Prime Minister

is the of the Land of Redaku.

Background
Minoru served the Land of Redaku's previous King for thirty years. Because he had no family of his own, he committed himself to serving his country and its people, a task he took on happily. When the King became ill, Minoru travelled to the Land of Fire and its surrounding countries. While there, he witnessed the shinobi and jutsu that were regarded as fairy tales back in Redaku, the peace and technological innovations that became widespread after the Fourth Shinobi World War, and the abundance of food and other resources that Redaku always struggled to have enough of. Before returning to Redaku, Minoru learned how to make heavy weapons.

When the King died, it was not Minoru with his years of experience who replaced him, but rather the King's young daughter, Manari. Minoru thought this was a travesty, that somebody unqualified could be chosen to lead a country simply by virtue of birth. In order to demonstrate her unsuitability, he decided to undermine her rule. He first had his allies within the royal palace convince Manari to send her younger brother, Nanara, away to Nagare Village. Once he was gone, Minoru began trying to devalue Nanara in Manari's eyes, characterising him as a "failure" who abandoned her and the responsibilities of leadership. Over the following months, he staffed the palace with people loyal to him, thus reducing the chances of Manari being influenced by anyone other than himself.

Minoru also purposefully did not tell Manari how to control the Shuigu, so that her effort to provide rain to the capital city instead destroyed its crops and drowned its livestock; he explained this to the public as being due to a flooded river. This created a famine within the capital that, in addition to the water shortage that Manari was trying to solve in the first place, caused many of the city's poorer citizens to die. Minoru privately speculated to Manari that her failure to use the Shuigu was because of her own inadequacy, yet was careful not to lose her trust, assuring her that she was not at fault. He indulged her unwillingness to use the Shuigu again, allowing the water shortage to worsen as a consequence. Minoru at some point secretly signed the Shuigu's contract, which would allow him to control it properly whenever the opportunity arose.

Even before Nanara left for Nagare Village, Minoru kept him marginalised, advising Nanara that it was better he have others read to him rather than learn to read on his own. Once Nanara went to Nagare, Minoru would send tutors to teach him, but they would all quickly be driven off by Nanara's pranks. When that happened, he would send another tutor. Minoru also ordered that the country's libraries be closed and sealed off, the explanation being that books were too precious to risk being dirtied by citizens trying to read them.

Appearance
Minoru is described as an old man with a crimson robe and a grey beard extending to his chest.

Kakashi Retsuden: The Sixth Hokage and the Failure Boy
Almost a year after the King's death, Minoru updates Manari about the rising death toll within the capital city, and warns that news of the water shortage will soon begin reaching the country's outlying settlements. He suggests that she try using the Shuigu again, but she refuses, worried she will cause another flood. She contemplates seeing if Nanara would have more success with the Shuigu, which Minoru discourages, saying Nanara is too immature for the responsibility. Manari has no further ideas and, accepting that something must be done to save Redaku, she defers to the Prime Minister.

Minoru explains to Manari that the best course of action is for Redaku to take the water and resources it needs from another country; he recommends the Land of Fire, explaining that its newfound peace has made it vulnerable to invasion. Because the Land of Redaku has no army of its own, Minoru hires fifty shinobi to carry out the invasion. He gathers the shinobi within the capital city while preparations are made, creating an additional strain on the city's already limited food supplies. He also has a number of cannons produced, which he justifies to Manari as necessary defensive tools. In truth, although Minoru does wish to conquer the Land of Fire and thus bring its luxuries to the people of Redaku, he has no expectations that the cannons or the fifty shinobi would be able to do so. Instead, he makes arrangements with the Astronomy Research Institute to find the necessary army.

To mark the one year anniversary of the King's death, Nanara is recalled to the palace. Minoru sends a messenger to intercept him before he reaches the capital city and takes him on a detour, so that Nanara will not witness the starvation rampant in the city's poorer districts. When Nanara finally reaches the palace, he is accompanied by his current tutor, Kakashi Hatake. Nanara requests a room for Kakashi within the palace, which Minoru resists; Kakashi is not the tutor that he hired for Nanara, though he does not mention this. He does assent to giving Kakashi a small room in the palace's basement, but asks the palace's maids to be vigilant around Kakashi and report anything unusual to him, as he suspects Kakashi may be a shinobi.

During dinner, Nanara overhears a discussion about the planned invasion and demands an explanation. Minoru tries to convince Nanara not to concern himself with it, but is unsuccessful. Minoru explains Redaku's current predicament and how the country could benefit from taking some of the Land of Fire's opulence for itself. Nanara, who is already a fan of the Land of Fire because of stories he's heard about it, decides this opportunity to make Redaku more like the Land of Fire is reason enough. Nanara changes his mind by the following morning and becomes more critical of the planned invasion. He tries to persuade Manari not to go through with it, but she becomes upset and storms off. Minoru suspects Kakashi as the reason behind Nanara's change and chastises him before following after Manari.

Before the invading army is to set out for the Land of Fire, it will spend a few days in Nagare Village, the closest settlement to the Land of Fire. Feeding the army during its stay will deplete the village's reserves and will likely push its villagers to rebel. In anticipation of this, Minoru enlists two hundred and fifty men from the capital city to accompany the army, their assignment being to police the villagers and use cannons to put down any rebellion; he takes these enlisted men's families hostage, to ensure their loyalty. Minoru accompanies the army to Nagare Village, where Nanara tries to dissuade him from allowing the invasion to proceed. The Prime Minister refuses.

An Earth-Style Wall is erected around Nagare Village, cutting it off from the army's access. Minoru labels Nanara a traitor and orders the wall be destroyed, but neither the shinobi nor the cannons are able to even dent it. There is no change with the wall until a few nights later, when it suddenly vanishes and the villagers stage a counter-attack; in response, Minoru changes into some armour and relocates himself and Manari to a high cliff, to watch the fighting unfold. The villagers gradually overwhelm the Prime Minister's army, prompting him to instruct Manari to use the Shuigu against them. She refuses, fearing the damage she might do.

Minoru wearies of Manari: he takes the Shuigu from her and uses it against her, ignoring her demands for an explanation. He notices Nanara scaling the cliff towards them, so turns the Shuigu against him in an effort to dislodge him. Nanara is saved by Kakashi, who blocks the Shuigu's water with Fire Release: Water Mist and then carries Nanara up to the Minoru's location. Minoru attacks with the Shuigu again, which Kakashi once again blocks with his Fire Release. As they repeatedly trade attacks, Kakashi questions Minoru about his actions and motivations, which he makes no efforts to hide, confident that Kakashi, Manari, and Nanara will soon be dead by his hands.

From the prolonged fighting, Minoru recognises Kakashi as the Sixth Hokage. Although he's disturbed by what he's heard of Kakashi's skills, he nevertheless expects the Shuigu will allow him to prevail. Kakashi doubts this, drawing Minoru's attention to the sky above them, where the clashing of the fire and water has produced thunder clouds. Minoru, with his armour and outstretched Shuigu, inadvertently attracts multiple lightning strikes down upon him. He collapses when the lightning abates, his heart stopped. Kakashi performs CPR and eventually resuscitates him. The invasion is called off and Minoru is returned to the capital city to stand trial for his actions.