The days pass quickly. Naruto gets up, goes to the Academy, stares out the window or reads his fuuinjutsu books, hangs around with his friends, goes home, does his homework and postpones going to bed for as long as he can. The days would have been boring except that whenever Naruto feels really bored he tries to turn off the anti-gravity seal. He hasn't had any luck. Every day he has to do exercises to keep his muscles strong, which he always does with Iruka niisan. Some days, that is the only time he gets to spend with Iruka niisan.
Iruka niisan is gone a lot, doing missions, but when he is not, it almost seems like the less time Naruto spends with Iruka, the happier Grandma is. Grandpa is a lot more relaxed, and thinks Naruto should spend more time playing and doing the things he wants to do, instead of studying from morning til night.
As the weather warms up, Grandpa starts taking Naruto out to the park to play football or to the river to go fishing. When Iruka niisan is not on a mission, Grandpa invites him to come along. Sometimes Grandma comes, but never when Iruka niisan is there.
At school, Naruto's friends are still limited to Shikamaru, Hinata and Choji. Karin is friendly, but she has her own friends in a girl named Ino and the pink haired boy. Naruto struggles at the Academy. Some days it seems like Washi sensei is speaking a different language. Shikamaru and Hinata try to help him as much as they can, as does Iruka niisan. However, the more Grandma makes Naruto study while he isn't in the mood, the harder it becomes to learn when he is in the mood. Sometimes Iruka niisan suggests that Naruto should take a break from studying, but Grandma always refuses.
At one point, Grandma tries tying weights to Naruto's legs to stop him from floating. Unfortunately, the weights also become weightless and Naruto floats back up the ceiling. They don't try that again.
And so the year passes; Iruka niisan's birthday comes and goes - he is now 17. Naruto's fuuinjutsu does not progress very much - he seems to have hit a wall, mostly because for some reason, Grandma does not like him studying fuuinjutsu unless he is trying to turn off his anti-gravity seal.
Naruto learns a lot about manners from his grandparents, but nothing about ninjas. They are not shinobi, and sometimes they do not understand why he must practice throwing kunai and shuriken. Naruto gets them to read his history books instead of story books, something that puzzles them both until they learn that the Whirlpool history book is one of the few links to his mother that he has.
One evening, late in June, Naruto is floating up on the lounge ceiling examining his gravity seal to see if he can spot anything that will help him control it. Below him, Arashi, Kazama and Iruka are sitting watching TV. Iruka returned from a mission that day and is tired, Naruto just got home from school and Kazama is knitting a jersey. All seems calm, but Arashi is waiting for something to go wrong. Tensions have been higher than normal lately and someone is going to snap soon. And by someone he means either Kazama or Iruka - those two are so tense they would make a bowstring look loose.
"Naruto," says Kazama, looking up at the boy. "Shouldn't you be doing your homework?"
"I'm studying the gravity seal," protests Naruto.
"Leave him be," says Arashi. "It's Friday night; he has all weekend to do his homework. Maybe he'll actually figure that seal out."
"There will be plenty of time for that over the weekend if he gets his homework done now," says Kazama firmly. "Besides, if Naruto was any good at fuuinjutsu, surely he would have worked that seal out by now." She turns and looks directly at Iruka. "Why hasn't he made an progress with that thing, anyway?"
Arashi feels a strange force coming from Iruka.
Iruka glares straight at Kazama and snaps, "Naruto turned off his personal gravity: that is not a sign of ineptitude, but of budding genius! In all of history no other child has ever turned off their personal gravity. There is no precedent for this, if there was don't you think I would be teaching him to control that seal?"
"YOUR so called teaching must be sorely lacking for this situation to have arisen in the first place!"
"MY teaching is lacking?" seeths Iruka. "I was raised to train this child." He Points up at Naruto. "I was trained to listen to my pupil and respond by teaching him what he wants to learn, and to find ways to convince him to learn the things he is less than enthusiastic about. But you," he stands up and takes a step towards Kazama, who rises and looks him in the eye. "You tell him 'do this, do that' without ever considering what he needs. Naruto is an Uzumaki. The Uzumaki clan learns so differently from everyone else, even my clan, that we had to develop an education system designed around the Uzumaki. I was trained to teach using this system, but you know nothing."
Kazama slaps Iruka across the face. "Insolent brat! I am old enough to be your mother and you dare speak to me like this? How can you, a mere BOY, teach another child? You have no life experience whatsoever!"
"I was nearly assassinated for taking in Naruto!" Iruka shouts, the energy coming from him is stifling in its intensity. "You might be his blood family, but no one tried to kill you for being connected to him. You know nothing about the ninja world, but I was raised in it, shaped by it and I know how it works. And let me tell you: I would die to protect Naruto. Could you do the same?"
Arashi stands up quietly, pulls Naruto down from the ceiling and takes him out of the room.
"I've never felt killing intent from Iruka niisan before," whispers Naruto, who looks absolutely traumatized.
Killing intent? Arashi realizes that is the force he can feel. And if he, a non shinobi, can feel it this badly, how much worse is it for Naruto?
"Don't doubt my love for my grandson!" Kazama's voice carries clearly to Arashi and Naruto.
"It's not your love I'm doubting!" Iruka's counter is filled with as much venom as it is anger. "It's your capacity to do what needs to be done rather than what you think should be!"
This argument is starting to get ridiculous, Arashi thinks. But they have both been storing all this up for a long time, and it needs to come out. He just wishes Naruto did not have to be witness to it. "It's alright, Naruto," he whispers to the shaking child. "None of this is your fault. They just need to work out their differences."
Kazama's voice carries through the walls as she continues her argument with Iruka. "Why couldn't you just keep your head down and leave the raising of my grandson to me? Why do you have to interfere in his upbringing?"
"Me interfere?" Iruka's reply sounds hurt as well as angry. "I was here first! I took him in off the street! I was bringing him up fine until you came along and started lording it over us without even knowing the first thing about our clans or their traditions! And you didn't even bother to learn! Have you even asked Naruto what his life was like before you came into it? Why can't you accept you aren't the only one who is important to him? Why do you insist on pushing me away from Naruto? And don't pretend you're not, we all know you are! Even Naruto can see that, but he doesn't say anything - he never says anything! When his head is hurting from trying to force himself to study because that is what you want, he keeps quiet so he won't upset you. When he wants to talk to you about something - anything - he keeps quiet because he is afraid you won't think it's important enough to listen. Why can't you see that? He lived the first five years of his life trying, struggling to be accepted - if you don't make it clear you care about him, he will never know."
Then silence falls, the kind of complete silence that follows a raging storm, where everything seems surreal. A second later, Iruka runs past and disappears outside. Kazama appears a moment later and stops short when she sees Naruto, who is white-faced and shaking like a leaf in Arashi's arms.
"I hope you're happy now," says Arashi. "That boy is the only one who really understands Naruto, and now he's gone right when we need him. Look what your argument has done."
"Why didn't you stop him?" demands Kazama, taking Naruto and holding him close.
"From leaving or from yelling at you?"
"Both!"
"Because he was right, and because he needs time to calm down, and so do you. He will be back. So long as Naruto is here he will always be back."
"Naruto?" Kazama says gently, turning her attention to the boy. "You know I love you, right?"
Naruto looks up at her with huge, teary eyes and nods. Then he asks, "Why do you hate Iruka niisan? If it weren't for him, you wouldn't even know I exist."
"I know," she sighs. "but sometimes I forget that he's your family too. And sometimes I get jealous of how close you two are."
"I've never seen Iruka niisan get mad before," admits Naruto. "He gets annoyed, and sometimes he yells at me, but he's never gotten mad like that. Why did you have to make fun of his teaching? I learn stuff best when he teaches it to me."
"I know," says Kazama. "I just ignored it I guess. I promise I'll let Iruka supervise your homework from now on."
"Okay," says Naruto, and finally relaxes in his grandmother's arms. Exhausted, he falls asleep.
Kazama takes a deep breath.
"Now that you've made those promises to Naruto," says Arashi quietly. "Are you going to carry through with them?"
"Yes," says Kazama stiffly. "But only to avoid another situation like this. Besides, my way wasn't working so we might as well try that boy's way. When it does not work, we go back to my way and he will have to admit I'm right."
"Kazama are you really going to hold a grudge against Iruka? You just admitted that you are jealous of him, so why continue to hate him instead of doing something about it?"
"There is more to it than that," says Kazama proudly. "Until that boy apologizes to me for his insolence there is no way I can forgive him."
"That may be so," sighs Arashi. "But shouldn't you be apologising to him for a few things as well?"
"This conversation is over," snaps Kazama, and turns and walks away, probably to put Naruto to bed.