Uh...
An awkward, bizarre atmosphere, so quiet it was nearly silent, hung over the dilapidated, shabby house. Chiba kept his head lowered, the corners of his mouth thoroughly stiff from repeatedly twitching, and sweat seemed to be beading on his forehead.
On the other side of the ruined house, the six orphans huddled against the oldest girl. Some squeezed their eyes shut and buried their faces directly against the girl, looking utterly terrified. Others instinctively clutched at the hem of her clothes, occasionally sneaking a glance at Chiba, only to swiftly bury their faces in her collar again. After a while, they would turn back to peek at him, then hide their faces again, then peek once more... As for the girl, there was fear in her eyes as well, but she was naturally much steadier than the younger orphans. Throughout it all, she held her arms open and gathered all the children into an embrace, staring fixedly at Chiba. She looked like a mother protecting her children, as if she would take whatever protective measures were necessary the moment Chiba made a move.
Under those burning gazes, Chiba even had the illusion that he was some unforgivable bastard bullying children, too ashamed to raise his head.
And this scene had already lasted for over twenty minutes. Honestly, Chiba felt that keeping his head down for so long was making his neck a little sore.
What should I do? Even as his neck ached, Chiba found himself at a loss.
He understood the orphans' wariness toward him. After all, this war had made them orphans, and ninjas had started this war. This was a battlefield between Iwa and Konoha, and it was ninjas who had left these children orphaned and displaced, even facing imminent destruction. Konoha ninjas bore half the