved him far more than the ones he had before, but he just…he just had to be sure.
He's trusted his old parents too many times only for it to be a lie.
"Toji, you don't need to feel like that, son. We will always put you at number one whether you have earthbending or not."
"That's right. Besides, having a son that doesn't throw boulders every time he gets mad is far better than one that does." Xemu spoke with a shrug before smirking as Anah swatted his shoulder with a smile.
"Don't tease our son, Xemu."
"Hey, someone has to. Besides, he knows I do it out of love." Toji however was silent as he had heard their heartbeats and their breathing as they spoke and he had to admit that he was shocked by what he heard.
'Their breathing was steady and their heartbeats slightly fast yet steady at the same time, something that only happens when a person speaks of someone they truly adore. They…they actually love me.' Love was not a foreign concept to the old soul, but familial love was most definitely and he used the time his parents were talking and/ or flirting with each other to try and catch himself.
"So, are there any more feelings of resentment there?" Anah's voice snapped Toji from his thoughts and the boy shook his head before confusing his parents as he walked over to the door.
"Uh, where are you going, son?"
"To apologize to what's-his-face."
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KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Coming!" A female voice spoke from behind the door and Toji waited before it opened, the woman who opened it looking surprised to see the stoic boy standing in front of her.
"T-Toji?"
"Uh, yeah? Are you Chungi's mom?"
'She's ho-No, Toji. You had Hana and you're in the body of a 6 year old boy so it is incredibly weird for her.' The old soul thought to himself as the brown-haired woman smiled and nodded while gesturing for him to come in.
"It's Chung, Toi, and I am indeed, but you can call me auntie Kena."
"…Feels weird. I'll just call you Kena. Also, I'm not going to be long so I'm just going to stay outside. That and I don't know if Chung would want to talk with me." The boy answered and Kena winced as she nodded.
"Right. Chung told me of the whole training incident."
"You mad at me?"
"No, Chung has been getting a bit cocky so someone that can help curb that attitude is good to me. Besides, I know you didn't mean it so there's no worries."
"Is that little Toji? Ha! As I live and breathe! The last time I saw you, you used to be stuck in that bed of yours?"
'Damn, he's almost as big as that bastard of a brother I had.' Toji thought in shock as he saw the large man walking down the hallway, his body rippling with muscles and a mop of brown hair on his head as he was only wearing a white vest and a pair of dark green pants.
"Rang, be nice dear."
"What? It's a compliment in my eyes. Last time I saw him, he was sickly and now he's a strapping young man. Isn't that right, Toji?"
"Eh, it's kind of right. Have you seen Chu, Rang?"
"Damn, where's the 'uncle Rang'? Yeah, let me go get him. Chung! Get your ass here right now! We'll leave you two to talk it out." The man spoke with a nod and Toji was thankful as he wasn't used to apologizing, especially in front of people.
It was not long after the two parents left that Chung walked down the hallway and Toji scratched the back of his head as he saw the slight fear in the boy's eyes when he saw him.
Before, he would have relished in the fear as that meant another person that wouldn't dare mess with the Zen'in Clan's failure, but in this life…
He just wanted to be a peaceful person that kept his life together as much as he can.
"Hey."
"H-Hey." Chung was hesitant in greeting back and Toji realized that he probably needed more time to recover from nearly getting a bone-crushing punch to the skull.
"I'm not the best at this so I just want to say sorry for almost caving your skull in."
"Uh, it's…it's okay and I almost got you by the way." Chung said with a shaky smile, but Toji gave a small smirk as he saw that the fear in his eyes was gone.
'Well, that's one step to figuring how to deal with this trauma.'
"We'll see tomorrow if you can keep up."
"I'll bury you halfway underground and then we'll see who gets to punch who." Chung declared with a grin and a fist held out, surprising Toji slightly before the boy nodded with a grin and bumped his fist.
"We'll see."
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"Left jab! Right kick! Right leg sweep! Left high kick! Left stomp! Right knee! Right elbow! Right backhand!" Toji flowed seamlessly through the katas his father called out, Chung standing off to the side as he trained his earthbending with Anah.
"Focus, Toji! We're moving onto the more advanced katas! Aim them at me!" Xemu barked out and Toji nodded as he turned to his father, readying himself as the man crouched slightly with a deep breath and pushed his hands slightly outwards to the side and down.
"Begin." The moment the man started the match, Toji was already in front of him with a spinning heel kick, the man quickly leaning back and making the kick miss him before he raised an arm and blocked the follow-up stomp.
Using his father's arm as a platform, Toji kicked off it with a flip before rushing forward once more, sliding under the lariat the man threw at him before spinning around with an overhead kick.
However, his father was not the head of the village guard for nothing as the man easily caught his kick and lifted him before landing a spinning thrust kick that sent Toji rolling across the ground.
The boy had only slightly felt the blow thanks to his body having been enhanced to its peak, but it was still a harsh kick that knocked the wind out of him slightly as he flipped to his feet with a frown.
The next moment, the boy was racing across the ground once more with his hands held slightly out to his side, Xemu readying himself with a smirk as he saw the determined look in Toji's face.
Blocking the punch aimed at his face, Xemu quickly pushed under Toji's wrist and flipped him past him, but the boy landed on his feet and spun around with a high kick.
The man blocked it and pushed it back, but Toji used the force of the push to bring his fist around for a punch, Xemu sliding past the punch and lashing out with his own palm strike at the boy's chest.
However, he was surprised to see Toji anticipate the attack as he ducked even lower with a split before kicking his legs out from under him with a flare.
Wrapping his legs around one of his father's legs, Toji brought the man down to him before lashing out with a kick to his father's face, but Xemu quickly moved his head back from the blow before spinning the leg lock on Toji.
Toji winced as he felt the pressure being put to his knee before surprising his father as he spun with the lock and unravelled their legs, rolling away to his feet right as his father kip-upped to a standing position with a smirk.
"Not bad, but we have not practised locks yet. Where'd you learn that?"
'Figured it out from strangling a curse user that can immobilize arms with a look.'
"Eh, just figured it out." Toji answered with a shrug and his father simply hummed before both of them leaned back right as a boulder sailed past their heads and crashed into the ground besides them.
"Sorry!" Chung apologized with a sheepish smile and Toji just looked amused as he saw his mom shaking her head while trying her best to hide her giggles.
"I guess your friend over there and you have fixed things up."
"It's been two years since then so I would hope so." Toji answered and rolled his eyes with a sigh as Xemu shrugged.
"You never know."
'Yeah, it's been two years since I woke up in this body.' One would think that Toji would have adjusted to his new body and physically, he has.
Mentally, however, is a completely different story as the weekly night terror from his time in the pit of cursed spirits the Zen'in Clan was something he had to deal with along with slight flashes of his time in Jigoku.
After he nearly killed Chung, there has only been two other incidents where he almost killed someone.
The first was when his mom surprised him from behind and if she hadn't pinned his arms to his side with a happy hug, Toji was sure he would sliced her neck open with the butter knife he had in his grasp.
The second was during a spar with his father and he wasn't sure if it was the flames the man punched at him, but the next moment, he found himself lunging at his father with a sharp jagged rock aimed for his throat.
It was only through his quick thinking that he managed to throw the rock instead and let his father punch it away, but he was sure the man had noticed it as he had a slight frown on his face when they finished their fight.
Usually, he wouldn't have cared for things like this as he wanted to be more focused on figuring out how to get his body back to the pinnacle of physical prowess it was in his past life or at least somewhat close to that level.
However, he also wanted to follow that spirit clone's advice and at least try to make an effort to bond with some people.
If not for himself, he at least owed it to Hana to do so.
"You know, you don't have to feel bad about the incidents, right?" Toji was not surprised to see that Xemu knew what he was thinking about as he looked up at the man and saw him looking back at him with his arms crossed.
"I don't, but I do. I feel like I'm a danger to everyone around me and that I need to be locked away."
"Eh, you're more of a harmless lemur than a tigerdillo." His father said with a shrug and Toji rolled his eyes as he was reminded once more of the weird fauna of this world.
Why a cow and a hippo had to fuse into a new animal that was also part carnivore and part cannibalistic, he had no idea and he didn't want to find out just how destructive that hybrid monstrosity could be.
"I can still see the guilt on your face."
"Fine, I'll try my best to keep it from my face, okay?" Toji spoke with a roll of his eyes and Xemu snorted before they both went silent as they watch Anah and Chung train their earthbending.
"Think she's going to let him train the harder moves?"
"Until he stops trying to crush himself with a boulder, I think it's going to be a long while." As if on cue, Anah strained as she stomped on the ground and created a ramp that rolled the boulder away right as Chung lost control.
"…Scratch what I said. It's going to a long while."
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Taking a deep breath, Toji aimed his bow into the air before letting the arrow loose, everyone watching as he took out another arrow and sent it flying into the second arrow by making the two bump at the sides.
The impact sent both arrows ricocheting off of each other and Toji didn't need to look any further to know that he won as he heard the simultaneous impacts from the arrows as well as the cheers from the crowd.
Looking back, he smirked as he saw both arrows having hit the dead centre as well as having split the other arrows that were in the middle in two.
"Damnit. Almost had you." Chung muttered with a frown as Toji walked back, to which the boy snorted while placing his bow down on the ground.
'Kid, I've fired handguns with more recoil than this little thing.' Toji thought to himself as he turned back to the targets, watching as Dr. Fing Hur walked up to both targets before the man hummed and nodded.
"Toji wins…for the 15th time. Are we sure he should even be taking part? The kid has the accuracy of a seasoned archer." Dr. Fing Hur said as he hobbled closer, Toji rolling his eyes even with the grin on his face as he counted the money he won from the small betting competition.
In his past life, he was absolute shit at every type of gambling, but in this one, people loved to bet on who can do the best in sports.
Unfortunately for them, Toji was blessed with a powerful body and so far, he hasn't lost a single competition and has just been racking up any bit of money he can get.
"If you didn't want me to take part, you guys can stop challenging me?" Toji proposed before snorting as most of the adults shook their heads while Xemu grinned.
"Nope, we're going to find one thing you're bad at."
"When you do, let me know…?" Toji trailed off with a slight frown as he looked at the large dust cloud that was slowly approaching the village, everyone else looking at what he was looking at before he turned as Xemu spoke up.
"Everyone, back to the village! Men, battle stations!"
"You need help?" Toji asked as his dad as he took off his bow before frowning as the man held a hand out in front of him and shook his head.
"No, you kids need to get back. They'll be here in a minute or so anyway so we need to make sure everyone is inside."
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Just as Xemu had said, it had taken the group that was approaching just a little over two minutes to reach the small mountain village of Tu Zin.
In that time, though, Anah and the few Earthbenders of the village had gone ahead and made fortified walls all around it to make a defensive position, raising part of the top of the wall to finish their new fortress walls.
"Halt! State your reason for being here!" Xemu shouted as he stood at the top of the wall, holding out a raised hand to keep everyone from attacking with their levitating boulders and their arrows.
The Fire Nation soldiers on the ground, though, simply didn't say anything as they were seated on their Rhino-like beasts and one of them rode forward with a slight frown, his helmet different as two additional red headpieces on the front of it curved up to form two spikes.
"I am Sergeant Liang! We have received concerning reports that there may be a member of the Fire Nation Navy hiding away here to avoid the war!"
"We have not seen or heard of such a person in our village and if they are, it would take a lot for them to hide away!"
"Do you mind if we take a quick look for ourselves?" The sergeant shouted up and Xemu frowned slightly as he looked around and saw everyone subtly shaking their heads.
"Unfortunately, we do, sir. We have heard reports of bandits in the area and while you may be soldiers, we have too many to care about inside of the village to just let you come in!"
"That sounds a bit suspicious if I must say so, my friend! Are you perhaps something that we're not allowed to see…or should I say, someone?!" The man asked and Xemu frowned as he saw the soldiers all getting ready in the back.
"Let them in, but only three."
"You sure?" Xemu whispered to Dr. Fing Hur, who just gave him a bemused look as the man snorted.
"Not in the slightest, but I would rather they look than risk having the village destroyed."
"Hah…fine. Apologies for the late response! You may enter, but only you and two more of your men! I'm certain you understand!"
"Oh, most definitely! Lee, Ying, come!" The man commanded and two of the soldiers rode forward right as Anah opened the gate, Sgt. Liang looking pleased as he and his two soldiers rode in.
However, Xemu frowned as he saw one of the Rhino riders staying at the front gate while the other two began to walk away and around the castle, taking most of the troops with them.
"They're thinking to try something." Anah whispered and he nodded before gesturing for the group to spread out on the wall as his wife pushed down and helped them sink to the floor.
"I did not notice before, but you look erily like a Fire Nation citizen from up close." Sgt. Liang said with a slight frown as he stared at Xemu, who gave a slight smile as he nodded.
"My grandfather was from Colony Azulon, but my father moved here to get away from the riches and demanding rules of him."
"That's on the coast of the Mo Ce Sea, correct? It's quite far from here. Your father must have really hated his father."
"He did, sir. Now, may I escort you around?" Xemu asked with a smile and Liang nodded as he dropped down, gesturing for his men to follow on their Rhinos as they went from house to house.
"Toji, let me see."
"No, sit back down." Toji said to his friend with a slight frown, ignoring Chung's huff as the boy sat down before he turned his attention back the slight gap in the window curtains.
Watching as the men went into their house first, Toji kept track of the two men that were outside with his mother as his father and the man was in there for a bit before they came out.
'They most definitely want something from the village. If they were just hunting for someone, there would be no need to come here with an army. One or two assassins would have been plenty.' Toji has had his experiences with deserters, whether that be curse users that left the jujutsu sorcery world or soldiers that armies wanted taken out.
No matter the race, gender or country, everyone had the same exact strategy when it came to deserters and that is…to assassinate them.
That way, no connection could be made to the person who ordered it and even if the assassination does fail, that forces the target in question out into the open as they try to escape their current location, which makes them vulnerable to an ambush from former allies lying in wait.
'Even then, my old man looks too much like them for them to not suspect him and yet, he's talking happily with him. Yeah, there's definitely something else here.'
"Oi, get up here." Toji whispered as he moved out of the way, Chung crawling up to the window and looking out it before Toji quickly held a hand to his friend's mouth right as he saw him looking shocked.
"Listen, we need to stay ready so here. I picked these up while we were walking here." He whispered as he held out a dozen or so pebbles, Chung giving a shaky nod as he took them all before Toji slightly lifted the bottom of the curtain.
"When I say 'go', you start shooting those at them to distract them, got it?"
"W-What if I miss?" He whispered back and Toji snorted as he patted his friend on the leg while watching closely as they went into the last house.
"Even if you do, you'd still hit one of the Rhinos and that's going to make them mad. Now, get ready." He whispered, both of them waiting in silence while ignoring the small group of elderly, younger kids and Chung's mother sitting quietly behind them.
"Toji, Chung, get away from the windows!" Kena whispered to her son and his friend with a glare, taking a deep breath as Toji waved his hand dismissively before his gaze snapped up to the side wall.
Hearing the sound of whistling approaching from that directly, his eyes widened and he quickly kicked Chung away while diving along with him right as a loud explosion ripped the wall away.
"Chuni, go! Start firing and don't stop!"
"It's Chung!"
A/N: And the first battle of Toji's new life kicks off! From here on, the tone is going to be a lot darker so prepare for that.
Anyway, I know Toji is a lot more friendly and…outgoing than he was in the canon material, but this Toji has also just been trying his best to be a new person compared to how he was.
However, don't worry as the old Toji will be making a comeback for a while as he grows older…just not now.
And now, like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until next week...
Ba-Bye~!