#3 - The Trio : Part 3

The students of the Academy were told about the 3-man-cell they would be put into, on the first day of their final year.

Naruto's gaze went from Tsubaki to Sakura and he kicked his legs under the desk happily, the dream team already famous and revered in his head before Iruka had even finished explaining everything.

Sasuke had sneaked a glance towards Tsubaki, but overall, was slightly annoyed by this information, that he was already vaguely aware of. Being in a team of people who weren't on his level would only hold him back - he had no time for someone who couldn't keep up.

Unlike those two though, Tsubaki carefully listened to the information being given and came to the conclusion that there was still time - based on what Iruka was saying, he was still in the process of or hadn't started evaluating them, if she was careful in class and dedicated some careful planning, she could influence the team formations.

That meant, she could be in the same team as her friends.

Of course, what she didn't know was that Iruka had already decided to make her the 3rd person in the emotional stew that was Sasuke and Naruto.

The Hokage had already notified him that due to their special circumstances, the two would have to be paired together and under the one teacher who could effectively teach them and keep them under control.

Iruka had jumped on the opportunity to mention Tsubaki and how she could become the bridge to gap their differences.

"Tsubaki, can you come and solve the problem on the board?" Iruka asked with a happy smile, he saw the way the rest of the students (except Sasuke) sighed in relief - Tsubaki simply nodded and rose from her seat, taking the chalk in hand and working through the problem systematically and efficiently.

"Well done, as always," Iruka told her when she finished and the corners of her lips quirked up in a pleased little smile. Cute.

"How'd you do that?" Naruto whispered as she slid back into her seat between him and Sasuke, she glanced at his notebook, which hadn't been used since their last study session...2 weeks ago.

"I did the homework." She told him, and he paused as though he had never even considered that as a reply she could have given him.

"....homework?" He uttered the two syllables like he was tasting them on his tongue for the first time,

"Don't tell me..." she sighed heavily, "Sasuke and I will help you go through it later," she told him, and Sasuke glared at her,

"Don't volunteer me for things." He snapped,

"I don't want Sasuke!" Naruto declared at the same time,

They both snapped to each other with identical glares.

"Beggars can't be choosers, Naruto. And Sasuke, you owe me like 5 times today alone, for how much I distracted your fangirls while you ran away," She told them both dryly and watched with satisfaction as they both deflated.

"This and that are different!" Sasuke protested. Tsubaki raised an eyebrow,

"Hmmmm, so Uchiha Sasuke was the type of person to put conditions on his own debts hmm, I must have thought of you too highly," she was clearly being sarcastic, but she was saying just the right things for Sasuke to feel like he was being belittled, and he had too much of a superiority complex to let that pass.

"Fine," He snapped, and Tsubaki hid a smug smile behind a hand as she turned back to face the front of the class.

Naruto watched the interaction with a little awe. Tsubaki was... really good at getting what she wanted.

* * *

"Amaya Tsubaki!" a voice snapped and Tsubaki was snapped out of her daze; she was walking back from the Academy later than usual, since she and Sasuke and had been tutoring Naruto in the library. The other two had already split away to their respective apartments, and she had zoned out, letting her feet take her back to the Clan's compound from muscle memory.

"...Sakura and Ino...?" It took her a moment to shake off her daze and realised that two of her classmates were blocking the path, had they been waiting for her?

"Why are you so late!? We've been here for hours!" Ino complained, ah so they really had been waiting for her. Tsubaki tried to remember if she had made any plans with them, but as far as she was concerned, the three of them rarely spoke to each other.

"Um, I don't think we had any plans to meet up...?" She said as much, which made them both falter before they mustered up their anger (but why would they be angry?) again. Sakura cleared her throat and stepped forward,

"You see, it has come to our attention that you spend an awful lot of time with Sasuke-kun," she began and Tsubaki sighed, oh this again.

"Look, Sasuke and I are friends. We have no romantic attachments or intentions towards each other. If you can't accept that then that is your problem and I would prefer you stew in your jealousy in your own time and don't waste any more of mine," She told them, her tone of voice was polite enough but her words had them flinching back.

"That's! That's not fair! Even though we care about Sasuke-kun so much more than you!" Sakura declared, there were tears welling up in the corner of her eyes, and it just made Tsubaki all the more annoyed.

But Sakura was someone her friend, Naruto, liked, which made her somewhat care about her emotions by association... he would probably be annoyed if she made her cry... but she was also kind of annoyed herself, consequences be damned.

"If you care about Sasuke then that's great but also those are your personal emotion towards him, keep them to your selves. I don't care about them, nor do I want to hear about them and - nevermind, I need to be getting home. Excuse me," She sighed.

If she had carried on she probably would have said something really harsh like 'and Sasuke finds you an annoying nuisance anyway so leave him alone' or something, and that would have definitely made her cry.

If Naruto found out, he would be upset with her, and she wasn't in the habit of speaking for other people either. If Sasuke wanted them gone, he could tell them they were annoying himself.

Neither of them called after her and she could see from the corner of her eye as Ino handed Sakura a handkerchief. She felt a little guilty, but also, she was tired and Sasuke's fangirls had been bothering her a lot more recently, ever since the 3-man-cell thing was announced.

She understood their desperation to be on the same team as someone they cared about - she could understand that since she wanted to be in the same team as her friends too, but that didn't mean they had to bother between every class and even at lunch - in fact, the only time she wasn't 'confronted' by Sasuke's fangirls was when they were too busy accosting him.

* * *

Once at the compound, Tsubaki entered through the back gate, as usual, and the housekeeper, Michika-san, greeted her with a warm smile,

"Welcome home, miss. Would you like me to prepare for your dinner?" She asked, putting down the silverware she was polishing, evidently, everyone else had already eaten.

"I ate ramen with my friends, don't worry about it," she answered, making her way through the kitchen and towards the garden.

Tsubaki had always felt uneasy in the lavish compound, it was around the housekeeper, the gardener, the servants, that she felt the most comfortable. Her room, which was on the second floor, was somewhat abandoned since she had turned the storage shed in the garden into a comfortable lounge space.

Most of her things had already been moved there, the books she read, the clothes she liked, even the little knick-knacks she was fond of. The only things that remained in her actual bedroom were the things she had no attachment to... except the bed, she was pretty attached to that bed, but it was bigger than the entire shed and impossible to bring down the stairs, so she gave up on it.

Her clan was already aware of the shed, she knew, but no one ever said anything about it, perhaps because it kept her out of the way, as long as she didn't threaten her half-brother's ascent to Clan Head, her step-mother liked to pretend she didn't exist after all.

Her father had claimed her when she was 5 years old, bringing her to the clan compound even with the protests of the clan's elders and his newlywed wife. She had started attending the Academy not soon afterwards and had spent very little time with her actual family.

It had been the servants who had raised her, and she felt closer to them than anyone else. Her mother had been a bright woman, who smelled like tobacco and had a mischievous look to her - Tsubaki didn't remember much about her, but she liked to think she looked like her, with the bright red hair and eyes, that seemed to be very rare in the village.

In fact, she seemed to be the only one in the entire village who had this blood red in her hair and it had taken a lot of research to figure out that it was a symbol of the Uzumaki clan.

Perhaps that was why Tsubaki had felt more curiosity and responsibility towards Naruto than anyone else, though she suspected that they weren't related. The Amaya clan took blood relations extremely seriously, after all, if Naruto had been related to her by blood then she would have been made aware of it by someone from the clan.

Still, she couldn't help but toy with the idea that her best friend was her long lost cousin, or perhaps even her brother, it was far-fetched and a little childish, but she was 11 and she was allowed to daydream that one day she could get away from this compound and live with her best friends in a happy little apartment for the three of them - of course, she would have to drag Sasuke along a little, but he wouldn't put up too much of a fight.

She allowed herself a moment of respite from the real world, before taking a deep breath and stepping out of her shed again. Night had already descended, and they wouldn't let her sleep out in the shed, no matter how much more comfortable it was for her.

* * *

"Today, you will be split into groups of three for a practical test," Iruka announced one morning and Tsubaki instantly perked up - this was a rather blatant declaration, but she figured they had stopped trying to be subtle about it, with only a few months left until graduation.

Iruka's gaze swept around the room and smiled, no one was missing, perfect. His students were visibly buzzing with excitement, some high-fiving each other, some exchanging glances and nodding at each other - already forming their own groups.

"Iruka-sensei! Why are we suddenly doing a test? Shouldn't you warn us about that kind of thing beforehand so we can study and prepare?" Sakura asked, her hand raised.

"Well, since you're closer to graduating, you should become used to always being prepared to respond to sudden missions and emergency situations - a ninja being able to prepare for something is seen as a privilege, not a necessity," Iruka explained patiently.

"Also, as I'm sure many of you have already guessed - your performance on this test will greatly influence your final 3-man-cell and your graduating grades," Iruka added.

Tsubaki took a deep breath and steadied herself.

This was the chance she had been waiting for.