Rogue Valley

!

The pass between the mountains known as Rogue Valley is a place that's been plague with bandits since anyone could remember a valley there. Because of its remote location made it a perfect place for bandits to attack the wagon trains that took the pass. Ninjas would be use to clean up the bandit gangs to allow the wagon trains to use the fastest route between the Land of Fire and the Land of Honey. But the absence of any kind of law invites an unsavory element to linger, even with the hire ninjas to clear out the pass.

Up on the valleys cliff face Niamh and Maki stared down at the valley before them and the well worn path on the valley floor below them. Using her binoculars Niamh looks for any signs of life down in the valley. The sun is already peaking from the horizon, both of them had stop at a roadside inn last night. Niamh had needed to refuel her bike and both of them needed something to eat. Niamh was glad that the gas that's use to run the motor boats here works with her bike.

"Have any idea where they might be hiding at?" Niamh ask her companion.

"The last time I was here I saw an old abandon inn that use to be a place where people stop to rest but close after it was discover that the owner hirer bandits to rob the people who stop at his inn," Maki explain. "It's located at a small hot spring and bandits have been using it as a hideout for as long the building has been standing. The inn is built on the cliff face and the small pathway leading to the building makes it easy to defend."

"Looks like we're going to be paying them a visit," Niamh said pocketing the binoculars in her vest pocket.

"We're just going to ride on in and ask them to get the item that was stolen back?" Maki ask.

"That way we'll know if they still have it," Niamh said as she hops onto her bike.

"A simple plan," Maki said as she climbs behind Niamh. "Let's see if they're home shall we?"

"Though you would never ask," Niamh said as she kicks the bike into high gear and drives down the path going down into the valley.

"By the way," Maki spoke up. "Will I get to use one of those guns of yours?"

"Well you're a sword user not a long range attacker so your aim wouldn't be that great," Niamh said. "You're more of a bomb user."

"Really?" Maki ask as she holds on as they ride down the valley.

"Yeah I give you the bottle-rocket launcher that I been working on," Niamh said. (1)

"Is it like a firecracker?" Maki ask as she seen them shoot up into the air at parties during the new year.

"Its much better then that," Niamh said being glad she had grown up in a house full of brothers.

!

Back in the Hidden Village of the Leaf –

Kakashi stared at his rival as he's been spread out on a bed with doctors working over his body. His students had done their best in taking out the bullets that been shot into him. One of Gai's students also been wounded during the raid on the village that was attack, and was now in a room resting from the exam the doctors gave her. And now all they could do is wait for the best.

"How is he doing?" Asuma ask.

"The doctors said that he'll be lucky that he'll be able to move his left arm after this," Kakashi said as he's been waiting outside the operation room since Gai was brought in. "What of the weapons that were taken during the raid?"

"The Hokage has them lock in his office till Niamh comes back to see them," Asuma said. "Is this what it was like when you saw what the power of a gun can do?"

"When I first saw the bodies of the three men that attack Niamh when we first met her, I couldn't believe the power that her weapons pack in something so small. It wasn't until I saw her shoot Zabuza's sword out of his hands that I finally began to understand the power her weapons are really capable of. Then when Naruto save us from Zabuza's group with the gun she gave him I understood that one person with a gun could be able to take control of a fight easily," Kakashi explains.

"The council wants the Hokage to take all of Niamhs guns to take them apart and learn how to make more of them," the chain smoker said. "But the Hokage reminded them that once Niamh gets back and finds what has happen to his weapons, well you could only imagine what's going to happen after that."

"Yes I know," the one eye pervert said. "With her bloodline she'll be able to easily kill all of us, unless we get the drop on her first. But even if we did there's Naruto to take account for. He showed amazing skill with his gun during the battle on the bridge, ending the fighting with six well place shots, Niamh had train him well in not wasting a bullet."

"How strong has he become?" Asuma ask.

"From what I have seen he's able to fight on a even ground with Niamh when she trains him in the Gun Kata as she calls it. It's real interesting as they fight with the wooden knives well also trying to get a shot in with their guns. I never seen a fighting style that merge both long and short range attacks so gracefully before," Kakashi said as he had spied on the training Niamh had Naruto running through after she had taken both Naruto on Sakura out of his hands. "And the combat training she's teaching Sakura, besides the knife fighting moves she's teaching her, Niamh also has her learning something call wrestling using her natural strength to their full power. They may not be graceful but they get the job done."

"Both of them aren't going to take it well if we attack Niamh," Asuma said as he has seen that both of Kakashi student's listens to Niamh more then their teacher ever since Niamh came to the village. "They're more her students then yours now. But if I had the choice of choosing between you and her I would go with the later."

"Have I fallen that low?" Kakashi ask him.

"Well… ever since Niamh came and began hanging you naked in public places your status in the village has fallen to the village fool," Asuma smirks.

"Too bad she isn't here now she's the only one who knows how to treat bullet wounds," Kakashi said as the doctors are treating Gai's wounds like arrowhead wounds, by digging into his flesh with medic tools for the small bullets buried into his upper body.

"Don't worry about it," a new voice spoke up. "Sandaime is sending for my old teammate, Tsunade to look at his wounds."

"Jiraiya you're up already?" Kakashi said as the bandaged older ninja walk over to them.

"Takes more then that to take me down," Jiraiya said.

"Something the women of this village are sorry to hear," Asuma said.

"What about Naruto," Jiraiya ask Kakashi. "He's Niamh's student after all so she must have told him about treating gunshot wounds."

"I already thought of that and sent one of my ninja dogs to ask him," Kakashi said. "He said that Niamh taught him that to treat a gunshot wound he must first clean the wound before removing the bullet and anything else that was forced into the body by the bullet."

"Who were the ones who attack them?" Jiraiya ask.

"Ugly Chris and his gang," Kakashi said. "A small time gang that usually works the short end of the stick, finding out that he and his gang are responsible for their was surprising. His gang is made up of noting but two bit crocks and cowards who take off the first signs of someone who's stronger then they are."

"Think that they found the guns wash ashore?" Asuma ask.

"No I saw the guns Gai's team took from the gang and they don't look like the guns that Niamh has," Kakashi said. "They look crudely made compare to Niamh's but are still more advance then any weapons we have."

"Good thing that they weren't in the hands of people who know how to use them," Asuma said.

"Yes and that gives me an uneasy feeling," Jiraiya said.

"That they were only being use as a test run?" Asuma ask.

"Yes," the aged pervert said.

"And two of the Ugly Chris gang members manage to escape during all of the confusion during the attack," Kakashi adds. "We know that there six gang members and after the battle, only four of the member's bodies were found. The gang members Hedgehog and Whiskey escape with what they took from the village and any weapons that they manage to gather before they fled."

!

In the Hokage tower –

"As you all know, Gai's team been attack by a group of two-bit bandits arm with weapons like Niamh's," the third Hoakge said to the group of ninjas in front of him. "I want everyone to find as much as you can on the whereabouts of the remaining members of the Chris Ugly gang and where they got these weapons." On his desk is the muilt-barrel rifle that Chris Ugly use to shoot Gai, the power handsaw, the flare gun, the fire bottles, and the gas power crossbow, that were recovered during the fight.

"What about Niamh?" Anko ask.

"She was hired for a job on the border of Honey in the Rogue Valley pass," Kurenia spoke up. "She won't be back until she completes it."

"Well when she's gets back here we need to find out what she knows about those weapons," Ibiki said.

"I'll be careful in how you question her or she might do to you what she does with Kakashi," Kurenia said to him.

"Wouldn't it be better to look over her weapons now that she's gone?" one of the ninjas in the room asked.

"And then what?" Kurenia ask. "I have been at the little fort she had my team build and I still know very little about her and her equipment. I don't even know where she keeps them or where to look."

"And she easily had my former student beaten," the 3rd said.

"She did have some help there," Anko said as she had taken part in the beating of that old pervert.

"Niamh doesn't response to treats and with her bloodline she'll be able to takeout any attack force that's thrown at her," Kurenia said. "The only weakness she has is that she needs to eat a lot of fatty foods to keep up her body weight and energy to use her bloodline. I guess making her to use her bloodline over and over again would drain her but how to get her to use that much without losing a lot of ninjas is the problem."

"How long can she use it?" Ibiki ask her.

"I have no idea. But considering how much she can do when she use it, she doesn't need a lot of time to take someone out, all she has to do is use her knife to cut the throats of attacker before they even know what hit them," Kurenia replies. "The only person who might know is Naruto."

"Let me ask him then," Ibiki said to the Hokage.

"I'll do that myself," the 3rd said. "Otherwise Niamh is going to pay you a visit with your usually methods of getting people to talk."

"Yeah and you'll be the new laughing stock of the village," Anko smirks at Ibiki. "Come to think of it… I would like to see that."

"Enough," the 3rd said. "Niamh belongings along with the fort and her students are off limits. She's an uneasy ally as it is, with her disliking how many of the people of the village treats Naruto. If anything happenings to either Naruto or any of her belonging's goes missing, she can quickly turn into a deadly enemy. I seen the wounds Gai received from being shot and he's one of the strongest ninja's in the village. Seeing that kind of damage a gun can do to a target is one thing but seeing what it does to a human body is another. I can see now what Kakashi said to never be on the wrong side of a gun."

"And if she learns about the demon sealed inside of Naruto…" Kurenia said trailing off thinking of what she might do. "She does treat Naruto like a little brother from what I have seen. And the way some of the villagers treat Naruto, I don't see how she would stay in the village with the only thing keeping her here is Naruto. Or she might take him with her."

"Yes and that's why everyone must be careful around her and behave around Naruto," Sandaime said. "We can't afford to lose Niamh as an ally with the present developments occurring."

!

In Rogue Valley –

"We're just going to burst into the old inn and start wreaking the place?" Maki ask Niamh as she holds onto her as they sped down the road towards the old inn.

"That's the plan," Niamh said as she steps the pedal to the metal.

"That's my kind of plan," Maki said.

They rode up till they could make out the roof of the old inn building. Niamh turn off the engine and told Maki to get off, as they're going to be walking to get a surprise on the bandit gang. But the sound of a loud bang caught their attention. Grabbing her binoculars Niamh saw one of the walls of the inn has been smash open. A young girl in a martial artist grab and a woman in a kendo outfit ran out of the hole as a table came flying out of the hole aimed at them.

!

At the inn –

"Ran watch out!" Meow shouted as she held onto the bag of loot she took from the bandit's hideout. Meow is a martial artist who is skilled in the fighting style dubbed Nekotekken or Iron Cat Fist. Meow is rather hyperactive at times and has quite a definite sense of justice, but she often leaps into situations with little thought as to the consequences. Her long brown hair is made up into a ponytail braid with the hair knot to the back of her head is covered with a pink cloth.

Ran Tsukikag the wandering ronin said nothing as she cuts the table in two with her katana. The only thing that surpasses her skills with a blade is her craving for sake. She flips her long black hair back in place behind her back as she prepares for the fight in front of her. Stepping out of the hole of the inn is a man wearing a bloody apron carrying a large knife and next to him is a large fat man holding a large war axe.

"You two aren't going to be leaving here with our loot," Bloody Tom said.

"Prepare to dice and slice," Digs said holding up his axe high in the air for a power swing.

"I'll like to see you try," Meow said tossing the bag of loot aside and took a fighting stance.

"Alright lets," a large muscular said as he walks out through the hole followed by a smaller man. The large man is built like a tank wearing an open vest and pants, while the other man is wearing a long jacket. The big guy is armed with knuckle blades and the smaller man is armed with a crossbow.

"Sam you take the small girl while I handle the one with the oversize knife," the man with the crossbow said.

"Right Dan," the man Sam said as he huddle down and charge head first at Meow like a rampaging bull.

Ran tried to stop the charging mountain of muscles but was stop as a crossbow bolt struck her sword. She turns to see both Digs and Bloody Tom running at her, she blocks the blade of Tom's and ducks her head as Digs took a swing at her head with his axe. Ran quickly found herself put on the defense as the two bandits attack her on two fronts.

Meow stood her ground as the huge mountain of a man Sam charge at her. As he was about to hit her, Meow grab him by his head and using his own speed against him and sent him crashing head first into the ground. Sam quickly got back up and took a swing at her but Meow back-flipped out of range and leap forward kicking him on his chest. But she found herself falling back as she bounce off of him, she felt like she just stuck a stone wall. He brought both of his fists down on her if she didn't roll out of the way first, he left a big crater in the ground where he had struck.

"What are you made out of?" Meow said as she jumps in and out of swings at her, trying to find a weak spot on his body as she punch and kicks him here and there.

"Much stronger stuff then you are," Sam said as he swings wildly at her.

'He's strong and tough, but I'm faster then him,' Meow thought to herself as she plays the odds in her head. Sam slaps his hands together as she darted him in and uppercut him in his chin, the force created a shockwave as he tries to hit her, the wave only made enough wind to make her hair fly up letting her know how powerful he is. 'But I can't let him get one hit in or I'm finish. I felt that from six feet from him.'

Ran is also having problems as the two bandits continue to attack her. She blocks an overhead swing from Bloody Tom before she kicks him away and turns to block the swing from Dig's axe. Her blade met with the wood handle of the axe cutting through it and before he could react, reverse her sword slamming its hilt into his fat stomach and flips the blade to meet with his neck. She japs her sword into the underside of his chin and pulls out as she ducks her head as Dan fires his crossbow at her.

"You bitch!" Bloody Tom shouted as he rushes her swinging wildly at her with his blade.

Ran deflects his blade with one blow and using the momentum of her first swing to reverse her blade and cuts his sword arm off. He fell to the ground holding the stump that use to be his arm trying to stop the bleeding. She would have finish him off if Dan hadn't fired another crossbow bolt at her, making her jump back as it shot through where she was standing at a second ago.

"Stay still damn you!" Dan yells as he reloads his weapon but a sound like thunder suddenly echoes through the valley. He suddenly felt something coming at him and turn just in time to see something small flying right at him.

"DAN!" Sam shouted as he watches something struck his brothers forehead blowing the back part of his head off. He let out a grunt as a massive sword blade shot through his chest.

"Sorry but we only need one of you alive," said a tall woman on the other end of the sword as she jerks her boardsword making him feel her blade as she pulls it out.

"Who are you?" Meow asked the tall woman who help her.

"Names Maki," the redhead with the big sword greeted the shorter woman.

"And my name is Niamh," another woman holding a strange long pipe thing in her hands.

"Who are you two?" Ran asked in her usually calm voice but kept her hand on her sword as in her kind of business she couldn't lower her guard for a moment.

"We were hired to get back an item these bandits took from a wagon train," Niamh said pointing to the bleeding Bloody Tom.

"Well we're after the bounties on their heads," Meow said.

"Alright this won't take long," Niamh said as she steps on Bloody Tom's back as he was getting up. "Tell me do you still have a small metal box with a butterfly design on it?"

"I… I think they have it," Bloody Tom said pointing to Ran and Meow.

"I check," Meow said looking into the bag of loot. She fumbles around in the bag for a minute or two before popping back out with a small metal box with a butterfly design on it, she toss the box over to Niamh. "Here catch."

"Thanks," Niamh said before turning back to Bloody Tom under her foot. "What does the bounty on him say?"

"He's wanted died," Ran said fingering her sword. "We don't collect the reward on his head if he's alive. After he and his gang done to the people on the wagon trains no one wants them alive."

"Too bad for you," Niamh said as she points her knife downward.

"No!" Bloody Tom said as she stabs him in his neck letting him bleed to death.

"From the file I got on them there are three more members of this bandit group," Niamh said getting back up after making sure Bloody Tom was really dead. "Bad Bessie, Sissy and Hatchet are missing."

"They're the only ones we found when we got here," Ran said lowering her sword seeing that the two women Niamh and Maki weren't dangerous to her or her partner. "The other three must be out."

Niamh was about to say something when a sound of something spinning through the air. As the low whining sound got closer, Niamh could make out the spinning weapon of a circler shuriken heading straight for her head. The dish buried itself deep into the bedrock of the valley floor.

"Alright you got my attention," Niamh said as she had use her power at the last second to make it look like the razor dish had went right through her like a ghost to Maki and the other two women.

A deep, baritone voice that sounded as though it held the power of a force of nature, like a hurricane, behind it bellowed out, "Niamh Bradley!"

The party of four looked up to see a huge, cloaked stranger standing directly in front of them.

"I'm Niamh Bradely," the female soldier said.

The man's head jerked under the hood. Slowly he pulled it back revealing a man in his late thirties with a handsome, if weary, face. He brushed back his cloak, revealing underneath an open black leather vest and a chest that appeared as though it had been carved from chiseled rock. More noticeable than the excellent physique was the set of large scars crisscrossing his chest.

Meow placed a hand on her partner Ran's arm. "I don't like the looks of this guy."

"I do to," Ran responded. "He's Razor one of the top five assassins of the Elemental countries. He's strong and skilled enough to fight against the elite ninjas of any of the Hidden Villages. Only someone with a lot of money would be able to hirer someone like him."

"Assassin then," Niamh said as she lowers her rifle as she stares at her would be killer.

The air seemed to fill with electricity. Tensions rose as the man's gaze seemed to try to burn holes in the much smaller girl.

Maki began to position herself between Niamh and the stranger. "You'd better let me handle…"

Niamh placed a hand on her chest to prevent her from continuing to move in front of her. There was an iron in her voice she had not heard before as she stated in cold, hard tones, "No. He's come for me. I'll deal with this." Before Maki could protest, she took a step towards the man.

The hint of potential violence that hung in the air increased as the distance between the two lessened. The man's eyes glowed twice as bright, and his face became a sneer as Niamh continued walking until she stood directly in front of him. She balled her rifle, and her feet shifted. Maki noted she could move to the right or left quickly should the need arise.

"You wanted me?" she asked.

The man looked down at the smaller girl. He flexed hands that were large enough to engulf her head and crumple it the way a person might crumple a piece of paper. "Yes. I've come a long way to meet you. I've traveled decades and untold thousands of miles to see you here on this day. And now, it's time for you to die!" His hands were a blur as they went under his cloak, pulling out two more razor dish and threw both of them at her.

Niamh's form blurred again as the dish tore through the afterimage she had left behind. She appeared next to the man aiming her rifle at his head at pointblank range. "Would you tell me what this is about?"

"Tales of you have reached far and wide since you killed Gatuo, about your bloodline power and your weapons from across the sea. Many see you as a treat for what you might bring and what you might do. I have been hired to make sure the Leaf Village won't become more powerful then it already is," Razor said.

"I'm not with the Leaf, I'm just staying there to train some students I decided to train," Niamh said.

"Yes but with those weapons in your student's hands who are from the Leaf the balance of power will swift to the Leafs," Razor said. "And I here to make sure their raise of power ends here!" He move at a speed that made him look nothing more then a blur to the eyes of Maki and the others watching on the sidelines, even an elite ninja wouldn't have been able to move out of the way fast enough at that kind of blinding speed. His fist slammed down into the ground burying it to his elbow, he couldn't believe that someone had manage to avoid his attack, not even a S-class ninja was able to avoid his surprise attack at that kind of range. Pumping all of his chakra so he'll be able to make one short burst of speed that's so fast that most didn't even know he had killed them afterwards.

"If you want to kill me you're going to have to do better then that," Niamh said now standing in front of the hole Razor made. She has her handgun out and knife with her rifle on her back.

"I see that the tales I heard about you aren't made up," Razor said as he sprang into action pulling out ring blades and with surprising grace for someone of his size and built began attacking Niamh, as she defends herself with her knife and gun. She blocks with the flat side of her knife and uses her gun to deflect the blades as she hits the flat side of blades.

"You know you can just back down," Niamh said as she calmly blocks all of Razor's attacks like waving off a balloon being thrown at you.

"I live for the trill and you are the strongest I have met let," Razor said as his arms blurred to the point it looks like he's armless. "To test my skill and see what I need to work on is what I live for."

"That's why you kill?" Naimh ask.

"What of it?" he replies.

"Then I will end this," Niamh said coldly as she steps back and fires a single round into his forehead. Razor reeled back and fell flat on his back with a clean bullet hole in his forehead exiting through the back.

"Wow she just killed one of the strongest assassins around," Meow said starring at Niamh.

"That's why I'm with her to become as strong as she is," Maki said.

Ran said nothing as she stares at the woman who displayed skills with weapons she had never seen before. She moves with such grace and the flow of her movements was like water, knowing where each of Razors blows would be allowing her to block or deflect them with ease. Like a videogame where you can replay the level again and again till you know how your opponent is going to attack. She couldn't but help wonder if she'll be willing to train her in her art.

!

Up on the Valley cliff –

"She's strong enough to kill Razor one of the top five assassins," a young man with silver hair said watching the action below.

"What about my men?" Bad Bessie said as she grips her whip in rage of losing not only the loot they stole but also her bandit members.

"Let me bury them!" Sissy said as he looks around for a big rock to throw down.

"No I got the information I wanted," the young man said.

"What happens now Viper?" Hatcher asked the young man.

"We regroup at homebase," Viper said. "The air of the valley isn't good for my completion."

"Just like that?" Bad Bessie said glaring at the young man. Viper, narcissistic almost to a point of obsession, he has a high opinion when it comes to the subject of beauty, but his basis of beauty can be incomprehensible. Moreover, trying to understand his motives proves to be extremely difficult.

"Unless you think you'll be able to beat her?" Viper asked her.

"I should have never joined your group. We were better off working by ourselves," she said as she walks off.

"What about that woman?" Sissy asked his boss.

"Yeah I want to pay them back," Hatcher said.

"We will, believe me we will," Bad Bessie said as she strikes out with her whip breaking a large rock in half.

"Now that I know the kind of power her weapon have. We'll be able to upgrade ours to be able to stand up to hers," Viper smiles as he gives Niamh one last glance before he walks off.

!

Author's Notes

1 – Bottle rockets describe any of a large variety of small scale skyrocket. The name derives from people launching them out of bottles and are usually attached to sticks for stabilization so they take a preplanned flight course. These small skyrockets have been made at least since the early decades of the 20th century in many countries including Japan, China, and the former colony of Portuguese Macao. The older type of bottle rocket was typically a black powder skyrocket with a motor about two inches (5 cm) long and up to 0.375 inch (9 mm) diameter, mounted on a thin bamboo splint and often having a small report charge. A later variant utilizes a whistling propellant pressed into a plastic tube. Some varieties have different effects, such ascending spark tails, colored tails, and even small star bursts. Many of these rockets are cheaply mass-produced and can be sold for a relatively low price. As for the bottle-rocket launcher it be like the one used in Bully the videogame.

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