"Stop!!!"
Izumi's shrill cry cut through the night, a kunai flying from her hand.
But it was too late. The teenage Itachi's short blade swept across the child's throat. With a fluid, practiced motion, the bloody edge flicked upward, parrying the incoming kunai with surgical precision.
Ding—
In the sharp ring of clashing metal, the blade partially obscured Itachi's face. Only his left eye—a crimson Mangekyō Sharingan—swirled ominously in the shadows.
"So, it's Izumi..." Itachi's voice was a low drone, devoid of any warmth as he gazed at her.
"Itachi! What are you doing?!" Izumi rushed into the room. Her voice trembled as she looked at the family lying in pools of blood and the small child at Itachi's feet.
Itachi stepped out of the shadows. Under the moonlight, clad in his combat gear, he stood significantly taller than her.
"I am simply... testing my capacity." Itachi held his blade low, the cold steel reflecting his hollow expression.
In that moment, Izumi felt as though she was looking at a complete stranger. She couldn't believe it—the Itachi who had been so gentle would commit such atrocities against his own kin.
Facing the suffocating pressure and the palpable killing intent radiating from him, Izumi froze, her body shaking uncontrollably. Though she had awakened her Sharingan at the age of five, she had remained a Genin since graduation, lacking significant combat experience.
"Tsukuyomi."
Itachi's Mangekyō spun. Izumi's consciousness instantly plummeted into a world of illusion.
Within that realm, Izumi and Itachi fell in love beneath cherry blossoms. She saw them joining hands at their wedding as adults; she saw Itachi's flustered face at the sound of a crying infant, and his stern expression as their child entered a rebellious phase. Finally, she saw them as an elderly, white-haired couple, leaning against each other on a porch, watching the moon.
In a matter of seconds, Izumi lived an entire, fabricated lifetime.
"How pathetic."
Just as Izumi was losing herself in the depths of the illusion, a cold, mocking voice rang out.
The Izumi within the dream world snapped awake. A figure in a black robe and a fox mask sat quietly beside her, looking up at the moon.
"Who are you?!" Izumi leapt back, reacting like a startled kitten.
The stranger turned slightly, his playful gaze piercing through the holes of his mask. "Do you intend to stay submerged in a Mangekyō illusion forever? Your own eyes might just be the key to stopping all of this."
"No... this is a genjutsu!" Izumi finally realized the truth. This wasn't reality.
"Your reaction is far too slow," Menma muttered, somewhat puzzled.
Among the Uchiha, Izumi held the record for the youngest awakening. At age five, she had awakened her Sharingan after witnessing her father's death during the Nine-Tails incident—a feat even Itachi had envied.
Itachi had awakened his at eight, Sasuke at seven, Shisui at seven, while Obito and Madara were both around twelve. Awakening early doesn't always equate to ultimate power, but Izumi's ability to reach three-tomoe by age twelve during a time of relative peace proved her talent was second only to Itachi and Shisui.
Yet, after moving back to the compound, she had remained a Genin, spending her days finding lost pets for the Daimyo's wife or moving furniture for fire-country officials. Menma wondered what kind of stimulus she had endured to reach the three-tomoe stage.
He was curious: what kind of emotional peak would a gentle, sentimental Uchiha woman reach when faced with the slaughter of her entire clan?
"Since that's the case, let us continue," Menma said, rising slowly. His form faded, vanishing from the dreamscape.
The world spun. The bloody courtyard and the scent of iron shifted once more.
Izumi found herself back at the banks of the Nakano River. The water gurgled peacefully; a flock of geese flew overhead. It was still early. The tri-color dango in her hand was still warm.
"That suspicious person..." Izumi stood up abruptly. She refused to believe Itachi would massacre the clan. Her first instinct was to report this to the Police Force.
She quickly finished her dango and sprinted toward the Police Force Headquarters. I don't know what that masked man wants, but it bodes ill for the Uchiha!
She didn't notice the sky darkening unnaturally fast.
By the time she reached the headquarters, it was pitch black. Not a single lamp was lit in the massive building.
"Strange... where are Uncle Yashiro and Tekka?" Panting, she moved to enter, but that familiar scent of blood hit her again.
Her instincts flared. Just as she drew her kunai, a deep voice echoed from the main entrance.
"Those eyes... they really are quite beautiful."
A man wearing a tiger-striped, single-eyed mask stepped slowly from the doorway.
A different one from before... Izumi didn't hesitate. She flung her kunai and followed up with two shuriken.
Shu-shu— Ding-ding—
The weapons passed right through the man's body, thudding into the wooden pillars behind him.
"How is that possible!" Izumi gasped. The masked man tilted his head.
Their eyes met. Through the single hole in the tiger mask, she glimpsed a Sharingan. She knew she was outmatched and turned to flee.
A heavy iron chain whipped through the air with terrifying speed, binding her instantly.
Itachi! Save me! Even in the face of death, the first person she called for was Itachi.
A short blade pierced through her body. Izumi felt her life draining away until the world finally faded to black.
Caw! Caw! Caw!
The cry of crows startled her awake.
Once again, she was by the Nakano River. Having experienced 'death' once, Izumi was drenched in cold sweat, gasping for air.
"Genjutsu? Is it still a genjutsu?" Shaking, she activated her Sharingan and cycled her chakra. Everything felt normal. No interference detected.
"A layered illusion? Who is doing this!" She looked around frantically, but the riverbank was deserted.
"Two different masked men? Both targeting the Uchiha?" She set the dango aside, her mind racing through the images of the two strangers—and the scene of Itachi killing the elders.
"Dammit!" She stood up to go to the police station, but her legs buckled.
She turned and ran toward the center of the village instead. The Hokage... only the Lord Hokage can... She placed her final hope in Hiruzen Sarutobi.
As she ran, the sky blackened again. Two masked shinobi suddenly appeared in her path.
"I need to see—"
Before she could finish, two cold flashes of steel crossed. The shinobi's blades buried themselves deep into her abdomen.
Izumi collapsed, her long black hair soaking in her own blood. The last thing she heard was a muffled voice:
"Orders from above! Not a single Uchiha is to leave this place alive!"