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Teuchi wakes up to his back not aching, which probably should have been the first hint that something was off.
After so many years spent handling the ramen stand, some of those aches are built into him, just like similar ones were for his ninja customers, some of whom he got to watch grow up in front of him.
He dismisses it though until he reaches the bathroom and sees his face reflected in the mirror; that wasn't the face of someone in their fifties. Instead, it is how he remembers looking in his mid-thirties, with only the beginning of wrinkles at his eyes and forehead. It's more a reminder that he's gotten old than anything else.
"Ah, I thought this sort of thing happens only to people in stories." The rest of the bathroom area holds no hints for him, either.
A knock on the door distracts him from looking at his face for any further ideas of what might have happened. "Tou-chan! Hurry up! I still need to get ready!"
Ayame's voice sounds a bit higher than it should have. He quickly finishes washing his face.
He opens the door to a much younger version of his daughter than he expected. Ayame can't be younger than ten, because that's when she started to wear her hair loose, but it still brings into question what exactly was going on.
Ayame pouts upwards at him, and stamps her foot. "I'm going to be late!"
"Sorry, Ayame-chan," he says, and lets her go in.
He goes back to his bedroom to get dressed. His favorite pair of trousers are still brand new, and fit better than they have in the last few years.
He still has no better an idea of what is going on by the time he is dressed and making a simple breakfast— toast and jam— for Ayame to take with her to the academy.
"Have a good day at the academy, Ayame-chan," he tells her as she hurriedly assembles her bento for the day, trying to get it ready before she runs to her class. The toast is perfectly golden; while it's not his specialty, he still takes care to make sure everything he makes is the best he can.
Ayame's eyes flick up at him, her expression filled with confusion. "You've never said that before." She had dropped out of the academy before finishing, joining him at the ramen stand full-time instead of becoming a genin.
"I just want you to do your best." He has a better perspective of that now.
Teuchi spends the morning before opening refamiliarizing himself with the old markets— he had never been able to find a vegetable stand he liked as much after the fourth war because Kazuhito took the village getting destroyed as a sign it was time to retire, and he had taken his connections with him— and manages to haggle his old friends down harder than he used to. Every little bit helps.
Everything is set up the way he's refined it by the time he opens for lunch. Not too different from how it was before he opened, but significant enough to cut down on the time needed to check, restock, and prepare.
Two Uchiha stop by not long after. The older teen he doesn't know at all, but the younger one, just a bit older than Ayame... Well.
Teuchi ends up giving Uchiha Itachi a second serving of ramen against the boy's polite protests. He is still not sure what was going on, but he remembers Naruto's insistence all the same after the war that Uchiha Itachi should be considered a hero, and well, all men make mistakes. They are just able to be greater for shinobi, and for all that Itachi-kun is apparently a genius and powerful ninja, right now the boy's as skinny as the noodles Teuchi adds to his bowl. "You should eat better."
Later that evening, Naruto lurks outside of the noren, before finally committing himself after all of his other customers have left for the time being. This is still the shy boy that hadn't yet become willing to treat Teuchi as an outlet, which also helps Teuchi narrow things down a bit.
Naruto had never come in with friends, only his academy teacher until he became a genin. Most of those kids hadn't ever stopped by before. Between them and becoming a hero, Naruto had become the best publicity his stand ever had.
"If you bring any friends with you, Naruto, I'll give you a free bowl from now on if they're new."
Naruto's blue eyes grow large, and he nods so hard that it's a wonder his head doesn't fly off.
The next day, Naruto comes back with three other children who did not become regulars until they were teenagers.
It isn't long after that that Naruto starts bringing complete strangers to the stand, all in the pursuit of free food. Even with the added overhead of free bowls for Naruto, it results in an increase in overall sales.
Ayame becomes a genin, which means there's significantly less time for her to help out at the stand even part-time, which is tricky thanks to the increase in customers.
Naruto has become a solid fixture at the stand by now, more than ever before, and after one evening where Ayame helped him with his homework, usually has the workbook out next to him these days whenever he is trying to work his way through the backlog of free ramen. By now the tally is over ninety.
"Hey, hey, Ji-chan, why are you looking so sad like that?" Naruto asks.
"Ah, it's nothing," Teuchi answers, making sure all of the prep drawers are ready for the evening rush. "Ayame-chan is a genin now and beginning to take missions outside of the village, which means she has less time to help with the stand."
Naruto looks at him with thoughtful big blue eyes. "Oh." His face scrunches up for a moment. "Can I help?"
Naruto is inside the stand on the other side of the counter with him one evening when the Hokage arrives.
"Naruto, what are you doing there?" the Hokage asks. The older man sounds confused.
"I'm helping!" Naruto answers, enthusiastically, and Teuchi has to nudge the boy away from the pot of broth before he drops the vegetables he is carrying in by mistake. It tends to alarm customers if Naruto's obviously in charge of food preparation, so instead he runs for ingredients if anything runs out and is even able to do deliveries for customers.
The Hokage's eyes narrow their focus on Teuchi. "Naruto-kun is an academy student. He's a bit young for working anywhere. Academy students aren't allowed to work without permission from the school."
"You'll find the paperwork was submitted to the academy and everything was signed off, Hokage-sama," Teuchi answers. "His permit is right there on the inside of the door." It's in the same place Ayame's used to be. "Two hours a day at most, for ten hours a week at most."
"Hmmm." The Hokage looks towards Naruto again. "Do you really want to be working here, Naruto?"
"Yeah!" Naruto enthuses, dropping a bundle of sprouts on the floor. "It's great!"
"I thought you wanted to become a ninja?"
"I do!" Naruto bends and picks up the sprouts, and thankfully this time takes it to the prep sink to wash it all off. "But this is fun, too! And I get to eat all the ramen I want, too!" The earlier free bowls were converted into being part of his owed wages.
Teuchi is just a man who lives in a ninja village, but with the knowledge he has, he can try to do what little he can to at least make things a little better for the people he knows.
And for Naruto, letting him feel like he belongs somewhere is more than in his capabilities.