Naruto: Power in Play

Chapter 18

[Level Up!]

Vengeance was a dish best served cold.

To Ando, it was better served fresh—daily, if possible.

He ignored the glowing Level Up prompt hovering in the corner of his vision, dismissing it with a casual mental swipe. His focus was elsewhere: on his audience. The small crowd of classmates gathered around the sparring ring wasn't just there for idle entertainment. They came to watch the "orphan upstart" get put in his place. Or so they thought.

That day, like every other day, Ando intended to prove them wrong.

He had learned his lesson the hard way a month ago when he was ambushed by a group of his classmates. He could handle any of them one-on-one, but the crafty bastards had ganged up on him, exploiting his momentary overconfidence.

He may be able to win in a one-on-one situation, but the crafty bastards could still gang up on him.

Thanks to the 'observe' skill, Ando knew the identity of his assailants. But unfortunately, acting on that knowledge wasn't so simple. He couldn't afford to tip his hand, to make anyone suspect he was anything more than a scrappy orphan with a knack for bouncing back. Healing abilities were rare, yes, but they were still grounded in the realm of possibility. But premonition? That was a different story.

It didn't matter, though. Ando had other ways to deal with his problems. Since he knew that the ones who ambushed him were his classmates, he just had to find a reason to conveniently fight them all.

He decided to go with the simplest route possible: he threatened them all to rat out the culprits.

Naturally, Ando's methods did not sit well with the majority. The Hyuga in his class felt indignant and immediately proposed a duel. And of course, Ando refused. He was not afraid of fighting, but he was not going to go and try his luck against one of the strongest ones in his class. At least, not yet.

The kids were infuriated by the open provocation and disregard to their 'superiority'. Some others tried threatening Ando, and of course, once they fell for his provocations, the orphan had all the leverage he needed to push them into a duel.

A one-on-one match against each clan member of the class, and a two on one against the civilians.

Which caused an uproar. It did not surprise Ando all that much. The civilians, as cowardly as always, wanted to stand against the deal. And even some of the clan kids questioned him for it.

Ando continued provoking them, but it was clear it was not going to pass. But then something unexpected happened.

The homeroom teacher, Soda, backed Ando up.

"Now this is an interesting idea." The teacher casually walked into the classroom, silencing every single one of them. "I like this idea. And it just happens that I was about to introduce sparring into our curriculum. And I think Ando's idea will serve as a great motivation for some of you to take it seriously. After all, who doesn't want to beat him up?"

The man finished with a grin, ignoring the indignant shout from Ando. "Now, I know you all want to get started right up on this arrangement, but I personally think that having you all gang up on Ando is a little unfair."

"And since I am a benevolent teacher, and a firm believer of justice. I will be tweaking the mechanics of this little arrangement."

Soda clapped his hands with a mischievous grin. "Alright, listen up! We're going to have four rings in the training yard, and this is how it's going to work. Each of you will enter one of these rings, with one simple goal: defend your place. You can only leave the ring once you've been defeated, but don't worry—if you manage to hold your position for long enough, you'll start to earn some serious respect... and points."