267-What Do You Mean?

The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a kunai, the weight of Renjiro's question hanging heavily in the air. Miwa stood by the window, her back partially turned to him as she gazed out at the moonlit village beyond.

Her fingers trembled ever so slightly as she gripped the edge of the windowsill. Renjiro could tell she was wrestling with herself, unsure of how to respond.

A part of her wanted to brush off the question with a lighthearted joke, but the other part—the part that harboured the truth—knew that wasn't an option anymore.

Miwa finally let out a long, slow breath, her decision made. She turned to face Renjiro, her face devoid of the usual playfulness she often wore like a mask.

"How did you know?" she asked, her voice soft but steady.

Renjiro blinked, confusion washing over his face. He tilted his head slightly, pretending not to understand what she meant.

"What do you mean? Know what?"

Miwa's eyes narrowed slightly, a flicker of uncertainty crossing her face. She had thought Renjiro was aware of everything—that's why he had asked the question. But now she wasn't so sure.

 "What do you mean?" she asked, throwing his words back at him.

Renjiro gave her a puzzled look, feeling as if they were playing a strange game of verbal chess, each move more cryptic than the last.

"You know what I'm talking about," he said, trying to push past the veil of ambiguity she had thrown over the conversation.

Miwa crossed her arms over her chest, a slight smirk tugging at the corner of her lips despite the seriousness of the situation.

"I could say the same."

They both knew what was being hinted at, but neither was willing to say it directly—yet. The room fell into a momentary silence, broken only by the faint sound of the wind rustling through the trees outside.

Renjiro finally broke the silence, his voice low and cautious. "Was it genjutsu?"

Miwa glanced at him, her expression unreadable. She held his gaze for a moment before finally nodding. "Yes," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I had to."

Renjiro's brow furrowed at her admission, a mixture of confusion and unease swirling within him. The revelation that Miwa had used genjutsu on him—his own aunt—left him with an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach.

'The genjutsu has been in place since I came into this world?' he thought, his mind racing.

He understood the potency of genjutsu, especially those cast with dōjutsu like the Sharingan. He knew how deadly and deceptive it could be, how it could warp reality itself.

But the fact that Miwa had placed him under genjutsu when he was young—when he was most impressionable—made him feel strangely vulnerable as if his entire past had been built on an illusion. Maybe there was even more to it.

'There must have been a good reason,' Renjiro thought, trying to convince himself.

'Miwa wouldn't have done that to her own nephew without a good reason.'

"Was it that bad?" he asked quietly, his voice carrying a hint of trepidation.

Miwa sighed heavily, walking over to sit across from him. Her movements were slow, almost hesitant as if the weight of her own actions had begun to settle on her shoulders.

She met Renjiro's gaze, her expression somber.

"Yes," she said, her voice tinged with regret.

Renjiro stared at her, his eyes searching her face for answers. He didn't need to say anything—his gaze alone asked the question he was too afraid to voice. Why? Why had she done it?

Miwa let out another sigh, running a hand through her hair as she gathered her thoughts.

"Your parents..." she began slowly, choosing her words with care, "they died in front of you. But not in the way you remember."

Renjiro's breath caught in his throat, his body tensing as he listened. He did not know why he was reacting like this when the people in question were not his real parents. But something in Miwa's tone told him that there was more to the story than he had been led to believe.

"I wanted to save all three of you," Miwa continued, her voice heavy with the weight of old memories.

"You, your parents, and the others. I thought I could get you all out of Uzushiogakure before the final attack, but..." She trailed off, her eyes distant as if she were reliving the moment. Retelling the story was opening wounds Miwa thought time had healed.

"We were ambushed as we were leaving. Your parents... they were killed in the attack. I barely managed to save you."

Renjiro's heart pounded in his chest, the weight of her words crashing down on him like a tidal wave.

His memories of that night had always been a bit fragmented, but now it felt like the pieces were being shattered even further.

"So that's why you used genjutsu on me?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Miwa nodded, but there was more to it. "Yes... and no."

Renjiro raised an eyebrow at her cryptic response. "What do you mean, 'yes and no'?"

Miwa didn't leave him waiting long. "I used genjutsu on you because I didn't want you to remember your parents' deaths the way they really happened. It was too much for any child to bear, and... there was something else."

Renjiro leaned forward slightly, his curiosity piqued. "What else?"

"Your parents didn't want you to become a shinobi," Miwa revealed, her eyes locking with Renjiro's. "They feared that if you awakened the Sharingan after witnessing their deaths, you would be forced to follow the same path they did not follow. They wanted you to have a choice when you were older—to decide for yourself if you wanted to become a shinobi."

Renjiro frowned, the pieces of the puzzle slowly clicking into place. "But I still awakened the Sharingan," he said with a small, humourless chuckle.

"So what was the point of the genjutsu?"

Miwa's lips pressed into a thin line, the corners of her mouth twitching upward in a bittersweet smile. "Ironically, the genjutsu had the opposite effect. You awakened the Sharingan almost immediately after I placed you under it. It was... all for naught."

Renjiro chuckled again, but there was no joy behind it—only the bitter chaos of conflicting emotions. He had spent years believing one version of events, and now, in the span of a few minutes, that version had been completely upended.

Renjiro believed that people were a sum of their experiences and that largely involved their memories. So when he realized that his memories were tampered with, it brought about a subtle feeling of identity crisis

Miwa watched him closely, her own burden seeming to lift just slightly. She had waited a long time to have this conversation with Renjiro, knowing that he would eventually uncover the truth.

She had dreaded this moment, but now that it was finally here, she felt a strange sense of relief. The weight of the secret she had carried for so long was finally off her shoulders.

"But how did you realize it?" Miwa asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Renjiro took a deep breath, steeling himself before answering. "I came across someone with the Ketsuryūgan—probably a member of the Chinoike clan." He paused, watching Miwa's reaction carefully.

"They tried to use their dōjutsu on me, and... I don't know. It was like I instinctively knew I had to kill them."

Miwa's eyes narrowed slightly, her brow furrowing. "So when you broke out of their genjutsu, your memories were restored?"

Renjiro gave her a strange look, tilting his head slightly. "What do you mean, 'broke out of their genjutsu'? I'm immune to genjutsu."

A heavy silence fell over the room as Miwa stared at him, her mind racing to process what he had just said.

"Pardon?" she asked, her voice barely audible, as if she hadn't heard him correctly.

Renjiro shrugged casually, as though what he had said was nothing out of the ordinary. "Yeah, it's a side effect of my chakra seinou. Genjutsu doesn't work on me."

Miwa's eyes widened in shock, her jaw going slack as she stared at him. For a moment, she seemed completely at a loss for words, her mind struggling to comprehend what she had just heard. She had always known Renjiro was special, but this was something entirely different.

"What the hell is a chakra seinou and what do you mean genjutsu doesn't work on you?!" Miwa shouted, her voice rising in disbelief as she shot to her feet. Her usually calm demeanour was completely shattered, and for the first time in a long time, Renjiro saw genuine fear and astonishment in her eyes.

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