In the Hokage Office, Hiruzen's fingers tightly clutched the Land of Fire's Daimyo's reply.
The Land of Fire's emblem on the letter was clear and authoritative.
"Grant permission for the Sarutobi, Utatane, Mitokado, and Shimura clans to relocate to the Daimyo's Mansion, and from this day forward, they shall receive direct protection from the Land of Fire."
Hiruzen let out a long breath, his tense shoulders finally relaxing. He looked out the window, the tens of thousands of villagers surrounding the Hokage building made it hard for him to breathe.
He called out in a deep voice, "Soone, go invite Fugaku, the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans' clan heads, Hiashi, Unkai… to the Hokage building imdiately for a eting."
...
Inside the Hokage building's conference room.
Fugaku sat at one side of the long table, with Shun and Yashiro standing behind him.
Opposite them were the clan heads of the Ino–Shika–Chō, Shikaku, Inoichi , and Choza.
Next to them were Hiashi, Unkai, and others.
Hiruzen looked haggard, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deeper than usual. "Everyone, I have invited you here today for the future of Konoha."
The room was silent, all eyes focused on him.
Hiruzen took a deep breath and then bowed deeply. "First, I want to apologize to all the ninjas and villagers of Konoha. During the Third Great Ninja War, the Sarutobi, Utatane, Mitokado, and Shimura clans failed to fulfill their responsibilities, and even hard the village's interests for personal gain. As Hokage, I am entirely to bla."
Everyone's expressions varied, but no one interrupted.
Hiruzen straightened up and continued, "Therefore, I have decided."
"First, to imdiately remove Koharu and Homura from their advisor positions."
"Second, I myself will resign from the position of Hokage, and I nominate Fugaku to succeed as the Fourth Hokage."
As soon as he finished speaking, a low murmur of discussion instantly erupted in the conference room.
Hiruzen did not pause, taking out a docunt stamped with the Land of Fire Daimyo's seal from his robes.
"Furthermore, the Sarutobi, Utatane, Mitokado, and Shimura clans will withdraw from Konoha and take up positions in the Daimyo's Mansion. This is the Daimyo's authorization letter."
The docunt was passed among the attendees. Shikaku glanced at it, a cold sneer subtly playing on his lips.
Shun shook his head lightly, sighing, "Ah, they escaped quite quickly."
Unkai's voice was low. "The four clans withdrawing from Konoha is a good thing, but how will the positions they leave behind be allocated?"
When the docunt was returned to Hiruzen's hands, the discussion in the conference room had not yet stopped.
Shun snorted coldly, "The key is that the village's finances have been emptied by them. During the war, they also extracted a lot of benefits from the village, and now they want to just walk away?"
"Shops, properties, ninja tool workshops… these must all be confiscated." Tetsu slamd the table and roared.
Hiruzen listened to the accusations, his expression calm, but a flicker of suppressed anger passed through his eyes.
He bowed deeply again, his voice almost pleading. "Everyone, before our four clans leave Konoha, we are willing to donate all the shops and properties in the village to the village as compensation. We only ask that clan head Fugaku protect the mbers of our four clans, allowing us to leave Konoha safely with our personal assets."
Shun's voice was sharp as a blade, interjecting, "No, last month's ninja salaries have not yet been paid, and the village's treasury has a deficit of at least 17 billion ryo. The Sarutobi, Utatane, Mitokado, and Shimura clans must leave all the embezzled money behind."
His Sharingan stared directly at Hiruzen, the three tomoe slowly rotating. "Otherwise, you can forget about leaving safely."
Homura, sitting to Hiruzen's left, slamd his hand on the table and stood up abruptly, his face ashen. "Shun! Don't push your luck!"
To his right, Koharu's sharp voice echoed in the conference room, "Currently, Konoha only has 10,208 ninjas, and our four clans combined have 3,695 people. If we leave, you will only have a little over 6,000 ninjas left."
She stood up, a hint of threat flashing in her eyes. "We will be taking up positions in the Daimyo's Mansion, still a force of the Land of Fire. If you insist on a fight to the death, will you still be able to defend the Land of Fire's territory then?"
The temperature in the conference room seed to drop to freezing point, and it instantly fell silent.
Shikaku's gaze shifted between Koharu and Fugaku, as if calculating sothing.
Hiruzen maintained his bowing posture, but his back was stiff.
Fugaku was silent for a mont, he also didn't know what to do now. So, he gave a look to Shun beside him.
Shun stepped forward and said, "Ninjas earn money quickly and spend money quickly. A ninja village's economy revolves around ninjas. The problem is that before the Third Great Ninja War, Konoha had 24,163 ninjas, and after the war, only 10,208 ninjas remained. After their four clans leave, there will only be a little over 6,000 ninjas left, and Konoha's economy will be only a quarter of what it was before the Third Great Ninja War."
Many of the people in the conference room were heads of ninja clans. Although they didn't understand economics, hearing such an analysis made them gasp in cold air.
Shun didn't pay attention to the reactions of those around him and continued, "Because of the significant population decrease, property values will definitely plumt. The shops and properties owned by their four clans, which were worth about 16 billion ryo before the Third Great Ninja War, are now worth at most 4 billion ryo. So we still have a deficit of 13 billion ryo. As long as your four clans gather 13 billion ryo, you can leave safely."
Hiruzen straightened up in anger. "Handing over the shops and properties is already our bottom line. If you don't agree, then we can only fight."
Shun placed his hands on the table, leaning forward. "Hiruzen, I already knew that you bought a large amount of property and land in the Daimyo's Mansion, wanting to go there to enjoy yourselves. Dream on!"
The atmosphere in the conference room beca tense.
Seeing things develop this way, Fugaku frowned and slowly said, "I agree. Your four clans can leave Konoha safely with your personal assets."
Shun said in disbelief, "Clan head, how can you agree to this? They governed Konoha for 32 years, embezzling at least 100 billion ryo. Even if they spent a large portion of it, taking out over 20 billion ryo should still be no problem."
Hearing the defiant tone, Fugaku's expression was sowhat displeased. "Shun, I am the clan head."
Upon hearing this, Hiruzen's tense body finally relaxed.
He said with a smile, "Fugaku, congratulations on becoming the Fourth Hokage."
...
As the eting concluded, two Anbu, holding brand new announcents, slowly walked out.
The crowd imdiately stirred, villagers standing on tiptoe, their eyes focused on the thin piece of paper.
Seeing the crowd grow, one of the Anbu cleared his throat and read aloud.
"Effective imdiately, Hiruzen resigns as the Third Hokage, and Fugaku becos the Fourth Hokage. Koharu and Homura are removed from their advisor positions. The Sarutobi, Utatane, Mitokado, and Shimura clans will all withdraw from Konoha, and all immovable properties such as shops and clan lands under the nas of the four clans will be confiscated. Starting tomorrow, mbers of the four clans must leave Konoha with their personal belongings."
As the words fell, the crowd was first silent, then erupted in cheers.
"That's great! They're finally gone!"
"Fugaku becoming the Fourth Hokage is wonderful!"
"Serves them right! Let them be greedy!"
The villagers clapped their hands in approval, and the ninjas high-fived each other, as if it were a grand celebration.
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