"Um... can I finish breakfast first? There's not much left?"
Looking at the Anbu Ninja kneeling on one knee with his head bowed at the doorway, Chiba glanced at the small amount of rice, fish, and miso soup remaining and spoke almost instinctively.
L-Lord Chiba? Was this Anbu new here? He actually used honorifics?
At that moment, however, the thoughts in his heart were completely different from his words. A string of scenes flashed through his mind—scenes of himself being summoned by the Hokage's Anbu.
Most veteran Anbu would call him "Chiba" if they were polite, or simply "Taki Chiba" if they were not. "Lord Chiba" was something he had never even dared imagine.
In fact, if not for this Anbu's words, he could not have imagined what an Anbu who spoke like this would be like.
"Ah?"
Caught off guard by Chiba's abrupt question, the Anbu froze for a moment. Then, after letting out an "uh" and considering the Fourth Hokage's six words—"invite him over politely"—he honestly replied, "It's fine. You can leave after you finish eating."
You could finish your meal before answering a Hokage summons?
This time, Chiba was the one left dumbfounded. He had never encountered such a situation before. Without hearing it from this Anbu, he could never have imagined an Anbu sent by the Hokage allowing someone to finish breakfast first.
"Uh, thanks! I'll hurry!"
Dumbfounded or not, Chiba thanked him and quickened his pace of eating.
Before long, he hastily finished breakfast. Of course, this time Chiba did not ask the man to wash the dishes or anything like that. This was a summons from the Hokage. Generally speaking, such summons only came when there was a mission or an emergency. Ninja existed for missions, after all, and a Hokage summons took top