[Konoha Hospital]
Kiyomi woke to the steady rhythm of breathing that was not her own.
At first, she thought it was a dream. The ceiling above her was white and unfamiliar, the smell of antiseptic sharp in her nose. Her body felt heavy, like it had been filled with sand. When she tried to move, pain flared dully through her limbs—not sharp, not fresh, but lingering, like echoes of something far worse.
It was weakness originated from not using the muscles for a long time. Many coma patients experience this.
"…Where am I?" she asked, her voice hoarse. She couldn't see much besides the clear white ceiling and a few figures around her.
"Don't talk yet," came a female voice, she said calmly. "Just answer me."
Kiyomi frowned slightly. She didn't recall this voice. This was the first time she had heard it. And she mostly knew almost everyone in the Uchiha clan, at least after how many Uchiha were left behind. So this meant she most likely wasn't in the Uchiha clan compound.
She felt an elevated level of anxiety, but still she obeyed this person for now.
Tsunade felt the girl was adjusting a bit faster than expected but didn't mind it; if anything, it just made her job easier. Her eyes were sharp, clinical, missing nothing as she began asking questions—simple ones at first.
"Can you hear me clearly?"
"Yes."
"Can you see?"
Kiyomi blinked, focusing on Tsunade's face. "It's blurry."
"That's fine… your vision should clear out in a few minutes," Tsunade muttered while taking a note.
"What's your name?"
"Kiyomi Uchiha."
"Good. Do you know where you are?"
"…A hospital?" she guessed.
Tsunade neither confirmed nor denied it. She continued, moving methodically—asking about dates, places, names, memories both recent and old. Kiyomi answered all of them, confusion growing with each question. Tsunade checked her pupils, pressed lightly at her wrists, monitored her chakra flow with practiced ease.
Only when she was satisfied did Tsunade straighten.
"You've been unconscious for some time," she said. "You're safe. Rest for now."
Kiyomi nodded slowly, but unease crept into her chest. As minutes passed, fragments began to surface—blurred at first, then painfully clear.
A forest. Blood. Sharingan spinning too fast to follow.
Itachi.
Izumi.
…IZUMI!
Her breath hitched.
"Izumi," Kiyomi whispered. "Where is she?"
Tsunade did not answer immediately. She knew the name; while she usually skipped it, however, this time around she bothered reading the report of the subject.
However, she still chose silence for the time being.
The silence stretched, heavy and wrong.
Before Kiyomi could push herself up, the door opened quietly. It was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage himself, who stepped inside, his expression grave, eyes lined with fatigue and something deeper—regret.
"Kiyomi Uchiha," Hiruzen said gently. "I'm glad you've awakened."
She looked at him, fear now unmistakable. "Where is Izumi?"
Izumi hadn't told her everything about the feud running between the village and the clan; however, upon seeing the Hokage in person visit her, she was alert nonetheless. This was definitely a big matter.
Hiruzen did not respond right away. Instead, he pulled a chair closer and sat beside her bed.
"Tell me what you remember, child," he said.
Kiyomi swallowed. "We were on a mission. I remember getting across Itachi during it." Her hands trembled. "He wasn't alone. There was another shinobi—tall, blue skin, like a shark."
"Kisame Hoshigaki," Hiruzen murmured to himself, then giving Kiyomi a motion to go on.
She nodded. "Izumi fought Itachi. I tried to help, but…" Her voice cracked. "He caught me in a genjutsu. Everything went dark after that."
Hiruzen listened without interruption, in between asking questions when he felt necessary.
Then he asked softly, "Do you remember what happened to Izumi after that?"
Kiyomi shook her head. "No… I lost my consciousness before that." She said, uncertain why the Hokage was asking so many questions from her personally.
The words hung in the air.
Hiruzen closed his eyes for a moment.
"Kiyomi," he said, voice low, "I'm afraid to say, child, but Izumi is dead."
The world seemed to stop.
Kiyomi stared at him, unable to breathe. Her chest tightened painfully, as if something inside her had shattered all at once.
"No," she whispered. Like denying the fact would solve it.
Hiruzen did not push. He did not ask more questions. Seeing the truth—that Kiyomi had not witnessed Izumi's death, nor the one responsible—he rose slowly.
"That is all for now," he said. "Grieve. Rest. We will speak again when you are ready."
He turned toward the door.
"Tsunade," he added quietly, "walk with me. There is another patient we must discuss."
"Another! Old man, that wasn't what you promised me." Tsunade chided, she was already planning on leaving the village.
"Just come, you'll understand once you see the patient." Hiruzen didn't say anything else, just left behind these words before taking his exit.
Tsunade left behind gritted her teeth, feeling the irritation but didn't act on it like she usually did. What if the old man stopped her, asking to pay for damage she'll cause?
She was flat broke, and what if he said work here until you can pay… 'Hmph…' she wasn't letting him do that.
As they left, the room fell silent again.
Kiyomi lay there, staring at the ceiling, Izumi's face burned into her memory—unfinished words, unanswered questions, and a grief that had only just begun.
After some time, Sasuke, who was informed about Kiyomi waking up, came running.
-x-
The cemetery was quiet.
Too quiet.
Sasuke stood a few steps behind Kiyomi, his hands clenched at his sides as she stared down at the stone marker. Izumi Uchiha. The name was carved cleanly, mercilessly real. No blood, no smoke, no battle—just a grave, final and unarguable.
This was no dream.
Kiyomi's knees gave out, and she dropped to the ground in front of it, fingers digging into the damp soil. Her breath came apart in shallow, broken sounds, like she was afraid to breathe too deeply and accept what she was seeing.
Sasuke didn't move at first.
He didn't know how.
Comfort had never been his strength. Words felt useless, hollow things that would only cheapen what she was feeling. He had brought her here because she asked. Nothing more.
He scowled at where she was. This was supposed to be the Uchiha clan compound, where most of their dead were buried, not in the Konoha memorial. The village unilaterally decided to give Izumi a burial here, which left many of the already dissatisfied Uchiha members furious.
"I… I'll wait over there," he said quietly, gesturing toward the trees at the edge of the path. "Take your time."
Kiyomi didn't respond.
As he turned away, his jaw tightened. Kiyomi's words echoed in his head.
Itachi.
"It was him after all." Sasuke all but growled.
The name burned. There was no doubt left now. Whatever lies had once existed, whatever excuses people whispered—his brother had been there. And Izumi was dead.
The hatred settled deeper, heavier.
Sasuke walked away.
When he was gone, the silence rushed back in.
Kiyomi pressed her forehead to the stone, her shoulders shaking. "I'm sorry," she whispered, again and again, the words losing meaning as they spilled out.
"Sorry for being weak."
"I'm always weak."
Her tears soaked into the earth.
Something inside her snapped.
The grief didn't lessen—it expanded, swelling until it drowned everything else. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. Heat flared behind her eyes, sharp and unbearable, like pressure building with nowhere to go.
-x-
Tsunade followed behind Hiruzen down a corridor she did not like.
It lay deeper within the hospital, past the ordinary wards, past the rooms where pain made sense. The air felt heavier here, quieter, watched.
It felt like decades since she entered here. This section of the hospital, dedicated to special cases only.
She folded her arms as she walked, irritation written plainly across her face.
"You promised," she said, not for the first time. "You said once Kiyomi was stable, I'd be free to leave. I'm not your personal medic anymore, old man."
Hiruzen didn't slow his pace.
"You never were…" he replied mildly.
"That wasn't an answer."
It never was with him.
They stopped before a reinforced door marked only by a small, faded seal. No name. No diagnosis. Tsunade noticed the chakra immediately—subtle, restrained, but wrong in the way only dangerous things were wrong.
Two ANBU stood guard on either side of the entrance, masks unreadable, bodies perfectly still. That alone told her this was not a normal patient.
Hiruzen lifted a hand and gestured for the door to be opened.
Inside, the room was bright. Too bright. Sterile to the point of discomfort.
A girl sat on the bed, legs crossed, elbows resting on her knees, chin propped up in her hands. She looked… bored. Not sick. Not injured. Not restrained. Her clothes were clean, her posture relaxed, her eyes sharp and annoyingly alive.
She glanced up when Tsunade entered, unimpressed. For a second her eyes lingered on her before she just ignored her.
Tsunade stopped short.
She scanned the room out of habit—no medical equipment actively in use, no IVs, no seals carved into the walls. Yet the presence of ANBU outside and the way Hiruzen stood just behind her told a very different story.
"Old man, who's she." Tsunade asked, irritated by all this suspense.
"This," Hiruzen said quietly.
The girl smiled faintly, eyes gleaming with something far too aware for someone who was supposed to be a patient.
"…Is Izumi Uchiha, who just came back from death."
xXx
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