Read ahead on Patreon.com/heavenlyenel.
Venerable readers, this is a good read.
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Mura gave Gilgamesh ink and a paper and began writing by the fire as one of the captured shinobi brought out a whistle and called for their messenger hawk.
When Gilgamesh was done, he put the letter on the hawk and called the shinobi responsible for the bird.
"Send this to the head guard of the Hidden Grass Village," Gilgamesh said. The shinobi nodded and gave the hawk flight instructions.
It was already evening and Kakashi was still out. The captured shinobi were getting restless. Most of their injuries were fine except for the burns on their bodies.
They deliberated a quick break since Gilgamesh left them alone with the boy. Although Mura was around, they hadn't confirmed his abilities, so they didn't know if they could make a clean break with the boy. But running away from someone who could see from high in the sky without a summon was another matter.
"The golden-haired boy has left… shouldn't we just take our target and leave?" one of the mercenary shinobi whispered to the other.
"I don't know if you got burnt by the same flames that destroyed my Earth Wall Jutsu, but I don't want to think of what it feels like to get hit by those flames directly," the leader of the mercenary group whispered back.
'Tch. How shameless! Plotting in front of me because Master left. Do they not see me as a threat?' Mura thought, but then his eyes widened with reason.
He was from a forgotten clan, of course, no one would know him. If not for the mercy of his master, he could have been rotting in prison, ending his clan name with him.
And he had barely made a name for himself. Most that came in contact with him died due to extremely low body temperatures. Who could tell of his greatness?
But he wondered why he should leave one to tell the story when this mission in particular could revitalise Team Zero.
A smoke bomb was thrown at Mura as the mercenary duo dispersed, immediately leaving one behind. The smoke bomb in question got frozen before it could even allow smoke to escape from its confinements, surprising the trio but not stopping them from taking the boy and leaving.
"Haha! That fool of a captain!" one of the mercenaries laughed in joy as he ran through the forest with his partner beside him, holding the boy who didn't even scream for help or anything.
"Too scared to scream? Good, I would have killed you and delivered your body to your uncle since he wants you dead anyway. This whole thing has made me on edge!" the second mercenary continued.
"Yeah. That Gilgamesh might be more powerful than the reports claim! They mentioned nothing about a flying sword!" the first mercenary said.
"Tell me about it. I can't even believe the other shinobi was an ice user. It's good we didn't engage him in combat," the second mercenary said as they sped through the forest.
"That would have been foolish with the likes of the Copy Ninja and Gilgamesh around. Let's take this part of the forest, we didn't follow it earlier," the first mercenary instructed.
As they ran, they felt the air get cooler with each passing second until they felt cold. That was when they realised they had run into a large part of the forest covered with snow.
They couldn't believe that one side of the forest had a normal temperature and the other was cold.
"How did we pass this?" the second mercenary asked.
"That's not what you should be asking," the first mercenary said when he saw frozen shinobi he recognised.
"Oi, isn't that Ram sensei from the eleventh platoon?" the second mercenary wanted to point but his hands were busy holding the boy he carried tightly.
The first mercenary went in first and checked the bodies and confirmed.
"Don't tell me it's that kid that froze your smoke bomb who did this?" the first mercenary asked as he breathed out cold air.
"Aniki (senior brother), I think we should leave," the second mercenary said and his colleague could only nod quickly.
But then a whirlwind of snow and ice appeared not too far from the first mercenary who was still in the frozen part of the forest.
"To think Master was going to spare you and you wasted his mercy like this," Mura said as his body and clothes formed from ice and snow.
"You! You!" the first shinobi said and backed away while launching a Fireball Jutsu at Mura.
"Where did you acquire your shinobi licence from? Weren't you taught that fire doesn't work well against ice?" Mura asked, wondering if the attack was just a distraction or ploy of some sort.
The fireball barely passed the front of the mercenary as the temperature in the area dropped rapidly with Mura's presence.
"Ouch!" the first mercenary cried in pain while hugging himself for warmth.
Apparently, Gilgamesh's burns still inflicted pain even as the temperature dropped rapidly.
"Run!" the first mercenary said, turning his back to join his ally.
"How do you even pass for a shinobi?" Mura appeared in front of the shinobi, who already had ice spears impaled and spreading ice on his back, causing the shinobi's eyes to widen in shock.
"ANIKI!!!" the second mercenary shinobi cried but felt a cold palm on his shoulder.
The mercenary shinobi shivered as he turned back to see another Mura.
"Leave the kid," Mura's voice echoed behind him.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu?" the second mercenary shinobi said weakly and let the boy go.
"HAHA! Do you think I will go out like that? Say bye to the person you wanted to protect!" the second shinobi cried out with a maniacal smile.
"THIS IS FOR ANIKI!!" the second mercenary said as he armed himself with paper bombs and the ninja jumped to the boy who was already running away from the cold region.
"FIRST FORM: ICE CLEAVER!"
Mura imitated Gilgamesh's Battojutsu and drew an ice sword, slashing quickly at the diving man from his original distance, not the distance his clone was from the mercenary shinobi.
The second mercenary stopped mid-jump as an ice wall was cross-sectioned through his body.
The ice below the second mercenary looked red with the blood of the mercenary that poured red liquid softly, creating a dye that fell and contrasted with the ice in a smooth and artistic way.
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