Chapter 8

[You have slept in your bed! HP and CP fully restored!]

Ando's eyes fluttered open with the now familiar ring of the notification. He spent a few moments organizing his thoughts, then slowly got out of bed. He looked at his roommates and saw that they were still sleeping. Just like back in the orphanage, he was the first one up. It was one thing that would probably never change during his time in the academy, he thought.

Ando discreetly moved out of bed and changed his clothes. He made sure that he had his student card on him, then moved out. The corridor was deserted. But as he walked out of the dormitory, he was pleasantly surprised to see that there were already some students who were out and about. Ando made some light stretches and then started lightly jogging towards the practice field he had seen during his first time in the academy.

From today on, he decided to start practicing on the open field to augment his chance of interacting with the other students. Unlike his time in the orphanage, Ando was not going to isolate himself. He was very well aware of the value and the impact of having trained people around him. He could learn a lot just by observing them. It would be even better if he could interact and learn from them.

Ando breathed in a lungful of fresh air; the earthy fragrance of dew-kissed grass and soil was invigorating. He felt loads better than when he trained within the damp atmosphere of his room. With a smile on his face, Ando stopped jogging and walked down to the training field.

He saw a few groups of students doing various kinds of exercises. He observed for a while, but he ultimately decided against joining them right away. Instead, he found a place not too far away, next to a wooden post, and then started doing his own regular exercises. Feeling sufficiently warmed up by his previous jog, Ando immediately started with the pushups.

His activity garnered the attention of the other groups of students nearby. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could tell that they were definitely not praising him. Some were shaking their heads, while others were openly snickering in his direction. Ando frowned, he wondered if his form was bad, but then an angry voice interrupted him.

"Oy! What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"

Ando stopped mid-pushup and slowly stood. He turned towards the direction of the voice with a confused expression. A boy, slightly taller than him, with unkempt brown hair and two red markings drawn on each side of his face, was storming towards him. If his voice did not cue Ando on the current mood of the incoming boy, then the angry sneer on his face would.

"What the fuck is a damned orphan like you doing on my Inuzuka training ground?!" The boy all but screamed in his face. To which Ando could only respond with a confused "Huh?"

[-31 HP]

Ando's head jolted backward violently, his vision instantly clouded by a sudden blur, and an intense surge of pain abruptly radiated from his face. He fell on his backside, and instinctively clutched his bleeding nose.

[You have been afflicted with the minor bleeding status!]

[-2HP/30 seconds]

"Wh-Why?" Ando looked up at the boy who punched him straight out of nowhere with a mix of fear and shock. "Why did you do that?!"

"What do you mean why?! Are you fucking dumb?" The boy crouched down and grabbed him by his hair. "This is MY clan's training ground. Why the fuck are you even here?"

Ando spared a look at his harasser and cast observe on him. The other party's words no even registering inside his brain. He only knew that he could counterattack.

He did not hesitate when he saw that the other's level was not too exaggerated. He tried to swing a punch of his own at the boy's lowered face. But the problem was, Ando had never trained to fight in his life. And he was never put in a situation where he had to use his fists instead of his brain.

To Matabe Inuzuka, the punch was slow and predictable. He shoved Ando's face back and easily dodged, he then delivered a hard kick to the other's torso. He watched coldly as the other boy started coughing and heaving on the ground. 'A newbie,' he thought. Which only served to irritate him further.

"First that shitty little brother of mine, and now you?!" Matabe straddled the defenseless orphan and started raining down punches on him, venting. "Who gave you the right to look down on me?! Who?!"

Yet, instead of feeling better, he felt his anger intensify with every punch. Matabe cursed in his heart. He resented his target's weakness. Why were orphans always so weak? It disgusted him. Seeing the lack of response from his opponent, Matabe stopped attacking. He knew the rules of the academy. And he knew that he could not go too far.

With a final punch, he got up and watched with a sneer as the orphan cowered on the ground. "You dumbhead, scram before I end up doing something I'll be sorry for!"

[5XP]

Matabe took in a deep breath, trying to calm down. Gradually, his taut nerves loosened. He glanced at his blood-stained knuckles, and shook his head. He did not even send a second look at the orphan that was crawling away. The previous incident weighed little to nothing on his mind.

Ando managed to crawl to the side of the field and just decided to lie down. The sting of his bruised face making him wonder what exactly he did wrong. He cast a fearful glance towards the brute who casually assaulted him. And was even more confused when the other simply started exercising like nothing even happened.

For a few moments, he just lied there, feeling lost. Until he heard the snickers coming from the other kids who were previously laughing at him. Then, it was as if a switch had been flipped, and everything made sense. The confused look in his eyes was replaced with anger. He tilted his head and cast observe on them.

[Ichinose Sagi] [LVL 12]

Age 10

[Fu Renmei] [LVL 10]

Age 9

[Takeshi Renmei] [LVL 11]

Age 10

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

[Kanzaki Shido] [LVL 12]

Age 10

And finally, his eyes rested on the bastard who beat him up, Inuzuka Matabe, level 14. They all should be second-year students, if not third years. And judging by their reaction, scenes like what just happened to Ando were a frequent occurrence in the academy.

From there, Ando could deduce that the academy actually tolerated this kind of behavior. And may even secretly encourage it. Probably in an attempt to build a competitive spirit for the students.

But it also had the effect of dividing them. His mind was churning as he went even beyond and dug deeper. The civilian-born, the clan kids, and the orphans who lived at the academy, these should be the three primary factions existing in the academy. And if he was not mistaken, then he could conclude that the orphans were the ones standing at the bottom between the three groups.

Ando was not a fan of being bullied. He wanted to take revenge on what just happened to him. But he needed to confirm his guesses first. And in order to do so, he had to find his own group: the orphans. Having thought this far, he decided to lay down and wait. His pitiful appearance, along with his clothes would be more than enough to attract his kind.

All he had to do was just sit down and recover while waiting for them to come down to the field. He did not wipe his bloody face, nor did he move away. Ando simply closed his eyes and started meditating while simultaneously training his chakra manipulation.

Some time passed, and Ando was fully immersed in his exercise. So much so that to the others, it seemed like he had passed out.

"Hey... are you alright?" A hesitant voice called out to him. Ando made a show of groggily opening his eyes, his vision drifting towards the source of the voice. There stood an 11-year-old girl with a somewhat mature look, her kind brown eyes reflecting concern, but also caution. Her complexion was fair, and she bore the distinctive features of Asiatic origin.

Chika [LVL ?]

Age 11

Ando bugged for a second when he realized that he could not see the girl's level. Then a bright smile bloomed onto his face. She was strong; he could tell by the way she was resistant to his observe skill. He righted himself and offered her a nod. "I think I'll manage. Thanks for asking though."

The girl observed him and frowned. "You don't look fine at all."

"I assure you these are what we call flesh wounds. They'll be gone in no time at all." He offered her a reassuring smile. But considering the dried blood and bruises that littered his face, it came out wrong. "Anyway, I'm Ando Yoshio. What's your name?"

"Chika. I'm a 3rd year." She responded while extending her hand. Ando took it and she pulled hard to get him to stand up. "Well, at least you can stand. I haven't seen you around, so you must be a new student, right?"

"Yup, this is my first day here."

"That explains a lot. But in any case, how did you end up like this?" She asked, to which Ando responded by gesturing towards the direction of a group of Inuzuka that were training at the field.

"I pissed one of them off."

"The Inuzuka clan…" Chika sighed and shook her head. "You came here to train, right? Follow me. I'll show you a place where you can at least do that." She started walking towards another part of the training field and Ando followed behind her.

"You have a little bit of bad luck. You ran into the Inuzuka clan as soon as you came here." She started and decreased her speed to allow them to align. "You have to know, among all the groups here, they are one of the most violent and antagonistic ones. In the future, you should stay away from them."

Beside her, Ando nodded as though he understood, then he looked at Chika's sideview and asked a bold question. "What if I want to take revenge?"

Chika stopped dead in her tracks and looked at him straight in the eyes. "Forget about that." She declared, and seeing the frown on Ando's face, she grabbed his shoulders and made sure he was facing her. "Forget about that. It's not worth it."

And typically, such an approach would have been effective on any other first-year student. The unfamiliar surroundings, coupled with a beating, and then encountering a confident figure who guided you through the ropes and showed you the ways to steer clear of trouble—any other first-year would have heeded Chika's advice. That is, if they wanted to stay out of trouble.

Ando was the opposite of that. He did not want an easy time in the academy, he wanted challenges, he wanted to stand out and earn experience. It was impossible for him to stand down. He looked Chika and shook his head.

"I can't do that."

Chika observed him for a moment. And surprisingly saw no fear in other kid's eyes. She slowly released his shoulders. "They're gonna beat you up. Of that, I am sure. Matter of fact, everyone's gonna beat you up if you don't fall in line."

She then resumed her walk towards the orphan's side of the field. Ando just shrugged and followed her. "As long as there is no permanent injury, then I think I'll do just fine."

To that, Chika actually laughed. "We'll see about that. Don't come crying to us when you get in trouble. We won't get involved."

Ando just nodded. Who was he to bring them into his fight? They may share the same origin, but following the short discussion he had with Chika, Ando could already tell what kind of mentality these orphans had.

They were cowards.

It was as simple as that. They were weaker than the other groups, so they would rather take a beating once than get harassed every day.

Ando could understand it. In fact, he could empathize. But he couldn't live like that. He could tell that Chika was strong, but for her to bow her head in defeat like this, it meant that the others must be stronger than her. Still, he believed that she had her own strength. The reason he was still following her was because he wanted to learn what he could from her.

"Hey guys, meet Ando, he's a first year!" Chika introduced Ando to the group of orphans. There were four of them there. Three males and one female. After sweeping his observe on them, Ando pulled out his bloody smile.

"Nice to meet you everyone! I hope we'll be able to get along!"

After a round of introductions, Ando got Chika to watch over him as he trained. She helped him correct his form and added some suggestions. Under her lead, Ando felt his form improve. Once he was done with his morning exercises, Chika surprised him by inviting him to have breakfast with her. He did not refuse, and the two of them headed towards the refectory, at the bottom of the main school building.

It was only at this time that most of the students living on campus woke up and headed towards the refectory with them. Once inside, Ando headed straight for the toilet to wash his bruised face. Looking at the mirror, Ando could not help but frown. His nose looked funny, his left eye swollen, and the rest of his face was pretty much filled with scratches and bruises.

An angry glint appeared in Ando's remaining visible eye. This was the first time in his life that he has been roughed up this bad. To say that he was angry was an understatement. Matabe did not go easy on him. If it were anyone else, they would need weeks to recover from this.

Shaking his head, Ando exited the toilet and started queuing for food along with the other kids. Once there, he presented his student card before getting his share. He then looked around for Chika's table and joined her.

He was not surprised to see that there were already a few orphans sitting around her. Two of which he could not see the level of. By now, Ando had noticed a pattern. He could not see the level of 3rd-year and up students. They were all standing above level 18.

He casually took a seat at the side and nodded at them.

"Damn, what happened to you?" One of the orphans commented upon seeing his face.

"The Inuzukas," Ando simply answered and started wolfing down the food. He actually liked the taste of the food at the academy. It was not as bland as the porridge they had at the orphanage.

"I think I have some pomade on me but I left it in my room. I'll give you some later."

That made Ando halt. He stopped eating and looked at the one person who talked.

Okawa [LVL ?]

"That's… nice of you." He replied hesitantly. To which Okawa simply laughed. "Don't worry about it. As orphans, we have to look out for each other, right?"

Okawa's friendly attitude slightly moved Ando. And he glanced at Chika for a moment, as if asking if he should be taking the medicine or not.

"You can take it. This guy is in his final year here, and he can afford to be a little generous towards people like us."

The girl gave him the go-ahead. It was only then that Ando decided to accept the medicine. It was not that he needed it, but it was a good way to build some relationship with the 4th-year orphan. "Then I'll have to trouble you later then…"

"The name's Okawa. You better remember it 'cause I'm gonna be the next big thing out there!" Okawa cheekily introduced himself. Okawa looked like the sociable, and somewhat reliable type. He had his dark hair cut short in a clean cut, slightly tanned skin, and a muscled physique. He was the type of person to leave a strong impression.

Ando had to correct his prior judgment of these guys. They may be cowards in general, but they looked after each other.

Not wanting to leave the other hanging for too long, he also introduced himself. No longer keeping the dismissive attitude he had previously.