#4 - The Trio: Part 4

The jonin teachers for that year had gathered in the Hokage's office, eyes glued to the crystal ball for their first glance at their potential students.

Kakashi was already vaguely aware of who he would be teaching, he was Kakashi, the copy-cat ninja, the only other living person who could teach the last Uchiha how to utilise the Sharingan.

And there was no way in hell he was going to let someone else teach Minato-sensei's son while he was around.

It was the third student he had been curious about, from what he had heard, Sasuke and Naruto didn't exactly get along. But when the orb flickered to life, displaying the classroom, the two of them were sat on the same bench, with one other student.

Her shock of red hair was enough to know that this girl had Uzumaki blood, and the way she leaned in to whisper into Naruto's ears made something like nostalgia grip Kakashi's chest. Naruto with his spikey yellow hair and bluer-than-the-sky eyes, and this girl with long red hair - sat side by side, they looked too much like Minato-sensei and Kushina-san.

If there had been anyone there paying attention to Kakashi, they would have seen the various emotions flicker through his eyes, before settling into something obstinate.

Maybe making decisions from his emotional responses was a bad idea, especially as a ninja, but some part of him had already decided he wanted this girl on his team.

"Alright, let me explain the rules," Iruka called, and all the children turned their attention to him, all the detection jutsus had been set up so that they could hear everything they were saying - usually these were reserved for low-level information gathering missions (since they could be detected pretty easily) but they figured there wasn't much risk of that between genin who didn't even know they existed.

"First, take a look at these badges," Iruka held up a smooth round piece of plastic, each had a name written on it.

"Each person will get one badge. That's 3 per team. Your objective, by the end of this, is to come away with as many badges as possible, while protecting your own. Each badge you steal from another team is worth 2 points - the team with the most points by the end of this wins," Iruka declared.

Naruto's hand shot up, "What's the prize?!" he demanded, and Iruka grinned, all teeth and glinting eyes,

"Apart from a good grade, you will also get an all-you-can-eat ramen ticket, valid for 1 month." and the atmosphere in the room changed.

It wasn't just Naruto who was fired up for this, Choji looked like he had actual flames in his eyes and steam coming out of the top of his head. This was going to be a blood bath.

"However, there is a twist to these rules," Iruka smirked, "Each badge has your name on it, if you manage to protect your personal badge by the end of the task, you get 3 points. If 2 members of one team manage to retain their personal badges, then that is doubled so each badge becomes worth 6 points, and if all 3 members retain their personal badges, then a total of 12 points will be added to their final score." He said.

Tsubaki frowned, that meant, they could potentially avoid all conflict and just stick to protecting their own badges and come away with a clean 12 points. But knowing Sasuke's desperate need to be better than everyone else, combined with his immovable belief that he was the strongest person here, meant he couldn't allow someone else potentially beating them out with 14 points.

And Naruto was both confrontational and reckless with a desperate desire to prove himself, he would no doubt jump into the fray without holding anything back.

They were both troublesome and annoying in their own way.

"What are the rules, Iruka-sensei?" Tsubaki asked, raising her hand, Iruka smiled,

"You can fight each other of course, but under the same rules as sparring in, each team will have a teacher grading them so don't even think about lethal moves. We will be doing this down at the training grounds and the forests in that area. If you decide to give up, shoot a flare jutsu up, someone will come and collect your team. Three flares shot in close succession will be the signal for the end of the task, after which, you'll be escorted back to the Academy." Iruka explained, and a moment later, everyone was packing up their books and notes to head down to the training grounds.

Tsubaki's head was full of potential strategies, she, Sasuke and Naruto fell into step naturally, Naruto declaring how they would be the ones with a sweeping victory and Sasuke didn't seem to disagree.

"Do you guys trust me?" Tsubaki asked they both turned to look at her, surprised at the determined glint in her eyes. Sasuke gave a single nod of his head, and Naruto declared,

"Yeah of course!"

"Then once we get down to the training grounds, I'll tell you the plan." She smiled.

"Offensive or defensive?" Sasuke asked,

She smirked, "Why choose?"

* * *

Each team was positioned at a different starting point, with a teacher to tell them when to begin. Sasuke, Naruto and Tsubaki ended up nearer to the outer edge, which was exactly what Tsubaki had hoped for.

"Once we're given the signal to begin, we will split up in three different directions, but the goal is the north-eastern wall on the other side of the training grounds," Tsubaki said, Sasuke frowned, splitting up was a dangerous move, especially since it was likely that the others would be sticking to their teams of three.

"It would be a bad idea if the goal was to defeat the other teams, but it's not. All we want are their badges, we don't need to defeat them for that. If you locate a team, tail them for a while, try and see where on their person they are keeping the badges and then try and split them up - or if you can't that's when you use the clone jutsu to create a distraction. Get as many badges as you can, without endangering yourself, and run." She was mostly speaking to Sasuke, who would be their primary badge retriever.

Naruto stared down at his shoes glumly, he sucked at chakra control and still couldn't do a proper clone jutsu, but that didn't matter right now, his role was different to Sasuke's.

"Sasuke, your job is to get us those points. Naruto, your job is to protect the badges." She told him, Sasuke reluctantly brought his own badge out and handed it to him. Tsubaki did the same. This was another risky move, one person having all the badges meant if they went down, so did a good chunk of their points.

But it also meant that even if the other two went down, they retained those points. Tsubaki could hear the bell, signalling the start of the test, but they didn't move.

"Your job is important got it, don't let your pride get in the way. Avoid conflicts, always be on the move. You are our last line of defence. If you go down, so does the entire team." She told him. The uncertainty slipped out of Naruto's gaze and he nodded, holding onto the three badges tightly.

"Keep them out of sight and on your person." She ordered.

"And what about you?" He asked. Sasuke looked to her in interest, also curious. If he was the one getting the other team's badges, and Naruto would be protecting their badges, there wasn't much left for her to do.

"I'll be acting as support for both of you. I'm going to try and incapacitate the other teams, break down their teamwork or make it harder for them to fight. I'm not so sure I can take on three people at once like Sasuke, but I can make it an easier fight for him. And Naruto - if you end up in a fight or encounter another team, you know the signal. I'll come as soon as I can." Tsubaki told him.

They both nodded.

"Good hunting," she grinned.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto laughed as he hopped high into the trees.

Sasuke headed the opposite way and Tsubaki watched them both go, before bringing out the map.

If each team had been spaced out evenly across the training grounds, then the majority should be on the other side of the oval-shaped terrain. She put the map away and brought out some string and got to work, setting up the traps.

* * *

Kakashi watched with interest as 'his team' - yes he was already calling them that - didn't fly into action as the other teams had done. The multiple crystals on the desk followed each team's progress, but his eyes were glued to this one. They couldn't hear much of what the students were saying since the microphones were attached to their escorting teachers, but they stayed huddled together, speaking for a long moment after the starting bell sounded.

"It seems they have a plan," Kakashi almost flinched when he heard the voice behind him and sighed,

"Reika-san, can you not sneak up on me like that," he sighed, eyes turning back to the crystal.

"What the Copy-ninja can't even detect little ol' me?" She asked, and Kakashi rolled her eyes, Reika was one of the best stealth operatives in Konoha, even the Hokage had trouble sensing her presence on a good day. She was very smug about it.

"You got your eyes on that team?" She asked, coming to stand at his side now.

"I've decided I want those three," Kakashi told her, and she hummed, watching their movements with interest,

"What a shame, I wanted that Amaya girl you know - I knew her mother a little, but since you've called dibs, I suppose there's nothing I can do," She shrugged. Kakashi wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

"They have an interesting plan," Kakashi noted,

"Risky, but with a big pay off, I like their style," Reika nodded, "From what I'd heard, the fox kid and the Uchiha didn't get along, it's a surprise to see them in one team," she added,

"They each seem to be close to the Amaya girl - she seems to be the strategist of the group too," Kakashi informed her, eyes glued to the crystal.

Tsubaki set up traps and used genjutsu to lure teams into them, forcing them to split away from each other and Uchiha would encounter the broken up teams and only have to deal with one or two opponents at a time.

And each time Uchiha gained a few badges, he would lift his fingers to his mouth and whistle and the fox kid would find him and take the badges from him.

Each time the fox kid would disappear high into the treetops. The three of them had split up, but they were always within 50 meters of each other - within helping distance.

"Oh, they've made him a look-out," Reika said, and a moment later, Kakashi realised she was talking about Naruto. From high above in the tree-tops he would keep an eye out for any approaching team and use their whistling signals to let them know when someone was close.

Tsubaki would head out to investigate and split their team, then Sasuke would confront them directly and take their badges.

"Hmm, less risk then I thought there would be," Reika smiled, her eyes were twinkling and Kakashi had half a mind to remind her that he had already called dibs on them. But that would be childish.

"The Amaya girl is smart - and she has some talent in genjutsu. Their teamwork is excellent. Train them well, Kakashi," Reika said instead, making Kakashi feel more childish than he wanted to admit for his earlier thought.

As the end of the task was signalled with three consecutive flares, Kakashi watched as his team reunited, grinning from ear to ear. They had stolen at least one badge from each team and had retained all three of their own badges.

Kakashi was sure they had won first place.