The Konoha Library was quiet, as always.
Sunlight filtered in through the high windows, casting soft shadows across shelves lined with scrolls. Dust hung like still mist in the beams of light, untouched, undisturbed.
Ren Uzumaki sat alone at a far table, two scrolls spread open before him. His fingers moved with precision — tracing, noting, absorbing.
One scroll was labeled Nature Transformation: Wind Release Fundamentals.
The other: Fire Release – Chakra Shaping and Control.
He read in silence, eyes moving steadily from symbol to explanation, from diagram to description.
> "Wind cuts. It's the most precise. Most lethal in the right hands."
His fingers rested lightly on a section describing chakra sharpening — shaping chakra into a blade-like edge, unseen but deadly.
Then he shifted to the other scroll.
> "Fire overwhelms. Expansion. Spread. Intensity."
He paused at the section on Fireball Jutsu, frowning slightly at the shaping requirements.
> "The only jutsu I know are the ones from the Academy…"
> "Clone Jutsu. Substitution. Transformation. Body Flicker."
He leaned back slightly, thinking.
> "I've mastered all of them. Not just passing — actual mastery."
> "But elemental jutsu? I don't have any."
His eyes narrowed a little.
> "What I need… is access."
He looked back down at the scrolls.
They didn't contain techniques. Only theory. Control training. Nothing practical — nothing beyond D-rank exercises.
> "Where do I even get a fire or wind jutsu scroll?"
> "Not from here. This place only gives public basics."
He remembered the Chūnin at the mission office. The jōnin who sometimes came through the village with large scroll packs.
> "They don't hand them out freely. You need clearance. Or a sensei."
He stared at the table, thoughtful.
Then closed both scrolls gently and tucked them into the return bin.
> "So… the Academy was step one. Learning my nature was step two."
> "Step three…"
He stood slowly, tightening the strap on his shoulder bag.
> "...is getting strong enough that someone has to teach me."
And with that, Ren left the library in silence — the wind brushing past the doors as he walked into the sunlight.
Not just to train.
But to make himself undeniable.
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