IZUNA

30

He was.

And then he wasn't.

::

He thought it was the end.

That he was doomed to unexistence.

But still he existed.

He wasn't lost.

He. Still. Existed.

(To his own surprise.)

"Why—-"

He cut himself off.

That was the wrong question.

What was the right question?

"Where am I?"

A laugh.

He spun around.

"Who—-"

Welcome.

Izuna flinched. "Iza—-Izanami-sama."

At ease, Uchiha Izuna. I have no quarrel with you.

"You... you destroyed me,"

Izanami shook her head.

I unmade you.

"Un—unmade?"

Something cannot come from nothing; and any something which comes from nothing must be caused.

She smiled.

I am that Cause. I am Creation. I am the End and the Beginning of all things. Just as I made you and I can unmake you, I remade you once more.

He didn't understand, not completely, but he almost did.

Do you know what identity is, Uchiha Izuna?

He frowned.

"T—-the soul?"

Yes and no. Identity is memory. Identity is moral. Identity is what shapes the soul.

She lifted a hand.

Without you, your Flame would forget herself. She would not remember which is why you must be.

Izanami smiled.

Do you know what you are?

"I—-I am the Original."

Does that make your Flame false? An imitation, then?

"No!" Izuna said, then repeated in a whisper. "No, she is real. She is the best of—-of—-us."

Then what are you? And... what is she?

"I... am an identity? She—-she..."

He didn't know.

(Identity was the key.)

You are Memory. Without you she would forget. You are the Connection that recalls your mistakes so that they are not repeated.

"I... I am Memory?"

That—-

That was right, wasn't it?

He was Memory.

The memory of What Was.

The Sage may call himself a God. He may even be a God. But compared to those who always Were he is nothing. He knows nothing. He is a Godling playing against the Great Ones. His manipulation of souls was that of an amateur. It took two to pull a single soul to another realm. I wouldn't require the aid of another to do the same.