IZUNA

6

If he doesn't die, I will.

Izuna kicked Tobirama into a tree.

"Tobirama!" Someone called, it was probably Hashirama though she couldn't be sure.

She didn't care.

She stared at Tobirama with cold unfeeling eyes.

"If I don't kill you, I will die." She said and raised her blade. "And I cannot leave Madara behind."

He stared at her in betrayal.

"The future must change." She whispered and struck.

Tobirama's head rolled to the ground.

Her eyes burned.

Pinwheels.

And with them she saw that Tobirama's face had shifted into——

She staggered back.

—her own.

She killed herself to survive.

She abandoned her morals to live in an immoral world.

She blinked.

The face was Tobirama's.

"TOBIRAMA!" Hashirama cried.

Izuna fell to her knees.

What had she done?

What had she done?

(What was necessary.)

No.

(It was.)

It wasn't.

(He would have killed us.)

He would have killed you.

(Am I not you?)

The tree creaked and grew, and grew.

And from it a cage of wood was made.

And inside it she choked and died.

She couldn't—-breathebreatheshewasdyingagainandallbecauseofherselfishfearpleasepleasefearscaredpainIcan'tbreathehelphelphelpmeMadarahelp——-

She screamed.

And then she woke from the nightmare.

A warning, she thought, her face pale and wet from sweat and tears. A warning not to kill him or even consider it. The timeline is cruel—it won't... it won't forgive his death.

She exhaled shakily.

"Okay," she whispered, "I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm Uchiha Izuna and—!"

Her voice broke.

That's not my name.

(It is.)

It's not.

(It is.)

I don't belong here.

(You do.)

She was going mad.

"You're mad." He said.

Izuna laughed.

Was she truly cracking?

She stopped and scowled.

No. She thought, no this world will not break me. I won't bend. I won't. I'm Izuna Uchiha, one with the knowledge of a girl from another world. She would easily bend... but I am Izuna. We won't bend.