Chapter 6: Whispers in the Ink
Konoha Public Library – After Hours
The doors were locked. The lights dim. The librarian gone home.
And yet…
A small blonde shadow slipped silently past the window and into the archives.
Naruto crouched in the darkness, flashlight in hand, a grin spreading across his face. "Heh… thanks, old man Hokage. You really should lock your windows better."
He wasn't allowed in here past sundown. Especially not on that side of the library — the restricted stacks. Reserved for genin and up. Full of scrolls on chakra theory, elemental manipulation, old clan techniques...
And maybe—just maybe—something that could explain why his chakra felt so weird.
He crept past shelves, eyes scanning kanji.
"Basic Earth Nature Theory."
"Intermediate Chakra Control Exercises."
"Bijuu Records – Classified."
He froze.
That scroll was bound in black leather, with a red wax seal half-broken.
Naruto's heart pounded. Bijuu… that word. He'd seen it before. Once, when a villager had shouted at him during a festival. He didn't know what it meant. But it had burned.
He grabbed the scroll and unrolled it slowly.
---
Inside the Scroll
> "The Bijuu, or Tailed Beasts, are living chakra constructs of immense power. Nine exist. The strongest—known as the Kyūbi no Yōko, the Nine-Tailed Fox—is sealed within the body of a child. The host is called a jinchūriki."
"While the host is not the Bijuu, their chakra may become tainted or influenced. Some jinchūriki lose their minds. Some never awaken the power at all. But those who do… become monsters, or weapons."
Naruto's fingers tightened on the scroll.
His breath was shallow.
The Nine-Tailed Fox… inside a kid?
Is that… me?
A noise snapped him out of his thoughts.
The door creaked open.
Naruto shoved the scroll into his jacket and dove behind a shelf, heart thundering.
Footsteps.
Soft. Careful.
He peeked out.
A figure in a long black cloak entered the restricted section. Elegant. Graceful.
Not ANBU.
Not a librarian.
A woman. Blonde. Tired eyes. A sake flask at her side.
Tsunade.
Naruto had no idea who she was.
But she stopped in front of a different scroll, pulled it out, and muttered, "Stupid Sarutobi… hiding this trash in the wrong section again."
She didn't see him.
And just like that, she was gone.
Naruto exhaled. The scroll in his jacket burned against his chest.
---
Outside – Later That Night
He sat on a rooftop, staring at the moon.
His thoughts were spinning.
A jinchūriki. A beast inside me. That's what they've all been whispering about… isn't it?
He didn't cry.
He didn't scream.
He clenched his fists.
"If there's a monster inside me," he whispered, "then I'll just become stronger than it."
He stood.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. And no one's writing my story but me."
---
To be continued…