Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bioshock(2)

A/N: you all are probably getting tired of me saying 'sorry for this taking time' this time I don't really have an excuse, I was working on the other fics, sorry. That said, I'd wanted this one to go into the 'bell test' though with the help of LoPe21 we came up with a variation. I had it all done, but it just didn't feel right to me and my beta's, so I'm going to re-tool it. However, it is done, so it's not going to take too long to get done ^_^ So expect another chapter of this rather soon.


Rapture is Just the Beginning

Chapter 7: Trials and Tribulations


Kakashi was dumbfounded.

Sakura was in shock.

Sasuke was confused.

Naruto and Third were doing their best to keep their laughter under control.

There Naruto stood before the group, the short kid wearing the orange jumper was a thing of the past. Now there stood someone that had Sakura's Inner drooling to the point she was creating a new lake. Black pants not unlike Kakashi's, a tight Chinese styled sleeveless white shirt with black trim and fastenings going up the middle of his chest that showed off the long hours of work he had done in his life, work that was truly showing now that Shiori had helped even out his malnutrition. A blue weapons bandolier slung from his hips like a sash, black sandals and his blue headband largely finished off the look.

Although it was the new additions that Naruto were the most proud of, and that caught Sasuke's eye, were his brand new and significantly improved bracers. Each of the items had a stylized nine tailed fox emblazoned onto the hardened leather, a mixture of silver and copper flakes creating a brilliant, glittering, fire red accent to them, the foxes themselves actually masking an array of storage and enforcement seals courtesy of Tenten's father that now housed his new 'swords' as well as storage points for his kunai and shruiken. The belt/bandolier instead being reserved for his various tags, smoke and gas bombs and other scrolls he may need.

"Well? What's wrong, cat got your tongue?"

A strangled snort came from Sarutobi as Kakashi fainted outright, his visable eye wide and unblinking even as Sakura's mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for water.

"What are you playing at Dobe?"

He chuckled at that, making the Avenger twitch slightly, "I'm not playing Sasuke. This is the real me, I've had to go under a henge for years due to fact I looked too much like my father."

"B-But you're an orphan!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed at the pinkette, making her flinch, "I thought you were the smart one Sakura, even an orphan has parents, right Sasuke?"

The last Uchiha growled at that but in the end just crammed his hands into his pockets, "So that's why you sucked at genjutsu in class, you had another one to maintain the whole time."

The blond shrugged as he leaned against a desk, careful to avoid his ponytail, as he had gotten it caught on something once already.

Wasn't much fun.

"Actually Sasuke-kun Naruto is unable to use genjutsu due to the levels of chakra he possesses, He's unable to use low enough emissions to even begin to form them, this henge of Naruto's is actually the best he can manage, and he uses that with his excess chakra that he naturally emits."

This caught Sasuke off guard, he knew the blond had a lot of energy, but to have that much chakra was unheard of, "Don't you mean that his control is just bad? If that were true he's have more chakra than even my brother!"

The aged leader nodded at that, "Yes and no. His levels are higher than almost anyone in the village, even now, however his control is poor, however, as he attempts more control exercises his reserves will expand as well, so it's a constant battle for Naruto just to keep his levels low enough that he won't outright blind the Hyuuga clan should they look at him with their bloodline activated. Currently Naruto is making progress with his control, however it is unlikely that he will ever have the levels needed to, say, use medical jutsu."

Despite his shock at that revelation a part of Sasuke was happy, when his Sharingan awoke it would almost guarantee victory over Naruto, its chakra reading abilities would allow him to predict Naruto's movements as easily as a sloth, and would make great practice for his brother. "I see…"

Sakura was at a total loss, her logical side was telling her exactly who Naruto's father had been, but every other part of her was screaming that it couldn't be true, "N-Naruto…you're not suggesting that…"

"I don't have to suggest anything, Sakura, I know who my parents were, I've got my father's devilish good looks, and my mother's devil-may-care attitude. And before you ask, I don't have to prove a damn thing to you. So don't bother." Naruto knew he was pulling half of that out of his ass, he hadn't read his scrolls yet, but she didn't have to know that…

Inside his head, he could hear Shiori practically rolling with laughter, something that almost made it hard for him to keep a straight face.

Seeing Sakura shrink back slightly caused the old man to arch an eyebrow, he didn't know what had happened between the two, but it seemed Naruto had gotten over his crush with a vengeance. "Now Naruto…What you two need to understand is that there are many secrets surrounding Naruto that you will have to know so that you can work together properly, the first, of course, is his true appearance, and the truth behind it. Others are not for me to tell, but for him to decide that your trustworthy enough for him."

"L-Lord Hokage, not to be disrespectful…but how is there something that Naruto knows that you wouldn't be allowed to tell us?"

The Hokage looked at the pink haired girl as though she had grown a second head. "Tell me, Haruno-san, would it be considered proper for me to inform, say, the Hyuga about the secrets of the Sharingan?"

Sasuke felt his blood run cold, the very idea of the Hokage giving away cla-His eyes widened in realization, "I see…Naruto's other secrets are to be considered clan matters. Sakura, don't pester him anymore."

"Bu-"

His glare caused the pinkette to shrink in on herself, "Clans are formed for a reason Sakura, be it to protect family, protect secrets or to protect bloodlines, you have no right to demand that of another."

"But he's not a member of a clan!"

"Yet."

The gathered people looked in surprise down at the now apparently conscious jonin, the man still looking up at Naruto as if he was seeing a ghost, "One of the things that sensei wanted most in life was to have a family. He wanted the pride, the joy of teaching his children his techniques. I imagine that his wife, however she may be, would agree."

Naruto was dumbstruck by the jonin's words, he was wanted…he knew that the Third had told him as much, but a part of him believed that it was just words from his 'grandfather' meant to encourage him and keep him happy, but now here was his teacher, who was apparently his father's student, saying something like that… "D-Did you know him…you called him sensei…"

The jonin gave something that felt like a sad smile, "I did, he was a great man, and the thought of having his son on my team…I can't describe it…"

"Ahem…" The four members of team seven snapped to attention so fast that the aged leader almost laughed at it, "Now I'm glad to see that you are all getting along…well…most of you, but that will have to wait for later. For now you all have to understand that this information is considered an S class secret. As it stands Minato, and by extension, Naruto had a great deal of enemies, both inside and outside the village. Until Naruto has reached a level that will allow him to protect himself it will have to be kept secret from everyone. There may come a time soon that Naruto will be able to at least reveal his true appearance, but for now it must remain a secret. Understood?"

The trio nodded, Sakura somewhat reluctantly, before the Hokage gave Naruto's shoulder a firm squeeze and vanished in a swirl of leaves. Taking a moment to collect themselves Kakashi turned smiling eyes on the pair, "Now then, how about we introduce ourselves…"

For the most part the introductions were pretty much what he had expected. The pinkette was a fan girl, the brooder wanted to kill his brother, and the blond wanted to be the next Hokage, although he was a bit surprised to hear the names of two girls listed among the people he liked, a Shiori and Anko. For a moment he was more than a little shocked, everything he was told suggested he had a crush on the girl seated before him, however if anything he seemed to be regarding her rather coldly, and she seemed more than a little afraid of him, apparently not of the boy himself, but from some shame that seemed to linger in her eyes, eyes that wouldn't even rise enough to look at the blonds' belt.

"Alright, well that's enough of that I think, tomorrow you all need to meet me at training ground number seven at seven AM for your genin test, oh an-"

"WHAT! BUT WE ALREADY PASSED!"

The three males of the team cringed at the girls cries of protest before Naruto gave her a hard glare, "SAKURA! It doesn't matter if the academy says we passed, if our sensei wants to give us another test then that's his choice!"

The girl simply glowered at him before crossing her arms and looking away with a 'hrumph' "It doesn't matter, the academy says we passed then we passed, if he fails us then we'll get another teacher."

Even Sasuke just looked at the girl in shock, "Sakura, he's to be our sensei, we are his soldiers, if he says we need more training then he will send us back to back to the academy."

Sakura couldn't believe it, in one day the boy of her dreams had spoken more than in all the days they had spent in the academy combined, and almost all of it was in support of either Naruto, the Hokage or their sensei! "B-But Sasuke-kun do-"

This time it was the man with the gravity defying hair that stopped her, "He's right. Report to the training grounds tomorrow at seven, oh, and don't bother eating, you'll just throw up." With that the man pulled a little orange book from his weapon pouch and vanished, much as their Hokage had.

"Well…looks like I have to wait one more day…"

"For what Dobe?"

He smirked at the Uchiha, "It's a s-e-c-r-e-t!"

If anything, to the pair's surprise he smirked back, "Oh…So tell me, what's your bloodline?"

That gave Naruto pause even as Sakura looked confused, "How do you figure that I even have one?"

"The Hokage was hinting at clan matters, that means a bloodline, you can't be in a clan just with secret techniques and a name. So spill it."

Sakura looked to Naruto expectantly, trying to understand what make the blond so important, if anything Naruto's grin just grew, "I think I'll save that for later…you want to show off a bit in the test to don't you?"

"Hrn…"

"I promise you, you'll like it. May even keep pinky here quiet for a while…"

"HEY!"

"Heh…then you really should show me now."

The pinkette had to fight the urge to slap herself, today couldn't be happening! It had to be a dream! Naruto was a hottie, he and Sasuke were friends! Naruto was the son of a village hero! 'It's a madhouse…a MAD HOUSE!'

The pair watched in mild shock as Sakura started twitching, her eyes unfocused not unlike how his would be when he was visiting Shiori-chan, "Sakura…are you alright?"

She seemed to come out of her stupor with a start, "Huh…Oh, ya, I'm fine." She gave the duo a weak smile before hesitantly moving up to the avenger, "S-So, Sasuke-kun, would you like to go out on a date with me?"

"No."

"O-Oh…alright…maybe toma-" She was cutoff as the man of her dreams turned on his heel and made to march out of the room, just as he was about to close the door he paused and looked back to the blond, "Dobe." Naruto arched an eyebrow in question, "You now have a legacy to uphold, don't disappoint them."

Naruto was left wide eyed as he watched the door close with a soft 'clack' of wood on wood, Sasuke was being more friendly with him than he could ever remember the boy being with anyone besides maybe his brother. Naruto thought back to the few times that he had managed to spy on the duo when Itachi was showing Sasuke the fireball technique, each time the elder would seemingly just poke the boy in the forehead when he would try and ask questions that the ANBU felt were unneeded, but some part of him could always tell the great affection that they felt for each other, and the fierce pride Sasuke would take in his techniques, pride he now understood as something he honed to uphold his clan's legacy.

In a way it was humbling. Sasuke, the Last Uchiha, the Survivor, the village golden boy, was trying to help him uphold his clans honor, even though it hadn't even started yet.

He grinned.

He'd be damned if he was going to let that spoiled punk tell him off like that. 'I'll show you Sasuke, I'm not just some dobe that will be seen as a lesser clan by you…'

Inside he felt that same ghost of an embrace flitter across his mind, 'Damn right, and I'll be right there helping you, Naruto-koi'

That made him smile again as he moved out of the room and headed towards the training grounds, not seeming to hear Sakura's called after him, he had training to do, making sure that his new move was perfected before he tried it out on his sensei. 'Oh, I think he's going to be surprised, no problems there Dear One.'

'Heh, I know, but I want to make sure of this before tomorrow, better safe than sorry ya?'

His answer was simply another nod as Naruto started making his way to grounds forty-four, there was no better place to go to practice mass destruction in his mind than that hell hole, and if he was lucky he would run into Anko-chan.


The Hokage was currently lost in a sea of paperwork, his desk filled with the files he would need in order to get Naruto's clan started and hopefully cement the village a new, loyal clan of bloodline users. As he was sitting the next stack of documents aside, the papers only needing the blonds' signature to make it official, he heard a knock at his door.

"Enter."

His face was overcome with a smile as he saw the purple haired Snake Mistress step through the portal, "Good afternoon Sarutobi-sama, you requested my presence?"

With a smile he took off his hat, using the thick veils to cover the paperwork casually, before he gestured to the seat before him, "Ah, Anko-chan, glad you could make it, I trust your day was well?"

She gave a half shrug as she settled into the overstuffed armchair, "As well as can be expected…"

His eyes fell to his desktop slightly with a pained look taking over his features, "I see…I am sorry for that, you don't deserve it."

She waved off the elderly leader offhandedly, "Don't worry about it, you can't order these idiots to treat me better, if you could you would do it for the boy."

He nodded slightly at that, "Indeed, still, I would like to think that they would overlook things, in light of your years of service. Anyway, for the reason I called you here today…' She perked up a bit at that, sitting a little straighter, 'Naruto told me of the issues the two of you had, or, perhaps I should say, their resolution. Is there anything about that that you wish to add? I'm told I will have a visitor soon that will take…issue with Naruto."

This caused her eyes to narrow, "Who's got a problem with the brat? He hasn't done anything to me or to anyone els-"

He raised a placating hand to the woman, "You don't need to defend him to me Anko-chan, I'm told he insulted one of the jonin sensei that took a team today, that she will be taking issue with the things he said."

That gave her pause; Naruto wasn't one to just fly off the handle on someone, "Why?"

He gave her a small smirk, "Kurenai Yuhi."

Despite the fact that it was her friends at odds Anko had to laugh, if there was a single person in the village right now that Naruto outright hated, other than Mizuki, it would be Kurenai, "Oh man…what did he do? You gotta tell me!"

The Hokage let out a chuckle of his own at her suddenly happy state, "I don't have the full story, apparently he made some rather…tasteless remarks about her ability to attract men, when she found out his name she called him a liar, that's what really set him off…"

Now that gave her pause, her best female friend, just called one of her best male friends a liar? Putting aside the fact that she had done the same thing not a month ago she growled, then the truth of the situation hit her, Kurenai was the one that put the idea in her head, had started the whole thing… "I'm going to KILL HER!"

The elderly leader arched an eyebrow at that, "Anko-chan, should I be fearing for one of my jonin?"

"Maybe."

"Explain."

With a heavy sigh she launched into her explanation about what all had happened with the duo, the budding friendship with Naruto that was squelched by Kurenai's questioning of his abilities, the avoidance, the encounter with Iruka and their makeup, everything up to the boy's meeting with his team today. "That's about it…"

"I see...well that would certainly be enough to annoy anyone I think…Though I do feel that this whole situation had been handled rather poorly."

"You're telling me…"

He almost couldn't make out her grumbling, "Still, it would seem that Kurenai has decided to pull rank in this situation, it could get rather…touchy."

To his surprise she just laughed outright, "What? Are you kidding me? Don't tell me you haven't figured it out yet!" He simply looked at her expectantly, making her smack herself in the forehead, "You really are losing your touch Hokage-sama,' The elderly leader just scowled slightly, he knew she was just ribbing him, but still… 'She can't bring him up on charges yet!"

He just looked at her in confusion for a moment before it slowly dawned on him, when the thought had fully formed he just let out a bark of laughter, "Oh course! He's not a genin yet, can't get a ninja in trouble for insubordination if they aren't even ninja yet…Naruto must have known, that would be just like him…why didn't I ever think of that when I was his age…."

She just gave a shrug, "I don't know, did they even have ninja back then?"

Before he could answer back there was another knock at the door, at once Anko shot to her feet and put on her best 'I'll burn the world' face before winking at the Hoage, his grin eerily reminiscent of Naruto's, "Enter."

At once the door opened to reveal the livid form of Kurenai, her normally disheveled hair seemed to move of its own volition as she stormed into the office, "My Lord, I have a formal complaint to register!" She barely even noted Anko's presence, it wasn't uncommon for the special jonin to be in the office with the Hokage, the man was like a father to her after everything had happened.

"Oh? This sounds rather serious, tell me what happened."

At once Kurenai launched into her account of the day, adding the suitable level of embellishment to her tale to make her sound all the more the victim, neither of the other room's occupants could be sure that this was just an act, or if she somehow really believed it. It wasn't uncommon for the injured party to do such things, most of the time unconsciously, but given that the jonin was a master of illusions….

"My my…that is serious…tell me, who was this ninja?"

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

The Hokage made a show of looking through the current ninja register, repeatedly thumbing through the book as he searched for a name that he knew wasn't there. "I'm sorry Yuhi-san, there isn't such a ninja on record."

"You know DAMN well who I'm talking about! The Kyuubi brat!"

Even as the worlds left her lips she knew that was the wrong thing to say, almost as soon as the first syllable left her mouth she was met with furious looks from her Lord not to mention her best friend. A cold sweat began to trickle down the back of her neck even as the duo's chakra started to spike, a dark, malevolent aura forming over Anko as her curse mark tried to activate, the kunoichi ignoring the pain for the time being as she took a step towards her friend even as the Hokage's swirling chakra began to grind against his desk.

"Kurenai-chan…I think you should rephrase that…"

At once the woman dropped to one knee, her head lowered as she began to tremble, "F-Forgive me Hokage-sama…I spoke without thinking…I was just s-"

To both women's shock the elderly leader let out a roar that shook them to their cores, "SILENCE! I'm truly disappointed with you Kurenai, you've read the reports about Naruto, you know the hell he's been through, and yet you think just like them. Your complaints have been noted and your issues are hereby ignored. Naruto is not yet a ninja of the village, until he passes his sensei's test tomorrow no charges can be brought up against him, and seeing as I have gotten all sides of the story, even if you do come back and try again it will be thrown out. You slandered the good name of a potential ninja of the village to a jonin that then lead to this situation. He has every right to be mad at you and to say what he did. And after your behavior here today I'm shocked he didn't do more. Dismissed!"

Rising on unsteady legs the brunette almost sprinted from the office, tears that refused to fall stinging her eyes. She knew she was in the wrong, she knew that he had every right to get mad, so why didn't she handle this like an adult? Sarutobi let out a heavy sight before gesturing to Anko, "You better go after her…I fear I said to much…she's not the only one with a short fuse at times…"

With a sharp nod Anko Shunshined from the room, heading directly to Kurenai's apartment, she had a feeling this was going to be a long night.


The next day seemed to come all too soon for Naruto, but that was to be expected when you train yourself to exhaustion, the blond making it back to his apartment on legs of gelatin before collapsing on his couch. When he did rise he was so blurry eyed he had run into the wall on his way to the bathroom, however even his icy shower wasn't enough to wake the blond up, so he was blissfully unaware of doing anything wrong when he reheated a pair of pork buns that he had made a few days ago and happily munched them in rout to the training grounds.

However, that little mistake was suddenly brought to light when his ears met the growling of two other stomachs, for a split-second the blond was confused before he winced, having recalled their sensei's last words. Deciding for a moment that he should at least act hungry he put on a mask of fatigue and absently put a hand next to his belly. Entering the clearing he spotted his teammates currently leaning against a set of trees, both looking a bit worse for the wear, their eyes slightly shadowed, probably from worrying about the test, and the odd grumble from their stomachs telling him that they, at least, remembered their sensei's words.

"H-Hey guys, how's it going?"

"You're LATE!" Naruto simply waved the girl off before she seemed to look at him all the harder, "Y-Your back to normal!"

"Henge…"

She flushed at that, fighting the urge to kick herself even as her inner was laughing her ass of, and if she could see into Naruto's head she would see the same happening with rather attractive young thing in a red kimono.

"Sasuke…do you mind if ask you something?" The boy in question simply arched an eyebrow at the blond, "Why are you treating me so different?"

The raven haired teen gave him a hard look for a time before letting out a breath of annoyance, "I can't talk about that, isn't it a secret?"

Sakura looked between the two, seeing Naruto's scowl and Sasuke's growing look of confusion. "So that's the only reason…"

"Of course."

To the two's surprise the blonds' features seemed to go neutral, his eyes seeming rather dead as he looked to Sakura, "And you? Are you going to be like him?"

"If Sasuke-kun thin-"

"I see…As soon as the opportunity arises I'll get out of your hair. Though it may not be until the chunin exams…" The two looked to one another before staring at the Namikaze heir in surprise, they knew of Naruto's dream, hell; he would literally shout it from the rooftops, now he was trying to get away from them?

"Dobe, what are you playing at? We have to help each other."

"Why."

For the briefest of seconds Sasuke could have sworn he had seen an enraged version of the teen from yesterday, "Those of our station must help one another."

If anything Naruto's scowl grew, "And who taught you that rubbish?"

Now it was Sasuke's turn to get pissed, "My FATHER!"

Naruto just let out a hiss, "Worthless…"

Naruto was rather surprised to see how fast Sasuke could move when he was motivated, but Naruto wasn't able to outrun ANBU by mere luck, with hardly a move he seemed to sway and avoid the blow, catching the raven haired teen's wrist and pulling him closer, "Sasuke-teme…do you know why I'm mad?" Sasuke just spit on the ground next to them as Sakura looked on in confusion, her hands wringing before her nervously, "Because right now you don't see me. You see a ghost that your father told you stories about, didn't he? I died yesterday as far as you and Sakura are concerned….Naruto Uzumaki is dead to you; all you see is a Namikaze. I will never live in my father's shadow, I will surpass him, the Senju, the Sarutobi, everyone. We are very alike Uchiha…you want to kill your brother…but tell me…if people only started thinking of you of Itachi's brother, and not Sasuke…how would you feel?"

Sasuke seemed to stiffen as Naruto mumbled his little speech to him, seemingly intent on keeping this from Sakura. He was a bit shocked that Naruto could be right on every point, the thought of those of the village only thinking of him as Itachi's replacement, or only putting him on that same scale as his brother sickened him. Yes, he wanted to get stronger than him, to kill him, but what of after that? Would he be Sasuke Uchiha, greatest of the clan? Or would be just be 'the best since Itachi'

Would he ever escape his shadow?

Sasuke felt a twinge of something he had not felt since he had first heard of his brother's betrayal.

Shame.

Naruto's grip slowly loosened, letting the Uchiha step back from the blond, yet he still couldn't look him in the eye, "Y-You right…clean out your ears Dobe, I'm only going to say this once." Naruto quirked an eyebrow at him, "I'm sorry."

Both Sakura's and Naruto's eyes widened in shock. After a moment Naruto just smirked and clapped the teen on the shoulder, "Apology accepted. Don't let it happen again. Sasuke Uchiha. Avenger of the Clan."

The teen in question just smirked as he turned back to the tree, "It never did happen, Naruto Uzumaki, Dobe of the Village."

Naruto's footing faltered at that, "Hey! Damnit! I gave you a good title!"

He snorted, "Because you know your betters when you meet them."

"THAT'S IT!"

"Am I interrupting something?" The trio looked up to find the silver haired jonin sitting in the tree above Sakura, a little orange book healed firmly in hand as his visible eye scanned the pages.

"Just the Teme's asskicking. Where the hell have you been!"

He just gave them the same little eye-smile that they had seen yesterday, "Sorry about that, I got lost on the road of life."

"LIAR!"

Kakashi very nearly leapt out of the tree in shock, he had heard the Haruno was loud…but that was Gai worthy… "Anyway, I hope you're all rested up and well fed…"

Sakura and Sasuke both paled at that, "B-But you said not to eat breakfast!"

He gave a slight nod as he turned the page, "Yes, I did say that, didn't I? But that didn't mean that you couldn't have eater a big mean say…around midnight…"

If looks could kill, Kakashi would be a paste on the tree trunks...

"Now then, if you all think that you're ready for your test we can get started."

"So what are we going to have to do sensei?"

He gave the pink haired girl a half glance before reaching into his belt pouch once more and pulled out three small scrolls. "You see, originally I had planned on issuing the bell test, but after yesterday's revelations, I think it may be better to try something a bit more…difficult…"

Kakashi caught the dark look that came from Naruto, something that promised a good bit of pain, the combined look of shame and frustration from Sasuke further threw him, but for now he had to push that aside, "Now then, each of you will be given a scroll. Somewhere in the forests and training grounds surrounding the village is your target. Your task, is to retrieve the objects described on your scrolls as quickly as possible, however, there are conditions. First, if someone finds more than one, it's theirs. So if, say, Sakura were to find everything, then only she would pass. Second, I will be running interference throughout the test doing my best to stop you, and to take the scrolls you possess. I suggest coming at me with the intent to kill, otherwise…" The trio were now doing their best not to fidget under the pressure. "Lastly, if you do not acquire your item or items in the time limit, or I should take your scroll you will fail the test and be sent back to the academy for more training." The trio shot one another hard looks before turning back to the jonin and nodding. The silver haired man returned the gesture and tossed them their scrolls. "You all have until noon. You'll find your directions inside your scrolls. Good luck." He clapped a small bedside clock onto a stump that began the ominous countdown.

Three hours.