A/N: This is something I thought of on the spur of the moment and felt like giving it a shot. Feel free to let me know what you all think and if I should tweak it or continue it. Also, when the Codex speaks it is both italicized and underlined, while character thoughts are simply italicized. Hope that helps and enjoy this first chapter.
EDIT(11/29/16): I fixed some of the spelling errors and I am going to change the whole double formatted idea for Kosho to just being italicized.
Chapter 1: I hate reading!
The village of Konoha was filled with random superstitions. Some were minor; the kind of things you tell kids so they will listen to their parents whereas others were more…intense. One such dark rumor surrounded the large, crumbling library at the far end of the Red Light district of the village.
It was said that many people had gone in there, mostly young teens looking for a thrill, only to vanish without a trace. Some people even said they could hear the wailing of these lost children at night as you walked by.
Many of the villagers avoided the place but one lone boy ignored the stories and went in anyway. This boy had clear blue eyes and a mess of spiky blond hair. His face was adorned with three whisker like birthmarks on each cheek. It was none other than Konoha's resident prankster, Uzumaki Naruto.
'Damn, this place is creepy. But for some reason it also makes me feel relaxed…' He thought to himself as he ducked under the rotting boards over the doorway and stepped into the entry hall.
"Hello? Anybody home?"
All he got was the echo of his own voice coming back to him from the empty interior. He shivered a bit before taking a deep breath and striding forward, heading toward what looked like a large desk ahead of him.
As he reached it, he ran his small hand along the extremely dusty surface and felt his hand bump something big under a pile of musky papers.
Curious, he grabbed it with both hands and pulled it free. It turned out to be a large, thick leather-bound book with no title. He flipped it over and took a peek at the pages only to find them blank.
He scoffed and went to shut it only for a noise off in the dark to make him turn his head sharply over there. He watched the area only to see a large black rat scurry past his toes, making him curse and jump back against the desk.
As he did, the pages cut his finger and a few drops of blood dripped onto the soft pages of the tome.
He put the bleeding digit into his mouth to stop the flow and watched as the drops seemed to sink into the pages before, to his shock, words appeared. They read "Analyzing DNA sample…New Master recognized…Beginning bonding to new Master…"
As the last words appeared, Naruto suddenly shouted as the back of his right hand began to burn like crazy. He looked at it in the dim light from the moon to see an intricate black symbol appear and then seem to disappear again.
He dropped the book and began to back away in fear as it floated off the floor and hovered in front of him, wide open down the center. He gulped as he shakily asked "W-What the heck are you? Are you some kind of…ghost?"
The book stayed still before more words appeared on the left hand page "Greetings, Master. I am not a ghost. I am a powerful item that has been found and lost over many, many years. I have had many titles; each one granted to me by each of my past Masters. I am most often called the Universal Codex, as I have knowledge on nearly everything within my memory."
This threw the blonde for a loop. A book was talking back to him like a person… 'Maybe I hit my head a minute ago when that rat went by.' He thought as he rubbed his neck nervously.
The Codex moved closer, making the boy back up more only for his feet to slip on a broken tile and he fell on his ass. The book stopped and more words filled in "Master, are you alright? Are you injured? I know many kinds of First Aid."
Naruto looked up and sighed as he just decided to go along with it for now "No, I'm alright. So, since you keep calling me that, does that me you belong to me now or something?" The book bobbed up and down and he took that as a yes. He scratched his chin for a second before he got an idea "Hey, you said I can name you right? How about I call you Kosho(Old Book) and you can just call me Naruto, okay?"
The tome seemed to still, as if thinking, before bobbing once more "As you wish, Naruto-sama. I shall accept the name you have given me with honor."
The blonde grinned as he nodded and then reached out for the Codex. It came over to him and landed gently in his arms. He huffed a bit "You're kind of heavy, Kosho-san. Are you able to shrink a bit or something?" The book vibrated a bit in his arms before doing as asked and shrinking to the size of leather-bound journal with a gold clasp and large gold kanji that read out: Chishiki no Kodekkusu(Codex of Knowledge).
The boy sighed as he tucked his new possession under his arm and snuck out of the building. As he was ducking under the last board, he glanced up to see two of the prostitutes that worked this late staring at him with their jaws dropped. He smiled as he rushed up to them. Due to his being forced to live in the Red Light district, he had begun to see these 'working women' as his older sisters and they saw him as their cute little brother.
"Kiki-neesan! Ai-neesan! What are you guys doing here?" He asked as he gripped his new book a little tighter in worry. They seemed to snap out of it and Ai looked down at him with a concerned frown "Naruto-kun, why in Kami's name were you in there? Don't you know the stories about this place?!" He just grinned wider and nodded.
"Yeah, but there is nothing but rats and old books in there. Not a single ghost or dead body. I just wanted to see if the rumors were true or not. Sorry that I worried you two."
Ai and Kiki shared a look before smiling and kneeling down to wrap their arms around their favorite blonde. Kiki smiled as she kissed his cheek and said "Naruto-kun, we are just glad that you are safe. You know how hard it is for you to be out at night, even on our turf. Who knows when some drunk or something might come along and try to hurt you again?"
The boy looked down at the ground sadly as he recalled the last time that had happened. It had been a Chunnin and the man had way too much to drink. He got so bad that after being kicked out of his favorite bar, he had bumped into the blonde on his way to visit Ai and decided to 'do the village a favor and kill the fucking demon'. Thankfully, Ai and another one of the girls had found him and got him to the hospital in time.
After the Sandaime had found out, he had the man sent to Ibiki and then executed. He then made sure to have someone with Naruto at all times, even going so far as to ask the girls in the district; not that he needed to, as they were going to do it anyways.
Kiki noticed something poking her and saw the book under his arm for the first time. She tilted her head, her shoulder length black hair swaying a bit "Naruto, honey, what is that old book you have there? Did you find it somewhere?" As she said this Ai saw it too and looked it over. It seemed normal if a bit odd with that title.
The young blonde just chuckled a bit as he scratched the back of his head "Yeah. I found it in the 'haunted' library and it just sort of, called out to me, I guess." They seemed to frown but just accepted his answer in the end. Ai took his free hand as they walked him back to her place for the night.
~*~*~*~*~(Next Morning)~*~*~*~*~
As the sun shone in through the soft blue curtains of Ai's small bedroom, Naruto grumbled and rolled over, snuggling his face into the pillows. He felt them shake a bit and heard a giggle before his eyes snapped open. The young blonde reached up to feel his pillow only for him to hear a soft gasp and then another giggle "You know, Naruto-kun, I am happy you like your pillow so much but I think you might be a bit young for me."
The boy jumped out of the bed in shock and saw Kiki, naked as the day she was born, sit up with only the sheet to cover her large chest. His face grew so red, it'd make roses wilt, before turning around and exclaimed "A-ah, Kiki-neesan! I-I'm s-sorry. I'm not a pervert, I swear!" She simply laughed a bit at his nervousness. It was like gentle music to his ears as he heard her get out of the bed and hug him from behind, her breasts rubbing against his small back.
"It's alright, Naruto-kun. I know you are not a pervert. I don't mind really, since it is you and not some random guy."
"Still..."
She shook her head and smiled. He was just too fun to tease sometimes. She knew that he would just be a heart-breaker when he was older but it didn't hurt to get in a little harmless fun here and there. It helped keep him aware of the rules when around women too. She moved around him after one more hug and started to get dressed "Ai should have breakfast ready downstairs. Go ahead and I will meet you guys down there in a minute."
All she saw was a blonde and white blur as he shot downstairs in a split second. She blinked a bit owlishly at her closed door and simply shook her head with a smirk.
When Naruto got downstairs, he smelled his favorite food of all, ramen. He rushed into the dining room and sat down as Ai came out with a mixing bowl full of chicken and vegetable ramen for him to enjoy. Thanks to his Neesans, he had been getting a slightly better diet and since they made it just for him, he ate it even with the vegetables in it. Not like he could really taste them anyways. He grabbed a pair of chopsticks and, saying a quick 'Itadakimasu!', dug into his ramen with gusto.
Ai also dug into her more basic breakfast of eggs, a little ham, and some toast. After a minute or two, and two more bowls for the blonde, Kiki came down and was dressed in her work clothes which consisted of a red tank top that was a size too small and barely contained her bust, a black jacket and a skirt that only reached half way down her thighs. She sat next to Ai and began to eat, sharing some light conversation with her two housemates.
Suddenly, there was a loud banging at the door. Ai sighed as she went to go answer it. As she passed him, she knelt down to give Naruto a kiss on the forehead. He stopped eating for a second to smile at her with a light blush before finishing up his ramen. Ai went to the door, opening it a crack to talk to the men outside "What do you want, Shiri-teme?" The man grinned darkly, his teeth yellow and chipped.
"I heard from one of my boys that you've got that demon brat living here. I know a few civillians who would pay me very well to have their way with him. I want you to-"
*SLAM*
He grit his teeth and pointed at the door. Two of his thugs came up and cut the door down with their blades, catching a glimpse of Ai as she hurried into the kitchen. Shiri smirked as he stepped into the little hall and went after her.
He and his pack of morons caught up just as Kiki was pulling Naruto out the back door. Ai felt his bony fingers wrap around her throat from behind and smelled his foul breath as he spoke in her ear "Heh, so I was right. But since he got away for now, I guess we will have to make do with you."
She struggled against his grip only for him to spin her around and backhand her hard enough to knock her to the ground. She began to try and get away, only for the thugs to hold her down. Shiri grinned sickly down at her "Fucking bitch. All this over some damn demon. Screw it. The clients won't care if we get our payment out of your sweet ass before we turn you over. Time to have some fun boys!"
The brutes chuckled lewdly as they began ripping off her clothes until she was only in her bra and panties. Just as Shiri knelt down to tear off those as well, they all heard the back door slam open and saw Nartuo standing there, glaring at them all with all the hate and anger his small frame could muster "Get the hell off my Neesan!" He charged at them, and Kiki, who had caught up, failed to hold him back before he was grabbed around the throat and lifted up by one of the thugs "Hey, Boss. Maybe we should let the little shit do it. After all, he ain't gonna get nothing like it after we hand him over."
Shiri glared at the man, making him sweat, but then it morphed into a vile grin as he snatched away Ai's panties, leaving her bare below the waist "Better yet, let the brat watch as I turn his precious 'Neesan' inside out before I kill her." He leaned over the still struggling Ai and began to undo his pants.
No one noticed a black mark, now more visible than before appear on the blonde's right hand. It resembled a spiral with many small runes swirling into its center. Naruto felt his hand burn and did the only thing he could think off. He swallowed hard and shouted "Kosho-san, please help us!"
The thugs all looked around for a second before laughing at him "The fuck was that supposed to be?" One chortled to the blonde, "You calling out to your little imaginary friend, brat?"
They continued to laugh, even as an oppressive feeling began to saturate the air around them all. Then, like some angered demonic spirit, a voice could be heard "Understood, Naruto-sama. Initiating enemy termination procedures." The feeling grew even worse until it was like the very air was heavy as a mountain and the thugs all collapsed, some panting with sweat pouring off their brows and others were already out cold. Shiri had stood up and was looking around frantically for where the voice had come from. Without warning, a katana made of sharp paper stabbed him in the gut with enough force to exit out his lower back.
He looked up and saw a pair of glowing violet orbs staring down at him from inside an ancient samurai helm. He spat up some blood before gritting his teeth and shouting at the figure "T-The fuck are you?! Do you even know who I am?!" The figure's eyes gleamed as they twisted the blade, making the fool cough up more blood. The same voice as before came from inside the helm "I am Kosho, Codex of Knowledge and I will protect my Master even if it means eliminating scum like you. And as for who you are, you are Shiri Goko, a con man who sold his skills to the highest bidder, all so you could try and kill the supposed 'demon' that had killed your wife and children."
Naruto, having been let go when the thug had collapsed like a puppet, walked gingerly over to the eerie samurai as it turned to look down upon him. It seemed to be asking for permission from the blonde. He shook his head "No. That's enough Kosho-san, don't stoop to their level otherwise you're no better than them."
The samurai pondered this before a green glow coated his blade and as he pulled it out of Shiri, the wounds began to heal until the man fell to his knees in shock.
The samurai turned and knelt, offering his sword to Naruto. The boy was unsure what to do, so Kosho explained "Naruto-sama, as your tool and servant, I ask that you fogive me for letting my emotions control me. I merely wanted to protect you and your loved ones. If I have upset you, then please, take up my blade and strike me in repentance for my actions."
The whiskered blonde rubbed his sore throat as he thought it over, placing his hand on his servant's helm instead of the blade "I forgive you, Kosho-san. You were only doing what you thought was right in order to defend me. But please, once we have a chance will you tell me what you really are? And how come you can turn into this...thing?" The samurai lifted his head and nodded as he banished the blade and turned to the fool now on the ground.
"Be grateful scum. My Master has seen fit to spare you. I suggest you not forget that the next time you dare threaten him or his loved ones again."
Shiri could only weakly nod before passing out completely. Kosho began to glow violet and then, in a quick flash, had returned to his journal form and into his Master's hands. The boy turned to Ai, seeing her speckled in blood from when Shiri had been stabbed, her eyes shimmering with tears as she looked at him. He moved closer and wrapped his small arms around her neck, just as Kiki came over and joined them on the floor as well. Ai clung to Naruto, letting out all of her pent up emotions with loud, shaking sobs.
Naruto glanced down to the book in his small hand and frowned a little as he worried what he was gonna learn about his new 'friend' and his strange powers. But more importantly, he hoped he wouldn't make him have to read it all from inside the books pages. Why did this bother him? Well, it's simple really...Naruto just plain hated reading.
