As for Danzo even when it came to the so-called "Greatest Genjutsu," Toji believed there were ways to counter Kotoamatsukami's ability.
The first approach? Simple tell Naruto about the technique beforehand and have him document his memories and thoughts in advance. Then, if the worst happened, Toji could try using that record to snap Naruto out of it.
After all, Kotoamatsukami isn't unstoppable.
It messes with a person's thinking, but it doesn't lower their intelligence.
Think of it like this—if someone suddenly believed that getting slapped in the face felt amazing, that it didn't hurt at all, they might go along with it at first.
They'd get slapped once and think, Huh? That wasn't so bad.
But by the second time, they'd start wondering, Wait, isn't this supposed to feel good?
By the third time, they'd definitely question it. If they still kept asking for more after that, either they had a serious issue, or... they had some unusual preferences.
Sure, someone might argue that once your mindset is changed, you feel good regardless. But what about memories? What do you do when you remember not liking it before, but suddenly you do?
If someone brings that up, even the slowest person would start sensing that something's off.
And if that method didn't work, there was always Plan B distract the user of Kotoamatsukami so they wouldn't waste such a rare technique on Naruto.
From what Toji knew, that ability had a cooldown period.
As for the risk of Naruto getting locked up? That was actually easier to handle.
At the end of the day, he's not sure if Kotoamatsukami would even work on someone like Naruto with the the nine tails chakra in him. Obito controlled yagura the 3 tails easily with his mangekyo even though yagura had a good relationship with isobu the 3 tails so it might work but the ninetails is on a different level from the other beasts so he's not too sure.
Either way Toji already had a backup plan for that situation, so he wasn't too worried.
With all that in place—and enough Dark Points to fall back on—it was finally time for him to seriously consider leaving Konoha.
Inside the restaurant.
While cooking, Toji kept mentally going over the steps of his "Leave Konoha" plan. Outwardly, though, he was the same as always, chatting with customers, laughing, acting relaxed.
Just then, a middle-aged man showed up at the door carrying fresh vegetables.
He looked completely ordinary—nothing that would catch anyone's eye.
He brushed aside the cloth at the door.
The moment Toji saw him, he froze slightly but quickly returned to his usual expression.
"Hey! Toji business is booming, huh?"
"Not bad, not bad. What've you got today? Still got some left for me?"
"Of course! This batch of radishes is super sweet—perfect for soup!" The man handed him a thick white radish, about as big around as a child's leg.
Toji took one.
There was a small note tucked underneath.
He weighed the radish with one hand while secretly slipping the note into his pocket.
Then, with a casual grin, he said, "Nice! I'll take a whole basket. This one's on the house, right?"
"Haha! Sure, sure! You're the boss here—your word is law."
"I'll drop off the rest after I finish today's deliveries!"
With that, the man turned and left.
Toji went right back to cooking and joking with customers, just like always.
No one noticed when he discreetly pulled the note out, opened it, and read it.
It was short: "Meet at 8 o'clock tonight."
After reading it, he calmly tossed the paper into the fire.
It burned to ash without a trace.
Smooth and unnoticed.
Later that night. Inside the restaurant.
Toji normally closed up shop around 8 p.m. But today, by 7, he was already putting up the wooden board across the entrance—clearly signaling they were closing early and not taking more customers.
By 8 p.m., the shop was completely sealed off, though a faint light still shone through the cracks.
Inside, Toji stood behind the counter as usual, but now there were two other people seated at the bar.
One was the vegetable seller from earlier.
The other was a middle-aged Genin in full ninja gear.
"Toji Lee! Seriously, how long do you expect us to wait?! All you ever say is it's dangerous, dangerous—well it's been two years! Two years! Are you stalling on purpose? Have you even thought about revenge anymore?!"
It was the vegetable seller speaking—his name was Yukichi.
His tone was low but laced with frustration.
Clearly, these two had known each other for a while.
Out in public, they pretended to be strangers.
But behind the scenes, they were part of a small underground group.
A group that hated ninjas.
As mentioned earlier, many ordinary people in Konoha had suffered from ninja conflicts. Yukichi's family had been among the casualties, which left him with a deep, bitter hatred.
To him, killing even one ninja was worth it. Killing two? That was a bonus.
Toji had ended up in this group because of the identity the system assigned him. His fictional parents had supposedly died in a similar "accident," which gave these two the excuse to bring him in.
To be honest, "recruited" wasn't the right word.
It was more like forced.
Once they let Toji in on their secrets, they couldn't risk letting him walk away. He had no choice but to go along.
Still, he had no intention of dying alongside two hotheaded fanatics.
So, from the beginning, he had been feeding them excuses—stalling their reckless plan for as long as he could.
Now, after two whole years of delays, their patience was wearing thin.
"I've told you before," Toji said calmly, "ninjas have all kinds of strange abilities. Even a Genin can sense killing intent. If we even think about attacking, they might detect us before we make a move."
"Then what? We just die for nothing.
"And let's say we do get close, somehow sneak up without being noticed. There are only three of us. Even if we give our lives, how many could we actually take out?
"You think your hatred will be satisfied just by taking down one or two Genin?"