With Naruto

Naruto arrived at the library with no small amount of dread. No child with an active bone in their body would choose to read literature.

These were not the entertaining children's books or fairy tales but the dull books with pages far into the triple digits.

He wasn't about to lie. One of the decrees he planned on making as Hokage was to burn all boring literature.

Obviously, this wouldn't fly anyhow, but a kid can dream.

Naruto opened the doors to find a common area filled with tables and countless shelves. The air smelled sterile.

Naruto walked toward the front desk and was surprised by the new face. The last time he was here, an old lady always gave him the stink eye.

Now, it's a middle-aged woman with a mature and elegant pose. Even though the personnel changed, Naruto was not confident she would be any different.

Instead of asking for help navigating, he decided to try his hand at finding his own way. Years of being ignored and thrown aside would lead most people to develop this attitude.

As Naruto turned away, he never noticed that his presence was already known to the new librarian. While she appeared absorbed in her work, she secretly kept an eye on him. After all, he was indeed why her predecessor was replaced by yours truly.

The Day Before

In the Hokage's Office, two people were in a meeting.

"Sir, you want me to be a librarian. Respectfully, you must be joking?" A monotone voice traced with disbelief came from the woman of the pair.

Decked in ANBU gear, she had shoulder-length auburn hair and a lithe figure. Satsuki was an above-average beauty, even with the stern look on her face twenty-four seven.

"No, while the civilians have been in control of the library, too many incidents have been reported. Last week there was a conflict between the staff and shinobi due to the mishandling of documents and bias against clan shinobi. They even tried to sabotage a student with malicious intent." Hiruzen knew this could be considered degrading to any shinobi of her stature, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Satsuki's rap sheet in the ANBU showed her prowess remarkably. Espionage, Assassinations, and Intel Gathering were full marks. Many of her peers would be hard-pressed to compete with the same mental stability as her.

'Well...she had them from the beginning.' Hiruzen gave her a complicated gaze. Many ANBU corps members have experienced tragedy in one way or another. The mental states of these members are questionable at best, but their loyalty is top-notch.

'This is as far as I'll go towards the dark side of the shinobi world. Even then, this leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time.' Hiruzen laid out the mission. "This will be an inside job. I want you to find and detain all the staff responsible for these incidents without any noise. Questioning will be done by the T&I Division. In the process, find all the leads you can to whoever is behind the scenes. Do you accept?"

No shinobi worth their salts would deny a personal mission from their Kage. Satsuki could only bow and agree.

Back to the Present

'The victim has arrived.' Satsuki had already been debriefed about the situation and knew who to look out for. Such a subject needed to handle with care.

As she watched him walk away, she noticed she wasn't the only one watching him. Thankfully, for whatever reason, they did not cause any trouble. Yet.

Naruto walked around, trying to remember his way about. He headed around using the visual markers labeling each section.

He entered the area for primary education. After picking up books for each subject, he could remember, Naruto could already tell he was in for a long haul.

He walked his books towards the front desk and sighed in relief at the lack of a line. His boredom was already reaching its peak.

Naruto walked up and placed his books down on the counter. Satsuki looked up from her work and gave the typical retail smile.

"Hello, are you checking out? If so, they must be returned in a month and...." She began listing off all the responsibilities and rules as usual. Even though this should be normal, Naruto was not used to normal.

When 99% of the population treats you contemptuously, you will react the same way.

As Satsuki finished her lecture, she looked at Naruto only to be greeted with a shocked expression. Raising an eyebrow, she cleared her throat before asking for his library card. Naruto popped out of his trance.

"Oh yeah...let me find it. Not here. Not there. AHA! Found it." Naruto looked proud of himself for no reason and gave her the card.

Without a reaction, Satsuki checked him out before bidding him goodbye and returning to her work.

After rounding up his stuff, Naruto couldn't help but tell her his thoughts.

"Your pretty nice, lady. Much better than that old hag from before. Bye!" Naruto rushed off as a staff member called to reprimand him for running.

Satsuki glanced in the direction the cheeky blonde ran off before returning to work. If one was to look closely, one would see a slight upturn at the edge of her lips before it disappeared.

Back with Naruto

Naruto walks into his place with a tired expression. "Finally, today felt so long for some reason." He placed the books he was carrying and left them there, not wanting to look at them for a while. They never failed to make him shudder at just the sight of them.

"I wonder why the Old Man suddenly cares so much. Sure, he would nag all the time, but he seemed almost desperate." Naruto sat in the old creaky chair in the kitchen, just staring blankly at the wall.

After a moment, he let out a groan in frustration. "I'm overthinking. Shika is a bad influence. I might as well head to bed early. I don't want to think about the mess I'll have to clean up."

Naruto paused and imagined the chaos that must've occurred. He grew an evil grin while walking to the washroom.

"HA! Totally worth it."

An Hour Later

Naruto lay in bed, sleeping in peace. A peace that one can only find once in a blue moon.

Anyone who disturbed it would be an absolute mons- "AGH! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE."

Naruto bolted into an upright position with frustration clear as day. He grabbed a pillow before laying back down and dropping it on his face.

'Why can't I sleep? I mean, today was exciting but not that exciting. Plus, I tired myself out with all that training. Maybe I should find something to bore myself to sleep.' With that thought, he gets up and walks out of his room.

Outside his room door, he spots the pile of books and shudders. He wasn't kidding before.

'Well, I did ask for something boring....' Naruto picked up the pile of books and brought them to the kitchen. He laid them out to decide which one to read.

'So, my best subject is...nothing. I'm gonna have to start from scratch, aren't I? *Sigh* I made a promise to the old geezer, and I'm going to keep it.' Naruto looked across all the books.

There was "The History of Konohagakure," "Applications of Math," "Basic Science," and "Introduction to Chakra." If we were going off of what would be the most boring, history would forever rank first. It should get a trophy for that.

When he opened the history book, a screen picked up.

[Study Guide]

The System develops the body and mind's capabilities. Follow the guide for maximum retention.

Chapter 1: Clan Wars Era

Read Chapter [0/1]

Complete Vocabulary Questions [0/11]

Complete Reader's Understanding [0/3]

...

He has no idea what this is about, but he can tell...this will be boring.

An Hour Later

Naruto had finally finished the work for the Chapter before his head flopped onto the book. Dead asleep.

If he had stayed awake a second more, he would have seen the screen that appeared.

[Knowledge Quest]

The History of Konohagakure: Chapter 1 [Complete]

Completion Reward:

+1 INT

History Quest Unlocked