#13 - The Waves: Part 3

By the time they all gathered up again, Naruto was cradling his throbbing hand to his chest and Sasuke had used a low-level fire jutsu to set the handkerchief on fire.

"Completely unnecessary," Tsubaki had sighed but she was smiling at the affronted yelp Naruto made when he realised what Sasuke had done.

"So? What's going on?" She asked, turning to Kakashi now without a hint of a smile on her face - Kakashi tried not to feel stung by the blatant dislike.

"These guys are chunin-class ninja from the Hidden Mist - these guys are known to keep fighting no matter the cost," Kakashi explained.

"How were you able to detect our actions?" the ninja asked, glaring up at them, they looked to be younger than Kakashi, maybe in their late teens.

"It hasn't rained in the past couple of days and it's hot enough out today that a random puddle in the middle of the path shouldn't exist," Kakashi explained, Tsubaki paused, she didn't even remember seeing a puddle anywhere.

"Why did you let the kids fight when you knew that?" Tazuna asked, to which Kakashi replied,

"If I was up to it I could kill these two in the blink of an eye - but I needed to know who the target for these two was,"

"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked uncertainly,

"In other words, were you the one being targeted or was it someone from our team? We have not heard anything about you being targeted by ninja - your request involved protecting you from armed groups like gangs and bandits. This is a mission that is above B-Rank. Our job was to support you and guard you until you completed the bridge, " Kakashi explained,

"If the enemy are ninja then this would have been a B-rank mission or above - and it doesn't seem like you can afford that, can you Tazuna? You might have your own circumstances but lying in your request not only endangers your life - but more importantly, it endangers ours too," Tsubaki frowned.

"You're right - plus we will need to get Naruto's wound properly checked out a hospital. How troublesome, it seems we need to head back to the village," Kakashi said and Tsubaki directed a poisonous glare at him.

"Shut the fuck up!" Tsubaki snapped, whirling around to Kakashi, who took a shocked step backwards. Even Naruto who had been glaring at his own wound, and Sasuke who had been watching the exchange indifferently, snapped their eyes up to her.

They had been by Tsubaki's side for years and yet they could count the number of time they had heard her swear on one hand - Tsubaki wasn't the type to scream her rage - she was the opposite to both Sasuke, who's rage was a constant fixture, bubbling like magma deep inside him and Naruto - whos' rage flared and dimmed like the light of a burning fire. Tsubaki got angry quietly - and slowly until eventually, you were dead at her feet before you even knew what was happening.

"Tsubaki?" Naruto asked hesitantly, and she whirled around to him,

"You are not a burden. You are weak and inexperienced but you are a student - and you are learning." She told him.

"And you - you are his friend and teammate - our equal. Stop getting carried away at a little praise." She snapped to Sasuke, who's eyes narrowed.

"And you," She spat the words out at Kakashi, "-are an incompetent, manipulative and short-sighted teacher without any understanding of what the role of a teacher actually is. Either get your shit together or get us a different teacher." She finished, leaving a stunned silence as her chest heaved.

"Well then..." Kakashi attempted but trailed off when Tsubaki walked away, into the forest. They waited for a good ten minutes for her to come back - but when there was no sign of her, it was surprisingly Tazuna who spoke up first.

"Um, shouldn't you go after her?" He asked, looking at Kakashi, who shrugged helplessly at him. How was he supposed to know? She clearly hated him.

"We'll go," Naruto sighed, rising to his feet, from where he had been sat, cross-legged on the floor - he had walked away a few feet, before turning back and kicking a rock in Sasuke's direction.

"Come on, asshole," he snapped without heat, Sasuke glared at him but rose to his feet anyway, shoving his fists in his pockets and trailing after Naruto.

The two boys found Tsubaki pretty quickly, she had stumbled through the woods, leaving a trail of broken branches and ripped leaves that were pretty easy to follow - and found her throwing shuriken at a large tree and pouting.

"Have you calmed down?" Sasuke asked and barely dodged as one of the shurikens came whistling past his head.

"Idiot," Naruto sniggered - and didn't manage to dodge the leg Sasuke stuck out to trip him up.

"You got mad at Kakashi for me, right? Thanks, Tsubaki," Naruto said, which made Tsubaki pause the abuse she was hurling at the tree.

"I'm mad at you too," she told him, though she didn't sound as angry as before,

"Hmm? What did I do?" Naruto asked, hesitantly sitting down on side of her, Sasuke plopped down on the other side and it was just awkward to be the only one standing up so Tsubaki sat down next to them.

"Stop getting all depressed because you're weak. It's only natural to be weaker than Kakashi or lose against chunin - you literally just graduated from the Academy like 3 weeks ago." She told him though it came out as more of a whine.

"You got mad at me because of that?" Naruto asked incredulously, and Sasuke snorted, he had been worried for nothing.

"I got mad because Kakashi was using that to manipulate you," Tsubaki explained.

"Why do you hate him so much?" Sasuke asked,

"He's... I don't know - he's clearly not good teacher," Tsubaki sighed,

"What do you mean? He's so strong! I'm sure he could teach us some really cool things," Naruto said,

"That's not what I meant - he's... he says backhanded things and he's clearly not on our side you know? When Tazuna was talking bad about Naruto, he didn't defend him. When the chunin Mist Ninja attacked, he used us as bait and when he apologised for Naruto getting hurt he did it so sarcastically," She explained.

"Now that you mention it..." Sasuke trailed off,

"You didn't notice because he complimented your skills a couple of times so who cares what he says about anyone else, right?" Tsubaki rolled her eyes, and Sasuke frowned because even though she said it without any heat, the idea that someone could get under his guard that easily was a little disconcerting.

"He might be a little mean - but I don't think he means to be," Naruto said thoughtfully, after a moment of silence.

"What do you mean?" Tsubaki asked,

"You said it's natural that I'm weak because I'm still a student, who is still learning - but I heard from Iruka-sensei that Kakashi has never had his own students before," he explained, "so maybe he's still learning too," he shrugged.

Both Tsubaki and Sasuke stared at him - sometimes they would joke that Sasuke was the brawn, Tsubaki was the brain and Naruto was the heart of the team - and sometimes that seems to be a completely accurate description of them.

Because Naruto had such a good understanding of people and emotions and all that sappy stuff Tsubaki and Sasuke run away from that he came out with things that make him sound so much wiser than he has any right to be.

"Shut up, why are you trying to sound smart - even though you're just Naruto," Tsubaki shoved him,

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?!" Naruto screamed, and just like that, the tense atmosphere melted away into something bright and cheerful.

* * *

Kakashi, who had sent a clone after them to secretly listen to their conversation, felt something in his stomach flip and turn - how embarrassing.

He was clearly lacking as a teacher if even after weeks of training together and going on missions, his team still didn' trust him. He thought back to when Minato had taught them, the kind words, the constant encouragement that seemed to come hand-in-hand with the teasing.

He had never been someone who could do things like that - he had always been blunt and snarky - the kind of to pick fights with his seniors simply by being around them. But - Tsubaki was right, he was treating them as younger versions of himself - he had been cold and distant, hadn't allowed them to know him because they were as much strangers to him as he was to them.

Had expected them to simply be okay with that. But that wasn't right. He was the teacher, the adult, he had to be the one to reach out them in order for this to work.

"So... what's going to happen?" Tazuna asked, clearly uncomfortable in the silence, Kakashi glanced at him, the sighed. Some part of him - the ninja tool, steeled and ready - wanted to complete the mission. He was Kakashi, the copy ninja - he could easily take care of the average jonin or 4. And he would have manipulated the team into doing as much.

But that wouldn't make them a team.

"We'll wait for the other three to get back - then decide," he said.

* * *

"I apologise for my sudden outburst - the contents of which I have no intention of apologising for," Tsubaki told them once she returned. Naruto shook his head and Sasuke, who had seen that coming, smirked.

"I'm sorry too," Kakashi said gently, and Tsubaki's frown deepened, she stared at him with distrust in her eyes, but nodded, when she realised that the apology had actually been directed at Naruto, whose cheeks had turned red and mouth was hanging open.

"IT'S FINE - HAHAHAHA!" He burst out into awkward laughter, rubbing the back of his neck until Tsubaki stepped on his foot to make him shut up because,

"-you're right in my ear!"

"Now, the question is, what do we do about this mission," Kakashi said, once the atmosphere had melted down to something he could handle.

"It's a B-rank, but we can handle it." Sasuke was surprisingly the first one to speak out.

"I say yes! I've been wanting a mission like this!" Naruto declared, nodding enthusiastically. Tsubaki frowned,

"I vote no. Logically speaking, the village is not aware of the real nature of the mission - it means the appropriate support isn't standing by for us and we have little to no experience in a real battle as a team- no matter how much skill we have, neither of you have ever experienced having to fight for your actual life." She told Naruto and Sasuke, and Kakashi didn't miss the way she said 'you' instead of 'us'.

"We can handle it!" Naruto insisted,

"I don't know about dead-last, but I actually can and did handle it," Sasuke said, nodding to the chunin that were still tied to the tree trunk.

"Sasuke you bastard!" Naruto growled.

"Well, it's two-to-one. Kakashi-sensei?" Tsubaki asked, and he blinked, a little taken aback at her being the one asking him. Was this the metaphorical extending of the olive branch?

"If Naruto and Sasuke are so confident they can handle it, then I think we should. It will make for a good experience." Kakashi smiled.

Tazuna breathed out a sigh of relief.

"But, we are going to have to hear the full story from you, Tazuna-san," he added, a dangerous tilt to his voice that had Tazuna nodding, a resigned sigh.

"Alright, I suppose to deserve that much," he muttered gruffly.

"Not here though, let's move on to someplace more secure. Their teammate will come to find them soon," Kakashi said, nodding to the Mist Ninja.

"You're just going to let them go?" Tsubaki asked, eyebrows raised.

"Of course not." Kakashi smiled.