"Himari-chan, keep up!" Cousin Maiko yelled at me. She was seven, and she was walking me to school. At least that's what she told my parents she'd do; she was actually running as fast as she could.

I had only started at the Uzushio ninja academy a few weeks ago. And the stretches that Mum has had me do since I was big enough for them didn't help with running!

School was really nice though. I enjoyed reading and learning more than Heather's ever done. But then again, there is only so long you can hang out with your parents and cousins before you get bored of it. I was glad to go to school. There were some children who weren't Uzumaki there, and wow, my family was huge for that to be a surprising statement.

I made friends with a boy called Akito, who was waving at me from the front gates.

"I'll see you after class!" Maiko yelled. I was too out of breath to yell.

"Hi, Himari-chan!" Akito had blue hair and was wearing a plain t-shirt. I waved at him, too busy trying to catch my breath to respond with words.

In class we sat together in the middle row. The first period was calligraphy. Most Uzumaki were already well versed in that, but Akito and other clanless kids struggled. Kayumi-sensei demanded silence during calligraphy practice, so I nudged Akito under the table. When I caught his eye I slid my scroll towards him and exaggerated my brush strokes. He gave me a small smile and tried to copy me, but since he was trying to look at my work and also write, he ended up putting his elbow in his pot. Water splashed on his practice scroll. A wave of silence enveloped the classroom. Kayumi-sensei looked up from his desk. The first snicker came from behind me. Poor Akito. Kayumi-sensei put his head in his palms, before grabbing an extra scroll and getting up. The whole class was having a laugh by this point.

"Here, kid. I trust you won't do that again." Akito just nodded, looking down.

Next period, it was time for physical conditioning. The less said about that, the better. If there was one thing that I envied Heather, it was a flying broom. I resolved myself to figure out a way to fly when I became an actual ninja; with all the things seals can do, flying shouldn't be impossible to achieve.

After lunch there was history, a class which I surprisingly enjoyed. Hokama-sensei told us the story of Mito-sama. She was the youngest daughter of the ninth Uzumaki clan head, but her claim to fame was larger than that of her father or any of her siblings. To prove that she was the most accomplished seal master, she tracked down the Nine Tailed Fox, and sealed it into herself. The Nine Tailed Fox was the largest sentient body of chakra known, and no one has ever before sealed any of the Tailed Beasts, let alone the largest one.

Mito-sama then went on to marry the First Hokage and live out her days in Konohagakure, the closest military ally of Uzushio. I thought it was pretty sad, that she spent most of her life away from the sea and the whirlpools.

My earliest memories as Himari Uzumaki include the sea, and I have come to love the whirlpools with all my heart. There was just something about looking out into a sea, watching calm waters break into a whirlpool large enough to affect weather, and knowing it happened because a seal was triggered, that always took my breath away. The force of nature was just so overwhelming compared to anything man made, and the knowledge that a cleverly situated seal could affect them… I really wanted to learn that.

There was a brigade in the Uzushio ninja forces that's responsible for the upkeep of the village security measures; read: whirlpools. That's what I wanted to do when I grew up. Dad was part of it. Not only did he have to know his seals well, but he had to know where it's best to place them, and when, and a lot of other things. Not to mention, he (and his team) do all of that underwater! It was just so cool. I could hold my breath for nearly two minutes, but that was not nearly long enough for underwater seal maintenance!

…

After school, Akito and I caught up with Maiko and a few other Uzumaki kids who lived in our district. Akito didn't have any siblings or cousins, and there was no one waiting for him after classes, so we took him with us.

"Race you to the market!"

We run. It was a sunny day, which was usual. The streets were winding, turning at seemingly random, creating lots of lovely nooks and crannies. We played hide and seek and catch.

We got underfoot at the market. There were plenty of street vendors, selling a variety of strong smelling wares. Merchants were loudly letting everyone know what they were selling; other people were haggling, others yet would stop and gossip.

I was looking over my shoulder, and I spotted someone jumping over rooftops. People did that when they wanted to avoid stopping for gossip in the street. Parkour was wildly popular. So I wasn't looking when I run into an adult Uzumaki, who was buying rice.

"Sorry Oba-san!" I picked up her basket, since I was on the ground anyway.

"Watch where you're going, Imouto!" she said, helping me up.

I saw Maiko sticking her tongue at me, and then I was on my way again.

...

Dad was teaching me a chakra control exercise. We were at the beach, and I was trying to lift bubbles of water up with my chakra. He said it was the first step to learning how to breathe underwater. I tried to catch fish like Mum had once done for me, but it was harder than expected! I could only lift up really small bubbles so far, but Dad said I was doing great.

…

"Hi, Auntie Keiko! Is Maiko-chan here?" Maiko promised me she would do target practice with me, but she wasn't there after classes.

"She just left a minute ago. She forgot her melon buns, can you take them for her?" She handed me a small storage scroll. I learnt how to make these recently. I was now working on smoke and light tags. Dad said I couldn't try to make explosive tags until I was older. After that, I would learn how to make barrier seals.

"Ok! Bye, Auntie Keiko!" I run before she could ruffle my hair. Mum had put green ribbons in them today, and I really liked how they looked with my red hair, and I didn't want to lose them to ruffling.

…

"Hey, hey, Akito-kun!" I plopped down on my seat. "Did you prepare for the test?!" The advancement test we had to pass before moving on to the second grade.

He groaned from where he was draped over the desk.

"You need to pass the test! I'm gonna pass, and I wanna still be in the same class!" He lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at me.

He passed it in the end, but not quite as easily as I did.