When I was born, I was hailed as some sort of a symbol. Not for anything anyone had done, least of all my parents, but because of whom they were. Simply because mother was from Sunagakure and dad from Konohagakure, I was special. Not by a whole lot, mind you, but simply as proof of the allegiance between these two great countries. I think I may have smashed a whole lot of theories that the alliance was nothing more than a hoax; not that they were that prevalent in the first place.
Mom was an elite Jonin, sister of the Kazekage, and therefore her marriage to an important Jonin from the Hokage's office was nothing to sniff at. Not that it was a front or anything—I'm proof enough of that. They really loved each other, a fact which I am quite proud of.
When, after a few more years, no other children were born, people began theorizing again, pressure was put on my parents, and that's where my two younger brothers, ages 6 and 2, came in.
I like to laugh at that, personally. My mother caving to peer pressure (what else would you call it?) of all things? I used to be proud when people said I had my mother's strength, but now I have reason to doubt its sincerity.
Not too long after that time, Konoha realized its sixth Hokage in the form of one Uzumaki Naruto, and we moved back quickly from Suna to Konoha. Since then I don't think I've left this town for more than a month—which is good, because that's also about when I started the Academy—and I'm pretty content here. I'm rather attached to it like my father. Then again, maybe he's attached to Naruto, too. He's a nice guy, and they're close.
The Uzumakis are nice, certainly. Sakura keeps the Hokage in line and focused, which is quite a task, and the twins are some of my closest friends. Arashi and Tomoe have the combination of their parent's charisma, I swear. Of course, Arashi can be a dork at times but he's worth keeping around—especially when he's being serious. Tomoe likes to pick on him for everything, so I guess he's allowed to be such a dork.
The three of us have been running around for ages, so it was natural when we all joined the same Genin team together under Konohamaru-sensei. I'm quite glad he's always there to contain Arashi; he seems to know what he's doing.
That graduation wasn't all that long ago, really no more than a year, but thankfully we've all made so much more progress in that short time than even I'd estimated on. I'd personally be surprised if we didn't make chuunin in the next exam; maybe that's simple wistfulness, but I'd like to think it's a hunch of sorts.
Between being paraded around again and the pressure they'll put on me because of that, though, I'm not sure how much I look forward to the exams at all. It'll all be so troublesome. Arashi seems to think that all that won't matter once we get there, though, and I can tell Tomoe would have put forth this thought if he hadn't beaten her to it—with their inherited charisma comes an undying will and brilliant optimism, which serves them well when paired with me. Tomoe always mutters that I'm too cynical for my own good, anyway.
Until then, when I actually do have to face that pessimism I call my character flaw, I suppose simply brushing off such troublesome notions is good enough. Besides, mom is calling for help watching the toddler. I think it's best I go prove once again how faithful the Alliance's child really is.