AN: hi all, Sorry for the late update, again. I came down with chronic gastro so missed the last update. I've recovered now so all good. Ten cookie points to whoever guesses my day job from this chapter. By the way 'Baka' is Japanese for idiot, and is also my favourite Japanese word.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; I just think he's awesome.
Warning: May contain spoilers and/or clichés, if you are bothered or offended by either; why are you reading fanfiction?
'thinking'
"speaking"
jutsu
demon speak
Chapter 5.
The next morning found Naruto awakening, as usual, with the sun. Stretching languidly, he squirmed on his sheets enjoying the sensation of wakening in a bed. Getting up, Naruto made his way to the bathroom to complete his morning absolutions, before making his way to the mat on his living room floor to complete his morning exercises.
After completing twenty repeats each of sit-ups, push ups and legs raises Naruto ran through the stretches designed to improve flexibility before finishing up by siting in the lotus position to begin his morning meditation. Feeling refreshed Naruto moved into his kitchen and made himself a bowl of cereal which he ate standing up at the sink.
When he was finished he moved to his bedroom to remove his sleep pants and dress himself in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt for the day. He put on his ninja sandals, grabbed the bucket from under the sink and headed out the door after grabbing his keys.
Stretching in the morning sun he thought to himself, 'Right, first up I need to gather supplies from the forest before it's all gone in a couple of weeks' time. Nuts should last for a while and I can dry any berries I find in my stove to keep. Then I'll need to gather some Intel on how best to train a young body. It's been a while and the details are a little fuzzy.'
Naruto had only really received effective training in his later years, his early training being mostly self-taught through observing the training of older students and had consisted of much trial and error and so was not as effective as it could have been. A fact that Jiraiya had bemoaned at length.
Quickly making his way across the village, once again utilising alleyways and shadows, Naruto made his way to the training fields by the west gate. To aid in all day training, edible plants had been encouraged to grow around the outskirts of each training ground, an innovation of the first Hokage.
It was these that Naruto was aiming for as they provided an easy source of berries and nuts without the need to venture into the surrounding forest which may raise suspicions. Naruto quickly found what he was looking for and got to work filling his bucket.
Once filled, Naruto once more made his way across the village to his new home. He separated out his harvest, placing the berries on a couple of cooking sheets he found in his cupboard and put them in the oven on its lowest setting. Carrying the bucket with his nut collection into his bedroom, Naruto opened the lowest draw in his dresser and placed them inside after first checking each nut for spoilage and uninvited quests of the insect variety.
'Right,' thought Naruto checking the berries, 'They should be right for at least four hours. Now for some research.'
Naruto smiled mischievously to himself as he posed in the centre of his living room floor. Spreading his feet he placed one hand on his hip and raised the other in the air pointing dramatically out the door. Then he called out in a carrying and overly dramatic voice, "To the Library!"
The Great Konoha Library was conveniently situated a couple of blocks from Naruto's apartment, between the Hokage's Tower and the Ninja Academy. It was a squat three story building housing the civilian/academy collection on the ground floor with the Chunin collection on the second and the Jonin collection on the third. Each level was separated by security seals only accessible by the clearance given with a ninja's promotion through the ranks.
Unbeknownst to most of the village, beneath the main library was another four levels of archives and other ultra-secure collections including the ANBU and medical ninja records for the village. As such, though it was a public building, the library was one of the most secure buildings in the village.
In his previous life Naruto had never had occasion to enter the library as his below average literacy skills as a child prohibited him from even thinking of doing so. It may have surprised those that knew him then that the library was the first place he thought of now that he needed to do some research on training techniques.
During the three years Naruto had spent with Jiraiya, Naruto had rather surprisingly, especially to himself, become a voracious reader after Jiraiya had managed to correct his reading problems. After his rather embarrassingly meagre literacy levels were corrected, Naruto literally devoured any books he could get his hands on.
Like many lonely people, Naruto found an escape through books and very quickly became a connoisseur of the well-crafted tale, as was made evident in his dismissal of Jiraiya's trashy novels as 'boring' much to the old man's chagrin. But the main thing that Naruto loved about books was that they taught him things.
Books, without prejudice, gave the same information to everyone. They were never too busy to provide answers and were always available no matter how late at night or how early in the morning. Books provided what the knowledge seeking teen craved, opportunities to learn. To learn about new techniques, new places and new people. It didn't matter what it was about, Naruto was always interested.
After a lifetime of not being able to have his questions answered or having his fundamental misunderstanding of the basics ignored by so-called educators, books became a lifeline of knowledge to the teenage shinobi.
However, on his return to the village Naruto had found his time taken up with physical training and missions, leaving no time for reading and as such no chance to visit the village library. So it was with some trepidation that he now entered through the front doors.
Keeping to the shadows Naruto snuck past the front desk and headed toward the section on the far right that was labelled as the Academy Collection. Quickly concealing himself behind the first shelving unit, he started to scan the book titles.
'Hmmm, Chakra: what is it and how it works, Balance in Mind and Body, Ah this should do, Chakra Control: Exercises for the Beginner. Now for muscle building. That looks like it on the next shelf over.'
Naruto looked around quickly before stealthily moving across the aisle to the next shelf. After gathering a few likely candidates, he made his way to the back if the shelving to where study corals lined the back wall. Choosing the coral furthest from the shelves, Naruto set down his pile of books and began to read.
He jumped and peered over his book warily as he heard a voice say out of nowhere, "Here you might like to try this one as well. The author is a little insane but no one can dispute that his training methods don't produce miraculous results."
Naruto hesitantly reached out and took the offered book from the hand of the smiling middle-aged woman standing in front of him. "Hello I'm the head librarian here, Chishiki Nara. If you need anything feel free to come and ask me, it's my job to help find information after all," still smiling gently Chishiki turned to leave.
"Wait," called Naruto, "it's okay for me to be here?"
"Of course!" exclaimed the woman, "Why ever would you not be welcome? Now if you'll excuse me I need to go and help someone else. Good luck with your studies."
"Thank you," said Naruto as tears came to his eyes, which he quickly wiped away on his sleeve. He had not expected to find another place of acceptance other than the Hokage's office this early in his life.
If only Naruto had known in his first lifetime about the library. The Librarians of Konoha being voracious readers themselves were predisposed to looking underneath the underneath and as such were the least likely to mistake the scroll for the kunai. Added to this the Head Librarian, in her role as research assistant, had worked personally with the fourth Hokage and so had every faith in his sealing ability. With this Naruto's acceptance at the village library, should he have ever graced its walls, was firmly cemented.
Naruto looked inquiringly down at the book Chishiki had given him. 'Ha! Flaming the Fires of the Youthfully Young: How to be a Most Splendid Youth by Maito Gai. Hehe, Old Bushy Brows-sensei actually wrote a book, this should be good.'
He cracked open the book and began to read. A few moments later the quiet of the library was broken by the sound of Naruto repeatedly banging his head against the desk as he chanted, "Baka, Baka, Baka, Baka!"
According to the book the exercises that Naruto had used to train during his early years, some of which were given to him by instructors at the Academy, were so unsuited to a young developing body as to be detrimental to its development. The high stress, weight heavy exercises, whilst perfectly fine for muscle development during the teen years, only caused muscle trauma in the very young.
What he needed was an exercise program focusing on low impact exercises such as stretching and resistance training. Thank goodness he had held out on an intensive training program until his housing situation was settled so he didn't have any damage that he would need to overcome before he could start training properly.
According to Gai-sensei, the use of weights was only profitable when the body's muscles and joints had developed past a certain point, usually in the tenth year of life. Before this, training using elastic material to create resistance and promote muscle growth would produce the best results.
'I don't have any money for the elastic training bands like the book suggests,' thought Naruto dejectedly before he slapped his forehead in exasperation, "Of course, rubber bands!"
For a prankster of Naruto's reputation, rubber bands were a staple pranking resource as they created just the right amount of tension to release a throwing arm when a wire was tripped.
'The bins behind the Academy always had a great supply of rubber bands and the bins behind the Hokage Tower had a great supply as well.' thought Naruto happily.
He quickly flipped through the other books selecting those best suited to his needs including a book on nutrition and jutsu theory, and then made his way to the front desk so he could check them out. Naruto then made his way over the Academy to check out their bins.
'I should try and research as much as I can. May be now with my experience as an actual ninja I'll be able to understand all that theory that Iruka-sensei said was so important.'