Yamato's Guilt

The cats scattered, each in a different direction. Jun took a deep breath, turned to Yamato, and took off his jacket soaked in blood. The wound was ugly. Jun focused and activated the Mystical Palm. Chakra enveloped his hand as he put it close to the gash. The edges of the wound slowly came closer, pressed together, and fused forming a thick scar tissue.

The procedure took him almost ten minutes. A true medic-ninja could have done it in a fifth of the time. When he stood up, his forehead was covered in sweat. The medical ninjutsu was complex. The perforated lung still wasn't treated, but at least Yamato wouldn't be losing any more blood. And the hardest was yet to come. Jun helped Yamato climb on his back. Damn, the Jonin was heavier than he thought. The journey wouldn't be easy.

"Naruto, Kazuma, Hotaru, you will follow me. We're heading to Konoha. Don't slack off." He said to the genins.

The kids were well-trained. They could make the journey in two days... Maybe even a day and a half if they really pushed themselves. They could only cross their fingers and hope that Yamato would hold out until then. Without further ado, they set out.

********

Jun had forgotten what it was like to rush with genins following him. They were infinitely slower than the clan leader in an emergency situation. It was something he didn't miss. Naruto, Kazuma, and Hotaru were doing their best, but it was clear they were exhausted. There was their fight, and before then, they probably didn't rest before they engaged their opponents. Their legs weren't fresh to begin. Moreover, all the emotions and stress from the fight added to their fatigue.

In Jun's eyes, they were going too slow. The latter was trying not to get annoyed, but it was frustrating. And he couldn't slow down, not with Yamato in that state! He cursed and blamed his lack of foresight. If he knew the Kage Bunshin, he could have left a clone and an invocation with the kids and left with Yamato with a clear conscience. But he didn't bother to learn the technique. Even if Naruto tried to teach him now, it would take time. Time they did not have. What idiot he was! He swore at least a dozen times to learn the technique as soon as they returned to the village.

He preceded the Genins by a few meters. He was trying not to leave them behind, but it was getting hard by the second. They were inevitably slowing down, Jun could keep an eye on them thanks to his sensor abilities, but he would have preferred that they kept up the pace He clenched his teeth, then shook Yamato slightly.

"Hey, still alive?"

Yamato uttered an incomprehensible grumbling, then muttered weakly.

"It's my fault."

His breathing was wheezing, and his voice was full of guilt. Jun had no trouble guessing what he was talking about. He didn't turn his head towards the Genins and lowered his voice to prevent them from hearing him.

"It was a shitty mission. It happens."

And Yamato was lucky. Many of those missions ended with one or more corpses. Here, everyone was coming home. Yamato could count himself and his team lucky.

"It was my fault," Yamato insisted. "I should have been able to beat Samidare. I ... I made a mistake."

Samidare? It was probably their opponent, Jun thought, remembering the corpse torn to pieces in front of the inn. He would have to take a look at his Bingo Book to see if the man made it there. But if Yamato said he should have beaten him, the Uchiha believed him.

"What happened?"

Yamato let out a guilty laugh, which ended in a groan of pain.

"I hesitated. The Mokuton... I was in the ANBU, I never used it in front of witnesses. And there, I… I don't know, I hesitated. I wanted to be sure that the children had moved away. I almost used it but changed to a Doton at the last moment. I did not… I should have gone with my guts. I had a moment of hesitation, and he got me. Then, he attacked the Genins. I was supposed to protect them. He would have killed them, if…"

Yamato was silent, not knowing how to finish his sentence. If Naruto hadn't let the demon out. Or to be accurate, if Kyuubi hadn't used Naruto being severely injured to momentarily take over. Jun remained silent for a moment.

"But you're alive," Jun finally said. "So are the kids."

Kazuma, especially. Jun had been so afraid for his little brother when Balu appeared before him to declare the Nine-Tails was awake. He had already lost his dad at the hands of the Kyubi. He didn't think he would have the strength to lose another member of his family in the same way.

"We wouldn't have made it alive without you," Yamato said.

"You're giving me too much credit. I arrived after the fight. The enemies were defeated You certainly could have calmed down Naruto alone and sent a message for backup."

They would have all gotten away with it. They had done the hardest alone. Jun was always too late to act… The Nine-Tails Assault on the village, Shisui's suicide, the death of his mother, and the massacre of the clan. He tried to plan the best he could, but afterward, he realized he had failed. He had done nothing. It was his curse. All he could do was try to pick up the pieces.

"Because of me, this mission is a failure."

"You didn't complete the mission?"

He had raised his voice without paying attention. Behind him, he felt the three kids startled as if they had forgotten why they had been sent to the village, and that they had just remembered.

"The bandits!"

"We caught them all and tied them up, right?"

"Yes, but they must have escaped in the chaos!"

Jun hadn't activated his Sharingan when he arrived at the scene, so he did not remember every single detail between the fire, the chaos, the corrosive chakra of the Kyuubi, and the destroyed inn.

"Failure of a C-rank mission?" The clan leader started in a light tone. "It's not that bad. Another team will be sent for it. And this time, they won't run into a hostile Kiri ninja in the middle of the Land of Fire."

There was silence, and Jun didn't need to turn around to know that the Genins exchanged shameful looks or held back tears of frustration. It was their first C-Rank mission, and even though they had been warned it might be a disaster, they probably hadn't prepared for its failure.

"What happened really? Kazuma suddenly asked. "Naruto, I thought he got you good, but you have nothing, not even a scratch. You provoked that explosion too?"

The atmosphere suddenly became tense. Jun almost wanted to turn around to see Naruto's face. And Hotaru, as well. The girl was very silent.. What had she seen? What had she guessed from her observations? The Uchiha clan leader wanted to know more. Usually, Jun would have no qualms about questioning them personally, but it wasn't the right moment with Yamato injured.

"If you have the energy to talk, you better run faster," Jun ordered dryly to cut short any other questions.

The Genins obeyed and remained silent.

For several hours they ran in silence. Naruto had a serious expression on his face, but he still had enough energy to keep up with the pace. That was one of the benefits of being Kyuubi's Jinchuriki. His stamina was off the chart. Even without the Nine-Tails' chakra, Naruto's own energy reserve was colossal for a child his age. He probably got it from his Uzumaki's genes.

It was Kazuma and Hotaru who were struggling the most. They didn't have huge chakra reserves, and they had almost exhausted everything they possessed. The only reason they were holding out was the intensive training they had undergone with Team Gai. It did wonder to their physical stamina. Genins like Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka, or Hinata Hyuga perhaps, would have already collapsed from exhaustion.

After three hours, however, Jun felt a familiar chakra move towards them and relaxed. Balu had found his teammates.

"Let's take a short break," he said, stopping. "Reinforcements are coming."

The three kids immediately collapsed, exhausted. Kazuma tried to stretch, but his legs were shaking too much. Poor Genins, Jun had really overestimated them. At their age, he had about the same resistance... And keeping up with the frantic pace of a Jonin would have been far above his abilities at the time.

Or, at least, he thought so. It was hard to remember exactly his level when he graduated from the Academy. He had been the best student in his class and already strong for a genin, so ... He may have had the same level as Sasuke Maybe not as good as Sasuke, because the latter was incredibly fast, more than Jun had been at his age. But Jun had possessed more chakra. He sighed trying to remember when he was younger; it seemed like ages ago. So many years had passed since his graduation. it felt like another lifetime.

But it didn't matter now. The genins wouldn't have to run for long. Jun took advantage of this break to help Yamato sit against a tree and check his wound. Then, he took out from his storage scroll a bottle of water to pass between the team members. They were all dehydrated. Part of his attention remained focused on the two familiar chakras that were getting closer. He was not surprised to hear the sounds of steps against the tree branches above them. He raised his head just as Kanna and Miyamoto seemed to fall from the sky. Jun was so happy to see them he could have hugged the two.