The entire audience was frantically shouting the word "Hero," which echoed for a long time.
It lasted a full ten minutes before the hoarse voices finally began to subside.
Hiruzen Sarutobi also had red eyes and gently wiped the corners of his eyes.
After a moment of silence, he spoke again: "Because of the events on the泷 Country battlefield, I made the decision to sign an alliance agreement with Iwa. This has caused many of our compatriots to be unable to rest in peace. As the Third Hokage, I cannot shirk my responsibility, so I have decided..."
The entire plaza fell into complete silence.
They all knew this moment would come, but they didn't expect it to arrive today. They thought about the contributions Hiruzen Sarutobi had made to the entire Konoha, his diligent work for decades, his meritorious service...
"I have decided! To resign from the position of Third Hokage of Konoha, and pass it on... to Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash of Konoha, one of the greatest contributors to this war!"
Immediately, the entire plaza cheered again.
Although Hiruzen Sarutobi's abdication was not a cause for great joy, the ascension of Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage who was supported by popular sentiment, was a cause for celebration.
"The official inauguration ceremony will be held in a month!"
After all, there were still many affairs and matters to be handed over, and a month was already considered the shortest possible time.
During this time, Hiruzen Sarutobi would also summarize the specific terms of the ceasefire agreement signed with Sunagakure for Minato Namikaze, who did not have much experience.
There were also many responsibilities that the Hokage needed to bear, as well as the obligations that should be fulfilled. Hiruzen Sarutobi needed to teach Minato Namikaze these things little by little.
When he was ordered to take over as Hokage in a time of crisis, his teacher, the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, didn't even have time to teach him these things before he passed away.
Because of this, he spent too long exploring, and had to give some of his power to Danzo, which led to the Root organization becoming too powerful to control.
Only he knew the hardships involved.
Now that there was still time, he would of course pass on all his valuable experience to Minato Namikaze.
Speaking of which, Hiruzen Sarutobi could be considered one of the few Kage in the ninja world who could die peacefully.
Although he said that the inauguration ceremony would be held in a month, he could actually be called the Fourth Hokage of Konoha right now.
It was just that he was missing an official ceremony.
At this time, Qifeng, carrying a ceremonial robe embroidered with "Fourth Hokage," came behind Minato Namikaze and draped it over him at just the right moment.
At the same time, Hiruzen Sarutobi took off the hat representing the Hokage from his head and handed it to Minato Namikaze.
Minato didn't decline.
It would be a bit pretentious to decline at this time. Moreover, his dream was to become Hokage, and now he had succeeded.
Kushina Uzumaki below was already crying with excitement.
Her childhood dream was also to become Hokage.
Growing up, she would know that she had no chance at all.
Now, seeing her boyfriend successfully become the Fourth Hokage, she was even more excited than herself.
"Fourth Hokage!! Fourth Hokage!! Fourth Hokage!!!"
"Minato Namikaze!! Minato Namikaze!! Minato Namikaze!!"
"Yellow Flash!! Yellow Flash!! Yellow Flash!!"
"..."
As Minato put on the hat, the entire plaza erupted into jubilation, except for the owners of a few pairs of eyes hidden in the dark, people with ulterior motives.
Chapter 201: Orochimaru's Invitation (4000 words)
"Found them!"
Qifeng, standing on the platform, seemed to be putting the ceremonial robe on Minato Namikaze, but was actually looking for traces of certain people.
He didn't believe that Danzo could calmly watch Minato Namikaze smoothly ascend to the position of Hokage he had dreamed of. Even if he couldn't oppose it because the general trend had been established, he would definitely not give up the last hope.
Therefore, even if he didn't show up himself on this day, he would definitely send someone to watch this scene.
This was the moment when Minato Namikaze, under the spotlight, with the support of Hiruzen Sarutobi and Qifeng, became the Fourth Hokage.
And what Qifeng was waiting for was for these Root personnel to show their faces.
With one hand behind his back, he slowly formed a simple hand seal, and silently stuck some of the iron sand he had long hidden underground in the entire plaza to the soles of that Root ninja's feet.
He was just afraid that Danzo would be too calm and collected, and wouldn't reveal any flaws.
Now that he had sent someone to show their face, it would not be so easy to hide again.
After doing this, he smiled and stood behind Minato Namikaze with Hiruzen Sarutobi, applauding.
Konoha's Fourth Hokage was about to officially go online, which also meant that the cruel Third Shinobi World War was about to become a thing of the past.
The Third Shinobi World War could be said to be the shortest war so far, but it was definitely the largest in scale and the widest in scope.
It is no exaggeration to say that this war has at least led to a ten-year slowdown in the development of the entire ninja world.
Not to mention how many people participated in the war and how many died, the materials consumed by the various villages in these three years alone were an astronomical figure, and it would take the residents of the ninja world many years of hard work to completely recover.
Even Konoha, which was rich, was facing a serious shortage of warehouses due to this situation of fighting four enemies alone.
All the villages were about the same.
Of course, the most miserable one was probably Sunagakure, which not only spent so many materials, but was also being fiercely cut by Konoha because of the ceasefire agreement.
As expected, after the lively plaza welcome hero ceremony ended, most of Konoha's high-level officials gathered in the conference room on the top floor of the Hokage Building.
The meeting was still presided over by the nominally current Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
However, it could be clearly seen that Danzo's seat on his left hand side was empty, and the seats belonging to Orochimaru and Tsunade were also empty.
Everyone present knew why Danzo and Orochimaru didn't come, but Tsunade's absence was a bit unexpected.
But it didn't affect the start of the meeting. Qifeng was now considered a high-level official of Konoha, and he was seated among them, one seat behind Minato Namikaze.
"Ahem, everyone, the war is over, and our Konoha will usher in a new era. Please allow me, the old man, to overstep and preside over such a meeting one last time," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a smile, seemingly in a good mood.
Everyone was polite.
To be honest, even if Minato Namikaze succeeded now, Hiruzen Sarutobi's words still carried a lot of weight in Konoha.
The simplest point was that at least two-thirds of the people present and absent were brought up by Hiruzen Sarutobi, and at least half of them were Hiruzen Sarutobi's loyal followers.
