Izumi Uchiha (うちはイズミ, Uchiha Izumi) was a kunoichi of Konohagakure's Uchiha Clan.

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Background

Izumi was the daughter of Hazuki Uchiha. Unlike her mother, Izumi's father was not an Uchiha, and for that reason their family lived separately from the Uchiha clan for the first few years of Izumi's life. During the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Attack, her father died while protecting her. From the grief brought on by his death, as well as feelings of guilt that he would not have died had Izumi been stronger, Izumi eventually awakened her Sharingan. She and her mother afterwards rejoined the Uchiha clan.

Izumi enrolled in Konoha's Academy a few years later. Like other girls her age, Izumi developed a crush on Itachi Uchiha, a boy in the class next to hers. As such, she tried to talk with him during school breaks, walk home with him after lessons, and defend him from their peers' criticism. Itachi initially took the same disinterest in Izumi that he had in all the other girls until discovering that she had the Sharingan, which he himself had yet to awaken. He afterwards became warmer to her whenever their paths crossed. One such occasion occurred shortly after Itachi graduated from the Academy, which he was allowed to do early because of his prodigious skills: he ran into Izumi as they were both returning to the Uchiha compound. Izumi asked about his new life as an official ninja, and Itachi asked if she'd improved with her Sharingan. When Izumi began to inquire about the secretive meetings older Uchiha were having at night, Itachi - who was not permitted to discuss these meetings with her - advised her not to bring it up again. They then walked the rest of the way home in silence.

A few months after Itachi was promoted to chūnin, his father, Fugaku, encouraged him to spend more time with people his own age. As such, he had lunch with Izumi. Izumi was awed by recent news of Itachi's exploits, and worried that she would never match up to him. Itachi deflected by pointing out that she would soon be graduating from the Academy, and a year early at that. When this didn't cheer her up, he asked why she wanted to be a ninja in the first place, as a ninja's life was fraught with hardships. She replied that her father was a ninja, and furthermore that she would naturally want to have the same career as the person she liked. Itachi did not understand her meaning and Izumi, upset, opted to end their lunch early.

Izumi did not have an opportunity to talk with Itachi again until after she graduated from the Academy, becoming a genin. They both apologised to the other for their behaviour during their previous lunch. Itachi asked about her recent missions, which Izumi reported to be menial and easy. Izumi congratulated Itachi on his recent admission into the Anbu, but shared her concern that he was taking on too much for someone their age. Izumi continued seeing Itachi at the Uchiha's nighttime meetings, which she was now allowed to attend. Like Itachi, Izumi disapproved of the clan's growing anger towards Konoha and its leadership. Itachi's disapproval ultimately strained his relationship with the rest of the clan, causing him to stop attending the meetings at all. After the death of Itachi's friend, Shisui, Izumi attempted to visit Itachi at his home, but was informed by Fugaku that Itachi was out. As Izumi left, Fugaku encouraged her to provide the support to Itachi that he was unable to. She assured him she would.

The Uchiha clan eventually decided to try and overthrow Konoha's government. As the planning for their coup entered it finals stages, Itachi attended another of the clan's nighttime meetings, his first after a yearlong absence. He pleaded with the clan's members not to go through with the coup and attempted to offer alternative ways of sorting things out with Konoha, but was promptly marked as a traitor and expelled from the meeting. Izumi followed after him as he left. He advised her to return to the meeting so that she would not also be labelled a traitor, but Izumi replied she did not care. She encouraged him to continue trying to reason with Fugaku and the rest of the Uchiha, believing that he alone could get through to them. Itachi responded that it was too late and left her behind.

To prevent the mass casualties that war between the Uchiha and Konoha would inevitably cause, Itachi opted to wipe out the entire Uchiha clan in a single night, what would be called the Uchiha Clan Downfall. He decided to make Izumi his first victim. He snuck into her home, knocked out her mother, and, upon being found by Izumi, used Tsukuyomi on her. In the span of a second, Izumi lived through seventy years of an illusionary life: she becomes a chūnin; Itachi proposes to her; she retires as a ninja; she and Itachi marry; Izumi gives birth; they raise their children; the children become adults; she grows old with Itachi; Izumi becomes ill; Itachi takes care of her; she is on her deathbed. When the illusion ended, Izumi collapsed and used her final moment of consciousness to thank Itachi. She then died, the death she experienced within the illusion tricking her body into expiring as well.

In the anime, Izumi first met Itachi several years earlier than in the novel, when she invited him to play with her and other children their age. He declined, prompting the other children to start bullying him. Izumi alone stood up for him. On the night of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Attack, Izumi became separated from her parents. She was saved from falling debris by Itachi, and he then led her to a safe shelter. She thanked him and asked if could hold Itachi's infant brother, Sasuke. Itachi agreed on the condition that she not make Sasuke cry, which she promised to do. When Sasuke cried any way, Itachi took him back. Sasuke immediately stopped crying upon being returned to Itachi, annoying Izumi.

In the anime, on the night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall, Izumi confronted the masked man during his attack on the Konoha Military Police Force's headquarters. Her attacks against the masked man failed and she was killed by him.[1]

Personality

Izumi was described as a kind and considerate girl for an Uchiha. After her father's sacrifice, Izumi was traumatised and blamed herself. Since then, she decided to live up to her father's example by becoming stronger so she could help others like her father did. Because of this, Izumi never fell into the Curse of Hatred, unlike the vast majority of her fellow clansmen. Even though she appeared to distrust the rest of her clan like Itachi and Shisui Uchiha, she still had great pride and faith in her clan as she refused to believe an Uchiha would've summoned Kurama to cause such death and destruction that took her father's life.

Her desire to help others weighed heavily on her, as she was deeply distressed she wasn't progressing as quickly as Itachi, who she used to measure her abilities against. When Itachi tried to convince her to abandon her goal of helping others because of her innocence and weaknesses, she was visibly hurt.

Izumi was deeply in love with Itachi, so much so that she accepted Itachi's decision to end her life for the sake of the village, and was grateful to be given the life she wanted with him: growing old and having kids together, even if it was only a genjutsu.

Appearance

Izumi had long brown hair (in a ponytail in her youth) with bangs framing her face and onyx eyes, with a mole under her right eye. She wore a long-sleeved, high-collared purple shirt with the Uchiha clan symbol on the back, baggy blue pants, a shuriken hostler on her right leg, red armband on her left arm, and a long purple fingerless glove that ran nearly the length of her arm.

Abilities

When her father died during the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Attack on Konoha, she awakened her Sharingan, even earlier than Itachi himself. However, she was not able to handle it for long, quickly fainting every time she activated it as she lacked the necessary chakra levels. This did not get better as she still fainted even when she was getting closer to her graduation into genin. In the anime, it was noted that she had especially advanced taijutsu prowess.[1] It was implied that Izumi was skilled as a kunoichi for graduating a year earlier than others.

Trivia

"Izumi" ( 泉 ) means "fountain".

References