Naruto helped Hinata into carriage, making sure she was fully seated before letting go of her hand, "I do hope to see you again ma'am." he said as he gave Hinata a bow, feeling a bit foolish as he did so considering the fact that she couldn't see him do it. "It was a pleasure making your acquaintance. I anticipate the idea of us crossing paths once more." She replied, her aristocratic accent and dense vocabulary simply made Naruto and say huh, "yes...hopefully."
He waved Ko goodbye and mounted his horse, looking back at the body of Haido and sighing. He had been stuck inside with the man for two and a half days, to say he was glad to be outside was an understatement. He gave the horse a pat before riding off, his gun scraping up against his belt buckle as he did so.
A low haze hung over the land, the once visible wheat fields that stretched across this chunk of fire county for miles seemed to vanish into a golden flatness, the sky was still dark, a mournful air seemed to blow in every once in a while and make him shiver as he traveled. When the sun set he stopped atop a high hill, from here he could see what was considered one of the four limbs of civilization, The leaf or Konoha, it's lights lit up the sky line and even in the darkness he could see the thick plumes of smoke that spewed out of the many factories he had heard about.
He set up camp and sat in the little white tent he had bought when he was still young, for some strange reason he could not sleep so opted to lazily exchange words with the dead man he was carrying. After about five minutes of doing this he stopped. When the sun came out he didn't leave right away, he walked to the river nearby and knelt. The sun hung low, turning the sky a striking orange, there was very little heat that morning as if the sun had retraced its mighty hands and turned its back on the land. He blew into his hands before scooping some water into his hands and splashing his face.
From here he was still five hours away from the bounty check in station, if he wanted to purchase a new gun and a much more sophisticated clothing type he would have to leave without eating breakfast. He inpescted the stiff corpse, making sure the face was still identifiable, the man wouldn't be worth a damn if it wasn't.
He arrived at noon, entering the small building and looking around. A tall man wearing a white apron decorated with surgical tools loomed over a corpse, he seemed to be at the end of the examination and was preparing to put the body in the ground. Naruto cleared his throat causing the man to stop and look up, he quickly removed his gloves and monocle upon seeing the body that was slung over Naruto's shoulder. "That must be Haido?...I'd recognize that clothing anywhere," the man said.
This was man was Zangei, a short man with a clean shaven head and a thick black mustache, that would twitch occasionally. A long scar ran from the top of his left eyebrow to the center of his forehead, a battle scar from his years in the war. He, with the help of Naruto placed the body on the second examination table, "No assistant today?," Naruto remarked. Zangei shook his head no, "I sent her on her way for the upcoming celebrations in Konoha, besides business is usually slow during the fall...folks preparing for the winter and what not. You know how it is."
Naruto nodded and took a deep breath, "Any word on Gekko and his boys?," he inquired, watching Zangei grab his payment. "Still searching huh?, listen son here's some advice...leave them boys alone, anything involving them usually involves a much higher authority."
"I'm not afraid of divine intervention or punishment." Naruto said, Zangei handed him the money, "no that's not it...you've heard of Danzo haven't you?, every gang this side of the mountains is practically under his control. Every bank robbery, every stagecoach robbery and almost every thing that earns money, Danzo gets half, Gekko and his boys are pretty high on the totem pole...chasing them is like chasing Danzo."
"That's why I move quietly and quickly, no need to draw attention to myself more than I already have," Naruto replied, "once I get them, I'll disappear."
"Danzo won't let you do that, a few bounty hunters tried to disappear and well you can guess what happened to them, my advice kid, leave it." Zangei began, "revenge is a game that has no winners, your folks are already resting in peace, there's no need to worry them in the beyond by practically getting yourself killed. The pieces of you that you've lost ain't gonna come back once you kill Gekko...you're alive and that's what counts."
"I'm not seeking revenge, I'm seeking Justice, monsters like that can't continue to exist in this world, how many more must they kill before they're stopped?, i--"
"Stop kid...what you're talking about is not justice, far from it...you're talking about revenge, don't delude yourself into thinking it's something else." Zangei stated. "Far too many men have tried and failed...it never ends...it's always the same. Your folks are gone...go back home and honor them like any other kid would."
Naruto felt his teeth slam together and his face scrunched up for a mere moment, almost as if he had bitten into a lemon, "Good day Zangei." He said simply. Zangei nodded and watched the boy leave, sighing and returning to his work.
He began making his way to sagebrush, blazing past the old and abandoned mining town that marked the halfway point, as he entered the hills and trees that led to sage brush he stopped, he looked down at the small river of blood and frowned, "An animal?." He thought as he followed the blood, "the only animal that can bleed out this much is a bear...or maybe a moose." He said, his suspicions were quickly blown away as a smell so foul and familiar that it'd left him nauseous for months when he first smelled it entered his nostrils. The smell of gun powder and human insides, a combination of urine and fecal matter.
Hung up on the trees by their arms was a family, torn at the waist and their insides left to spill on the ground. For the first time in his life Naruto was left speechless, after a moment of staring at the sight he looked away, clearing his throat and shaking his head. Scribbled on a rock a few feet away in what appeared to be chalk was what he assumed to be the perpetrators boasting. "Gaze upon the works of your god and rejoice." Naruto quickly left the area, fearing that if he stayed any longer he would empty the contents of his stomach onto the ground.
Sagebrush was Naruto's favorite place on earth, he had been there a total a six times and he never got tired of it, it was described as a town of outlaws and brothels. Here he could get things for cheap and if he so pleased he could engage in a brawl with a local, he hitched his horse and rubbed the bottoms of his shoes into the chipped and dirty cobblestone street. He looked up at the old sign that read, Mr. Kuchiki master Tailor, he smiled and walked inside.
He walked out two hours later feeling like a newer and much more sophisticated man, gone was his old leather jacket, replaced by an expensive, black wool trench coat that covered a red vest and white silk dress shirt, over his black pants was his gun belt, holding one gun in a bronze colored leather holster. The stock of his gun was a striking Ebony wood, finely polished and grained, it moved steadily as he walked making a very faint sound. He still had money to spare so it was time to get a second gun, a rifle this time.
He could get a good leaver action rifle here for just over eighty dollars, of course he would never ask for the origin of the weapon, he didn't bother with that when he purchased his revolver so why bother with the next one.
He was handed his rifle and he inspected it carefully, "what's this chambered in?." He asked he continued to inspect the sights. It was a lever action rifle with a longer than average barrel, " that's a .44-40 caliber rifle, thing could blow a hole into an Ox," the gunsmith said. Naruto nodded, "do you carry any high velocity rounds for this thing?."
The gunsmith reached under the counter and grabbed four red boxes, "sure do," he stated. Naruto nodded again and placed the money on the counter, "wont ask too many questions about their origin." He said as he placed the ammunition boxes in the pockets of his trench coat, he placed the rifle over his shoulder, tipped his hat and walked out.