The Fox 🦊

Chapter 1: Uzushiogakure

Forcing a five-year-old's body to run past its limit was like trying to lift a truck, in Naruto's opinion. His body was absurdly low in stamina. Okay, he was exaggerating a little, Naruto's body was doing quite good for a five-year-old, but as a mentally 48-year-old who could outrun an Olympian it wasn't nearly good enough. Naruto huffed, having managed to dodge the ANBU who were likely assigned to keep an eye on him. Sensing chakra turned out to be easy, considering it was an energy Naruto as Ishual never had access to, so it was easy to distinguish between a forced absence or a lack thereof. The civilians had a tiny bit, while the ANBU were like big gaps between the throng of densely packed chakra signatures, even though most were wisps of string barely attached to their tethers.

Losing them, therefore, was easy. Finding the library, however, proved to be the hard part. It certainly didn't help that the villagers were edging away from him, scowling in fright and anger and calling insulting names at him. Hurling them at him as if they had no other way of showing their malice, in that Naruto was grateful. Being abused physically by the villagers would make trying to be a ninja-like trying not to read, impossible.

It was probably luck that had Naruto stumbling into the library. An elderly woman instantly perked up and beamed at him, distantly Naruto was aware of the fact that there was no one but her within the old library walls. But right that moment he was more aware of the blinding smile the lady was giving him even after having noted who he was.

That had Naruto blinking.

"Hello, there deary! What can I do for you?" The lady asked. Naruto stared stunned but smiled shyly up at her.

"Um, can...can you teach me how to read, librarian- san?" He asked hesitantly, hoping that she would. And surprisingly she smiled brighter.

"Of course! And call me Fuji!" Learning turned out to be easier to pretend to do, mostly because Fuji-san made it much more interesting than his books ever had. He returned each day to "learn" after running. Somehow getting enough groceries from the villagers to get all the right healthy foods that were necessary and living by that.

Except for four days later, the routine was interrupted somewhat. Naruto had run to the forest and into a clearing after lessons had been over for the day, plopping down on the dewy grass, where he laid and basked in the warmth of the afternoon sun. He had managed to take a book out that had grabbed his attention and was too happy to go to his gloomy apartment, no matter how much it had improved from its dreary state when he had first taken Naruto's body days ago.

"Troublesome. " A small whisper of a boys voice reached him. Naruto opened his eyes and turned his head to the voice only to blink. A few feet from him stood Shikamaru. His black hair was still in a pineapple-like pony, well...tenses were a pain in Naruto's butt...so whatever. Shikamaru had a school bag slung over his shoulder and was stifling a jaw-breaking yawn. Before Naruto could formulate a response, the Nara had sprawled himself out on the grass beside Naruto and had fallen asleep within moments. He could only blink in shock but pushed it away in favour of relaxing.

Not long after Naruto sat back up and took his book out, starting to read. It was calming. The soft gentle caress of the wind is enough to cool down the warm sun but not quite cold enough to take the warmth completely away.

Before the sunset Naruto had left, Shikamaru had long been gone.

The next day the blonde had returned to the clearing. And so had Shikamaru.

Therefore a new addition was added to Naruto's routine.....

At least for a month. Until Naruto had stopped getting lessons from Fuji, who had given him a free pass to any book within her walls. He had instantly searched for scrolls of maps and other books. When Naruto returned to the clearing that day, Shikamaru didn't return.