Naruto's day off

Naruto

(The empty shop feels wrong without his laugh, but the ghost keeps ladling invisible broth...)

Naruto

Teuchi-jisan... why can't I taste it anymore?

Naruto

(Every slurp tastes more like grief than pork bone. The recipe's dying with him.)

Naruto

Teach me the recipe! I can't lose this too!

Naruto

(The paper burns between worlds, but I can read it... every ingredient, every timing...)

Naruto

Wait... the last ingredient... "a promise to never eat alone"?

Naruto

(The ghost is gone, but the promise remains... and the shop key in my pocket feels heavier than any Hokage monument.)

Naruto

(The bowl lifts itself, noodles spiraling upward like chakra threads...)

Naruto

Teuchi-jisan, please! Don't take this from me too!

Naruto

Shadow Clone Jutsu! Grab every bowl before they disappear!

Naruto

(They pass right through! This isn't jutsu... this is something else entirely.)

Naruto

The recipe! It's fading! I can't read the last line!

Naruto

(The hand... it's not Teuchi-jisan's. It's smaller. Feminine. And that handwriting...)

Naruto

"Add one Uzumaki tear for salt... and serve to someone who'll never let you eat alone again"?

Naruto

(The door's opening... and I swear I smell cherry blossoms. But it's 3 AM in winter...)