CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE: EAGER.
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But before anything could happen, golden particles began to gather on the same roof near the Hokage's office warranting the attention of every Anbu ninja nearby.
A body was assembled with the golden particles as the hidden Anbu in the vicinity couldn’t sense a thing from that and were surprised to see someone being formed from the golden particles.
Their surprise didn’t end there when they found out it was the Anbu menace, Gilgamesh!
Gilgamesh wore a very formal montsuki with gold threads and a black embroidery design. A sheathed blade also seemed to float behind him, and his eyes looked sharper. The intricate design of his attire glinted in the sunlight, giving him an almost regal appearance.
Gilgamesh looked around and saw Mura bowing his head while standing.
“Greetings, master! I was summoned here to the Hokage's office from my training,” Mura greeted his master.
“Oi! Mura! You!” Gilgamesh pointed.
“Yes? What is it, master?” Mura asked.
“Your outfit looks like mine, but it’s blue and white. Nice dragon design,” Gilgamesh complimented his outfit that had a dragon design at the back. But Gilgamesh could sense something and said nothing yet.
Mura thanked him and complimented Gilgamesh's outfit in return, saying it looked expensive.
“Halt!” An Anbu came out, and soon ten surrounded Team Zero openly.
“We are here on the Hokage's orders,” Mura stated.
One of the Anbu couldn’t take what Mura said and saw it as an insult from a junior to a senior. He appeared behind Mura's back to strike him. As soon as his hand was about to touch Mura, he stopped. He stopped because his body was frozen immediately, and a chill ran through the area.
“What’s your next move?” Gilgamesh asked, trying to suppress a smile. He too wanted to test all he had done during his time in the forest with live volunteers.
‘Oh ho, I miss the time the Anbu kept invading my home to help hone my barrier genjutsu.’ Gilgamesh thought of those times with fondness in his heart as he waited for his next volunteers.
“Why don’t you just go through the receptionist?” One of the Anbu asked. This caused explosions and chaos within the village because they wanted to suppress Gilgamesh, who wouldn’t be wise, and after learning he went to train in the forest, some of the wise ones didn’t want to sign up as guinea pigs for Gilgamesh's newfound abilities. They would prefer to know about that in reports or see it tested on someone else rather than experiencing it themselves.
Gilgamesh gave the Anbu who suggested that to him a look which made the Anbu change his wording.
“Please?” the Anbu asked once more.
“Fine. Mura, let's go,” Gilgamesh said as he left the roof in a blur.
Mura simply breathed out, and the Anbu who made a fine human ice sculpture was defrosted and followed through in his attack as if his brain was also frozen as well, but Mura was already out of the way.
‘Interesting,’ Mura thought as his figure dissipated into a small snow breeze and reformed below the building, in front of the Hokage mansion. The area around the mansion was bustling, with shinobi moving about their duties and the architecture standing as a testament to the village's strength and history.
Mura met Gilgamesh, who had already started the conversation with Shikaku and Lord Third.
“Mura! I hear you have somehow become an ice-style user. Congrats! I saw your movements from the window here, that’s good,” the Third complimented Mura, who nodded.
“I don’t know. I am yet to test him to see if he has improved at all or he did all this just for decoration,” Gilgamesh commented and received a scroll from Shikaku.
“As of now, your suspension is over. I am glad I didn’t even need to tell you anything, and you both spent that time secluding yourselves in training. I hope you know that both of you now have bounties on your heads, and you are barely jounin rank yet. Impressive but dangerous,” Shikaku stated.
The Third stroked his beard as he couldn’t help but notice the sheathed blade floating behind Gilgamesh's back and nodded to Shikaku to continue.
“Normally, we would like to test you to see if you are still fit to go out on missions, but even Ibiki was afraid to test, let alone start anything with the both of you, rather than just give you my message and leave. That would place you well above the chunin rank and into the jounin rank, but we won’t award you that title just yet. You would need to be tested by another jounin after all and complete this mission first,” Shikaku continued.
“This will be your second mission, and it will be a backup mission. Kakashi sent a messenger hawk stating he needed a sensory ninja and a healer to assist him near the hidden sand village. He had already completed his mission objectively, but it wasn’t that simple since the young merchant he escorted was involved in an heir dispute with his uncle that had sent several assassins of various caliber to assassinate him, which Kakashi dealt with no problem at all except being poisoned,” Shikaku read out the letter.
“He explains the poison as one that paralyzed both his arms and stated that the assassin that poisoned him told him the paralyzing poison would last for five days. Kakashi completes his mission by escorting the young merchant boy to his home, but he is still being targeted, and Kakashi stays back to protect him and gets poisoned. He explains he can still take on all the hidden assassins with just his legs, summoning jutsu, and a few things he would rather not disclose on the letter just fine but would prefer backup for a smoother process,” Shikaku ended.
“I will have you know that the leaf prides itself in its exceptional ninjas, one of which is Kakashi Hatake, one of the pillars of the village. He could complete this like he said but he isn’t above asking for backup. But as you know, you are a wanted shinobi. The hidden stone will do anything to get you in their hands, dead or alive,” Shikaku leaned on a wall as he massaged his temples.
“Remember you are the one who said we can’t let the hidden stone disrespect us. This is your chance to put their antics to shame. Come back safely and in one piece!” Shikaku ended. Gilgamesh and Mura nodded to themselves as they left the office with their movement techniques, leaving the office with golden lights and cold winds.
“That bastard! Doesn’t he know an old man is here and he is leaving some cold air behind?!” the Third complained.
“I can almost smell the excitement in their bodies. They are eager to test the results of their training. I hope they get back safely,” Shikaku said as he offered to help the Third light up his smoking pipe.
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