Jun didn’t do much for his fifteenth birthday. He just hung out with friends and family. There was no big celebration. Iruka and Mizuki also passed their exams and became instructors at the Academy. Their teammate, Madoka, immersed herself in missions hoping to get a promotion before her marriage. She knew that having kids would follow and that she would have to put her ninja career on hold for a while.

Natsumi met a guy named Chomu from the Akimichi clan. He was a couple of years older than her. They met at a weapon shop and before long started dating. Chomu was rather lean for an Akimichi. His weapon of choice was a metal staff. Jun was happy for his friend, but Susumu was unfazed by the news. He claimed romance never lasted and that it was a waste of time. Natsumi merely ignored his comments.

Izumi was progressing well with her Medical Ninjutsu. She managed to master the Mystic Palm a couple of weeks before her brother. Jun already knew that would happen as he couldn’t focus most of his time on it. It was a given his sister would learn it faster than him. He had even neglected his Fuinjutsu. He hadn’t come up with anything new in a while. He didn’t have a lot of free time, but he decided to carve a little time to keep researching Fuinjutsu.

Tensions between the Uchihas and the rest of the village seemed to have reached their peak. Jun knew it was only a matter of months before Itachi would make his choice.

The teenager saw Susumu leave Konoha for the chunin exam. He wished his friend luck though he was confident Susumu would succeed this time. He was ready. Neji still hung out with Jun’s family. He would sometimes babysit Kazuma. The young Hyuga took this task very seriously. He was starting to get more comfortable with the family. Kazuma remained his favorite person though. However, there was a certain familiarity between him, Jun, and Izumi.

Jun invited Neji to practice together one day. At seven years old, his mastery of the Hyuga Gentle Fist was quite decent. Jun had been training with Madoka and Miyamoto and was used to the clan fighting style. He could have easily defeated Neji before the latter could even move. But that wasn’t his goal. He wanted to help the boy improve.

Therefore, he sparred with Neji without looking down on him. He wanted to push him to his limits. But Jun was careful not to put too much strength into his blows. He used some Doton techniques he had discreetly copied from Kanna. He wanted to see how the Hyuga would defend against Ninjutsu. The boy was able to protect himself.

Jun switched to others elements and kept attacking him until he exhausted the young Hyuga. But Neji was too proud to stop and admit defeat. So Jun halted the sparring before the boy collapsed.

“Let’s stop for today. You did well.”

“You’re strong, way stronger than me,” Neji said.

Jun laughed.

“I’m a jonin and also older than you. I have the advantage for now. Who knows what will happen when you’re my age? You can be proud of yourself. You’re already this strong, and you’re not a genin yet. I know genins less gifted than you. Your only weakness is Ninjutsu. You have trouble dealing with it. But I imagine you will come up with a suitable defense with time.”

“Thanks.”

“Does the Gentle Fist have any ranged attack?”

“I believe so, but they will not teach it to me as I'm not part of the main family.”

“Nonsense,” Jun muttered disgustedly.

Neji had a faint smile on his face when he heard Jun’s tone.

“Would you like to learn some basic Ninjutsu?”

“It’s not the Hyuga style.”

“Maybe so, but you are your own person. You can probably learn Hyuga techniques by watching the members of the main family. But it won’t hurt if you have your own weapons. Having a few tricks up your sleeves isn’t a bad thing. Think about it. I’m here to help you.”

Neji didn’t say anything, but Jun could tell from his facial expression that the boy was thinking about his words.

The teenager carried out another mission with Shisui and the rest of the team. They were to eliminate the intruders near the northeast part of their border. Some Iwa ninjas were detected there. They were in large numbers, and the team had some difficulty getting rid of them all. They returned to Konoha exhausted and quite shaken. This mission reminded them that they shouldn’t be comfortable and ought to keep getting stronger.

Susumu returned from Suna with a happy smile. He was now a chunin. He was the last member of Team 14 to be promoted. However, he was happier when he learned he had been accepted to the Intelligence Section.

The new year came. Jun and his family went out to celebrate and watch the fireworks. Neji joined them. Apart from the few police officers on duty, there were no Uchihas in the streets to celebrate with the rest of the villagers. People seemed not to notice… or maybe they didn’t care about the Uchihas anymore.

Jun briefly thought about going near the Uchiha district to see Shisui and possibly Itachi. But he stopped himself. He knew he wasn't welcome there. The teenager desperately thought of ways to prevent the massacre. Most of his ideas would put his family in danger. Telling the village about it wasn’t an option. He couldn’t explain how he got the information.

What else could he do? Kill Danzo? He couldn’t even get close to the man. Facilitating the coup and possibly letting the village go through a civil war? He didn’t like that idea either. He also toyed with the idea of killing Itachi, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to do it. He had gotten close to the Uchiha prodigy. He considered him a friend. He knew he didn’t have what it took to kill him in cold blood. Moreover, it wouldn’t be easy killing the Uchiha. Jun saw no way out of it.

After the new year, Jun embarked on a solo mission to the Land of Waves. It was a quiet mission as a bodyguard. He only had to deal with an assassin who decided to try his luck and lost his life. The teenager used the opportunity to work on his Fuinjutsu. He wanted to further improve his storage seal to increase the capacity of objects he could store.

Jun was also thinking of the Raging Rupture Seal he had created. He felt he had to share it with Shisui. It would at least prevent Danzo from using his eyes. He felt bad for not being able to do more. His Fuinjutsu seal won’t protect the Uchihas against the massacre. But If Danzo used Shisui’s eyes, he would die. A potential threat would then be removed.

Giving the Raging Rupture seal to Shisui was accepting the fact that he would die. Jun would use him to indirectly attack Danzo. He was ready to manipulate his friend for his benefit. Since he couldn’t save Shisui, he was ready to use his death to help his cause.

Shortly after Kazuma’s birthday, Jun decided to talk to Shisui about the seal. He waited to be alone with the Uchiha after one of the team’s practices.

“There is a seal I want to give you.” Jun bluntly declared.

Shisui was a bit surprised.

“Oh, to me?”

The teenager nodded.

“It’s a seal that prevents Dojutsu to be used by an unwanted party.”

“You mean like the Hyuga seal?”

Jun shook his head categorically.

“It’s not like that. My Raging Rupture Seal destroys the eye as soon as it is infused with a foreign chakra. Unlike the Hyuga seal, it can’t be controlled by a third party and can be easily removed. Also, it’s invisible as it blends with the veins behind the eyeball.”

Shisui was silent for a moment.

“You know that it’s unlikely for me to get my eyes stolen, right?”

Jun shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying to hide his true emotions.

“It’s just in case. You can see it as a precautionary measure.”

Shisui’s shoulders relaxed a bit.

“When you say the seal destroys the eye, you mean it explodes?”

Jun suddenly thought that Shisui could tell Danzo about the seal after having his eye gouged out to prevent Konoha from losing a valuable asset in Danzo.

“It does not explode.” He lied.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, I am. I created it. The seal just disintegrates the eye. It’s a bit gross, but it doesn’t rip off the guy’s head. But if you want, I should be able to modify it a bit to make it explode…”

“Nah, that’s ok. And it’s easily removable?”

“Yes, that’s its weakness. If someone knows that the seal is there and searches for it, they can find it and remove it. So, it’s absolutely necessary to keep its existence secret for it to be effective. You shouldn’t tell anyone about it, ok? Not your clan leader, not your commander, not the Hokage, not your future team, no one…”

Shisui stared at him. He said nothing for a second. Jun had no idea what he was thinking.

“Alright. Let’s do it.”

Jun placed the Raging Rupture Seal on Shisui’s eyes. The process was quick. He had done it a few times already. Nothing indicated the presence of the seal after Jun had finished. But he knew the seal was in place. His weapon against Danzo had been set. He just hoped Shisui wouldn’t remove it and that Danzo would go after one of his eyes.

Jun gave his friend a faint smile. He still felt bad using Shisui. The seal wasn’t meant to protect him, but to take out Danzo to protect Jun and his family. It was a selfish act, and the teenager knew it.

“Are you going to give it to Itachi as well?” Shisui asked curiously.

Jun was caught off guard for a moment. He could share it with Itachi, but he knew no one would be able to steal the prodigy’s eyes. Also, he doesn’t trust Itachi as much as Shisui.

“I didn’t plan on it. He’s less exposed than you. He’s Fugaku’s son and a rising star in the ANBU. Do you think he needs it?”

However, Jun was prepared to give in if Shisui insisted on him putting the seal on Itachi. If he resisted too much, he would appear suspicious.

“Not at the moment… But if things change, can you think about protecting him too?”

In Jun’s opinion, Itachi was the last person that needed his protection. But, he nodded anyway. Itachi was still a young teenager under tremendous pressure from two opposite parties. He was vulnerable. Seeing how Shisui wanted to protect him so much touched Jun. He would try to reach out to Itachi. He was willing to do as much for Shisui.

“I promise.”

They went to train with Itachi that evening and the day after. Even though the two Uchihas hadn’t mentioned it, Jun was pretty sure that these training sessions were secret. He knew the clan wouldn’t approve of them hanging out with the outcast. Jun had guessed it may have been the reason Shisui always kept their sparring matches strictly to Taijutsu and Genjutsu. Ninjutsu was forbidden as it would be loud and would draw unnecessary attention.

The teenager didn’t complain about it. He understood. He enjoyed training with them and also kept a large part of his abilities hidden. Itachi had no idea what he was capable of with Fuinjutsu; he had never seen him use his different seals. Perhaps Shisui had told him about it, but Jun doubted it. Well, even if Shisui had talked, the teenager still had a few tricks up his sleeve. He hadn’t shown everything he was capable of to Shisui on their various missions. He knew both Shisui and Itachi were keeping quiet about the clan’s idea of a coup. They haven’t mentioned anything to him. Jun was also hiding his knowledge of the future. In a way, they had betrayed each other in secret while still smiling and joking together.