In a Dream - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

A masked figure stood silently in front of the compound gates.

This was the last chance he had to turn back. The last chance to stop what he was sent here to do…

But he knew that chance was an illusion.

The clan had already gone too far. Attracted too much attention.

…forced too many hands.

The purge would take place no matter what. The only thing that remained uncertain was how much struggling was left before it ended.

It was time…but there was something he needed to do first. Just to make sure he could go through with it.

-o-

The figure moved through the shadows with an ease few rivaled. No one would detect his passage until he decided to show himself, and he was unwilling to do so until he encountered his…target.

Yes, target was the best word to use for now. Especially for what he was about to do. Needed to do.

A small part of him was hoping that this would be the night where his skills failed. That his target had suddenly departed the compound or foiled his abilities somehow.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

It didn't take long before he spotted his target in her home. Which meant there was no reason to delay.

The figure stood straight and removed his mask.

He would do this face to face.

She deserved that much.

-o-

Izumi Uchiha was feeling really anxious.

Tensions between the clan and the rest of the village were growing to the point everyone was seriously considering a coup as the best way to resolve things. To make everything worse Itachi had been all but thrown out as a traitor after he showed up to the meeting for the first time in nearly a year and spoke out against a revolt.

She had pleaded for him to not give up but his response had been…less than enthusiastic.

That was okay though! Even if he didn't show it, she knew he was still feeling emotional from the meeting. She just needed to convince him to keep trying.

He was the pride of the clan afterall. The next leader and the most skilled Uchiha born since Madara. People were even saying he was as smart as the Hokage already even though Izumi didn't really believe that. Itachi could be silly in his own way, as proven by how he stormed off to sulk after the meeting. She just needed to talk to him once he calmed down and they would be able to come up with a plan to stop everyone from being stupid.

She wasn't sure how much help she would be but-

A sound that even Izumi as a fresh genin recognized -the sound of a body collapsing to the floor- echoed through the house. Izumi's heart rate spiked. The only other person in the house was her mom…

Izumi swiftly grabbed a kunai from one of the hiding spots and moved as silently as she could towards the source of the sound. If someone had hurt her mom then she would make sure they regretted it.

She stepped out into the open to confront the intruder and saw her mom collapsed on the ground but she just looked unconscious. Izumi looked at the intruder to -there was a flash of red-

She stepped out into the open to confront the intruder and saw Itachi standing awkwardly in the corridor.

"Itachi? What are you doing here?"

Itachi actually looked a little sheepish, which for him meant he was completely embarrassed. "I thought about what you said after I left, and I agree. I should keep trying to convince everyone to give peace a chance."

"Really?!" That was great news!

"Un…"

"Then for the next meeting we need a plan. No one's gonna listen if we just show up and start arguing."

"Hm…"

-o-

Izumi was right. No one wanted to listen at first.

But they kept trying and eventually they started winning people over to their side. Not as many people were willing to go through with what was planned as it first seemed, they just lacked a way to make their voice heard.

It was agreed to put the coup on hold until everyone could agree on how to move forward.

Then someone requested to ask the Hokage for help.

-o-

Izumi wasn't sure exactly what happened, not too surprising considering she was a genin and pretty far removed from actually making clan decisions, but Fugaku-sama had met with the Hokage covertly and tensions in the clan began to relax.

Itachi was drafted into helping his father improve the crumbling relations with the rest of the village and was removed from ANBU. Theoretically it was a demotion, but Itachi didn't seem to mind. In fact he seemed to take great delight hunting Izumi down and helping her with her own training to her own horror.

She was making great strides in her abilities but she felt sore all over her entire body more often than not. Not even winning a spar against some of the freshly promoted chunin was enough to get her devil of a boyfriend to ease up on her…

-o-

Sparks flew as kunai collided midair.

Two blurred shadows raced through the forest hunting each other. Whenever one tried to slip away or move to a better position, the other would pounce hoping to land a blow only to retreat when the first reacted.

Eventually both shadows stopped to catch their breath.

Blazing red eyes scanned the trees through a curtain of brown hair, searching for any movement from her opponent.

Izumi was actually ridiculously proud that she had even managed to push Itachi this far.

Usually the best she could do was get him a little winded while she felt like she could barely move. Not this time though.

This time she was giving (almost) as good as she got.

Slight movement from her left was all the warning she got before something tackled her to the forest floor.

When she recovered from crashing into the ground, she looked up to meet Itachi's Sharingan with her own. She recognised that normally that would be dangerous, but in this case she was more focused on how he was straddling her while both of them gasped for breath.

"I win." was the short declaration from her boyfriend as he tapped a training kunai against a fatal point.

Izumi fought down her raging hormones at the situation and prayed her blush was under control. "N-not this time." She tapped her own kunai against his chest.

It was a draw.

Itachi's eyes widened minutely in surprise even as he allowed his Sharingan to fade away, Izumi quickly following suit.

"Well done." her boyfriend complimented as he pulled her to her feet.

"Thanks! I worked really hard! Kinda had to to survive the insanity you call 'training sessions'." Izumi teased, and started heading back towards the village to get cleaned up only to stop when she realized Itachi wasn't following.

"Itachi?"

Her boyfriend was actually shifting on his feet. He never did that unless he was working himself up to say something he was nervous about or really didn't want to say.

Dread began to pool in her gut.

"I…Izumi. I wanted to ask you something."

The dread retreated a little. At least it didn't sound like a break-up speech.

"Sure, what's up?"

Itachi looked skyward, took a deep breath, then stared her straight in the eye with an intensity that made her take a half-step back.

"Will you…will you marry me?"

"..."

"..."

"Huh?"

"Will you marry me?"

Izumi could barely breathe. "Oh good, that's what I thought you said."

Her excited screams echoed through the training ground. In fact, they were so loud a member of the Police Force came running to make sure everything was alright.

-o-

Life slowed down for Izumi once she got married.

She made Chunin but retired not long after. One of them needed to stay home to take care of the children and Itachi was far too good at his job to be the one to step back. She also imagined he would go insane if he was forced to stop visiting new cafés. It seemed every time he found a new one he needed to bring something back.

Most of her time was spent looking after her kids or chatting with a neighbor.

The tensions between the clan and the rest of the village were almost completely gone and even the tensions between the Great Nations seemed to be relaxing as well.

It looked like peace was finally a real option for everyone and Izumi couldn't be happier.

-o-

She lived a good life. Izumi reflected as she looked out the window.

She was nearing eighty.

By ninja standards she was beyond ancient.

Some days she complained she managed to live so long only because her body had weakened to the point she could barely move unassisted, but she never meant it. It was worth it to see her family grow and flourish.

She heard the sliding door to her room open and someone walk through. Not terribly surprising. One of her grandchildren often came by every once in a while to say hello.

Izumi turned to face her visitor and only years of practice stopped her mouth falling open in shock. Standing in front of her was…herself. At least herself if someone had gone back and plucked her thirteen year old self from the river of time.

None of her children had completely taken after her - all of them had Itachi's hair - so it was a shock to see someone take so heavily after her and retain her original hair color before it went white over the years.

"Hello dearie, what's your name? And what brings you to see an old woman like me?"

A sad smile crossed the young girl's face as she moved deeper into the room.

"Well the short version is…I'm you. Or at least I will be once you die."

Izumi was taken aback by the blunt declaration. "Is that so? I'm sorry to say you've wasted your time in that case. No one will believe a cute little thing like you is some old woman."

Her younger look-alike shook her head. "Not this life. Sorry, I'm explaining this badly. Honestly I wasn't even sure we'd have the chance to talk. Maybe it would make more sense if I started from the beginning?"

Izumi nodded carefully. It's not like she was going anywhere fast.

-o-

That was how Izumi heard the story of an orphan who wanted to be noticed.

Hated by his village for reasons he didn't understand, he barely managed to graduate the ninja academy after he was tricked by a traitor into stealing a forbidden scroll and learning of the demon sealed inside of him. Naruto Uzumaki managed to defeat the traitor after he learned not everyone saw him as a monster thanks to his academy sensei risking his life to save Naruto's own.

How he trained with his new teammates and struggled to get along with his childhood crush, Sakura Haruno, and his rival; the lone survivor of his clan's massacre after his older brother killed them all, Sasuke Uchiha.

Izumi had gasped at that and it took some time for her visitor to calm her down enough to continue her story but Izumi had demanded to know why the young girl would spout such an obvious lie and had eventually gotten the answer.

The Mangekyou Sharingan, the final evolution of their bloodline, and Tsukuyomi, an inescapable genjutsu that trapped the victim in a world where years could pass in less than a second.

A world that Itachi had trapped his lover -and first victim of the massacre- in to ensure she lived a full life. The only mercy he could offer her.

Once again it took the young girl some time before she managed to continue her story about Naruto the knuckleheaded ninja.

A C-rank mission gone wrong they narrowly survived, the Chunin exams, an invasion of Konoha, the death of the Third Hokage and the mission to find his replacement. How, driven by revenge, Sasuke abandoned the village to seek out a S-rank missing-nin to train him after he was defeated by Itachi.

How years later Sasuke managed to track down his brother and kill him…only to learn the entire massacre had been ordered by the Hokage to prevent the coup from a man claiming to be Madara Uchiha and had sworn to destroy the Konoha in retaliation.

How that turned out to be a lie and the entire situation had been orchestrated by then-Council member Danzo as the only way to save his brother's life.

How a massive war between a resurrected Madara Uchiha and his army of undead shinobi and the rest of the Shinobi nations fought to determine the fate of the world. About Madara's plan to use the power of every one of the Tailed-beasts to trap everyone in an eternal genjutsu and how his own plan was co-opted to allow the resurrection of a goddess.

How only the last second reconciliation between Sasuke and his teammates allowed them to seal the goddess away forever stopped the world from being destroyed.

Of course there was more…

Most of it revolved around Naruto as the apparent main character of the story, but Izumi was more concerned that by the end of the tale only a single Uchiha remained alive. Dark, cold, and cruel in a way she simply couldn't imagine the Sasuke she knew to ever be.

"Wh-what was the purpose of telling me such a story?" Izumi rasped, her throat felt unbelievably dry. "If what you say is true then the life I thought I lived was fake and I'm about to die anyway."

The girl smiled sadly. "If you lived it can it be considered fake? I don't think so at any rate, but then again I never expected to be living in someone else's head."

The old woman chuckled at the slight waver in the girl's voice.

It was a bit petty, but she was glad she was not the only one distressed at their situation.

"I suppose not. What do you plan to do then?"

The girl forcefully cheered herself up. "Well assuming I don't die immediately, I think I'm going to try and make the world a better place! There's a bunch of things that can be avoided just by the right people knowing in advance."

"And if those people don't believe you?"

"Then I just have to get strong enough that they have to listen even if they don't believe me."

The old woman chuckled. "A very Uchiha answer. Just make sure you remember to use your power to help others."

"I will."

"Then I think we are done here. Would you mind getting the others? I'd like to see them one last time before I go."

The girl nodded and turned to leave. "Of course."

"And one last thing."

The girl turned to the old woman on the bed.

"Please try and look after Itachi. He has the most infuriating habit of taking the weight of the world on his shoulders."

The girl's lip began to tremble as she held back tears. "O-of course."

"Thank you…Izumi."

The girl turned and fled the room.

-o-

The next time Izumi opened her eyes she found herself looking at the young face of her husband and a sword sticking through her chest.

"Izumi… please forgive me." he begged even as tears started to form in the corners of his eyes.

Even after hearing what he did to her and what he was about to do, Izumi couldn't bring herself to feel anything other than pity for her husband. So she did what she always did to comfort her children and grandchildren when they were hurt.

She hugged him softly and pulled him close.

"Itachi…it's okay…"