"Go."
Heiyan stood behind Izumi Uchiha, softly murmured those words, then stepped back, fading into the darkness of the street corner.
Izumi bit her lip tightly, clenched her fists, and trembled slightly all over.
She passed through the gates of the clan head's residence and made her way toward the room at the far end of the courtyard.
Just then.
Swish.
The sliding door of the room was pushed open by a blood-stained hand. Immediately afterward, a familiar figure appeared within Izumi's line of sight.
It was Itachi Uchiha.
Behind him lay the corpses of Fugaku and his wife on the floor, along with the young Sasuke, whose spirit was on the verge of shattering. He stared blankly ahead, trembling nonstop from immense fear.
"Itachi...you..."
Seeing this scene, Izumi's final sliver of hope shattered completely, tears unknowingly overflowing from her eyes again.
"I see you're still alive," said Itachi upon noticing Izumi Uchiha, slightly surprised that she hadn't been killed by Madara as he'd expected.
"Why?"
Izumi demanded angrily.
Itachi went quiet once more.
"You should leave. Get out of Konoha before dawn—go wherever you must."
He knew that if she stayed in the village any longer, her life would be in constant danger—and she'd be completely alone. Even if her triple-tomoe Sharingan wasn't taken by Madara, someone like Danzo would still come after it.
"I won't go."
Yet Izumi shook her head resolutely in reply. "I will defeat you, bring you to Naka Shrine, and judge your crimes under the witness of our ancestors' tablets and divine presence."
Before her voice even finished echoing, she pulled out a kunai and assumed a fighting stance.
Too bad. Then I'll have no choice but to kill you.
Coldly, Itachi responded, instantly releasing the ocular power of his Mangekyo Sharingan, causing Izumi before him to momentarily freeze and fall into a genjutsu.
In the next moment.
Swish.
Itachi's figure shot forward in a flash, crossing several meters instantly to stand right before Izumi.
Thud.
The ninja blade in his hand pierced through Izumi's abdomen, its tip protruding from her back, soaked in steaming blood, dripping drop by drop onto the ground.
Swift and clean—an instant fatal blow.
Aaagh!
Stimulated by the intense pain, Izumi awakened from the genjutsu and spat out a large mouthful of blood.
With difficulty, she lifted both hands to rest them weakly on Itachi's shoulders, barely whispering her question:
"I…just want to ask you one last thing. Did you ever like…me?"
Itachi fell silent again.
Soon enough, though, he seemed to decide what to say.
"Izumi, your capacity is too small—you cannot understand the things I'm doing. For me, people like you by my side are nothing but obstacles and burdens."
After speaking these cruel words, Itachi withdrew the blade mercilessly from Izumi's body without hesitation and turned to walk away.
Plop.
Behind him, Izumi dropped to her knees on the ground, blood gushing continuously from her abdominal wound, staining her clothes and the surface red. She would soon die from blood loss.
At the street corner, within a twisted shadow, a pair of eyes silently watched everything unfold.
Heiyan didn't rush to save Izumi Uchiha; even if she had received a lethal wound, as long as there was breath left, he could still save her back.
Even if Izumi died, she could still go to the Yokai Realm, retrieve her soul, and perform the resurrection. It would just be a bit more troublesome.
Heiyan Uchiha was waiting.
That Izumi awakened her triple-tomoe Sharingan at just thirteen proved her talent surpassed even most Uchiha.
There was strong potential for her to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan—so long as the trauma she experienced was intense and deep enough.
...
Izumi Uchiha knelt on the ground, watching the fading silhouette of Itachi disappear into the distance, her vision quickly blurring.
Tonight, beneath this full moon, should have been a beautiful night, but instead, everything in her life had crumbled. Her clan, loved ones, friends—and the love she held for Itachi—all were lost, shattered by the one person she trusted most.
Such despair made her soul feel as though it had plunged into a bottomless abyss, wrapped in thick darkness, deprived of its final light.
At this moment,
An overwhelmingly strong desire surged within Izumi's heart. How she wished all of this was false, merely a nightmare that would vanish once she woke up.
If only she could wake up. If she waited until the sun rose from the east again, everything might return to normal—peaceful and beautiful as before.
Stimulated by this intense longing, the twin triple-tomoe patterns within her eyes began spinning rapidly, seemingly evolving into some unknown new form.
Several seconds later,
She slowly closed her eyes, almost lifeless. Yet beneath those shut lids, wild waves of ocular power surged as an unknown dojutsu activated.
"Huh?"
Itachi stopped walking and turned around, surprised by the change happening to Izumi.
Hearing her softly murmur, "Dream Awakens."
In the next instant, she opened her eyes. The pair before her had now completely transformed into the pattern of the Mangekyō.
Simultaneously, the gash across Izumi's abdomen sealed itself in an instant. No longer bleeding, her face regained its natural color, as though she'd never been wounded.
It appeared to be a jutsu similar to Izanagi—one that could transmute pain and wounds into nothing more than illusions.
"I have to admit, I underestimated you, Izumi," Itachi admitted. "I didn't expect you to awaken these unique eyes as well. Still, your fate remains death. Nothing will change that."
His eyes sharpened. This time, he resolved to kill Izumi Uchiha for good.
"No, the one who will die is you, Itachi."
Izumi gazed deeply at him and spoke two words: "Enter the Dream."
Buzzzz—
[Ocular Energy Surge] erupted from her right eye, instantly engulfing Itachi, causing his entire body to tremble.
"A Genjutsu?"
Itachi thought inwardly. Instead of avoiding Izumi's gaze, he chose to confront it directly, activating the illusionary technique "Tsukuyomi" in his left eye to resist with his own ocular power.
Yet to his surprise, the Tsukuyomi—his strongest and most trusted Genjutsu—was defeated in this battle of dojutsu.
A sharp pain shot through his left eye, blood trickling from it, and soon after, his entire being fell into a dreamlike state.
Itachi's expression quickly twisted in agony, drenched in cold sweat, as if enduring unimaginable torment.
Clang!
His ninja blades dropped to the ground with a thud. He fell to his knees, shouting frantically, "Sasuke... Sasuke..."
Witnessing this scene, Izumi felt a tinge of sympathy, but she ultimately steeled her resolve and vowed to defeat Itachi.
Her second Mangekyou Sharingan Dojutsu ability targeted the enemy's spirit, trapping them in an endless recurring nightmare. Within that realm, the enemy's fears would materialize, torturing them endlessly.
It seemed then, that Itachi's greatest weakness was Sasuke. In his nightmare, Sasuke was killed before his eyes again and again, slowly driving Itachi toward mental collapse.
But then again, Itachi Uchiha remains Itachi Uchiha—the clan's Number One Prodigy who awakened the Mangekyou at the age of thirteen.
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