Wow, I wrote Our Lives around this chapter. Time sure does fly…still not sleeping. Yay. (11.09.2017)

Dear Diary,

Turns out, you can't leave Konoha without half the village finding out about it six hours before you do.

There are some serious problems with the security in the Hokage's office.

Inoichi, Shikaku and Chouza decided to take me out to drink for the first time.

I told them I was underage, as that's been my excuse the last nine times they've asked me to. But apparently, once you make genin and are authorised to leave the village for longer than two weeks, you're automatically of drinking age.

Apparently, if you're old enough to kill, you're old enough to get smashed, or so Inoichi says. I'm not seeing the correlation between liver failure and talent in the ninja arts, but Shikaku tells me to stop being a pedantic douchebag and get over myself.

Yes, best friend.

Worse came to worst and I was forced to go, so I suggested we go to Yakiniku Q, because, I foolishly believed at the time, it would distract Chouza (if you're wondering how I knew it was his favourite haunt, you underestimate my information network. And Inoichi's big mouth) and the drinks would probably be diluted, so I would be safe.

I was right on nearly all accounts.

The problem was though, that they made me drink and I started feeling tipsy, and who should walk into the restaurant in a blaze of fiery glory and swearing but Uzumaki-san.

They are the worst friends ever.

I probably would have done something idiotic and mildly (extremely) traumatizing had Shikaku not taken pity on me. (Apparently, my puppy-dog eyes coupled with my short stature and cerulean orbs were too much for him to take. I don't get it, but I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.)

He took me out of the place and gave me a stone. It was beautiful. It was probably amber, and it kind of glowed yellow.

He said that it was a charm with special healing properties or something but Naras normally wore it for good luck.

I was about to cry. It was a very sweet gesture.

I said I couldn't take it but he said I was being troublesome and to take it before he injected alcohol into my blood stream. Or get Inoichi.

I decided thanking him and making a run for it was a great idea.

I'm glad I'm smart sometimes. I don't like to be all the time, but sometimes, it's just worth all the trouble that comes with it.

I was late to the meeting point by a whole two hours. Apparently, I'm quite popular. There was a gaggle of academy students chasing me all the way from the Hokage Monument to the west gates.

It was not a good workout.

I was dying.

They had inhuman stamina and were faster than me.

I need to train harder if even academy students can beat me when I run my hardest.

When Jiraiya-sensei saw me, he started laughing his head off. I told him it wasn't funny.

He said I was the sorriest sight he had ever seen. I pouted. He said I looked like he had just fucked my first crush. I don't know what that is or what he was implying, but I had the sudden strong urge to kill him. I think I even started seeing red for a moment.

The next thing I knew, Jiraiya-sensei was on the floor and begging for mercy and I was apologizing really profusely.

I didn't mean to hurt him!

We're already en route and our next stop is Hanfura. It's a small town close to Konoha and is around six miles away from the northern tip (which is a good ninety-two miles away from the central hub of Konoha.)

Wish me luck.

Apparently, I'm going to be abandoned in a motley motel/tavern, which I'm 97% sure is the haunt of all the homosexuals in the Land of Fire. I'm going to lose something really precious to me, or so Jiraiya-sensei says.

Something about me being too pretty for my own good.

I figured he meant money or personal belongings. But after that pretty comment, I don't know. I'm having a dreadful sense of foreboding right now.

Namikaze Minato