Chapter 49 The Person with the Highest Merit Will Be Appointed as Hokage
On the day after the Uchiha and Ningqi rebellions ended, Konoha held a high-level meeting. Among the specific matters such as rebuilding Konoha and preparing for war, there were also two inconspicuous adjustments to Konoha's internal organizational structure and Decisions on the appointment and removal of senior leadership positions.
1. Abolish the Roots. All the ninjas who originally belonged to the Roots were dispersed and organized into multiple Konoha departments such as the ANBU, Torture Department, and Education Department.
2. Cancel the position of Danzo Hokage’s assistant.
The reason has not been stated clearly, but people who are interested have actually guessed it. The last and most serious explosion that occurred in Konoha last night may not be Ning Qi's fault. Instead, it is more like some high-level officials within Konoha. Man-made disasters caused by a leader's "inspiration".
In order to unite Konoha, "some people" tacitly understood each other and still blamed Ning Qi, who was extremely arrogant last night, as the culprit of the explosion.
Ordinary Konoha people don't need to know the truth of the matter, they just need to know who they should hate.
The entire incident last night has actually been sorted out quite clearly.
That is, the Uchiha rebellion in the afternoon and the Ningqi rebellion in the evening.
Other specific examples include the second Nine-Tails Rebellion, the massacre of the Uchiha clan, the massacre of the Hyuga clan, the burning of secret rooms in the suburbs, the destruction of underground laboratories, and the continuous bombings in Konoha, etc. A series of incidents that were visible but not visible can be directly attributed to the specific content of the two rebellions mentioned above.
Unfortunately, Konoha has not been able to prevent any of these rebellions due to years of old-fashioned hedonic thinking and many, many other problems.
Especially for the Uchiha rebellion, Konoha had already obtained the information early, but they still took it lightly and underestimated Uchiha's determination and the ability of their clan leader Uchiha Fugaku. Nine people were captured by Uchiha. The tail jinchuriki released the nine tails.
If it weren't for the backup left by the Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato, Sarutobi Hiruzen would have died today.
What followed was that Uchiha Setsuna, who successfully escaped from prison, broke out with the remaining Uchiha troops and disappeared without a trace.
Ning Qi detonated Konoha's last detonating talisman and disappeared without a trace with the fireworks.
They all left lightly, but left Konoha with devastation all over the ground.
Rewards for Uchiha and Ningqi will be sent to various places in the next month.
Among them, the bounty for members of the Uchiha clan is generally higher, but Ning Qi's personal bounty is unmatched by anyone in the Uchiha, and its bounty reaches a huge 60 million.
This is Konoha's affirmation of the value of Ning Qi's Hyuga Clan Byakugan and the Book of Sealing after compiling intelligence and speculation from various channels. Of course, it is also a certification of Ning Qi's personal risk factor.
When ordinary Jinchuuriki can only offer a bounty of 50 million, Ning Qi's head can reach 60 million. It is conceivable to what extent Konoha's hatred for Ning Qi has reached.
"Konoha suffered because of my negligence as the Hokage. I am very sorry to everyone." Sarutobi bowed to everyone present.
"But the crisis is not over yet. With such sudden changes in Konoha, it is difficult for other ninja villages to refrain from taking action against us. It is not that I am obsessed with power, but after discussions between me and several Konoha advisers, we decided to , Ranked based on merit, the one with the greatest merit will be elected as the next Hokage.”
As soon as Sarutobi finished speaking, the atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became weird. The heads of various ninja clans and several elite jounin were whispering to each other. Even those who didn't want to come to the meeting at first, they showed up when they came. Inuzuka Claw, the leader of the Inuzuka clan with a foul face, even frowned.
Sarutobi drank hot tea, the old god was there.
Ranking based on merit, this is the unspoken rule for Hokage to rise to the top.
Hokage's rise requires high-level nominations, jounin votes, and daimyo recognition, but these three evaluation indicators without exception require the ninja's abilities and achievements to be outstanding.
It is impossible for the top management to nominate a loser to be Hokage, and it is difficult to win over the Jonin vote by interests. The recognition of a daimyo requires real prestige and reputation.
Namikaze Minato, who was born as a civilian, became the Fourth Hokage mainly because he made great contributions in the Third Ninja War. His heroic performance on the battlefield conquered the hearts of many people. To say that he turned the tide is not enough. Pass.
But before the start of the Third Ninja War, Sarutobi never said anything like "ranking based on merit."
Konoha at that time was not that serious.
"The person with the highest merit will be appointed as Hokage" is an unspoken rule.
But it might not be.
The original Orochimaru also had great achievements.
So why is Minato on top?
Because credit can be vague, and when Hokage ascends to the throne, he does not only consider credit.
But now that Sarutobi has spoken out the rule of "the person with the highest merit will be the Hokage", the unspoken rule has become an explicit rule, and he will no longer have a higher influence than others on the selection of the next Hokage.
Things like merit must be made clear, because the standard for becoming a Hokage is only merit.
No matter how high-level nominations, jounin votes, or daimyo recognitions, they no longer have a higher weight than the word "merit".
Many people present were eager to try, especially the clan leaders of each ninja clan. They who valued the inheritance of their clans the most were almost the most attached to the position of Hokage. They deeply understood what the position of Hokage meant to a clan.
Judging from the previous attitude of Sarutobi, Danzo and other Konoha high-level officials towards other Konoha clans, let alone the position of Hokage, there is basically no way for the clan members to become disciples of potential Hokage candidates.
Some people were happy, while others lowered their heads silently, meditating.
Sarutobi's willingness to loosen his tone is certainly a good thing for these ninjas, but they can also see from it that the top management of Konoha, headed by Sarutobi, are quite pessimistic about the situation that Konoha will face next. .
They even had to cede the decision-making power of the next Hokage in exchange for the full support of other ninja clans and forces in Konoha.
So, do you want to take a gamble...
The enlarged meeting ended in a thoughtful silence.
Sarutobi blew out the smoke and watched the participating members leave one by one until Danzo and him were the only ones left in the conference room.
"They will cooperate to elect a Hokage candidate who represents their own interests, and then individually create merit for him on the battlefield." Danzo said coldly.
Ever since he resigned from the position of Hokage's assistant, he has always had such a bitter and resentful face.
"We don't need to think about how we can live in the future," Sarutobi closed his eyes, "We only need to think about living."
Winter is coming.
It is better to mobilize those ninjas and let them compete than to let them hide their ulterior motives.
After being alienated by Ning Qi, if Konoha did not give a heavy reward and face the crisis, how many people would choose to spend the hard times together?
"I don't think things will develop to that point." Danzo replied.
"The biggest lesson the Uchiha and Ningqi rebellion taught us is that we must be prepared for the worst in everything, right?" Sarutobi said.
Danzo was silent for a moment and then changed the subject: "When will Tsunade and Jiraiya come back?"
He knew that the best candidate for the next Hokage in Sarutobi's mind was either one of these two.
Although the position of the next Hokage has opened up an opening for other ninjas, from Danzo's point of view, they are just working for these two Haku.
Sarutobi understood what Danzo meant and shook his head:
"They just need to come back before the war. The position of Hokage is not necessarily reserved for them. As I said before, ranking is based on merit."
"Even you, Danzo."
"As long as you achieve enough merit, you can also become Hokage."
Danzo said nothing, but sneered as he turned to leave.
If Sarutobi hadn't uprooted his roots before saying this, he might have been able to give him the face to believe him.