In my makeup compact I watched Naruto walk away from Konohamaru with his hand raised in a goodbye wave, Konohamaru saluted him. Well Naruto it seems you have a rival. And a worthy one at that... Hmm... I wonder who will get there first... Who do you want to get there first? Naruto of course! Well then, there you go. You know I have a feeling you're going to get annoying.
"Nozomi will you stop looking in that mirror!" It was Ino was said this.
I snapped my compact shut, sighed, "Sorry. I thought I had a zit. False alarm."
"Well get over here! We're trying to decide whose cutest in our class!" Sakura said.
I got up and joined the rest of the girls. Ino, Sakura, Hinata, Xia, and Shikamaya had been at my place all day. We decided to make it a sleepover, our own little celebration for graduating the Academy.
Ino has blue eyes and blond hair that is longer than mine! Sakura has pink hair and her grandmother's green eyes. Sakura's grandmother, Ami, was a childhood friend of Grandma Tsunade's, so Shikamaya and I had know her all our lives. Shikamaya has amber eyes and chin-length dark blue hair that she keeps in a bun on the back of her neck. Hinata has short purple-ish colored hair, her eyes are the typical Hyuga eyes. Xia has grey eyes and copper hair.
The whole lot of us are close. We were all kinda considered the weaklings of the class so we stick together. I don't see the point in doing a list of whose cutest. I mean it's fun and all but all it ever leads to is fights. Sakura and Ino agree that Sasuke should be at the top, but then they argue over whose going to marry him. It drives me crazy! Then Xia thinks Kiba's kinda cute. Sakura and Ino gang up on her pointing out Sasuke's perfect (roll eyes) features. Then Hinata will hint shyly that she likes mine and Shikamaya's cousin, Naruto. It's a nightmare!
Then they ask me who I like and I say no one because well... I don't like anyone like that! At all! There must be something wrong with me. Or maybe you just haven't met him yet. Will you butt out!
"Why don't we watch a movie? I have the latest 'Princess Gale' movie." I said trying to end the fight going on between Sakura and Ino. It worked. We watched it and it's prequels until Grandma Tsunade and Aunt Kushina told us to go to sleep.
We overslept a little and were almost late for the Orientation Meeting because we had to fix our hair a little. Thank God I have been braiding my hair for as long as I can remember, or else it would have taken me forever to get ready.
Ino wore her headband around her waist, Sakura used it to keep her hair off her forehead, Xia wore hers on her leg, Shikamaya had hers on her arm and Hinata had hers around her neck.
"Hey Nozomi where's your headband?" Sakura asked.
I went into my closet and pulled out a blue poncho, it was slightly darker than my old one. The metal piece of the headband was on the breast area and the Senju Clan symbol was across the stomach. "The headband piece was my mothers." I said as I pulled the poncho over my head.
Half way there Ino and Sakura got into an argument that turned into a race. And of course it turned into a 'last one there is a rotten egg' thing. And I hate running! Ino came in last and Shikamaya came in first.
Oh everyone was shocked to see Naruto there. Well everyone but Shikamaru. Aunt Konan and Uncle Shikazen told Shikaku who told Shikamaru. Hinata was staring at Naruto, blushing. Ino and Sakura were arguing over who got to sit next to Sasuke. Sure enough almost every girl there was arguing amongst themselves over who got to sit next to Sasuke. Well everyone one but Xia, Hinata, Shikamaya and I that is.
Naruto squatted on the desk staring Sasuke down. Why do I have a bad feeling about this... I think they're going to kill each other. Why are those girls so obsessed with him? He's kinda cute, I guess but I don't see the big deal.
Some boy in the row in front of Naruto bumped him and him and Sasuke kissed! Well it really wasn't a kiss. "NARUTOOO!" I screamed grabbing him by the shirt and dragged him out to the hall. I heard several people say, 'Poor Naruto' 'Whatever we would have done to him, she can do tenfold.' I smirked at this as I dragged him into the hall.
"Nozomi! Please it was accident! I didn't mean to!" Naruto pleaded.
"I don't care that you did that! I'm just sick of having to bail you out of trouble! Every day! Can't you behave for once! Honestly Naruto! I'm not going to hurt you but I'll get you. You don't know when but I'll get my revenge." I turned and went back into the class room leaving Naruto looking more scared than when I dragged him out of the class room.
Iruka Sensei announced that we would be on squads of three. Squads of three huh? I don't care who I'm put with. I hate working in groups, I mean it's nice to be with people and all. And I don't think they'll slow me down. If anything... I'll slow them down... People just bug me that's all.
I pulled out my makeup compact and Blanked Out. I looked at the paper Iruka Sensei was holding. Let's see squads 1,2,3,4,5,and 6... don't care. Aaah here we go Squad Seven; Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha. What were they thinking! A Senju and an Uchiha on the same squad! Okay moving on. Squad Eight; Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. They'll be nice to Hinata. Squad Nine, no one I know... Squad Ten; Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi. Ino's not gonna like this! Squad Eleven; Xia Chang, Shikamaya Nara, and Nozomi Senju. An all girls squad... Sweet! And the only one!
I snapped my compact shut and pulled out a scroll from the family library. For some reason I had Grandma Tsunade's maiden name. Don't ask me why. But it's actually kinda cool, and suiting since I can apparently use Wood Style. Grandma Tsunade and I spent half the day, before the girls got there, digging through the library, finding scrolls that would help me master Wood Style. We found quite a few, too.
I didn't even listen to Iruka Sensei read off the Squads. I just studied my scroll. I listened to several protests and cheers. I shot Naruto a look that kept him from complaining. Does that baka want two black eyes? You must have patience with him. Girls mature faster than boys and to be honest you are far beyond your years. Unfortunately with your maturity didn't come patience. Ah, cork it!
Naruto and I went to Ichiraku's for lunch, well after Naruto tried to eat with Sakura but she shot him down. Shikamaya and Shikamaru caught up with us, they brought Shikamaru's new teammate Choji tagged along. Naruto and Choji got into an eating contest, which I'll admit I got caught up in too. I easily beat them.
"Naruto, your cousin, can really eat." Shikamaru said in shock.
"Only when it's to show Naruto up." I said wiping my mouth with a napkin. "Well we should get going. Come on Shikamaya."
Shikamaya followed me and we met up with Xia at the Academy. We met our Jonin instructor Inari Mokume. She has black hair and dark blue eyes and wore her headband on her head.
"Alright! Why don't we introduce ourselves?" Inari said.
I sighed. I already know these two their my best friends but this is more for her benefit, than ours. You might as well start. "I'm Nozomi. I like to write poetry, read, and go off by myself. My hobbies include writing poetry and keeping my cousin Naruto out of trouble. And if you can believe it I actually do a good job. I dislike keeping Naruto out of trouble, being disturbed when I'm trying to think, waking up early and anything spicy. And as for my goals, well... I really don't have one, besides to live to be at least forty, possibly a Genin team someday. Which for a shinobi is a logical goal." I shrugged.
"Hmm. Interesting... Alright whose next?" Inari asked brightly. Man is she always this cheerful? She reminds me of my cousin!
"I'm Shikamaya Nara. I my hobbies and things I like include origami, flower pressing and watching the clouds. I don't like well... I really don't dislike anything in particular, except for waking up early. My goal is to be better than my cousin, Shikamaru and get my own Genin team someday."
"You seem to have a laid back personality. And you?" Inari asked.
"My name is Xia. I love sports, racing, pretty much anything active, but I also like to relax every now and then."
"Yeah, like once every two months." Shikamaya muttered to me. I snickered.
"That was disrespectful to your teammate." Inari said of handedly.
"It's alright! Actually they are right, I don't sit back and relax too often. I dislike being lazy for long periods of time, getting up early and I hate people who give up. My goal, to become a Jonin and get my own Genin team."
"So you all hate getting up early? Well that makes four of us! So you all want to be Jonin and have a Genin team?"
Shikamaya and Xia nodded. "The most important part of one's life... is the end, not the middle or beginning. Not what we did, but what we left behind to improve upon what we could not." I said.
Inari looked impressed at what I had just said, "Alright, I'll see you in the morning for training! But not to early!" she disappeared in a puff of smoke. Yep, just like Naruto.
Naruto was gone long before I was the next day. According to Aunt Kushina he didn't even eat breakfast. That is soo not Naruto.
We spent the remainder of the training, getting in sync with each other. Xia, unlike Shikamaya and I, didn't come from a Clan and didn't really have any jutsu specialty outside of the basics, but she seems to be pretty well suited to taijutsu. Shikamaya had the Nara Clan's Shadow Style as well as Paper Style, unique to Shikamaya and her mother. I think it's a Kekkei Genkai to be honest. I possess the Wood Kekkei Genkai as well as Grandma Tsunade's medical talent.
I met up with Naruto at our meeting place. It was in the woods that surrounded the Senju estate, a large circular clearing, with a clear pond about twelve feet deep. Naruto and I sat near the shore of the pond. "So how was your first day as a ninja?" I asked. Even though I knew. During my lunch break I Blanked Out and checked in on him.
"I-I got tied to a post, without lunch... You?" Naruto said embarrassed.
"Xia, Shikamaya and I trained all day. What's your Sensei like? Mine reminds me of you. Hyper, annoying and over excited."
"Kakashi Sensei was late today." Naruto crossed his arms and closed his eyes, "I really don't know how to describe him. He's... kinda weird. I mean when he went to tell us about himself, all we really learned was his name."
Yep, that's Naruto. "Come on, let's get home. Aunt Kushina will be furious if we're late."
"Yeah! Last time..." Naruto shuddered
"Anything interesting happen today, Naruto?" Grandpa Jiraiya asked at dinner that night.
Naruto and I looked at each other. "No." Naruto said.
"Not really for me, but Naruto got tied to a post." I said giving him a sly grin.
The whole family burst into laughter.
"Thanks a lot, Nozomi." Naruto muttered.
I snickered. Oh, revenge is sweet...
