  Turbulence is shown to be critical to the onset and evolution of the
neoclassical tearing mode, affecting both its growth and rotation. The
interaction is here studied for the first time in the three dimensional,
toroidal gyrokinetic framework. Turbulent fluctuations do not destroy the
growing island early in its development, which maintains a coherent form as it
grows, in fact the island is seeded and its rotation frequency determined, by
nonlinear interaction. This process provides an initial structure that is of
the order of an ion gyro-radius wide, allowing the island to rapidly reach a
large size. A large degree of stochastisation around the seperatrix, and a
complete breakdown of the X-point is seen, which significantly reduces the
effective island width. A turbulent modification of the electrostatic field in
and around the island greatly affects the size of the resonant layer width, and
the island is seen to grow at the linear rate even though the island is
significantly wider than the singular layer width.
