Chapter 44: The Night of Extermination in Infinite Reincarnation

“Stop!!!” Izumi’s sharp cry pierced the night as a kunai flew from her hand.

But she was a step too late. The young Itachi’s short blade slashed across the child's throat, and with a fluid upward flick of the bloodied blade, he precisely intercepted the incoming kunai.

*Clang—*

Amidst the sharp ring of metal colliding, the blade obscured half of young Itachi's face, leaving only the crimson glow of his Mangekyō Sharingan spinning in the shadows of his left eye.

“It’s Izumi...” Itachi’s voice was low, his gaze toward her devoid of any warmth.

“Itachi! What are you doing?!” Izumi rushed into the house. Looking at the family lying in pools of blood and the young child beneath Itachi’s blade, she questioned him with a trembling voice.

Itachi stepped slowly out from the shadows. Under the moonlight, his combat gear made him appear significantly taller than Izumi.

“I just... wanted to test my capacity.” Uchiha Itachi held his short blade, the cold glint of the edge reflecting his indifferent expression.

In this moment, Izumi felt that the Uchiha Itachi before her was a stranger.

She could not believe that the once-gentle Itachi could commit such a cruel act against his own kin!

Facing Itachi, who radiated an overwhelming sense of oppression and killing intent, Izumi trembled so violently she dared not move.

Although she had awakened her Sharingan at the age of five, she had remained a Genin after graduation and had not experienced much actual combat.

“Tsukuyomi!” Uchiha Itachi’s Mangekyō suddenly spun, and Izumi’s consciousness instantly plunged into a genjutsu.

In the world of the illusion, Izumi and Itachi fell in love under a cherry blossom tree. They held hands tightly at their wedding as adults; she saw Itachi looking helpless when their baby cried, and stern when their child was rebellious.

It continued until their twilight years, when they leaned against a porch together, white-haired, admiring the bright moon.

Just like that, Izumi spent a lifetime within the falsehood of the genjutsu.

“How pathetic.” As Izumi became lost in the illusionary world, a cold, mocking voice suddenly rang out.

The Izumi within the genjutsu jolted awake.

A black-robed figure wearing a fox mask sat quietly beside her, looking up at the moon.

“Who’s there?!” Izumi leaped up reflexively, like a startled feral cat.

The mysterious man turned his head slightly, a playful gaze peering through the mask's eyeholes at Izumi. “Are you going to keep immersing yourself in the Mangekyō's illusion? Even though your eyes might be able to stop all of this.”

“No! This is a genjutsu!” Izumi finally realized; this was not the real world at all.

“Your reactions are too slow,” Menma remarked, somewhat puzzled.

Among the Uchiha who had awakened their eyes, Izumi was undoubtedly the youngest known.

At only five years old, Izumi had witnessed her father's death during the Nine-Tails' attack; the overwhelming grief had triggered her Sharingan, a feat even Itachi envied.

Uchiha Itachi awakened his at eight; Sasuke at seven; Shisui at seven; Obito and Madara both awakened theirs around the age of twelve.

The timing of awakening was not necessarily linked to strength or talent—for instance, Obito and Madara awakened relatively late, at twelve.

However, the fact that Izumi could awaken the three-tomoe Sharingan during a time of peace at the age of twelve was enough to prove that among the Uchiha of this era, her talent was second only to Itachi and Shisui.

Yet, after Izumi moved back to the Uchiha compound with her mother early on, whether because she was overlooked or because she herself had no desire for promotion, she remained a mere Genin despite having three tomoe.

While Menma was planning his moves for the Uchiha Massacre night, he also thought of Uchiha Izumi, this somewhat unique Uchiha possessing the three-tomoe Sharingan.

Despite having awakened the three-tomoe, she was still a Genin; her daily missions consisted of either helping the Daimyo's wife care for pets or helping nobles and officials of the Land of Fire move house.

He wondered what kind of stimulus she had experienced to awaken her three-tomoe Sharingan so early.

Menma was simply curious: how would a gentle Uchiha woman who valued emotions react and behave when she witnessed the slaughter of her clan?

“In that case, let us continue.” Menma rose slowly, leaving those words behind as his figure faded, vanishing from the genjutsu world.

In an instant, Izumi felt the world spinning. The courtyard and the blood-soaked scene before her changed once again.

She was once again sitting by the banks of the Naka River, the water flowing gently as a flock of geese flew across the sky.

It was still early; the three-colored dango in her hand still held a bit of warmth.

“That suspicious fellow...” Izumi stood up hurriedly. She naturally refused to believe Itachi would massacre his own kin; her first instinct was to report this to the Konoha Police Force.

Swallowing the dango, Izumi ran urgently toward the Police Force headquarters.

*‘I don't know what that guy is trying to do, but it must be something bad for the Uchiha!’* Izumi thought anxiously.

She failed to notice that the sky was growing darker and darker.

By the time Izumi reached the Police Force building, it was pitch black, and the building itself was shrouded in darkness, without a single light turned on.

“Strange, where are Uncle Yashiro and Uncle Tekka?” Izumi panted. Just as she was about to enter the building, she caught another scent of blood.

This sudden change caused Izumi to go into a state of high alert once more. Just as she drew a kunai, a low voice echoed from the main entrance of the building.

“These eyes... they truly are beautiful.” A mysterious man wearing a tiger-striped, one-eyed mask stepped slowly out from the entrance.

*‘He’s different from the mysterious person last time...’* Without time to think, Izumi threw her kunai while simultaneously launching two shuriken at the tiger-masked man.

*Swish, swish—* *Clang, clang—*

The kunai and shuriken passed straight through the man's body and embedded themselves into a pillar.

“How is that possible?!” Izumi looked on in shock, while the masked man tilted his head slightly.

As their eyes met, Izumi caught a glimpse of a Sharingan through the single eye of the tiger mask!

Knowing she was no match, Izumi turned to flee.

However, a chain shot out with extreme speed, binding the attempting fugitive.

*‘Itachi! Save me!’* Facing death, the first person Izumi thought of was still Itachi.

A short blade pierced through Izumi's body. Feeling her life draining away, her vision finally went completely black.

*Quack! Quack! Quack!*

A burst of duck cries startled Izumi awake.

The scene had returned once more to the banks of the Naka River.

Having experienced "death," Izumi was drenched in cold sweat, gasping for air.

“Genjutsu? Was it genjutsu?” Trembling, Izumi quickly activated her Sharingan and mobilized her chakra, only to find everything normal; she felt no interference with her chakra.

“A multiple genjutsu? Who is it?!” Izumi looked around, but there was no sign of anyone else on the riverbank.

“Those two mysterious people? Are they both targeting the Uchiha?” Izumi set her dango aside, her mind racing through the two masked strangers she had encountered in the illusion.

And the scene of Itachi slaughtering the old and the weak of his clan.

“Damn it!” Izumi stood up, wanting to go to the Police Force, but she feared it was still a genjutsu. As soon as she took a step, her legs began to shake uncontrollably.

Thus, Izumi turned and ran toward the center of the village.

“Lord Hokage... only the Hokage can...” Izumi placed her final hope in the Third Hokage.

As she ran, the sky grew dark again.

Two masked ninjas suddenly appeared before her.

“I want to see...” Before Izumi could finish her sentence, two flashes of cold steel cut through the air, and the ninjas' katanas plunged violently into her abdomen.

Izumi's face was filled with shock as she collapsed in pain, her scattered black hair stained red by blood.

The last sound she faintly heard was—

“Orders from above! Not a single Uchiha is to be allowed to escape!”