Chapter 38

It was just as Miko said. In three days, they marched out of the village to battle. The warriors marching out were a mix of children and adults.

The men and women had solemn faces, determined to protect their village as they had their various manners of weapons attached to them. The children on the other hand were a mix of fear, anxiety and arrogance. It would be more accurate to call it ignorance.

The older children who had graduated from the academy or were close to doing so looked unfazed about it all while the you get ones were shaking in fear but continued to march.

"How can you not be scared!?" One of the younger boys whispered loudly to one of the older ones who seemed to be his brother. A heated discussion was going on between the children.

"We're going to teach those idiots not to mess with our village. What's there to be scared of?" The older one replied.

"That's right. They won't even know what hit them!" Another one proclaimed with a confident grin.

"Still don't you think-" The younger boy started but was interrupted by his brother.

"There's nothing to think about. It's all straightforward. We get out there and we take them down." Another one of the older ones interrupted. He simply stayed silent after that. The path of the conversation didn't motivate the others as they simply fidgeted in silence.

Although the children selected to participate in this battle were prodigies of their peers, it didn't change the fact that none of them have been in a real combat situation, all except the black haired boy walked in front of them in silence.

He was the youngest of all of them but he was by far the most experienced, which was why he couldn't help but shake his head at their words.

Reid could see and feel the reluctance in his mother as she watched him prepare before they left. He couldn't do anything to comfort her except promising her that he'd survive and that he would.

He had packs full of shuriken and kunai stashed in his inventory as well as a few smoke bombs. He even had a med kit in case things go south.

They were already quite a distance from the village when they decided to stop. As much as they'd like to go further, there was always the chance that Turwen could find a way to slip past them and make it to the village.

In such a case, they needed to be as close as possible. There was only one way to the village and they were currently in the middle of said way. The likely hood of them slipping past them is minimal but Miko didn't want to take chances.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't like this. Not one bit" One of the men said as he set up his tent. It was nighttime and they were camping to rest while waiting for the enemy to come.

"You mean the fact that you have to fight?" A woman asked him sarcastically, to which he snarled.

"I mean the fact that children got pulled into this. I get that we have no choice but that doesn't make it right." The man replied in indignation.

"Do you even hear yourself? It's either this or they die back in the village not knowing anything. Besides we're only stalling till the third troop comes back. Bear with it until then." She said as she lay on her mat with her hands behind her head.

The man could only grit his teeth in frustration but didn't say any more. A lot of people weren't happy about the decision to include children but they had no choice but to go along with it.

The children were gathered directly beside the camp. Although they should be with everyone, the tension in the air was so much that they had to move away a bit.

"When do you think they'll come…the third troop I mean." The boy who was nervous earlier asked out loud.

"Relax. They'll be here but not before Turwen so we'll just have to hold them off and hope they hurry." An older boy who looked to be fourteen responded.

Although he had graduated from the academy years ago, this was the first time he had been in this situation. The village had been peaceful so there had been no reason to bring children out to fight. It would be illogical to panic at this point so the best he could do was stay calm.

While they gathered there, Reid sat at the edge of the camp, not mingling with anyone. He was too young to mingle with either group. It wasn't like it bothered him because he had other things to worry about.

'Assuming they brought the most promising prospects of each year, where is Haze?' Reid pondered.

Before he was beaten by Reid, Haze was considered a genius and the best of his class so it bugged Reid that Haze wasn't selected to join. Something was wrong and he could feel it.

"Something bothering you?" A voice suddenly asked from behind him. He didn't jump or act frightened as he already felt her creep up behind him.

"Nothing in particular. I'm just thinking about how we're going to fend them off with such small numbers. If what we know is correct then they outnumber us by a lot." Reid answered as his mother walked out of the shadow behind him and took a seat beside him.

"You're right to be concerned but where they beat us in quantity, we beat them in quality. 10 trained warriors can fight on equal terms with 50 untrained ones. Sometimes they'd even win." She answered in a sagely manner. She then saw his gaze go towards the huddled group of children.

"Now why don't you tell me what you're actually concerned about. You're worried about your friends? How nice of you." She teased with a smile but he didn't take the bait.

"They aren't my friends. I'm just wondering…" Seeing her prodding look, he continued talking.

"Who was in charge of selecting students from the academy?" He asked seriously.

"The headmaster, of course. Why?" She responds immediately.

"The criteria to be sent out here is to be the top of the class. With me out of the academy, Haze should be the star of his class which begs the question, why wasn't he selected?" Reid finished, looking straight at his mother.

A look of realization emerged on her face as she considered the question. Her mind had been focused on other things that she didn't notice that until now.

"That's very strange indeed but there's nothing we can do about it here. When we get back to the village we'll investigate this properly. For now, focus on what's ahead and don't let your guard down." She said, ruffling his hair as she got up and went to rejoin the rest of the camp.

No matter how much he tried to forget the matter, it just couldn't leave his mind. He knew better than not to listen to his gut.

He pulled up his status window and took a look at his stats.

•••••••••••

Name: Reid Uchiha

Title: None

Level:18

Hp:2550/2550

Ap:7000/7000

Str:33

Dex:48

Vit:46

Int:27

Wis:28

Points:40

••••••••••••

He had been hoarding the stat points he had managed to gather up for some time now but he felt that now was the best time to use them.

He considered carefully where to place those points and found himself at a stalemate. Increasing physical attributes meant that he could fight more effectively. It also worked in tandem with the sharingan which required speed to be used effectively.

On the other hand, he could increase his aura and aura regeneration which would allow him to use more techniques for even longer. He pondered for a while before making his decision.

•••••••••••

Name: Reid Uchiha

Title: None

Level:18

Hp:2750/2750

Ap:7000/7000

Str:47

Dex:50

Vit:50

Int:27

Wis:28

Points:20

•••••••••••

In the end he decided to go with physical attributes. The advantages of that decision outweigh that of the alternative. Of course he didn't use up all of his points.

There could be a time during the battle where he would need them urgently and he couldn't afford to be helpless. Although he made that choice, his eyes twitched while looking at the low numbers on his others stats.

He squeezed his face as if he took something bitter as he used up 10 points, moving [Int] to 32 and [Wis] to 33, leaving himself with 10 points.

'It's better to be over cautious than to be caught unprepared.' Those were his thoughts as he closed the panel and shut his eyes to rest his mind for what's to come.