Jun saw Itachi stiffen, his face completely devoid of expressions. Was it because of the appearance of Izumi’s Sharingan? Or was it because of his feelings for the girl? Maybe he had wanted to kill her before she realized what was going on. But it was too late now. Izumi had seen it, and she understood everything. The betrayal and pain she felt had awakened the Dojutsu in her genes.

A small part of Jun lamented that it was happening now. He knew how intense her feelings toward Itachi must have been for his betrayal to have shaken her to the core. The teenager couldn’t think too much about it. He was about to fight to the death. He wouldn’t let Itachi lay a finger on his family.

He slowly bent his knees, lowering his center of gravity. He felt a familiar rage burning through his veins. It was the moment he had been preparing for. His heart was beating frantically.

“Izumi, run!” Jun shouted without taking his eyes off Itachi.

“But…”

Itachi attacked, but Jun was ready this time. He quickly activated his Sharingan and used the Lightening Pillar Jutsu he had once copied from Kenji, the shinobi from Kumo. Raiton’s blinding light filled the marketplace. Jun had closed his eyes in time. He heard Itachi's muffled growl. He backed away a little. To his relief, he noticed that the kids started running again, dragging Izumi along with them. Jun felt like an invisible weight had been lifted off his shoulders. They were walking away from danger. They would be safe. It was now up to him to make sure Itachi doesn’t go after them.

He looked at the Uchiha. He had killed the entire clan. Most of them were civilians, but still… However, no one there had put up a fight. They were caught by surprise and off guard. But Jun was ready.

Itachi had deactivated his Sharingan, probably due to his Raiton technique. But he activated it a few seconds later. Jun drew his katana. Itachi had always been dangerous. But now, he felt it in his posture and gaze. The young prodigy wanted to kill him. That much was obvious. He wasn’t pretending. For the first time, the thirteen-year-old boy he had trained with so often looked like a stranger, a threat, a killer.

“Do you think I’m going to let you hurt my family, Itachi?”

Jun activated his Dojutsu again. This time, he could see the shock on Itachi’s face before the expressionless mask reappeared.

“I’ve killed countless Uchihas with the Sharingan. Yours doesn’t scare me.”

“You’ve become talkative, Itachi. How about you let your actions speak?”

They attacked simultaneously. Shurikens flew and hit a wall of roaring Raiton. Then, they transitioned to hand-to-hand combat, like two ferocious beasts trying to tear each other apart. They danced around each other’s blows, colliding head-on, slipping into the enemy’s guard in an attempt to deliver a mortal blow. They retreated before charging again. Itachi was all grace and precision attacking. He was a lethal fighter. His movements were so swift, that they were hard to follow. There was no hesitation behind his attacks. But even without Sharingan, Jun knew how to keep up with him. With his Sharingan, everything seemed clearer and sharper. The teenager pushed the Uchiha away violently.

Itachi went back to long-range attacks. Volleys of shurikens and a surge of elemental Jutsus appeared. The Futon roared, tearing tiles from the neighboring roofs. The Raiton brought forth lightning that smashed on the ground with such force that cobblestones exploded in all directions. Katon jutsus collided in a crash of flames.

They seemed evenly matched. There was no time to think in such a battle. They only acted and reacted, carried by the whirlwind of the battle. The impact of their jutsus shook the whole street. The flashes and flames illuminated their battlefield.

Itachi suddenly lifted his head, and Jun also sensed it. Reinforcements were approaching. Several people were converging on them. The place would soon be surrounded. Itachi turned to him and suddenly the three tomoe of his Sharingan moved and merged together, forming the Mangekyo pattern. Jun realized what was about to happen. He knew what was coming even though Itachi never used that technique on him before. It was the ocular jutsu that knocked down Kakashi in the original story. But Jun couldn’t afford to lose. He also had an ace up his sleeve.

“Tsukuyomi!”

“Shikigami!”

Jun felt the Genjutsu seep into his chakra as he activated his own Mangekyo. For a second, the powers of their Dojutsu clashed. An unstoppable force colliding with an immovable object. The black and red world of Itachi’s Mangekyo shook, then shattered like a broken mirror due to Jun's ocular powers. Shikigami, the power to find the weakness in all things and destroy them.

However, the fraction of a second of struggle had allowed Itachi to get closer, his katana in hand. When Jun came to reality, the young Uchiha was very close. Instinctively, he turned to another of his aces, his ultimate defense. Black lines covered the entire devastated area, tracing a seal he had drawn a thousand times. The mix of ink and blood instantly took form. A split second before activating the Susanoo, Jun looked up, and his Mangekyo Sharingan met with Itachi’s.

He then activated his giant explosive seal and blew up the whole place.

When the dust settled, Itachi was nowhere to be found. Jun wasn’t surprised. The Uchiha prodigy also possessed the Mangekyo in both eyes and could probably use Susanoo like him. He had likely taken advantage of the dust to escape. Jun took a deep breath and relaxed before deactivating his Sharingan. His heart was still beating like a drum. The adrenaline hadn’t run out yet. But the fight was over. It had been brief. It was surprising that their confrontation hadn't attracted more people. They hadn’t been discreet.

He changed his chakra to sensory mode to pick up on Itachi’s energy. He sensed a faint trace of it, heading toward the nearest exit. Jun didn’t pursue him. The rage no longer burned within him. He had been furious when he saw Itachi trying to kill his sister. That was all. He wanted to protect his family. He wasn’t shocked by Itachi’s actions. He had been expecting this very moment ever since he was reborn in this world. The fight was now over. He felt neither sorrow nor triumph… Just acceptance, a bit of bitterness, and relief. It was over. He had protected his siblings from the massacre. It was enough for him.

“Jun!”

He looked up as he recognized the voice. It was Yugao. Despite the mask, her purple hair was a dead giveaway.

“You’re ok? Are you hurt?” His friend asked.

The rest of the ANBU team appeared. One of them was Kakashi, easily recognizable by his hair color.

“Where is Itachi Uchiha?” He asked.

“On the run. Why hasn't anyone arrived before? We didn’t fight discreetly.”

“The whole village is under curfew because of the incident with the Police earlier today. The ANBU patrols are almost all at the Uchiha District or the Hokage building right now. There has been an incident.” Kakashi explained.

“At the Hokage building?” Jun was surprised. Nothing happened there in the storyline he remembered.

Kakashi seemed to hesitate. But before he could say he was confidential, Yugao opened her mouth.

“Danzo was murdered. He was with the Hokage, on the way to the ANBU base. We think it was a delayed Jutsu. It was some kind of bomb. We don’t know yet if Itachi is behind it or someone else.”

Kakashi glared sternly at Yugao from behind his mask, and she fell silent. Jun froze, suppressing a nervous laugh.

Danzo was dead, It was the first good news he had heard in the past hours. Danzo had probably wanted to use Shisui’s eye on the Sandaime. To what end? Jun had no idea. He didn’t really care at this point. His Raging Rupture Seal had worked. Shisui didn’t tell Danzo about it and didn’t remove the seal. He trusted Jun to the very end… The teenager felt a bit sad thinking about Shisui.

Anyway, Danzo was now out of the equation. But it was a bit too late… If he had died sooner, maybe Itachi wouldn’t have had to do what he did. He thought about Itachi’s lifeless gaze. The Uchiha District must have been littered with corpses. Izumi’s horrified expression when she awakened the Sharingan came to his mind. All of it could have been avoided if Danzo had died a few hours sooner.

“Jun?” Yugao whispered.

He took a deep breath and raised his head, smiling a little.

“I’m fine. I have to go find my family. I told them to wait for me at the Division.”

“We’ll escort you,” Kakashi said.

Jun didn’t see the point, but he said nothing. Izumi and the others had arrived safely. They were in the hall, a cup of tea in their hands, looking haggard and anxious. Izumi, especially, looked devastated. Her eyes were back to normal, but they were a bit red as if she had cried. The thin cut left by Itachi’s blade had been bandaged, but it was impossible to hide her severed hair. Itachi had really meant to kill her.

Jun let Kakashi inform Shikaku of the details and joined his family. He saw the relief on their faces when they saw him, safe and sound. He didn’t say anything and knelt down before Izumi. Her eyes were starting to overflow with tears. Jun hugged her. His little sister clung to his jacket, her shoulders were shaking. She had loved Itachi deeply. And he had just betrayed the village, massacred his people, and tried to kill her in cold blood. It was too much for her to take.

But what could Jun say? Itachi had made his choice. Even though there had been pressure on him or if he was manipulated into doing what he did, it was ultimately his decision. It was too late to turn back. The pain and betrayal couldn’t easily be erased. No revelation would make Izumi forget the horror of that second when her childhood crush stared at her with lifeless eyes with the detachment of a killer staring at his target.

Shikaku asked Jun to give him a quick summary of his fight against Itachi. He did and only left out the part of their Mangekyo Sharingan. He even had to go to the Hokage’s building to report as well. Neji, very upset, was taken home by an anxious-looking Hyuga. Apparently, the slaughter of an entire clan was what it took for Hiashi Hyuga to remember that he had a nephew.

It was decided that it was too risky for the surviving Uchihas to return to their apartment. So, they spent the night at the Division. Karin and Kazuma fell asleep quite fast. They must have been beyond exhaustion. Izumi stayed in her corner. Jun wasn’t able to sleep either. Several ANBUs remained there to guard them, including Yugao. She was shaken by what she saw in the Uchiha District. She spent the rest of the night sitting next to Jun, motionless, holding his hand in a silent gesture of comfort.

No one slept much that night.

Jun’s thoughts were all over the place, his mother’s death, the Uchihas, Itachi, Danzo, his family, Izumi’s Sharingan… Did she even realize that she awakened it? Anyway, Jun was tired of all of it. He wanted to rest. He knew the Uchihas’ fate. He had known for years. It was unfair to them. There were many innocent people among the poor souls. Even if they had staged a coup, they didn’t deserve this.

Itachi… He had been a lost teenager, paralyzed by indecision and easily manipulated in his opinion. Jun was still angry at him for trying to kill his sister. But he had been his friend too… an eternity ago. He had also been Shisui’s friend. A friend that Shisui had made him promise to help.

The village would probably try to bury everything and blame Itachi. In Jun’s opinion, Itachi was just a tool, an instrument of the higher-ups. The guilties were Danzo, the Uchihas who were pushing for the coup, and the Sandaime who had let all this happen under his nose.

Jun resented Itachi, the Uchihas, Danzo, the Hokage, and even himself. But he had learned long ago that blaming yourself was useless. It was always more constructive to turn that anger into something productive. That was what he wanted. He also wanted someone to take responsibility for all of it. He doesn’t want it to end like this. For him, nothing was resolved.

At dawn, Jun still hadn’t figured it out. He didn’t know what he was going to do, what he was going to say, and who he was going to accuse. However, one thing was clear in his mind, he wasn’t going to let them bury everything.