In a Dream - Chapter 3 (Patreon)

So there was good news and bad news.

The good news was that every single technique she saw, used, and fought against while in the Tsukuyomi was real and performed exactly like it had been in her dreams/hallucination.

The bad news was every technique was the same as the ones she saw and that meant Itachi not only knew of them, but also probably knew how to [i]use[/i] them. And he was going to be better when she finally healed up enough to even start training…

Izumi’s train of thought was thrown off when the door to her hospital room opened.

Standing in the hallway was Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage of Konoha. Known for not only mastering all five forms of elemental chakra transformation and thousands of Jutsu, but also acknowledged as the third ‘God of Shinobi’ despite not having a special bloodline like his predecessors. In his prime he was the undisputed pinnacle of what a ninja could be, and even now as he approached his eighties he was still one of the deadliest shinobi in the world.

He was one of a handful of people that could say they had been present for the entirety of Konoha’s history. He had survived all three Great Ninja Wars, managed to retire by choice rather than because of an injury or age, and then was still strong enough to return to office after the death of the Fourth Hokage.

He was a living legend and before the massacre Izumi would have been starstruck just being in his presence. And speaking honestly, she still kinda was…

But that admiration was tempered by the knowledge that he had also made several mistakes over the years. Such as allowing his student Orochimaru to escape after he was discovered as a traitor, his inability to reign in Danzō or his personal army Root, and most recently, allowing the Uchiha situation to devolve to this point.

Don’t get her wrong, Izumi - both sets of memories - liked and respected the man. But it was hard not to blame him for what happened.

“Lord Hokage…” She greeted him with a shallow nod. The doctors had given her very strict orders to not move much.

“Hello Izumi-kun. How are you feeling?” The old man asked her gently.

“The doctors say I should be released in a day or two.” Izumi sidestepped the question. “I’ll need to take it easy and not put too much strain on my heart for a bit but I should be fully healed before the month’s end.”

“I see.” Izumi pretended not to see the disappointed look in the Hokage’s eyes at her evasion but said nothing else. After a second he sighed and moved on. “Well I won’t take up too much of your time then. I’m here to discuss your future as a ninja.”

“My future…?”

“Yes.” The Leader of the Village stood at the foot of her bed with his arms crossed behind his back. “As much as I would like to say you would be folded back into our forces like normal, news of your clan’s destruction has spread beyond the village. Your clan’s enemies will be on alert for any remnants for either capture or elimination. Perhaps in a few years when they loosen their vigil you will be able to rejoin frontline duty, but for now that will be impossible.”

Izumi’s heart sank.

She had figured she would be held back in the village for a bit, to heal if nothing else, but she never considered she wouldn’t be allowed out for missions at all.

“Then what…?”

“As the only shinobi left in active service, the position of Uchiha Clan Head falls to you. As well as an automatic promotion to Tokubetsu Jōnin.” Ah, so that’s how they were going to justify her absence to the outside. No she wasn’t pulled because the Leaf was scared of losing the last Uchiha ninja in their ranks, she was too busy with her new duties. At least the promotion would give her access to several resources she would need once she was released from the hospital. That did leave one major sticking point…

“About Sasuke…”

“He’s awake now. Would you like to see him?”

Honestly, no.

The last time Sasuke had seen Izumi was when he had cheerfully waved hello on his way to the academy for the day. Then she had nearly died to Itachi, replaced the original her, and now knew far more about what the eight year old would be faced with should she have actually died than she was comfortable with.

That didn’t even cover the fact she had no idea what to say to him.

‘Sorry your brother killed all our relatives. At least he didn’t manage to kill us?’

That wouldn’t work.

But she was supposed to be the adult here, and Sasuke had just lost everyone else. So she put aside her feelings and nodded.

“Then I will excuse myself. Rest well Izumi-kun, we will speak more later.”

-o-

The first meeting with Sasuke turned out to be much easier than Izumi feared.

The kid looked absolutely horrible. Likely because he hadn’t had more than a few hours of uninterrupted sleep since the massacre. But he had dark enough circles under his eyes, Izumi was almost convinced they were bruises instead.

Sasuke had simply stared at her for several minutes and then silently crawled into bed with her before passing out entirely. Nothing she or the nurses did could wake him up. The staff offered to carry him back to his own room, but Izumi decided to let him stay. The last thing she wanted was him having a mental breakdown because he thought he dreamed of her surviving later.

The second and third meetings were pretty much the same.

Sasuke would wake up, stare at her like he was trying to convince himself she was real, get taken off for his own checkups, come back and curl up next to her before drifting off to sleep.

Neither one had actually spoken to the other yet.

Izumi had tried. Several times actually. But every time she did, the words refused to come out. Now she was being released from the hospital with a mute black-haired duckling following her every step with no idea what to do next.

“I guess we should find a place to sleep, huh?” She said to no one in particular.

“Hn…”

Izumi practically leapt out of her skin at the soft noise.

Once she confirmed her heart was still in its proper place in her ribcage she looked down at her previously mute cousin and wondered if she should ask if he was trying to put her back in the hospital or just be happy he made a sound.

Since she was not a moron, she decided on the latter and decided to move on.

-o-

The two of them walked in silence back to the Uchiha compound only to stop by the outer gate. The decorated white wall was almost perversely pristine considering what happened just inside.

Izumi almost wished that there was some sign that her clan fought and died here, because right now she could almost convince herself that it was just a bad dream. That she would walk through these walls and she would see the rest of the Uchiha going about their day like normal.

But standing around pretending everything was alright wouldn’t help her and it wouldn’t help Sasuke.

So after a deep fortifying breath, she took a step forward. “Welp, I guess this is it…”

“...hn.” Her nearly silent shadow agreed and trailed after her.

Despite wishing otherwise, Izumi couldn’t stop herself from looking around the compound and taking in the damage left behind. Someone had already come through and removed the bodies and weapons thankfully, but there were still signs of where people died if you knew where to look.

A series of shuriken marks with a body sized gap in them.

Some crushed grass where someone had fallen.

Faded brown bloodstains on the ground and walls.

It wasn’t a pretty picture.

But the sun was setting on the horizon and unless they wanted to sleep out on the streets they needed to pick a place to sleep.

Izumi immediately rejected the possibility of taking them to the Clan Head’s house. Even if Sasuke hadn’t seen his brother murder the rest of his family there, she didn’t really feel either of them would appreciate the small reminders of Itachi littered all over the house.

And since randomly staying in someone else’s house just because they weren’t around anymore would be ghoulish, the only real place they could go for the night was Izumi’s house.

Thankfully for both of them, there wasn’t really any sign of the massacre there.

Itachi had been as professional as always for his first kill so besides a stain on the floor from where Izumi had bled out, there wasn’t a thing out of place in the rest of the house. Part of her wanted to be sick at that, but she pushed it out of her mind for now.

“Come on, the futons are in the back.” She told Sasuke. “We can worry about everything else in the morning.”

She only got a nod in return but that was fine.

It was pretty late by now.

The bedding was found and laid out in a few minutes and Sasuke immediately burrowed under the covers before poking his head out and looking at her with an expectant gaze. Izumi’s lips twitched upwards at the sight of the slightly childish action.

She had never liked the cold future Sasuke and his obsession with revenge. So she would be glad to see the current him keep whatever scraps of childishness he still had left. She had no idea if she could stop him from developing that way in the future, but she would do her damned best to try.

She sighed.

And part of that would be making sure she was strong enough that she could handle whatever came her way.

“Alright, best get some sleep. Training begins first thing in the morning.” She whispered to herself and shut off the lights. She settled into the mattress where Sasuke immediately attached himself to her side and the two of them drifted off to sleep.