Everyone had their own way of progressing. Jun immersed himself in his study of Fuinjutsu and his missions. Yugao was discharged from the hospital and resumed her Kenjutsu training with ferocity. Iruka began training with Natsumi to perfect his Bukijutsu. Susumu landed a part-time apprenticeship with a doctor at the hospital to accelerate his training as a medic-ninja.

His goal was to become a full-fledged medic-ninja within a couple of years before applying to the Intelligence Section. It would increase his chances of being accepted this way. Medic-ninjas were always in demand there. There were needed to treat shinobis, patch up prisoners or perform autopsies. Jun wished him well in his endeavor.

Everyone was walking their own path. Jun carried out a mission to locate and destroy an old hideout belonging to Orochimaru. He partnered up with Anko and two other chunins. There was another instance when he joined Genma on a mission to assassinate a gang leader terrorizing a small village. Moreover, he was asked to supervise a class at the Academy, replacing a sick chunin. He learned that all chunins went through this. It was a rite of passage, being confronted with a bunch of unruly kids.

There was an escort mission he did with Raido. They ran into a group of nukenins. Jun came back with a scar on his leg. He also performed a few missions within the village.

Months passed. Izumi finished her school year. Her brother taught her how to walk on water during her vacation. Kazuma was eighteen months old now. He was walking and beginning to utter his first words. He could call his mother, sister, and brother. Hazuki was hesitant to send him to the daycare for a few hours a week, so he could play with other children.

Jun tried to train with his friends or colleagues between missions, He was also working on his area of specialization. The teenager had gone back to the Ninja Sensor Department to practice his tracking. Moreover, he asked his comrades from Team 14 for tips for setting up traps. His skill in sabotage improved rapidly.

However, the teenager didn’t want to base his jonin promotion on that. He wanted to be an expert on Fuinjutsu. It had always fascinated him. It was a complex art that many shinobis found challenging, but he loved it. The young Uchiha was deepening his knowledge of Fuinjutsu as time passed.

He learned to construct barriers made of chakra, seal objects, store a Jutsu in a seal and release it anytime he wanted. Furthermore, Jun learned to bind people with his seals. He was able to achieve that level of expertise thanks to his hard work, dedication, and his Sharingan. The Dojutsu allowed him to memorize many seal patterns with ease. He was still far from the level he wanted to be at, but he was already ahead of many shinobis. With his skills, there were still many things he couldn’t do. He wasn’t able to recreate the Hyuga’s Caged Bird curse, a curse mark like Orochimaru’s, or a seal to make a Jinchuriki.

As he continued honing his skills, Jun was finally able to create his Chakra Storage Seal. He used a simple storage seal as a base. The complexity of the technique came from the small adjustments to the absorption and production rate of his chakra. Namely, the opening of the seal and its ability to suck in or release chakra in various quantities.

One of the difficulties was that seals often sealed anything they touched when working. Therefore, drawing a chakra-absorbing one on his body was a challenging task, as there was a risk of him being drained of his chakra. Making a seal that only absorbed chakra from a specific point, while placing other seals around it to prevent the chakra produced by the body from being sucked away in its entirety was a tricky endeavor.

However, Jun succeeded. Ultimately, his seal took the form of a pyramid about six centimeters high. The interior of the mark was divided into segments, which joined like the petals of a flower folded in on itself. When chakra was fed to the seal, the segments opened up and spread outside the pyramidal shape to unfurl in large bands of ink, like the rays of a small sun.

The greater the amount of chakra, the more the bands spread out to absorb it. The process was similar when the seal was opened to release stored chakra. The segments would expand, spreading the energy through the user’s body like a second network of chakra. Jun discovered that if he stored enough chakra in the seal and then opened it, the bands could run all over his body, wrapping around his limbs and up his face.

Jun had placed the Chakra Storage Seal on the back of his neck. It was one of the parts of his body he protected the best. Also, the mark would be hidden by his now long hair. He also decided to rename the seal to Eternal Chakra Gate.

To validate his Fuinjutsu specialization and become a Tokubetsu Jonin, Jun wanted to develop another Fuinjutsu technique. He had many ideas. He thought of a seal that would make a person’s body explode upon the death of the bearer or when the latter activated the seal. The explosion would be strong enough to kill an unprepared opponent within five meters. There was an idea of a binding seal that could be placed on the ground as a trap and activate when anyone steps on it. Many more Jutsus were forming in his mind.

Time went by. His mother put Kazuma in daycare to socialize with other kids. Izumi turned ten years old, and Jun suffered his first mission failure.

The teenager didn’t think he was arrogant. He always watched his back during a mission. He never underestimated an opponent. Yes, he concealed a few things like his Sharingan, but he always gave his all. He had never been crushed in a confrontation where he feared for his life… not since the Kyubi’s attack on the village. The visceral fear and desperation he had felt then awakened his Dojutsu.

And since that time, he had never lost anyone close to him. He lost touch with some friends such as Shisui and Itachi, but they were still alive. He had seen loved ones like his mother and Yugao mourning, but he had not shared their grief. He had been safe from all that. And maybe it made him unconsciously a little overconfident. Perhaps, it had made him forget that it only took a moment of inattention, bad luck, or an unforeseen event to lose someone.

The mission wasn’t even that difficult. They had to destroy an old Konoha base to prevent it from being used by Kiri shinobis. They also had to survey the zone and do some scouting. There had been traces of suspicious activities in the area, so his team was composed of trackers to spot danger and ninjas expert in sabotage. They were all young shinobis. Maybe Jun should have been more on guard. But he was happy to be part of a team of people his age.

There was Ise Hyuga, the prodigy who had been in the same class as him in the Academy. He hadn’t seen him since he became a genin. He had graduated earlier than Jun. He was also proud and dismissive. However, despite his arrogance, Ise was a professional. Moreover, he was a chunin and the captain of the team for this mission. And there was a genin named Sora from the Inuzuka clan with her dog Chibi and another genin, Daiki, a Doton user.

Jun detected a hint of familiarity when Sora teased the other two boys. To the Uchiha's surprise, Ise seemed to tolerate her behavior.

“Ise and I were on the same genin team. We both know Daiki because we did a few missions with his team back then. It’s the first time we’ve been sent together on a mission without a jonin.” Sora said.

“Two chunins and two genins… It’s a bit light. We’re not even a combat team.” Jun replied.

“The presence of enemies in the area hasn’t been confirmed. Even if we do encounter some hostile forces, we won’t face more than two ninjas. Kiri rarely sends complete teams on reconnaissance missions. Let’s pick up the pace.” Ise declared.