Toji was walking calmly, but irritation was growing inside him. He turned, peering through the trees and speaking. -How long do you idiots intend to follow me?
Nothing, no movement from the forest.
Toji sighed, then vanished the next moment.
Before Ganju and Itomaki's shocked eyes, Toji grabbed them both by the neck, his face still indifferent.
-I asked a question, don't you know it's rude not to answer?- Toji asked calmly.
Ganju gasped for air, trying to pull Toji's hand away, while Itomaki grabbed a dagger from his waist and tried to stab Toji's arm.
Toji found the movement laughable. Itomaki was skilled for a civilian, but for a ninja of Toji's caliber? Toji's hand moved before Itomaki could understand what was happening, the knife was already in Toji's hand, and as he fell due to lack of support, a heavy kick struck his stomach.
Itomaki screamed, being thrown far away, he rolled on the ground, clutching his stomach as he vomited his guts out.
Toji scoffed, throwing the knife, which landed directly next to his head, leaving Itomaki even more terrified.
Toji turned his gaze to Ganju, who had already fainted, he had forgotten to loosen his grip, the guy was almost dead.
He let go of him, Ganju fell weakly to the ground, but he wasn't breathing. Toji rolled his eyes and quickly stepped on Ganju's chest, his heart started beating again, even though some of his ribs were broken.
Ganju's eyes widened, screaming in pain, but Toji ignored him, looking at the pair, his hands returning to his pockets, his gaze completely bored.
-You have one minute to tell me why you were following me, after that, if I don't like the answer, I'll kill you.- Toji said. He wasn't joking, not killing them directly already showed restraint. After all, he didn't know what they wanted. If they were just asking for something, killing them wouldn't be justifiable, but he also didn't have the patience, so their lives were limited to the duration of one minute or a good reason.
Ganju suffered a lung injury, so he was unable to speak and was still coughing up blood.
Itomaki finally composed himself after a few seconds, clutching his stomach, sweat streaming down his body like water.
-Sir, please, we thought you were a ninja from Konoha, we just wanted to be sure.- The man spoke quickly.
-Konoha ninja? Why are you after Konoha ninjas?- Toji asked calmly. -And how did you know I'm a ninja?
Itomaki, sweating profusely, struggled to support himself on his knees before beginning to explain. -We saw you carrying a Bingo book, only ninjas carry those things. Besides, we saw you heading south, we thought you were going to Konoha, so we decided to follow you.
-As for why we're after Konoha ninjas... we're from a small coal mining village in the Land of Grass. Five years ago, a group of rogue ninjas and bandits came to our village and made us work so hard we almost died. Since then, everyone who tried to escape was killed and crucified as a warning. Finally, the two of us managed to get out, intending to go to Konoha to ask for help.- Itomaki said quickly.
Toji scratched his chin, curiosity evident in his gaze. -Why not go to the Kusagakure?
-We saw grass ninjas negotiating with them...- Itomaki explained. By this point, he only hoped that Toji wasn't a grass ninja, but judging by how he treated them both, he sensed that if he lied, he would end up in serious trouble.
He was right, Toji had already activated the Devil's Tongue, he confirmed that everything that guy said was true.
-What's the payment?- Toji asked. This is the kind of job he wants, there are many enemies to kill, which is even better.
Up until now he had only killed a small group of bandits, this hadn't advanced his Criminal acting, because killing bandits isn't really a crime in this world.
His Unwinged Angel potion also showed no signs of progress, he figured that this kind of justified death wasn't really what the potion called for.
On the other hand, when he impaled all the dead, he felt his Serial Killer potion advance a little.
He chose to imitate Dracula, leaving bodies on stakes wherever he went.
Would he receive the title of impaler?
This piqued his curiosity, but for the moment he didn't dwell on it. Instead, he turned to the man with the scar on his face and asked, -What's the payment? I imagine you don't have the money to hire ninjas, you don't expect to arrive in Konoha empty-handed, do you?
Itomaki seemed to swallow a fly, he closed his mouth and lowered his head, trembling slightly. He didn't want to talk about the payment, it was the only asset they had.
Toji looked at that and snorted slightly, in the end, he wasn't interested enough to force these guys.
He turned around and started walking away.
-Wait! - Ganju finally managed to stand up, still with blood between his teeth. He knew they were being pursued, perhaps they wouldn't even reach Konoha, and perhaps Konoha wouldn't even accept his mission, but the act of leaving Toji showed that he seemed to have some integrity.
-Ganju! - Itomaki called out hurriedly, trying to stop Ganju.
Ganju turned to him and said. -Itomaki, I'm going to bet!
Itomaki opened his mouth, but finally sighed, after all, this belonged to Ganju's deceased adoptive father, he had no right to stop him. He could only pray that this man was trustworthy and strong enough.
Toji stopped, turning his face slightly, curious.
Ganju reached into his Yukata and pulled out a scroll.