Although Konoha was a military and almost dictatorial structure, it was far from being a rigid and authoritarian regime. Everyone did a bit of everything. As a member of the Division, Jun acted as secretary for Shikaku a couple of days a week. But he also had new duties such as attending briefings with the Intelligence Section, patrolling secret training areas, or arbitrating differences between ninjas… Which was originally a task for the Police. However, most shinobis complained to Shikaku rather than to the Uchihas. It said a lot about the relationship between the Uchiha clan and the rest of the village.

Moreover, Jun had to participate in training with other members of the Division. It wasn’t just about beating each other up. Generally, a scenario was set up, such as an enemy invasion, a natural disaster, a capture of a rogue ninja, a discreet assassination, or an escort of an eminent individual. The goal was for them to come up with a strategy, implement it, then discuss it afterward to investigate the flaws in the plan and find a way to fix them.

Being part of the Division doesn’t mean one couldn’t do anything else. It just meant that their direct superior was Shikaku Nara. Moreover, in the event of an attack on the village, it was on them to coordinate the defenses.

The teenager crossed paths with Kakashi several times in their headquarters, but they never engaged in conversations. Kakashi wasn’t very sociable. He seemed to spend his time reading reports with a disinterested air or casually criticizing the decisions of others. It was infuriating.

“Kakashi is a special case. He’s extremely reluctant to work with a team. But given his potential and the fact that he was a student of the Yondaime, I feel like it’s a waste to not train him for leadership.” Shikaku told him one day when Jun asked about Kakashi.

“Because there is a chance he may become Hokage in the future.”

Shikaku gave him a sharp look.

“That’s a clever conclusion.”

Jun almost laughed. Thanks to his memories, he had access to more information than all of them. He didn’t feel bad about improving his reputation by using what he knew. However, it doesn’t mean that he couldn’t analyze data to come to a conclusion. The teenager was smart. He had never tried to hide that, but most of his missions required little strategy or had been commanded by someone else who had not needed assistance in making decisions. That was why Jun was having a blast in the Division with the theoretical scenarios of their training or even the analysis of the documents provided by the Intelligence Section. He managed to extrapolate many things using that information and his memories from the story.

The weeks flew by. Jun was still on active duty, so he performed the same type of missions… sometimes solo, sometimes with a chunin team, and in other instances with another jonin. Furthermore, he carried out a few missions as a member of the Division. He was tasked to sabotage a port in the Land of Lightning, capture a spy, and destroy an invasion team from Kiri. The latter turned out to be a group of suicide bombers wishing to die in battle rather than in the civil war agitating their country.

Jun was very busy. He spent less time with his old friends. Genma had become a jonin and also joined the Division. They saw each other during training. He hadn’t seen his other friends in a while. It wasn’t that he was abandoning them, but his work with the division was consuming most of his time. He liked it though.

The teenager discovered that Shikaku was a real workaholic despite his reputation for laziness. But he was also always ready to talk. Jun liked to assist him and believed it was mutual. The jonin commander liked to challenge him. He entrusted him with increasingly complex theoretical scenarios. He invited him to play Shogi more often and complained about his wife and son with humor. In short, Jun got along well with the Nara.

Izumi turned thirteen years old. Karin had just entered the Academy and was put in the same class as Neji. She was doing well. She had shortcomings, but Neji gave her lessons in the evening to help her catch up. They slowly became friends. When a boy made fun of Karin’s red hair, Neji beat him up in the Taijutsu class. However, Karin was no pushover. She was beginning to assert herself and defended herself with a volley of fiery insults.

Jun and Karin rented an apartment not far away from his family’s place. Kazuma was now able to have his own room. Then, Hazuki made her older children sit in the kitchen, taking advantage of the absence of the other children in the house, and told them something that rocked Jun’s world.

“My parents have reconnected with me.”

Jun was shocked by the revelation. Izumi slammed her fist fiercely on the table.

“How dare they? After the way they treated us…”

“Izumi is right. I mean… why now?” Jun asked.

They had chased Hazuki and the kids away. They had kicked them out. It was inconceivable that they would reconsider their decision. Their grandparents were too proud… unless they were cornered. Jun began to realize with horror. Unless they were trying to put all the advantages on their side in anticipation of a coup. Hazuki wasn’t very strong, but she knew all the ins and outs of the current administration.

Moreover, she has many friends compared to most Uchihas. She could be a key element in the pacification of the village if the coup succeeded. Jun cursed himself for not having thought of the possibility. He had been too naive. The teenager was also a jonin, a huge asset for the village. If they managed to turn his mother, they could get to him. That was probably their line of thought.

“I don’t know, and it worries me. I think they are doing it behind the clan’s back. My mother seems frightened. She wants it to remain a secret.” Their mother said in a low voice.

Jun was now certain it was related to the coup the Uchihas were planning. He felt a knot in his stomach. They were trying to implicate his mother. She wasn’t even an active ninja anymore. She couldn’t fight.

“It’s too suspicious. Tell them to leave you alone.” Jun said firmly.

Izumi approved, but their mom seemed torn.

“Of course it’s suspicious. Do you think I don’t know, Jun? It’s not like them to go back on their word like that. They must be desperate to turn to me. They’re definitely hiding something, and I intend to find out what.”

Jun’s heart sank. He wanted his mom nowhere near the Uchihas’ affairs.

“No!” He shouted.

Their mother looked shocked, then displeased.

“Jun…”

“What if the Uchiha clan is involved with something terrible? Maybe they want to do something horrible… Something that could be seen as treason.”

His mother was silent for a moment.

“Have you heard anything from the Division?”

The Division didn’t know that the Uchihas were plotting a coup. However, Jun thought that Shikaku must have suspected that something was going on with the Uchiha clan. He just didn’t know what.

“No.” He replied.

Their mother stared at him for a moment before sighing. She ruffled his hair with a tender gesture.

“I’m not going to put myself in danger, Jun. I’m warning you both because you’re old enough to know how proud the Uchihas are, and how meaningful this gesture is. And my decision is made. If my parents are involved in something dangerous, I need to know.”

Jun shook his head. He couldn’t imagine his mother getting involved in this. It was a nightmare.

“Promise us to be careful then. Don’t go to the Uchiha District. If they want to meet, they can do it in town.” Izumi said.

“Exactly! It’s not up to them to dictate the terms. If they want something from you, they can come and ask.” Jun added.

“Oh, and we don’t want to see them…” Izumi declared.

Jun nodded.

“We can’t force you not to see your parents. But you can’t force us to see them either.” Jun added.

Their mother sighed, but she kept her word. She didn’t go to the Uchiha District. Seichi and Nao never crossed paths with their grandchildren. But Jun often saw letters from them. They were quite long and were always carefully destroyed after reading them.

The content of the letters seemed innocent, though. Jun and his sister read one or two. Nao was just talking about her day, her regrets, or Hazuki’s siblings who died long ago. Although Jun was sure it was connected to the coup, it really felt like they just wanted to reconnect with their daughter because they missed her.

The letters never mentioned Kazuma, but their grandparents seemed to regret leaving their daughter behind. There was nothing compromising in the letters. Jun picked up on a sentence alluding to the need for the Uchihas to support each other as a family. But the letter didn’t elaborate further. But it made Jun suspicious.

The letters were becoming more frequent. At first, it was one a week. Then, it became one every other day. They even started sending gifts. Jun began to notice objects that had belonged to his mother when they lived with their grandparents. They had been forced to leave them behind, but the teenager saw them now in the kitchen, the living room, and the bathroom of his mother’s apartment.

They were small things such as a vase, a recipe book, a comb, a mirror… But Jun couldn’t help being discontent. His grandparents were trying too hard. They were definitely hiding something. But his mother remained firm in her position to maintain contact with them despite Jun’s pleas to cut them out. She reassured him she had things under control.

She wasn’t being coaxed to do anything. She wasn’t going to the Uchiha district. She politely thanked her parents for giving her belongings back and continued corresponding with them. She tried to ask the right questions, wanting to know what was troubling them. But she never received a straight answer.

Hazuki loved her parents, but they had hurt each other too much to forget the past. She was careful. Sometimes, Jun forgot she used to be a shinobi. She watched, analyzed, and planned. She was far from being naive. She was hurt not to have a real relationship with her parents, but she didn’t allow her feelings to get in the way.

Jun found it dangerous, but he didn’t interfere. He was observing what was going on anyway. The Uchihas were going to die. The teenager had selfishly tried to preserve his relationship with Shisui and Itachi for years. He could let his mother communicate with her parents before they were killed by Itachi.

Thinking about both his Uchiha friends, he hardly saw them anymore. Itachi was like a ghost these days. Jun sometimes sensed his chakra within an ANBU patrol but nothing more. The Uchiha prodigy hadn’t trained with him in months. And Shisui… he wasn’t much better. He seemed very depressed. He always put on a big, reassuring smile when people worried about him, but Jun knew him too well not to see through the mask.

Ever since the special team disbanded, Shisui had distanced himself from his former teammates. He hadn’t said much to them in weeks, and they had barely seen him. It was as if he was afraid to talk to them. As if he didn’t know what to say to them, like he was lost. Jun couldn’t get his hands on him. He began to worry.

The teenager couldn’t openly talk about his fears to those around him. Few people knew of his friendship with Shisui. Iruka was busy with the Academy, and Yugao was consumed by the ANBU. Susumu and Natsumi also went their separate ways. Shiba was on a long-term mission outside the village. However, Jun still saw the other members of the special team. He trained regularly with Kanna and Miyamoto. They also hung out together to grab something to eat and catch up on their latest adventures or misadventures.

“Do you have any news from Shisui?” Jun asked.

He asked the question every time they met. But the other two shook their heads.

“I’m not sure what he’s been up to… I hope he’s well.” Kanna said.

“His clan must be putting pressure on him. They reassigned him to the Police, but the Hokage took him back to give him a special mission. His clan isn’t happy about it.”

“Shisui deserves to be treated better than that.” Kanna declared.

Jun’s mind was racing. He wasn’t sure of when exactly Shisui would die. Would it be a couple of months before the massacre? Or maybe less? He knew Shisui’s death would awaken Itachi’s Mangekyo Sharingan. The loss of his only true friend would be enough to plunge the young prodigy into a suffering that would ultimately awaken his Mangekyo. The Uchihas would investigate to look into his death and Itachi would be a suspect. However, Jun needed to know the timing of all events. There was even a chance that everything would happen sooner than anticipated.

“Jun, how are you?” Miyamoto asked, interrupting the Uchiha’s thoughts.

He forced himself to smile, but his friends didn’t look reassured.

“I have a bad feeling about this…”

The Hyuga nodded sympathetically, but Kanna narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing him.

“Did you hear something from the Division?”

Jun had a faint smile. Everyone thought the Division knew everything happening in the village.

“No, I didn’t. Given the relationship between the Uchiha clan and the village, I believe Shisui is caught between a rock and a hard place. I can’t explain it; I just have a very bad feeling.”

Miyamoto and Kanna reassured him. They told him it would pass, that Shisui was strong and they would personally look for him to cheer him up. However, Jun’s anguish didn’t go away. He couldn’t stop the thoughts flowing in his mind. Maybe he could stop everything by killing Fugaku. He didn’t know what became of Itachi. He felt a vague sense of urgency and horror, like when you realize something awful is happening, and it’s too late to escape it. He wasn’t able to eat anything that evening.

The teenager didn’t sleep well. He felt bad. He had been so focused on protecting himself and his family that he hadn’t done anything. He had made no plans against the impending disaster. He had underestimated how much he valued Shisui, one of his closest friends, his comrade, and his captain. He thought he could deal better with the knowledge of his impending death. But Jun felt awful. He spent the night staring at the ceiling. He was lost. He didn’t know what to do. Maybe he subconsciously knew it was already too late.

Shisui committed suicide that night.