The Librarians

Prologue

The man was not that much taller than average for Konohagakure, but he was tall enough to stand out in a crowd, even without his deep-lined face and sturdy build. His white beard and long hair went down past his chest, waving gently in the breeze as he walked along, his blue eyes taking in everything with the calm assurance of one who had fought a thousand battles and lived to tell the tale.

Turning towards one of the larger buildings, the man stepped aside almost reflexively as a small, blond bundle of energy dashed past, passing so close that the man's white cloak briefly flared in his wake, showing a glimpse of the red tunic and white trousers beneath.

Chuckling at the sight of one of the pursuing Chunin picking himself up after failing to notice a small puddle of liquid soap just where he was trying to take a corner, the man strode through the entrance of the building and his smile deepened as the dark-haired woman looked up at him from behind the desk, her blank white eyes somehow filled with love.

"Hello, my beloved."

"Hello, my dear one." The man replied. "It's almost lunch time."

The woman laughed, then half-turned. "Kagomi…"

"I know, I know." The elderly woman re-stacking one of the shelves chuckled. "I've heard that conversation so many times… I'll cover your break."

"Thank you." The woman smiled as she closed the book she had been writing in.

"Go on off with you." Kagomi chuckled. "If I hadn't already lost my teeth, having you two around would be causing them to rot."

"Do you want anything brought back for you?" The man asked as the woman he had come to collect grabbed a straw hat and donned it with the effortless ease of long practise.

"I wouldn't say no to some Dango, Majestros." Kagame mused. "Some fruit juice would be nice as well."

"I'll make sure he remembers."

"He's a man, Eucrastia, they're useless without us around to point out where they need to go and what they need to do."

Eucrastia giggled as Majestros rolled his eyes, then she latched onto his arm.

"Well, my dear husband?"

"Of course, my beloved." Majestros smiled, then he ducked slightly and scooped her up into his arms carrying her bridal style as she laughingly pretended to resist.

"Get out of here before all that sweetness rots my gums too!" Kagame called as Majestros vanished through the door, his wife's hair waving in the breeze to reveal her pointed ears, ears that along with her eyes marked her as having a Kekkei Genkei.

.

"I needed that." Eucrastia sighed as she accepted a small handkerchief from her husband and used it to wipe her lips clean. Majestros looked down as he lowered the sleeve of his tunic over the teeth-marks on his arm, marks that were vanishing incredibly quickly. "Even now, millenia after the Ending and Beginning, I am still impressed at how your friend was able to grant us our bodies back."

"After he brought us with him into the new multiverse, Hadrian realized we were not cut out to be bodiless entities." Majestros agreed. "While I do not miss the Simberleen, I still wish that the others had also joined us. Manny, Dantalion, Lord Math…"

"Jijimoto, Aptimaxer and Gemeth." Eucrastia finished with a sigh. "I hope they live anew… somewhere… somewhen…"

For a long moment, the pair sat in silence on the roof of the library, lost in the shared memory, then a sneeze jolted them back to reality.

"What the…?" Majestros spun off the bench, spinning round as he tried to find the source of the sneeze. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"Sssshhhh!" A young voice hissed frantically. "They'll find me!"

Eucrastia giggled. "I recognise that voice. You're that boy who threw glue and feathers over that merchant who threw a stone at you."

"Sure am!" The young boy boasted, peeping out from behind one of the flower beds. "Uzumaki Naruto, pleastameechu…ah!"

Eucrastia's giggles turned into full laughter as Naruto ducked behind the flower bed again just before a paint-spattered Genin landed on the roof, glanced round and then jumped away.

"Shouldn't you be at the Academy?" Majestros asked, amusement bubbling in his voice.

"Bleaugh, it's all writing and stuff." Naruto pouted as he peeped out from behind the planter again. "I wanna learn to be a ninja! Why does a ninja need to read when he could be learning awesome jutsu?"

"Reading can help to learn jutsu." Majestros pointed out. "It can let you know what your enemies are planning and how to defeat them."

"Really?" Naruto looked at him in disbelief. "Are you a ninja?"

"I am not." Majestros shook his head. "Like my wife, I am a librarian, although I fought a great deal in the past."

"I can fight!" Naruto almost bounced into the open. "I can fight for ages and ages!"

Majestros and Eucrastia exchange looks and Eucrastia sighed.

"Give me a lift back down first. And don't stay out too late training him!"

"Of course, my beloved."

"Training?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Training." Majestros confirmed. "Do you know where Training Ground fifteen is? Meet me there in one hour… I shall be there with a friend to help."

Naruto nodded so fast that Majestros thought for a moment that his head was about to fall off.

"You're calling in that favour for saving that little girl, aren't you?" Eucrastia asked at Majestros scooped her up.

"I am." Majestros confirmed, glancing back at where Naruto had been before he stepped off the roof and drifted down into the alley below. "That and he reminds me of the one who welcomed us here and who helped us understand the nature of Chakra, even if neither of us possesses it."

Eucrastia blinked. "Wait… his hair… his face… could he truly be…?"

"If he is, then I can repay the debt I owe his father."

.

.

"Majestros."

"Hizashi."

The leader of the Branch House of the Hyuuga Clan gave his elderly visitor a slight bow. "You said you wished to call in the Eye Debt that the Clan owes you?"

"I do." Majestros turned and began walking, the man whose neice he had saved from being kidnapped almost half a decade prior by his side. "Tell me… do you know of a small child named Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Blond, energetic… troublemaker." Hizashi rolled his eyes. "Has a lot of chakra, though…"

"His mother was very similar… which may be why she got on so well with my wife." Majestros offered and Hizashi gave him a sideways look.

"You're not going to…"

"At the very least, I will help him to train." Majestros stated. "He has… intrigued me. Afterwards, I will go and have words with Sarutobi. He should not have kept this from me."

Hizashi winced, obviously remembering what had happened when Danzo had tried to acquire Majestros' wife in an attempt to duplicate her longevity bloodlimit and Majestros smirked slightly.

"So, where are we going?" Hizashi tried to change the subject.

"We are here." Majestros declaimed. "And it would seem that we are expected. Hello again, young Naruto."

"How did you know I was here?" Naruto popped out from behind a bush.

"I could see your jacket." Majestros chuckled. "That orange is very attention-grabbing."

"It helps me learn to hide." Naruto paused, looking at Hizashi's confused expression. "If I can hide wearing this, then imagine how good I'd be wearing black or green."

"He has a very good point." Majestros admitted. "Alright, Naruto, I promised some training, so let us begin. First, let us see how well you fight, then we shall see how well you use Chakra. After all, the better you use Chakra, the more Jutsu you will be able to use."

"The leaf exercise's boring." Naruto grumbled as Majestros shed his cloak to reveal that he had donned a set of pauldrons and finger-less gauntlets made out of a white material that Hizashi didn't recognize, then he adopted a basic stance.

"Naruto… attack!"

Hizashi winced as Naruto sprinted forwards, drawing one fist back to throw a punch, only for Majestros to step past him and catch him by the elbow, causing him to flip backwards onto the ground.

"Lesson one, young one. A bigger move just makes you a bigger target. Keep all your moves tight and fast."

Naruto rolled to his feet and tried to repeat his attack, only for Majestros to catch his fist and turn, sending Naruto rolling across the grass.

"If your opponent has more control than you, it is he who shall control the fight."

Naruto scrambled to his feet and charged again, this time launching himself into a flying kick, only to run into a perfectly-timed arm that robbed him of his breath and dropped him to the ground.

"You cannot dodge a counter-attack in the air, Naruto, and kicks will leave you vulnerable until you have built up your speed."

"I'm just getting started…" Naruto grunted as he rolled to his feet.

Hizashi shook his head. Whatever Naruto had been learning at the Academy, it certainly wasn't how to fight properly. Those punches were so sloppy that any Hyuuga who fought like that would be forced to undergo retraining from first principles.

.

Naruto leaned against a tree, trying to recover, as Majestros and Hizashi sparred. The Hyuuga moved faster than Naruto had previously thought possible, his hands flicking out in attacks which Majestros either sidestepped or blocked with his gauntlets. The punches that Majestros responded with were almost as fast as Hizashi's strikes, but judging by the stump of the tree that Majestros had punched through, they contained a great deal more stopping power.

"I… yield." Hizashi stepped back, breathing deeply while Majestros didn't even look as if he had been exerting himself. "Even if the Gentle Fist was effective against one such as yourself, your skill is many miles byond mine."

"I have been fighting for longer than you have been alive." Majestros shrugged, turning to look at Naruto. "I have learned many styles."

"Which is why you annoy Fugaku so much." Hizashi noted with a very slight smile. "The eyes of the Hyuuga are not the only ones that cannot work against you."

"While we're on the subject, how is your brother sttling into his new role?" Majestros asked as he and Hizashi made their way to where Naruto was staring at them in near-shock.

"He hates it." Hizashi actually smiled. "Having to be polite to Fugaku all the time…"

"How did you do that?" Naruto bust out.

"For me, I used Chakra to strengthen myself and speed my reflexes." Hizashi said. "Chakra has many uses… like this."

Naruto's eyes went wider as Hizashi walked up a tree, then back down and onto the stream-fed pond in the corner of the field.

"…wha…?"

"Normally, people start with the leaf exercise and work upwards." Hizashi noted as he stepped off the stream and looked at Naruto, the veins around his eyes briefly swelling before receding again. "For you… let us begin with water walking."

"Cooooool!"

.

.

Sarutobi Hiruzen paused as he heard someone tap on the window-frame behind him. Putting down his brush, he looked round to see Majestros hovering outside, glaring at him.

"You may as well come in." He sighed.

Majestros glided in through the window and Hiruzen hid a wince as Majestros' cloak billowed back to reveal that the old man was clad in what he referred to as his battle suit, a red-and-white bodysuit, white pauldrons and white fingerless gauntlets, the armoured pieces being made of a material that his researchers still hadn't been able to reproduce.

An outfit that Majestros had last worn when he had helped Minato to beat back the Kyuubi when it had tried to attack the village.

"You have some explaining to do, young man." Majestros seemed to loom over the Hokage, even though his feet were still on the ground. "You told us that Naruto was named in memory of Kushina, you didn't tell us that he was her son! Eucrastia is quite vexed with you…"

Hiruzen flinched, despite his best efforts. The last time that the lady in question had described herself as having been vexed, Shimura Danzo had ended up dead and in so many pieces that it had taken his ANBU several weeks to piece together enough to confirm that it had indeed been him who had perished.

Shimura's townhouse had been destroyed in the same incident when Majestros had punched his way into the hidden base underneath on his way to rescue his wife.

Hiruzen doubted that the situation could get much worse.

"I with to point out that I am also quite irritated with you."

Hiruzen winced again. The situation had got much worse.

"Minato was one of the few who could fight on my level, Hiruzen." Majestros leaned forwards, using his fists to lean on Hiruzen's desk. "His son deserves to receive better training than he has had so far, as well as a home where he can eat more than three-minute Ramen."

Hiruzen swallowed. "Majestros… Naruto…"

"He has inherited his mother's burden, hasn't he?"

Hiruzen nodded.

"It matters not. Hiruzen, even now he sleeps in the spare room of my home. I shall watch over him and help him to learn all he needs to know."

Hiruzen nodded again.

"Good. I am glad that we have had this talk. I am heading home now to see to the welfare of the son of my friend."

Hiruzen barely moved as he watched Majestros fly out of the window and vanish into the night.

.

.

.

.

.

Author's afternote – Those who have read Mr Majestic – the Big Chill will recognise the names of the Last Ones. Aptimaxer (Last Hero of Elber), Simberleen (an intelligent blood-borne virus), Manny Weiss (The Wandering Jew), Dantalion (The last Daemonite), Lord Math (the Abstract Spirit of Arithmancy ), Jijimoto (The Red God) and Gemeth (the Enlightened Engine).

Majestros was, of course, Mr Majestic (of Wildstorm fame), Eucrastia was the Last Vampire and Hadrian was Spartan of the WildC.A.T.S.