How the East Was Won

Prologue: The Black Powder Fox

Clip-clop, Clip-clop, Clip-clop

He was used to attracting stares.

His choice of dress attracted attention no matter where he went. It was a foreign style, worn by no one in any of the various lands save for his mentor and brother. A brown leather vest, brown leather pants and a wide brimmed, white hat with a band of snakeskin, out from under which peeked a pair of sapphire blue eyes. Between his lips, a stalk of straw was held, being lazily chewed upon in a mimicry of the horse upon which he rode. That might have been the second reason he attracted stares; he was naught but a young boy of 12 years old, but rode into the foggy little town upon a majestic black mare with a confidence of someone years his elder. Lastly, upon his hip were a pair of leather holsters, a pair of ivory handles sticking out from them, possibly the least strange thing about him.

The peasants and fishermen who lined the dirt streets stopped what they were doing, murmuring among themselves as the boy and horse slowly trotted by. Voices filled with curiosity, concern, worry and even anger rose and fell, but never to an audible point to the boy. He spoke not a word in return, simply chewing on the piece of straw, letting his blue eyes scan the wooden huts and dilapidated shops that made up the fishing village. It was almost halfway through the village when his eyes happened to lock onto a single, splintered sign and his lips turned upward, hands at the reigns of his horse steering it toward the building. As he approached it, a pair of older villagers cleared away, giving the boy and horse a wide berth as they started at him with suspicion and a tinge of fear. The boy however, didn't seem to mind or even acknowledge them, simply bringing his horse to the sign and leaping down off of the coal black mare.

He took the reigns and tied them to the sign, the metal spikes on the backs of his brown leather boots ringing with each step, and walked into the building, brushing aside the faded blue curtain that made up the doorframe. Inside, a few worn and splintered tables sat, oil lamps upon each one that had gone cold leaving the place looking dim and dismal. At the far end was a wooden counter with a few old stools that looked like they were one slightly overweight person away from giving way and turning into toothpicks. Behind the counter, a hunched woman stood, wiping at a bowl with a dirty rag. She turned to look at the boy, and her eyes widened, blinking in surprise.

The boy stepped forward and grabbed the brim of his hat, tilting it downward in greeting. "Howdy, ma'am."

He was met with silence as the woman looked him up and down a few moments before she finally caught her voice. "C-can I help you?"

"Well, ah was just hopin' ah could rustle up some grub. Been on the trail for too long and ah'm famished. Wouldn't mind servin' up a bowl of ramen for this cowpoke, would ya?" The boy asked, grinning from ear to ear.

The woman's mouth opened and closed, murmuring to herself nervously, eyes shifting between the boy, the door he'd entered through, and the kitchen behind herself. Eventually, she spoke again. "You...you're not from around here, are you?"

With a smirk, the boy replied, "What gave it away?"

He was answered with a sigh, the woman's expression softening. "Where are your parents?"

"'Dunno." The boy shrugged, chewing absentmindedly on the piece of straw hanging out of his mouth.

A sigh; the woman shook her head slowly and frowned. "Boy, you shouldn't be here. This place...isn't safe."

Blinking, the boy looked around the little shop and turned back to the woman, cocking his eyebrow. "Ma'am, ah'll admit this place ain't the shiniest bullet in the bag, but it ain't all that bad."

"No, not-" The woman huffed and frowned. "I mean the village! If Gato's men catch you, they'll rob you blind!"

Whatever answer the woman was expecting from the young blond boy, laughter wasn't one of them. "Ah think ah'll be fine. Ah've been on the road for a while now and ah think ah know how to protect myself."

The woman sighed again. "...fine, but I've warned you. What do you want?"

"A bowl o' miso ramen, iffin' ya wouldn't mind."

"That'll be 1500 Ryo."

Silence. The woman looked up from her bowl to see the boy staring back with open shock. "Shee-it...you makin' that with gold flakes or somethin'?"

"You really aren't from around here, are you?" The boy reached down, grabbing a leather pouch on his belt and pulled out a handful of Ryo, throwing onto the counter with a wry smile. It was taken and counted, and the woman paused before handing a few back to the boy. "Look, I'll give you a discount today, but you have to leave when you finish eating." The woman's tone was low and concerned, as though she were nervous that someone might overhear her.

Whatever answer the boy had planned to return with was cut off as the sound of heavy footfalls behind the boy alerted both boy and woman to the presence of a pair of new comers. Two men, dressed in various bits of armor and leather had stepped in, the pair sporting cruel smirks. "Hey, bitch! We're hungry, so start with the cooking, yeah?" The two marched forward and as they passed the boy, the taller of the two pushed him aside, causing him to stumble.

"Whoah, hey pardner, what's the rush?" The boy asked, brushing himself as though he hadn't just been rudely shoved aside. "Grub ain't goin' nowhere."

"Huh?!" The shorter of the two turned to him, ugly face glowering. "Who the hell are you, brat? Don't you know who this is?"

The boy tilted his head, still peering out from under the brim of his hat. ""Don't rightly reckon ah do…"

"Tch! This is Yakumi Takahata, the Fifth Dragon of the East! One of Gato's closest generals! Bow before your betters!" The shorter man replied, backed by the taller man crossing his arms and staring down at the boy with a 'hmph.'

Scratching the back of his head, the boy cocked his eyebrow again. "Ah'm still 'fraid ah haven't heard 'bout ya. Though, if we're trading titles, most people 'round these parts-" the boy began, when the shorter man suddenly lunged forward, a shining silver object in his hand flashing. The boy ducked, his hat getting knocked off of his head and landing on the floor.

"I said bow!"

The boy didn't acknowledge the man, instead kneeling down to grab his hat, fingering the cut in the brim from where the knife had made contact, and his blue eyes narrowed. "Oh. So that's how we're gonna do things."

"You say something brat? By the way, that your horse outside? We're taking that for ourselves! Can't enter this village without paying Gato's tax!" the shorter man bragged, grinning cruelly.

"Please," the woman interjected, "he's just a child!"

"Shut up bitch!" The short man yelled, brandishing his knife at the woman. "Stay out of this and start cook-"

BOOM!

There was a noise like a clap of thunder mere feet away, and simultaneously the shorter of the two men was picked up and launched backwards as though having been struck under the chin by a powerful force. He crashed into a table, breaking it and the chairs and lay still, head slumped. The taller man's eyes widened and he looked down to see the boy holding a metal pipe on a handle, the top of it smoking slightly. In his other hand, the boy held his hat, slowly placing it upon his head as he stood to his feet.

"What the hell did you do?!" the taller man screamed, pulling out a large club nearly the size of a grown man's leg from behind his back. He only got halfway through drawing it though, before a second thunderclap sounded, echoing loudly as the taller man too was launched backward and knocked out, landing atop his companion. The boy twirled the metal pipe on his finger and blew the smoke off the top of it before sliding it back into one of the leather holsters upon his hip.

"Ain't nobody but me touching mah hat."

Everything went dead quiet, with the silence only being broken up by a faint whinney coming from the mare outside, the noises obviously having disturbed the equine. The old women stared slack jawed and wide eyed at the boy who stared silently at the two men lying still. Slowly he brought his gaze up to the old woman and gave a sheepish grin. "Sorry 'bout the scare, ma'am. Ah don't rightly reckon y'all ever seen a gun 'round these here parts."

His apology was met with continuous slack jawed shock and the boys smile faltered. "Look, ma'am, they ain't dead, just knocked out! Ah don't think they're worth the ammo."

Still more stunned silence, though now with added opening and closing of the old woman's mouth, as though she were trying to speak, but no words were emerging. Finally, she managed to speak, her words quiet and hoarse. "Are...are you a ninja?"

The boy gave a barking laugh. "Ma'am, do ah look like a ninja? Ah ain't got one of them fancy headbands on, do ah?"

"T-t-then w-what are y-you?" the woman fearfully questioned.

"Well, ah'm what you'd call a gunslinger." He lifted up the silver revolver with the ivory handle, pushing the brim of his hat up with the tip of the barrel. "Think o' me as a...a foreign samurai. This here's mah katana, in a sense. Now, uh, you mind tellin' me who this 'Gato,' is? Ah keep hearin' his name bein' thrown about, and if what those two varmints were talkin' about was true, it looks like he owes me for mah hat."

"You can't be serious boy! Gato is dangerous! He's got hundreds of men at his disposal and a pair of Nukenin to boot!"

Whatever the woman had been expecting the boy to react with, his eyes lighting up and a smirk growing on his face was not one of those reactions. "Nukenin, you say? Don't reckon ya know their names do ya? I'm runnin' low on travel funds, and a quick visit to the Bingo Book might let me leave this place richer than what ah entered in with."

The woman looked down at the two unconscious men on the floor, then back to the boy, then once more to the men, her expression conflicted. Finally, with a sigh, she leaned in close over the counter. "He lives due south of the village, in the heart of the swamplands in a large stone fort. It's impossible to miss. Still, I'd feel better if you didn't go. We've already had too many people lose their lives to Gato and his men, and a boy like yourself, as skilled though you may be, shouldn't lose yours as well."

The boy's smile never left his lips as he chewed on the stalk of wheat some more, chuckling. "Ma'am, ah appreciate the offer, but ah can promise you they ain't never met someone like me before. 'Sides, ah am listed in the Bingo Books, after all."

Eyes widening, the woman watched as the boy turned on his booted heels and began to mosey out the door, thumbs hooked along the waist of his pants, and as he brushed aside the tattered curtain into the fog covered streets of the village, she spoke up one last time. "Who...who are you?!"

The boy, only turning his head just enough for the woman to see his smug grin replied, "Well, most folk 'round these parts call me the Black Powder Fox. If it's a name ya need though, ah reckon you could call me... Naruto Uzumaki."

With that, the boy strode out the shop, leaving the woman staring in shock at his retreating form, leaving nothing but silence in his wake…

A/N: Okay, let's get a few things out of the way. Please do NOT PM me for the following.

"But guns wouldn't work in Naruto/Guns would be too weak/There are already guns/Etc." Look, I get it. This is just a silly little idea I've had for a while and I really don't care too much about things like canon and logic. If that's an issue, you might want to look elsewhere. I've got a few interesting ideas that can be done with guns to even the playing field, but you'll have to wait for those.

"Can you give Naruto (Insert Bloodline Here)?" No. Just assume the answer is no and move on.

"Can you make this X pairing?" Refer to above. I might have a pairing, I might not. I haven't decided yet.

"Can you make this a crossover with X?" No.

"Will you be getting back to your RWBY fics?" Not until Vol 6 improves things or the amount of freetime I have for writing increases drastically.

With that being said, hopefully you'll all enjoy this; as I said, it's a silly little idea I've had for a while, so expect a lot of Cowboy cliches, goofy situations and not just a little Sasuke bashing because fuck that whiny duck-ass haired Karma Houdini.