IZUNA

17

She floats between the void. Lightning fizzles and sparks around her.

It's beautiful.

Before she was Izuna she was someone else. Though the memories have faded she can still recall in perfect clarity how she used to watch storms with her brother.

She loved her brother. Loves him. Even when she can't fully remember him.

"I would've died for him." She decided.

"We would've died for him."

She turned around.

Izuna Uchiha, the Original himself.

"Trippy." She said, feeling very odd at seeing herself as a him. It's like looking into a mirror into an alternate world of what could've been.

"Very." The Original Izuna agreed.

"Where are we?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He asked, "We're in our soul."

What?

"Why?"

Izuna—-the other one—-smiled.

"We have been touched by a Thunder God."

"Raijin? You mean when I was struck by lightning?"

"Yes."

This was odd.

"Why are we here?" She asked. "What does that mean?"

He smiled.

"Do you recall how the Raijin came into being?"

She frowned.

She felt like she should know this.

"Something..." she said, "something about Izanami."

"Izanagi fled in disgust when he saw that his wife was consumed by death. Enraged at being shamed and scorned, Izanami birthed the Eight Raijin and sent them to hunt down her husband."

She froze.

"Wat. Wait—-Hold up—-are you saying that we were touched by one of those Raijin? Or their Raiju? Cause there's clearly a difference. And what's that got to do with us?"

He raised a hand and the world spun.

"The Uchiha are one of the few who pay homage to the Old Gods."

"Old Gods?"

"Who is the God of this World?"

She blinked twice.

"Um." She bit her lip. "The Sage of Six Paths?"

Izuna laughed.

She faltered. Why was she laughing at herself?

"Oh, Flame-of-my-Flame there is much to teach you."

"Flame of your what now?"

He smiled but did not explain.

"The Sage is a God, certainly, but he is not the first God. It starts with the Zokasanshin and the Kotoamatsukami, then the Kamiyonanayo. The Uchiha clan remembers what others have forgotten."

"You speak of the Shinto deities." She said. "The Gods that our clan's strongest techniques are named after. What importance are they to me?"

"Every importance."

She stiffened.

"I am you and I am trying to remind us what we've forgotten during our transmigration."