Tetsuya sorted through the memories in his head. Hashirama Senju had already stepped down, and the current Hokage was the Second Hokage, Tobirama.
Not long ago, Madara Uchiha had suddenly appeared and attacked the village, triggering the Battle of the Valley of the End. Hashirama Senju had defeated Madara Uchiha and successfully brought back the Nine-Tails.
And his wife, Mito Uzumaki—no, she should be called Mito Senju—had also become Konoha's first Nine-Tails jinchuriki.
Meanwhile, unrest had begun stirring throughout the ninja world, and the faint scent of gunpowder was spreading.
But none of that had anything to do with Tetsuya. After all, he wasn't a ninja. Even if war really broke out, it would be a battlefield for ninjas, not a civilian like him.
"So this was the original owner's home?"
Inside a somewhat dilapidated house on a street in Konoha, Tetsuya rubbed his face.
Good grief, this place really was a wreck.
There was no helping it. When Madara Uchiha had brought the Nine-Tails to attack Konoha, the destruction had been immense. He had clearly intended to destroy the village outright.
Although the house was some distance from the battlefield, a fight between ninjas on the level of Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju caused far too much destruction.
The entire street had been caught in the fallout.
But Hashirama Senju was still Hashirama Senju. The man was genuinely compassionate. He had ordered the ninjas under him to investigate the damage throughout Konoha and drawn up a compensation plan.
In his words, Konoha's villagers had come here because they had chosen to follow him.
Now they had suffered because of him and Madara. Although he was no longer Hokage, he had to compensate them.
"Are you Chiba Tetsuya?"
A voice rang out. Tetsuya turned and saw a white-haired ninja wearing a Konoha forehead protector leading a squad to his door.
Tetsuya hadn't closed the door, so the man could see him sitting inside, staring into space.
"Hello, sir. Yes, that's me."
Looking at the white-haired ninja, Tetsuya's first thought was, Is this guy Sakumo Hatake? Even if he isn't, he must be a ninja from the Hatake clan.
"Take this. It's the compensation Lord First Hokage promised. It isn't much, but it should be enough to repair your house and get your life back on track."
Tetsuya accepted the thick stack of banknotes.
"Thank you so much."
"Don't thank me. Thank Lord First Hokage."
"Yes, I'm truly grateful to Lord Hokage!"
Tetsuya thanked him again, sincerely this time.
A quick glance told him there were at least five thousand ryo in the stack.
That might not sound like much, but Konoha was still in its early days. Prices hadn't risen yet.
By Naruto's time, a bowl of ramen cost around sixty or seventy ryo, while a D-rank mission paid anywhere from five thousand to fifty thousand ryo, with the village and the team's teacher taking a cut.
At current prices, according to the original owner's memories, a bowl of ramen only cost around thirty ryo—half as much.
So, as far as he was concerned, five thousand ryo was worth quite a lot.
After all, although the house was a little shabby, it wasn't unlivable. Cleaning it up, making some repairs, and replacing a few pieces of furniture wouldn't cost much.
The money left over could serve as seed capital for opening a shop!
Of course, he could also top up with the entire fifty thousand and exchange it for fifty thousand points. That would let him pull twice even from the most expensive prize pool, which cost 16,800 points. Two pulls ought to get him something awesome, right?
But he didn't intend to do that.
What would gaining power accomplish anyway? Would he rob people? Or risk his neck taking missions like those ninjas?
He didn't like that kind of life. Compared to living on the edge of a blade, wasn't running a small business much better?
Besides, he didn't think two pulls from the highest-tier prize pool would make him invincible.
The power levels in this ninja world were downright absurd: all those giant mechs, meteors, living dead, and aliens.
Even if he were immortal, there were plenty of ways to deal with him. If they couldn't kill him, they could just seal him away.
And there was that scheming bastard Black Zetsu, plus the Sage of Six Paths, who wasn't entirely dead. If he dared to show off outside today, he might not even know what killed him later.
"I'll just stick to opening a shop. I have the skills and the seed money. One day, I'll definitely build a business empire of my own!"
Brimming with confidence, Tetsuya began preparing to open his shop.
First, he went to the commercial district, took over a shop damaged by the battle, and renovated it.
Really, that just meant patching up the leaks and adding some tables, chairs, stools, bowls, and chopsticks.
Next, he bought ingredients and began trying his hand at making ramen.
In the kitchen, Tetsuya began kneading dough.
Although he had never cooked before transmigrating, that didn't stop him from mastering the complete set of Ichiraku Ramen skills.
Kneading the dough, pulling the noodles, chopping vegetables, simmering broth, cooking the noodles.
He moved smoothly through the entire process, as though he had been born to do it.
"Whew! Done."
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he looked at the steaming noodles in the pot. He had to admit, it felt pretty satisfying.
"Smells good. Let's give it a taste."
Naturally, he would taste the first bowl himself.
"Mmm, not bad! The broth is delicious, with a lingering aftertaste. The noodles are soft but springy, and they've soaked up all that flavor. This is fantastic."
Tetsuya couldn't help giving himself a thumbs-up. The flavor was seriously incredible.
"Great. Time to open the shop. A wonderful life awaits me."
The following afternoon, the Chiba Ramen Shop sign went up.
To attract customers, he put up a poster straight away: grand opening, twenty percent off for first-time customers, and a second bowl at half price when two people came together.
There was nothing more to it. Although Tetsuya had never run a business in his previous life, he had seen plenty of marketing tricks.
Seeing the newly opened ramen shop and its generous discounts, plenty of people brought friends and family along. After all, two people could get the second bowl at half price. Who didn't love a bargain?
Business was booming on the very first day. Ichiraku Ramen's reputation for flavor wasn't just empty talk.
Looking at the customers filling his little shop, Tetsuya kneaded dough so fast his hands practically threw sparks.
"Whew! A great opening day! What a haul, what a haul!"
That night, sitting on his bed, Tetsuya counted his earnings with slightly swollen hands.
In just one day, he had sold over a hundred bowls of ramen and brought in more than three thousand ryo.
It really was a tremendous haul. Taking over the shop had only cost a little over a thousand—close to two thousand ryo—even with the other expenses and the money spent on ingredients.
He had earned back nearly all his expenses in a single day. Starting tomorrow, it would all be pure income.
"Hiss..."
Once his excitement faded, Tetsuya felt the aching swelling in his hands and sucked in a sharp breath.
Good grief, making ramen really took some muscle.
If business got any better, would I even be able to keep up?
Would I have to hire someone then?
Suddenly, inspiration struck Tetsuya.
"Right, I can use clones! Sure, they fall apart at a touch, but I'm not going onto a battlefield. Having clones knead the dough would be perfect!"
At that thought, Tetsuya felt like an absolute genius. Why hire anyone? He could just do it all himself.
But first, he would have to extract chakra and learn the Clone Technique.
Still, what was so hard about that? Where there was a will, there was a way.
"Let's do it!"
He decided to skip sleep that night. Sitting on his bed, Tetsuya began extracting chakra.
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