i'm the savior
not you, not anyone but
me, who was so weak.

— ○ —

02 | t w o.

"No using sensory skills, no using sensory skills.." The young Uchiha female muttered to herself continuously. Walking through the forest, she tried her best to hold her sensory powers in. Instead, her Sharingan was activated.

Izumi was going through Sharingan training at the moment. Hers was a lot weaker than the other Uchihas, and that's why she had to put so much effort in training. The rules were, she had to track her teammate, Yukiko using only her Sharingan. Her sensory skills were quite strong, so now she wasn't allowed to use them at all. If Izumi failed to find Yukiko before a set amount of time, she would have to spar with her and of course, win.

As Izumi thought, Yukiko suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The girl shouted, "Wind Style : Wind Dragon Bullet Jutsu!" A huge wind dragon appeared in front of the Uchiha. She decided she would evade the dragon and attack Yukiko, but she didn't see an opening. She tried dodging too but she failed; it only resulted into her gaining more damage. So she decided to use ninjutsu as well.

"Fire Style : Fireball Jutsu!" The large fireball escaped her mouth and clashed with the wind dragon. Wind always strengthens fire, so Izumi won in the small ninjutsu battle. However, as soon as the both jutsus disappeared, Izumi collapsed.

"Izumi!" Yukiko said. She was clearly panicking. She went over to the Raven girl and discovered that she had fainted. Yukiko sighed, then picked her friend up and started heading out of the forest.

— ○ —

"Eughh.." The inaudible, weird sound alerted the blonde female. She looked over to her best friend and saw that the girl was slowly waking up.

"Izumi, you're finally awake." Yukiko said, sitting in front of the said girl.

"Yeah... How long was I out for?"

"About an hour." Yukiko replied, handing Izumi a water bottle.

"Thank you," Izumi said and started drinking. She suddenly felt an urge to just let it out and cry. She failed to keep on fighting after using her Sharingan and ninjutsu, yet again. It made her feel so low that she wished she could just disappear. She was an Uchiha, but she was a disgrace to all of them.
"I failed again.." She said, her words followed by a sigh. Even after trying so much to stop it, a tear escape her eye.

"Izumi..." Yukiko frowned. She truly wanted to help Izumi with all she had, and to see her so sad made her sad as well. "You can't break down now. One day you're gonna learn to use your Sharingan like a master. Let's say we try again tomorrow?"

"No! We're gonna try again now! Today!" Izumi said like a stubborn child.

"Try to understand, silly. You're tired today. Tomorrow we're gonna try with full power, alright?"

Izumi sighed. She paused for a bit, then said, "Alright."

So the two resulted into walking to Izumi's home. Izumi's mother, Hazuki had insisted Yukiko to come inside and have some tea, but Yukiko said she would have to go and see her brother. So Izumi was alone with her mother again.

The young female Uchiha didn't bother to eat or even interact with anyone the rest of the day. Her mental state was really down. She decided to leave things be for now, until she hopefully recovers.

Izumi thought she was weak, and that her skills wouldn't ever be needed. But proving her wrong, the Hokage called her for a mission. Not just her, he called her entire team including Tenma and Yukiko.

"Tenma, Izumi, Yukiko, I'm glad to see you here. The mission I have for you," The 3rd Hokage shifted his position in his chair. "It's not tough, but it's important. Some rogue ninjas stole a scroll from the Leaf. You just have to steal it back and return, you don't have to take them down. They're not that strong so it should be over in a day."

He stood up and walked over to a drawer. He brought out a few scrolls, then walked over to the table. "We managed to trap some of their chakra in these scrolls. Izumi," He called, looking at the said brunette and opening the scrolls. "I hope you will remember the types so that you can locate them."

"Understood, sir." Izumi replied firmly.

— ○ —

Yukiko, Izumi and Tenma headed out of the Hokage's office and to wherever the chakra signature lead them. Izumi was leading the way as her sensory skills were the strongest, but the other two kept their guard on too just in case.

It wasn't long until they reached the forest not too far away from the Leaf. It was surprising that the thieves hadn't gone too far away, but the team didn't think much about it. After a while, they had reached a clearing. "The enemies are close, just around this area." Izumi informed. "Be careful, you two."

Seconds marched, but nothing or no one showed up. Just when they thought they'd start moving forward, an unknown shinobi jumped out of a tree and attacked Tenma.

Without thinking twice, Yukiko and Izumi both charged at the man that attacked their friend. "Fire Style : Flame Bombs Jutsu!" Fire bullets escaped the brunette girl's lips as she forced the short, grey haired male to get away from the targeted boy.

The attacker's chakra type was wind. This caused him to retreat as Izumi's fire can't be defeated. He jumped backwards, making Yukiko lash at him. Meanwhile, Izumi tended to Tenma.

Yukiko was also a wind user so the battle between the grey haired man and her only relied on skill, brains and agility. Izumi thought they would easily take him down, but suddenly another man jumped in. Izumi and Yukiko both guessed that he would be a water or wind style user, judging from his blue hair. But he didn't use any ninjutsu. He simply attacked Yukiko with sheer force, making her fall into a pinch.

Izumi quickly stood up and rushed towards the two men who were attacking her best friend. They had a taijutsu battle for a while, until Yukiko landed a huge punch on the bluette. A scroll seemed to fly out from his pouch and all three of the Leaf nins understood that it was the one they stole.

"Izumi, Tenma, the scroll!" Yukiko shouted. The said shinobis both jumped up to catch it before anyone else did. But Yukiko couldn't keep the grey haired one busy, so he ran over and stopped Tenma. Taking this chance, Izumi grabbed the scroll. She opened it to make sure it was the right one.

At that moment, to Yukiko's shock, she saw the blue haired man swiftly rush over to Izumi. Just the moment Izumi opened the scroll, the man extended his arm towards the brunette.

Suddenly, Izumi was trapped inside a water prison ball.

"Ha! You guys fell for it so easily!" The bluette exclaimed with joy. "Do you really think we'd be naive enough to roam around the Leaf with the forbidden scroll after we've had such a hard time stealing it? Heck, it wasn't even me who stole it, but you guys followed my chakra signature!" He started laughing. There wasn't anything odd about his laughter but it made Yukiko and Tenma want to chop his head off.

"Let Izumi go! Now!" Tenma screeched, attacking the enemy. But before he could reach, the other man deflected him. He managed to hit a vital point, so Tenma was immobilized for now.

"How about no?" The blue haired man said.

"Let's not waste anymore time, Itsuki. The others are waiting." The grey-head said.

"Right. Let's go, Bunta." Itsuki replied. He started jumping away at the trees, Bunta following after. Yukiko would chase them but Tenma wasn't in a shape to do so, so she first decided to tend to him.

— ○ —

"Hmff..." Izumi hummed subconsciously, waking up. For a while she couldn't recall anything. She had a horrible headache and after a few, she started remembering. She got trapped inside the water prison jutsu and had fainted because of the loss of oxygen.

"Yo, you awake?" A female voice called. Everything triggered Izumi's headache so it was natural that she became a bit annoyed at the unknown woman. "We thought you'd be out for longer, but it seems you woke up quite early. Nice."

"W- Who are you?" The brunette asked, taking in the other female's appearance with her droopy eyes. She had short black hair with icy blue eyes. Her petite figure and perfect face seemed like a blade had never touched her skin.

"What's the point in trying to know that, dearie? Just know that we're here to take your eyes." She smiled innocently while speaking.

Izumi was shocked. Why would they take her eyes? Is it because of the Sharingan? Her Sharingan was weak, so it wouldn't make sense for them to target her. Then why? Who exactly planned this?

"What..?" Izumi asked, her eyes wide and lips slightly parted.

"Don't give me that face. You and I both know how pathetic you are with your visual prowess. Our leader will make much better use of those eyes than you ever could!" She started laughing sadistically. Izumi furrowed her eyebrows and thought, if she doesn't break out of here, it's over.

She started thinking things through and looking for a way out.

Izumi first analyzed everybody's chakra. There were four people present in this hideout currently, two of them being the ones they battled with, Itsuki and Bunta. Itsuki was the biggest threat as his chakra was pretty strong. There was an earth style user too, and Bunta whom she could use to power up. The woman, however, wasn't a threat at all. Her chakra was weak so Izumi guessed that her reason for being here would be healing and locating.

If Izumi only relied on taijutsu to defeat all three of them, she wouldn't be able to win. She could use ninjutsu and defeat the ground style user and Bunta, but Itsuki would stop her as he has water style. If Izumi manages to immobilize the woman and put Itsuki under a genjutsu, then she'll get the upper hand and maybe, she could flee.

In order to make her jutsus strong enough, she'll have to use her Sharingan.

"Cut the crap, Mai. Let's get going already." An unfamiliar voice said and a huge man walked out. He was buff and had a lot of scars all over his arms and face.

Izumi realized that she has no other choice than fighting her way out. Tenma and Yukiko would probably take some more time to reach this place, so Izumi has to fight. So, without a thought, she started burning the ropes that were knotted on her wrists and ankles.

"H- Hey, Itsuki, stop-" Mai was about to speak, but Izumi quickly jumped up and threw a bunch of shurikens at her. They held her at the ground. The other three were alerted, and Bunta ran straight to attack Izumi.

To their shock, the enemies saw Izumi dodging Bunta swiftly and rushing straight at Itsuki. It seemed like a stupid decision, but they didn't know what was going on inside the brunette's mind. Itsuki attacked her with a regular jutsu since he knew she wouldn't use ninjutsu against him, but Izumi attacked with kunais. Itsuki had no time to dodge them. Izumi thought she had him until the buff man's voice shouted, "Earth Style : Mud Wall!" A huge wall appeared in front of Izumi, forcing her to retreat.

Izumi knew she couldn't stop. She had to stop Itsuki first, because he was the only threat to her. So she lashed out again, determined screams escaping her lips. She jump kicked on the wall with full force to break it through. The debris kept Itsuki busy for a bit and taking this chance, Izumi landed straight on the man's shoulders. Without wasting another moment, Izumi activated her Sharingan and put Itsuki under a genjutsu.

Just that moment, Tenma and Yukiko broke in. Izumi felt a bit light headed, so she was more than grateful to see them here. Her best friends started taking care of the enemies while Izumi let her fatigue take over. She sat silently and watched the four fight. When they had an opening, Tenma quickly came and picked Izumi up, then headed out of the place fast.

"Wait- we didn't get the scroll yet!" Izumi shrieked.

"The buff guy had it, I've got it now! Don't worry!" Yukiko replied. By this time they were far away from the hideout and the enemies. "Good job though, Izumi! If you didn't take Itsuki down, we would be in a pinch!"

Izumi smiled weakly. "I'm glad... I could help..."
Battling right after waking up, that too, with her Sharingan had made Izumi quite weak. However, she was glad that this time, she was the team's savior. Being contented, she didn't try to stay awake anymore. She let her consciousness drift away.