Naruto: Chronicles of the Lost Library

He hadn't slept.

Didn't even notice until his legs gave out again. His hands slammed the wall, dragging across rough stone smeared in dust that felt like powdered chakra. His tongue still tasted like burned scrolls and regret.

The deeper he went, the more everything started choking. Not darker. Not colder. Just heavier. Like the air itself wanted him dead.

Naruto wiped blood from his mouth. He didn't even remember when he got hit. His ribs ached like someone kicked the shit out of him with steel boots. Not that it mattered. Pain wasn't special anymore. It was just there, buzzing like everything else that wanted him gone.

Another collapsed hallway — roof crushed years ago. Bones, robes, a half-buried headband still poking out. Poor bastard never made it past this point.

Naruto didn't even blink.

This place wasn't a grave. It was a damn guilt trap with too many names carved into the walls.

And the whispers were getting closer.

He reached another archway. Big one. Old stone, heavy chakra lock, and that nasty smell again — not mold. Rot. Human fucking rot.

He pressed his palm on the seal. It flickered like a dying candle. Like even it was sick of opening for people.

The door groaned. Long and pissed off.

Inside?

A prison.

Tight. Cold. Black burn marks on the floor and walls. Seals on the stone — old but still pulsing faintly.

And in the corner, slumped like something left to die, was a man.

Or what was left of one.

Skin pale like ash. Lips cracked. Bloody. Eyes wide open. Not blinking. Not even alive right.

Naruto stepped in. Every nerve screaming to stay the hell out.

"Hey," he said, voice dry.

The man's head turned slow as hell, like his neck forgot how to move.

"You're late," he croaked. His voice sounded like someone gargling nails. "Thought they'd send someone who didn't look like shit."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

The man made a noise — almost a laugh. Almost.

"They called me Ashmouth. Back when names mattered. Back when we didn't have to scream just to breathe."

Naruto took another step. "What the hell is this place?"

Ashmouth coughed, blood running down his chin like water from a cracked pipe.

"This place?" he rasped. "This is what happens when memory becomes poison. This is where they bury the ones who remember too loud."

"You're talking in circles."

"No," Ashmouth said. "You're listening like an idiot."

Naruto clenched his fists.

"You ever hear of the Silent Ember?"

Naruto didn't answer.

"Didn't think so. They were the ones who tried to burn this Library from the inside out. Not to destroy it — to start it over. Thought memory was a disease. Thought we needed to forget everything before this world could stop choking on itself."

Naruto scowled. "So a bunch of lunatics."

Ashmouth gave a tired smile. "Maybe. But lunatics with a point."

He coughed again. Bad this time. Something broke inside.

"They're crawling again. Up there. Out there. The world's too loud again. They're waiting for this place to open."

Naruto stepped forward, jaw tight. "You're full of shit."

Ashmouth didn't care. "Kazuki thought the same. Thought he could hold it all together. Thought silence was weakness."

Naruto's stomach turned. "You knew him?"

"Everyone down here knew him. The fool who stared into memory too long and burned his own eyes for it."

The chains creaked. Ashmouth pointed with a shaking hand.

"You're not ready. You still think you're the main character in some dumb hero story. Still asking, 'How do I stop it?' Instead of the only question that matters—"

"What?" Naruto snapped.

Ashmouth's grin cracked wider.

"Why the fuck was this cell unlocked?"

Naruto's breath hitched.

He turned. Looked back.

No chakra barrier. Nothing. Just the hallway, open and empty.

The Library let him in.

Ashmouth leaned back, wheezing. "You're the next one. The new idiot who thinks carrying the fire makes you strong. It doesn't. It makes you a target."

Naruto said nothing.

Ashmouth's voice dropped.

"This place didn't survive because it was sacred. It survived because it kills everyone too dumb to leave."

Naruto turned away.

"I'm done listening to you rot."

He started walking. Limping. Half-dragging his leg.

"You'll see," Ashmouth rasped. "When the Silent Ember lights up again… when they crawl out of the ash with knives and names…"

Naruto didn't stop.

"You'll beg to forget," the voice hissed behind him.

Then silence.

No breath. No whisper. No scream.

Naruto didn't look back.

Didn't need to.

Whatever the hell Ashmouth had been — freak, failure, warning — it was over.

But the words stuck like thorns in his head:

The Flame never forgets its victims.