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In the rocky plains of the Hidden Stone village, Gilgamesh and his group packed up and prepared to run back to the village. At least they wanted to run out of the territory of the Hidden Stone village before they tasked Gilgamesh to enable them to fly.
As they ran forward, Gilgamesh chuckled to himself.
Mura, who was carrying most of the luggage, looked at Gilgamesh and then checked his back. If there was one thing he had learned from having a super sensory type ninja-like Gilgamesh for a captain and master in training, it was that his senses were also sharpened, and he had learned to understand Gilgamesh's behaviour whenever something or someone was tailing them.
Anko and Ebisu, who flanked them, noticed both reactions of Mura and Gilgamesh and suddenly became alert. They had learned to rely on Gilgamesh to locate potential threats or anticipate ambushes by roadside bandits and such, and never once doubted in their minds that he was the best sensory ninja in their village.
The group stopped their run, and Gilgamesh also stopped and looked up.
"The enemy is in the sky?" Ebisu asked.
"No way. Apart from Gilgamesh, there is another person quite famous who can also fly in the shinobi world without the use of summons or items," Anko replied as sweat dribbled down her forehead.
"The Fence Sitter… *gulp*… Ōnoki!" Ebisu gulped hard as he armed himself with a kunai.
Mura's heart started pumping blood around his body quickly, his hands trembling more in excitement than fear.
'This is it. Master said I should be stronger than a Kage if I wanted to walk alongside him. Haha… my hands won't stop shaking. How do I go about this?' Mura thought as a small smile crept up his face.
Gilgamesh quickly zipped behind each of his comrades, touching them and connecting his wind flight jutsu to them, enabling them to push against gravity easily and ascend to the sky.
Anko, Ebisu, and Mura flew upwards, following Gilgamesh until they saw him with folded arms, facing a small group of three.
"It's really Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage!" Ebisu exclaimed after noticing the trio that Gilgamesh faced.
'Damn it! I had already signed a sweet contract with the Third to look after and train his grandson. I was promised so much pay that would make me retire early!' Ebisu cursed in his thoughts. Backing away was not an option from a feared Kage and one with a militant mentality like the Third Tsuchikage.
Gilgamesh didn't say anything but simply smiled with his eyes locked on Ōnoki's.
The short-haired girl by the Third Tsuchikage's side couldn't help but find Gilgamesh's figure attractive as she lowered her head to avoid eye contact.
'Oi! I never thought I would see the day someone makes the stone-cold Kurotsuchi behave like that!' A large boy in his late teens flying alongside the Third Tsuchikage marvelled at the effect the golden-haired boy had over his colleague.
"Young people these days don't have respect for their elders. Is that how they taught you manners in Konoha? Maybe your village was meant to be destroyed by the Nine-Tails after all!" Ōnoki snickered.
Anko and Ebisu almost lost their cool for a second there as their bodies jerked forward a bit, causing the grin on Ōnoki's face to grow wider. Many were killed during the attack, many lost their family and friends, and most of all, the village lost their Hokage.
"Bold of you to assume I have parents. Is this how greetings are conducted in Iwagakure? Where I am from, we give people the benefit of the doubt, but here I am being corrected again by the Kage of the weakest village." Gilgamesh smiled with eyes closed as he taunted the Third Tsuchikage.
The taunt seemed to work as the Third Tsuchikage grew a vein on his forehead that threatened to burst.
'Weakest village? Weaker than the Mist? Not now, not now,' Ōnoki thought as he calmed himself.
After a slight cough, Ōnoki continued, wearing his smile. "I see that you can fly as well. But from the feel and looks of it… you are using wind nature to accomplish this. I can only imagine how tasking it must be on you, especially since you are also using it on your comrades."
"Your information network isn't bad. But do you know that we have been flying from the Hidden Grass village to Iwagakure nonstop? Tell me, Ōnoki, what do you think I am implying by this statement?" Gilgamesh asked, even though it was mostly him doing the flying and the rest walking alongside and guarding the carriage they escorted.
Mura, Anko, and Ebisu couldn't help but feel third-degree embarrassment as they couldn't believe that Gilgamesh was addressing the Kage of another village, who could end up being Konoha's active enemy if...
"ARE YOU THE NINE TAILS JINCHŪRIKI?" Ōnoki asked out loud as the girl and the boy behind him prepared for combat.
"No. Now stop beating about the bush and tell me what you want. I have to escort them back and complete my mission; you are wasting my time," Gilgamesh responded cheekily, inciting a rise from Ōnoki.
'Again?' Anko, Ebisu, and Mura had the same thoughts running through their heads. Maybe the older team members should be addressing the Third Tsuchikage, but that wasn't the case since he appeared not to be interested in them, and it wouldn't take a genius to assume that a messenger hawk had already reached the Hidden Stone village before them.
"Why hasten it? I heard you almost destroyed the Hidden Grass village using forbidden jutsu. That's one of the neighbouring villages near the Hidden Stone. Are you trying to take over the village and use it as a vantage point?" Ōnoki asked with a grin on his face. He was getting to the part where he could frame the ignorant youths in front of him and capture them to get a hold of the forbidden jutsu they used.
"Is that so? Do you have any proof, Ōnoki?" Gilgamesh asked, already seeing where this was going.
"If you call me by my name again so casually, I will not be as tolerant as I am now, boy! And yes, we have proof. This is a letter sent by a messenger hawk by the chief guard from the Hidden Rain village. It says, you terrorised the citizens and stole from them. Now, I can't let that go, can I?" Ōnoki waited for the bickering while his aides snickered.
Mura, however, remained calm and waited for the inevitable to happen. Anko and Ebisu knew there was no convincing someone as stubborn as the Third Tsuchikage and could only steel their nerves and hope to survive this.
"Are you trying to say Konoha would resort to using underhanded methods like subjugating the Hidden Grass as a station to attack the Leaf just like a certain someone did in the last war, Ōnoki?" Gilgamesh grinned, already tired of the banter.
"Don't say I didn't warn you. Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi, prepare for battle!"
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