(Toji's POV)
In a dense forest in the Land of Bears, a man walked calmly, dressed in simple clothes, a white kimono, wide, frayed blue trousers, and black Geta sandals. He had dark brown skin, brown eyes, and a stature tall for this world, about one meter and eighty centimeters.
But the man's most striking feature was his enormous afro swaying in the wind.
The man wasn't carrying much, just a straw basket tied to his back and a sheathed katana at his waist.
[A/N: In case you haven't noticed yet, I completely based this character on Afro Samurai, why? Because I love his design.]
The basket on the man's back was open, containing several large fresh fish. He walked with light steps despite the weight of his load, but while his gait hadn't changed at all, his eyes slowly drifted to the right.
The next moment, the basket fell and his sword was drawn.
Toji looked in surprise at the sword that stopped Shakukonto and the man wielding it.
Toji tilted his head slightly, curiosity evident in his eyes, but the dark-haired man didn't change his expression one bit, instead, his hand moved so fast that Toji almost lost sight of it.
The man's sword passed swiftly across his face, a millimeter away from cutting, tearing out a few strands of his hair.
The dark-haired man didn't stop, but continued to advance towards Toji, his indifferent eyes seeming to have slightly given way to interest, it wasn't just him, but Toji himself became excited.
For a moment, the sound of steel colliding with steel could be heard continuously throughout the forest.
Toji moved like a blur, but despite attacking from impossible angles, the dark-haired man managed to parry his blows continuously. It was evident that in terms of overall speed, he was inferior, but the speed at which his sword moved was supernatural.
Toji tried to cut it from every angle, jumping between the trees, but each cut was met only with the sound of steel.
Toji swallowed hard, stopping completely, the purple snake coiled around him staring at the dark-haired man with as much interest as Toji himself.
The man didn't move, keeping his sword lowered at his side, even so, no matter how much Toji looked, he couldn't find an opening.
A smile slowly grew on Toji's lips, he remembered the information about this man. His name is Afro, yes, the guy's name is Afro.
He is a samurai from the Land of Iron. For some reason, he killed his master and stole his sword, one of the country's most famous swords. The Daimyo of the Land of Iron himself placed a 50 million bounty on his head.
Toji randomly encountered him in a small village selling fish and followed him out of curiosity, he could sense that this man was not weak. After observing him long enough, he attacked.
He expected the man to dodge or perhaps only be slightly injured, but to parry every single one of his blows? This guy is clearly as strong as a Kage in terms of pure swordsmanship!
Toji looked at Afro's sword, the blade had a faint red glow. Akayuki, a legendary sword known for leaving a red trail through the snow of the Land of Snow during a war in the Sengoku period.
It's a cursed blade, Toji could sense the blade's malice, that was another reason Toji was after Afro, to confirm that the blade might be one of the cursed items he's about to steal from his connections.
A pure blade that has become cursed due to the blood of his enemies is truly a great resource for Jugo to use.
The snake around Toji was already hissing excitedly, but Toji, who only expected to kill Afro and take the weapon, remained quiet for a moment.
This guy is strong. Toji hadn't encountered anyone who could stop his blade in several weeks across the Ninja world. For a moment, he thought he'd have to wait until he went after the Akatsuki to have a proper fight.
Afro managed to completely capture his interest.
-My name is Fushiguro Toji.- Toji assumed a fighting stance again, this time no longer acting like an assassin ninja, but ready to act like a Samurai, that was enough respect for the man before him.
Afro didn't answer at first, only raising his sword guard slightly, but a simple word escaped his thick lips, his voice hoarse, yet full of weight. - Afro.
Neither of them needed any more words, neither was concerned with anything other than the swords in each other's hands.
A leaf slowly detached itself from the tree, falling slowly carried by the wind. The moment the leaf landed perfectly between them, the two moved with superhuman speed, their swords meeting where the leaf had stopped. The leaf fell, perfectly cut into four pieces.
The next moment, the two figures resumed fighting, the sound of steel and sparks flashing continuously. Afro pushed his chakra to the limit, covering his sword when he realized Shakukonto was stronger.
Toji didn't care, he held the blade without chakra, purely using his physical strength to fight.
Even so, after a few minutes, a stalemate had formed, Toji's superior strength and speed were losing out to Afro's precision and experience.
Each of Afro's strikes was precise, there was no room for maneuvering, Afro's eyes grew increasingly fervent, his face remained expressionless, but his growing excitement was evident.
Toji had assumed Afro wouldn't be able to sustain this level of combat for long, but he was surprised to discover that Afro was getting faster, more precise, and even his chakra was becoming more stable.
Curious, Toji opened his Byakugan, causing the veins around his black eyes to bulge. Looking at Afro's chakra, he didn't see anything special, but as the fight progressed, he realized that Afro was improving his efficiency, the way it was used, even the direct change in the properties of the chakra.
There was no change in nature, it was simply pure and simple efficiency.
Toji took a deep breath, this guy... he was a fucking genius!