It was not every day Umino Iruka chose to treat Naruto out to dinner, and it was even rarer for him to offer to pay up the boy's backed-up debts, but, as he had found out from the resident gossip amongst the student's, Naruto had asked out the young Yamanaka heiress and he had been brutally turned down.
Though not exactly possessing sagely wisdom in the art of romance, the Chunin Teacher felt that the young boy needed some company – or at the very least, needed some ramen to make him bounce back to his usual self.
But Naruto was actually wrestling with a different problem: "Should I use the skill rune or not?"
He was deep in thought, weighing his options, completely unaware of Iruka's worried look.
The steam from their ramen bowls filled the air, and the quiet ticking of the clock seemed to press on Naruto. He knew he had to make a decision soon about the skill rune, but it was a tough choice.
[ Item: Skill Rune Stone ]
[ Status: Used ]
[ Acquired Skill: Spirit Possession ]
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[ Skill: Spirit Possession ]
[ Class: Spirit Warden ]
[ Effect: Enables semi-partial possession by a spirit, allowing the player to access the spirit's abilities. ]
[ Slot Status: Empty ]
[ Activation: Open the slot to generate a random spirit for possession. ]
[ Caution: The chosen spirit will become the default spirit for summoning. ]
[ Action Required: Acceptance or Declination of Skill Use ]
Surrounded by the comforting steam of their ramen, Naruto finally shrugged and decided, "Why not?" He accepted the use of the skill rune.
Suddenly, a card materialized on the system screen. It depicted a figure from the late 19th century, renowned for his sharp deductive skills. The man was dressed in a classic deerstalker hat and an elegant Victorian-era coat, clutching a magnifying glass. His piercing eyes and thoughtful expression suggested deep intelligence and remarkable powers of observation.
[ Skill: Spirit Possession ]
[ Description: Allows partial possession by a spirit of Sherlock Holmes. ]
[ Stat Enhancements: ]
- [ Intelligence (INT): +20 ]
- [ Wisdom (WIS): +20 ]
[ Special Status: Eyes of the Detective ]
[ Effect: Grants the ability to observe the environment and utilize preexisting knowledge to deduce minute details, enhancing investigative and problem-solving skills. ]
Naruto observed the skill update closely.
He realized that the Spirit Possession skill didn't require leveling up.
The stat boosts to Intelligence and Wisdom were significant on their own.
Plus, there was no cost in Chakra Points (CP) or durability issues to worry about.
It seemed like a class feature of the Spirit Warden class, something he could use repeatedly whenever he needed.
"This is more than enough," Naruto thought, satisfied with his new ability.
He decided to activate the skill.
As he did, his perception of the world around him changed dramatically.
Everything appeared as though viewed through a sepia filter, details and nuances sharply defined and vividly enhanced. This strange, exhilarating perspective made the world seem both old and new.
"Oi! Teuchi-jiji! You out of toppings? My ramen's looking a little thin!"
Iruka bopped him over the head.
"Baka! Don't be so ungrateful! To think I actually offered to treat you to ramen after the pranks you pulled in class last week."
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Naruto's lips turned into a semi-indignant pout.
"But-but the broth is like, ten percent smaller than it was yesterday! And the toppings and portions are smaller as well!"
Iruka's eyes twitched.
"I think it's just your appetite that's grown bigger."
"Haha, Naruto-kun is kind of right."
Iruka's eyebrow rose.
"He is?
"I am?"
Teuchi nodded, slowly.
"Our usual delivery boy is a little late with the order, so I had to cut corners for the Ramen – I'm sorry about that –"
Iruka waved him off, "It's nothing. I barely noticed the difference – only a ramen-holic like Naruto would realize it."
"Ramen is the food of the gods and everything about it is divine dattebayo!" Naruto said, grinning "I know everything there is to know about Ichiraku Ramen!"
Iruka snorted.
"Sure, sure, and I'm certain you can tell how many toppings are in my –"
"Fourteen!"
Iruka blinked.
He stared down at his bowl, and counted, and found himself baffled at the blond getting the accurate number.
"Lucky guess."
Naruto shook his head as he scarfed down more ramen.
"Not luck!"
"Oh really? Then how many strands of noodles are left in my –"
"Thirty-eight!"
Iruka stared into his bowl, slowly counting with his chopsticks, one by one, until he reached the exact number Naruto mentioned.
"H-how did you know that?"
"Teuchi-jiji usually has a fixed number of strands per bowl. It's enough to leave you satisfied, but not too much that it'll make you leave it unfinished." He said between slurps "And, you eat really slow Iruka-sensei."
It was ridiculous, to know the exact number of noodles in a bowl, and the speed required to actually consume said noodles, so Iruka found himself staring at Naruto, his mind trying to comprehend what he had just witnessed.
"Naruto, how many people have visited Ichiraku Ramen today alone?"
"Hm?" Naruto took a huge slurp out of his bowl "fifty or so. Why?"
Iruka glanced to Teuchi and Ayame, and their widened eyes spoke more loudly than any verbal confirmation they could have possibly uttered.
"How did you know that?"
"Ayame-nee's sleeves are folded up."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything! Teuchi-jiji's sink is kind of deep, Ayame-nee doesn't really need to fold her sleeves all the way up to her elbow in order to wash the dishes. The only time she'd need to do that is when there are tons of dishes available and she's put them all in. She folds her sleeve so they don't fall into the filled sink and get wet, and also to make it easier for her to wash."
Iruka's mouth felt dry.
"But… that just tells you that they've been a lot of customers. How did you guess Fifty?"
"Because Ayame-nee has also been cooking," Naruto said "Teuchi-jiji only ever lets Ayame-nee join him to prepare Ramen when there are more customers than he can handle. And he's no slouch! He can take on six at a time, but if it gets too much, Ayame-nee helps him out."
Naruto paused, placing a hand on his chin "Also, today's Monday, so there are usually about eight or eleven customers in the morning, and around lunch time, this place is filled really fast, that adds around twenty to thirty customers coming and going. Then after classes are over and in the evenings, there are fewer customers, but still enough to guess around sixty."
The sound of the kettle blowing was the only noise in the restaurant.
"H-how did you know Ayame-san had been cooking?"
"Huh? What do you mean? She's got her apron on and everything – and look, those are miso soup stains on them!"
Iruka found himself feeling light-headed and slightly dazed, more so when he realized that Naruto, Naruto of all people and of all his students, was subconsciously using inductive and deductive techniques to glimmer information about things around him, and he didn't even realize it.
He took in several deep breaths, before he decided to calm himself.
"Naruto, how many major hidden villages do we have?"
"Er…" the blond boy looked sheepish as he scratched his head "…Two?"
"How is it that -!" Iruka had to calm himself and lower his voice "How is it that you can accurately guess how many customers have visited Ichiraku Ramen, and how many strands of noodles are in my bowl, but you don't know how many major hidden villages we have in the Elemental Nations?!"
"Because I don't care about that stuff! Who cares how many there are? Konoha is the greatest dattebayo!"
Iruka sighed, shaking his head. Maybe he was just reading too much into things – Naruto spent most of his hours at Ichiraku Ramen, and had more hours at the establishment than he probably did at his own home. With so much time spent there, it would explain his ability to pick out all the littlest details and things that happened around there with alarming detail and frightening efficiency.
It wasn't like Naruto was some sort of hidden genius or anything. No, the very notion sounded utterly preposterous.
A thought did however stumble unto the Chunin's mind, and for a few seconds, he contemplated it.
"Hey Naruto, tell me about how you do your pranking."
Naruto stopped, staring at him suspiciously for several seconds.
"If this is a trick to find out where I keep my gear Iruka-sensei –"
Iruka put his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
"No tricks. I'm genuinely curious. Some of your pranks must take careful planning and deliberation, I wonder how you got into it."
"Well…"
Two hours later, Iruka was regretting his decision to ask. While he had been hoping to gain some more insight into Naruto's apparent analytical and deductive abilities, it seemed that those abilities only registered or came up when it came to Ichiraku Ramen, or anything Ramen-related. Instead of finding out more about his student's mind, he was treated to a lecture on the different types of itching powder, the best paints to use for brighter colors, how to carefully set up feather traps and all sorts of other information that the Chunin truly was not interested in.
"And then, you have to make sure that you wash your hands thoroughly or the itching powder might still be on you –"
"That's great Naruto – wow, look at the time. I've got some scripts to mark and you've got to get ready for school tomorrow."
"But I haven't told how to use the rubber chicken yet!"
Iruka nodded, slowly.
"No need, you seem to have a mastery of pranking that I don't think I can achieve anytime soon."
Naruto blushed before rubbing the back of his head with his arm "Really?"
"Of course. And if you applied those pranking skills of yours to your shinobi knowledge, you might even make a brilliant strategist or trap master someday."
Naruto's face furrowed up in confusion "What does pranking have to do with being a shinobi?"
"Well… information gathering, reconnaissance, stealth, and the likes. Instead of say, planting a stink bomb in someone's house, imagine instead, planting an actual bomb – or some knock out gas instead."
Iruka watched as the gears began slowly turning in Naruto's head.
"So I can prank people, just using deadlier and cooler stuff… and I could become a great shinobi for doing it?"
"Er… sure, I don't see why not."
Iruka placed his hand on the boy's head and tussled his hair.
"Don't get ahead of yourself Naruto. You'll need to make sure you don't fail the Academy this time around, and actually learn things – we can't have a Hokage who doesn't know how many hidden villages exist, now can we?"