The Fateful Uchiha

His name was Jun, but he knew it hadn’t always been his first name. It was an absolute but distant and vague fact relegated to the back of his mind. He did not pay much attention to it during the first years of his life. That memory felt like a dream you vaguely remember as soon as you wake up and whose details slip through your fingers the harder you try to recall it.

People did not always call him Jun. He had been someone else and lived somewhere else, in another world. A world where he had grown, lived, experienced life, loved, and lost many things: A world where he had died before waking up here as Jun. However, everything he perceived in this world was strangely familiar, as if his previous incarnation knew about it.

Alas, It was a distant knowledge. Not just because it was vague in his mind, but because everything felt far away. Jun was confused, and rightly so because he was just a baby. It wasn’t as if he had opened his eyes after his death and woke up in the body of an adult or even a teenager. He felt like a baby in body and mind. It wasn’t like an adult trapped in the body of a baby.

When he had learned the language of this world, he suddenly recalled the one from his previous life. He was reminded of another world as he learned about this new one. If Jun had to describe what happened to him, he would use the word reincarnation. It was a concept he did not believe in in his previous life. He had not been the religious type. There was no god he had faith in. That being stated, he had thought that humans have souls and that something happens to the soul after death.

When he grasped his situation, he did not have a strong reaction to it at first as his mind seemed to be in a slumber. As time passed, and more vague memories about his past life came to him, he was shocked. He was reincarnated in another world completely different from his original one yet it felt familiar.

Jun was confused during the first years of his life. It was challenging for him to sort out what was new and what were echoes of his past life. Though he cried and babbled like all babies, his brain was developing rapidly.

It did not happen overnight; the process took time. He was still growing like a typical child, maybe a little faster than the average one. He spoke his first words earlier than most children. He grasped complex concepts much faster than most babies. He was aware of the danger that getting close to something hot poses. He knew to be patient when his food was not ready.

When he was three years old, his mother told him he would be a big brother. Later, he learned to change his little sister’s diapers without protest. Though he complained a bit about her crying, he consistently treated her with care. His parents viewed Jun as an intelligent kid. But it wasn’t to the point of abnormality. In this world, the boundary between normal and abnormal was completely different from his previous world. The definition of abnormality was a little looser here.

Jun quickly realized this world was a unique one. The architecture was unusual. People wore clothes that appeared strange to him, and they seemed to move as much on the street as on the rooftops. He knew this would not be considered normal in his homeworld as no one had the ability to leap from roof to roof. It wasn’t until she turned four years old that he looked up and recognized the cliff on which were carved three faces she had only seen in some of his dream-like memories. Seeing the monument caused a strong effect on him as he stimulated his memory. He knew he was living in the world of Naruto.

Jun was not overcome with happiness. He was genuinely worried. He had an uneasy feeling about the situation. He felt like he was overlooking something important. But he remembered the things he had read. Naruto, Sasuke, Jiraya, Kakashi, Kyubi…, he recalled them all. However, the memories seemed distant. They felt imaginary. He sometimes doubted them as they felt like memories from a dream.

Jun had a hypothesis. He believed the memories weren’t too vivid to protect his mind. Perhaps, it would have been too much for a baby to take in everything so strongly. That would explain why everything seemed so far away, so vague. They were real memories but did not seem genuine. Jun also realized he did not feel any traumas and strong emotions related to his past life. He possessed the information and knew what happened to him but lack the emotional part. He thought it was this way because this new body of his was not the one that experienced his previous life. It was given a new beginning with no shackles from his previous ones.

Jun grew up absorbing everything around him like a sponge. He learned and comprehended things quickly. He was also a child who liked his parents. He loved walking down the street with them, opening his eyes wide, trying not to overlook any detail of his current environment. He saw ninjas jumping from building to building or just patrolling the streets. He took notice of the color of the walls, the panels, the trees, the clothes, the roof tiles, and the ground beneath his feet. He listened to the noises as well. The absence of sound that accompanied the ninjas’ movements fascinated him. He also liked the hubbub of the market, the sounds of the kids in the park, and the muffled sounds of explosions coming from the forest. He would learn later it was where the ninjas trained.

Jun’s dad was a ninja. His name was Renzo. He wore the classic Konoha shinobi uniform. Jun learned he was a chunin. His father was tall with broad shoulders and a big looming laugh. He had tousled brown hair tied in a ponytail at the back of his neck, a beard, and a scar on his left cheek. He made Jun jump in his arms to hear him giggle and squeal in delight. Sometimes, he was gone for many days. But he always came back with a present for him.

His mother used to be a shinobi, but she retired. Jun believed it was to take care of him and his sister. Her name was Hazuki. She was an attractive woman with black eyes and long ebony hair. She had a gentle smile and was a very patient and tender person. Jun had never seen her angry. She enjoyed reading him stories or telling him tales her own parents told her in the past.

Jun’s sister was named Izumi. From his perspective, she was just a normal baby who cried a lot. She was an adorable baby and her brother liked her. Jun was happy with his family and his life. He had never known fear and never felt danger. Konoha was his home and he felt safe there. He allowed those feelings to comfort him and did not pay attention to his dream-like memories.

Then one day, while her mother was folding clothes, he saw a familiar symbol on the back of a t-shirt. It was a red and white fan, the type used to fan flames to make them hotter. The word Uchiha echoed in his mind and Jun felt his stomach tighten.

“Mom, what is this?” He asked, pointing at the symbol.

His mother smoothed the cloth with the palm of her hand, a wistful smile on her lips.

“It is my clan’s symbol, Jun.”

“Your clan?”

Her mother folded the cloth, then squatted down to be at his level. Jun was four and a half years old, and he was about to learn some information about her mother.

“It is the Uchiha clan. When I got married to your father, I gave up my last name. Before that, I was known as Hazuki Uchiha.”

Jun blinked.

Uchiha… Itachi Uchiha… The massacre of the clan… Those words came to his mind. Jun felt cold and held his breath. But the memories weren’t clear. He did not know whether to believe them.

“Are Izumi and I also Uchiha?”

A strange expression crossed her mom’s face, a mixture of regret and pride, or maybe something completely different. She shook her head. Jun felt relieved as his shoulders relaxed.

“No, darling. I’m no longer part of the Uchiha clan, so neither are you two. I don’t think I’d ever go back.”

Jun nodded, but his mind was already elsewhere. His distant memories were coming to his mind. He was certain that the Uchiha clan was massacred in the Naruto story. It was one of the key points of the plot. He could not figure out the reason it never came to his mind before. He knew he was living before that tragic event happened. The fact that the Hokage monument only had three faces on it was also a clue. He knew what was coming. At some point in the future, Itachi Uchiha would exterminate the entire Uchiha clan, only leaving one survivor behind. His little brother, Sasuke.

After the massacre, there was no other Uchiha left in the village. Jun did not remember a kunoichi from the clan who survived. There was also no information in his memory about half-Uchiha named Jun and Izumi who lived afterward. Jun swallowed with difficulty upon the realization he just made. These strange memories prophesied a disaster upon his family.