"So, you want to explain why I just got told by my father to come meet him later in his office after dinner?", Toph asked with a frown as Toji exited his room, the teen raising an eyebrow while making sure that the two of them were alone.
"You want to tell me why I caught you crying late at night in your room wondering why your father wouldn't even give you the time of day?"
"I told you to forget about that!", Toph hissed, grabbing onto Toji's arm before pulling the boy back into his room with her.
"Listen, I appreciate you doing that, but if you're going to be my guard, then there's going to be rules that you need to follow. There is only one and that is that you do NOT meddle in my business."
"What if said business requires me to protect you from yourself? You pay me good money to make sure you can sleep peacefully and you could not, so I made sure you had a night of good sleep for once."
"It…Toji, I know you're trying to help in your own way, but did you not think that doing so might result in him having a bit of resentment for me? He's going to think that I send you and that's just going to sour the relationship between us even more."
"I'll be honest. I did expect that, yes, but at least this way, most of his resentment will be aimed at me and you'll fix that between you. Besides, his resentment against me usually fades away once I take out some of his enemies."
"…You really have a brutish way of thinking, you know?"
"I do, but it's worked out so far for me," Toji answered with a shrug, smirking as Toph sighed and shook her head.
"Well, at least Dad is willing to even look me in the eye."
"And it's all thanks to yours truly."
"Don't get a big head. Who were you talking to, anyway?"
"When?"
"Just now, before I came in."
"Oh, a spiritual clone of me that dropped off a gift," Toji decided to be honest, watching as Toph stared at him before smirking as she just turned and walked out of his room.
"I'm too tired for this. I'm taking a nap before dinner and the long-awaited talk with Dad."
"Sure thing," Toji nodded, watching as Toph walked up the stairs before closing the door and making his way to the training ground.
Time to get a few old tools back.
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'Well, this is disappointing,' Toji thought with a frown as he held the Split Soul Katana in his right hand, sheathing his butterfly sword and jian into the mouth of Wormy.
He would have been a lot happier about the fact that Wormy was here if it were not for two major items being missing from his stomach. Those items were, of course, also the most powerful weapons in his old world and could have been the most powerful weapons in this world.
The Chain of a Thousand Miles and the Inverted Spear of Heaven.
The Chain was the first that he was saddened about because he knew that it would have been a tremendous help, but unfortunately, it was no longer in Wormy's stomach.
The one he was saddened about the most, though, was the Inverted Spear of Heaven. Screw the Avatar when you had a weapon that would slice through his chi and probably sever his connection to his past lives.
Just having that weapon alone along with the Split Soul Katana would have been more than enough to put him at the top of the world, but alas, it looks like he'll have to make due with just the katana.
'Not that I mind. Just being able to cut through any type of material and attack the very soul and spirit of objects is more than enough for me,' Toji thought with a smirk, tossing the katana between his hands before stabbing it forward with a grunt.
The blade felt lighter than anything he's handled in this life as it cut through the air, spinning and slashing downwards before lunging forward while slashing upwards.
Lashing out with a high kick, Toji began to flow through movements, hearing his father's voice barking out commands that his body followed.
'Diagonal upwards-left slash. Slash back down. Stomp forward. Slash vertically up. Shoulder bump,' Each movement was faster than the last until his entire body was in full motion, ignoring the dust flying up with each slash before he finished with a fast downwards slash.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Toji smiled as Wormy leaned forward and allowed him to sheathe the sword, just in time too as Toph and her mother appeared at the top of the steps that led to the training ground.
"Toji…what the hell is that?"
"Oh, it's an evil spirit that I tamed. It now helps me store weapons."
"…Of course, it is," Poppy murmured as she walked over to the table near the gardens while Toph walked towards Toji, staring a bit at the mewling worm before looking back at the teenager.
"So, what are we doing today?"
"Oh, we're doing some simple sparring before I leave."
"Another mission?"
"No, I'm going to be gone for a few years," Toji answered nonchalantly, readying himself before blinking as Toph stood still with a frown.
"You're…leaving?"
"…Well, yes. You didn't expect me to stay in one place, did you? I mean, I've probably stayed longer than I needed to here, but I'm starting to feel cramp and as a mercenary, I need to spread my name more."
"What if...what if we doubled your salary again? Surely that would be more incentive to stay then, wouldn't it?"
"Not really, no. This isn't about money. If I stay here any longer, I think my mind might decide to make a mess I won't be proud of. Well, that's a lie. I'd be proud of it, but I would most definitely not be able to stay long after doing so."
"…What if I came with you, then?"
"Didn't you and your dad just make up about the fact that you're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for? Leaving right after doing so might result in the man being angry at you for doing so and me for influencing me."
"So, what? You're just going to leave us? Leave-", It looked as if she wanted to say something, but Toji narrowed his eyes as she stopped before he could hear the last of the sentence.
Walking forward before stopping in front of her, Toph looked surprised as Toji tilted her chin up with an amused smile.
"Oi, idiot. I never said I wasn't coming back. I just said that I was going to go on a little adventure. Besides, I don't have any other home that will feed me five times a day so I'm definitely coming back. Now then, we'll have our last sparring session and I want you to come with the intent to kill, understood?", Toji spoke as he took a few steps back, Toph nodding with a frown as she cracked her neck.
"Ready?…Begin," Immediately as he started the match, Toji rushed to the side as an earth pillar barely missed him, a frown on Toph's face as she stomped on the ground and flicked her hands at him.
The ground around her cracked open before rock pellets shot out of the dirt, Toji rapidly dashing from side to side to dodge the rain of stone coming down upon him.
Rushing in before swinging at her head, he smiled as he felt his footing being pulled slightly, quickly spinning around to catching himself before Toph gave a surprised grunt as he kicked at her left shin.
Shifting her foot back while punching the ground, Toji pushed off of the ground and landed on the pillar of stone that erupted from the ground, flipping through the air with a happy smile right as Toph swiped her foot across the ground while thrusting her arms to the side.
The ground below Toji opened as he landed, but Wormy's head bit down on the stone pillar while his tail wrapped around Toji's chest, pulling the teen free who grinned at Toph's shocked look.
The worm retracted as Toji landed on top of the tower, standing steady as Toph retracted it into the ground before dropping down and landing in front of her.
"Not bad. Focusing more on the positive jing aspect instead of using neutral. Show me more," Toji spoke before rushing forward, Toph readying herself before her eyes widened as he lunged to the side to dodge the rock she shot at him from behind.
Quickly creating a dome around her to stop his attack, she sunk into the ground and closed it right as Toji flew through it with a dropkick, the teen narrowing his eyes as he saw no one in the rubble of the dome.
"Oh, that's quite good," Toji murmured as he raised a foot and stomped down hard, cratering the ground below him while smirking as Toph shot out from the ground with a slight stagger.
Rushing in before she could catch herself, he began to clash with her in hand-to-hand, delivering a palm strike to her chest that knocked the wind out of her.
Continuing with a punch to her throat, Toph slapped his attack to the side, countering with her own punch to his ribs that made Toji grunt as he saw the rocks covering her hands.
Lifting his knee to hit her stomach, Toph staggered backwards before Toji landed a kick to her forehead, sending her skidding back as Toji lowered his leg and dug the ball of his feet into the ground.
"You want to speed this up?", Toji asked, shifting into his stance as he watched Toph take a deep breath before she stomped on the ground, settling into her newly found earthbending stance.
"Yeah, let's speed this up," With that said, the ground cracked as Toji shot forward, bulldozing right through the first wall Toph threw up and slamming his fist through the second wall she had made.
Yet, the girl was not stationary for long as she lunged in, shifting downwards to dodge his attack while punching at his leg, the ground below it erupting upwards and throwing him through the air.
Stomping on the ground before clapping her hands together, the ground below Toji erupted upwards and unleashed a barrage of boulders that slammed into his body.
Each impact rippled through his body and sent him flying up higher and higher, but with each impact, he felt his mind growing more and more clear as he flipped through the air and landed feet first on one boulder.
Using it as a springboard, Toji launched himself down, hopping in between the boulders with graceful agility, Toph immediately hopping back as he crashed into the ground with a grunt.
'Well, she is most definitely skilled enough to hold me back,' Toji knew that he could most definitely get closer to her faster than she would expect, but that would require going into the lethal category and while he did want to win, he also didn't want to kill the first person in this world that he tolerated.
'Wait, no. That would be June and her shirshu. Toph is the second.'
"You win this-"
"Nope, not like that. I know you're scared of hurting me, but I'd rather you hurt me now rather than me getting hurt in an actual battle," Toph cut him off with a frown, making Toji raise an eyebrow even as he cracked his neck.
"You understand what that means, right? I might even kill you by accident."
"I trust you," Toph spoke with a smile as she steadied herself, surprising Toji as he stared at her before raising his hand. Wormy responded by spitting out his jian, the boy swinging it with a flourish before settling in a stance with the blade held with both hands and at head level, the tip of it pointed at her.
"You're sure about this?"
"Not really, but no one is sure about battle," Toph's answer made Toji chuckle as he nodded, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly before he watched as she stomped down.
The shockwave of her stomp rippled across the ground before Toji shot forward, easily dodging around the rock spears trying to hit him. Toph frowned before shifting her foot to the side, pushing her palms down to the ground and sinking the ground around her in the same motion.
Yet, all that did was make Toji grin as he stopped at the edge, dashing to the side once more before he began to run all along the edge of the crater she was in.
Each step pushed him further and further until he lunged at her, Toph pushing herself to the side right as his sword cut off a few strands of her hair. Ducking down as Toph threw up a rock wall, Toji rushed around it and stabbed at her head, the girl dodging the attack while hopping back to try and create distance.
However, this time, Toji was ready as he rushed after her, each of his strikes slapping her rocks away while also trying to cut into her body.
Toph grimaced as she sunk into the ground, but her eyes widened as she felt a shockwave shaking the ground, immediately shooting back up right as Toji stopped in front of her with a smirk and his blade held to her neck.
"Like I said, you're better than most your age. For now, I think I'll take this as a draw," The boy spoke with a smile as he let Wormy eat the sword once more, holding out his hand before chuckling as she simply grunted and pulled herself out.
"We both know that you could have won easily had we gone all-out from the start, but you struggled to keep up. You just can't go all-out against me, huh?"
"It is pretty hard considering that I'm trying to teach you instead of just winning. Anyway, you understand what you need to keep on mastering now, right?", Toji asked, nodding as Toph nodded before he was surprised as the girl hugged him with a grunt.
"I'll miss kicking you ass around."
"Don't worry. It will only be a few years and then you'll be happily kicking my ass around again…for a fee, of course."
"Sure, sure," Toph murmured as she let go, but there was no helping her smile as Toji ruffled her hair before walking over to the amused Poppy.
"Make sure she doesn't go overboard and follows the plan I gave you."
"I will do so. Are you going to see him before you go?", Poppy asked and Toji looked at the manor before nodding as he began making his way to the office of the family's patriarch.
It did not take him long to come to a stop in front of Lao's office, opening the door to see the man frowning while looking out the window that overlooked the training ground.
"You are leaving?"
"Yeah, I've grown a bit stiff here so I want to stretch my legs and do some more work while I'm out there."
"I see."
"…Not even a 'I'm gonna miss you'?"
"Considering you threatened to take my life, I'd prefer to keep the pleasantries to myself."
"Eh, I'd like to think that they gave you the jumpstart you needed to become a better father and a better man."
"I will be praying on your downfall. Safe journeys, Toji."
"As will I, Lao Beifong," Toji spoke with a smirk, chuckling as he saw the the corners of Lao's mouth twitch before he turned and walked out of the room.
'Well, since I'm lacking a few new weapons, time to go on a bit of a shopping trip: The Toji kind.'
A/N: And we end the Beifong arc here~! Just a bit of slice of life before we get back to the gore and the massacres.
Next chapter: Stealing, shopping and ooh~ more stealing~
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Ba-Bye~!