Jun didn’t realize until later that the death of Hizashi Hyuga was part of the storyline of Naruto. He should have remembered it. It was mentioned in the backstory of a few characters, but he had forgotten it. It was the attempted kidnapping of Hinata that triggered the event. She must have been three years old. Jun hadn’t realized how young she was when it happened. She was probably traumatized. It must have been a terrifying experience.

The story should have ended there for Jun. He didn’t know Hizashi Hyuga personally. He knew the man used to work with his mother. And from Naruto, he was Neji’s faher. However, his mother was still deeply affected by his passing a week later. She had tried to hide her pain from her children. But they lived together in the same apartment and knew each other well. It was impossible not to notice.

Izumi didn’t say anything, but she had seen it as well. Their mother had taken out of their closet the stuffed animals, and toys Hizashi gifted the baby when she was pregnant. Her voice wavered and broke when she told a story to baby Kazuma. Her features were drawn, her eyes red. She began to go to the memorial stone. Hazuki had done this sometime after Renzo’s death, Jun’s and Izumi’s father.

The teenager recalled that period. His mother had immersed herself in work to overcome the loss of her husband. But she no longer had that option. So it wasn’t surprising for her to turn to the same thing she did back then. After all, she was mourning her… Jun wasn’t sure anymore. He knew they were colleagues, but he was beginning to harbor suspicions.

“Were you close to Hizashi Hyuga? Jun asked his mother one morning.

Izumi wasn’t up yet. Kazuma was dozing in his high chair. His chestnut hair was starting to be long enough to brush the table when he bent over. They were long, smooth, and brushed back, like Neji’s hair.

“Yes.”

“How close?” Jun insisted.

Her mother gave him a disapproving look, but she was so exhausted that her expression looked rather resigned. Jun shrugged, feigning indifference, to hide his anguish and embarrassment.

“I just want to know if Kazuma is going to get two Dojutsus.”

Hazuki looked at her baby. He was a year old now. She sighed deeply, then sat down at the table and buried her face in her hands. This unusual gesture of weakness suddenly gave Jun the impression of having committed a transgression. He felt like he had touched on a taboo. The teenager hastily looked away. After a long moment, he heard his mother’s voice, very low.

“The Byakugan isn’t dominant. I knew he was going to be born with black eyes.”

Jun exhaled deeply. He wanted to feel surprised, dread, triumph, anything… But he was just resigned and tired. There would be no happy ending to this story. He knew it from the start.

“So… Which one is likely to awaken?”

You could have the Byakugan without possessing the pale eyes of the Hyuga. Himawari was an example of that. You could also have the Sharingan even if you were only half Uchiha. Jun knew a thing or two about that. But he didn’t know how these two situations were going to combine. Was Kazuma going to have one or the other, both or none?

It was a question they must think about because if Kazuma awakened the Byakugan, it would be impossible to conceal the identity of his father. The Hyugas were going to take him, keep him, mark him, or maybe kill him. He would suffer the fate of the branch house members. He would ultimately become a Hyuga’s slave. Jun’s anger rose as he thought about it.

He put the food on the table, and his mother looked up to meet his gaze. She was so pale. She looked as fragile as she was after Kazuma was born. She looked down and whispered.

“I don’t know. I really don’t know. I thought Hizashi would be here if I needed help. But now…”

Jun’s blood was boiling. If the Huygas touched a single hair of his little brother, he would slaughter every last of them. He took a deep breath, then moved closed to his mother to hug her.

“It’ll be fine. I won’t let anything happen to my little brother.”

Hazuki remained silent. They both knew how hard it was to keep this type of promise in the shinobi world.

His mom’s life hadn’t been easy. She had been rejected by her family. With Renzo, they had raised two children without any family support. Renzo had to take many missions to provide for his family while Hazuki stayed home to take care of the kids. The birth of Kazuma had been hard on her both physically and emotionally. The two men she had loved were killed within the village. They had survived a war and many perilous missions to die in the place they felt the safest, Konoha. Jun had associated Konoha as a safe place where he and his family didn’t constantly fear for their lives.

His little brother was still too young to ponder on such things, but Jun swore that he wouldn’t let him grow up in a village where he couldn’t feel secure. No Hyuga would lay their hands on him. It was a promise he made to himself. Jun was going to become the best expert in Fuinjutsu if it was what it would take to keep them from branding Kazuma.

His desire to protect Kazuma boosted his motivation. He plunged back into Fuinjutsu. There was so much to learn. Fuinjutsu seals weren’t just about explosive seals. They could also be used to store weapons, chakra, food, objects, or even Jutsus. Jun knew he was far from Jiraiya or Minato’s level, but he had a deeper understanding of Fuinjutsu than most people.

There were an extensive number of different seals that could be combined in even greater ways. However, it wasn’t limited to that. Fuinjutsu could go beyond that. Seals could be created to immobilize someone with invisible bonds or cause a person’s chakra to fluctuate to release them from an illusion. They could be used to increase healing speed, create physical barriers, and strengthen or alter Jutsus.

Presently, Jun was focusing on one application, his chakra seal project. However, he also used it as a pretext to study all seals affecting health or the human body. Ideally, he would have wanted the Caged Bird curse mark of the Hyuga to analyze it. But he knew he wasn’t going to get his hands on it.

Jun had an idea of how it worked. It used that to study seals based on the same principle. Some seals kill the person they are placed on. Others activate and seal objects or organs as soon as they stopped receiving chakra. Jun believe that studying those would reinforce his foundation in Fuinjutsu.

The teenager’s research kept him busy. But he was used to a certain routine. He had been satisfied with short and easy missions for the past couple of months now. He hadn’t faced anything more dangerous than bandits. He had been taking it easy and felt like it was enough. He needed to challenge himself to improve.

Therefore, he volunteered for harder and riskier missions. There was something exhilarating about using his full potential, even if it was related to fighting. Jun made peace with that a long time ago. He was almost surprised to think about it. Killing had become just a job. It was no longer traumatic.

He went on an A-rank mission with Hizu, the referee of his chunin tournament. He was also an explosive tag user. He was amiable, cheerful, and pleasant to be around. Their mission was to destroy an Iwa hideout located on the border of Taki. Between the two of them, they unleashed a massive explosion and killed the surviving ninjas before they could escape.

It was quite messy. The Iwa shinobis fought viciously. One of them was wielding flying knives, but Jun dealt with him using his Raiton.

“It’s hard to believe you’ve only been a chunin for a few months. Have you thought about asking for a promotion?” Hizu asked as they went to hand in their report.

“So early? I want to be a Tokubetsu jonin, don’t you need a specialty for that? The Tokubetsu jonin must have a jonin level in their specialty.”

“Most Tokubetsu jonins are better than regular jonin when it comes to their specialty. Take me for example. My area of expertise is sabotage. If I have time to choose my ground and prepare it, I doubt that even Kakashi Hatake can get away.”

Kakashi was already a legend among Konoha shinobis. He survived everything. However, Jun hadn’t seen him in a while. He wondered if he was doing missions for the ANBU.

“I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t have a specialty yet.”

“I think you do. You could perfect yourself in the use of traps and become an expert in sabotage. You could also continue on the path of your explosive seals and specialize in Fuinjutsu. You’re also a member of the Ninjas Sensor; they are the ones with the most Tokubetsu jonins. Almost all their tracking specialist obtains a promotion.”

“I didn’t know,” Jun replied, pensively.

The idea of asking for the promotion was tempting… More missions, more money, more recognition… more security, in a way. Becoming important to the village was also a way to ensure his safety and his loved ones’ as well. He only had a little over three years left before the Uchiha massacre.

To be apart from the clan, excluded from it, and openly oppose it should normally be enough to protect his family. No Uchiha would desire to implicate them in the coup because they wouldn’t trust them. But Jun’s family had Uchiha as their surname. There were extremists like Danzo who would suspect them anyway because of their last name. Maybe Danzo would let them be, but perhaps Itachi wouldn’t.

Jun used to believe that being away from the clan would be enough. But he had grown since then. He realized there was no way to be completely safe anywhere no matter how hard he tried to follow the rules and stay out of trouble. Hizashi had been a loyal shinobi, an obedient Hyuga, but that hadn’t saved him. His death was useful, and that was enough to seal his fate. He had let himself go. He had sacrificed himself, according to Jun’s memories. However, it didn’t change the fact that he had died because his clan and village had looked the other way. Jun wouldn’t commit the same mistake. If anyone tried to get rid of him or his family because it was convenient, Jun would definitely strike first.

He wasn’t capable to kill Itachi yet. But if he trained, specialized in one field, and rose in rank and power, he was confident he would be able to. The young Uchiha would have to think twice before messing with his family.