"Y-you!! You're an Uchiha!?!?!" Kentaro said in disbelief as Jun walked up in front of him.
His legs buckled, though he fought to stand tall, to maintain some shred of composure. But the blood trailing down his arm, the torn sleeve, the shudders at the corner of his eye—all of it betrayed him.
Jun said nothing at first. The crunch of his sandals over scorched grass and shattered senbon filled the silence as he closed the distance. Kentaro tried to square his shoulders, to still the tremble in his hands, but the blood and sweat gave him away.
The two tomoe in his eyes spun once more before fading. He stopped just shy of Kentaro, head tilted, lips curled into a calm, almost amused smile.
"Well… sort of."
Kentaro blinked at that answer. He had expected for Jun to be angry, especially after his outburst of trying to expose his hiding location.
"I'm only half Uchiha," Jun said casually, as if he were explaining his favorite ramen flavor. "Not enough to get the clan name. Just enough to get the eyes."
Kentaro's mouth opened. No words came out.
Jun stepped closer, leaned down slightly.
"But… I think that's enough, don't you?"
"Y-yeah…" Kentaro could do nothing but nod. Deep down, he was afraid of Jun, but his nonchalant attitude made him give out a sigh of relief. His previous attack on the Rain Genin made him look at Jun in a new light, however.
Jun turned his attention away from Kentaro and crouched beside Aya's unconscious body, inspecting the senbon wounds with careful hands. Particularly, he inspected the eye that was damaged by the water senbon.
The water senbon had pierced too deep. Right through the pupil. The pressure, the depth, the blood loss—there was no saving the eye. The tissue was shredded, and it's simply irreparable.
She'd live. But she wouldn't forget. Not the pain, nor the helplessness of losing the eye.
Jun's fingers moved gently as he cleaned around the socket, slow and precise, like a medic. On the surface, it looked like kindness.
It wasn't.
He was just scared that his points had flown away from his grasp.
"I'm impressed you two lasted as long as you did," Jun continued softly, pulling gauze from his pack. "Most genin would've dropped at the first ambush."
He then proceeded to patch Aya up. Ah, with tender hands of course.
Kentaro was still staring at him like he was watching a wild animal try on a friendly mask.
"I didn't mean to leave you hanging, by the way," Jun added, tone light. "I was just… planning ahead."
He smiled again. That same warm smile that had nothing warm behind it.
Kentaro swallowed hard. "T-the scroll…?"
"Ah. It's unfortunate, but it blew up," Jun made a show of sighing. "Not that we needed it. It was a Heaven scroll, same as ours. It's a useless duplication."
That seemed to relax Kentaro a little. He exhaled. Sat down slowly, wincing as he touched his side.
Jun didn't miss that.
He also didn't miss the shift—the subtle drop of Kentaro's guard. The change in his breathing. That small sliver of trust worming its way into his expression.
Jun took the opportunity to be very helpful.
"Let me help you patch up too, Kentaro," Jun said as he finished rolling some gauze around Aya's eye to make her look like Danzo.
"Ah, sure…" Kentaro said as Jun came over to him.
Seeing how helpful Jun was, Kentaro was mind blown. Jun's previous timid behaviour when he was placed in his and Aya's team for the Chunin exam had made them treat him badly. But now… he's an asset that the team can't do without.
"Jun…" Kentaro said meekly as he let his body be patched up.
"Hmm?" Jun hummed, wrapping a fresh strip of gauze around the boy's forearm. His fingers were careful, unhurried.
"I just… I wanted to say sorry."
Jun raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
Kentaro's voice dropped. "Not just for earlier. I mean, yeah, I shouldn't have shouted like that. Tried to throw you under the bus. But… it's not just that."
Jun paused mid-wrap.
Kentaro looked down, ashamed. "Riko and I… we didn't treat you right when the teams were announced. I guess we thought you'd drag us down. You always looked so… passive. Quiet. Kind of weak."
Jun finished the bandage and tied it off with a neat tug. He didn't respond right away.
Then, he smiled—warm and bright.
"I am weak," he said softly. "I just make up for it with planning."
Kentaro chuckled awkwardly, unsure if that was a joke.
Jun stood and stretched his arms, glancing over at Aya's unconscious form. "Speaking of your other half, we should really find shelter. She's not gonna be much use unless we let her recover."
"Yeah," Kentaro said, rising with a wince. "Riko needs a place to rest."
Jun blinked.
"…Who?"
"Riko."
Jun squinted at him. "Who the hell is Riko?"
Kentaro gestured toward the bloody, bandaged mess of a girl behind them. "Her."
Jun tilted his head slowly. "You mean… Aya?"
"No," Kentaro said, frowning. "Her name's Riko.
Jun stared at him blankly.
Then he looked at her. Then back at Kentaro.
"Okay. No. That's Aya."
Kentaro opened his mouth, then closed it.
Jun pointed at her again. "That's an Aya."
"She's—"
"I don't care if her birth certificate says Tofu Princess the Third. Her name's Aya."
Kentaro looked conflicted. Inwardly, he feels like Jun has a loose screw in the head.
Jun clapped him on the back. "Trust me. She looks like an Aya. She sounds like an Aya. She has the attitude of an Aya. I'm sticking with it."
"…You're not gonna change it?"
"Nope. She lost the eye, not the name."
Kentaro sighed in defeat. "Fine…"
"Good." Jun smiled. "Now let's go find a shelter before something tries to eat us.
...
...
They moved through the underbrush in silence, the soft rustle of leaves underfoot and the distant hum of insects the only sounds that accompanied them.
Riko's—no, Aya's—body was slung over Jun's back now. Her form was limp, head resting lightly against his shoulder. Warmth still radiated from her, her breathing steady but shallow. Blood had soaked through her bandages, and her hair stuck in clumps to her pale, sweat-damp face.
She was surprisingly heavy for someone with a small build, however.
"Should've left the attitude behind," Jun muttered under his breath, adjusting her weight. "Might've saved five pounds."
They pushed deeper into the woods until Jun found what he was looking for.
A shallow cave beneath a sloping rise in the terrain—hidden by vines and twisted roots, barely noticeable unless you were standing right on top of it. A narrow crack in the rock face led to a hollow space just large enough for three people.
Jun ducked inside, gently laying Aya down on the driest patch of stone he could find. Kentaro followed, dragging his feet slightly, eyes still flicking to Jun like he was waiting for him to sprout wings or start chanting curses.
Jun didn't speak right away.
Instead, he adjusted the shirt over Aya's shoulders and wiped a smudge of dirt from her face with his clean shirt.
He then stood up and dusted his hands.
"All right," he said, turning to Kentaro. "You stay here. Watch over her. Don't make noise, and don't attract attention. If someone shows up and they don't have red eyes, assume they're not me."
Kentaro blinked. "Wait—where are you going?"
"Scouting," Jun replied. "Food, water, and maybe intel."
"You're… going alone?"
Jun gave him a long look, deadpan, sarcastically replying. "No, I was hoping Aya would come with me. You know, once she stops leaking from the face."
"…Right. Sorry."
"Good. Stay put. Try not to die." Jun turned toward the cave entrance, then paused. "Also, if she wakes up and tells you her name's Riko, she might still have some head trauma."
Kentaro groaned because Jun was still going on about calling her Aya.
Jun grinned and slipped out of the cave, the shadows swallowing him like smoke.
As Jun moved farther from the cave, his expression shifted—bright smile melting into something sharper. Colder.
Had he become… nice?
Oh, absolutely not.
He was simply marinating.
Every bandage, every kind word, every false reassurance—it was all seasoning for the sweet, slow-cooked Chakra Points he'd keep squeezing from them.
Care? Compassion?
No, no. That was just the seasoning rub he had put on them.