Naruto stared at the four barrels pointed at him, Haido's men had drawn nearly a second after he had taken Ranke hostage, a bit late in his opinion. "I don't know if you're aware of this Haido, but this is the end of the line for you, times caught up with you." He said, "acting the way you did...I'm sure you knew that the only way you were going to die was with a bullet in you."

Naruto scanned the group members. "This little group is over."

"No it's not friend, what men like you fail to understand is that me and my people are immortal. Bullets, knives, clubs, swords and whatever else you use against us won't kill us...we are here for something much greater, to show the world the right way, a guiding hand in a storm--I am simply a servant for my fellow man." Haido stated.

"you are murdering degenerate who's tricked himself into believing that he can do what no man will ever able do. Just because you've deluded yourself doesn't mean you get to kill and rape as you please." Naruto snapped. He pulled the hammer of his revolver back, "I implore you to think about this--there's no need to shoot her." Haido quickly said, Naruto shook his head and laughed. She was his shield, she would be useless if she was dead, Ranke held her hands, "none of you morons shoot...no point in doing anything stupid." She said to her friends.

Naruto pulled the gun away from her head, his trained hands quickly turning the silver revolver on the first, Temujin, the gun expelled a cloud of white smoke as it fired. He didn't have a second to move or react before the .45 caliber round pierced his throat, causing him to jerk back and crash into the table. Kamira, the youngest member of the group let out a scream and she brought her gun up, "you bastard I'll--"

"You'll be putting your gun down, the next bullet out of my gun won't be allowing you the chance to say goodbye." Naruto stated, Ranke nodded, "Just relax Kamira."

"Good...now Haido grab both their guns and slide them to me...now fatty I don't have all day."

Haido grabbed the guns and slid them across the floor, "Ko...I want you to grab both those guns, if any one of them does something funny, says something funny, hell even if they breath funny...shoot em. You hear me?, no warning, just a bullet."

Ko nodded and grabbed both guns, pointing them at Haido, Kaimira and fugai who growled, "Just you wait once our me--"

Naruto emptied a round into her knee and sent her tumbling to the ground screaming. "Now...you Ranke, give Ko your gun." He said slowly, Ranke hesitated, "Don't you test me woman." Naruto said. Ranke grabbed her gun and handed it to Ko who placed it between his belt and pants. "Now...who shot that man in the outhouse?." Naruto asked. A silence hung in the air for a moment before he asked the question again, Kaimira stepped forward, "I did it."

Naruto said nothing for a second before he cocked the hammer of his gun back. He was quick to fire two shots, hitting her once in the chest and once in the head, "consider that your punishment."

Haido attempted to open his mouth and speak but Ko beat him to the punch, firing his gun and putting a bullet in the ground near the man's toes. "Thank you Ko...you've spared us from another attempt at begging. Now Haido...within the next sixty seconds two things are going to happen...I'm going to shoot this young woman and then I'm going to shoot you...understand?."

Haido meekly nodded. "Good." Naruto as he looked over at Ko, "pass me one of those guns won't you?."

Ko handed Naruto the gun he had stashed in between his pants and belt, "Thank you." Naruto said before releasing Ranke, pushing her forward and cocking the hammer of the gun. The sound of gun fire erupted once more, Ranke's head jerked to one side and a great deal of blood spattered across the floor, she fell like a puppet with its strings cut, dead. He cocked the hammer back again, this time Ko joined him and they both fired.

Haido covered his face with his hands as he was pelted with bullets, some going straight through and shattering the floorboards behind him, he did a small twirl as he fell, kicking a large cloud of dust once he hit the ground. Naruto dropped the gun and grabbed his own gun, using the last two bullets to shoot and kill Fugai. "Well that's that," Naruto said as he sat down. He looked at the bleeding bodies and took a deep breath, "Thank you." Naruto stated, "after this storm passes I'll be getting these people out of here and save you the sight of staring at them."

He put his silver revolver in his holster, sighing as he did so. Looped into the shiny black leather holster were his .45 caliber bullets, twinkling when the light hit them just right, "is uh..is the lady okay."

"Yeah she's fine...hid under the table." Ko said as he dropped the guns, "don't get rid of those...useful things, could come in handy in situations like this," Naruto stated as he stood up walking over to the bar and handing the bartender ten dollars, "can you help me clear these bodies...can't carry all of them to the bounty check in station."

The bartender nodded and took the money, "Start with the women...I only need two of them, Kemujin and Haido, we can burn the rest." Naruto said.

Fifty miles away Danzo put the small leather journal down. His lone eye narrowing as he stood up from the wet red rock he sat on, he sat in a position that overlooked the camp allowing him to see all sixty of his men and then-some. He looked out to the vast red and green land that sprawled out infront of him for miles and couldn't help but appreciate the beauty, it was almost as if a small piece of heaven had fallen on earth, his nose twitched at the smell of the land, blood and gunpowder, almost nightmarish. He looked back at the members of the traveling caravan he had taken hostage, he said nothing before reaching into his pocket and handing one of the children a piece of candy, the child hesitated for a moment before taking it. The boys father inhaled sharply as he watched his sun take the treat, "When I was young I studied religion, from the time I was merely a boy to the time I began pursuing higher education I studied it. My father was a preacher and me being the very impressionable boy I was decided that I would be a preacher."

Danzo looked into the trees, thirty more of his men sat in the darkness with their guns ready, "Once i left home for the army i didn't think much of god and what he was up to, I was too focused on my brothers and how to handle the enemy...once I left the war I realized something..." his words trailed off as he pointed to the surrounding environment, here in the night the large trees seemed to crush everything with their shadows, "Look at where we are...look at what's happened, god had left this land before any man took their first breath, this land is now the paradise of the serpent and beast. But do not think man evil for succumbing to his barbarism."

Danzo took a deep breath and gave the child a pat on the head, "Man is simply expressing himself, war, violence, death and destruction...that is simply man acting within its nature. All of those things can be found within Nature, thus it would be strange for man not to fit in with everything else I--"

"You are no man of god." The mother said suddenly, "you think this is how a man of god behaves?!."

Danzo looked up from the boy, "I am my own master, I am my own god...I can trample everything in this land and not shed so much as a single tear. The land rumbles when I pass and the skys split in half, anyone of my men who dares to turn against me shall be flogged then killed...whoever tries to take anything across this land without my permission shall be cut into one hundred pieces and their family imprisoned. If I wish for every animal in the land to fall dead then they shall fall, the earth shall see me and tremble...you and your god are an insult to me."

He placed the boy down and stood up, "Now...tell me woman...as you look around, where is your god?".