Uchiha Izuna just wants his clan to survive and his brother to be happy; is that too much to ask?

Uchiha Izuna Lives (sort of)


Beginning with an End


The day began as every other day had. He woke up to a blank ceiling, prepared his weapons, and ate breakfast with Madara to discuss strategies for the day. He hadn't expected that it would lead to a border encounter with not one, or two, but all three of the elite Senju fighters.

Izuna didn't believe in luck, but he was extremely relieved that all three elite Uchiha fighters were present as well.

Rumors of numerous Senju patrols required their best fighters to investigate, and Uchiha numbers were low enough without foolishly sending too few strong fighters to a dangerous situation.


The Liar-Senju was spouting promises of peace at his brother, and, as always, Madara was idealistic and trusting enough to listen. Izuna scowled as he watched his older brother dance around tree branches, neither advancing or retreating, just willingly setting himself up in a stalemate. The idiot. Couldn't he tell that the Senju was just trying to reel him in with his lies, so that he could strike when his guard was lowered?! The Liar-Senju was strong, yes, but not strong enough to defeat Madara. Madara was too fast to get impaled on the Senju's branches, so the Senju was trying to find another way to kill him.

And the Senju was no idiot. He had failed to kill Madara they were children, but was now capitalizing on that history of 'being friends' to confuse his brother.

Izuna scowled. Meeting several times at the banks of a river and arguing did not make one friends. Rivals, maybe, but not friends.

Friends fought side by side and watched each other's backs. They shared meals and stories that they would hesitate to tell their family. They lifted your spirits when it felt all hope was lost, and were there to drag you back after every battle.

And you could fight with your friends, but you would never ever torture a friend's family like the Liar-Senju had.

Izuna would never forget the look on his younger cousin's face when he told them that yes, his father had made it back, but no, he would not survive. He didn't have the heart to tell little Kagami that his father had only delayed a voluntary suicide to tell his son goodbye, but hadn't able to stay conscious long enough to do even that. They had waited to see if the man would wake up, but instead the wound had festered and sent him into a fever. There was no chance of survival, but the smallest chance that he might wake up to say goodbye to Kagami stayed their hand from ending his pain.

Like every other one of his clansmen who took hits from the Senju, he died slowly. Doomed by ruptured organs and infection, just as all the other victims had.

Izuna may hate the White Demon, but at least he killed quickly. Cleanly, even. But that didn't make up for the fact that he was still killing his cousins and uncles and neighbors, and even the few civilian Uchiha he ran into.

The White Demon was honest about how much he wanted the Uchiha dead.

The Liar-Senju had brought an overwhelmingly large number of shinobi with him, and was talking of peace between the clans. Why bring so many if he wanted peace?

Izuna narrowed his eyes at the Senju warband.

His rival was staring at a point near him, too smart to risk meeting eyes. Izuna readied his sword. Madara's talk with the Liar-Senju was coming to an end. There would be no peace agreement at the moment (Izuna was proud that his brother stood strong against the Senju attempt to bully him into submission with numbers), but his brother was still considering a deal, so Izuna decided he still had some work to do. He needed his brother to see how the actions of the Liar-Senju were forever contradicting what he said.

And actions were known to show more of a person's character than any empty words could.

No matter what Madara wanted to be true, there was always an absolute truth, and in this case the truth was that the Senju and Uchiha could not coexist. The cycle of death and war would only end when one was gone, and Izuna would be damned if he let his clan die.


The battle began as every other had. He dashed for the White-Demon, while his brother ran at the Liar-Senju. Hikaku faced off against the Senju genjutsu master, and the rest of the Uchiha clashed with the enemy fighters.

The White Demon struggled to keep up with his speed, but had a seemingly infinite reservoir of chakra. More than Izuna had, so Izuna brought the range in close and darted around the White-Demon, making jabs and targeting openings as he saw them. Izuna wasn't surprised when a massive water dragon made its appearance. He scowled. The White-Demon had cut down the number of hand-signs he used even further.

And the water dragon had forced a space in between them. Too much space. It was too far to close the distance before the Senju sent another massive jutsu his way. Izuna readied his sword, seeing the Senju doing the same.

He would need to strike quickly.

His Sharingan spun slowly, trained on the White Demon. Unlike with Madara and the Liar-Senju, there was no room for error in their battles.

His eyes narrowed. The Senju was doing something -

It was almost too fast to see.

Almost.

But it was too fast to avoid.

Izuna helplessly tried to dodge, throw himself to the side, counter the strike, anything. But the White Demon had just flickered into and behind him and his chest was cold and stinging-

He choked, feeling blood - so much blood - soaking his clothes. His head was light, drifting, and the White Demon was somewhere - where was the bastard?!-

His knees gave out, dropping him down to the ground - wait. He never hit the ground. Madara was here.

Why was his brother here? There was a battle. Why was he dropping his guard?!

Was this the Senju plan? Take him out so Madara was alone?!

What was going on?! He felt his brother pull him away from the fight. Had the White Demon tried to attack while Madara was carrying him away?

He coughed and ignored the bloody spittle, scowling at the Liar-Senju. The bastard was fake-pleading with Madara - as if he never wanted Izuna to be injured. As if he and his brother weren't both in agreement on their plans for the future.

"Brother! Don't listen to his lies!"


Hours passed after he was rushed into the healing rooms. The bed that had been cleared just a week prior - a victim of the Liar-Senju that only lasted three days before succumbing to his wounds. Izuna didn't feel any luckier.

Madara was silent - as was the rest of the compound. They were all but mourning already.

Izuna fumed inside. He was always the opponent of the White Demon, Madara was always fighting the Liar-Senju, and Hikaku against the Genjutsu-Senju. Without him to keep the White Demon at bay, Madara and Hikaku would need to split their attention. Something they couldn't feasibly do, no matter how determined they were.

The situation was untenable. Izuna could see the way the future would twist out. The Uchiha would be forced to accept the Liar-Senju's terms if they wanted to survive. And then the Senju would ruin the Uchiha - be it through murder, brainwashing, or bloodline theft.

That future was unacceptable to him.

His brother would die. His family would die. The Senju-bastards would kill them all, and all because Izuna hadn't been fast enough.

He felt his eyes burn.

He heard shouts as the world burned with him.

And then he woke up to a blank ceiling.