Naruto removed his hat and sighed, "Allow me to seat you," Naruto said as he led Hinata to a booth before walking up to the bar, his eyes still on the group sat in the corner, "three women, two men...silver clothing." He thought as he looked at the bar tender.

"One whiskey," he said as he took out two coins, "and uh have one for yourself." Naruto stated, tossing the man the other coin. The bar tender nodded and grabbed a bottle of whiskey, "Pretty empty in here isn't it?," Naruto inquired. The bartender nodded, "There was an army regiment in here but you just missed them," the man said. His hand suddenly jerked upwards causing him to spill the drink on Naruto's hand. Naruto stared at him for a moment before picking the glass up, "think they'll back?," Naruto asked. The bartender shook his head. "Doubt it...not in this weather."

Naruto nodded and quickly downed the drink and approached the group. "When did you folks get here?." He asked, inspecting the many paintings on the wall. A young man with long blonde hair, Temujin, sat up and stared at Naruto for a second. "Fifty minutes ago," Temujin asserted. His green eyes narrowing, he looked between his group members and the oldest man, Haido, mouthed the words 'be careful'.

Naruto nodded and looked around the bar, making eye contact with the bartender for split second before the man looked down and continued drumming his fingers looking up as Ko entered the bar and quickly found Hinata. Naruto walked along the wall, looking at the pictures, "I couldn't help but notice your distinctive clothing. Is it some kind of uniform?." He inquired.

Haido spoke this time, throwing Temujin a sharp glance and silencing him. "I'm the new detective for fire country...these women are my assistants and the boy is my detective assistant . The clothing, well the clothing is to make sure the former detective recognizes me. Told him I'd be dressed funny in my letter."

Naruto nodded before returning to the booth Hinata and Ko occupied. "If he's the new detective then I'm the richest man in the land. Lying bastard." Naruto thought as he slid into the booth, "how's the weather?," Ko looked up from the notebook and took off his glasses. "Worse." He said simply, he pointed up to a corner of the roof, the hurricane like wind was slowly pulling up the small corner and letting the people inside take a glimpse of the black and gray sky above. It remained like so for several seconds before falling back into place. Naruto said nothing, instead just nodding and leaning back, he pointed to Haido his group. "See that feller over there?," Ko peeked and nodded. "That's Haido...or Haido the warlord...feller fought in the Great War...a deserter who vanished two years into the war and took shelter in a nearby town. Illegally imprisoned the mayor and took control of the town, illegally of course, tried to assimilate the neighboring towns but failed. One month later a regiment came down and tried to grab him...unfortunately they couldn't grab him and he ran off. Now two years later his capture has fallen into my hands."

Ko leaned in, "you're bounty hunter?," he asked. Naruto nodded, "of sorts," Ko nodded. "Why can't you just shoot him?," his eyes darted between Naruto and Haido waiting for an answer. "Shooting an unarmed man who poses no threat to my or anyone else's physical well-being would be considered murder, and trying to capture him with his goons would be foolish. Even if I could draw quicker they'd still outnumber me." Naruto stated.

Naruto stood up again, "Give me a minute," he whispered. He quickly walked back to Haidos group and pulled up a chair, sitting down and taking a deep breath. "I can't help but wonder...what happened to the former detective of fire county...I heard he was a man that was in good health."

Haido adjusted his monocle and sighed, "Well you heard wrong...contracted cholera a week prior and death took him soon after," his voice cracked on the word after and he quickly cleared his throat. Naruto nodded, "that's unfortunate. Didn't know cholera was making the rounds up there."

The large man nodded, "bad situation...I've seen the disease first hand and I must say, it's not something I would wish upon my worst enemy."

Naruto rubbed his chin and stared at the people sitting at the table for moment. "That's rather odd isn't it...I just came up from fire county. Had to turn in a few bounties and I didn't hear about any cholera, no newspapers talking about it, no mention of it in the bars...nothing, now I ain't calling you a liar or anything of the sort but I just find it a bit odd."

"Maybe you're just not very good at keeping up with local news." Temujin said, Haido brought his finger down on the table, the sudden action causing Haido to refrain from talking. Naruto stared at Haido's gloved hand, "it's like my assistant just said...perhaps you're just misinformed," he stated. Naruto smiled and placed his hand on the table, "now is that a weapon I feel pointed at my belly?...and judging from that I can safely assume that theirs four more between these two lovely ladies pointed at my chest."

Haido said nothing for several seconds, "I know you're a bounty hunter...no reason for you to be that polite and invested in my and peoples business," he stated. He looked over at Naruto before looking down at the table, "It would appear that you've drawn your own weapon."

"It would appear that way wouldn't it?," Naruto asked as he cocked his gun.

The oldest woman, Fugai, smirked and cocked her own gun. "You won't be able to kill us, if you manage to shoot and kill even one of us thirty men are going to come up here and kill every single person in here...you included," she stated. Her eyes narrowing, Temujin nodded. "It's wise to listen to her...there won't be a single piece of this building standing once our men are finished."

"Well hellfire, cut my legs off and call me shorty but I think you're bullshiting. Besides the fact that you are all nothing but a bunch of no good, low down, thieving, killing, treason committing, tax dodging bastards I highly doubt that any man or men under your command would remain loyal to you without some kind of gain, word of your death reaches them then they'd have no reason to be loyal anymore. Second if you had these fifty men, you'd have much more than me to worry about." Naruto said as he stood up.

A few feet away Ko stood up. "Excuse me Lady Hinata but I have to use the bathroom." He said, Hinata nodded. The door to the old bar practically flew off its hinges as he opened it, he hadn't stepped out completely and yet he could feel the rain, he quickly shut the door and ran down the stairs. Bright streaks of lightning split the sky over head, providing a split second of light before the land went dark again.

The once firm dirt below had been turned into a sea of mud that seemed to swallow his feet as he walked, thunder rumbled and for a second he thought the heavens were about to blow open and bring their contents down onto the earth. Ko placed both hands on the wall of the bar and pushed forward, he could see the faint light of the lantern that hung inside the outhouse, "So close." He thought as he wiped the water from his face.

Soon the handle of the door was within reach and he grabbed onto it and held on, pulling the door open and rushing into the outhouse, he sighed and swore before turning around. The sight that greeted him was enough to make him jump and fall back, breaking down the door and falling into the mud below, "Holy shit!."

Crammed halfway inside the outhouse was the body of a man. His hands held up high and his eyes glazed over, the wood around him was painted with dry blood and what appeared to be the contents of the man's head. A small hole sat near the man's hairline while a much larger hole had been blown through the back, he crawled back on his before quickly standing up and making a dash for the bar. He didn't know how many times he slipped and fell, but that didn't matter to him.

His body slammed into the door once, then again and then again, "Naruto open the damn door!" He shouted. He slammed into the door and exhaled sharply as it gave way, collapsing into the ground along with him. He crawled on his knees for several feet, resembling a rabid dog, "Woah what the hells wrong with you?," Naruto asked as he helped Ko up. "There's a body--in the outhouse" Ko whispered frantically, "Shot."

Naruto frowned, his eyes wandering to Haido, now he had reason to shoot the man. For the first time since he arrived Naruto inspected every thing in the bar, down to the gaps in between the floorboards. He bent down and inspected the wood of the seats, a faint red stain was visible if one strained hard enough. Haido watched from a distance, looking over at Temujin and whispering the word wait.

Naruto began making his way towards the bar, weaving between the tables and getting closer to Haido's group. Once he was close enough he grabbed one of the women by the hair and yanked her out of the seat causing her to yelp, he quickly drew his and gun and put it to her head. "Now...let's have another talk." He said as he pushed the gun closer to Ranke's head, twisting her hair around his fingers and pulling her back.

Haido nodded. "Fine..."