Kazama has a headache. She has had that headache since Team Seven got back from the Land of Waves. The reason for her headache? Naruto lost control of that stupid anti-gravity seal while away on that mission. They used to have the occasional floating incident, but Naruto always shut it off fairly quickly once he got the hang of turning the seal off. But since the that mission to the Land of Waves, Naruto has been losing control of the seal with increasing frequency. As a result, Kazama has a headache.
I am far too old for this, she thinks to herself. Seriously, why couldn't Minato have had a normal child? At least Iruka is relatively normal. If his brain wasn't hardwired towards dealing with Naruto's special brand of craziness, Kazama might say Iruka is completely normal.
Kazama sighs and asks Naruto, "Naruto, why are you bouncing off the walls?"
"I'm practicing my shunshin," explains Naruto. "I'm gonna need it for the chunin exams if I wanna look like a badass, 'tebayo."
"The chunin exams?" questions Kazama. "Isn't it a bit early for you to be taking the chunin exams?"
"Kakashi sensei doesn't think so," grins Naruto, bouncing onto the ceiling. "He gave us application forms!"
Kazama starts internally screaming. She takes a deep breath to calm herself and asks, "When do the exams start?"
"Next Friday!" announces Naruto. "I'm SO gonna win, 'tebayo!"
Of course he would say that. "You have plenty of time to practice until then, so stop shunshining in the house," says Kazama firmly. "Now please go and wash up for dinner."
"Yes Grandma," says Naruto, and thankfully stops shunshining around the kitchen. He trots off to go and wash up, leaving Kazama with a few precious moments of blessed peace. Grandchildren are supposed to be a delight, and Naruto is, very much so - but he is also the source of constant headaches. As much as she loves the boy, sometimes Kazama just wants to strangle him and hide the body.
When Naruto returns, and Iruka and Arashi emerge from their respective offices, the five of them sit down to eat. Iruka's office is his bedroom, which somehow manages to stay immaculate, no matter how much Naruto goes in there. Arashi on the other hand has a den that is never tidy because, for every five minutes Naruto spends in there, a week's worth of cleaning is required. Arashi could be retired by now, but he says on many an occasions that he will not retire until he is dead and cold in his grave. Until then, he is going to keep researching the history of the Elemental Nations. Well, Naruto definitely gets his unbreakable drive from Arashi's side of the family.
At the beginning of the meal there is a brief period of no conversation as Naruto stuffs 25% of the food on the table into his mouth and the rest of them grab as much as they can before he gets to it. Even if the food is not ramen, Naruto will still pack away as much as he can find, so they have to get in quick. The only person who Kazama has ever seen eat more than Naruto is Hinata. After the first few minutes, Naruto slows down and starts chatting away in his loudest inside-yell.
"Iruka niisan, I'm taking the chunin exams," he says. "And I'm gonna pass it the first time around, because I'm going to take it with my team and we know each other, not like when you took it the first time and you had to go with a strange team because your teammates already took it, since you were sick that time and they had to find a different teammate. But Sasuke might not be allowed to take the exams because she is grounded, but she'll probably take the exams anyway, and Madoka is a nerd and thinks we aren't ready…" munch, munch munch, gasp "...but Kakashi sensei recons we are and I totally got this, since I know the multi shadow clone jutsu and what country are you researching now, Grandpa?" Naruto takes a swig of his glass of water and continues without breaking his stride. "Is it a cool country or a lame country or one of the countries that got destroyed in the Ninja wars or is it still standing or-" Naruto starts choking on his mouthful and Iruka slaps him on the back.
Arashi laughs and says, "I am researching the Hidden Whirlpool."
Naruto face lights up with excited sparkles and his eyes increase in size twofold and get all shiny. "Really?!" he asks, clasping his hands together.
"Yes really," says Arashi.
"Do you realize the magnitude of what you are undertaking?" asks Iruka, nicking the rice ball Naruto pinched earlier back off Naruto's plate.
"Yes, this research will take years," says Arashi. "I am well aware of the magnitude of this project. But what's this about you taking the chunin exams, Naruto?"
"The chunin exams start next friday," says Naruto. "Kakashi sensei got us application forms and...WAAAH! My chopsticks are floating!" Sure enough, Naruto's chopsticks are taking an impromptu trip to the ceiling.
"Is that seal affecting the things you touch now?" groans Iruka. "Honestly, you need to learn to control that thing."
"Come back, chopsticks!" yells Naruto, jumping up and grabbing at them. "I need you to eat with!" He sits back down and tried to eat. The chopsticks break free of his grasp and float back up to the ceiling. Naruto's eyes widen in horror. Then he starts running around the room in panic yelling, "My chopsticks are haunted! Kill them with fire! Get them away! NOO!"
"Calm down!" snaps Iruka, grabbing Naruto by the beck of his jacket. "They are not haunted. They are simply floating because of the anti-gravity seal. You must've somehow transferred the effects of the seal to the chopsticks."
"I know that's what happened!" whines Naruto. "But now I can't figure out how turn their gravity back on! It's not the same as for me!"
Kazama sighs. "Then just leave them there until you do," she says, and gets Naruto another pair of chopsticks.
Fugaku knows Sasuke wants to talk to him about something. Fugaku also knows that Sasuke is not going to talk to him if he accidentally scares her off. Considering the fact that Sasuke is most scared of Fugaku's resting face, he is not going to hold his breath on that one. Best to just straight up ask her what's eating at her and get it over with. Taking a deep breath to mentally prepare himself, Fugaku walks up to Sasuke, who is sitting by the window reading with that damned kitten on her lap.
"Sasuke," says Fugaku, trying his best not to sound disapproving or angry, his default tones of voice. "What is it you want to talk to me about?"
Sasuke looks up at him and says, "I want to take the chunin exams."
Oh dear. Fugaku had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but he made up his mind that so long as Sasuke is grounded she will not be allowed to take part in the chunin exams if she added to her sentence in the last month. But rules are rules, and he can't go back on his decision - even if only he and Mikoto actually know about it. "I'm sorry Sasuke," says Fugaku, shaking his head. "You will have to give it a pass this time. I didn't think your sensei would recommend you until the next exam, so I did not tell you the rules about the Exams for while you are grounded."
Sasuke stares up at Fugaku with a sad expression on her face that almost crumbles his resolve. "The rule is: you may only participate in the chunin exams if you have not added to your grounding sentence within the month preceding the start date. And you got grounded twice this week." Fugaku crosses his arms in disapproval - damn. Damn it all, he was trying to be as un-scary as possible. The arm cross also scares Sasuke. Fugaku uncrosses his arms again and adds, "I'm sorry, but I am not making an exception."
Sasuke turns her head away and humphs.
Fugaku notices something. "Did you get your ears pierced?" he demands. "You know you are not allowed to have your ears pierced until you are 15."
Sasuke puts her hands over her ears and glares at Fugaku.
Fugaku glares right back. "You get one week per piercing!"
"But that's three weeks!" whines Sasuke, then claps her hands over her mouth.
"Sasuke," says Fugaku sternly. "Where else did you get a piercing?" Please let it just be her belly-button and not something worse…!
"My belly button," says Sasuke.
Fugaku takes a calming breath and says, "I'm going to have to ask you to take all those piercings out. You should have just waited for two more years."
Sasuke gets up and runs to her room, leaving the cat and the book behind. Fugaku bends down to pick up the book, which landed upside down with its pages bent when Sasuke dropped it. Thankfully, it is age appropriate, not like those other books by Jiraiya that he and Mikoto keep catching her with.
"Hey Dad?" Itachi walks into the living room eating a bowl of ice cream and peanuts. "Why's Sasuke crying?"
Fugaku slumps into the chair Sasuke was sitting in a few seconds ago and says, "I just forbid her from taking part in the Chunin Exams and added three weeks to her sentence."
"Damn," says Itachi and goes back to eating her odd snack.
The kitten jumps up on Fugaku's lap and starts purring. "Get off, I don't want you," Fugaku tells it, trying to push it off. "Have you got peanuts for brains, or something? Go away."
The cat refuses to budge. Itachi laughs. "I think he likes you!" Then she wanders off, probably to cheer Sasuke up.
Fugaku resigns himself to his fate and sighs. That cat isn't moving any time soon. "Well, peanut-brain," he says, putting its head. "That couldn't have gone worse if I tried."