He lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.
His arms twitched as if trying to grab hold of something, but his hands only scraped across the ground, leaving furrows with an unpleasant sound.
He had no defense. He closed his eyes, hoping to escape.
Some of the ninja felt a pang of sympathy.
Minato Namikaze and Shimura Danzō flashed to Third's side at the same time to check his condition.
In the end, the two of them couldn't stand by and watch Sarutobi Hiruzen helplessly. They wanted to preserve the last shred of his dignity.
Kazuma's eyes, however, held a trace of satisfaction.
That false "jewel" of the Land of Fire had once pressured him and driven him to consider betraying his country.
The sinner of the Land of Fire and Konoha, the mastermind hiding behind the scenes, had finally fallen.
After this interruption, none of the jōnin felt like continuing the discussion.
Kazuma had achieved his goal. He didn't want to push Konoha's ninja too far. He needed to hurry back to the capital and help the Fujiwara Lineage's candidate for Daimyo succeed to the position.
That had been his main reason for coming to Konoha this time. He would return to deal with the matters ahead.
The meeting ended in this haphazard fashion.
The results of the review of wartime merit were in.
Everyone present received the merit they were due.
The Fourth Hokage blamed all the mistakes made during the war on ninja who had already died, while preserving the last shred of Third's dignity.
The method was cruel: the merits of the dead ninja were transferred to ninja from the Sarutobi Clan.
The Sarutobi Clan, represented by Third, paid out some money to compensate the deceased ninja.
Thus, according to the merit records, the Sarutobi Clan's