Izumi was fourteen years old.
She sat at a desk alongside fifty three other prospective chuunin. Most were much older than her, and significantly more threatening. In front of her, a page of ten questions, only two of which she knew the answer to. Butterflies in her stomach, she realized that her teammates probably knew none of the answers, leaving the test up to her. It wasn't that she blamed herself; how could a gennin possibly have enough knowledge to answer these questions? But would a final score of two really be enough to pass?
She thought of what had just happened not even two hours ago. Itachi had walked with her to the room himself, easing her anxieties. As a captain of the ANBU, him walking her to the door and giving her support meant a lot. Then, to her surprise, he had patted her on the shoulder. He rarely made physical contact with anyone he wasn't sparring with.
"I know you can do it," he said and smiled. Izumi knew that Itachi believed in her. But could she believe in herself?
Then, several spaces down to her right, she noticed a young man filling in his own test. Her eyes widened as she realized what she had to do. Itachi and Shisui were right; she had everything she needed to pass the first exam with her already. Wary of the proctor and the sentinels around them, she pretended to be frustrated, and pushed her hair to partially obscure her eyes.
The goal of this exam was simple. She would just have to stay conscious.
Stay conscious.
"Sharringan," she mumbled, and began copying down the answers. Five answers in, she began to get dizzy. But the thought of succeeding and being one step closer to her goal drove her forward. What was her goal? Becoming a splendid shinobi just as her father and the person she admired most had done.
Her pencil dropped just as she finished the last question. She hadn't even read what she wrote to know if it made sense. She had just copied down the movements of the man to the right of her up near the front. Her head reeled, but her training had paid off. What only three months ago would have made her feint, now was manageable.
Behind her, her teammates had seen what she had done and by now understood they must use their abilities to complete the test. Hitoru Yamanaka could take control of her thoughts if he would like, and then relay them to Shizuko with mirrors or his mind transfer jutsu again. Completed, their final score would be a total of 30 points, the highest possible.
Half an hour later, the proctor, a jounin, explained the goal was to encourage cheating just as she had suspected. They were dismissed without further ado.
"One down, two left to go!" the girl said in a hopeful tone. Itachi and Shisui walked alongside her through the Uchiha complex.
"Good for you," Shisui politely congratulated her. Izumi had mostly seen Shisui when Itachi was around. But because he seemed to be around her a lot more often lately, she had gotten to know the elder Uchiha more as well. "
Itachi looked at her and she could tell something was on his mind. He seemed nervous. His elder friend noticed it too, looking at him with a sly smirk. What could be up with that? She thought.
"Alright, I've got to go take care of my father. He's ill, and he needs me to look after him. I'll see the two of you later." Itachi looked at him, almost anxiously but his face was just out of sight so Izumi couldn't quite tell. As their friend walked down the road, the conversation they had been having stopped. For a moment they walked in silence, Itachi looking down at the ground as if deep in thought.
"Itachi, is everything alright?" The now sixteen year old boy looked up from his thoughts with a smile as if nothing had happened.
"Everything's fine. Izumi... will you walk with me?" The words came out of his lips as if they had been pushed out. "There's something I want to ask you..."
The boardwalk near the small lake was the place the two often went to talk together since their youth, so Izumi knew that was where he was leading her. It would be evening soon, and they didn't have much time before they would have to part for dinner. Even though their discussions near the water were normal, Izumi sensed her friend's unease as they came to the lake. He still seemed lost in thought.
"So the first exam, how easy was it for you?"
"When I saw a man writing down answers, I knew I had to use the sharingan. It made me a little dizzy, but thanks to your help I could manage." Itachi gave a small smile of satisfaction, which turned to a thoughtful frown.
"I see. So you still plan on taking the second exam, then?" It was a peculiar question. Izumi had been training to make chuunin for months with him, yet now it seemed like he wanted her to stop.
"Of course..." Why was Itachi thinking so hard? It was as if he was trying to take a larger meaning out of their simple exchange.
"Let me tell you about the second exam. It's tough for many. There are giant animals and the other teams won't go easy on you."
"I know that," Izumi defended. "That's why my team and I prepared for anything that can happen. My sharingan might not be reliable, but I excel in taijutsu and my ninjutsu is almost as good. If we work together as a team, we should be able to make it out without getting to hurt from others."
"Izumi, it's more than just getting hurt in a spar. Each year people die, and your opponents won't spare you just because of your age. If you go up against a team who is much stronger, surrender and run back to the entrance." Surrender? Itachi had never before talked in such a way to her. His words began to hurt.
"How could I surrender when a splendid shinobi never gives up in the face of danger? Why are you saying this after training with me all this time?"
"I know you are strong, and I know you'll be able to handle almost anything that comes your way. But the chunnin exams happen twice in a year, and it's not something worth losing your life over." His warnings confused her, and her hurt grew.
"I thought you believed in me... I thought you said I could do this... now I see I must have been fooling myself." Izumi lowered her head and began to take a few steps away. "I'm sorry Itachi." Itachi realized his words had the wrong effect on her.
"I didn't mean it that way. You are strong enough and you can win your battles. When you receive instructions from your proctor and the exam begins, run to the center of the forest as fast as you can. That will give you time to asses the abilities of other groups around you." She shook her head, still upset at his words.
"You told me the basics of the second exam before, so I already came up with that strategy myself. Why are you treating me like you don't trust in my abilities?!" Her eyes began to water from being rejected by the one she cared for most. If he didn't trust her, she would continue without him for herself and her teammates.
"I'm telling you because I want to protect you!" Itachi raised his voice to her back in exasperation. "I don't want to lose you!" The girl turned again to face him. His arm had outstretched as if reaching for her to come back. It was clear by his expression his words surprised even him after they had come out. Izumi was even more surprised at the sudden burst.
"You don't want... to lose me?" the words sounded like gold in her mouth. Itachi suddenly looked nervous, withdrawing his hand.
"I... I value you highly... as a friend." Izumi looked at him closely. His eyes lowered, as if disappointed in himself. A small smile formed on the girl's lips. She walked closer to him, looking him straight in the eye.
"I value you highly too. And I promise, I won't put my life at risk in the forest for you."
Covered in dirt and scrapes, Izumi grabbed the heaven scroll out of her knocked out opponent's pack. Her head pounded from using a lot of chakra, but she could sense her growth. Hitoru and Shizuko walked up behind her. Through each trial in the forest, tey had fought as a team perfectly, without hardly having to communicate their intentions to one anther. This was the reason they were ready to become chuunin.
"A heaven scroll!" Hitoru said. "Yes! Now we just have to walk over to our entrance into the tower."
They had been in the forest for three days. No one had gotten too injured, but it had pushed them further than they had prepared for. Not only had it pushed them physically and spiritually, but Izumi had seen someone die. The memory would not leave her mind.
Izumi had sensed the presence of two teams nearby, and together they had agreed to watch, in hopes of seeing their level of strength and skills. One team, several men from the Land of Wind, had brutally cut through the first two opponents, leaving them unconscious. The third, a man from the Leaf who had talked big, was then at the mercy of three opponents. One sand ninja had grabbed him by the throat, holding him up as he gagged and pleaded for mercy. Izumi had been paralyzed by internal conflict the entire time, and in the end listened to her teammates who urged her to move back. She had seen another man who stabbed him in the stomach. The leaf shinobi had screamed in a way that was both so vulnerable, yet bloodcurdling. Her teammates pulled her away, and she had run off. But the gruesome sight sent her back to the memory of her Father's downfall, spinning her into another spiral of guilt and trauma. If they all had been strong enough, more courageous, then perhaps those men would still be alive.
Now, her teammates voice shook her from her internal warfare.
"Let's go. I want to beat my brother's record, so we need to hurry as fast as we can," instructed Hitoru, who was the leader personality of the group.
In three days, one hour, and eleven minutes, her team had passed the second exam.
It was past dinner, and the two had decided to meet up after he had finished meeting with the Hokage.
"Itachi?" Izumi said in a soft voice. The two of them sat atop the great stone faces, overlooking the village. Itachi's eyes were fixed on the Hokage's House. Itachi often worked with Lord Third these days, so they met at this spot more often.
"Does watching people die ever get easier?" It was a question she never thought she would ask him. After watching him nearly explode from frustration one day after a mission, Izumi had made a point to avoid talking about the missions that must be very painful for him. As a friend, she wanted to give him an escape from all of that. But after their last talk, Izumi had become more open with him, feeling as if she could talk to him about anything, just as he had let out his thoughts before the exam. If he valued her as a friend, then it was okay to talk about anything, wasn't it? The boy sighed thoughtfully.
"In a way, yes. After many missions I have become desensitized to it. But the fact I have become desensitized to the pain and suffering of other people is nearly as troubling. You saw someone die in the second exam, is that it?"
"How did you know?" Itachi smirked.
"You've been quieter lately. More to yourself. Seeing that upset you, didn't it?" Izumi lowered her head, as if to protect him from her own sadness.
"It made me think of my father, how if I had been stronger I would have been able to save him. If we hadn't been focused on protecting ourselves and finishing the exam, my team would have let me save him, a leaf ninja too. How can I call myself a ninja if I couldn't even save a comrade?" Itachi turned to her with his compassionate eyes.
"You can't save everyone, Izumi. In battle a shinobi must make decisions that are never easy. We must sacrifice our common morals to finish the task at hand." Izumi's eyebrows furrowed. Was each mission really so much more important than a human life?
"It just feels so wrong." Itachi chuckled and nodded.
"I'm glad to hear you feel that way. It's the same for me, and the reason I train so hard to become Hokage."
"Huh? What do you mean? How would you becoming Hokage save everyone?" Itachi lowered his head, looking at his hands intensely, thinking hard. It was clear he was debating his next words.
"It's... it's something I've never told anyone." He spoke quietly, as if debating to tell something extremely personal. That made Izumi excited.
"You can tell me! I promise, I won't tell anyone and I won't judge." The girl scooted closer to him, until her arm was almost touching his. Itachi looked into her big brown eyes, which were enough to make anyone feel safe to open up. He hesitated, but spoke.
"It's because my dream... my dream is to become an Uchiha Hokage... so I can eliminate all conflicts. In a world without wars, there would be no need for ninja, and with no one to kill each other, the cycle of hatred would cease... I want to eliminate the fighting... and to create a world of peace. In a world of peace, tragedies like your father's and our clan's would never happen again." Hearing Itachi's words brought Izumi almost into tears. It was the perfect dream for him, a dream only he had the chance of accomplishing. He looked up at her bashfully, whose face was smiling warmly.
"I want that too. And I believe that of all people in this village, you can do it the best. You'll be the best Hokage who ever lived, Itachi!" Itachi looked at her half surprised, and half as if he might tear up in front of her. She could tell he wanted it more than anything.
"You really think so?" Without thinking, Izumi grabbed his hand.
"Sure! An Uchiha who is both close to the village and to his clan could smooth any other tensions between the two. You can lead the village with your strength and kindness, and other leaders could learn from your compassion. And I'm sure someone as smart as you could think of a way to stop the fighting." The girl let out a giggle, not caring of her affectionate feelings were showing.
"I'm still inexperienced." Itachi always had a hard time noticing his greatness, focused on the work still left to be done.
"That's what you're training with Hiruzen and going on high rank missions for. I'm sure that by the time he's ready to pass on his title, you'll be fit to lead the village.. and your clan," Izumi felt her cheeks grow warm at the thought of the last part. Itachi's eyes widened at the thought too. But she realized that he might not want to think about such thoughts after a potentially stressful day. "I'm sorry to have made you think about that if you didn't want to. Sorry, sorry!" But he shook his head, indicating it wasn't a problem.
"I confess, with all of my training to become Hokage, I sometimes forget my second role." Izumi nodded.
"It's not harder is it? You just have to lead a smaller group of people the same way you would the village."
"And find a wife to have a family with," he stated matter-of-factly, not normally one to beat around the bush. But Izumi could see even in the darkness of the night that his cheeks began to flush slightly. The idea they could be sharing the same thoughts caught her off guard.
"You don't have to worry about that yet though. You're sixteen after all. You have a lot of time to figure it all out." Itachi leaned back a little and looked to her then, face more serious.
"Izumi, if I'm to fulfill my roles, and you to become chunnin, we both need to get stronger." Izumi nodded in agreement. "If your dream is the same as mine, will you support me through it?" Izumi was surprised at his recent openness to her. He, an A rank shinobi and the Hokage's trainee was asking for her help? She smiled.
"Always." Itachi smirked, watching the sparkles in her eyes as she looked up to the sky.
"Thank you." Her gaze shifted to her hand, as she felt his warm, slender fingers take hold of it. He didn't say anything more, and together they sat in silence, watching the night sky, letting mutual feelings go unspoken.
One month later, the third exam was tomorrow.
"Go," the low, calm voice of the young ANBU captain rang in her ear. Itachi stood by as the fight began, to observe her chakra flow while she tried her new technique. Izumi unleashed her sharringan on Shisui, whose own eyes were inactive. He came at her, first with kicks and punches, then with firestyle ninjutsu. Izumi could evade his taijutsu without much trouble, as long as he wasn't using body flicker. Still, it was clear he was fighting with less than half of his strength.
"Water style! Water fountain jutsu!" A fountain of water shot from her mouth, turning the pheonix flower jutsu into steam.
"She has a second chakra nature? Itachi, you never told me that!" Shisui looked back at Itachi, who smirked. Izumi took this as her opportunity to hide in a nearby tree, almost completely erasing her presence.
The mist slowly cleared, and Izumi carefully wove hand signs for another jutsu. With all her focus, she gathered her chakra for her last attack.
Then she waited. A minute passed.
Shisui turned towards her in the tree, giving her a thumbs up and a smile.
"I felt it the entire time! Good job, Izumi." Izumi smiled back, wiping sweat from her brow. The illusion had been successfully cast and maintained. The girl jumped down from the tree, joining the two boys.
"If Izumi could last a few minutes doing taijutsu and ninjutsu, then cast even a simple genjutsu, she should be ready to go up against her opponents and win." Itachi gave her a fond smile and a nod of approval.
"I think you're right. If the prospective candidates are anything like what we went up against becoming chuunin, Izumi has a fair chance."
"Thank you both for training with me," the girl said with a warm smile. She considered herself very lucky to have gotten training help from two fighters as undefeated as these two. Shisui gave her another thumbs up.
"I have to go. I'm supposed to be gathering a team to stage an infiltration, and I leave tomorrow. It shouldn't take too long, I'll be back by the end of the exams."
"Good luck, Shisui!" Izumi couldn't help but feel stronger than she was when hearing about his missions, as if talking with him made her better by association.
"Don't you too have too much fun while I'm gone!" he shot back at them, walking off. Izumi blushed.
"Shisui..." Itachi mumbled, in a tone that could only resemble the way a younger brother protesting the older's teasing. Itachi looked away from her then.
"It's getting closer to evening. We should be headed back for dinner soon," Itachi spoke to her in a softer tone than he addressed others in. Today, the idea of him leaving seemed wrong.
"You're right," she agreed, but disappointment seeped through her voice. Itachi had that same look he often did recently, as if he was contemplating something.
"Izumi I..."
"Yes?" She looked up at the perplexed Uchiha, curious. Was he going to ask her to come with him?
"Well... it's nothing."
"Oh, okay." She half turned away, again disappointed. "Itachi, will you be in the audience at the third exam?" Itachi gave a soft smirk and nodded.
"I took off a mission to watch you. I'll be sitting near the front so you can see me." She smiled wide and gasped. Itachi had made so much time for her in the past few months which meant a lot because of his busy schedule. But to have taken off a mission to see her in the exams meant even more, if that was possible. It wasn't like him to do something like that even for Shisui, unless he specifically requested it. It seemed as if he was clearly showing her how much he cared.
"Thank you, Itachi," she turned her head to hide a blush. They departed soon after, and when dinner ended Izumi went to bed early in mental preparation for the most trying fight she had been in to this day.
Izumi wiped sweat from her brow in near exhaustion. Her opponent was one most fitting. It was one of the same shinobi who she had seen kill a leaf ninja in the Forest of Death, sneered at her. He fought with an umbrella which spun to unleash needles and other weapons. Izumi spun to her left and ran to dodge another flurry of needles, parrying the ones she couldn't dodge with her kunai. The young man made a hand sign and began to turn the ground beneath them into mud. Izumi aimed a fireball at the ground and at him, drying and hardening the mud. Her head was getting dizzy, she was almost at the end of her reserves. The young man smirked.
"You can't defeat me, you're just a coward." His words surprised the girl.
"What did you say?"
"You heard me. You and your silly teammates underestimated my abilities. While I was in the forest, killing that miserable excuse for a leaf ninja, I sensed you and even had time to gather information about you! For that reason, you will undeniably fail." Izumi gasped. Did he really have sensory abilities so strong he sensed her muted chakra from a distance while in battle? What had he learned about her? The man hurled another flurry of needles, thicker and denser than the last. Izumi was on the defensive.
"You couldn't even save a single comrade. What kind of ninja are you to your village if you simply hide in the trees? You're nothing, and you will never amount to anything but a coward!" Izumi was transported to the scene of the man's death, screaming in agony and to her father. This opponent was taking advantage of the girl's mind, and it was working. How could she be chunnin if she couldn't even save one person? Who did she think she was anyways?
Izumi looked up and to her right, at the audience. There was Itachi, smiling like a beacon of hope. The look of his smiling calm face sent butterflies into her stomach even now. And in seeing him , she remembered their conversation. She needed to become a chuunin if she wanted to help him erase all conflicts. She needed to win if she wanted to save others, and make up for the lives that had been lost. The girl scowled at the young man.
"You're wrong. You're the one who should never become chuunin! A ninjas job is not to cause needless bloodshed and suffering. We are ninja to protect and uphold the peace in our villages that others have worked so hard to create!" She thought of Itachi and her entire clan, all they had gone through. "The chunnin exams is held each year to foster international brotherhood, and to maintain the balance of power in each village. You strayed from your mission to kill without any good reason at all!" Her blood was boiling. "And as long as people like you continue to spread pain to others, the world will keep on fighting and the cycle will never end! That's why- people like you should never become ninja!"
Out of the corner of her eye, the girl saw Itachi's eyes widen in surprise. His expression was one she had never seen on him, almost as if he had been touched. Izumi's vision went red involuntarily. She grimaced, and braced herself. With the last of her strength, she sent a genjutsu into the mind of her opponent.
The man paused, and then it hit him. He gave a soft smile of peaceful contentment, and then raised both his arms in surrender.
"I... no longer want to fight..." He mumbled, still recovering from the genjutsu. Izumi looked at the proctor, trembling from exertion. He nodded his head. She was declared the winner of the match.
Outside the stadium, Izumi's friends and teammates gathered around, congratulating each other. One other of her teammates had beaten both their opponents, making their promotion almost certain. Her mother gave her a tight hug, almost squeezing her in two.
"I can't believe you beat your opponent with genjutsu! I'm so proud of you." Izumi chuckled, slightly flustered.
"Where did you get the extra chakra? I've never seen you last that long in battle," Shizuko asked.
"I have Itachi and his friend Shisui to thank. Without them I would have never gotten this far," she explained, still trying to recover from the fight. Even if she had won, it wasn't without cost. Izumi was seeing lights and her breath was short. As if on queue the young man she spoke of quietly approached in the background. He had the feintest hint of a smile, but Izumi could tell something was different in him. She smiled back, excusing herself from the crowd of friends.
"Thank you again, Itachi. If it wasn't for your training me, I wouldn't have won that fight!"
"I only helped you gather enough chakra to endure a little longer. How you chose to use that chakra was up to you." She chuckled at his modesty, but her head was reeling in a familiar way. She couldn't tell if it was the boy himself who was making her so dizzy, or if she had used up almost all of her chakra. She took as deep breaths as she can to pull herself together, still smiling at him. Itachi adopted a look of concern. "Izumi, are you feeling alright?" But the answer never came, for a second after, her body gave out and all went dark.
Izumi woke in the hospital, head hazy. The raven haired Uchiha sat in a chair directly beside her bed. She turned her head toward him, whose face was calm.
"You're awake." Quietly, the girl chuckled and the sound grew into a laugh. The image of him sitting next to her, waiting for her to get up transported her back to one of the first times the two had met many years ago. Izumi had used her sharringan to defend him from three older bullies who had scorned the Uchiha's name. The sudden use of chakra had put the two in the exact same position as they were in now. She sat up.
"What happened?"
"You fainted from overusing your chakra. I brought you to the hospital. You were only unconscious for a couple hours." She sighed and lowered her head in shame.
"I guess I'm not ready to be a chuunin then. How can I become a chuunin when I can't stay conscious after fighting even one opponent?"
"On missions you will have comrades to look after you and work by your side. I talked with the Hokage after your fight ended. Though it hasn't been discussed by the full selection council yet, he was affected by your words and performance. He believes you will be an excellent chuunin." His words and encouragement cheered her up. "Izumi, what image did you show the man in your genjutsu?" He didn't disguise the urgent fascination in his voice.
"I guess I don't know... it's hard to explain. It just came out of me. It was almost as if I projected my intentions and feelings towards him with my mind's eye."
"You manipulated him into a ceasefire?" She shook her head.
"No I think I somehow convinced him. When he said he no longer wanted to fight, he was no longer in my genjutsu." Itachi turned towards her eagerly.
"Izumi, if you can convince people to abstain from a conflict, it means you have an invaluable gift. If our dreams are to become reality, the ability to pacify someone is more precious than any one jutsu." Izumi chuckled at his grandiosity and idealism. She was an ordinary fourteen year old girl who might soon become a second tier ninja, not a world changer.
"It was probably just a fluke. I don't even know exactly what I did. And even if I did persuade him into stopping the fight, whose to say how long it would last? I couldn't even perform it on more than two people, let alone a whole group."
"That's only for now. I can help you to gain more of a handle on the genjutsu I can continue training you. I want to understand how it works." Izumi looked at him and smiled.
"Thank you for training with me. You're an ANBU captain after all. The fact that you've taken so much of your little free time to help me means so much." Itachi gave a small smile in return, but she could tell that he was nervous at his next words.
"You've grown... into an exceptional kunoichi. Like I said before, I don't want you getting hurt. I value you highly..." The words came out of his mouth like velvet. Izumi blushed, for now after these past weeks she knew what he had meant.
"I... value you highly too, Itachi," she bravely moved her hand to rest on his, which he had placed on the edge of her hospital mattress, sending butterflies into her stomach. "And I don't want the good times we've had together to end."
"Izumi..." He leaned in closer to her. She watched as his lips parted slightly. Could this really be happening? Her heart beat faster as their faces grew nearer.
Then his lips finally reached hers. She gasped through her nose in surprise as he kissed her firmly, yet gently. Instinctively, Izumi kissed back. Their kiss grew deeper, letting their built up feelings for each other show. Izumi had held them for many years, and to finally be in this moment filled her with relief. Itachi did not push too far, and in a moment he pulled away. They looked at each other, both with small smiles.
"Itachi..." Izumi's voice came out in almost a whisper. She put her hand to his cheek and kissed him again.
