#9 - The Trio: Part 9

Sometimes being Naruto's friend meant feeling sudden bursts of pride at the way he seemed to learn things in a flash, it also meant enduring a lot of second-hand embarrassment because while his learning curve was steeper than average, it was also, still a curve, and failure still happened.

Somewhere in the back of Tsubaki's head, the wheels were still churning, this test didn't make any sense! It had too many opposing factors, she couldn't understand what Kakashi was supposed to test.

By shinobi rules, getting the bells, even if it meant sacrificing Naruto and sending him back to the Academy, would make the most sense, but Tsubaki wasn't a thoughtless, disloyal conformist who lived by the rules, which meant that wasn't happening.

Now assuming Kakashi wanted to see how well the three of them could follow ninja protocol, they had already failed the mission, Naruto was beyond help, he wouldn't co-operate with anyone, and Sasuke was starting to develop a similar glint in his eyes.

Tsubaki had zoned out, not realising that Sasuke had decided to attack Kakashi, she jumped back from the tree the two of them had been perched on as the shuriken left his grip.

Sasuke could make himself a target if he wanted, she wasn't going to get caught until she figured this test out. She hadn't even seen if Sasuke's shuriken had hit the mark, she was already running through the trees.

But even as she circled around and doubled back, there didn't seem to be an end to the trees, did she get lost? Sure she wasn't exactly gifted in the directional department and even with a map, she needed help here and there to figure things out, but she hadn't thought she could get lost in the training grounds of all places.

And the forests surrounding each clearing wasn't that big, about 500 metres of forests between each training ground. There was no way she could run as long as she had without finding either another one of the training grounds or the one where her team was.

She stopped running for a moment, pausing to look around, and above, trees and sky and a pair of birds, in a nest not too far away, she could hear their tweeting, and she was pretty sure she had seen it before when she was looking for a place to hide.

She headed in that direction, carefully, a light jog at best, but there were no birds... She frowned, the sound was definitely coming from the way she was headed but no matter how much she ran, she never reached it...

She hadn't gotten away from Kakashi, had she? There was something... off about the world around her, the threes were the same, but she counted, every 5 trees, they would repeat, from the number of branches to the almost budding flowers.

She pressed her hands together and gathered chakra in her core, slowly and steadily - and with a jolt, she sent a shock of chakra through her body, disrupting its natural flow.

The jolt left her a little light-headed, but something shimmery that she hadn't noticed before, fell away from the corner of her eyes and with a jolt she realised she was standing directly in front of Kakashi - barely 2 meters away.

"Oh, you broke out of it, well done," he said, with a pleasant smile. "What gave it away?" He asked,

Tsubaki frowned, he wanted her to talk, but her brain was already working at full capacity, on guard for him to strike and trying to figure out this test.

"It's not the shinobi codes, if you wanted to see how well we obey the rules, you would be stricter with us, you wouldn't be late, it would set a bad example." She told him, "Unless you're an idiot, but since you're a jonin, I'll cross that off the list," she muttered, Kakashi tilted his head.

The expression on his face didn't shift a millimetre, but that as much as anything else, gave away his emotions, anyone else would have been confused, he didn't react, remained carefully and meticulously the same.

She was on the right track. She knew it.

"From the moment you met us, you've been breaking protocol, rules, the general social order of things. So I don't think you're the kind of guy who is too hung up about shinobi codes and such," She told him,

"Oh, is that how I come across?" he asked, looking genuinely amused this time,

"And you've been playing around with Naruto, you could have incapacitated him with one hit but you didn't, you purposefully left your back open because you knew Sasuke would attack," Tsubaki continued, speaking out her thoughts as they formed,

"Aren't you giving me too much credit?" Kakashi asked,

"You wanted to engage them both at once, you wanted to fight them at the same time? Sure it would be easier on them, but harder for you-you put me in a mediocre at best genjutsu, especially for a jonin," Tsubaki was muttering now, not even paying attention to Kakashi, who was watching her thought process with interest,

"Ouch, that hurt, criticizing me genjutsu already? We just met," he said in that asshole way of his.

"Ugh please be quiet, I'm thinking," Tsubaki snapped,

"The bird's nest, the tree pattern, you gave me clues... you lead me here," she mumbled, with a loud sigh, she let out on long low whistle.

"I give, I can't figure out this test, sensei, it doesn't make sense." She told him honestly, Kakashi nodded,

"I see, but the fact that you tried to do, does you the credit you know, your thought process was interesting to listen to and you broke out of the genjutsu, not bad at all." He told her.

She smiled, "thank you," and at that moment, twenty shadow clones leapt out at Kakashi, screaming in the way only Naruto does, Tsubaki leapt to the side as from behind her, 40-ish shuriken were aimed at Kakashi's face and from her place on the ground, Tsubaki aimed low and to the right kidney with her kick.

Kakashi moved, faster than Tsubaki had known to be possible, and in an instant, Sasuke's shuriken had wiped out Naruto's shadow clones and surrounded them in a coating of clone dust. Kakashi grabbed Tsubaki by the ankle and swung her around, slamming her into the bushes where Sasuke had been.

He caught her, skidding backwards, having braced himself against the impact, but a moment later, the real Naruto came flying out of the cloud of clone dust and landed on top of them with a chest-collapsing

"Oof!"

Kakashi stepped out of the smoke looking absolutely delighted,

"Oh well done!" He exclaimed, smiling big, "You almost had me there,"

Tsubaki groaned, pushing Naruto off her so she could roll off of Sasuke's lap.

"Working together to get the bells, hmm? Whose idea was that?" He asked.

"Tsubaki's!" Naruto declared, and both Sasuke and Tsubaki glared at him.

"Don't tell him things just because he asks Naruto, he's the enemy," Tsubaki snapped,

"So? How did you set this up then? And how did you get Stubborn and Moron into the plan?" Kakashi asked,

"We've decided to reject you as our sensei," Tsubaki told him firmly, arms crossed, Naruto nodded and Sasuke glared, which was his version of agreeing.

"...What?" Kakashi asked,

"Well, we've decided we don't want you as our sensei, we are going to go to the Hokage and make a formal appeal," Tsubaki told him.

"You broke too many protocols to be trustworthy," Sasuke told him,

"You touched my butt, you sexually harass your students," Naruto added,

"And your tests are stupid and meaningless, designed to breed conflict between teammates, the opposite of what you should be teaching us. The only way for us to pass this test while meeting all your conditions, was for two of us to team up and abandon the third," Tsubaki told him,

"But that's bullshit and we refuse!" Naruto declared.

"You might be strong but are you really qualified to be a teacher?" Sasuke demanded.

"You... can't just demand another sensei! That's not how it works! I have the authority to fail you and send you back to the Academy!" Kakashi told them.

"Actually we can, I looked it up when we realised all Konoha grown-ups were untrustworthy," Tsubaki informed him, which had Kakashi pausing.

"Normally it wouldn't be allowed unless the students in question were exceptional assets to the village. I am a member of the Amaya Clan, I can get Noble pressure put on the Hokage with my name alone, Sasuke is the last Uchiha and the top student of the Academy and Naruto has a giant demon inside him. We can get you replaced." Tsubaki told him firmly.

Kakashi was... flummoxed.

This had never happened.

They were right.

He had no idea how to deal with this situation.

And then he was laughing.

"AHAHAHAHhahaha... oh my... hahaha, I never, wow... HoLD - hahaha, okay, okay," he was holding his mouth over his mask and doubled over.

Tsubaki glanced at Sasuke, who shrugged, then at Naruto, who looked just as alarmed.

"It's my loss, alright, my loss," Kakashi was grinning, widely.

"The three of you passed," he told them.

Tsubaki froze.

"Hold on a minute, that doesn't make sense," She snapped, gears churning in her head,

"Isn't it cause he doesn't want to lose his job?" Naruto asked,

"He's gone mad," Sasuke muttered,

"Okay, come on back to the training grounds, I'll explain," Kakashi said, leading the way back.

The three of them exchanged glances, before following after him.

* * *

Kakashi was impressed, offended, and somewhat in awe of his new team.

These three kids had not only threatened his job and reputation; they had done so without letting him know anything beforehand, they hadn't spoken any of the plans out loud - or they had made them before they arrived, and that was more impressive.

"Okay, first of all, congratulations, you are the first team ever to pass my test, without even getting to the second phase," Kakashi told them, Tsubaki glared at him.

"I don't get it," she snapped - ah, she was the type of person who got angry when she couldn't figure out a puzzle.

"Okay, then I will explain, but first, I want you to explain your actions to me, right from the moment I said 'start,' got it?" He said.

"I decided to challenge you head on! Because I'm gonna be a strong ninja who can face everything head-on!" Naruto told him,

"Hm okay. Still a moron." Kakashi confirmed, "Next, Sasuke," he continued, ignoring Naruto's indignant squawk.

"When you were talking to Naruto, I saw an opening, attacked with shuriken then engaged in direct combat... lost," Sasuke grumbled the last word out reluctantly.

"Okay, and Tsubaki?" He prompted,

"When Sasuke attacked you with his shuriken, I moved out of the tree and ran along the ground to get away, I thought I could circle around and grab Naruto while Sasuke kept you distracted, but you defeated him too quickly and put me in a genjutsu to keep me running around for a while, during that time, I'm assuming Naruto and Sasuke met up and executed Plan B," Tsubaki told him.

"Plan B?" Kakashi prompted eagerly,

"Well, after we found out about Naruto's... lodger and you also showed up late, both today and yesterday, we figured you were the breaking rules type. That's all fine and good, but you were also condescending and didn't tell us anything about yourself, which I thought was a red signal. We don't like adults unless they prove themselves, that's the rule we decided on, between the three of us." She told him and Kakashi nodded, he would have to ask about that another time.

"I'd already looked up the laws and regulations towards harassment and the protocol against teachers too, after the whole graduation incident with Naruto," Tsubaki explained, to which Kakashi raised an impressed eyebrow.

"So basically, while we were waiting for you, we decided two things; 1) You are the outside party, we need to be cautious against you. 2) If we thought you were an unsuitable teacher, we would team up against you, no matter what the test was a file for a replacement." Tsubaki explained.

"And I proved an unsuitable teacher?" Kakashi asked, a little insulted, but shook his head, that wasn't what he wanted to ask, "What was Plan A?" he asked,

"Wing it," Naruto answered him instantly.

"We didn't know what the test was. Obviously, we couldn't plan precisely, so we decided to act individually while figuring out the nature of the test." Sasuke explained,

Kakashi nodded, he was understanding it now, these three had a bond far stronger than anyone had realised.

"And how did you let each other know your thoughts," Kakashi asked,

"Whistles," Tsubaki told him, then demonstrated,

"One high, one low, then one high. A short loop means 'find each other'." She explained,

"Before the test started," Kakashi noted,

"A long low whistle," Tsubaki continued, pausing to demonstrate, "means switch to Plan B,"

"While you were talking to me," Kakashi said,

"But why did you two decide to come and find Tsubaki?" Kakashi asked, looking at Sasuke and Naruto, who looked away from each other.

"They weren't." Tsubaki answered, "they were looking for you, I just had to keep you with me, in one place, until they found us, so I switch us to plan B," Tsubaki told him.

Kakashi was so going to keep this team forever.