A Simple Ramen Shop Owner

Naruto Uzumaki, in a way to escape the fame that the Fourth Shinobi War brought him, decided to hope dimensions with Hinata, Ayame and Anko, and begin in a new world, where they were not world famous, and decide to open up Uzumaki Ramen, a ramen shop in Musutafu, Japan. [Naruto x Harem]

Important Notes;

- This is Post-War Naruto, Anko, Hinata, Ayame, but Pre-Hokage Naruto.

- In this, Inko's body weight is 230 pounds, or roughly 104 kilograms, making her a big gal, who stands at 5'3.

- Inko's Husband left and divorced her, after he learnt that Izuku was quirkless, and for the fact that Inko just wasn't losing weight from the pregnancy, in which Inko turned to food to comfort her spiraling emotions and depressive state, which is why she is so large.

- Inko dropped the last name from her marriage, and her last name is now Hatsuko.

- At the beginning of this story, Deku is around 4 years old. Meaning this is 10 years before Canon begins in My Hero Academia

Pairings; Naruto x Harem

[Anko, Ayame, Hinata, Inko]

- There could be additions, but only if they make sense! Take into consideration the ages that the females would be before canon!

Chapter 1 - The Ramen Shop

It was a relatively normal, and quite boring late afternoon for Inko Hatsuko - formerly Midoriya - and the large woman was simply walking down the streets, in search of a nice place that could offer some great dinner.

Tonight, it was basically only her, as her friend from school had been helpful enough to not only pick up her son from the daycare, but also take him for the night, as she had been called earlier in that day by one of the daycare workers, and was simply told that her son, Izuku wanted to talk to her about something.

In which, she was told that he wanted to have a small sleepover with a friend that he made a week ago, and of course, she accepted it, as she hoped that having this friend would be a nice help for Izuku to get over the fact that he was quirkless.

Still… thinking about that day when everything changed, not only shattering Izuku's dream to become a hero as the doctors gave him a very blunt report of him being quirkless, but it was also the day that her marriage became a volatile thing.

She regretted heavily about her reaction to the news when she and her son came home that afternoon, with him asking if it was still possible to become a hero, and instead of answering, all the emotions that were bottled up just came crashing out, and instead of answering her darling boys question, she instead wrapped him up in a hug, and wept.

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to do, as that made Izuku even more of a recluse, and made him even more anti-social, especially with his ex-friend, Bakugo becoming even more cruel towards him, no matter how many times they tried to stop it, it just wouldn't. Luckily Bakugo's mother was able to step in, and the torment was not as prominent, but it still did happen on the occasion.

Still, she knew that the precious bond that she and Izuku saw became a little strained, but it was repairing itself, and she made a vow to always support Izuku, no matter what the circumstances were, or what he became.

She would even risk homelessness to even get Izuku into U.A, Japan's leading hero school, and a place that can provide the best education, and if the rumors were true, U.A was thinking of branching into a non-hero section, so they would accept people without quirks. She prayed that it would come true, because for Izuku to even be in that school, where large and popular heroes walked down those very halls, would be great for him.

However, she would need to be able to get a stable income, or possibly enter another relationship, one with a man - or woman, she was open to both - was open and didn't care about the fact that she worked on minimum wage, and sometimes held down a second job just to live.

GRUMBLE

Wincing lightly as Inko clutched to her stomach as it rumbled in apparent hunger, she couldn't help but to wince slightly every single time she looked at herself in the mirror, or able to hear the taunts coming from random passersby, and it hurt on an emotional scale, and sometimes the taunts were so brutal that it made her want to cry, but she didn't, and she tried to stay strong.

At twenty two years of age, and already having a child by the time was eighteen, Inko Hatsuko was a rather short woman in terms of average height, only coming up to 5'3, but with the trouble losing weight after her pregnancy, and for the fact that when her husband left, Inko had resorted to eating food for comfort… and she ate a lot of food. Now, she weighed a rather hefty two-hundred and thirty pounds.

So, that made fitting into her old clothes extremely difficult, and she didn't have the confidence to go out and purchase larger clothing, so she normally did it online, at least to hide from the face-to-face ridicule that she could get. But once her new clothing - and new, larger underwear to fit her frame, and her larger breasts - she could go outside, and be a bit more confident with her body, despite her stomach pushing against it, and if she stretched or extended her arms up above her head, it would cause her clothing to rise, and it would bare her midriff, which could be quite embarrassing at times.

Shaking her head from those thoughts, Inko continued her way down the rather busy street, peering around curiously, trying to find a restaurant that was either open, or piqued her interest the most.

However, just as she was about to stop her search on this particular street, her nose suddenly flared up, and she looked around curiously, before her eyes fell upon something that she had never seen before.

Sitting near the very corner of the street, and that was relatively obscured from the view of passerby, apart from the bright orange sign that had black writing upon it, reading 'Uzumaki Ramen'.

She blinked a few times, "A ramen place?" She questioned herself, showing that her voice was very soft, and very pleasant to listen to.

Odd, she couldn't remember this store being here a few weeks ago when she came down this particular street last.

Maybe this was a new restaurant or simple family owned business. But if that was the case, then how come she had never heard of it? Surely there would've been at least some murmurs of a new food place, or a few reviews online.

Unless… no one had actually eaten at it. If so, she felt rather bad for the owner - or owners - as building a store from scratch, along with continuing to run it cost a lot of money, and it could easily backfire and leave the owners in a massive amount of debt… especially if they had to handle staff pay as well.

However, as the delicious scent of noodles and flavored broth entered her nostrils, even from the outside of the building, she couldn't help herself but to make her way towards the simple shop.

Quickly peering at the windows - which were relatively darker in tint - she could barely make out a few different shadows moving about. Humming to herself in thought, she made her way to the entrance, but gave a brief squeak of surprise when the doors opened automatically - a rarity with many stores, as they were very expensive to install and repair - and she was able to peer inside.

And she had to say, the inside of the store wasn't really that eye-catching, with polished wooden floorboards for the floor, and a simple wallpaper pattern of waves that were bright, but not an eyesore, and from what she could see, there were a few different tables, all being set up with the typical little container for cutlery, and a separate little container for some fresh chopsticks.

Shaking her head, Inko decided that since she was already here, and feeling a little bit of pity for the store owners and employees within, and for the fact that she was rather hungry, she stepped inside, and almost instantly, she felt that something was different about this place… the atmosphere it created was nearly heavenly, and it felt like all of her troubles just… melted away, like they were never there to begin with!

As the sliding doors closed behind her, she never knew that stepping into this particular store would not only change her life, but the life of her son, Izuku. But it would change it in the best way possible.

Naruto Uzumaki quickly realised that starting out a new business, with no sorts of advertising - apart from a simple sign telling them the store name - was not the best idea.

Add in the fact that absolutely no one knew about them in this particular dimension was also something that played against them. He would easily admit that this was perhaps a very stupid idea, as buying this building, buying all of the necessary equipment, furniture, lighting, and so much more took a massive chunk out of their savings that they brought into this world.

He simply thought that opening the store on a Friday would be a nice way to enter the lifestyle of a business, however, he was completely wrong.

The spectacular 'Grand Opening' that he had imagined in his mind, had turned out to be a complete nightmare. In the twelve hours they were open, not a single soul had actually entered the premises, in fact, he wasn't even sure if anybody even noticed the store.

So now, here he was, sitting behind the counter, lost in his own daydreams, and basically waiting for the day to be over - which was only an hour away - and so he, and Ayame, and Hinata could head home to their modest home, where Anko was most likely waiting for them, and would give a few playful jabs at them once she realised that absolutely nothing happened today.

"Naruto-kun… just because today was a… boring day, doesn't mean that everything is over." Hinata softly spoke out, garnering his attention.

"I know… it still stings a little though…" He murmured out, a hint of sadness in his voice as he turned around, and looked at Hinata, who placed her hands along the entranceway that led to the kitchen, where he could see Ayame in the background, organising everything into the appropriate shelves.

"I know it is, Naruto-kun…" Hinata spoke out once again, before making her way forward, showing that she was wearing a rather cute black apron that had small frills around it, with her name badge proudly on display just above her right breast, and with the stores named in bright orange swirled around the middle of it, "But, nothing starts out successful… think of it as our ninja careers… it was slow to begin with, but it eventually picked up." She added on, hoping that it would lead to Naruto cheering up.

"Yeah… sped up into a full blown war…" He muttered out, before giving a soft sigh as he stood up from the small chair that was placed down behind the counter, showing that he was wearing a more formal piece of clothing for the store, but standing up also caused his height to be known, and he stood a towering 5'11, compared to Hinata's 5'4.

"Well, may as well start closing up." Naruto said, before he was about to go around and start collecting the cutlery, however, as he turned towards Hinata, he stopped in confusion, "Hinata?" He questioned softly, not understanding why she was suddenly standing still.

With veins bulging out rather prominently around her eyes, Hinata's expression suddenly lightened, and her eyes seemed to sparkle - despite the fact that they were pure white - and she clapped her hands, "Naruto, it looks like we have our first customer!" She spoke out happily.

"Huh?"

Almost crashing into a wall at Hinata's exclamation, Naruto stopped himself, before he turned and squinted out of the dark tinted glass - an idea in which he thought would be good to have the people eating some privacy from the outside world - and to his surprise, and bubbling happiness, he noticed that a woman seemed to be taking an interest in this shop!

Quickly jumping behind the counter, he eagerly awaited for the woman to enter the shop, "Ayame! Be ready, this might be our first customer~" He sang out, quickly glancing around to the kitchen area, where he saw Ayame, another girl that stood at 5'3, just barely being shorter than Hinata despite being a few years older than her.

Ayame quickly turned around, showing her to have very soft features that were slightly marred thanks to some oil and grease that had gotten onto her features from earlier today, and her hair was tied up in a bun and underneath a small hair net to prevent any loose strands from falling into the food, and she gave Naruto a small salute, "Yes, Boss!" She chirped out cutely.

Naruto instead gave her a blank look, "Ayame… what did I tell you about calling me that?"

Giggling slightly at his look, she couldn't help but but flash a small grin his way, "Sorry, Naruto-kun~"

Naruto simply sighed as he heard Hinata giggle beside him, before he simply turned around, and watched as the sliding doors opened, and the woman from outside looked around in amazement as her entire demeanor seemed to calm down once she absorbed the atmosphere into her body.

"Welcome to Uzumaki Ramen~" Naruto sang out, his earlier gloom totally vanished, and replacing it was his usual bubbly and talkative self.

"Oh!" The young woman exclaimed, obviously surprised by his outburst, but she soon relaxed as she couldn't help but smile at his demeanor, "Thank you." She said, her green eyes sparkling in happiness, however, she then placed a finger to her lip as she looked at him quizzically, "Are you a new business? I haven't heard of this place before." She asked.

"Yes ma'am!" Naruto answered her, "Today was our Grand Opening, and you are our first customer!" He explained further to the plump woman.

"Oh… wow…" The woman stuttered out, "I'm honored, my name is Inko." She then introduced herself, before dipping her head in respect, causing her green hair that was in a slightly skewed ponytail to fall over her shoulders.

"Nice to meet you!" He said, returning the polite bow of respect, before pointing to himself with his thumb, "My name is Naruto, co-owner of this shop!" He introduced himself with a foxy grin, before jabbing his thumb towards Hinata, who was smiling at seeing Naruto so happy, "This is Hinata, who is also a co-owner."

"Hello, Inko-san." She politely introduced herself, dipping her head in respect to the woman before her, as she brought her head back up, she gave a soft smile towards Inko, "I hope you enjoy your time here."

"Oh my!" Inko exclaimed, her attention obviously on Hinata's eyes, "Are… are you blind?" She questioned, before quickly adding as she looked down towards the ground, fiddling with her hands, "Sorry if I'm being rude."

Tittering lightly, Hinata waved it off, "Don't worry, Inko-san." She said, "This is my natural eye color, I can see perfectly fine."

Inko seemed to give a sigh in relief as she realised that she didn't offend the co-owner of the store, "Thank goodness." She murmured out.

Chuckling at the interaction between Hinata and Inko, Naruto couldn't help but add his own little comment, "Don't worry, Inko-san, Hinata gets that a lot." Although, he then blinked a few times, before remembering that he needed to introduce the final person of this store, "Oh, and we also have Ayame, who is also a co-owner, and the cook of the place."

Then, Inko's attention was brought behind Naruto, where she could see into the kitchen, and true to his word, there was another individual in there, humming a merry tune. As if she felt eyes on her, she turned around and gave Inko a soft smile, as her brown eyes showed nothing but kindness, "Hello, Inko-san!"

"Hello, Ayame-san!" Inko greeted her, before turning her attention back to Naruto as she noticed Ayame turn her attention back to the kitchen, "Three co-owners?" She said, a little bit confused, because she has never heard of a business having three co-owners… two was common, but three was nearly unheard of.

"Well, technically we have four, but Anko doesn't work here, she decided to chase another occupation that was more her style… that girl just can't sit still." Naruto simply said, waving it off.

"Oh…" Inko murmured out, definitely surprised.

"So-" Naruto began, before he pulled out a small two page menu that had all different sorts of ramen based recipes, and some that weren't ramen, and more side dishes, "-what shall you order? And because you are the very first customer, you have a special 'Half-Off' for everything you order!"

Gently taking the menu - she didn't question where he got it from - she sat down at the counter, using a rather comfortable seat, before she started to look over at every option there was.

The longer she spent looking over everything at the menu, the more her stomach decided to rumble, and to Inko, it was nearly impossible to decide! There was just so many things that she never heard of, and everything sounded so good, and everything was so reasonably priced~

Well, even more so because of the 'Half-Off' discount as well!

"Um…" She began, an embarrassed flush on her cheeks as she hesitantly looked up towards Naruto, "Can I try everything underneath this section?" She asked, before turning the menu back over to Naruto and pointing to that particular section, which held at least seven different types of smaller dishes.

Taking a quick glance, instead of looking at her in disgust, Naruto instead gave her a brilliant smile that could lighten up anyone's day, "You got it~" He said, before taking the menu and going into the kitchen, "Ayame, big order!"

With that, Naruto disappeared into the kitchen, where he was now talking to Ayame and helping her in the kitchen, leaving Hinata and Inko out in the main area.

"He… is definitely something." Inko spoke out, referring to Naruto's nature in general. He just seemed so… bright and happy, like nothing could get him down.

"That he is... he certainly can be a character." Hinata spoke out.

END CHAPTER

Alright guys, let me know what you thought about this, and if this is well received, then I will continue it. If not, well then I will leave it as a One-Chapter thing only.