Chapter 2: The Library and the Librarian
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.

On a wooden chair, Naruto sat with both of his legs crossed, his eyes glued to the pages of a book. The book had a crimson red for the cover with a whirlpool pattern enveloping the entire book. In the middle, bold letters read "The Art of Fuinjutsu."

It's been two days since he got this book from that careless ninja. Ever since then, he found himself addicted to reading. He finished reading the entire book on the first day, but he found himself unable to let go of the book and kept reading it over and over again. It came to the point where he would always carry the book no matter if he was outside or in the toilet.

"Iyaa!" From Naruto's mouth, a girlish squeal came out while he hugged the book like it was his long lost brother. "Fuinjutsu is sooo awesome!"

Flip—Flip—Flip—

Flipping the pages one after the other, Naruto's eyes sparkled with endless delight. After reading it so many times, he could now recite the entire book by memory.

"The Art of Fuinjutsu" talked about the beginner level of fuinjutsu. Stuff like the special ink and paper required, basic patterns in fuinjutsu, and common fuinjutsu roadblocks were carefully explained in detail to make it easier to understand, but it still came out as gibberish garbage to most people. Only those with talent or interest in fuinjutsu will spend the time reading this complex literature.

The book also mentioned how objects and living beings can be sealed into other objects or living beings. There was even a chapter about two sealing masters who was able to seal a living person's consciousness into another person, and a seal master who could permanently disable someone's body part simply by touching them.

"I wish I could make seals, but I don't know what chakra is!" Naruto knew very little about chakra. He only knew that chakra is used to form ninjutsu, that ninjas use them, and that people need chakra to live.

"I wonder if there are books about chakra in the library. But the librarians would always kick me out..." As soon as he finished the sentence, his head lowered, sorrow seeping into his eyes, his smile turning into a frown. "N-no, maybe there's a library that wouldn't kick me out!" Convincing himself, Naruto stood up

Crackle—!

After standing up, Naruto felt something fall and looking down, he realized that paper wrappers were all over the place. He was eating some snacks wrapped in paper wrappers while he read, and after some time, he forgot about it and only remembered now. "Ah! What a mess!"

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Rushing to the corner near the door, Naruto grabbed a broom and a dust pan and swept the floor clean. Satisfied, he threw the waste into the trash bin.

"Hmm?"

As he was about to twist the doorknob, Naruto caught a glimpse of something red in the corner of his eyes. Looking toward its direction, Naruto squinted his eyes and realized that it was his coin purse. Picking it up, he opened the wallet with a "pop!"

"Huh?" Frowning, Naruto poured the coin purse's content into the table.

Tak–tak–tak…

Rubbing his eyes, Naruto counted the number of coins that fell from the coin purse.

"Two… and eleven… Really? Only that? Two silver coins and eleven bronze coins?!"

One silver coin is equal to fifty bronze coins. A three days of living expenses usually cost one silver, or fifty bronze coins. 'We're still in the middle of August, what do I do…?' Rubbing his forehead in search of enlightenment, Naruto came up with a brilliant idea and tucked his coin purse into his pants after putting the coins back.

Leaving his apartment, Naruto went to the nearest library he could find. The library was painted in brown and looked clean with the garden surrounding it. Entering through the dark, wooden door, Naruto cautiously walked around and searched for the books he was looking for.

It didn't take long before his nervous frown turned into a small grin, his eyes sparkling like stars in the night. Approaching the bookshelf labeled "#301," Naruto took two books that were as big as his head. 'Heavy!'

Hugging the two books, Naruto walked around the library in search of an empty seat, but found none. 'There! But why is it inside a room?' Looking above the door, he saw another label similar to the one above the bookshelf. '#9, are there more?' Looking to the left, he saw eight other rooms, all of which were occupied by other people, evident by the closed doors.

'I guess I can use this one…'

Entering the room, he placed the two books down and was about to close the door when someone called out to him.

"Hey!"

Hearing the quiet, yet firm, deep voice, Naruto flinched. 'Oh no, are they going to kick me out? I finally found the books I was looking for…' forcing a smile on his face, Naruto turned to the man who called to him, "Umm, sir?"

"That's a private room. You have to pay in order to stay there. One day is 1 silver coin, snacks are free. Are you going to rent the room?"

'They aren't kicking me out?' Hearing the man's explanation, Naruto reached for his pocket before he halted. 'Wait, one silver… one SILVER coin?!'

"U-umm, one silver coin?"

Seeing the hesitant look on Naruto's face, the man, who was the librarian, adjusted his glasses and narrowed his eyes. "Yes, one silver. The room provides a quiet place for the readers so they aren't disturbed," the librarian pointed to the tray nearby, "and the snacks are provided by the library. Of course, there is a limit to the free snacks, but you can pay more if you want more snacks."

'Wow, there are free snacks! I guess it's a food deal, it's just one silver… o-one silver?! Damn, I forgot about that…' Whilst he cried rivers of blood inside his mind, he reluctantly pulled out a silver coin and handed it to the librarian.

"Mn…" looking at the bitter face of the red-haired (refer to chapter one about Naruto's hair color, but it's a mix of yellow and red) boy in front of him, the librarian scratched his head, "then, you can write your name here and sign…" then, the librarian handed Naruto a piece of paper. After Naruto wrote his name and signed, the librarian smiled and left after reminding him, "By the way, the hours are counted only when you are inside the library, so you can spend ten hours here and come back tomorrow and still have fourteen hours."

After the librarian left, Naruto sat down and opened the first book. It was titled "The Origins of Chakra," and the author was a Senju. After reading the first pages, Naruto had an idea as to what the rest of the book is about. 'So far, it explained where chakra came from, how to manifest chakra, and how chakra develops inside the human body.'

After thirty minutes, Naruto's eyes were begging to move away from the complicated book he was reading. 'After thirty minutes, I've read half of the book. I should rest for a moment…'

'So far, I've learned that a human being is born with a tiny amount of chakra to survive. At the age of three, the chakra system will start to form and at the age of four, a simple chakra system is developed. By the age of ten to fifteen, the chakra system will mature and it will be difficult to increase a person's chakra capacity.'

Slurp~ Crunch! Crunch!

After drinking a cup of juice and eating the plate of biscuits, Naruto picked up the second book titled "Chakra and its Uses" and began to read. Five minutes later, Naruto realized that although "Chakra and its Uses" was thicker than "The Origins of Chakra," it was much simpler and easier to read. Looking at the author's name, Naruto couldn't recognize it and assumed that the person who wrote the book wasn't from any major clans.

After thirty minutes passed, Naruto closed the book and sighed. He finished reading the book ten minutes ago, but he decided to read it again, making sure he didn't forget anything.

'Although the first book said that it is difficult to increase the chakra capacity after the chakra system matures, the second book argues that there are special methods to keep improving the chakra system as well as the chakra capacity. It even mentioned something about the Uzumaki clan. Am I part of that clan? My last name is Uzumaki after all…'

Naruto drank the last cup of juice and the cookies that was delivered to him five minutes ago before picking up the first book. 'After this, I should leave. I shouldn't waste any of that one silver!'

As he predicted, after forty minutes, Naruto finished reading both books. "Yawn…"

'That was tiring… Although the last half of the first book took ten minutes longer than the first half, I still managed to finish it. After I go home, I'll practice chakra control. Since I am already four years old, I should be able to access some of my chakra.'

Standing up, Naruto hugged the two books again and returned them to bookshelf #301. Just as he opened the door to leave, Naruto peeked at the librarian and saw that he was reading a small orange book while sipping on a cup of tea.

'I wonder what he is reading…'

After Naruto left, the librarian shifted his gaze from the small orange book into the door.

Siiip—!

After putting the book down, he took a sip from his tea and thought, 'so that's the kyuubi jinchuriki? I heard he is a violent monster and that he will bring misfortune wherever he goes, but that doesn't seem to be the case? How can such a lovely child be a monster? Sigh, only fools will believe such groundless rumors.'

After letting out a sigh, he took out a book full of records and flipped the pages until he saw Naruto's name.

'Uzumaki Naruto, roughly two hours. Since it's his first time, I'll deduct thirty minutes, so in total he spent one hour and thirty minutes in the private room. '

Scribble…

After writing down "–1:30" next to the "24:00" under Naruto's name, he closed the record book and placed it under his desk. Then, opened the small orange book and let out a suspicious chuckle…

Author's Note: I don't know much about Yen, the Japanese currency, so I came up with the "very original" idea of changing the currency to gold, silver, and bronze coins. 50 bronze coins is equal to 1 silver coin, and 50 silver coins is equal to 1 gold coin. I don't know if the currency makes sense, but this is a fan fiction, just think that it does.