SPBFAS Chapter 19

The hill looked over the small village clearly it was surrounded by trees and was picture perfect resting at the top of the hill was a simple cross above a small alcove of dirt there was no name on the cross and it was made of two similar pieces of wood and a few strands of string but it was surrounded by 5 people.

It was Naruto Sasuke Hinata Kakashi and Zabuza they had all come to pay their respects to Haku Naruto led the procession

"I think we could have been friends too Haku and I think we actually are so as a friend I will carry your dreams I will make sure Zabuza stays in line so you rest easy." He gave a respectful bow before stepping aside, Sasuke just walked past the grave no one was surprised since his only interaction with Haku was a short passing in the forest and the fistfight on the bridge but that didn't stop them from glaring at his retreating back, Hinata walked up and bowed before the grave.

"t-thank you." She whispered Kakashi came up last apologizing to Haku it was only a short apology but everyone knew that it was still difficult to say for the great ninja, last to come up was Zabuza he was holding the newly reconstructed mask that Haku wore during the battle of the bridge, no one would have recognised Zabuza anymore, his headband was gone so were his camo trousers in their place he wore a workman's trousers and singlet he had also taken off the bandages around his neck if anyone had glance at him they would have dismissed him as a civilian, a really ripped and terrifying civilian but nonetheless a civilian, he hung the mask on one of the branches of the cross before stepping back.

"you were always trying to convince me to go civilian and settle down maybe start a family I would always refuse and now I've finally taken your advice for the very first time and you aren't here to see it and you were the one person who truly deserved this life I am sorry Haku, so sorry." and on that hill, before the grave Zabuza Momochi the demon died and in his place stood Ichigo Hanagaki the civilian.

It was only a few days after the bloodshed but no one would deny that everything had changed.

The bridge had been completed ahead of schedule with Zabuza and squad seven repairing the damage they had caused in their battle and continuing to help where they could. The villagers had gone from defeated and broken to celebrating their victory and rejoicing in the streets, even the country had seemed to cheer up instead of a drab and dreary mist constantly blanketing the village the sun shone brightly and lit up the whole village. It was a picturesque transformation and now the entire village had turned up at the completed bridge to see squad seven off Tazuna was at the front of the mob shaking the entire squads' hands.

"Are you sure everything will be okay now?" Kakashi asked Tazuna.

"Yes now that Gato is gone we can start to rebuild and with the extra commerce the bridge will bring it will be easy." Zabuza decided to cut in.

"and a generous group of Samaritans left a large amount of money as a donation to us so we should make it just fine." a secret among the ninjas was that Zabuza had disbanded his bandit group and donated most of the groups 'profits' to the rebuilding of the village Tazuna knew where the money came from but he was more than willing to accept it.

"We truly can't thank you enough."

"Well you paid in advance." Naruto joked before he noticed Inari beside his mother and father fighting to hold back tears "come on Inari you're supposed to be happy."

"I am it's just that we probably aren't going to see each other for a while."

"That doesn't mean we won't see each other again."

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely so no crying okay." Inari dried his eyes as the group turned to leave but the tears start up again against his will as he waves the group off happily

"Hey the bridge needs a name doesn't it?" everyone clamoured to give a name to the bridge many liked 'the bridge of courage.' while others thought 'hope bridge.' sounded better

"I know what we will call it." Tazuna announced "we will call it 'the great Naruto bridge.'" everyone agreed unanimously.

The group finally made its way back to Konoha thankfully the return trip was less eventful than the trip over and much earlier than expected the group finally walked through the village gates everyone split up to return their backpacks to their homes before giving their mission statements we now find ourselves approaching Narutos shared apartment with Anko where we find Naruto turning the handle.

"I'm ho-" out of nowhere a trench coated purple haired projectile wrapped itself around Narutos head crying frantically.

"I WAS SO WORRIED!" Naruto carefully manoeuvred his way into the apartment balancing Anko, with his sister wrapped around his head he then proceeded to make Anko her favourite dango when he had completed his task he held the sweets beneath the woman's nose which twitched at the scent of her favourite sweets she went to swipe at the snack but Naruto held it out of her reach he then placed the plate of food on the coffee table and stepped out of reach Anko contemplated which she wanted more, to continue to wrap herself around her dear adopted brothers head or to savour his perfectly cooked dango.

She chose the dango sitting across from Naruto on the second sofa nibbling happily.

"Now Anko I want you to relax because what I am about to tell you will be a bit of a shock are you relaxed?" Anko, with a skewer of dango sticking out of her mouth, nodded slowly showing she was calm he then proceeded to tell the tale of the bridge including all the dangerous details when he finally finished he saw Anko stop eating the dango a stick right on the edge of her mouth which I should mention was slack jawed with disbelief "sis?" she jumped him again.

"YOU ARE NEVER GOING ON A C-RANK AGAAAAIIIN!" she began sobbing profusely leaving the poor boy trapped.

The rest of team seven were standing outside the Hokage tower and were currently waiting on Naruto so they could give their mission report they were quite surprised when they finally spotted Naruto who was currently trying to see between the small space between the pieces of Anko who was wrapped around his head and still refused to let go Naruto kept his balance quite well as he walked up to the group he gestured to the door.

"Shall we?" Hinata was the first to speak up.

"N-Naruto is your s-sister g-going to let go s-soon?"

"don't worry she had 3 servings of dango so she should eventually start hugging my neck from there she usually starts only hugging my arm and she will let go completely when she gets hungry" Naruto walked through the door and everyone followed, 30 minutes later and everyone walked out with the pay of an A-rank in their pockets instead of the average C-rank Anko had indeed started hugging his arm tightly and seemed to be more calm.

"Well I gotta go see you guys tomorrow." Naruto started power walking towards his apartment but alas...

"Be sure to be ready for a mission tomorrow." Anko reacted badly wrapping herself for the third time around Narutos head and began wailing like a banshee Naruto was not happy.

"DAMN YOU KAKASHI."

For the next few days squad 7 went back to D-rank missions, Kakashi and Sasuke noted a difference in how Naruto and Hinata were behaving around each other while they were pulling weeds in a woman's garden Naruto slipped a flower behind Hinatas ear the two grinned ear to ear before returning to work and while they were walking dogs through the park the two talked and talked and laughed for the entire time they were together this change in behaviour had a remarkable effect on Hinata she went at her training like a dog after a rabbit and her stutter was almost completely gone

"Good work everyone." Kakashi congratulated his squad "meet on the bridge tomorrow at 7 for your next mission until then you are dismissed." Kakashi went up in a swirl of leaves and Sasuke walked away slowly while Naruto and Hinata hung back

"hey Hinata you want to get some lunch at Ichiraku" Hinata obviously was delighted at the prospect of Naruto taking her on a date, unfortunately for her stutter chose now to come back

"i-i w-w-would l-l-love to" Naruto held his arm out which Hinata, reluctantly, took and they began to navigate through the twisting back ways of Konoha towards Ichiraku when Hinata suddenly realised they were being followed by a very big very square and very talkative rock Naruto seemed to notice it as well since he had a look of annoyance on his face.

"just do as I do." the two began walking towards a building not the door of a building but the actual wall just as they were about to disfigure their noses the two started walking up the wall letting the stone run head long into the wall Hinata and Naruto flipped off the wall and landed standing up straight and watching the 'rock' as it groaned in pain.

"I thought I told you not to follow me Konohamaru." the box quickly turned around so that the very visible eyeholes faced Naruto from the box came a very high pitched chuckle.

"so you saw through my disguise again huh boss just what I would expect from my rival." the box suddenly began to glow brilliantly before going up in an explosion almost in the category of an explosive tag when the smoke cleared it revealed Konohamaru he had swapped his strange helmet for a pair of goggles that resembled the pair Naruto wore when he was in the academy with him was a girl and a boy.

The boy wore a pair of glasses that all but covered his entire face his hair was a rather dull, almost sickly, black a long string of snot hung from his nose, the girl had bright orange hair that was tied up in two gravity defying towers, her cheeks seemed to be in a constant blush, both of them wore a pair of goggles like Konohamaru

When everyone stopped coughing up smoke the kids suddenly started shouting out some weird, and obviously rehearsed, introduction from which Naruto discerned the boy was called Udon and the girl Moegi they, and Konohamaru, were part of something called the Konohamaru ninja corps but everything else seemed rather pointless.

Especially the poses.

When the three were finished Konohamaru finally noticed Hinata.

"Hey boss who's your friend?" Naruto grudgingly introduced Hinata to everyone.

"We were just on our way to get some ramen" Moegi seemed to be obsessed with romance since her eyes immediately began to sparkle like lighthouse beams.

"Oooooh a date between boyfriend and girlfriend?" Naruto and Hinata turned red before Naruto blurted out.

"We're just teammates!" the Konohamaru ninja corps simultaneously decided to start an ever traditional song of love Udon started the serenade

"Hinata and Naruto-" Moegi took over

"Sitting in a tree-" Konohamaru was about to draw in a breath to continue but he found his mouth blocked by Narutos' hand and in behind that hand was an absolutely terrifying demon like Naruto

"Finish that song at the cost of your life." Konohamaru quickly wiped out a smoke bomb which he detonated right in Narutos face before wiggling free of the unfortunate genins grip.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" The Konohamaru ninja corps bolted down the street cackling evilly but their giggles stopped when they saw the smoke clear to reveal a very red and angry Naruto.

"GET BACK HERE YOU BRATS" he took off in pursuit of the screaming children with Hinata running along trying to calm him down but then she noticed that Naruto was laughing as he ran and so was the entire KNC (Konohamaru Ninja Corps) the laughter quickly caught up with her as well and within moments everyone was mucking around and just having fun.

THUD!

The fun quickly ended when Konohamaru ran into a young man wearing a black jumpsuit with a small emblem over his chest, only his face could be seen because of the jumpsuit and this was covered by face paint, on his back was a figure wrapped like a mummy, a crop of black hair poked out of the top, he had a ninja headband sewn into the forehead of the jumpsuit but the design wasn't the leafs it seemed to be shaped like an hourglass.

"hey aren't you going to apologise kid?" behind the man stood a young woman, her sandy blonde hair was tied up in four short ponytails and she wore a fishnet bodysuit under a very form-fitting white and purple dress she wore a similar headband to her companion but hers was wrapped around her throat Naruto arrived to find the man holding Konohamaru by his collar quite tightly.

"Oi what are you doing?" the enemy ninja raised his fist ready to strike Konohamaru.

"teaching a lesson in manners." but before he got a chance to teach said lesson, the boy found Naruto punching the fist holding Konohamaru forcing it to let go before grabbing the arm itself and twisting it painfully behind the man's back Naruto quickly wrapped his arm around his opponents neck for an effective chokehold, which was quite hard for him since he was a good deal shorter than his victim.

"you better remember that you are in the leaf village and you better not hurt any of our comrades or-" Naruto was interrupted by a foot suddenly planting itself in Narutos stomach with such force that it sent him flying back into a tree before Naruto impacted, quite heavily, against a branch of the tree he saw the foot that kicked him slither back into the wrapped package on the ninjas back.

"What was that I didn't quite catch It." this guy was really pissing Naruto off, he brought his arm back.

"Striking shadow-"

"Kankuro." Naruto froze midjutsu and spun quickly to see a small boy who seemed to be Narutos age standing upside down on the branch above him, he had blood red hair and his eyelids were completely black from a lack of sleep, on his forehead he had a scar in the kanji of 'love', he wore a black shirt with white pants, straps crisscrossed over his chest holding up a very old and cracked gourd that was the colour of the dessert, at his waist hung another of those mysterious headbands "enough." his voice was monotone and his eyes bore no emotion letting most think he was slow but Naruto knew otherwise, the guy had crept up on Naruto so quietly not even breaking any leaves which was a challenge for even a Jonin and right now the newly named Kankuro was sweating bullets.

"Oh G-Gaara we were just walking and...Wait they started it" Kankuro rambled on before being silenced by Gaara

"Shut up or I'll kill you." Naruto suddenly felt a severe amount of killing intent coming from the boy directed at the older boy and if it felt so potent just by standing near him he would hate to imagine how Kankuro must be feeling right now Gaara quickly turned to Naruto and the instant their eyes met Naruto heard a faint growling in the back of his mind before the growling could stop Gaara went up in a whirlwind of sand only to reappear beside his comrades walking away slowly.

"HOLD IT!" Naruto jumped down into the street Hinata could see his fists shaking "who are you?" Gaara turned around and once more Naruto felt that insane killing intent this time aimed at him he began sweating bullets and he could swear the air became thinner.

"my name is Gaara of the desert." Gaara just turned and resumed walking it wasn't until after Gaara had turned the corner that Naruto visibly relaxed but Hinata could see the sweat pouring off his forehead and when she went to touch him he flinched at her touch he muttered raincheck before suddenly jumping away leaving a very worried Hinata.

ANNOUNCEMENT ANOUNCEMENT ANOUNCEMENT

I am now making a real novel that I hope to publish soon now I will be putting much of my free time towards it so my publish times here will take a blow but if you want to read a very rough draft of the first three chapters then go to worthy of and search game over my penname is begging4abreak2

Anyway back to the story I will no longer be having Hinata t-talk l-like this instead she will talk regularly I am also rather proud of how Anko reacted to Naruto coming home I am sure a good dose of you will get a kick out of it

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