🌊 Nami: the never ending wave 🌊

Ch1 -The wave of beginings!

Late night in the Haruno household...

Two young girls sat on the bed by the window working on making themselves charm bracelets, with the elder of the two pausing to stretch when the junior suddenly spoke, breaking apart the calm silence.

"Ne, Saku-Chan do you think I could be a ninja?" The question brought on by the brown haired girl had caught the pinkette by surprise.

"Hm? I'm sure you'd be a great ninja Nami-Chan but doesn't your Father want you to continue running the bakery?" The response did nothing but cause the pink eyed girl to look solemnly at her hands.

"I... I want to be more than a baker, Saku-Chan, I don't want to be known as the baker's daughter, ya know, I want to make a name for myself, one that doesn't have anything to do with my family's business." Then with a burst of energy the brunette had sprung right up her head held high with a determined look on her face quite frankly startling the pinkette with her sudden movement, nearly knocking her off the shared bed.

"I want to be known as a hero Saku-Chan, imagine my name being used as a path to a new legacy in my family! I could be the one who breaks the chain of the boring baker clan!"

"I get what you mean Nami-Chan but would your parents even let you enroll? I mean remember what happened to Kuruki-Chan when she asked her parents to let her go to the academy last year?" As quickly as the energy came through the younger girl it left all that quick leaving her looking quite panicked as she began to contemplate her strategy to convince her parents to let her go and reach for her dream of becoming a ninja.

"What if..." Nami's sentence drifted off before it had even properly finished causing Sakura to shoot a questioning look at the younger girl.

"Hm? What's the deal, why are you going quiet on me?" The brunette's vibrant eyes began to dart around the room as a means to avoid staring at her dearest friends concerning glance.

"What if you told them you were going with me so they'd be more open to it, I mean I heard you talking to Yamanaka-Chan last week about wanting to become a ninja to impress Sasuke, and if we both say we want to go this route then my father would definitely let me apply." With each word that left the juniors mouth she kept creeping closer and closer to her friend until by the end of her rant she was sitting in her knees clutching the jade eyed girls hands with her own pleadingly looking at her with rose pink eyes that were glistening with her nervous tears.

"Oi, don't cry Nami-Chan I'm sure they'll let you if you ask and if it makes you feel better I'll ask them with you okay?" The younger girl's shoulders sagged in relief, she had a shot at being able to go be a ninja.

She had a shot to be something more, just like big bro Iruka!

"You really are a lifesaver Saku-Chan, now I think it's a bit too late to finish these we better go to sleep before your mom wakes up to yell at us..." giggling the two girls began to clean up the strings and beads and placed them back in its box before going to lay on the bed once more, the both of them drifting off to sleep with hopes that they'd be able to go the ninja academy.

One for herself, to escape from the cycle of repetition that has burdened her family for years.

One for her friend, to let her friend have a chance to do something new and to impress the boy she loves so dearly.

🌊

The morning was hectic, it had now been 6 weeks since the late night conversation and by sheer perseverance the two girls had managed to convince Nami's father to let her apply for the shinobi course with Sakura a whole week prior to this day.

Today was their first day of actual lessons, with the weeks beforehand spent reading books on the library over various career branches in the village's workforce.

Currently the two 8 year olds were walking to the academy building with Nami clutching a sack filled with snacks and her lunch for the day.

"Hey Saku-Chan, do you really think I'd do any good as a ninja." The girl whose expression was full of excitement moments ago was now solemn as she stared at her sandal clad feet as they walked in sync towards the building.

"I think you'd do good Nami-chan, but if I'm honest I'm worried too, usually civilians like us don't really get farther than Chunin rank apparently, but I'll do anything to get a chance to talk to Sasuke-kun!" The pink haired girl's exclamation helped lighten the mood as the softly spoken words had sparked a laugh out of the younger girl next to her.

Soon enough the two girls found themselves inside of their classroom.

Their classroom, the place they'd be in for the next year.

Nami couldn't be happier.

🌊

Lunch time came and Nami quickly opened up her bag that kept close to feet throughout the day and pulled out her Doriyaki.

Sakura had joined the horde of girls that went to follow Sasuke around during lunch, so of course, she was left alone for lunch, maybe she'd talk to Hyūga-san tomorrow.

"Hey, Baker-Chan can I have some please?" She turned her head to see a plump looking boy with swirls on his cheeks, he had his hand submerged into a bag of potato chips.

"Hm? Sure thing, my father always packs me extra Incase my friends want some." The words that left her mouth shocked the young boy.

"We're friends already?" Nami only smiled and held out one of her Doriyaki's.

"Anyone I share my Doriyaki with is a friend,that's merely a fact!" As he put his hand out to get it she spoke again.

"But please don't call me Baker-Chan,my name is Koizumi Nami." She held her empty hand out.

"Um, my name is Akimichi Choji, Koizumi-chan." He held her hand and shook it.

"It's to meet you Akimichi-kun, I hope we can become great friends!" Choji merely nodded in response.

"If you want I can bring you extra snacks for lunch, my father always says he makes too many to sell." Choji seemed elated, soon enough they found themselves on track with a conversation over their favorite snacks to eat.

🌊

The day came and went, soon after lunch time Sakura returned and apologized for leaving Nami alone as they walked home together.

"It's okay, you can make other friends. I'm not mad." As much as it sounded passive aggressive it was a truly genuine statement, Nami could never be mad at her for wanting to branch off from her.

"Are you sure Nami-Chan?I still feel really bad for letting you eat alone." The shakiness in her tone made Nami's eyes soften. She really was afraid that she'd be mad at her.

"Yea I'm sure, besides I didn't eat alone at all! I ate my lunch with Akimichi-kun!" That caught Sakura by surprise leaving her a bit shocked before smiling softly at her friend.

"That's great Nami-Chan, but do you really not mind me going with the other girls to watch Sasuke-kun?"
Nami merely blinked slowly as she said this clearly unfazed.

"I really could care less about what you do in your free time Saku-Chan, but just make sure the other girls don't push you around anymore okay? Remember what Yamanaka-Chan said, be more confident in yourself! " Sakura just nodded and looked down at her feet the rest of the walk.

Waving goodbye at Nami as said girl entered her father's bakery, quickly looking down sadly as the memories of what had transpired during the time that she had been away from Nami played back in her mind as she continued her walk.

She didn't have the heart to tell her now only friend that she and Ino had gotten into an argument during lunchtime, over Sasuke of all things to have a spat over, she doesn't think she ever will, well at least not yet.