Chapter 355: There Are No “Meritorious Officials” in the Hokage’s Dictionary!

Sarutobi Hiruzen’s expression shifted from pale to livid, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and spoke.

“This was indeed my negligence. Since these losses were caused by me, I should bear the responsibility myself!”

“I’ll pay the five hundred million ryō!”

There was nothing else Hiruzen could do. Things had already reached this point, so he could only grit his teeth and pay the sum.

Otherwise, if news of this incident got out, Hiruzen’s losses would be far greater than five hundred million ryō.

“The Third Hokage really is wealthy! Five hundred million ryō, and he can just produce it like that…”

Hyūga Hiashi seized the opportunity to speak in a sarcastic tone.

“Wait, let me calculate. How much is a Hokage’s salary again? How long would it take to save up five hundred million ryō?”

Sarutobi Hiruzen’s expression changed.

He had been careless and had accidentally said too much.

Hiruzen hurriedly explained.

“Elder Hyūga is joking! Before this, I wasn’t merely the Third Hokage. I was also the head of the Sarutobi clan, so I had the authority to access the clan’s funds.”

“Five hundred million ryō isn’t an insignificant amount, but it isn’t impossible either. With the strength of my Sarutobi clan, we can still raise that much money.”

“Is that so?”

Hyūga Hiashi clearly had no intention of letting him off that easily.

“Then it seems Clan Head Sarutobi really does have considerable authority within the Sarutobi clan. You can simply decide to mobilize five hundred million ryō?”

“Even within my own Hyūga clan, I, as clan head, can’t casually mobilize such a huge sum of money—especially not for something like this!”

Sarutobi Hiruzen became irritated and immediately shot back.

“Clan Head Hyūga, every clan has different rules. Not every clan is as strict as the Hyūga, keeping such tight restrictions even on its own members and even controlling the lives of other clan members!”

Hyūga Hiashi’s face turned livid as well.

“Without rules, there can be no order! Clan Head Sarutobi, you have been far too lax with rules. That’s precisely why you’ve made such a grave mistake!”

Sarutobi Hiruzen snapped back.

“Then what more do you want?! I’ve already agreed to pay the price for this! Isn’t five hundred million ryō enough to compensate for the losses tonight?!”

“Ahem! Ahem!”

Seeing Hiruzen bring the matter up again, Namikaze Minato quickly cleared his throat twice, interrupting the argument between Hiruzen and Hiashi.

The cough successfully drew everyone’s attention back to him.

Minato then spoke.

“Third Hokage, there’s something I need to make clear. Five hundred million ryō can indeed compensate for last night’s financial losses, but that’s all it can compensate for—the material losses.”

Hiruzen frowned.

“Yondaime, what exactly do you mean?”

Minato smiled.

“My meaning is very simple. Merit is merit, and wrongdoing is wrongdoing. This principle was already established when it came to Shimura Danzō.”

“Moreover, Third Hokage, you can’t exactly claim that you’ve rendered a great service this time. At most, you’ve merely compensated for some of the mistakes you made.”

“In other words, although paying five hundred million ryō can reduce your punishment to some extent, you still need to give the village an explanation for what happened last night.”

“After all, a former Hokage attempting to rescue a criminal at the cost of harming his comrades and damaging the village is no trivial matter.”

Sarutobi Hiruzen: “…”

He was wrong.

He had truly been wrong.

Hiruzen now felt that he had been utterly mistaken all along.

Why had he ever thought Namikaze Minato was some kind of warm, gentle ray of sunshine?

Looking at him now, Minato was even more ruthless than Shimura Danzō!

Five hundred million!

That was five hundred million ryō!

And that still wasn’t enough to settle this matter?!

Homura Mitokado took a deep breath.

“Yondaime, when possible, show some mercy. The Third Hokage merely made a mistake in a moment of poor judgment. You must remember that during his time as Hokage, he worked tirelessly for the village. He rendered great service to Konoha. He shed blood for the village. He is a meritorious official of Konoha!”

“Meritorious official?”

Minato’s expression immediately became solemn. The smile disappeared from his face as he spoke seriously.

“There is no such thing as a ‘meritorious official’ in the Hokage’s dictionary!”

“To wear the crown, one must bear its weight.”

“He bore the expectations of hundreds of thousands of Konoha’s villagers. He also held the power to make decisions affecting the lives and deaths of hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people.”

“Once he took the position of Hokage, wasn’t doing things for the village simply his duty?”

“He was merely fulfilling the responsibilities that came with being Hokage.”

“That is not a personal merit!”

Minato’s words rang out with absolute force.

Even Sarutobi Hiruzen, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado felt deeply ashamed upon hearing them.

Yes.

The so-called “merits” they had accumulated over the years were merely things that the person sitting in that position was supposed to do.

When had they begun to take pride in fulfilling their responsibilities?

Minato continued.

“If you want to talk about merit and sacrifice, you should go to Konoha’s Memorial Cemetery. Go visit the homes of the shinobi who were left disabled!”

“Didn’t they shed blood and sacrifice their lives for Konoha as well?”

“They are the true heroes of Konoha!”

“You are not!”

Sarutobi Hiruzen’s expression became despondent.

With Minato’s words having reached this point, arguing further would only make Hiruzen look petty.

Hiruzen spoke.

“Yondaime, just tell me what you want. I’ll accept whatever punishment you deem appropriate. No matter what it is, I’ll accept it.”

“Now that’s the proper attitude.”

Minato’s expression softened somewhat.

“Although, Third Hokage, you really went too far this time, we can’t completely disregard the fact that you’re a former Hokage.”

“So there’s no need to make this matter public. Root will take responsibility for the crime. Otherwise, it wouldn’t reflect well on the village either.”

Hiruzen felt slightly relieved.

At least Minato wasn’t going to completely destroy him.

But before Hiruzen could fully relax, Minato continued.

“However, wrongdoing must be punished. Since something like this happened, there’s no need to bring up your appointment as a Konoha Elder anymore.”

Hiruzen froze and stared at Minato in disbelief.

Given Hiruzen’s status as a former Hokage, becoming a Konoha Elder after stepping down from the Hokage position had practically been a foregone conclusion. The only thing left was to formally go through the motions at the next jōnin meeting.

And now, with a single casual sentence, Minato had stripped him of the position of Konoha Elder?

Before Hiruzen could speak, Minato continued.

“Also, it’s time for you to give up your position as head of the Mission Division. That position has always been held concurrently by the Hokage. Naturally, I can’t be an exception either.”

“Wait.”

Hiruzen finally couldn’t hold back.

“If that’s the case, then I won’t have any position left at all! What am I supposed to do from now on?”

Minato pondered for a moment before answering.

“That’s not entirely true. Aren’t you still the Minister of Education?”

“Although you’re no longer the principal of the Ninja Academy, there’s nothing wrong with you teaching there as the Minister of Education.”

“From now on, you can go teach at the Ninja Academy.”

“And with that, this meeting is adjourned.”