"Oc in Naruto"

Chapter 10

Steam rose from fresh bowls of ramen as Aria settled onto a stool at Ichiraku's, her uncovered eyes now visible and glowing with subtle amusement. Naruto was already on his second bowl, but his curiosity finally overcame his appetite."Okay, Aria-chan, spill it! How'd you know everything that was gonna happen? And what's with the purple light thing? And the scales? You gotta explain it in a way I can understand!"Aria exchanged an amused glance with Sakura, who was delicately picking up noodles with her chopsticks. "Alright, Naruto. Think of it like... cup ramen.""Cup ramen?" His face scrunched up in confusion."Yes. You know how when you're making cup ramen, you can see all the steps that need to happen, right? First you need hot water, then you pour it in, then you wait three minutes...""Yeah! And if you don't wait the full three minutes, the noodles are all crunchy and wrong!""Exactly," Aria nodded, her scales flickering briefly visible with approval. "Well, I can see time kind of like that. Instead of just seeing what's happening now, I can see all the steps that are about to happen – like being able to see the whole cup ramen process before you even start boiling the water.""Ohhh!" Naruto's eyes widened in understanding. "So that's how you knew about Kakashi-sensei's fourth surprise attack not working!""Right. And the purple light thing? That's like... imagine if instead of walking all the way around the counter to get to the hot water, you could just..." she disappeared in a flash of purple light and reappeared on Naruto's other side, "take a shortcut through space itself.""Cool!" Naruto exclaimed through a mouthful of noodles. "But what about the scales? Those are new!""That's because of Ryūō," Aria explained, accepting her own bowl of ramen from Teuchi with a grateful nod. "You know how you sometimes get whisker marks when you use Kurama's chakra?""Yeah!""Well, when I use Ryūō's power, or when we're particularly in sync – like when something amuses both of us – the scales show up. It's kind of like... chakra leaking through in a visible way.""Like when you put too much hot water in the cup ramen and it overflows?" Naruto suggested eagerly.Sakura nearly choked on her noodles trying not to laugh."That's... actually not a bad analogy," Aria admitted, her scales flickering again with shared amusement as Ryūō rumbled a laugh in her mind. "Though hopefully with less mess.""See? I can totally understand complicated stuff when you explain it right!" Naruto declared proudly, then paused. "Wait, so if you can see what's going to happen... who's going to pay for all this ramen?""Oh, that's easy," Aria smiled. "Kakashi-sensei will, since he's about to arrive in three... two... one..."A swirl of leaves announced Kakashi's arrival, just as Naruto finished his fourth bowl."Aria-chan's time perception is still cheating," he announced cheerfully, then noticed the stack of empty bowls. His visible eye widened slightly. "Ah.""Don't worry, sensei," Sakura consoled him with poorly hidden amusement. "Consider it payment for all those times you made us wait for hours during training.""Maa, my cute little students are so cruel," Kakashi sighed dramatically, but reached for his wallet anyway. "Though I suppose I should be grateful Aria didn't let the battle continue long enough for that last combination jutsu you were planning. The repair costs for that would have been much worse than a ramen bill.""About that combination," Naruto perked up, already reaching for another bowl. "Since you can see what would have happened, Aria-chan, was it really as awesome as we planned?""Let's just say there's a reason I stopped the match when I did," Aria replied diplomatically. "Though maybe next time try it somewhere that's not quite so... flammable.""Flammable?" Tsunade's voice cut in as she and Shizune joined them. "Do I want to know?""Probably not," everyone chorused, then broke into laughter at their perfect timing.As the conversation devolved into animated discussions of future training plans and increasingly elaborate jutsu combinations, Aria sat back and watched with uncovered eyes, seeing not just the moment but all the branching possibilities spinning out from it. Some paths led to danger, others to triumph, but this particular moment – sharing ramen and laughter with friends – this was exactly where they all needed to be.Even if Kakashi's wallet might disagree.