After Itachi left, I continued working on Fire Chakra Transformation Fuin and Leaf Sticking Exercise. It was dawn when I stopped and looked at the improvements.

“Increases to the level of Leaf Sticking Exercise really slowed down a lot. I could gain a level in a second before, now I keep the leaf sticking for a whole day and it still improves by 9 levels. I am afraid I am going to have to level up to speed things up.” I sighed and opened Status.

“Dexterity is finally in two digits. I only have 25 levels to master Leaf Sticking Exercise. I thought the Skills level would increase more since I can keep a single leaf indefinitely but it seems like if I want to improve the Skill fast enough, I will need to level up after hitting 40 CHA and keep 6 leaves sticking instead.”

I stood up and dusted my shorts then made my way to the dining hall. There were already some kids there sitting at a table and talking about things. When one of them saw me, others turn to me too and looked. I raised a brow at them. The one who first saw me walked to me and said, “Want to play a game? We will stop when it’s breakfast time.

I hummed, “What game are you going to play?” Then I used observe on the kid.

                Daisuke came closer and whispered, “There are rats in the cellar. Savage beasts. We are going to fight with ‘em. Wanna come with us?”

                I raised a brow at him. “You know it’s dangerous right? I think we should let ninja deal with it instead. I looked at Daisuke but his chin was set. I sighed ‘They are going to go no matter what I do short of snitching them to Hana. I am no snitch so I should go with and protect them when necessary.’ I shrugged. “Okay but if there are too many of them I will scream.” I said and watched as Daisuke’s rep fall by 5. ‘I guess it was the wrong thing to say.’ I sighed. “I am just kidding.” Rep came back. “I will play with you but we need weapons. If we get bitten we might get sick.”

                Daisuke nodded. “We saw Hana move wood to the cellar. We just need to get them.”

                “Okay. Let’s go and be done with it before breakfast is ready.” I said while looking at the other kids. There were four of them except Daisuke. When they heard me, they too stood up and we started walking towards the cellar.

                While walking, I expected Rena to come and kick our asses but she never came. So in a few minutes, we were in front of the door to the cellar. Before I could say others I will lead them one of the kids came forward, while elbowing my stomach ineffectively and said, “I will lead us. I am the strongest here.” I snorted and looked at the other kids’ faces but it seemed like they thought the same. Except for Daisuke that is. The kid looked at me crossly and said “What is it, dancer? You have a problem?”

                ‘To think I wanted to protect this kid.’ I sighed and used Observe on him.

                ‘Damn. This kid hates my guts.’ I chuckled to myself and turned to Kota. “No. You can take the lead but I expect you to engage first if you do. And don’t expect me to save your ass.”

                The kids started whispering amongst themselves and Kota was grinding his teeth so hard I could hear the sound they make. “I will,” Kota said between his teeth. Then pushed me a little, “Stay back. Babies have no place on the battlefield.”

                I tilted my head. “What battlefield?” Kota didn’t answer and went inside. I shrugged. “Alright, let’s go.”

                There were lamps inside but it was still pretty dark. We found wooden blocks close to the door and all of us held one of them each. We came to the center and started waiting for our fearless leader to give a command. He was on the other hand, just looking around and waiting. It seemed to be the right thing to do since rats are started making noise shortly after.

                Kota started walking towards the voice and a rat jumped on his face. He caught unprepared and fell down with the rat on his face. The other kids froze on the spot but I acted fast and caught the side of the rat with my wood. Rat flew outside of my vision squawking.

                Kota stood up with no thanks and brandished his makeshift weapon. Then another rat showed itself. This one was bigger but still was a normal rat. Kota ran towards it and swung his weapon at it. Rat squawked and dodged back and bared its teeth. Kota tried again and this time, managed to hit the rat’s head. Rat squawked and fell limp. Kota jumped excitedly. He then turned to me and gave me a winning grin. I sighed. “Careful, it’s behind you.” He jumped and swiped the rat away. Then something I didn’t expect happened.

                Rat after rat started showing themselves, baring their teeth to us. “Kids, I think we should get out of here,” I whispered so as not to aggravate rats anymore.

                Kota chuckled. “What is it baby, afraid of a few rats?!” He said screaming and that did it. All at once, rats started attacking us. Kids held the line and I helped them whenever they were about to be overwhelmed. In just a few long minutes, most of the kids were spent. They seemed to be ready to fall in any second.

                I was thinking of screaming when the door opened and Hana got inside. She looked at us and the rats then stomped a few times and yelled. “Kids! Out!” The kids got out quickly which made Hana and me the only ones left. Hana looked at me angrily. “Didn’t I said out?”

                “I thought you might need help,” I said nodding. Hana shook her head and pointed to the place where rats were just about a second ago. I frowned. “Did they ran away from you?”

                Hana shook her head. “They ran away from us.” She then turned to me. “I am guessing you were the one to keep the kids safe.” I nodded hopeful that I won’t get yelled at but that was not the case. “Why the hell are you here?!”

                I sighed. “Hana… -san. The kids were going to come here either way. I just wanted to make sure they are safe.”

                Hana put her hands on her waist. “Did you tell them how stupid doing this is?”

                “I tried something of the kind but they didn’t seem like they would listen and I just thought we would be okay you know? Never thought they would be this numerous.”

                “Alright. You go eat your breakfast, I will deal with the rat corpses.” Hana said while shaking her head. I nodded and after dropping the wood on the pile, got out. As soon as I was out, I took a look at the screens.