From Darkness to Light (The Little Senju Series Book Two): A Naruto Fanfiction

Izumi and the Power of the Village Head

Izumi's POV

A shiver tickled my spine at the sound of her shouts. I slowly placed my cushion on the floor and sat on the floor opposite Lady Yume. She was a lot more commanding than I had originally anticipated. Well, it's not like I wasn't curious about my mother's origins. I'd heard more than enough about my father's side of the family, but my mother's origin had always been more of a mystery. This was a good opportunity to learn something...

Lady Yume sighed as though she drew all the tension from her body with a breath. "That's better." She smiled and opened her eyes. "I know this is difficult, but bear with me. It's important that you listen to have I have to say."

I only nodded, not yet able to form words again after her previous outburst. My chest moved in and out as I drew in a deep breath. "Of course, I'll listen to everything you have to say." I finally found my words once more.

The woman's smile widened, and she looked serene once more. "Good, I'm glad." She pulled something from somewhere within her cloak before fire sprang from her left index fingertip and she lit one end of a slender stick. "This incense is made from herbs that only grow in these clouds. It has calming properties that should set us both at ease." She took another breath in. "As I was saying, every leader of this village must partake in a particular custom, a ritual if you will before they can take over. In case you were wondering Rin is next in line after me."

"Rin, Huh...?" I pondered the boy in my mind for a moment. In the past and present, I had treated him casually as I would have any other friend. To think he was hiding something like this... He probably knew exactly who I was from our first meeting." I see." My face stiffened as I wiggled on my cushion. This was a lot to take in. In other words, these people were watching and testing me from the Chunin Exams if not before that. I bit my lip and crossed my arms. It was probably a bad idea to interrupt Lady Yume again, but even so, this was hard to take. I was supposed to just accept that these people had been stalking me all this time and more than that I was supposed to trust them.

"Now, now, Lady Izumi." It was as if the woman was chiding me. As though I were a child who was pouting and needed to be put back into line. "I assure you everything we've done has been for the good of you and this village." She over-enunciated 'the village' and showed what her true interest was. "Back to subject, the next in line to head the village is selected from a young age by their predecessor. From the point they are chosen their entire focus is taking after the village head." She sighed softly more to herself than anything else as though she was thinking of something else entirely. "Well, enough prattling on. Every head of this village can see several possible futures at any given time. Each head has been chosen based on this ability to determine who would be best to lead the village in the future.

"I see." I started pulling at the bottom hem of my shirt. What should I say in this situation? "You've seen me in these futures then, haven't you?" Something with Rin being next in line wasn't adding up in my head. If he was supposed to be following her lead, then why were they sending him out of the village on tasks like scouting me? He should've been here with Lady Yume... "You know exactly why I'm here... Don't you."

"Tsk..." The woman clicked her tongue as she scowled at me. "Your mother was never so obstinate at your age." I was taken aback for a moment at the sudden mention of my mother. "This is what happens when you spoil our precious blood with land dwellers." She shook her head and crossed her arms. "I've had enough of you little Senju..." Lady Yume said my name as though it were a slur. "I don't wish to talk to you again until you've learned how to behave. If you're so curious about why you're here have Rin take you to the mausoleum, then you can have her tell you everything."

Everything after that happened so fast. Guards appeared as though by the snap of her fingers and escorted me to the front door. Rin came not long afterward and offered me a mint tea served in a clay cup. Once the last drop of tea disappeared down my throat the anger rose within me like hot water gushing out of an active geyser.

"Hey, Rin!" I pressed my elbow into his arm. "Just what the hell was that? I thought Lady Yume wasn't something to be scared of." I huffed out a sigh and gave him a side-eyed glare. "Absolute bullshit." I shook my head and sighed again. It'd been a long time since anything had made me that aggravated. "Treating me like a child is bad enough, but to say that about my parents..." I trembled in my rage and pushed Rin again. "Hey, are you going to answer me or what?"

"Sorry... I'm not here very often, so I forget how difficult she can be for new people." His shoulders bowed as he played with his hair tie. "Lady Yume can be pretty dominating, so it's best to just go along with her." Something about Rin's submissive behavior made me even more angry. "She's really serious about the village that's all."

This was a person that had been worn down by her for a long time and chances were that was true of most of the people around her. Much as I wanted to complain there was no use in talking to Rin about it. "All right, I get it." I bit my tongue and drew a deep breath into my lungs. "Rin take me to the mausoleum. I don't like it, but I'll go along with you folks for now."

Hey again folks, hope you all had a good Halloween. As promised I've included a picture of my pupper. She's such a cutie, right? In other news I've started making designs of some of my OCs featured in this series with VRoid Hub. If you're interested in seeing those check out my new book of bonus content for the Little Senju Series (https://www.wattpad.com/story/356632977-the-little-senju-bonus-material-pictures-chapters) I'm still new to using the program, but I'll be posting more character designs soon. 

-- Thanks and until next time!