Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Where We Come From

Stages of Grief

Mana's slower pace did not reduce that feeling of ground shifting beneath her feet. Such feelings were natural after such an event, every time a great clash between two sides occurred there was to be a great aftereffect of that encounter. People crying and lamenting the deaths of their beloved, children left without homes and families, entire settlements and villages thinking how things would be now that their leaders had passed away. It is just human nature when all is perfectly well to expect that this would never change. Such was the case when the Star of Hope became Hokage. People just took that bliss of having such a competent and powerful iconic leader for granted expecting that this state would never change.

This time on her way back Mana noticed a significant change in people's moods. Women had teary eyes everywhere, the men looked like they've been told the worst news. Mana assumed that the news had already reached the public. After all, if the councilman thought a bunch of kids should know it already that meant it was already in the papers that day. 

What some people couldn't find out about from the news, they heard about through hearsay or from their neighbors, nothing spreads quite like crushing news like those. In one violent swoop of history, Konoha lost two of their Sannin and a Hokage with no known replacements for the Sannin lost and a very questionable choice for a Hokage.

Mana thought back on seeing that woman in the Administration, her brown hair... She must've been Chestnut Hanasaku, after all, as secretive as the council tried to be with their meeting to elect the new Hokage, their choice was made for them. There was really no one else there to choose. It was either choose Chestnut Hanasaku, the only surviving Sannin or wait until a more appropriate candidate rises up to the occasion. 

It all depended on the situation the village was in and by seeing how rushed the decision to select the new Kage was Mana was starting to feel uneasy. Were things so bad that they needed the succeeding Kage right after the last one died? It was fruitless to think too hard about it without knowing much more, she was just a kid after all and didn't get much information about the more intricate village affairs.

Right after returning home Mana realized that her parents had already found out about the news. Father approached Mana and wanted to comfort her as he was comforting her mother who was crying her heart out but he saw that his daughter was in a much calmer state. Mana was not crying or shaking or displaying any signs of losing her mind but... Father knew she was suffering inside, in fact, the invisible sadness was often the most dangerous. It was obvious that the man didn't really know how to help his kid. He just reached out and gently tapped her shoulder then drew Mana in for a hug.

"So you've heard, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah, the councilman told us..." was all that Mana could reply, her voice was deep but silent, her tone sounded so distant.

"Well, they're really rushing this thing, they're having the funeral this evening and then the Fifth is going to be nominated tomorrow. Doesn't really help that they're rushing it so much..." father started babbling, trying to find a note that would open Mana up a bit so that she could let her feelings go and stop sealing them away. Having lived for so long as a ninja and lost many comrades father must've known that it wasn't really healthy to deal with it the way in which Mana was doing it.

"I'm... I'm probably gonna go to bed early today, I've got a mission tomorrow, it's nothing too big." Mana replied trying to free herself from father's arms. While she successfully escaped his embrace his hands held her by her arms quite firmly, having father's injury in mind.

"You should go to the funeral, death is something you want to let out of your system and deal with immediately. Death is like an infestation of darkness, if you let it stick around for too long it'll grow out of control until no one will be able to tell the moss from the stone. You might not want to say goodbye just yet but... You'll feel better later if you do it now." Father explained letting go of the little magician right afterward. Mana quietly stumbled back to her room, walking upstairs with a cane was a great pain in the butt.