IZUNA

9

She fled like a coward.

::

Izuna came into a clearing and collapsed onto her knees.

I... am not Naruto Uzumaki.

I am not Hashirama Senju.

Her sanity was fragile and had no indomitable will to protect it.

She was being torn in two.

Her ideals.

Her reality.

She couldn't mix them.

Her ideals didn't come from this reality.

Everything was different.

The people here were strong and resilient. They were born that way because they had no choice. They killed because that was the reality: kill or be killed.

This was her world now.

She—-

She wasn't what this world needed.

She wasn't what Madara needed.

And this world could go on without her.

It did with the original, after all.

A sudden wave of pure exhaustion came over her.

She felt heavy.

She was so—

"Tired." She whispered. "I'm tired."

She just wanted it to end.

Why couldn't I have just stayed dead?

I...

I miss you, Joshua...

She missed her old life.

She glanced at her hand.

Huh.

She hadn't realized that she had been holding a kunai before.

A sudden, horrible, thought flickered through her mind.

"Don't even think about it!" A voice said from behind.

She jolted and spun around with wide eyes.

"You—!"

Hashirama Senju glared at her with such intensity that she could not look away.

Her kunai was gone.

"What are you thinking?" Hashirama yelled at her and tossed her kunai aside. "Don't you know how worried Madara is?"

She really was too tired for this.

"A lot." She said. "He's probably sick with worry. Can I have that back now?"

"Not until I know you won't use it to hurt anyone."

"I'm not going to—!"

"Including yourself!"

She stared at Hashirama with wide eyes.

He just... screamed at her.

She didn't—

How was she supposed to react to that?

She never thought Hashirama of all people would scream at her.

Wasn't he supposed to be Madara's nice friend?

Why was Madara's nice friend yelling at her?

"You're important to Madara." Hashirama told her. "You're the reason he wants to build a village with me! It's all for you—-to protect you! So that you don't have to fight anymore!"