Izumi Uchiha

The next day, the Canopy Screen began playing again, as it always did.

[In the Uchiha Compound's library, the last rays of sunset streamed through the windows, cutting several dim golden shafts through the dusty bookshelves.]

[A woman knelt in an unremarkable corner of the room, several ancient scrolls scattered beside her.]

[The Canopy Screen displayed a caption: Izumi Uchiha.]

[Izumi Uchiha was no radical within the clan. But the increasingly tense, stifling atmosphere and the weight that never left Itachi's brow had left her uneasy.]

[She hoped these scrolls of ancient family history might offer some clue to what was happening—or perhaps an interesting story she could tell Itachi the next time they met, something that might ease his frown.]

[Her fingers carefully brushed the surface of a hide scroll. Its writing had been done in an ancient ink, and some characters had faded almost beyond recognition.]

[She patiently deciphered what she could. Most of the scroll concerned ritual procedures and clan rules.]

[But just as she was about to close it, a short passage at the end caught her eye. Marked in vermilion, it was written in an unusually hasty hand.]

[Yet the clan's greatest peril comes not from enemies without, but from a demon born within.]

[Its name is Naraka. Formless and without shape, it feeds on resentment, hatred, suspicion, and fear in the human heart. It grows and spreads, corrupting minds until kin slaughter kin and the bloodline withers!]

[Izumi Uchiha's breath caught.]

[Yet the seal will not endure forever. Later generations must remain vigilant and remember this demon's nature. Should strife suddenly arise within the clan without cause, they must inspect the seal at once, lest it break free and beguile their hearts.]

["Huh?"]

[Izumi Uchiha saw that the section explaining how to seal the demon had been damaged, perhaps by age.]

["Naraka!" Izumi Uchiha murmured the name without thinking. A chill crept up her spine.]

[The scroll's descriptions—"feeds on resentment, hatred, and suspicion," "corrupting minds," "kin slaughter kin"—were like a cold key suddenly turning a lock in her mind.]

[The clan's strange hostility and unrest of late, the baseless rumors and conflicts that had abruptly flared up—could it be?]

[Izumi Uchiha frantically searched for more records of Naraka. At last, she found a few clues in a biography of Teng Uchiha.]

[In the distant Warring States Period, a demon named Naraka had suddenly appeared in the world. No one knew when it had first come.]

[It spread a miasma that turned humans into its demon puppets, seeking to establish a kingdom of demons.]

[Teng Uchiha, leader of the Uchiha before the villages were founded, became the main force against Naraka. His Mangekyō Sharingan could see through illusions, and his Amaterasu Black Flames could burn away evil.]

[After a brutal battle, Teng Uchiha sacrificed the sight in one eye to shatter Naraka's core, the "Demon Jewel," with Amaterasu. He sealed it within the Uchiha Compound and decreed that each generation reinforce the seal with the power of the Sharingan.]

[Izumi Uchiha snapped the scroll shut. Her heart pounded.]

[I have to tell Itachi right away! He's so smart—he'll understand how this might all be connected!]

[Clutching the ancient scroll, she ran from the library, hoping to find Itachi at the Training Ground or by the river he often visited.]

[Fortunately, not far from the shrine, she spotted his familiar figure on a secluded path.]

["Itachi!" Izumi Uchiha called, hurrying toward him with the urgency of someone who had found a vital clue.]

[Itachi Uchiha stopped at once and turned around.]

[He still looked as handsome and composed as ever, but Izumi Uchiha immediately sensed that he was tenser than usual. Deep in his eyes lay a heavy worry she could not fully understand.]

["Izumi," he replied softly. His tone was gentle, yet unmistakably distant.]

[His gaze did not quite settle on her, as though it passed through her toward some distant, grim future.]

["Itachi, I found something important!" Izumi Uchiha urgently held out the scroll, wanting to show him the passage about Naraka. "Look at this. It's about a demon the clan sealed away. It—"]

["Sorry, Izumi." Itachi interrupted her gently but firmly. He did not even glance down at the scroll.]

["I have something very important I need to discuss with Brother Shisui right away. Things within the clan are complicated."]

[His eyes finally met hers, but it felt as though he were looking both at her and through her. They held emotions Izumi Uchiha could not begin to read.]

["Next time. I'll listen to you next time, all right?" His voice was low, with what sounded like the faintest trace of a plea.]

[He did not wait for her answer. With a slight nod, he turned and used the Body Flicker Technique, vanishing at the end of the path in an instant. Only a few leaves remained, spinning as they fell.]

[Izumi Uchiha's outstretched hand froze in midair. The ancient scroll in her arms suddenly felt unbearably heavy.]

[She stared in the direction Itachi had gone. The excitement of her discovery gave way at once to the hurt his cold response had left behind.]

[He didn't even let me finish a sentence... Have things in the clan truly become that dire? Dire enough for even Itachi to look almost hopeless?]

[A powerful premonition seized her. Whatever Itachi and Shisui meant to discuss had to be connected to Naraka's possible influence!]

[She looked down at the heavy scroll in her arms, then up in the direction Itachi had gone. At last, resolve filled her eyes.]

[At a time like this, she could not simply wait. She, too, had to do something for Itachi and for the Uchiha.]

[Izumi Uchiha hugged the scroll tightly and turned, but she did not go home.]

[Instead, she took the path leading deep into Naka Shrine, toward the underground sealed stone chamber.]

[She would see for herself whether the seal described in the records was still intact.]

[On the screen, the sun had sunk completely below the horizon. Dusk gradually swallowed her retreating figure, leaving her alone in the deepening dark.]

In the real world, Itachi Uchiha stood alone beneath the eaves as cold rain traced his expressionless face.

The images on the Canopy Screen stirred his memory of the "next time" he had promised Izumi.

Looking back, the words were cruelly ironic.

After that brief meeting, there had been no next time for them.

He had never imagined that the hurried conversation he had cut short would be their last.

The rain kept falling, soaking his Akatsuki Cloak. Itachi Uchiha slowly closed his eyes and forced the turmoil of his emotions back into the unfathomable depths of his heart.

This memory would change nothing about the past. It was merely another heavy weight added to the scales of guilt that had long since grown unbearable.

Even so, he would keep walking the path he had chosen, all the way to its end.