Battle on the Bridge

!

Cynric and his patrol of ten men guarded the front of Gatou's headquarters. The building sat on a hill over looking the dock that's used to transport both the legal and illegal goods in and out of the compound. He and his men were about to ride out on horseback and cart to the other side of the bridge that's being built by that old man. Their job is to set up the gunpowder barrels so that after the bridge builder is dead they would be able to blow up the bridge to prevent anyone to get the idea to complete the bridge that's already built. Cynric noticed that the two guards in the guardhouse at the front gate of the compound had disappeared from view as one would always be at the window in plain sight.

After a short while, with no sign of the two guards, Cynric waved his men to their feet and kicked his mount's ribs, urging it up the slope. As the twenty odd hired guards trudged towards the front gate many of them called out to their comrades in the guardhouse, asking what was keeping them and what were those noise's they heard, it sounded like fireworks.

Cynric wasn't the only one whose shout cut off in surprise as a startlingly beautiful, strangely dress woman strode out of the guardhouse carrying only some kind of metal and wood club.

As she could not harm he and his men Cynric shrugged and shouted his men on, to seize her and find out what happen to the two guards that were in the guardhouse the woman just exited. As the battle hardened men surged up the front gate the dark haired beauty drew her club to her shoulder in a most unusual fashion and to Cynric's amazement a tongue of flame spoke from the strange staff, spoke with a loud crack that made some of his men stop and grab their ears. One man, Arfin dropped to the ground near Cynric's mount, leaning down to extort the usually fearless battle-smiter to get up Cynric gaped...Arfin's head was half gone and his brains leaked onto the grass.

"Ninjas!" Cynric spun casting about trying to locate the ninja who must be attacking his party with some kind of woman, as he did so there were several more of the loud cracking bangs and men began to fall one after another, always immediately following one of the bangs. One man fell grasping his guts, which poured blood, another spun as if struck by a mighty invisible blow to land sliding to a halt dead, his eyes gazing up at the sky in bewilderment. When the woman made the fire for the seventh time and the sixth man of Cynric's party flew over, Cynric didn't need to tell his men to fall back, most of them were already running in the other direction away from this terrible woman and her fire-staff. But two more cracks flew threw the air and two more of his men fell, then the ninth… leaving only… crack.

!

Inside the compound –

"Hey what's all of that noise?" a guard said as he opens the front door of the building. He stops in his tracks when he saw the front of the compound littered with bodies and horses running wildly.

As he was about to run into the building he suddenly felt someone standing behind him. He turns around and felt a stab into his neck as a woman holding a large knife suddenly appears behind him. She pulls her knife out of his neck letting the blood come gashing out.

'Okay Gatou isn't here but I can still make sure that his powerbase is destroyed,' Niamh thinks to herself as she took care of all of the guards outside of the compound. 'That cart of gunpowder should come in handy in blowing this place up.' She had spotted the cart full of gunpowder after she had killed the men who were guarding it.

"Time to clean house," Niamh said as she holstered her rifle and got her knife and handgun ready as fighting in the building would be close quarters and she wasn't going to use her rifle indoors. All of the men inside are going to be using hand weapons and she didn't want someone to grab it from her before she could turn her rifle around to firer.

"What's going on?" a man shouted armed with a spear as he step threw a door in time to see a woman pointing something metal in her had. It made a loud bang sound and the man fell over backwards with a hole in his head.

The buildings alarm system turned on and the sounds of many men are coming right at her. Niamh knew she wouldn't have to worry about too many innocents inside the building at this time of day, as she had managed to learn the shipping schedule of Gatou's ship from a dunk sailor who had one too many to drink. According to the schedule she took from him, Gatou's ship would arrive on the Wave main island to drop drugs and prostitute women and would go back two hours later to re-supply his base with food and other daily needs. Which leaves her little more then an hour to get everything that needs to be done before Gatou's ship comes back to its home port. She was just there at the shipyard awhile ago and the dock was empty of cargo size ships. She took care of all of the guards at the shipyard before she came to the compound. Smiling she decides to test out her new powers in combat conditions. And before the hirer thugs of Gatou reach the front entrance Niamh disappeared into hyper speed.

As the men turn the corner all they saw is the body of one of the guards laying in a pool of blood with a hole in his head. They look down as they heard something drop at their feet… the thing on the floor is a green can thing. They didn't have time to wonder what it is as it suddenly lit up like a firecracker sending pieces of metal flying everywhere. The men who weren't killed by the blast were struck with the pieces of metal that were imbedded into the grenade. The hallway was now littered with the bodies of the dead and dying.

"Over here!" a man said as he waved for some help with the wounded. As he turned around he was taken aback as a woman in strange getup appeared in front of him. Before he could grab his sword the women plunge a knife into his throat and kicked him loose. He fell to the floor grabbing his bleeding throat as four guards came running down the hall with their weapons drawn. Niamh arm shot forward as her knife flew out of her hand on buried into the face of the lead guard knocking him backwards. The guards with him didn't have time to react as Niamh went at them.

She first snaps a guard's neck.

Then using her hyper speed she drove the heel of her left hand into the nose of the second one, breaking it and sending shards of cartilage and bones into his brain, killing him instantly.

Finally, she smashed the third one's throat with her right hand. He died before he hit the ground.

Niamh look over the bodies of her handy work as she wipes clean her knife after she pulled it free from the body it's imbedded him. She held the knife in a tight grip as she swings her arm around and sinks the blade into the chest of a guard that was sneaking up on her. She pulls it out letting the guard's blood to start leaking out as he falls over backwards. Seeing that there are more guards to deal with Niamh headed forward deeper into the building, she wouldn't stop till Gatou base of operations is in ruins. And no one is going to stand in her way.

!

On the bridge –

Inari was having problems; two swordsmen had come and taken his mother. He did nothing but stare as they left. He knew that he should do something but was too scared. As he wished for strength, he thought back to what Naruto and Niamh had said. Inari knew that he had to do something, and then remembered Kaiza… after brushing aside his tears he gathered himself up and decided to act.

Inari acted, he ran out to face the two swordsmen and charged at them. The swordsmen decided to kill Inari and knocked out the mother so that they could enjoy it without her cries. They then attacked. After slashing, Inari, they put away their swords thinking they killed the kid. Only to see that the child was a piece of wood.

"What, Kawarimi no Jutsu?" One of the swordsmen said.

"Where's the woman?" The other asked.

"Sorry for being late," a voice said. As the swordsmen looked searched for the voice it continued. "But heroes are suppose to arrive late."

"Naruto!" Inari cried out as he opened his eyes.

Naruto turned to Inari, "Good job Inari. I was able to save your mom because you got their attention."

Inari was stunned, he was about ask a question when he say Naruto turn to the swordsmen.

"You think your ninja tricks are going to save you," the first swordsmen shouted.

"There's no way that you'll be able to beat us," the second said.

"That's what you think," Naruto said as he pulls out his revolver and fires a shot at the first swordsmen. The bullet struck the man's right shoulder knocking him flat on his back, holding the bleeding wound trying to stop its bleeding.

"What kind of weapon is that?" the second swordsmen shouted out in fear.

"It's a gun," Naruto said as he rubs his waist as the kick from the gun shot made him feel like he had just punched a rock face. "Think of it as an upgraded crossbow."

"Well don't think that weapon of yours is going to stop me. I'm not going to give you the time to reload your weapon!" the second swordsmen shouted as he rushed forward with his weapon drawn back for a power swing.

Naruto quickly fired his gun again this time twisting his waist so the recoil from the shot wouldn't hurt his arm again. The bullet struck the swordsmen sword arm where the arm connects to the shoulder ripping his right arm right off.

"You punk!" the man scream as he held where his arm use to be.

"Sorry but the only way this land is going to be free is by making sure people are gone from here," Naruto said as he walks over to the two down swordsmen. He couldn't believe the power of the gun Niamh gave to him. No wonder she had train him so hard in learning how to use it. Something like this in the wrong hands would spell disastrous, and that's not counting if someone manages to make more of them.

"That was so cool!" Inari shouted as he saw Naruto taking out the two bad guys under a minute.

After tying both men up and patching up their wounds, Naruto began sneezing.

"Do you have a cold?" Inari asked.

"I'm okay," Naruto replied, "Anyway, Inari, I'm sorry about yesterday."

"What?" Inari asked.

"I called you a crybaby. I take that back." Naruto replied, "You're strong. Kaiza would be proud of you."

Inari began to sniffle, "Damn it, I chose not to cry anymore… Now you're going to make fun of me and call me a crybaby again."

Naruto turned to the sea, "What are you talking about? It's okay to cry when you're happy." Naruto then turned to Inari and gave a fox-like grin. "It's okay to cry when you're happy," Naruto repeated making sure that his message got across.

"Naruto?" Inari asked.

Naruto turned to the men and said, "Now I can leave this place to you, right?"

"Yes!" Inari replied.

"I'll be heading to the bridge, then." Naruto said as he picked up the two swordsmen. "Heroes are busy, busy," Naruto said as he ran toward the bridge.

"Busy, busy!" Inari responded as he saw Naruto left. He hurried to the village to get help.

!

At the bridge –

Naruto finally made it to the bridge. It took longer than he expected but from where he stood he got there just in time. Sasuke was within a dome made out of mirrors fighting some guy about their age wearing the same mask the hunter nin of the mist wore, and Kakashi had his hands full with Zabuza whose still alive. Looks like they have been fooled in thinking that the hunter nin was real, while it was one of Zabuza's men in dress as a hunter nin who pretended to kill him. Sakura is busy dealing with the two Demon Brothers they had run into during the first part of their mission. They had dropped those two off at the closes jailhouse in one of the nearby villages and collected the bounty on their heads. It looks like Zabuza had those two broken out and the two were now trying to kill Tazuna as Sakura is keeping them back from the bridge builder. (1)

"I don't know how long I can hold them back!" Sakura shouted to her teammates as she blocks the incoming darts thrown by the Demon Brothers.

"Just hold on till Niamh gets here," Kakashi shouted as even if he doesn't like her. Niamh's weapons would make short work out of Zabuza and his men.

"You really think that one person can make a difference?" Zabuza said as he uses his water jutsu against the one eye Leaf ninja.

"Then why did you pretend to be dead then?" Kakashi ask as he counters the latest attack from the Demon of the Mist.

"She took me by surprise," Zabuza replied. "It's not everyday that I encounter a weapon that powerful, especially one that can have that amount of power when use that far away."

"Well that's two of us," Kakashi said as he attacks him with the jutsus he has picked up.

Meanwhile in the ice mirror dome Sasuke is having his hands full dealing with Haku. "Once you're in my mirror dome there is no escape," Haku said as he threw his senbons in all directions at once.

"I'm not about to lose to you," Sasuke growls as he pulls out the needles that are buried into his flesh.

"You have already lost," Haku said as he hides in his mirrors. "Too bad that woman Niamh isn't here to save you like she did the last time."

"You went and pretended to be a Hunter nin to fool us into thinking Zabuza is dead. I'm not going to lose to someone who hides behind a mask like that," Sasuke shouts out.

"Then die," Haku said as he prepares to finish him off for good.

Six shots that sounded like fireworks going off cracked through the air making everyone phase in mid-strike. Six bullets flew through the air hitting three of Haku's mirrors breaking them into pieces. Seeing an opening Sasuke jumps out of the dome before Haku could react.

"Looks like you guys are in trouble now," Sakura smirks at the two Demon Bothers. "Niamh is here to…"

Before Sakura finish Naruto appears on the bridge reloading the revolver Niamh had given him.

"…save the day…" Sakura said as she saw instead of the powerful woman she came to admire instead is the loud mouth blonde.

"Sorry, I'm late but I had to save Inari and his mother from two of Gatou's men," Naruto said as he finishes reloading his gun. "But now I'm here and I'm ready for battle!"

"Don't think that a weapon like that will give you the edge!" one of the Demon Brothers said as they charge at them.

Naruto points and fires two shots that shoots, their kunais they held in their hands, disarming them before they got anywhere close to the blonde. Then he turns and fires a shot at Zabuza shooting his massive sword out of his hand. Turning around Naruto fires his last two bullets at the mirror dome breaking two of the mirrors, one of the mirrors held Haku destroying his jutsu, he fell onto the bridge in disbelief as he was amaze of how Naruto had manage to find where he was hiding in all of his ice mirrors he had to choose from.

"There all of you guys are now disarmed and jutsus been dispelled," Naruto said as he reloads his revolver. "Now just give up before any of you get hurt!"

"You think a weapon that you got from the woman going to change the outcome of this battle!" Zabuza growls as he began thinking of what he can do against that weapon. The weapon does have a limited amount of ammo before it needed to be reloaded. He counted six shots before the boy needed to reload that strange weapon of his.

"If you think that you still have a chance of winning you're wrong," Naruto said as he aims his gun right for the Demon of the Mist.

"Then show me," Zabuza said as readies himself for what's to come. Wondering if he's fast enough to dodge the thing that's fired out of the weapon, they're small but fast and powerful. If he blinks now he'll be dead.

Everything slowed down as Naruto fires his gun the bullet exited the barrel twisting in the air as it flew for Zabuza's face. The Demon of the Mist found himself frozen as his eyes locked onto the small metal object traveling at high speed towards him. He was locked onto the object that's so small but so powerful that if it hits him he'll be dead or heavily wounded, even maiming him for life. If he had that weapon he'll be able to overthrow the leader of his former Hidden Village of the Mist. But he won't have that chance as the very weapon is about to end his life.

"ZABUZA!" Haku yells as he throws himself in front of his master, shocking everyone. They all waited for the sound of the bullet hitting and for Haku to fall to the ground dead. But that never happen…

Haku eyes blink as he sees the metal thing that was fired out of the weapon called a gun right in front of his eyes being held between someone's fingers. Looking to the body the arm is attached to he sees the strange woman who gave the Leaf ninja Naruto his weapon.

"It's a good thing I got here in time," Niamh said as she pockets the bullet into one of her pockets.

"Niamh!" all of team 7 and Tazuna shouted out when they saw her. All of them wonder how she managed to get here and manage to catch a bullet as its flying through the air.

"Naruto you really shouldn't just kill someone when there's no longer a reason to fight," the female soldier said to her student. "I thought, I have taught you better then that."

"Sorry," Naruto said to his teacher as he can hear the disappointment in her voice.

"I'll have to give you some more training in self control," she said as she stared at him.

"There's no longer a reason to fight?" Haku asked wondering what the woman who saved his life meant.

"Yes no longer any for you to fight us anymore," Niamh said to Haku. She also added, "Also throwing yourself in front of your boss is brave of you but the bullet would have tore through your body and still have enough power to kill your leader standing behind you."

"What do you mean?" Zabuza ask as he didn't even saw her until she had caught whatever it's called 'bullet' as she calls it before it hit Haku. And if what she says is true… those weapons she has are more powerful then he had ever imagine.

"I mean that once you and your team had killed Tazuna and weaken yourselves Gatou's hired thugs were going to kill you and your team," Niamh said as she walks away from Zabuza and Haku.

"He was going to do what?" one of the Demon Brothers ask.

"He was going to kill all of you once you did your mission," Niamh repeated.

"What proof do you have of this?" the other Demon Brother asks.

"Well the big crowd of hired thugs standing on the end of the bridge with the old guy in the suit who must be Gatou could be a big clue," Niamh said pointing behind her.

Everyone turned to see Gatoh and a league of armed men. Gatou had a smug look about himself, which Naruto growled at, wanting nothing more that to remove it as painfully as possible. "I'm disappointed in you, Zabuza giving up so easily." Gatou said.

"So she's telling the truth," Zabuza said as he picks up his sword to face Gatou and his men. His team quickly grabs for their weapons and faced the horde.

"Yes and feel free to kill some of these men before you die that way I won't have to pay all of them," Gatou said.

"With what?" Niamh ask.

"What are you talking about?" Gatou snaps.

She points to the horizon and in the distance a column of smoke is raising into the sky. "That is where your building used to be before I paid it a visit."

"You what?" Gatou shouts out.

"Those men you left behind weren't that helpful you know. When I was there I ask if you were home but your guards went and tried to take me. So I killed all of your men who didn't run away when they had the chance," Niamh explains to them. "After that I went and destroyed your base, a few well place bombs and those barrels of gunpowder your men were going to use to destroy the bridge made short work out of your base of operations. Which means that now you don't have anymore men loyal to you or money anymore as its all going up in flames."

"You did what?" Gatou shouted. "It's going to take months for me to rebuild my base."

"You're saying as if you're going to live," Niamh said as she raise her rifle and fires a single shot at Gatou's head. The bullet tore into Gatou's forehead, the bullet is a safe bullet so it didn't hit anyone standing behind him. The Safe Bullets are designed to spread out on impact or when they enter a body. They're called 'safe' because the bullet wouldn't go through the target and injure anyone else.

"You killed Gatou," Tazuna mutters as he had wished for this day for a long time, and now that it happen he felt a great weight lifted off his shoulders.

"Now that your boss is dead all of you should go now and keep your lives," Niamh said to the hired thugs.

"You think we're just going to go after coming all the way here and nothing to show for it!" one of the men shouted.

"We're going to take that village for everything its worth!" another thug shouted.

"Oh yeah," Niamh said as she points behind her. The group on the bridge turned to see that Inari had mobilized the town to stand up for itself. "They have something to say about that. And don't forget these ninjas and the ones you guys were about to kill, I'll say that they're not too happy about you guys wanting to kill them."

"Let's get out of here!" one of the men shouted as they ran onto the boat that brought them to the bridge. They all boarded and the ship took off down river. The villages cheered as they saw the body of Gatou on the bridge.

"That handles them," Niamh said as she turns to face the Mist ninjas. "As for you guys since you're not going to be paid anymore you guys are free to go."

"What you're just going to let them go?" Kakashi ask.

"Well let's just say I have a gut feeling about this," Niamh said to him.

"That may be true that we're no longer going to be paid but that weapon of yours," Zabuza said as he gazes onto her rifle.

"If you think you're going to take it from me. You'll have to fight for it first," Niamh said as she lifts her hand up to show him the black scarf that hid the lower part of Zabuza face in her hand.

Everyone's eyes widen as they saw what Niamh took from Zabuza and none of them saw how she did it. Even Sasuke, Kakashi, and Haku's sharp eyes didn't see how she did it.

"How did you?" Zabuza ask as he found his face uncovered and he has no idea how it was done.

"Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, pervert I have been lying to all of you about something," Niamh said as she faces Team 7.

"Hey!" Kakashi growls as even now she still thinks and calls him a pervert. (2)

"You asked me about me having a codename when I told you guys about myself when we first met. I do have a codename and my codename is 'Blink'," Niamh said. (3)

"Blink?" everyone in hearing range ask.

"That's because once you blink when you're facing me, it's all over," Niamh said as she faces the Mist ninjas. This time she held Haku's mask who found his face uncovered.

"When did you do that?" Sakura shouted.

"If I told you I'll have to cut off you hands and pull out your voice box so that there's no way for you to ever tell anyone about it," Niamh answers making Sakura make an eep sound as Niamh said as she means what she says.

"Fine then," Zabuza said. "Let's go."

"What just like that?" one of the Demon Brothers said to their leader.

"If she could take my scarf and Haku's mask without anyone seeing her doing it means she could have killed all of us at anytime," Zabuza said as he walks away with the others following close behind him.

"Could I have my mask back?" Haku asks Niamh turning around to face her who gave him a smile and suddenly he found his mask back on his face. The Mist Ninjas all disappeared in thick mist that suddenly appeared and disappeared taking them with it. (4)

"Niamh you're so cool!" Naruto shouted as he runs to his friend's side.

"I can't believe it you save our village!" Tazuna shouted running up to her.

"No you have Naruto to thank for it," Niamh said as she pats Naruto's head. "If it wasn't for him I would have never gone with you guys to your home."

"I am?" Naruto ask.

"Sure you're a true friend all you needed was someone to bring that side of you out," Niamh said.

"Well since Gatou and his base is destroyed looks like our mission is over," Sasuke said.

"Not until the bridge is finish," Niamh said. "And to help in rebuilding the village I took something from Gatou's base."

"What is it?" Tazuna ask.

"All of the money he kept in his vault not to mention a cargo shipyard full of trade goods, and other supplies," Niamh said as she use her hyper speed to get everything on board one of the ships and sailed it to the docks of the village.

"You did what?" Tazuna said not believing what he's hearing.

"As I said when I took this job. I'll do everything I can to help rebuild this village to what it was before," Niamh smiles.

!

Author's Notes

1 – Whatever happened to the two Demon Brothers after they were defeat by team 7?

2 – This is going to be a running gag throughout this story

3 – I couldn't think of a better codename and all of the fast names were already taken.

4 – That's not the last we'll be seeing of them.

!