Dismay. Heavy-heartedness. Zen could never express how he felt about what happened.... It was unfortunate. The Kyouga had never expected this.... He had to be stoic, though. He had to be strong.... Zen had seen it happen. The Iwa Council had met. The decision had been made.

And Dengen was dead.

Zen, being the next in command after the new Tsuchikage, was in charge of ceremonies. He kept it simple; Dengen probably would have liked it that way. The entirety of the Hidden Stone Village was welcome to come to this funeral.

The Tsuchikage's cause of death, for a small while, was unknown. Zen was called in for his extensive knowledge; even if he was not a medical ninja, he was quite erudite on the subject. The Profound Mirror deduced it to be a stress-induced episode; a simultaneous apoplexy and aneurysm. It seemed to be caused by an embolism. He reasoned that such responsibility came with quite a toll, especially for the man that picked Iwa off of its feet after a sort of Dark Age. Quite stressful....

That was the past, now.... the transition, the beginning of a new age, would begin. T-minus five minutes.

The formal interment of the Rokudaime....and the appointment of the Nanadaime. Zen was happy that he both got to know the former, and could be the one to formally appoint his best friend as the latter.

"....It's time. Goodbye....Dengen."

Zen rose from his respectfully-kneeling position in front of Dengen's burial alter. The others would be arriving very, very soon.

Alessi arrived with a gloomy look on her face. She was there to mourn the sudden death of Dengen. Though she wasn't too close to the Tsuchikage, it still felt right to pay respects to a great man. Approaching the burial site, she had in her hand a bouquet of flowers. Each flower was a different color and were meant to rest on where Dengen was laid. Alessi looked up and could see Zenchi standing there. He looked to be deep in thought and staring at the grave. Slowly making her way next to him, she grinned as a way to lighten the overall mood. It probably wouldn't help much, but at least it was something.

"...Hi... Zenchi..." Her voice was silent and respectful. She was trying to act as polite as possible. Just by the look on Zenchi's face, she could tell that the Tsuchikages death had a large impact on him.

As Ariston approached the funeral site, he had made sure he wore the proper clothing. He had a black suit on, instead of his usual white dress up shirt and white slacks. He never met this great man, but he had to pay his respects. Two days prior to this unfortunate event he had check his assigned squad and was shocked that his squad leader was the Kage himself. He was looking forward to it, being a team with the Kage, but it had all fallen apart.

As he walked over to the alter he had noticed Zenchi on the site, and a female with blonde hair. He continued the path towards the alter, as he got there. Ariston kneeling down on both his knee's and bowed respectively, he felt sadness in him, seeing such a great person pass away so easily. It made him aware he himself can die easily any second, his last day could be tomorrow. It gave Ariston much more appreciating being alive. As he was done paying his respects he walked over to the others, bowing towards the female next to Zenchi, and then bowing towards Zenchi. Ariston stood next to Zenchi without saying anything, since he could feel Zenchi's sadness.

Alright. So Dengen is dead. Nobody knows how. Alright. They decided that I'm the next Tsuchikage. Alright. Ara slowly getting those points in his head, as he awaited to wake up from this thing that looked more like a nightmare then a dream. He was just informed a couple of hours ago, and had already received a short lesson of what he should do. He kept thinking he would wake up any second for hours, but as time passed he slowly but surely realized this was not the case. The cloud was cloudy, it seemed like a storm was about to break out any second now. And Ara... He was sitting on a tree at 'Mount Itami, from where he could see the village he was now a Kage of, twiddling the new hat between his hands.

There... There's no way I'll be a good Kage. I mean, I'm just a kid! And... Arashi's heart stopped as he realized what this meant. He was a 14 Year old Tsuchikage that was a Shinobi for hardly 4 months. The relations to other countries and Iwa itself was iffy, and with Dengen's fight at Konoha's gates; they just may see Ara as an opportunity, a time of Iwa's weakness and strike with full force. Strike with war. And Ara didn't have an idea what he should do... He was just a 14 Year Old boy...

But hell, whatever was about to happen, he would embrace it! War? Bring it on! Not that he would want war, he would do everything there is to stop it. But if they were really serious, Ara would fight. And so would Iwa. With the look of determination in his eyes, Ara put on his brown Tsuchikage hat and headed for the funeral, with villagers looking at him while he was walking through the streets. Everybody was silent, and whispers were whispered where he was walking. Soon he arrived at the funeral, and the moment he really understood Dengen was dead, a teat poured down his cheek. Zenchi was there, along with Alessi and some other white haired kid. Hell... He couldn't face Zenchi now. But he must. So, Ara would walk to him and the company, but not say a word with a sad look on his face.

Raishi was on the roof of his home, looking up at the sky. It was during midday, but still the streets seemed to be dead....like the whole village had gone silent, waiting for the littlest sound to be made.
That night, Raishi had dreamed of a massive rock that stood untop of a mountain, dissipitating into thin air. Although he had a much more cheerful dream after that one, the dream of the boulder crumbling seemed to stick to his head. He had woken up, sad, which was quite unnatural. Now stepping outside, it seemed like the village had shared the same dream....or nightmare with him.

Jumping off the roof of his tree , he walked through the emty streets of the village. Everybody he had passed had a melancholic look in their eyes. The sky was gloomy, clouds blocking the usual warming rays of the sun. It may have seemd that nature itself was in mourning.
He honestly had not known that the Tsuchikage had died until he saw Arashi, walking through the same street. He had the Tsuchikage hat on his head and Raishi had guessed that Dengen Sanroku had died.

He followed Arashi, without actually alerting him of his presence as it seemedd that Arashi was deep in thought. Poor kid. 14 year old Tsuchikage......he was sure to be the youngest kage in history.

As Raishi entered the funeral shortly after Arashi, he noticed that others were there. Zenchi, Ariston, and a young girl that he had never met in his life.
Reaching the altar, Raishi knelt down in a respectful position, to say goodbye to the Rokudaime Tsuchikage. Although he had never met Dengen before, face to face, Raishi had respected him for putting Iwagakure in order, in such short time. Regardless of the mistakes he had made, he was just a man. We all make mistakes.
Due to the fact that he had no personal experience with Rokudaime, he cold not cry, but grieve the sudden death of a great man.

Arashi.....no. The Tsuchikage was here.... It was time to begin. As dictated to him by the council, this needed to come first. He walked up to face Arashi; they were both positioned in front of the altar, in the view of everyone attending.

"Arashi. Dengen's unfortunate passing has left us with the need to elect a new leader for Iwa; only the most competent and strongest of will were considered for being Earth Shadow. By the power vested in me by, and with the concurrence of the Council of Iwa....." Zen had to stop for a bit, savoring the happiness and melancholy that came with the moment.

"I appoint you, Nekomotze Arashi....Nanadaime Tsuchikage. My heart resonates with everyone here when I say this: there is no doubt you will carry out your duties with brilliance. Remember...you're not alone in this." The last sentence was spoken more softly, so that only Arashi-sama could hear it. He paused for a moment to wait for the Tsuchikage to speak, if he did at all, before breaking the silence.

The new Tsuchikage was now formally so. Now, all that was left was to give the former one a proper sendoff. "Would anyone like to give the eulogy?" he said in a solemn, but considerate tone.

Alone. That was the feeling Kosuke had to embrace since the death of the Tsuchikage. The boy didn't know who would be in charge of Dengen's unfinished Tohon's Project because only two small children that were taught by him were left; Taiyo and Kosuke- who went by the name of Mitsuo.  Kosuke didn't know if he should attempt to keep the project going to master the art of "Super Imitating Beast" or should he just have quit even being a shinobi all in one to fulfill his dream of being an artist. These same thoughts went around his head over and over again as he stood in his room, drawing a painting for Dengen's funeral.

A streak of paint brushed down the white paper that was sat on a stool. Some of the paint splashed onto Kosuke's apron, staining his black formal suit with a small paint of red. Several drops of paint splashed onto the tan carpet in his room as he removed the bristle area of the paintbrush from the stunning painting of Dengen. Kosuke turned towards the small circular clock that sat on his brown dresser to observe what time it was. "Ugh late!" whispered Kosuke as he immediately grabbed the painting, and dashed out of the apartment door.

Kosuke leaped from building to building, clenching his fist around the square shape painting to make sure it wouldn't drop. As he continued jumping from the flat roofs ontop of each building, the same thoughts began to play through his head as a tear slowly bursted from his left eye.  He couldn't hold the tears in anymore. His feelings, and mind were going through deep depression once he was in view of the funeral site. Plenty of people were surrounded around his burial ground; The new Tsuchikage, Two unknown kids that looked the same age as him, Sensei Raishi that he just met at the Waterfall, and some odd shinobi with dark blue hair. Kosuke really felt alone now.

"Oh great."

The boy leaped towards the funeral site, landing softly onto the surface before him. He walked over towards Dengen's burial alter, and placed his painting on the floor to lean up against his burial. Once he placed the picture in a excellent spot, he walked over to stand beside Raishi with his head down to show a sign of great depression. But anyone could have noticed that Kosuke was in depression with the dryed up tears and snot that ran from his nose.