#6 - The Trio: Part 6

"Okay so, let me just... summerise," Tsubaki began, "You have a giant monster fox sealed inside you which everyone knows about but aren't allowed to talk about. And that giant monster fox is the reason everyone hates you and is also the reason the 4th Hokage died," She said, looking to Naruto, who nodded his confirmation.

Sasuke stared down at his lap, unsure as to how to react, honestly, how are you supposed to react when your friend tells you they have a monster sealed inside them which lead to a lifetime of abuse and hatred being thrown their way.

"Okay... at least you know it's not your fault that people hate you, and also that all adults, by default, are complete assholes who deserve no consideration or respect," was Tsubaki's conclusion.

"We can ask the Hokage for the specifics, I don't think we have the full picture yet," was Sasuke's - though his voice sounded as calm and apathetic as ever, his eyes blazed with a wave of anger they had only seen when he mentioned his family.

The three of them were sat on a sheet in the training grounds with a spread of sandwiches and fruits and even a pie in front of them which Michika-san had happily provided. Nobu-san had found a nice tarp to give them a little shade and some disposable plates and utensils for them and it had turned into a wonderful little picnic.

If Tsubaki'd had her way, they would have gone somewhere with flowers, or maybe a nice view, like the top of the Hokage Monument, but instead, they were here at the training grounds because Sasuke apparently didn't know that celebrations were done during brakes and time-off and not something you squeeze into your normal training schedule.

And Naruto had decided he was comfortable enough to tell them the details of what had gone down, on the night of the final exam.

"Oh we are definitely going to interro- I mean, ask the Hokage, but also everyone is an asshole until proven otherwise," Tsubaki insisted, nodding in a self-important manner.

"Yeah, that too," Sasuke sighed, sounding exasperated, but there was some seriousness in his eyes that made Naruto pause for breath. He glanced from Tsubaki to Sasuke and felt the heavy feeling in his chest lift.

The knot that had tied itself tight in his stomach - the fear that maybe he really was a monster who deserved everything he had gone through - but Tsubaki, the most sensible and rational person he knew, and Sasuke who had been the person he had hated and admired the most - these two people who he adored so much; and was so terrified would become just like all the others - were angry at the rest of the entire village... for him.

"Oh don't cry you brat," Sasuke snapped, having reeled back his almost display of emotion enough to snipe at Naruto's teary eyes,

"Shut up!" Naruto snapped, the tears he had been holding in spilt down his cheeks and he threw himself forwards, an arm around each other their necks, as he tackled them right into the sandwiches, sobbing.

"Stop!" Tsubaki shrieked in panic, her entire hand had landed in the pie, leaving a five-finger imprint in it.

"I'll kill you!" Sasuke growled when he felt the egg sandwich on the back of his neck.

Naruto just carried on hugging them both tightly, trembling slightly as all the fear and guilt that he had kept buried away from the forefront of his mind disappeared with their scolding.

* * *

Naruto couldn't stop grinning, he was wearing his forehead protector, which he had meticulously polished, and had his head resting on the desk, just grinning to himself.

Tsubaki couldn't make fun of him, even as her expression remained impassive, her heart was pounding inside her chest, and she had been staring at the same page of her book for about 10 minutes now, without processing a single word.

Sasuke, on the other hand, looked his usual indifferent but bordering on angry - the kind of face he made when his mind was far away and he wasn't really thinking about anything in particular.

Shikamaru paused on his descent down the steps to his own seat, glancing at Naruto curiously,

"Why are you here? Today's meeting is only for those who graduated," he asked,

"Hey hey, can you not see this forehead protector? Starting today, I'm also a ninja!" He declared, grinning brightly,

"How should I say this... I think this looks super good on me!?" He said giddily and Tsubaki sighed, shaking her head, but she couldn't hide the smile that broke through.

She flinched, when the door to the classroom was flung open and Sakura and Ino shoved their way inside,

"Goal!" They both exclaimed, breathing heavily, and Tsubaki watched from the corner of her eye, a little curiously because Sakura always seemed to find a way to get involved with her boys - and Naruto had a very transparent crush on her.

"I win again, Sakura," Ino smirked,

"What are you talking about? My toe entered the classroom before yours by a centimetre!" Sakura protested,

"Are you blind!" Ino screamed, but Naruto was staring at them with stars in his eyes, and a small blush on his cheeks.

"It's Sakura-chan..." he mumbled and tried to catch her eye, he watched hopefully as she made her way over to their table and Tsubaki could already feel the second-hand embarrassment as he stood up to greet her and she flew straight past him to where Sasuke was sat with a rough,

"Get out of my way!"

Sasuke's far-away natural look became one of general irritation - which wasn't too much of a difference really, other than the slight tick of his eyebrow - but Tsubaki was very proud of her ability to read him as well as she could read Naruto.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun," Sakura simpered, suddenly very mild and Tsubaki sighed, before sliding out of her seat and helping Naruto back up from where Sakura had knocked him over.

"Ah, can I sit next to you, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, now that the row was free and Tsubaki glanced back at her incredulously, did she not see that the seats were already taken? Tsubaki's book was still open on the desk where she had been sat.

"Hey! I'm going to sit next to Sasuke-kun!" Ino snapped, stomping over and Tsubaki sighed, Sasuke was looking at her now, and it was one of those hard stares - he wanted her to sit back down where she had been so Ino and Sakura's attention would go to her instead of him.

But there was no way that was going to happen, Tsubaki hated dealing with Sasuke's fangirls - sometimes, when she was in a better mood, she would distract them so Sasuke could get away - but today was not one of her more benevolent days, so she simply reached for her book and slid into the bench, one below, next to Murata Souji who smiled nervously.

Ever since she had threatened him and his group of friends when they were 7, they had never really messed with her again and seemed to regard her with some form of distant fear.

Tsubaki was okay with this. So she brought out her book and began reading, but her ears remained listening to the farce going on behind her - right up until Naruto began squaring up to Sasuke again.

Their fights always got more severe and frequent when Sakura was around because she dismissed Naruto while vying for Sasuke's attention, which made Naruto resentful and in his jealousy, he would go around picking fights with Sasuke.

They got along pretty well when it was just the three of them - it was just when other people got involved that things got a bit complicated.

What Tsubaki hadn't expected though, was for Souji to lean back, just as Naruto was squaring up to Sasuke and push them into each other.

There was a moment of silence as Tsubaki watched her two best friends kiss... and felt kind of surprised but also not really because with how often those two tended to get in each other's faces, it was kind of obvious this was going to happen one day.

And then pity, because Naruto was hauled off the desk and pounced upon by 90% of the female population of their class. And no matter how much Tsubaki loved him, she was not going to dive into that mess to save him. Ever.

Instead, she turned to Sasuke, who was still wiping his mouth on his arm braces,

"Congratulations on your first kiss - that's another thing you beat me in I suppose," She sighed in mock melancholy and grinned brightly when Sasuke glared at her with full murderous intent. They were long past the point where they could intimidate each other.

* * *

It took Iruka coming into the room and yelling at them all for the girls to settle down - Sakura won the seat next to Sasuke, the one Tsubaki had vacated and Naruto slid in next to her with a dopey smile.

"Starting today, you are all official ninjas, but you are still new genin, this where things will really start becoming difficult." He stated,

"As you have been told before, you will be put into a group of three, where you will complete missions under the guidance of a jonin teacher," he continued.

Tsubaki shifted in her seat nervously and tried to keep her gaze forward - if she wasn't with Sasuke and Naruto, she would lodge a complaint with the Hokage.

"We've arranged the groups in such a way that the overall abilities are equivalent. I will now announce them, if you have any questions, wait til' the end," Iruka said.

"First, Team 1..." Tsubaki waited with bated breath, hoping it wouldn't be alphabetical, but it didn't seem to be,

"Team 3, Haruno Sakura, Murata Souji, Yamazaki Kenta," and Tsubaki heard Sakura wail behind her while Souji and Kenta, who had been sat next to each other, to her right, high-fived happily.

Iruka carried on announcing teams, and by the 6th one, Tsubaki was all out of nerves, she had gone past having her heart pound and was in a state of numb acceptance when Iruka called out -

"Team 7, Uzumaki Naruto," her eyes shot up, and she sat up straighter, unable to restrain herself,

"Uchiha Sasuke, Amaya Tsubaki," Iruka continued and under her desk, Tsubaki fist-pumped before turning to shoot a dazzling grin behind her.

Naruto beamed and even Sasuke looked a little pleased, despite being unhappy about having to be in an actual team. He would get over it when he realised how amazing their team would be.

"Next, Team 8," Iruka carried on, "Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino!"

"Team 10, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji! That's it for the groups!" Iruka declared.

"Iruka-sensei! Why is a top student like me in a group with this guy!?" Naruto demanded, apparently still steamed from their earlier confrontation.

"Sasuke graduated with the highest scores out of all the graduates, and you, Naruto, you were dead-last!" Iruka snapped, "This happens because we want to evenly divide abilities between the groups," he explained,

"Do your best to not pull me down, dead-last," Sasuke said,

"What the hell did you just say?!" Naruto snapped and Sasuke smirked, glancing over to him,

"You wanna go, dead-last?" he asked, which had the rest of the class giggling.

Tsubaki rolled her eyes, too used to their little squabbles to really care, she was just glad to be in the same team as her friends, but of course, someone else had to speak up.

"Iruka-sensei! I object to my team! I've never even spoken to my teammates before! Why am I not in the same team as Sasuke-kun?" Sakura demanded,

Iruka sighed, and glanced back to his papers, "Sakura huh, well your academic grades were excellent but with Sasuke and Naruto in one team, your taijutsu proved to be lacking - the only other person who had good grades and could keep up with Naruto's stamina and Sasuke's technique was Tsubaki." He explained, kinder than he was with Naruto.

Tsubaki tried very hard to keep her expression neutral as the girls turned to glare at her, but she couldn't keep the curl of her lip from rising into something of a smirk.

"I'm going to introduce the jonin teachers in the afternoon - until then you are dismissed!" Iruka called, not giving them another chance to argue.

Tsubaki happily rose from her table and glanced to her boys, Naruto was chasing after Sakura, who was begging Sasuke to have lunch with her.

Sasuke rose from his seat and literally dove out of the window and Tsubaki's eyebrows shot up when instead of being offended or even getting the message that he didn't want to spend time with them, Sasuke's fangirls gushed about how cool that was before deciding they were going to go looking for him.

Tsubaki shook her head, and brought out her own bento, she figured they would both be on the run doing something idiotic, so she would eat first then go out to do damage control.

"You'll have it tough, huh, Tsubaki," Souji said, looking at her with amused pity.

"That goes for both of us," Tsubaki replied, looking to where Sakura was arguing with Ino.