Likewise, Minato did not look at the trembling former retainers below.
His gaze passed over the ruined palace walls. His blue eyes held neither joy nor sorrow, only the calm of a judge delivering a verdict.
His voice was quiet, yet it carried clearly to every corner of the square, without a single unnecessary formality.
"Under the Land of Fire Military Agreement and Konoha's Wartime Readiness Regulations," Minato began slowly.
"During his reign, the daimyo withheld frontline military funding without cause on seventeen separate occasions."
"These actions completely cut off supplies of explosive tags and medical provisions during three major frontline engagements."
"Konoha ninja were forced to plug the gaps in our defenses with their own flesh and blood, directly driving casualty rates to four times the normal level."
"After the Third Shinobi World War ended, the Daimyō Mansion unilaterally and unlawfully cut Konoha's disability pensions and postwar reconstruction funding by sixty-seven percent."
Minato lowered his eyes slightly, his voice growing colder and heavier.
"This deprived more than two hundred severely disabled ninja of continued treatment and left countless families of the fallen homeless."
The screen flickered. Itemized records of enormous sums withheld stood as irrefutable evidence, leaving the kneeling crowd below barely able to breathe.
"Three years ago, citing 'reductions in court expenditures,' the Daimyō Mansion once again suspended winter supplies for the northern border garrison without cause."
At this point, a chilling edge finally crept into Minato's usually gentle tone.
"That winter, eleven ninja suffered frostbite severe enough to require amputations. Three remained forever in an outpost cut off by snowbound mountains."
The victims' names and photographs appeared on a television Konoha ninja had just installed at the battered city gate.
Under the gaze of those young faces, the old nobles below pressed their heads hard against the