Disclaimer: Naruto and its affiliates do not belong to me.


Spring Cleaning


Naruto loved Spring. In his opinion, it was the best of the seasons.

Not because of the sudden showers, or cooler weather, or blossoming Sakura trees that left their plumage over every surface they landed on.

Nah, he liked the cleaning part of Spring.

His friends always looked at him weird when he said that because most of them had been to his apartment. Sakura had once smacked him in the head and then shouted at him asking why he made such big messes then if he liked cleaning so much.

Naruto had run away, unwilling to get hit again when he explained that he didn’t actually like to clean. He preferred things dirty and disorganized. It made everything easier to find.

Nope, Uzumaki Naruto liked watching Spring cleaning to be more specific.

He loved it. It made the other seasons pale in comparison.

Because Iruka-sensei always spent a full week after the Academy had closed for break just cleaning his home.

Naruto didn’t share his secret with anyone. He was just a tad too selfish for that. It didn’t stop others from knowing though.

In fact, he’d only found out from catching Kakashi-sensei and Asuma-sensei.

He’d been walking to Iruka-sensei’s apartment to get some free food when he’d spotted the two jounin sitting in a tall tree across from Iruka-sensei’s building. When he’d yelled at them what the hell they’d been doing, Asuma-sensei had fallen out of the tree and Kakashi-sensei had nearly throttled him.

They hauled him up to their spot, decided he was old enough to understand, and then shoved some binoculars into his hands.

From the spot they’d picked, Naruto could see clearly into Iruka-sensei’s living room window. And when he’d looked in and spied on his former teacher, he’d been hooked for life.

When Iruka-sensei cleaned, it looked like some strange mating dance.

He’d twist his hips to whatever was playing on his stereo; jump, hop, and dip to wipe down the floors and collect the cobwebs on the ceiling; spin and boogie and sing along (badly), flipping his ponytail around.

It was the first time Naruto had ever been jealous of a vacuum cleaner.

Iruka-sensei danced with all his cleaning appliances, serenading them as he decontaminated his home, blissfully unaware of the voyeurs getting off on it.

Nowadays Naruto didn’t hide out in a cramped tree anymore. He rather thought he’d outgrown being so dumb.

Instead he plopped himself right down on Iruka-sensei’s couch, arriving early in the morning each day so he could enjoy the full show.

Sometimes Iruka-sensei would look at him like he knew exactly what Naruto was doing, but then he’d just shrug and shake his head with a chuckle.

A lot of jounin didn’t talk to Naruto during this week. They’d mutter darkly in his direction, glaring jealously as he walked passed with his chest puffed out, often trailing behind Iruka-sensei carrying shopping bags.

He didn’t care though. And if they kept stealing his ramen coupons he was going to tell on them. See how well they liked it when Iruka-sensei knew about their little fetish.

So now he had a front row seat when Iruka-sensei weaved and bounced and swung. Once he had done something with his body that made Naruto sure that his hips and butt weren’t properly attached.

And when Iruka-sensei flung a rag at his head one day and told him to help clean up, Naruto was never jealous of a vacuum cleaner again.

And then, just because he could, Naruto closed the curtains over the living room window.

Yep, Spring was definitely his favorite season.