How the East was Won

Chapter 2: Tumbleweed

Zabuza Momichi was no idiot. If the kid could have taken on the seemingly endless hordes of Gato's men without difficulty, then he was at least above the brats that Kakashi had brought with him onto the bridge. He was confident he could beat him, but he'd have to flush the kid out of hiding. The strangely accented brat was holed up somewhere toward the back end of the great hall, hiding among the rafters of the old fort. He poked his head out from behind the overturned table that he'd been using as cover…

...and almost immediately pulled it back in, a loud crack like thunder echoing through the hall as a crater appeared in the stonework behind him, right where his head had been. If nothing else, the kid was an expert marksman. Zabuza laughed. "Not bad kid. I got to admit, it takes some skill to hide yourself from a ninja like myself. Of course, it's hard to detect killing intent when you don't have any. Just like the rest of those Leaf shits…"

"Ah said, ah'm not a ninja! Ah'm a gunslinger! Get it right!" There was another crack and the table shook, splintering as a massive hole appeared just above Zabuza's head.

Zabuza shook his head, looking down at the unconscious bodies littering the floor and grinned under his mask, an idea forming in his mind. "Oh? Then I'm sure you won't mind if I decide to take a couple of these useless idiots out permanently then. After all, you aren't a Leaf ninja, so it's not like you'd care…"

Kakashi, still hidden far enough away to avoid detection heard Zabuza's threat, frowning. He wasn't one to avoid killing, but senseless deaths? He remained still and silent, waiting to see what Naruto's response would be.

"...a'ight, ain't like ah'm the one taken 'em out. Hell, make my clean up a whole helluva lot easier iff'n ya did."

Zabuza gave another laugh. "Glad to hear it." He stepped forward out of hiding to bring down the massive beheading cleaver onto an unconscious bandit. Kakashi's eyes widened. Had Naruto become so heartless during his stay away from Konoha? Before he could move, there was suddenly another crack, and the wall behind Zabuza broke further, causing the Mist Nin to retreat back into hiding. "Hey! What happened to you not caring about these idiots?"

"Iff'n yer gonna walk out into the open, ah'm gonna take that shot, dumbass."

Zabuza growled, gripping his sword tighter. Now the brat was just mocking him.

Kakashi gave an inaudible sigh of relief. It seemed like it was a ploy to draw the Mist Nin out of hiding. The Jounin peeked into the room, glancing into the rafters to see if he could spot the boy. Just what Jutsu was he using anyway? It was fast, and if the damage to the solid stone walls was any indication, fairly powerful too. Judging from the craters it left, it almost reminded him of-

No. It couldn't be, could it? Ranged? That would mean he'd learned a highly dangerous, high powered Jutsu without having been in the Academy and somehow improved upon it… Kakashi continued to watch, staying as silent as he could. There. He could see it; a glint of metal in the rafters revealed the boy's hiding place. The Copy-Nin frowned, even more questions arising to the forefront. Questions like, 'what on earth was he holding?' It was a long metal pipe from what he could tell, braced against his shoulder and aimed directly at Zabuza's position. The boy pulled down at a shining brass lever beneath the pipe, then held his breath.

Zabuza appeared once more from behind his cover, dashing quickly across the hall in an attempt to reach another heavy table as his current cover had taken too much damage. Naruto's finger squeezed, and there was another thunderous crack. Something slammed into Zabuza and for a moment, Kakashi wondered if Naruto had actually managed to take out the Nukenin. Unfortunately Zabuza had learned quickly, and it was revealed that what Naruto had actually attacked was a water clone. Kakashi glanced over, and noticed the real Zabuza throwing his cleaver, too quickly for the Leaf nin to react. The cleaver flew through the air and-

Kakashi's eyes widened as he saw the massive blade slam into Naruto's midsection, piercing the boy's stomach and sending his body flying backwards at an angle, Zabuza jumping after it. Naruto hit the wall, pinned to it by the massive blade, and Zabuza landed atop it, glaring down at the impaled boy. "Heh, too bad kid. Should have stayed with Kakashi where it was safe."

POOF!

A puff of smoke and both Kakashi and Zabuza blinked as Naruto's figure was replaced with a log that was now stuck to the wall. There was a whistle from even higher in the rafters, and Zabuza looked up, only for his vision to become suddenly obscured by a green glass bottle with a flaming cloth sticking out of it. The bottle crashed against his body, covering the Nukenin in some sort of liquid, which was almost instantly set ablaze. Zabuza gave a scream and fell backwards off of his cleaver in agony, the flames covering him.

He hit the ground with a bone rattling thud, the agony of the searing inferno taking precedence even over the pain of hitting the ground from a couple story fall. He rolled around, trying to smother the flames but whatever the boy had filled the bottle with was burning fast. In desperation, Zabuza's hands quickly flashed through signs, summoning up a fast Water Jutsu in an attempt to inundate himself and put out the flames. A torrent of water rose up from around him in a column, buffeting his body aside, but doing the trick of putting out whatever he'd been covered in. Gasping in pain, Zabuza rolled over to face the ceiling, his mind caught between agony and fury.

CLICK

Zabuza found himself staring directly into the face of a blond boy wearing foreign clothes and a wide brimmed hat, pointing a metal object directly at his head. The kid grinned. "Sorry, partner. Iff'n you wanna blame someone, blame Gato's thugs for messin' with mah hat." Zabuza opened his mouth to respond, and there was one more thunderous crack as something struck his head with overwhelming power, turning his world black.

A silence fell over the great hall as Naruto stared down at Zabuza's unconscious form. He lazily twirled his revolver around his finger before sliding it into his holster with practiced ease, grinning. "Well. Ah reckon ah oughta' get these jerks taken care of." His hands rose as he frowned in contemplation. "Now, lesse here...how'd the old pervert say it went again?"

Kakashi watched in silent surprise, still curious as to Naruto's next move. He was stunned; he'd managed to get the drop on Zabuza so easily? The Nukenin was a formidable opponent, even a simple Substitution Jutsu shouldn't have been so effective, but Naruto had somehow learned how to mask his presence to match Zabuza's Silent Killing technique, catching him off guard. Zabuza had no doubt assumed the boy to be just another of Kakashi's students, and thus hadn't been on the lookout for someone capable of hiding so well.

"Oh, right, ah remember!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly, almost causing Kakashi to flinch. Keeping himself hidden as best he could, the Copy-Nin craned his neck to get a better look at the wayward Jinchuriki's actions. Naruto's hands quickly flashed through a number of hand seals, and suddenly there were a great deal puffs of smoke across the entire room, and in mere moments the entire room was filled with multiple copies. "A'ight guys, start pulling out rope and gettin' these gentlemen tied up! Ah'll head upstairs and deal with Gato. You three, grab a few sealing tags and stick 'em all over Zabuza and that guy who he came in with. Use sum extra rope with 'em as well; they're our meal ticket for the next six months if we're lucky!"

There was a general cheer throughout the room as the clones all gave words of agreement and got right to work, pulling out sealing tags and unsealing them to pull out lengths of rope and other various materials.

That alone would have been cause for surprise for the Copy-Nin, but if it weren't for his mask, his jaw would have fallen open in shock. Naruto, someone who hadn't been in the village for four years, had just performed a high ranking technique that was taught only to very select few in the Leaf Village. To make things even crazier, he had just spawned a staggering number of clones. It was certain; someone had trained him, someone skilled and someone who knew Leaf Techniques. A pit opened up in Kakashi's stomach for a moment and a chill ran down his spine.

Did Itachi Uchiha take a Jinchuriki apprentice?

The Copy-Nin shook his head. No, that didn't make any sense. Naruto had specifically used non-lethal, or mostly non-lethal anyway, attacks. Itachi wasn't one to shy away from taking lives and it made little sense for him to instill the opposite into a prospective apprentice. Kakashi stuck his head out slightly further over the edge of the door to continue to observing events…

"Th' hell?" One of the Naruto clones replied, glancing in Kakashi's direction.

Kakashi pulled his head back in, a mere split second before there was a loud CRACK and stone exploded where his head had been, and he quickly flashed through a few signs, his figure disappearing in a flurry of leaves. A second later, and one of the Naruto clones rushed out the door and glanced around, frowning. "Hey! Somethin' wrong?" Another Naruto clone shouted from inside.

"...Nah, just thought ah saw somethin'..." The first clone murmured, scratching his head with the end of his revolver before shrugging and turning on his heel to make his way back inside.

[Gato's Fortress - Upstairs]

The tension was so thick, it could have been cut with a knife.

Standing on either side of the door, Gato's two lieutenants stood, shaking in place, listening to the sounds that filtered in from the bottom floor as the battle raged on. Then, it stopped. Silence. The two trembling men exchanged fearful glances. Dare they hope? Did Zabuza take out the terrifyingly skilled brat who'd besieged their fort? They had gone completely silent, not even daring to breathe as they heard footsteps coming up the stone stairs.

Click-jingle-click-jingle-click-jingle

Sweat dripped down their brows and they both reached for their katanas at the same time. Whether it was the kid, or Zabuza, either way, they couldn't help but to feel trepidation. Even if Zabuza had won, he might be in a bad mood, and he was known to take it out on them. It was one of the reasons they'd been trying to pressure Gato into backstabbing the Nukenin already so they could breath easier. He was good to keep around as a shield, but he was a drain on manpower and resources.

Their equilibrium fell and they both went pale as the figure stepped into view, and saw with shock that it wasn't the vicious Nukenin who was approaching, but the strangely dressed young shinobi, smirking triumphantly. "Well, howdy! Ah suppose y'all are Gato's last line o' defense?"

Zabuza had failed.

Gato's money was good, but it wasn't enough for the both of them to risk their lives against a child strong enough to take out one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and with a stereo scream, the two men proceeded to run off in opposite directions, leaving the path to Gato's office clear. Naruto scoffed. "Jaysus, talk 'bout rude. Guess Aniki was right, ain't no one these days takin' the time to be polite. You'd think I just took out all their friends-" He paused. "Oh. Right. Whoops."

With a wry grin, the young blonde boy raised a foot and slammed it into the door, causing it to burst off of its hinges and fall to the floor, revealing a small man in a business suit desperately trying to scramble out of an open window. Unfortunately for him, the window was a hair too small for the businessman, leaving him stuck flailing, his stubby legs kicking up and down. "You idiots! Help me! Help meeeeee!" he screamed, desperately trying to pull himself through.

Naruto chuckled as he casually walked across the room, spurs jangling with each step. "Man, with that kinda' attitude, ah'm not surprised yer men up and ran. Ah'd've ran too if ah were in their shoes…" The young man approached the flailing man, and grabbed onto his shoes, giving a mighty tug and pulled the short businessman back into the room, causing him to land face up, staring up at the boy.

"EEEEEEEEE!" Gato squealed, scuttling backward against wall, shaking and sweating, beady eyes flickering back and forth in a desperate attempt to find escape.

"Aw, c'mon. Don't be like that! After ah went through all the trouble t' see you!"

"W-w-w-what do you w-want with me?!" Gato sobbed.

Naruto sighed. "See, ah got a complaint. One o' yer men damaged mah hat." Naruto leaned down, pointing to a small cut in the brim of his hat with the end of his revolver, where the thug's knife had scored a hit. "See, this hat o' mine was a gift from mah Aniki, and yer man cut it. Which means yer responsible for it."

"I-I-I'll can get you another hat! I-I'll give you anything you want! A-anything! Money! Power! Candy!" Gato pleaded.

Naruto's eyes narrowed and his clenched his teeth. "Candy?! Th' hell do you think ah am?! Ah am the Black Powder Fox for fuck's sake!" As he ranted, he pressed the tip of the revolver against Gato's head, causing the shipping mogul to freeze up, eyes crossing behind his sunglasses as he whimpered.

"I-I'm sorry…" Gato whimpered, shivering.

The room fell silent for a few moments, marred only by Gato's terrified whimpers before finally, Naruto spoke up once more. "Gimme yer sunglasses."

"I-I'm sorry?"

"Do ya got sand in yer ears? Ah said, gimme yer sunglasses!" Gato's hands shot up to his face and practically tore the small round glasses off of his face, handing them over to Naruto with a shaking hand. Naruto grabbed the glasses and wiped them off on his vest before sliding them onto his own face. "Got a mirror?" Gato pointed one shivering sausage like finger toward a mirror hanging on the wall about level where his head would be sitting at his desk. Naruto stood and glanced at himself in the mirror, grinning. "Hooo-eee! Damn, ah look good with these! Whaddya think?"

Gato nodded heavily, his chin shaking. "Y-y-you look f-fantastic! B-better than I d-did!"

Naruto chuckled. "Hell yeah ah do! Ah think ah'll keep 'em!"

"S-so you'll let me go?" Gato replied, hopefully.

"Hm? Nah, ah just wanted yer sunglasses." Naruto replied, pointing his revolver back at Gato and casually pulling the trigger, not even looking at him. The mogul's head snapped backward and he fell unconscious much like everyone else before him. With a chuckle under his breath, Naruto twirled the revolver and holstered it, flashing through more hand signs as he spawned a few more clones. "Alright boys, this is gonna suck. Let's roll this sucker downstairs and truss him up in ropes too; we'll bring him back to the townsfolk as a surprise along with the rest of those thugs downstairs. Let them figure out what to do with 'em. As for us, we've got Zabuza!"

"Awww," one of the clones whined, "Do we gotta? He smells worse than an outhouse in th' middle o' summer!"

Naruto shook his head. "Can't just leave 'im here though. He'll be nuthin' but trouble if we let him go. We'll roll 'im downstairs and find a cart to stuff him in. Then once we let everyone at the village know what happened and let them figure out what to do with the rest of these idiots. Then we'll take Zabuza and the kid he's with and drag them to the closest major city, drop 'em off, grab our Ryo and eat like royalty!"

"Alright, alright…" muttered the clones, two of them moving to pick up the mogul as the rest began to loiter about the room, rifling through the drawers and turning the room upside down in their scavenging…

Kakashi had seen enough.

He hopped down from a tree that gave him a relatively unobscured view of the office window of Gato's room, mind racing. So from what he could tell, Naruto was largely neutral. He was helping the people of the village, and from what it saw, not expecting anything from the village, but he was also focused entirely upon turning Zabuza in for his Bingo Book reward. Kakashi flashed through his own hand signs, producing a single clone. The two exchanged wordless glances; the clone knew what to do. He was to keep an eye on Naruto and follow him from a distance, while the original sent word as fast as possible to the Konoha Council to ask what their decision on what to do with the wayward Jinchuriki was. A messenger bird could get a message to Konoha and back in record time, but he couldn't risk Naruto vanishing on him again.

Would he commanded to bring Naruto back?

Would Naruto even want to come back? And even more worrying, if he wasn't, would he be forced to take him back? Naruto seemed to avoid taking lives, but if worse came to worst, could he and his team take out someone capable of taking out a Nukenin and his protege with such ease? Who taught him how to use the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and to top it all off, what kind of weapon was allowing Naruto to, if Kakashi's eyes weren't deceiving him, fire off ranged Rasengan projectiles?

A thousand questions, and only one person could answer them.

With a soundless sigh, the original Kakashi vanished from the area in a flurry of leaves, his new mission beginning…

A/N: Nope, not dead yet. Just exhausted. Finally got a break, so I was able to finish up this latest chapter and send it off. Hopefully the next one won't take as long, but seeing how I still have to go back onto night shift, I can't promise anything.

Signing off for now, LaughingLefou.