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Izumi Uchiha was dead. Has been dead for the past seven years. Or was she...? Yugao Uzuki came out of nowhere soon after the Uchiha massacre. Or did she...? Yugao had been discovered by the Leaf and trained by the Root, by Danzo. She was a heartless killing machine that got transferred to the ANBU unit, where she was placed in Kakashi's team.

They didn't look alike. The only resemblance between Izumi and Yugao were their brown eyes and the mole under their right eye. So how could Izumi be Yugao? Yugao didn't even have sharingan. Or did she...?

The truth is that Izumi never died. She found out everything about the attempted coup d'état, about Itachi's plan, and braced herself. When Itachi came to her, he did place her under a powerful tsukuyomi, but when she came back from it, she managed to place herself in genjustu, which it turn made her faint. She had never been good at controlling her sharingan.

Seeing her mother and her whole clan get killed by the hand of the boy she loved most awakened her mangekyo sharingan. The impact was that grave.

She had been found by an ANBU team that was dispatched to assess the damage, bury the bodies and clean up the Uchiha compound. Much to their surprise, though, they found two survivors instead of the one Itachi demanded to keep alive. She was still in a coma, just like Sasuke was, but she was alive.

Hiruzen was forced to put her in hospital and wait for her to wake up. He knew it would take a while, he could only assume what the young girl had to see. And he didn't even know exactly how she survived. Did Itachi go behind his back and kept her alive purposefully? Did he mess up and she survived somehow? To the third Hokage no option seemed viable. Itachi was a man of his word and he always, always made sure that his missions would turn out perfect. So how did Izumi Uchiha survive?

Hiruzen came to find that out a week later, after Izumi woke up. She explained how she took part in the Uchiha meetings and knew about the coup d'état, how she overheard Itachi talk to Shisui about his options, and about how she prepared herself for the certain death that awaited her. Putting herself in genjutsu after she woke up from the one induced by Itachi had been a spur of the moment thing, but it kept her alive nonetheless. Good thing Itachi deemed the Tsukuyomi he placed her in sufficient, for she knew her genjutsu would have been for naught if he decided to slash her with his sword.

The third Hokage was left with a choice: kill Izumi Uchiha, or keep her alive, and, despite what Danzo wanted, he decided to keep her alive, but Danzo and the council accepted that under some conditions: she was NOT to interact with Sasuke or seek him out in any shape, way or form, her identity and looks would HAVE to be changed and lastly, she would be trained by Danzo in the Root for several years.

And that is how Yugao Uzuki was born. The purple haired deadly beauty. And she tried not to mind the changes and lies either. No one had to know. Danzo trained her well, explained her the ways of the Sharingan much like and actual member of the Uchiha family would. She wasn't fainting anymore, she learned kenjustu, ninjutsu, further developed her genjutu skills and became a great sensory type and medical ninja. She became an asset to the Village. And it was at that point where Hiruzen decided it was time for her to be moved to the ANBU ranks, the one directly under his command.

It was after joining the ANBU ranks and being placed in Kakashi's team that Yugao met Hayate Gekko. He was her kenjutsu instructor, one never could be good enough at wielding a sword. Ever. It was love at first sight for him…she took some convincing, mainly because she still had feelings for Itachi, but she ultimately gave in to his advances, thinking that it would be best to live a normal life. Or as close to a normal life as she could, given that she was an active shinobi, dating another shinobi…and had a huge secret she had to keep.

Yugao had to keep many things away from Hayate, especially the hair bleaching and dyeing, something she did at least once every two weeks. But they were in love and everything was going wonderfully for at least a year and a half.

Until…

Until Hayate was killed by Orochimaru's assistant, Kabuto, just a day prior to the chunin exams, just a day prior to Hiruzen Sarutobi's assassination. Worst part of it all? She was the one to discover the body…

And now, Izumi – ahem, Yugao – had to pick up her broken pieces once more, get through the heartache and pain and fight for her village. Fight with her comrades against Orochimaru's shinobi and help protect Hiruzen.

But all was in vain, for the snake bastard killed the Hokage, leaving a whole village behind to mourn the people they lost.

She, however, didn't have much time to mourn her lover. The council called for her just a week after the death of the third Hokage and sent her out, letting her know about two strange individuals entering the village. Black cloaks with red clouds on them. Akatsuki. She was informed that four jonins were already fighting them and she and he squad had to help her.

Yugao quickly gathered her squad, gave them a brief rundown of what the council told her, and they were soon on their way.

And what – who – she saw once they got there left her speechless. Breathless. Left her feeling like she got punched in the gut. She wasn't expecting to see him ever again.

"Don't look into his eyes!" Kakashi yelled at Yugao and her team. She heard the distant voice, but she couldn't move for a moment. She was frozen, but grateful for the mask she wore, for she knew it concealed her expression.


So this is my first ItaIzu story! A lot more to come for these two!

Let me know what you think will happen, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

As always, reviews and criticism are very appreciated! Did you like it? Did you not? How and where can I improve? Let me know!

I plan on updating this story at least once a month, but keep in mind that I am a final year university student and things will get hectic. I'll try to do my best to keep the update schedule to once a month, though!

Until next time, be kind and take care of yourselves!