The Fateful Uchiha

Jun appeared between Naruto and Yamato. The latter who was in the middle of trying to calm the boy down suddenly stopped in the middle of his speech. Naruto looked at the Uchiha with panicked eyes. He almost had a movement of retreat, as if he was afraid that the newcomer would attack him or that he would suddenly attack the clan leader. 

Jun tried to repress his discomfort. He wasn't facing the Kyubi. It was just Naruto, the bestial chakra wasn't as strong as what he remembered. The situation was different. Jun wasn't helpless anymore. He wasn't the same scared little boy from back then. He could handle the situation now. Naruto hadn't completely lost control. Jun thought for a second about what to say.

"Kazuma is fine," he said in a voice that barely flickered. "I sent him to get Hotaru. Have you guys completed your mission?"

"The mission?" Naruto repeated in a trembling voice.

Yamato seemed to be grasping at the question like a drowning man grabbing a lifeline.

"Yes, the mission," he repeated feverishly. "We have a mission to accomplish, Naruto. Do you remember? Stop the bandits. Our first C-rank mission… you don't want it to fail, do you?"

"But… I killed that guy," Naruto stammered, taking a step back. "I didn’t want to… to…, I don't know anymore…"

The Nine Tails' chakra gained in intensity like a fire revived by the distress of the boy. A very primitive part of Jun was consumed with terror, the desire to flee, to strike, to attack, to kill, not to be a defenseless prey this time, to cut the throat of the beast. Was it that kind of thing the villagers felt when they saw Naruto, associating him with that night of terror where almost all of them had lost a loved one? He understood their hatred though he didn't like it.

He pushed his instinctive reaction of violence aside. It was Naruto. He was the protagonist, a child, Kazuma's friend. It wasn't his fault that the Kyubi was sealed inside him. He was a kid who needed to be reassured. Jun desperately used all his brain cells to figure out what to do, what to say, but ... He had never been good with children. The best he could do was always treat them like miniature adults, and hope they were mature enough to understand.

"Yamato, sit down; you don't look too good," he ordered abruptly. "Naruto, look at me. Everything is fine. You are safe now. I'm not afraid of you. We're gonna go home, alright? But before that, you need to calm down. Take a deep breath in, and hold your breath, then slowly release it. Follow my rhythm. One-two-three, in… and hold, release slowly and one-two-three…"

Jun hesitated to activate his Sharingan. He could put the boy under a Genjutsu and force him to calm down. In the end, he rejected the idea. He knew from his memories how the Kyubi hated the Sharingan and having the Dojutsu used on it. Jun feared that it would antagonize the Nine-Tails even more the moment the Biju would see his Sharingan. 

Moreover, if the Genjutsu wasn't strong enough, it could make the situation worse. And using his Mangekyo Sharingan here was out of the question. The situation wasn’t dire enough for him to reveal one of his trump cards in front of witnesses and damage his eyesight in the process. That was a last-resort action.

Also, casting an illusion technique without his eyes was a no-go. He was unable to cast a Genjutsu powerful enough to affect the Nine Tails without the help of his Dojutsu… Moreover, he didn’t want the Kyubi to get the wrong idea about him and associate him with the likes of Madara who only wanted to control him.

Surprisingly, the breathing method was working well. Little by little, and pushing his negative emotions away, Jun approached Naruto. He was close enough to touch the boy… close enough to take his hands. He didn't mind the contact of blood that made his fingers sticky. The Uchiha clan leader had done his fair share of killing. He had lost count of how many times he got his hands bloody. It was part of the job, part of being a shinobi. 

Holding the Uzumaki’s hand, Jun and he continued to take deep breaths until the boy's pupils returned to their normal shade, and the marks on his cheeks receded. He no longer had any features of the Kyubi. He was just a blond kid with big blue eyes full of tears.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked softly.

Naruto nodded his head. Jun sighed, gently let go of his hand, and ruffled his hair with a deliberate gesture.

“These things happen," he said in a low voice. "During my very first mission outside the village, I killed my enemy. I didn't want him to die. I just went too hard on him. I regretted it afterward. But even if it meant taking his life, I'm glad I was the one who got out alive in that fight. It's part of the life of a shinobi; we end up killing our enemy sometimes. It's either us or them. I'd rather have us survive."

Naruto looked him in the eyes.

"But it wasn't me," he said in a strangled voice. "It was…"

The boy gave him an almost fearful look. In the original story, Naruto had never revealed to anyone that he was a jinchuriki so early on. The boy was unaware of it. He had sometimes accidentally used the Kyubi chakra in combat, but he didn't know what it was. But in this timeline, everything was turned upside down. Naruto knew what was inside him.

"It was to protect you," Jun said in a neutral tone. "Listen to me, Naruto Uzumaki, to save your life, anything goes. When it comes to self-preservation, it's whatever it takes."

With a slow gesture, to give him time to see what he was doing and not to panic, he gave him a flick on the stomach. Naruto curled up as if he had stabbed him with a kunai as if he feared that the Kyubi would emerge from his belly.

"This is your weapon now. It doesn't matter whether his presence is good or bad or whether it should exist. Ignoring it will do no good. As for any weapon in your possession, you will learn to use it."

Jun felt his little brother's chakra coming in their direction and moved away. Kazuma and Hotaru were approaching with a circumspect air, preceded by three cats. One of them was Balu. Without its spiky fur, the kitten looked quite distinguished. Very snobbish. As if it was just walking around and it was by pure coincidence that it ended up here. The other two cats, a red fur cat so flamboyant that it almost hurt the eyes to look at it, and a small black cat with blue eyes, followed him with deference.

“Everyone is all right?” Yamato asked in a flickering voice.

He was sitting on the grass, still holding his right flank. With his pale complexion and the amount of blood that had soaked his jacket, he painted a rather alarming picture. Kazuma and Hotaru both nodded and then Hotaru burst into tears.

“It's my fault! He was after me, and…”

It was as if her words had opened the floodgates. Kazuma and Naruto began to sob too, and everyone was talking at the same time.

“I'm sorry, I did nothing, I was completely useless…”

“I could have hurt you, I didn’t think, I didn’t want to…”

“Naruto, you could have died, it was…”

“I'm sorry!”

At least no one was going to faint in the next few minutes. Jun turned to the current emergency, Yamato and his wound. His medical skills were limited, but he at least knew how to make a basic diagnosis.

“Perforated lung,” he muttered. “I can close the wound but it will be rudimentary. We need to go to the hospital.”

“We’re three days away from Konoha!” Naruto said.

“Will it hold until then?” Hotaru asked anxiously.

A lung injury was problematic. In addition to the terrible pain, the wounded man slowly drowned in his blood. The version of the Mystical Palm Jun knew after long months of laborious effort was just good to cauterize the wound. It wasn't adapted for precision work like surgery. He could do an emergency treatment, but it wouldn't last. He could even make things difficult for the surgery afterward. If only Izumi was here, she would know what to do. She was so much better at Medical Ninjutsu than he was!

“It will have to hold. I’ll carry Yamato on my back and return to Konoha at my full speed,” he decided. “It should take me about a day.”

It would be a hell of an endurance race, but he was confident he could do it. He mentally thanked Gai for his draconian training over the years. That being said ... The Genins won’t be able to keep up with his pace... They would have to return to the village alone. Alone, without any experience with this type of trip taking a few days… Jun wasn’t comfortable with the idea. But he didn’t have many options… either escort the Genins or bring the dying Yamato back.

He briefly closed his eyes, pensive. Neither of these two options pleased him. He turned to his cats.

“Balu, go back to where I was and see if you can find Miyamoto or Kanna and bring them back to me. Chibi, go to Konoha to warn them of what happened. If they can send a medic to meet us on the way, it would be perfect. Moka, you will be my scout. We're going to Konoha, and we don’t want any trouble slowing us down.”

“How rude of you! You’ve been ordering us around quite a lot lately” Balu said indignantly.

Jun sighed. His summoning cats were always difficult. They didn’t like to be given orders.

“Please, I need you guys,” Jun replied between his clenched teeth.

“We will do it,” The red cat said in a lazy tone. “But I want braised fish once we’re back in the village! A whole bunch of them!”

“You glutton,” The little black cat said. “You only think of eating, Chibi!”

“Hey, don't act so innocent, Moka. As if you wouldn’t try to steal my fish.”

“Alright, alright. Braised fish for everyone.” Jun conceded.

Naruto leaned slowly toward Kazuma and whispered in a terrified tone.

“I’m not dreaming, right? The cats are talking?!”

Kazuma had a little smile and nodded.

“You’re not dreaming, Naruto.”

“Can we get moving now?” Jun asked impatiently.

Balu waved its whiskers with dignity.

“Very good. Chibi, Moka, let's go.”