The Fateful Uchiha

Jun didn’t think he was a paranoid man, overly cautious yes but not paranoid. Anyway, you can’t call it paranoia when the danger was lying there, waiting to emerge. Nonetheless, the Uchiha clan leader was aware of his overprotective side. And it was what pushed him to discreetly send some of his summoning animals to follow Kazuma on his first mission. After all, who would find some wandering cats suspicious? Even Kazuma, who knew his brother could summon cats, didn't pay attention to the kitten who pretended to be asleep in front of the inn they went to.

Though a part of him wanted to, Jun didn’t follow Kazuma. He stayed in Konoha, went to Natsumi's wedding in the evening, trained with his genins the next day, and used his position in the Division to find a mission in roughly the same geographic area as his brother's assignment. 

He found one without any problem. It was to hunt down and dispose of a drug trafficker who was trying to establish a market in the Land of Fire. The outlaw had hired half a dozen Iwa ninjas to protect him. The task was classified as a rank-A mission. Therefore, it wasn't an assignment suited for his genins, Neji, Tenten, and Shin.

Jun decided to bring Kanna and Miyamoto Hyuga with him, like in the good old days. He rarely did missions with them anymore. But every time he would go on an assignment with the two, he felt nostalgic and a bit sad. They had been members of Team Shisui. He felt the absence of the late Uchiha the most when he was in the company of the two jonins. Well, this wasn’t the time to be sentimental.

Kazuma's team had advanced much slower than his. By the time Team 9 reached the village, Jun and his comrades had already invaded the dealer's base and unleashed their destructive Jutsus. There was only one Jonin-level ninja among their opponents, and he and Kanna indulged in a ferocious duel of Doton while Miyamoto and Jun unleashed hell on the remaining Chunins. 

They even managed to recover most of the drug. Konoha can use it to make painkiller medicines. Most of the dealer's minions were civilians, armed and trained, yes, but they didn't use chakra. Capturing or killing them was child's play. Even though it was an easy fight, Jun considered this mission one of his best successes.

They had almost finished and were tracking the survivors, the ring leader, and one chunin, who had miraculously escaped by taking advantage of the chaos the fights created. A thin tabby cat materialized before Jun. Miyamoto, who was with him, jumped up in surprise.

"What the… ?!"

"Balu," Jun recognized, frowning in concern. "You were supposed to follow Kazuma. Did something happen?"

"Don't tell me you have your brother followed by cats?” Miyamoto asked in an amused tone.

Neither Jun nor Balu paid any attention to him. The kitten, bristling to the point of doubling in volume, had the pupils so thin that you could barely see two black slits in her pale green eyes.

"The Kyubi has awakened." It said in a stiff tone.

Jun nearly let go of his sword.

"What?!"

Miyamoto cast a look around them to make sure they were alone. Balu continued, its voice so rigid that one would have believed it was calm if not for its fur bristling, betraying its terror.

"Kazuma and his team crossed paths with a hostile Jonin from Kirigakure. The Jinchuriki was severely wounded, and the Biju’s chakra overwhelmed him and the entire area. I don't know Kazuma's condition."

Jun cursed. He made his katana disappear in the storage seal inscribed on his belt, then turned to Miyamoto.

"I'm going there. You will take command of this mission. Here are your orders: eliminate the target with Kanna, then return to the village."

Miyamoto's forehead wrinkled, but he knew Jun well enough to know there was no point in trying to dissuade him. Instead, he just said:

"Do you know that discussing the Kyubi is a violation of an S-rank secret?”

"Only if we talk about it with people who know nothing of it. And the rule only applies to humans." Jun pointed out with a smirk. "Blame the Sandaime for not being specific in his decree."

Jun had noticed the loophole by chance some time ago and had been shamelessly exploiting it since then. His summons were informed about a whole bunch of S-rank secrets, ranging from the identity of the Jinchuriki to Danzo's hand in the Uchiha massacre. After all, if Jun died, some information he possessed shouldn't be lost with him.

Without waiting, the young man stretched his sensor abilities. He knew how to accurately identify the chakra of the people around him. His range has increased with the years, but it wasn't overly huge. However, the Kyubi chakra was powerful. It was a specific type of chakra, making it easily detectable.

Furthermore, the Nine Tails' aura signature was so intensely engraved in his memory that, even though Naruto was currently kilometers away, he didn't have to infuse too much of his chakra. His senses felt as if they were on fire by feeling the trace of the Kyubi's energy.

He hadn't felt it since that famous night, twelve years earlier, but suddenly he found himself propelled into the past, with the shadow of the gigantic demon crushing the village… the suffocating chakra that stung his eyes, his heart that was beating like that of a cornered prey, his father taking his last breath before his eyes…

Jun forced himself to wake up from this nightmare. It was from the past. His dad was dead. But Kazuma was in danger right now. He barely took the time to grab Balu with him before vanishing using the Shunshin No Jutsu.

The trip should have taken more than half an hour. But Jun had been trained in the Body Flicker technique by Shisui Uchiha himself. He covered the distance between him and Kyubi in less than fifteen minutes. When he arrived, the battle was over… But the scene remained chaotic.

A good part of the village was devastated… sections of collapsed walls, charred trees, furrows dug on the clay. It was as if a wild beast made of molten magma had fallen from the sky. There were traces of gigantic claws everywhere, and the inn was on fire. The villagers began to form a chain with buckets of water to stop the fire before it spread. There was the body of a Kiri Jonin, badly mutilated. His upper body was missing part of the abdomen. It looked as if it was eaten away by a corrosive acid. No member of Team Yamato was in sight, but Jun immediately perceived their chakras.

Naruto was a couple of kilometers away, a mix of rage, horror, and terror could be sensed from his chakra. Yamato whose chakra radiated exhaustion was very close to the Uzumaki. Hotaru was a little further, in shock. But it wasn't them that Jun was frantically looking for, it was Kazuma. And he ended up sensing his brother's energy just a few meters from him. Kazuma's chakra was as weak as a candle on its last breath. He rushed towards him, panicked.

"Kazuma! Kazuma!"

A weak growl answered him in the middle of a pile of rubble. Seeing his little brother move, Jun felt his knees tremble with relief. He was there, he was alive. He had just been knocked out. His chakra was already regaining its strength. He opened his eyes with difficulty and tried to straighten up, groggy.

"Jun…?"

Jun pulled him towards his chest in a hug as brief as it was instinctive. His little brother was fine. The enormous weight on his heart from the moment Balu had mentioned the Kyubi dissipated. Kazuma was unharmed. It was the most important thing for him.

Though his brother was fine, it was unfortunately not the end of it. He could feel the chakra of the Nine-Tails, barely under control, ready to be released again. He took a deep breath, moved away from Kazuma, and put Balu in his arm. The cat, all tense, gave him a reprobatory look for being treated like a mere pet. Alas, Jun didn’t give it time to voice its discontent.

"Kazuma, you have to find Hotaru. Balu will guide you. I'm gonna help Naruto."

Kazuma let out a groan. He was probably still a little out of it, but Jun had checked that he was fine. Kazuma remained his priority, and he would have liked to remain by his side. However, he simply couldn't ignore the raging and terrified chakra mass that threatened to explode not far away. He suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Finding Naruto wasn’t difficult. His path was marked with traces of burns, and filled with the corrosive chakra of the Kyubi. The Jinchuriki was just behind the curtain of trees that surrounded the village. Naruto was completely hysterical. 

Yamato, in front of him, tried in vain to calm the boy. The Jonin-sensei was as pale as a ghost. He had a hand pressed against his right flank, which was dripping with blood. And it seemed he was using all of his willpower to stay on his feet. The situation wasn't reassuring at all. 

Naruto was on the verge of hyperventilation. His blue eyes were split with vertical red lines. The marks on his cheeks had widened and darkened, giving him a bestial air. The Kyubi chakra was so strong that steam seemed to be coming from his body. His hands were covered with dried blood, and Naruto stared at them with his eyes wide open. He had probably lost consciousness when he had been wounded, letting the Kyubi take over. But he had returned to his senses at some point and fled the scene in a rush of horror.