Izuka decided to pay Itachi a visit after hearing he returned from a mission. They haven't seen each other in a couple months due to the busy life of a genin. When she knocked on the door, he answered quickly giving her a smile but she eyed the condition he was in.

"Itachi what happened?!" She gasped eyeing the cuts and bruises all over his body.

"Ambushed," he replied as Izuka walked through the door.

"Ambush! Are you alright? You have a lot of cuts and bruises!" She exclaimed grabbing his wrist and pulled him into the living room.

"Yeah I'm perfectly fine." He reassured but Izuka was concerned for her friend. 

"No you're not, let me heal them." Despite it being almost two years since she awakened the sharingan, that nightmare still haunts her. She never wants to see Itachi hurt. He has always been such a gentle person too good for this life and he didn't deserve to be injured.

"You know medical ninjutsu?" Itachi questioned eyeing the green glow surrounding her hands. 

"Rin taught me the basics. I can't use it a lot, it tires me out." Izuka explained as she watched his cuts close as if it never happened.

She spent some time with Itachi telling him all about the boring missions she has been on but her training made up for it. Her sensei had whipped the team into shape making sure to be prepared for the real world. They enjoyed the short time they had together but it had to end when they both had to leave for training.

She decided to go to the weapons shop to buy some swords wanting to learn how to properly wield them in battle. She walked into the store in the Uchiha compound and looked at all of the swords. One pair of twin swords caught her eye. The sheathe was purple with blue flowers all around it. She pulled the swords out of the sheathe and the swords had a red handle with a black sharpened blade.

Izuka walked up to the store keeper and asked him how much it was. He told her the amount and it was very expensive. She paid for them with all of the money she earned from every mission she's been on so far. 

Izuka met up with her team at the designated training ground. Toshiku wanted to prepare them for the chuunin exams she knew was approaching. Teamwork was an important aspect so she ran the team through drills giving them advice on how to protect each other and balance out each others weaknesses. Izuka excelled in taijutsu despite her age while the brothers were talented with ninjutsu. Izuka would be the close distance fighter while the other two would handle things from afar supporting her if the enemy attacked with a jutsu.

For individual training, the boys worked on elemental ninjutsu. They both had an affinity for water so they practiced in the river trying to work on a water dragon jutsu. Toshiku focused on Izuka wanting her to work on her medical ninjutsu. The Uchiha was lucky that her sensei briefly studied under the sannin Tsunade in her youth and was able to teach her more in depth. 

The first six months of being a team, they did nothing but work on stamina, endurance, and strength. Toshiku believed that was the core of being an exceptional shinobi and knew Izuka needed that training the most. She focused more on the Uchiha able to see her potential wanting to push her to her limits.

Once everyone was exhausted, they were told to go home and rest. Izuka dragged her feet down the streets of the compound just wanting to sleep. She was so tired she nearly bumped into Obito which woke her up.

"Hey Obitio," Izuka said weakly resisting to yawn.

"Izuka do you want to master the Sharingan?" He questioned in a tone that made Izuka raise a brow. Obito was always happy and warm but there was something different about him. She couldn't help feel like something was wrong; her instincts were screaming at her to run but this was Obito. Why would he hurt her?

"Uh yeah? Of course I do" She asked giving him a confused expression. He had already told her everything he knew about the sharingan.

"You're not going to fully master it if you rely on the clan."

"What?" Her eyes widened at his words.

"There's a faster way to unlock it's full power. No Uchiha has unlocked all of its secrets except for one."

"Who?"

"Madara Uchiha, he mastered it but the clan's elders thought it was too risky and too powerful so they ripped it off the scroll and sealed it away. Has anyone ever told you how you kinda look like him?" Izuka shook her head not knowing where he was getting at. "Well, you don't look exactly like him, more like his mother."

Izuka looked at Obito confused by his demeanor. He was acting opposite than how he usually acts; he's never serious. Something was wrong with him but she decided to play along.

"Are you trying to say I'm related to him or something? Because anyone in this clan can be. It's been a few generations since he was alive. Is this power you're talking about the reason why apart of the scroll was missing?"

"Yes. Do you want to know the secret?" He questioned ominously. 

"Yes I do." Izuka was eager to learn. She had to master the sharingan. So far, she only had two tomes in her left eye while the other had one.

Obito got closer to Izuka and whispered in her ear. "All you have to do is kill your best friend."

Izuka's heart skipped a beat and her eyes widened as she took a step away from him.

"I can't kill Itachi!" Izuka exclaimed.

"It would've been Itachi if you hadn't made that promise." He said eyeing her necklace.

She grabbed it and held it in her fist. "Yumi," Izuka whispered.

"Correct. If you kill her then you'll obtain the mangekyou sharingan and more."

He explained everything that was possible with that stage of the sharingan. The unbelieveable prowess she could obtain. She stood there for awhile  after he disappeared replaying their conversation in her head. She was about to start walking again until she heard someone calling her name.

"Izuka!" Someone shouted making her turned around tosaw Yumi and Itachi running towards her.

"Hey guys," she replied nervously eyeing Yumi. She expected to feel guilty for talking about killing Yumi but she felt nothing.

"Izuka your hurt. Are you okay?" Itachi asked when he saw the state she was in.

"Yeah I'm fine, its just from training too much. I just need some rest." She explained the yawned soon after.

"Before you rest Kakashi wants to see you by the academy." Yumi said placing a hand over  heart most likely relieved her friend was okay.

"Okay, I wonder what he wants."

When she arrived at the academy, she saw his team waiting for her with a camera.

"What's going on?" Izuka asked them.

"Well after training with us for so long, it feels like you're part of our team so we thought that we should have a team photo with you in it." Minato explained while everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Really?"

"Yup, you worked really hard these past months and seeing how banged up you are you must have trained a lot with your team."

Izuka looked at her team eyeing Obito remembering his words from earlier. They all got in front of the camera. The order was Obito, Rin, Izuka, and Kakashi in front with their arms behind each others heads hanging over their shoulders with Minato behind them smiling. Since Izuka was shorter than everyone else she was hanging onto them by her arms. They each got a copy of the photo.

"Well we have to go Izuka, we have an A ranked mission to celebrate Kakashi becoming a jonin."

"Okay. I wish I could come." She replied looking down sadly. 

"You're not even a chuunin yet. I don't think you should even be on a C rank mission." Rin compassionately said not wanting her friend to be in danger.

                                                                                         -   -   -

It was almost time for team Minato's return. Izuka stood at the gates waiting for them since it was her day off from training. She sat on the walls focusing on her chakra while she waited. Once they were in view, she ran towards them but they all looked sad. Her face fell when she didn't see Obito.

"Where's Obito?" Izuka asked holding back her tears.

"He's no longer with us," Minato said sadly.

She looked at Rin and saw that her eyes were puffy and red. Her cheeks were stained with dried tears. Kakashi looked like he was holding back his tears and his eye was now covered by his headband. Izuka's vision started to blur; Obito just wasn't a teammate he was also her cousin.  Only a few tears escaped; she held back the tears as much as she could.

This was her first encounter with death, the fate that every shinobi shared. Izuka looked over at Kakashi seeing him trying to hide the pain and guilt he felt then soon disappeared. Rin stood there staring at the ground not looking up even when Izuka placed a hand on her shoulder. Rin only placed a hand on top of Izuka's squeezing it then let out her tears soon embracing her friend. 

(Izuka's POV)

"I can't believe he's dead! I can't cry! Don't cry Izuka! Don't cry! Ninjas aren't allowed to cry!" I thought as my body trembled.

I felt Itachi hold me even tighter knowing I wanted to grieve but I was too stubborn and didn't want to break the shinobi rules. I will never see Obito again or hear his laugh, see his goofy smile. He would always make me laugh when he messed with Kakashi and with his pranks. I wanted to sit here and cry my heart out but I couldn't let in interfere with my training. Despite how close we were during my time on that team, it felt as if I didn't know him at all. I had so many questions for him too about what he said the other day.

When I got home after the bad news, I went into my room then started to heal my previous wounds but the only wound I needed to heal was the pain in my heart. It was almost ten so I went to sleep but I couldn't hold the tears.

The next day everyone wore black and headed to the funeral. The Uchiha had their own cemetery for our own which was usually private but Obito was different from the rest of the clan just like me. He made many friends who insisted on attending the funeral while the rest of the clan barely associated themselves with non Uchiha members. The elders said some things and more people went up to pay their respects. I looked at Kakashi seeing he was starting to leave, he'll never the same after Obito's death.