Two years passed.
Ren was now 4 years old. In the past two years, his life had gone through serious changes, especially his mentality and attitude, which were no longer those of a typical child his age. He was no longer the same hypersomniac kid who was always asleep.
Ever since that night when his mother found him passed out on the floor in his room, he hadn't been the same, and neither had his parents. Their behavior and lifestyle had changed so much that his father rarely came home, and his mother was always busy with something. They didn't just leave him alone though; his mother took him wherever she went, much to his annoyance.
He had formed a hypothesis that his mother was gathering information on something or someone, but he couldn't be sure, as whatever happened in those places they visited never reached his ears.
He couldn't make a reliable guess on what it could be either; after all, Arisu had been trying to gather information on the Kurama clan's secret over the years, even before he was born, something he was completely unaware of.
He started to panic and became anxious, thinking that maybe the village had discovered his secret somehow and might be scheming something behind his back which is why his parents had this sudden change in their routine. This was a doubt he couldn't shake off.
He had even foolishly considered a plan to eavesdrop on his parents' conversations to understand what was going on. Alas, how could someone like him do that against two Chunin? It was simply impossible the way he was. He spent his time worrying that maybe he would be kidnapped tomorrow for research, or perhaps even an Anbu was stationed at his place to keep an eye on him.
Months passed, but nothing happened. Like any regular person, he eventually started to doubt his own thoughts and wondered to himself,
"Maybe I was being paranoid?"
He didn't know; he never got to know even after two years. So, seeing that he couldn't find a single clue or piece of evidence to make his suspicions seem true, he could only silently wonder if he was wrong all along—or was he?
He knew that stressing over something beyond his control was a waste of time, so he stopped caring. He decided to focus on the future and let things take their course.
'But I couldn't just pretend like nothing happened and act like a normal child; after all, it's a shinobi village, and almost everyone I meet here could be a murderer. Even if not, that transformation jutsu itself requires acting! If I really try to force my hand, it would be like a rookie TikToker against a veteran actor.'
'Well, most importantly, I don't even know how someone my age should act! If only that goddamn memory had brought that knowledge along too...'
Alas, he could only daydream. If life were that convenient, we wouldn't need to dive into novels to escape the reality along with the dicks and bitches it brings. (Okay, that went off-topic.)
Fortunately, he had been unconscious throughout his check-up with the Yamanaka, or who knows what he would have done if he had known a Yamanaka had freely examined his mind; even though they found nothing, just that alone would have made Ren sick.
Blissfully unaware, he just went along with his mother wherever she went. Probably due to some great virtue from his past life, this event turned out not to be entirely useless, as he got to know more about this world and his village which helped him to form some reliable connections to the fictional world in his memory.
He knew that the fourth Hokage was yet to take reign, meaning the canon of that anime hadn't begun yet. He spent a lot of time preparing a set of possibilities and actions he should take.
'First, I have to accept the fact that I may have been reincarnated if those memories are from my past life and I died, given how it ended.'
'Second, the fictional animated world in my memories is very likely the same world as this, but I need to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of those memories with caution.'
'Third, I must have had a family, without a doubt. But I couldn't recall them—not even their names or faces. All of them were blank.'
As mentioned earlier, all memories and knowledge related to non-living things were vivid, but those concerning living things were broken and fragmented to the point where he could barely make sense of his relationships with those figures, which were in the form of silhouettes.
'Fourth, I'll have to stay away from certain groups and people until I verify the reliability of these memories, like the Yamanaka clan, Danzo, Orochimaru, and all the higher-ups in the village and the clans, if possible!'
(LOL)
'There's also a possibility that someone might have deliberately implanted these memories in my mind, although I find that highly unlikely; after all, I have a clan behind me, and my parents are Chunins. If someone wanted to experiment, there are plenty of other ways to do that which are far less risky.'
The study lessons with his clan (which usually start at age 4) were about to begin in less than a week. However, Renji's parents had decided on a mixed schedule: he would be homeschooled but visit the clan teaching grounds for social exposure with other kids his age. Ren was now at a point where he was comfortable with the language, both speaking and writing, for which his parents had called him a "genius".
They had contacted a retired teacher who would mentor him and guide him in learning the normal studies to the prerequisite to be a shinobi and others.
'Honestly, I'm looking forward to this— learning more about this world and eventually training in this mysterious power called chakra. I'll also be able to see how far ahead I am compared to the fictional story of Naruto. It will give me an idea of how long I'll have to wait to prove my conjecture.'
There was a solid way to verify his conjecture, and he just had to wait until it happened—
The Nine-Tails attack.
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I've been sick for the past couple of days and was barely able to finish up this half-done chapter; I might not update for a couple of days.
PS: I have changed the writing style a bit in this chapter compared to previous ones, adding some author thoughts/comments in the middle in an attempt to make it funny. Please let me know whether it works or it breaks the immersion this novel provides.