A/N: Had this idea running around in my head for a while so I had to write it. I love Toji too much.

~punch all the things~

At four years old is when Toji remembered. When the disjointed memories from his past life had finally clicked into place. When he realized that he had been reincarnated into a world far removed from his own. That he lived in an orphanage and had no idea about who he was or where he was supposed to be.

The last thing he remembered was losing to the Gojo brat. The finality of realizing his life had come to an end. That everything he had done until that point no longer mattered. How empty it had all felt in the end. And that the last thing he had seen was the memory of his ex-wife holding his newborn son.

It felt like some cosmic joke being played at his expense. Of all the people to be granted the chance to keep their memories from their past life, and it had been him. A man who killed for money and enjoyment. Who had been content to rot in hell and curse the rest of the Zen'in family for all eternity.

And yet, here he was, a fucking brat, looking exactly as he had as Zen'in Toji at this age. Short, pale skinned, and with straight black hair. The only difference was that this time around he had coal black eyes. It ikred him how the green eyes were the one thing he didn't get. He gets to keep everything else except the one feature that made him look the least like a Zen'in.

"Fucking bullshit."

His voice sounded way too young and way too soft. His whole body was soft. The black shirt he wore dwarfed his small torso and his shorts stopped just above boney knees. He was wearing soft, rubber soled sandals, and the cuteness of it pissed him off even more. Even the glare he was making looked cute!

"Toji-chan! There you are!"

Toji turned his glare up at the matron who had come looking for him. He had been hiding in the attic away from all the other children. The annoying brats got on his nerves. Plus there were old books up here he liked reading. Even if they were boring old historical textbooks. It was better than having to listen to that crybaby Emiko prattle on about how Toji was mean to her.

That little snot nosed brat wouldn't leave him alone. Her and a lot of the other orphans who tried to get him to play with them. Toji didn't have the patience for their games. He'd rather be reading up on this world and figuring out the fastest way to getting back up to the strength of his previous body.

Because above all else, Toji knew knowledge was the deadliest weapon you could wield against someone. Second only to strength. He just needed to figure out how people fought in this world, so he could plan out his next moves. He was sick and tired of being a weak little kid. It felt wrong not being able to crush a man's skull in the palm of his hand.

And if what he read in the history books were true, he lived in a world where ninjas were the strongest. And he had just happened to be reborn in one of the five main ninja villages. Konoha. The only problem was that the history books carefully omitted anything that referenced the abilities of the powerful ninja they talked about.

Like Senju Hashirama. Almost every history book stated he founded Konoha and that the tree's surrounding the village existed because of him. Okay, but how and why? He's seen the size of them on the few outings the matrons took the kids out on. There was no way they were planted if they were grown at the founding of the village. That was less than one hundred years ago!

He's seen the calendar. It was 1992 in this world. According to the history books Konoha was founded in 1923. No way those trees grew that fast naturally. So clearly it had something to do with Senju Hashirama's power. But not one of the history books mentioned anything about it!

It frustrated him. The jujutsu sorcerer's in his past life had been a lot freer with their knowledge. Most techniques were recorded and easy to get. Not that most sorcerer's could replicate the techniques, as the key to their powers was that each was unique to the individual, but it still helped Toji in the long run. The more he understood about the sorcerer's powers, the easier it had been to kill them .

"Toji! Didn't you hear me? I said it was time to come down for breakfast."

"I'm coming!" He shouted angrily at the woman. Miss Suzana was kind. Kind and stupid. She was the kind of woman who enjoyed looking after kids. She always tried to treat every kid like they were her own. No matter how badly some of the kids treated her, she just smiled and didn't punish them.

Which was why it was easy for him to do whatever he wanted. Mostly. He had a stupid curfew after all. That was the one thing Miss Suzana never budged on. Last time he had tried to stay out and fought Miss Suzana about it, the older matron, Auntie Bonten had punished him with a cane to his rump. That wrinkly old crone was the only matron he respected.

At least she wasn't afraid to punish idiotic kids.

Closing the book he had been reading and setting it back on the table, Toji slid off the dusty chair and made his way over to Suzana. She smiled nervously at him. Most likely because Toji always glared at her. The woman was always looking for approval. Even from Toji. Which was why he thought she was weak. And not worth his respect.

"Stupid woman." He watched as she flinched like his words had been a physical attack. Then, instead of scolding him, she just put another fake smile on and held out her hand. "L-Let's go Toji-chan. Hold my hand as we go down the stairs."

Toji just scoffed at her and walked past the hand she held out. She always treated him like a baby. Another reason why he disliked her. They were just fucking stairs, he had enough coordination to go up and down them himself. It pissed him off.

It wasn't long until he was seated at a long table surrounded by other gross children. They were all varying age ranges and most of them were civilians from what he could tell. None of the kids ever talked about wanting to be ninja. It just pissed him off more that he was stuck with the weak bunch.

It was as he was stuffing his face full of rice that something changed, however. Auntie Bonten was coming over with a new kid. Around Toji's age with blonde hair and blue eyes. And weird whisker marks on his face. He had a bruise on his cheek and a scowl on his face. Must have gotten into a fight or something.

Which made Toji grin. If he was getting into fights at that age Toji might have just found someone worthy enough to be a friend.

"Children!" Auntie Bonten shouted to get their attention. "We have a new brat. He's been pushed off on us by the other orphanages because of…difficulties. I don't want to see any of you making trouble with him." He watched Auntie Bonten give him a rough shove, frowning down at the blonde like he was a bug at her feet. But that was normal for Auntie Bonten. She always looked at kids like they were bugs she had to put up with.

Almost all of the other kids started whispering to each other once Bonten left. Even Miss Suzana, who was seated at one of the larger tables with the majority of the kids, had a pale look on her face as she stared down at the blonde. And the blonde just stood there, face turned down with a scowl and his small fists clenched at his sides.

Toji just grinned wider. What kind of kid did this blonde have to be to make Miss Suzana look like someone killed her cat in front of her? If this kid scared even adults like Miss Suzana with just his presence, Toji wanted to find out why.

"Hey. Newbie."

The blonde's head shot up and his blue eyes were wide as they stared at Toji. He heard Miss Suzana stutter, but she was too weak to get anything out.

"Come here." The kids that had been sitting near him all looked at each other, looked at Miss Suzana, and then tried to scoot as far away from him as they could. Some even took their bowls and moved to other tables. Toji didn't care. Most kids avoided Toji already because of his attitude.

The blonde still had a frown on his face and his eyes were darting over to the other children, but he still came over to the table Toji was at.

"W-What?"

"What's your name?" The blonde kid still looked nervous, and his eyes kept darting around, but he took a seat next to Toji once he made room for him. Toji kept watching him like a hawk.

"N-Naruto." He stuttered briefly before Toji watched a small fire form behind his eyes. This time his voice didn't waver. "Naruto Uzumaki! I'm gonna be hokage!" He shouted it like he was declaring a challenge. Then he flinched and shot a look over at Miss Suzana, the only adult in the room. She still looked pale. She even looked like she wanted to throw up. Toji's grin became vicious.

"Hokage, huh? My name's Toji. You know the Hokage is supposed to be the most powerful ninja in the village, right?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna be hokage and make everyone respect me!" Naruto had seemed to finally shed his nervousness and fear and now there was just pure fire behind his eyes. Like he was ready for a fight if anyone tried to make fun of him.

Toji couldn't help the full belly laugh that left him. It sounded high-pitched and too soft to his ears, but it made Naruto stutter. "A-Are…are you making fun of me? I'll–I'll beat you up!"

"Good!" Toji had stopped laughing now and his grin showed all his baby teeth. "I can't get strong if people are afraid to fight me. Here." Toji pushed his bowl of rice and chicken over to Naruto. He heard Miss Suzana stutter in the background again but he ignored her. She hadn't gotten up to get Naruto food yet, and it didn't seem like she planned to. "You're gonna need energy if we're gonna fight. We can go outside once you're done."

"T-That's–" Miss Suzana seemed to finally get her courage. "I-I really think you s-shouldn't interact with h-him too much, Toji-chan."

"Fuck off, woman. Do you think I care what you think?" Toji's glare seemed to be sufficient enough to cower Miss Suzana again. Toji turned his attention back to Naruto. "Annoying bitch. Weak idiots like her don't deserve respect."

Naruto seemed torn between gratitude and shock. "You…" he dropped his voice to a whisper. "You can't curse at people like that. You'll get in trouble."

"Hah? You think I fucking care about getting in trouble? I'll do whatever the fuck I want." Toji turned towards a kid that was too close to him and yanked his bowl of food out from his hands. The kid who was about a year older than him stuttered in shock, but one glare and a toothy grin from Toji, and the memory of a painful punch, was enough to get him to start crying and leave the table.

"See?" Miss Suzana was comforting the crying kid, but she was too afraid to get any closer to Toji and Naruto. "She's too afraid to do anything."

Naruto frowned and looked disapproving, but he was still eating the bowl of food Toji had given him. "That's not right. You aren't supposed to be mean to people like that."

"Who fucking cares." Toji took a huge bite of rice and chicken. "They're all weak anyway. Strength is the only thing that matters. You said you wanna be Hokage, right?"

Naruto nodded, not able to argue, but still looking like he wanted to disagree with Toji's attitude.

"Well then you have to get strong. And it just so happens that I want to get strong. So we're gonna help each other."

Naruto's spoon froze halfway to his mouth before he looked at Toji with stars in his eyes. "W-We are?"

"Yeah." Toji's grin was fierce again as he stared out of one of the open windows. It was sunny outside and Toji couldn't wait to punch things with his fists. "You can't get strong if you don't have anyone to fight against."

~punch all the things~

Miss Suzana was wringing her hands as she stood in the headmistress office. Headmistress Bonten made the rules of the house but Miss Suzana really didn't like the situation they were in.

"A-Are you sure we can't get rid of him? He…he'd be a danger to the other children."

Headmistress Bonten scowled at her. "We are not getting rid of the child just because he's a disgusting waste of space. The Hokage is paying us good money to keep track of him and we can use it to make improvements on the house as well as pay for better food for the children. I will not have you ruining this opportunity just because you can't stand to look at the child."

"B-But…but having him next to the Uchiha–"

"What have I told you! He is no longer Uchiha. His parents are dead and he was disowned because of his disability. He'll never be able to mold chakra or become a ninja. The Uchiha have no use for him. You will do well to never mention that name again. The same goes for the demon brat. You are not to mention anything about the monster, do you understand?"

"I–yes Headmistress."

"Good. Now go to the basement and take care of the laundry. It's been piling up for too long.

"Yes Headmistress."

~punch all the things~

Toji was standing out in the backyard with Naruto. The sun and cool breeze made it the perfect day for training. The biggest tree in the backyard had long been claimed by him. None of the other children came over here for fear of getting punched. Which made it the perfect place to practice taijutsu.

"Well? Come on, try to punch me."

"But…" Naruto looked confused as he stood a few feet away from Toji. His blonde hair bounced like fluffy clouds on his head. "...won't we get in trouble for fighting?"

"Nah." If he had beat up a bunch of the weaker kids he may have gotten in trouble, but from what Toji could tell, the headmistress didn't care what happened to Naruto. He was the perfect punching bag. "They don't care enough about us."

Naruto seemed to deflate a bit at Toji's callous words, but he just as quickly puffed back up. "T-Then…then I'll make them care! I'll get strong and then they have to care!"

Toji grinned. This kid never gave up. "Well then? Come on! Punch me!" Toji lowered his knees and raised his small fists up. Naruto hesitated but tried to copy Toji's stance as best he could. Then he yelled and charged at Toji with a small right hook.

His small fist made contact with the arms he brought up in front of him. It was a good try, but didn't even make him flinch before Toji retaliated with a solid punch to Naruto's gut. Naruto backpedaled and wheezed out an 'ooomph' before he started jumping around and clutched his stomach in pain.

"Ow ow ow ow ow! Why do you punch so hard?!"

"Cause I punch that tree everyday."

Naruto turned to look at the tree in question and sure enough there was a smooth portion at about their height. Naruto seemed to have forgotten about his pain as he stared at the tree. "Why do you punch a tree?"

"Cause it makes your fists stronger. Makes you form calluses so you don't crack your knuckles whenever you punch people."

Naruto hummed as he looked down at his own hands. "What's a callus?"

"It's a rough patch of skin that builds up from work. Like tough leather."

Toji walked over and showed Naruto his knuckles. They weren't that well formed yet, but his knuckles clearly were made of tougher skin than Naruto's.

"Ohhh! So if I punch trees a lot my fists will get stronger too?"

"Yep." Toji couldn't stop grinning. He had hit the jackpot with this Naruto kid. He didn't cry when getting punched, got back up when he got beat, and seemed eager to get stronger as well.

"Cool!" Naruto had a new fire in his eyes as he got back in a fighting stance. "Let's go again! I'm gonna dodge this time!"

Maybe he should tell Naruto it wasn't the smartest thing to shout out what you were gonna do next, but he decided he'd have fun with him first. The best way to learn how to fight was with practical experience anyway.

And with a sparring partner like Naruto, maybe he'd finally be able to start getting stronger.

~punch all the things~