"Just give me one fucking minute!" Naruto stressfully yelled.

Naruto Uzumaki was never supposed to find himself in this predicament; he blamed his bad luck and poor judgment for all of this. It was supposed to be an easy operation, just go in take the money and get out, but like always karma spat back against him. They were lucky to have found a small abandoned house to get cover, but those bandits were going to come and burst inside any minute now.

Getting his gun out of the holster, Naruto began to count his bullets. Days like this one were nothing too unusual for him, but the problem was that he always had backup. He was not sure if his little companion was competent enough to even tie her shoes by herself.

"Give you one minute!? Are you out of your mind? You brought me into this mess and I demand you take me out of it!" Sakura yelled back.

Sakura Haruno never expected her day to become so chaotic on the other hand. One second sleeping peacefully in a train on her way to Konoha, and the next one running away from pissed off outlaws. For the first time ever in her life something just went horribly wrong. And this stupid blond dumbass was really pissing her off more and more as time passed by.

Just before she could complain again Naruto tackled her and she found herself on the ground.

Sakura huffed upon impact, "ouch, why the hell did you-" she started to yell until she heard the gunshots.

Bang, bang, bang.

She was now screaming in terror as she saw bullets penetrating glass, and the shattered pieces falling towards her.

"See what happens when you open your mouth!?" Naruto said when the shots stopped, "we need to get out of here and fast."

He lifted Sakura from the ground and placed her on his shoulder.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, put me down now!" she complained.

"Shut up, that stupid dress of yours is going to slow us down like before," he reminded her, "I'm doing us both a favor!"

The front door violently opened and a bandit shot at them until he emptied his pistol. Naruto and Sakura looked baffled at the man and at each other. Not wasting another second, Naruto gave his pistol three spins, and shot the man right in the chest. The bandit quickly fell down, grunting in pain until he passed out.

Sakura continued to be confused about the exchange for a few seconds, before realizing what exactly just happened. She screamed when she realized the man in front of her was now dead.

"You killed him! How could you do that!?" Sakura panicky yelled as she started to punch Naruto in the back.

"What are you talking about!? Ouch, stop hitting me, you punch hard for a girl you know!?" Naruto cried. "He was going to kill us if I didn't do anything!"

"We're going to kill you stupid brats!" a bandit yelled from outside.

"See, I told you they want us dead!" Naruto told her with a knowing look.

Just before Sakura could say anything more another round of bullets swarmed the house. Naruto took that as a signal to leave and started running towards the back door with Sakura still on his shoulder.

Boots clashed against shattered glass as Naruto ran away from the house; making sure every second counted he checked the cylinder of his revolver as he ran. Counting only two more bullets he gave his gun a quick spin, and placed it back into his holster. When he was confident enough about their distance he placed Sakura back on the ground.

They stopped and Naruto took a breather, matter of fact he was truly exhausted. It had been almost twenty hours since they had a sip of water; it surprised him how long they had lasted like this. Naruto took his bandana off his neck and offered it to Sakura. When she refused to take it he simply wiped the sweat off his forehead.

It was clear to him that no matter how much Sakura was trying to hide it, she was exhausted as well. She was definitely looking worse than him, her voice was cracking, her knees were trembling and it seemed like she would pass out at any second. He had to think of something quick or they would both meet their ends there.

"We are going to catch you, damn brats!" A bandit yelled to them.

"They're gonna kill us right? We killed their friend and they're thirsty for revenge" Sakura started to shake and cry.

Fucking hell Naruto really was not used to women at all. He was clueless as to what to do when they cried. Even worse was the fact that he felt a knot in the stomach when he saw her tear up. So he said what he thought was the most reassuring thing.

"Hey don't worry, if they kill us I won't have to go to jail anymore and you won't have to worry about finding a husband back home" Naruto laughed nervously.

Sakura started crying even harder after hearing those words, "you're a dumbass, I hate you, take me home!"

Naruto sighed and tighten the bandana around his neck. He was horrible at this, he shouldn't even try anymore. Consoling someone was just not his forte.

Both of them jumped back when a bullet landed right besides their feet.

Naruto saw the bandits not too far from them now; they gained ground on them pretty quickly.

We need to lose those guys now, Naruto thought.

Looking around until he spotted a cliff at the distance, if he was good at something it was remembering the geography of his surroundings. Even he was surprised by the trivial things that had saved him before. If he remembered correctly there was a pretty big lake below that cliff. He had done something like that before; diving into a lake from a high place. It makes your pursuers think you didn't survive the fall, piece of cake.

But would he be able to do it with Sakura besides him was the question. Well it was that or a bullet in their skulls so he had to take the chance.

Naruto grabbed Sakura once more and changed directions. He ran towards the cliff, bullets be dammed, he'd rather die drowning than getting one in the head.

Sakura opened her eyes to see that the road had finished and there was nowhere to escape, "this is the end of the road, they're going to kill us" she lamented.

Sakura could not believe this was her end, even if she didn't exactly loved her life back home she would take it any day over this pitiful end. Maybe her dad was right after all and she was being obnoxious and ungrateful about her supposedly perfect life. Those thoughts went away when Naruto suddenly hugged her.

"Not today my lady, not today" he told her in his sexiest voice.

Sakura looked at him both confused and comforted. Naruto was glowing with a completely different light now, almost like an angel to her rescue. That was all before she realized what he was planning to do.

"oh no, no, no, no, no. You must be crazy if you think I'm going to throw myself into that lake!"

"That's not your decision to make, sorry about this" Naruto grabbed her from the waist before jumping into the water.

The last sight the outlaws saw of them was a flash of pink and yellow hair falling off a cliff.

"Damn they jumped," one of them said.

"It's of no consequence. They'll never survive that kind jump," another one assured them.

"Well you better be right, because if you aren't we're going to be the ones drowning."


7 days earlier

Sakura Haruno sighed in relief when her corset was untied by her maids. Truth to be told that was not the only thing she was relieved about. The party she attended was a complete bore fest, nothing but old men bragging about how much land they owned. The ladies in there had nothing of note to talk about, besides how many kids they had popped out. Now the thought of having a family never bothered her, but she was just not interested in that at this point in her life.

The boys were a completely different issue, and not in a good way. It was a constant dick measuring contest.

"My father finally gave me ownership of the lands."

"Inheritance, that's so cute. Come back when you actually earn something."

"You guys are so pathetic; fighting over such trivial things. I on the other hand will gladly be waiting when either of you comes crawling for a loan."

Their conversations were so pathetic. Always trying to be the bigger fish and constantly trying to humiliate the other. Worse yet was that when they actually tried to get to know her better, they just froze. For all that constant bragging, it was obvious none of them had ever touched a girl before.

Sakura really couldn't wait to start her trip to Konoha.

"How did you find the party Sakura?" one of the maids asked.

"I think you already know the answer" Sakura sighed.

The other maid shook her head, "you will never find a decent man to spend the rest of your life with at this rate dear."

"It's just that every single one is so self centered" Sakura said disappointingly, "guess I'll have to take the least annoying one thanks to my dad."

And that was the big problem for her. The exact day she turned 16 her father, Kizashi Haruno, was adamant about finding his little daughter a husband. Despite whatever objections Sakura placed on the table.

She wouldn't go down that easily though. She sabotaged every single candidate her father had brought one way or another. Acting like an unladylike bitch or a downright maniac in order to get them to leave and it worked for at least two years. Until her father finally caught on and decided to give her an ultimatum.

"I had enough Sakura, choose one or you get out of my house" Kizashi said.

"You must be joking. Would you really leave me, your only daughter, all alone in the streets?" Sakura said.

Kizashi shook his head in disappointment "I believe I've been pretty lenient with you so far, but you're 18 now and I can't allow you to throw away your future anymore."

Sakura looked at her father with disbelief "but you're not even taking into consideration how I feel about the whole thing and-"

Kizashi raised his hand to stop her from talking "this is my final decision Sakura. You're free to do whatever you want, but as long as you're under my roof you'll have to abide to my rules."

At the end of the discussion Sakura had to reluctantly agree, it was that or become homeless and she would take the first option over the second one every single time. She was not really angry at her father either. He had been nothing, but supportive of everything she did as she grew up. He just had the bad luck of finding himself with a daughter who simply was not interested in marriage.

Truth to be told she never actually liked the way her life had shaped so far. It was uninteresting and simplistic; Sakura always wanted something more adventurous. Explore new places, try new things, maybe even ride horses. Ironically enough she was never allowed to be near one even with the wealth of her family, it was always carriages.

Sakura at least convinced her father to let her have a small trip to the west side of the country, Konoha most specifically. She would visit her friend Ino Yamanaka before she started looking for a potential husband. And who knows, maybe a talk with her best friend would make her change perspective about marriage; she has been married for two years now.

"Sakura, dear are you finished packing your belongings already?" Mebuki Haruno asked behind the door of her daughter's room.

"Yes mother, I have everything ready for tomorrow" Sakura answered.

"Alright just remember that we're leaving early in the morning. I'm telling you this because you have a tendency to oversleep, and I don't want to have to drag you out of bed in the morning" Mebuki reprimanded.

The maids giggled remembering all the mornings they had to splash Sakura with cold water in order to wake her up.

Sakura blushed and closed her eyes in frustration, "I'll wake up on time tomorrow mother."

"I thought so" Mebuki said as she left.

Sakura changed into a robe and laid on her bed, her maids left shortly afterwards and blew out the candles in her room. Looking at the ceiling Sakura smiled and closed her eyes, she hoped this night would give her good dreams about Konoha.

xxxxxx

Sakura woke up the next morning to a flash of light coming from her window and the smell of breakfast in the table besides her bed. Today was finally the day of her big trip and she felt great. She finished her breakfast as fast as she could and got out of her bed.

Sakura felt a chill pass throughout her back when her bare feet touched the cold floor. She reached her hand towards the wardrobe and started looking for a dress. Everything was supposed to be perfect today, and for that she needed to have a perfect dress for the occasion. She took a simple, but elegant blue dress and a cute matching hat. She set it on her bed and proceeded to go take a bath.

The maids entered the room shortly after to help her get into the attire. Sakura was smiling as her maids finished dressing her. She was genuinely excited for her trip; she had never seen the west side of the fire country. Most of her friends warned that this was not exactly a good time for such a trip. The civil war had just ended about a year ago and tensions were still around, but she reassured them that Konoha was a safe place to travel to.

Kizashi seemed to agree as well, especially if she was going to the Yamanaka's manor. Konoha was a slower more peaceful place according to Ino (at least the town Ino was from), but it was a beautiful one as well and Sakura always wanted to get away from the chaotic city life for a while. Ino sometimes sent her beautiful gifs from there as well, so Sakura was eager to at least visit there once in her life.

Once she checked and packed all her clothes and important items Sakura grabbed her umbrella and left her room. She found her parents already waiting for her outside the house. It seemed they were not alone either.

"Good morning Sakura" Kizashi greeted her, "ready to leave for the station?"

"Yes I'm ready dad" Sakura answered, "but who is this man right here?" she hoped her father was not playing match-ups again.

"Ah yes very rude of me not to introduce him" Kizashi cleared his throat. "Sakura this is Sai and he will be accompanying you in the duration of your trip."

Sakura was baffled, she knew this whole trip was too good to be true and something was bound to ruin it at the end. She took a look at Sai, at least he was good looking albeit a little too pale for her taste. Maybe the situation wasn't that bad after all and her dad finally chose a good man for her. At least she thought so until he opened his mouth.

"So this is your daughter Kizashi" Sai said not amused. "I was expecting a prettier lady, it's going to be tough spending a week in Konoha with her."

Kizashi sensed his daughter already going at full speed for the punch and stopped her before she connected her fist in Sai's face. Sai was still standing in the same place with a confused look.

"Oh dear. Why don't we wait in the carriage for now Sai?" Mebuki laughed nervously and took Sai with her.

Kizashi sighed in relief once they left, "listen he is just the son of a friend of mine and quite frankly I hate him too. But he is just going with you because he's a damn good bodyguard. So no, you don't have to like him or even speak to him if you don't want to."

Sakura stomped the floor with her foot and gritted her teeth, "fine, but if he comes back with a black eye or broken ribs it's on you."

Kizashi looked as Sakura stomped her way to the carriage and sat down as far away from Sai as she could. His daughter was in for a long ride to Konoha at this rate.

xxxxxx

If there was something Sakura hated more than packed cities it was definitely packed railroad stations. So many businessmen pushing you out of the way, there was nowhere to sit down while you wait for your train either. To put a cherry on top she had to see the annoying fake smile of Sai right besides her. That asshole wouldn't waste any chance to take a jab at her, since he was supposedly 'dragged' to this trip because of a favor his family owed to hers.

So instead of getting angrier Sakura decided to close her eyes and just relax. This was still her happy trip and nothing would change that, not even a smug pretty face moron. Sakura opened her eyes once she heard the loud noise of the train and shortly after the vibrations from the rails in the ground. Her ride was finally here and she would start her new adventure already, she was exited to finally get out of this city and see something new.

Everyone got closer to the edge to see the big machine in the distance. Even after seeing hundreds of trains Sakura was still amazed by them. The smoke that came from them was oddly nostalgic to her, living in the city meant growing up to the sound of trains as well as its looks.

"Alright Sakura here is your ticket" Kizashi woke her up from her daydream and handed her the ticket. "I will take your baggage to the back. It's going to be six days until you get to Konoha so could you please try not to kill your partner inside that train?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and placed the ticket in her handbag, "fine, but I won't promise that he'll come back in one piece."

She hugged both of her parents and smiled at them. The train conductor started asking the passengers to board the train and show their tickets. Sakura looked at the growing multitude trying to get inside the vehicle and cursed herself. She needed to get inside before it got worse.

"I'll take my leave now; see you in a month then" Sakura kissed them both on the cheek and left.

Running towards the train Sakura squeezed past the big multitude and gave her ticket to the conductor. Once inside she fixed her hat and immediately went to the front wagon where her seat and the high class people were seated. She passed through what she thought were hundreds of different wagons; it seemed the train was endless. The fact that people here smelled bad and looked even worse made her more stressed. She had nothing against regular people, but would it kill them to at least take a shower?

Sakura opened another door and found herself inside a completely different world, it was a huge and beautifully decorated wagon, and it almost seemed like a huge living room. Walking across the hallway she found her seat number and sat down, the seats were really comfortable as well so it seemed she would have no trouble sleeping at all.

"Ah you're fast to get in here before me pinky" Sai said.

There was the mood killer; it actually surprised her that it took him so long to get here. Sai sat beside her and took out a sketch book and a pen. Sakura looked at it mildly surprised, it seemed he was an artist, but he was still a rude asshole in her eyes.

"Sooo what kind of drawings do you make?" Sakura reluctantly asked, she at least wanted to break the tension already building between them.

"I know you hate me, you don't have to be so polite and pretend you care" Sai started drawing in his book.

Sakura inwardly cursed and gritted her teeth, but resisted the urge to hit him in the face.

"I just really want to at least try and get along with you, since we both are stuck with each other for 3 weeks" Sakura said.

Sai looked at the ceiling and sighed, "I really like old eastern art, dragons, demons, that kind of stuff, but I can draw almost anything."

"I'm sorry, what?" Sakura asked confused.

"You asked what kind of drawings I made" Sai clarified.

"Oh I see, but that's a pretty weird art style. Can't you make something more sophisticated? This one seems rushed and uninteresting" Sakura said.

"Yeah just like your face" Sai blurted out and made a fake smile.

Sorry dad I'm not going to be able to let him live 5 days, Sakura thought before punching Sai in the face.


Naruto felt a blanket of cold water cover him and instantly jumped out of his bed cursing like a mad man. He grabbed the revolver that was resting besides his pillow and started shooting at the ceiling.

"What the fuck is going on!?" Naruto yelled after his revolver ran out of bullets.

Kiba Inuzuka was standing just in front of his bed with an empty bucket and a smug smile in his face. He laughed out loud and threw the bucket at Naruto.

"Wakie, Wakie motherfucker" Kiba smiled.

Naruto lowered his weapon and sighed, "you fucking asshole," he got up and kicked the bucket towards Kiba, "next time wake me up in a more civilized way would you?"

"Damn I never thought of that," Kiba said sarcastically, "Oh wait I did. It's just that you're a fucking brick when you sleep and wouldn't wake up any other way!"

They both turned their attention towards the door when it opened and a man wearing small sunglasses appeared. The man walked slowly towards them and threw a letter to Naruto.

"And what am I supposed to do with this Shino?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

Shino cleared his throat, "it's the schedule you asked for, and if you read it you will find out we have three days to prepare for the operation."

"You guys don't waste any time do you" Naruto smirked. "Fine, but what about those extra men I asked for? You know very well that only three people are not enough."

Kiba laughed and motioned Naruto to follow him, Shino followed closely behind them. Naruto felt the early morning breeze when he stepped outside, he loved that feeling more than anything in the world. He took a deep breath and stretched enjoying the sunlight and the freshness of the outside world. He often thought why people enjoyed the big cities, why go there when the big west was so entertaining and full of life. Then again that may just be an excuse his mind made up for him considering the kind of lifestyle he had here.

Kiba stopped walking when they reached the end of a cliff and placed two fingers in his mouth to whistle. A huge white dog appeared and sat beside him shortly after.

"Akamaru doesn't count as extra men Kiba. We already talked about this" Narut frowned.

"Don't be stupid and look over there" Kiba pointed towards the forest just below the cliff.

Naruto focused his eyes towards the forest and saw four different smoke clouds coming from the trees. He was impressed; they actually took this thing seriously. There were probably twenty men waiting for them below, more than enough to make the operation run flawlessly.

"Well color me impressed, you guys actually took the initiative" Naruto's face turned serious after seeing that many people.

"We actually want to get out of this safely and full of money, what were you expecting?" Kiba said.

"That's why we hired you as well, you have quite a reputation even though you're the same age we are" Shino said while fixing his glasses.

It was the truth, Naruto was very well known in the underground world here in the west for being the very best in his business; robbing trains. When he started the crazy idea of inventing this business people often asked him a simple question, why not rob a bank instead?

That is the reason Naruto Uzumaki was so successful. Doing the unpredictable and not following the crowd. To be successful you have to think outside the box. What better way to express this than to rob trains?

Most of his employers were simply not familiar with that style of life and thought mercenary cowboys just robed banks. It made sense in theory; you didn't have to go through the trouble of stopping a train if you simply robbed a bank.

Here was the problem though, banks where near impossible to rob. The vast majority of them were placed besides the sheriff's office in towns and the ones that didn't were simply too small. The reward for stealing money from those small ones simply didn't outweigh the danger of being caught. That is when the idea crossed Naruto's mind.

"Why not rob trains instead?"

The first time he said that Jiraiya just laughed until he puked out all the whiskey he drank. That was until he actually heard the way Naruto wanted to do it, a simple but effective way. First step was to gather enough people to raid the train, second was to derail and stop the train, and lastly make the express man open the safe at the back of the train to take the goods and leave. It was flawless (at least in theory), make your best effort to not be recognized, no officer of the law nearby, and if you caught a train containing payrolls you left out of there rich.

The process was different each time. Sometimes they dressed as regular passengers, other times they blocked the rails, but they were always successful no matter the process.

Even if they didn't find anything of value in the safe's you could still rob rich people inside and go out of there with a good enough reward. Shortly after he and Jiraiya succeeded in the robberies they made a name for themselves as the Toad Cowboys. Now richer than ever they both started to get clients, cowboys, mercenaries, even some rich men who wanted to do it just for fun. Jiraiya decided to be the one to handle the customers through his big underground network and Naruto was the one to do the dirty job, they split the rewards with their clients 50/50.

These two new customers just got approved by Jiraiya a week ago. They had a very strict choosing process for their business, meaning they had to earn the trust of either Jiraiya or Naruto for them to even think about doing the job. It seemed these two were referred to Jiraiya by Tsunade and if you ever wanted to earn her trust you had to be crazy enough to die before confessing your crimes. So of course with the blessing of Tsunade they decided to take them both.

Kiba Inuzuka was not someone to really write about. He was the owner of a small farm on the outskirts of Konoha, not the best job if you want to earn a living considering the abundance of them. There was also the tough weather here you had to deal with, you would have to be mad to even think about owning one, so Naruto was sure he inherited it. It seems he had sisters to take care of as well and could think of nothing else but to ask the Toad Cowboys for help.

Shino Aburame on the other hand was just an enigma for Naruto, he didn't seem the type who badly needed money. Maybe he just wanted a good rush of adrenaline or fame; whatever it was he was looking for, he never told anyone. It seemed he and Kiba knew each other for a long time though so maybe he was just trying to help a friend.

The plan this time was to rob a passenger train with big payroll checks going along with them. Naruto could not believe the opportunity they had in their hands, very rarely they got word of such a train traveling. It seemed the train also had some rich people inside, so the reward would be even better. Jiraiya's network really outdid itself on this one.

"So what's the next step Uzumaki?" Shino asked.

Naruto brushed his thoughts aside and smiled, "I get to talk to everyone and make them work as a team. That's the most important part. After settling introductions and gathering my materials we move towards point A."

He grabbed the map on his back pocket and opened it; the map was filled with the railroads that passed through all of Konoha. As well as the schedules they usually had.

"How the hell did you get that thing?" Kiba asked surprised.

"When we do things we want to do them correctly, there's a reason we have never been caught all this time. Anyways this right here is the first point" Naruto pointed at two railroads which crossed paths. "First we go there to change the direction of the train, and then we go to point B where we put up a barricade."

Shino frowned, "wouldn't the driver suspect things where wrong once he gets derailed? Even more so due to the fact that the train suddenly has to stop at the middle of nowhere, if he notices something is wrong he would have the time to put up a countermeasure."

"We don't have to worry about any of that, here take a look" Naruto showed Shino the terrain on the map.

"Ah I see what you're planning, pretty simple I can't believe I didn't see it" Shino said impressed.

Kiba looked at them unblinking; he had no idea what Shino had seen that he didn't.

"What are you talking about Shino? You sure this is foolproof?" Kiba said in frustration.

"It's actually really simple Kiba," Shino showed him the railroads on the map.

It was a pretty straightforward move Kiba noticed immediately, " ah I see, the driver has nothing to worry about when he gets derailed because he will get reconnected to his original path in just ten minutes."

"Exactly," Naruto affirmed. "He gets a fake sense of assurance that it's only a small detour because of maintenance. That's when we strike. The route is full of trees we can hide in and once he sees the barricade it will be too late."

Kiba and Shino smiled clearly satisfied by the plan, it seemed they chose the right man for the job. They got up and went towards the camps, Kiba hugged Shino and started to yell about how rich he would become after this. Shino seemed to just give him the cold shoulder and walked away, Akamaru was just behind them jumping of joy even though he probably didn't knew anything that was happening.

Naruto folded the map and placed it in his back pocket, the next part was the one he liked the most. Mercenaries seemed to have a bad reputation all around, but that was mainly because of how misunderstood they were. Most of them did it to feed their families or to help their little town, there was the occasional bad boy that just wanted to do it for glory, but they were the exception. After the civil war everyone seemed to do it for good deeds.

Naruto sighed and started to descend towards the forest. He had three days to make this bunch ready to work as a team and then two other days to set up the ambush. He really wanted to get this over with already.


Author notes:

So i'm going to be fixing some inconsistency issues I've had with the story right now, and I'll be changing author notes if I deemed it necessary to do so. You'll see a date of when the fixed chapter was replaced at the very bottom of the note, So here we go:

-This story is extremely AU (obviously) and characters will obviously be a bit OoC. You will see them acting very similarly to their canon counter-paths, with some differences. Mostly due to the extremely different environment they were raised in.

-While I'm basing this one on the US old west I will take some liberties with the setting, meaning that not everything will be historically accurate. Think of it just as canon Naruto, where you can see an old era mixed with technological advancements here and there (I will not be that extreme though)

-I rather enjoy criticism if and only if you do it in a civilized manner.

-This is going to be a lengthy story and i want to try my best, so don't expect fast updates, but at least do expect decent quality. Not a masterpiece, but at least something decent to read.

Enjoy my story people! and leave a review and fave if you liked it!

24/03/2015