#5 - The Trio: Part 5

Honestly, by the end of the practical test, Sasuke was impressed.

He had been a little unsure about Tsubaki's strategy, but it had worked like a charm and they had placed first on that test with a 10-point lead against 2nd place (Shikamaru, Choji and Shino's team - the only other team that had all 3 of their original badges).

Tsubaki had grinned smugly when Naruto deposited the armful of badges on Iruka's desk, who's mouth flopped open, gaping at their haul.

"Well done to all of you, there wasn't a single team who gave up, so I'm very satisfied with the results," Iruka said at the debrief.

Tsubaki kept sending Sasuke concerned glances since he was the most beat-up out of the three of them, she had even suggested he skip the debrief and just go to the nurse's office, but that wasn't going to happen.

For Sasuke, that would be like acknowledging that those fights had given him a hard time, and he really didn't want to do that, even as he felt bruises form that would leave him sore for the next few days.

So at the end of the debrief, Tsubaki dragged him to an empty classroom and got Naruto to fetch the first aid kit, and decided she would patch him up herself.

"It's unnecessary," Sasuke insisted, despite the gash on his calf spanning up half the length of his leg.

"Just because it won't cripple you doesn't mean it won't get infected. If it does get infected, I will make sure to amputate it myself," She told him sternly,

"What is this, the dark ages? Who amputates infections anymore," he mumbled petulantly, and Tsubaki met his gaze evenly,

"Try me," she said, waiting until he looked away first, turning his head away from her, even as he turned his leg, giving her a better angle to bandage him from.

Naruto watched the interaction from where he was holding the antiseptic for Tsubaki with a gleeful smile, very few people were harsh to Sasuke, and he adored every moment the asshole didn't get his way.

But it seemed like Sasuke was getting too used to being around Naruto now because he seemed to know exactly what Naruto was thinking from the way he was glaring at him but Naruto'd had the same amount of time to get used to his glares, so he just stuck his tongue out when Tsubaki wasn't looking.

"There, now you won't die in your sleep or something," Tsubaki said, stepping back to admire her handiwork. Sasuke's leg was impeccably cleaned and bandaged and the pain that had stung at him with every step had receded to a light dull throbbing.

He nodded, and although he didn't say thank you, he placed a hand on her shoulder for a moment, which was close enough to thank you, without wounding his pride.

"You really can do anything, huh, Tsubaki," Naruto commented as they made their way back, he had his fingers intertwined behind his head, walking alongside them at a slower pace than normal to accommodate Sasuke.

"Not really, I just have a lot of vague knowledge in different areas since I read a lot," she told him.

"It'll make up for your lack of common sense in the team," Sasuke snorted and Naruto bristled but Tsubaki didn't even bother coming in between their little quarrel - for one thing, stopping every fight was tedious and she was their friend, not their babysitter - and for another, Sasuke had just admitted that he would be in their team.

Tsubaki smiled to herself as she watched her best friends almost start a brawl in the corridor of the Academy.

* * *

As the final exams started drawing closer, Tsubaki, Sasuke and Naruto found very little time to really do things together, Naruto had been forced into supplementary classes with Iruka-sensei and Sasuke was spending more and more time at the training grounds, polishing his moves with frightening vigour.

Tsubaki found herself either in the training grounds with Sasuke or in the library, trying to make sure she would get the best grades possible. There were four tests for graduation, the essay, the multiple-choice, the taijutsu and the ninjutsu since genjutsu was seen as a more advanced field, they didn't really test you on it.

What they hadn't realised was that since one of them wasn't with Naruto a lot of the time - that the bullying from the other students had started again, harsher this time around, as though they had been waiting for the chance.

The final exams began with a lot of excitement, and once again, Tsubaki had a heart-stopping moment where she had thought she had messed up on the essay and gotten 3rd place, but her grades came back with '2' and a smiley face on top of her paper.

That was about as eventful as things got, right up until the final ninjutsu test. The dreaded clone jutsu - no matter what, it never seemed to work out for Naruto, either he put in too much chakra and manifested a two-headed clone or an extra limb, or he didn't put in enough, and they came out looking pale and droopy, unable to support their own weight.

It wasn't like Naruto had no talent, he had improved his taijutsu dramatically since Tsubaki and Sasuke had started training with him, but for some reason, a low-level jutsu like the clone jutsu was giving him more trouble than it was worth.

As their names were called one by one in alphabetical order, Tsubaki was one of the first few students to pass. She stepped out of the Academy and away from the parents who had come to see their children and waited for Naruto and Sasuke to be done.

No one from her family would come, she knew that. They were much too preoccupied with more important things than a measly Academy graduation, though they had thrown a dinner party the first time Seiran had managed to perform the clone jutsu successfully, she recalled bitterly.

And was immediately pressed with guilt, her brother wasn't to blame for anything, he was the only one in that entire family who was even remotely kind to her. She sighed heavily and slid her back down the side of the Academy walls, resting her head on her knees.

She had been sat there, watching as student after student came out to meet their families with wide grins or in tears, depending on their results.

"Miss Tsubaki?" A soft voice called and Tsubaki glanced up, eyes wide when she realised that the housekeeper, Michika-san, was stood in front of her and the gardener, Nobu-san was a few steps behind her. They were dressed in their casual clothes and housekeeper held a bouquet of flowers in her hand.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, pushing herself off the ground and brushing the dirt off her skirt.

"We came to congratulate you, miss! We knew you would graduate of course," Michika-san said, smiling gently and Tsubaki felt something dangerously warm and fragile swell in her chest. She blinked back the stinging in her eyes, though somehow, looking at the soft expression in their eyes, it felt like they knew exactly how she was feeling.

"Th-thank you," she said, her voice shakier than she wanted to admit.

"Come on, we made a reservation at a BBQ place, let's go have a celebratory meal," Nobu-san had already turned his back on them, the awkwardly gruff man that he was, he could never handle anything to do with emotions.

"...thanks," Tsubaki mumbled, stumbling forwards in her eagerness to walk with them.

* * *

Tsubaki hadn't realised how cornered Naruto felt until the emergency bells began to toil in the middle of the night, and she could see jonin jumping from roof to roof, gathering on the roof of the administrative tower where no-doubt the Hokage awaited them.

Tsubaki had assumed it had nothing to do with her until the next morning, when she spotted Naruto walking down the market road, no doubt coming from the hospital, wearing bandages and bloodied clothes.

"Naruto!" She called, jogging over to him, eyes cataloguing every injury she could spot, but what stuck out the most was the dark shadows under his eyes and the dropping of his shoulders, worse than any physical injury, someone had hurt him mentally.

"What happened?" She demanded, and he looked away, ashamed? Why would he need to be ashamed?

"Alright, we can talk at your place, you're lucky I picked up food just now, come on," she said, thankful that she had decided to pick up some take-out for lunch today, she was going to suggest that Michika-san and Nobu-san ate with her since they had that whole fuzzy emotional thing going on lately, but they would understand. Sometimes making sure a friend was okay was more important.

"Hey wait - no - it's okay -" Naruto tried to protest, but Tsubaki knew where he lived, or at least, she knew which building it was, and led the way to the front door without paying any heed to any of Naruto's feeble protests.

Because they were feeble protests.

Naruto wasn't the type of person who could get dragged around and forced into doing something against his will, he was stubborn and obnoxious and always had the loudest voice in the room.

Something had definitely happened.

By the time they arrived at the building, Naruto had stopped trying to protest and just silently led the way to his apartment, which was kind of a giant mess. There were ramen cups strewn on every surface, there were stains on top of stains and she was pretty sure it wasn't just the kitchen - none of the windows had curtains.

"We are going to deal with your living quarters next time, for now, clear the table and get me some clean dishes and utensils." She ordered, and Naruto looked around the room confused, as though there was nothing wrong and he had no idea what she was talking about.

But he moved to the cupboards and brought out some dinner plates that looked dusty and unused and began washing them at the sink. Tsubaki didn't comment and took to unpacking the food she had brought.

Once the table was clear and the food was set up in front of them, Naruto looked embarrassingly grateful about the whole thing.

"Do you want to eat, then tell me what's up, or talk first and eat afterwards?" Tsubaki asked she wasn't a complete tyrant, after all, she would give him that choice at least.

"I...stoleaforbiddenscrollfromtheHokage'sprivatelibraryandlearntaforbiddenjutsu," he blurted out all at once, staring down at his hands and speaking just loud enough for Tsubaki to basically understand nothing.

"Try that again, but slowly and with more context," she told him. He took a deep breath, raised his head and stared right into her eyes.

"I um, I failed the graduation test so I...stole...a forbidden scroll from the Hokage's private library and learnt ...a forbidden jutsu... to pass," he said, slower this time.

Tsubaki paused. Processed. And held in the instinctive urge to outright scream at him. Instead, as calmly and evenly as she could, she said,

"So, last night... the emergency bells... that was you?" she asked and Naruto nodded, looking utterly miserable.

"...did you master the jutsu?" She asked Naruto perked up at the unexpected question, and the corners of his lips quirked up,

"Yeah!" He declared, and fished inside his jacket pocket where he showed her the forehead protector, it looked old and the metal had some scratches on it already, unlike her's which remained pristine in its case at home.

"So you passed?" She asked, relief washing over her, if he hadn't she wouldn't get the team she wanted - which sounded quite selfish in this situation so she decided not to voice her thoughts.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto was grinning now, looking more like his normal self and Tsubaki flashed him a small smile.

"Well done Naruto, I'm very proud of you," she told him sincerely. It was what Nobu-san had said to her on the walk back from the BBQ restaurant. She hadn't realised how badly she had wanted to hear it - and Naruto had even less than her, she wanted him to be able to hear it too.

And like she had expected it would, Naruto's blue eyes went impossibly wide and tears began to pool in them, as his bottom lip began trembling.

"You're going to have to explain everything to me, without leaving a single detail out later, but for now, let's eat - and maybe later, you and Sasuke and I can go do something together - our own celebration?" She suggested, and Naruto pulled a face at Sasuke's name but didn't protest, nodding brightly as he stuck a piece of sweet and sour chicken into his mouth.