After reassuring Old Man Yamashita for quite a while, the old man finally seemed a little more at ease and made all sorts of promises that he would repair Hokage Rock as quickly as possible and ensure there would be no further mishaps.
He should have taken his leave at this point.
However, after hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, "Actually, Aoba may have just acted on impulse. Although what he did was unforgivable, I still hope Lord Hokage can show him some mercy..."
He then told Minato all about how Aoba had been following him to learn stone carving these past few days, as well as the impassioned speech Aoba had given him.
Only then did Minato realize that the little rascal actually had ideas like that.
"Not only does he want to become the Fifth Hokage, he also wants to personally carve his own likeness onto Hokage Rock..." Minato could not help laughing.
Then he began imagining Aoba's original motive and reasons for doing all this.
No matter how loudly one shouted the slogan, becoming Hokage was nothing more than an unattainable dream for the vast majority of people.
Perhaps the brat was worried that he could not achieve it, so he had used this method to attract attention and strengthen his resolve.
Otherwise, why would he deliberately expose everything on a day like this?
Then Minato could not help recalling the decision that brat had made earlier, along with the words he had spoken.
"Looks like Konoha really has gained one remarkable little rascal."
After making up his mind, Minato first saw Old Man Yamashita off, then turned to the room next door and once again met the stern-faced Jonin Mikawa and Aoba, who was eating oranges without a care in the world...
"Just now, Chief Engineer Yamashita came to plead on your behalf. I also thought things over carefully. Perhaps the punishment just now was indeed a little too severe, so I've decided to change it."
As soon as he entered, Minato's words left Aoba stunned.
Old Man Yamashita had pleaded for him?
This left him with complicated feelings. He could say that he had completely used the old man in this matter, even bringing him such enormous trouble.
Yet Old Man Yamashita had been willing to come and plead for him. This favor had grown even larger!
"What's the punishment?" Aoba was not happy. Instead, his mood sank even further.
"First, you need to personally clean up the mess you made. Then you'll apologize to the villagers from house to house. Can you do that?"
Aoba nodded. "And then?"
"Then, in consideration of your good attitude in admitting your mistake and the considerable contribution you made by handing the medicinal bath formula over to the village, all the conditions you proposed last time will be cut in half. No objections?"
Aoba shook his head again. Merely having to pay this price to avoid three to five years in prison was already enough for him.
If it had been someone else, they might have completely erased his contributions and dismissed him with a simple statement that his merits and crimes canceled each other out.
Being able to retain half the benefits already showed that Minato was being quite fair.
Still, this cut hurt him badly!
But Minato's next words made his eyes light up...
"Finally, you need to promise that you will never do anything similar again unless you truly become Hokage. If you agree to that, I can make the decision to continue issuing the half of the resources that were cut. Consider it a loan from the village. Once you have the ability to repay it, it will be converted into money, which you'll repay by completing missions."
Aoba's spirits rose at once.
What Minato was doing amounted to raising the sword high and bringing it down lightly. He had merely changed the name, taken a long detour, and let the matter go.
It also gave the public an explanation. The monthly fine of over a million ryo was more than enough to offset his wrongdoing.
Once he became a ninja, he would only need to work a little harder and complete a few more missions. He could repay the money in no time, so there was no pressure at all.
As far as his punishment went, what he had truly lost was merely some money in the future, while he had successfully escaped disaster!
It could not have worked out any better!
How could he possibly refuse?
After hearing this, Jonin Mikawa relaxed completely. He had probably let out a huge sigh of relief inside as well.
At the same time, he began wondering whether he should keep a closer eye on the brat, lest he sneak out again and cause trouble.
"All right, that settles this matter. I still have a lot of official business to handle, so I won't delay you, Jonin Mikawa, from teaching your child."
Minato left, but his final words left Aoba dumbfounded!
Watching Jonin Mikawa's smile gradually turn ferocious as he rolled his shoulders and approached, Aoba could not help shouting inwardly, Damn it! Minato, you're setting me up!
"I was wrong! I really know I was wrong! No~ don't~!"
"Shi! Mi! ya! Ao! ba! I've put up with you for long enough! Don't you dare run!"
As Minato began working in the room next door, he listened to the commotion and someone's miserable screams. A happy smile appeared on his face, and he even remembered to tell the others not to disturb them.
"Ah, the weather outside the window is really nice~"
After making it out of the Hokage Building alive, Aoba was extremely grateful that he had a tough constitution and had not been beaten to death by the brutal Jonin Mikawa. It was just a shame about his handsome face. Alas!
"What are you sighing about? While I still have time, hurry up and move!" Jonin Mikawa, whose expression had become much more satisfied, immediately urged him on.
Unable to resist, Aoba could only follow tightly behind him like a defeated rooster.
They were going to Hokage Rock to quickly clean away someone's eye-searing masterpiece and apologize to all the craftsmen. He especially needed to apologize to Old Man Yamashita. Aoba felt deeply ashamed and could only find a way to make it up to him in the future to repay this favor.
Then, after the Hokage's punishment announcement was released, they would also need to apologize to the villagers from house to house the next day, as well as apologize to the shopkeepers who had been inexplicably dragged into the mess...
Once all that was done, Jonin Mikawa would also need to guide him in writing a concise letter of guarantee and... an IOU.
After completing this step, the "Fifth Hokage Rock Incident" would finally be considered truly over.
Of course, that was assuming nothing else went wrong, such as him courting death again or another brainless fellow like Uchiha Han appearing to cause trouble for him.
This was not persecutory paranoia. It was simply necessary to be cautious.
What Aoba clearly did not know was that, with Shisui now serving as both Itachi's teacher and friend, Itachi was no longer blind and deaf to the outside world. He could often learn news from outside through Shisui, most of it concerning a certain someone.
So even though he could not leave, Itachi still did his part.
At the cost of revealing his Sharingan, he successfully "persuaded" his father not to kick Aoba while he was down over this matter.
In truth, Fugaku had almost forgotten about Shimiya Aoba. If not for this incident becoming so serious...
Besides, he was not as despicable as Itachi feared. In fact, he was even somewhat baffled!
Even now, Itachi still did not know that the clansman who had attacked Aoba had acted on his own initiative rather than under Fugaku's true orders.
After all, there had always been a lack of open and honest communication between father and son.
Itachi was afraid of hearing the answer he would find most unbearable, while Fugaku had a clear conscience and had no idea that Itachi had misunderstood him because of this incident.
That was how misunderstandings were formed, bit by bit.
P.S. Old Faceless is here to ask again. I heard that all the book friends who vote for this novel are handsome men and beautiful women. Old Faceless refuses to believe that so many people are more handsome than me.
Before you continue