Naruto: An Ideal Shinobi

Renji's Home

Under the moonlight, Arisu Kurama, Renji's mother, took a deep breath as she suppressed a sigh while she paced around in the courtyard. Ever since the talk with her husband on the matter regarding her son's condition, she had been feeling on edge. She couldn't completely disregard her findings and theories of the past in hopes of it not turning true; even her attempt at consoling herself that nothing has been certain so far only increases her anxiety, as it's that very uncertainty that scared her.

'There was so much data, yet still nothing that could match with this situation!' Arisu grumbled in her mind. The ambiguity of her son's condition and the unknown past regarding the person with that talent were eating her away.

She had tried to revisit all the details she had gathered years ago about the 'Kurama's Extreme Genjutsu Talent', but she couldn't find anything that was even remotely related to the current situation.

Making things worse, the relationship between Arisu and her clan grew somewhat awkward after her marriage with Yoshio; in the end, after all, she was still a Chunin who belonged to the Kurama clan. Although she couldn't ask them directly, she had tried to gather information from her contacts, but it bore no fruit.

'I wonder what decision Fumas will make...'

Yoshio was out to discuss the situation with the clan higher-ups; after all, the Yamanaka already know of this, and if it came to the clan's ears through other means instead of them, it will only make things worse than they already are. So, Yoshio had already contacted a trustable elder from his clan with whom he was well acquainted and informed on this, which led up to the meeting that was happening tonight.

The husband-wife pair had unanimously made the decision to hide the fact about Renji's trance-like state that he seemed to be in in recent days and decided to only reveal about the part of him being like a hypersomnia patient, sleeping for long hours even during the day, that, along with the revelations from the Yamanaka. Fortunately, his trance-like condition was only told to the Yamanaka before they performed the diagnosis, and the Kurama clan wouldn't be able to get wind of it anytime soon. 

After all, the Kurama clan's secret was something that was only known to a select few. As long as the Kurama clan itself did not find out about his condition, it shouldn't be an immediate problem. In the shinobi world, keeping a clan's secret is directly tied to their survivability and strength; if not, the clans wouldn't be so closed off against others as they are. If there is anyone who can see through this and suspects, then they can only blame their bad luck.

They are completely aware that they cannot stop the prying eyes from trying to deduce the truth.

'Not when it may involve the giants like the Hokage, the Uchiha clan, and even the other clans such as their own and the Yamanaka.'

However, they had decided to take this gamble; it was something related to their child, and they did not want to take any more risks. She can only hope that they can suppress this news as much as possible. so that their child can live a normal life where he can go to the academy, become a Chunin, or even probably a Jounin should be achievable if he tries hard with the help of the clans and his parents. 

Although the normal life she had imagined was in no way comparable to a normal life of an ordinary person. 

While she was absent-mindedly mulling over this, she was brought back to her senses by a sudden noise that started to come from Renji's room. It did not sound loud even in the middle of the night, something that would require one to have enhanced hearing to be able to hear it. She was puzzled; when was the last time Renji ever woke up in the middle of the night? Months back! That's why she came out of the room without any worry of having to accompany him while he was asleep.

She paused for a second because of the sudden change but hurried to the room the next moment, feeling something might be wrong. When she reached the room, her intuition was proven to be right. Renji was there, unconscious. Her heart began to beat rapidly at the sight of her son collapsed on the floor away from his futon, where he should be sleeping while completely drenched in sweat.

"Ren!"

She picked him up from the floor, shook his body as she softly slapped his cheek, calling out his name; alas, there was no response. She checked his pulse; it was stable, but his body was abnormally cold. She conjured up a basic water jutsu and conjured up some water to splash it on his face. After two times splashing water on his face, finally his eyelids twitched, bringing some peace to Arisu.

"Ren... are you alright? What happened? Did you have a nightmare? Does your body feel weird?"

Arisu tried to inquire of him as calmly as possible in order to not give him any pressure, and it successfully failed as she barraged him with questions out of worry.

"...m.o.m."

After a few seconds, Renji's mind finally cleared up, and when he looked up at his mother, he spaced out, and tears welled up in his eyes. He called out to her; his tone was as if he spoke for the first time after a very long while. Observing Renji's reaction, Arisu pulled him into a hug to console him while reciting,

"It's okay, sweetie... calm down. See, I'm here, I'm here, so nothing bad will happen..."

She was not sure whether it was just a nightmare or it was related to his condition, but now she did not bother to try and find out either; she just wanted to console her child and assure him nothing would happen as long as she was there, irrespective of whatever he was or whatever he was experiencing.

While she was consoling him, she didn't get to notice his reaction after that. An expression no child of his age should make, ever. As he gazed at his mother, his face screamed of absolute fear; fear of losing her.