LIES, LOVE AND BETRAYAL

Greetings from the void!

Okay folks I'm back with some more fanfic-y goodness. So with out further ado...

Chapter 7: Satori

Han's eyes widened, as he landed on the wall. Naruko and Fū went pale as they saw the creature in front of them.

A massive black scorpion as big as a building with razor sharp pincers, black exoskeleton, two thick red stripes going down its back and a long tail was like that of any scorpions except that it was not tipped with a stinger, but the head of a cobra, its fan plumed and its fangs bared.

-Refer to Song 2 in my profile-

The mercenary shinobi that surrounded the arachnid, jumped away in fear. However one of the men in front of the massive creature, wasn't quite quick enough. In the blink of an eye, the Scorpion struck with its cobra-tipped tail. Its massive expanding jaw latched down the upper body of the man, its fangs piercing through his body like it wasn't even there. The Cobra chomped down to ensure the mans death before it flung his lifeless body in the air above itself, then let the corpse plummet, vanishing into its gaping maw.

Many of the men-likely the most inexperienced of the group-began to panic. Though the apparent leader, and a handful of others, seemed unphased.

"Hmph, another wild beast." The leader scoffed. "This whole country needs to be burned to the ground."

One of the calmer members of the group landed next to the leader. This man carried a large scroll across his back, "Shall we prepare our little surprise for him, Boss?"

"Yes... Give me the scroll." The leader said.

The man pulled the scroll off his back and passed it to his Boss, who then laid it out and unraveled it on the ground.

The scorpion was already having a hay-day with many of the men surrounding it. Either by slicing them to ribbons with its pincers, swallowing them whole with its cobra tail, or by crushing and impaling them with one of its eight, razor-pointed legs.

Fū stood there in awe as the creature man-handled them, "What the hell is that thing?"

"It's not a Bijuu is it?" Naruko asked.

"Definitely NOT a Bijuu." Han answered, "Its certainly powerful though."

The man that once bore the large scroll on his back began circling around the beast to its left as he bit down on both his thumbs to draw blood. The man came to a stop and smeared the blood across seal markings in his palms. In puffs of smoke, two very large shuriken appeared in his hands. Each was completely covered in explosive tags.

"Have a taste of this!" The man shouted before he viciously threw each shuriken at the arachnid. The creatures eyes immediately detected the incoming threat and just before they impacted on his side, the creature actually jumped straight into the air, allowing the shuriken to pass below it.

"Not that easy!" The man shouted before chakra threads appeared, connected the tips of his middle fingers to the centers of the shuriken, with a few puppet like weaves of his fingers the shuriken immediately changed course, flying straight up into the creatures under belly. Both shuriken detonated on impact.

Both of the creatures heads released volatile roar-like hisses. But the creature landed safely, with black smoke leaking from under its body.

The man then summoned two more identical shuriken to his hands, before throwing them as well. But the scorpion countered by rearing its cobra head back, "Venom Cloud!" The raspy and gruff voice of the scorpion echoed out, just before its cobra tail opened its mouth and sprayed a green and purple jet of fog straight from its fang-tips.

It proved to be a most corrosive substance, as it consumed the shuriken and dissolved them into nothing in less than a second. The fast moving jet of toxins caused the man to freeze in fear, milliseconds before the cloud blasted past him and dissolved his body just as quickly as it did to his shuriken.

"I am beginning to like this bug." Han smirked under his mask.

Fū glared at Han, "It's not a bug, its an ARACHNID! God, why can people never get that right?!"

"If its crawls on the ground with more than four legs... it's a bug." Han retorted curtly.

"Really?! That's your reasoning? I expected you, Mister One-with-the-wild, of ALL people would know that's an arachnid!" Fū crossed her arms and sneered at him.

Han turned his gaze to her, "I specialize in beasts, not bugs."

"It's an ARACHNID!"

"Guys can you both just shut up and watch? That one guys doing something with that big scroll." Naruko interrupted them. They redirected their attention back the leader of the mercenary shinobi.

He had just finished a rather long string of hand signs before pressing his palm onto the intricate seal on the large scroll, "Fuuinjutsu: Binding Whirlpool Chains, release!" He shouted before ten silver chains, covering in seal markings, with razor-sharp spear tips came swirling out if the scroll before they each dug into the ground.

The scorpion had just slammed its right pincer down on one of the men, flattening him into a paste, when one of the chains sprouted from the ground and looped over said pincer, pinning it to the ground before it dug back into the soil.

Another chain sprouted up out of the ground behind the arachnid before it weaved its way up and wrapped itself around the length of the its tail before reaching the cobra head and wrapping around its jaws to keep them closed. Another chain shot out and pulled the creatures tail down, pinning it to ground. Then one chain after another continued to swirl around and ensnare its body, limp by limb until finally the scorpion was pinned flat against the ground.

The scorpion began to flail and squirm in a fruitless effort to free itself.

The leader stood up and smirked as his men began to regain their morale and lose their fear. He walked up to the creature and smirked down into its eight eyes that bore his reflection, "Stop struggling, those chains are preventing chakra from flowing through your disgusting body."

The scorpion growled and hissed at the man.

"You could have saved yourself from this trouble if you had just stepped aside and let us through."

Han crossed his arms in front of himself, "Well I guess that's the end of it."

"Screw that! I'm helping him." Naruko said before she jumped down from the wall to the courtyard. Han reached his hand out in disbelief, "Seriously? Are frigging stupid? It's not our fight OR our problem!"

"He's the one that gave me that anti-venom stuff. I owe him! He can't be that bad!" Naruko shouted from below just before she pulled out a kunai and threw it at the leader.

The man raised an eyebrow and turned to his right to see the kunai in time to lean his head back, avoiding it completely, "What's this now? More interference?"

Naruko summoned a clone and it began forming a rasengan in her hand as they ran in. A few of the shinobi charge at her, their weapons ready.

One man swiped his sword down at her only for her to thrust the sphere of chakra at him, smashing it through his katana and into his gut before he was sent hurdling through the air like a rocket.

The leader lazily trailed his subordinates course with his eyes, "Alright then." He said before pulling a tantou out of its sheath on his back, "Kill her." He ordered calmly. All of his men began charging and lunging at Naruko.

Fū shrugged and sprouted two wings before flying in after Naruko. Han merely face-palmed before he too, jumped down, forming hand signs. "Steam Spear!" He shouted as steam shot from the joints of his right arm and gathered in a spherical shape in the palm of his hand. He then thrust his hand forward and the sphere quickly stretched out into a point and flew through the air, piercing straight through one of the men who was attempting to attack Naruko, killing him instantly.

Naruko smirked, "Fū! Blind them!"

Fū quickly formed a set of hand signs, "Hidden Scale Powder!" she shouted before exhaling a massive cloud of the glittering dust, that rained onto the courtyard from above. The blanket of powder between those on the ground and what few rays of sun-light that peeked through the clouds, reflected the light magnificently.

Many of the men were instantly blinded. Just in time for Naruko and her Clone to pummel a few that stood in her way. The two Naruko's lunged at the leader, ready to strike. The man simply ducked under the real ones fist as she went by, then spun around and sliced the clone in half, dispersing it.

The real Naruko whirled back around, pulling the large scroll off her back and swinging it at the man who leaned back, avoiding it. He then spun around and kicked the girl in the side of her head. Sending her rolling across the ground.

From high in the sky, Fū came swooping in at subsonic speeds, plowing through several of the shinobi before aiming herself at their leaders back.

The leader didn't even look behind himself before he back flipped and, with that same motion, drove a kick into the back of Fū's head, sending her tumbling, face first into the ground, skidding several feet away before she corrected herself.

Han caught the fist of an opposing shinobi, just before using his other arm to snap his elbow in the opposite direction, at the same time delivering a fierce upper-cut to the mans chin before grabbing his hair and yanking his head down, snapping his neck and flipping him on to his back. He then spun around and used a steam amplified backhand to send another opponent rolling across the ground.

Han looked over to see Naruko and Fū caught in a taijutsu flurry with the leader, "He's definitely jonin or ANBU level." He said to himself just before whirling around and delivering a powerful kick to the gut of an attacking shinobi. This blow knocked the wind out of the mans chest before Han jumped up and delivered a devastating knee to the mans chin, lifting him high in the air with Han still following him.

Han planted his feet on the man and used him as a launching pad to jump father through the air. After a few flips Han brought a powerful kick down on the head of a shinobi below him, however he didn't stop there. With his momentum he pressed the man into the ground and rode him almost like a surf board. Han began to make the sliding body beneath him spin as he launched Bijuu arm-inspired hands of steam that pounded and clobbered one enemy after the next until he launched himself off of the mans body and sent him into the feet of another, propelling him into the air and straight into an overpowered, steam-fueled fist, courtesy of Han.

The mans head caved in and he was sent flying into one of the large vines, nearby.

Han landed with a surprisingly amount of grace. He turned to see Fū miss landing a punch on the leader who turned and grabbed her by one of her wings before slicing it off with his Tantou.

"AAhhhhhhhh" Fū shrieked in pain before she rolled forward. She attempted to grip the now bleeding stump that was once a beautiful wing.

The man inspected the wing, "Interesting Kekkei Genkai she has. If that's even what it is." he thought to himself before discarding the wing like a piece of litter.

Fū writhed in pain on the ground and Naruko started to feel her anger well up inside of her, "You bastard!" She shouted before forming two clones, each of which started forming a Rasengan in her hands.

Han noticed this and prepared himself by forming a string of hand signs.

Naruko lunged her attacks at the man, "Rasengan Barrage!"

The man scoffed and front flipped over her, planting his hand on her shoulder for a bit of an extra boost. He landed safely behind her. Naruko spun around and try to attack him again, but the second she made eye contact he was already holding up his index and middle fingers, "Kai." With that one word Naruko noticed an explosive tag attached to her shoulder, light up then, milliseconds later, it detonated.

The blast sent Naruko flopping, helplessly across the ground. Her frame trailing smoke in its wake.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" The man heard a voice behind him and whipped around barely in time to jump over the searing blaze of heat that Fū had released at him.

Fū sprouted her third and fourth wings to compensate for her now missing one. With one mighty flap she launched herself at the man and plowed head-first into his chest. Intercepting him in mid-air.

The man grunted with anger from the impact. Fū was already forming more hand signs, even with her head driving into the mans gut, "Wind style; Twin Gusts!" she flapped her wings and blew a gale of wind from her mouth that combined to create one swirling vortex in side of an even bigger one. The blast of wind sent the man into a Vine, causing a small crater upon impact.

"Y-You little... wh-whore. You'll pay for th-that" The man cursed.

"To make her pay for that you'd have to survive what I'm about to do to you." The man heard and looked up to see Han standing on the vine, just now finishing his hand signs, "Which you wont. Forbidden Art; Evaporation Zone!"

The man was just about to jump from the vine but a dome-like sphere of pure boiling steam expanded from around Han's body. It grew to such size it consumed the whole section of the massive vine, including the man.

An agonizing and gut-wrenching scream of pure agony echoed from the dome of steam for about three seconds before it faded. The dome then quickly shrank back down and dissipated. Leaving the section of vine completely withered, dry and dead. The mans body was also in a similarly withered state. He was nothing but leathery skin and bones.

The few remaining mercenaries that were still alive took this as their cue to get the hell out of there.

Han jumped down and walked towards Fū, who was panting. "Good lord. You two are the most impulsive idiots I've ever see. Do you see what happens when you rush into something you don't understand? Fū! You're even worse! You think that just because you're a Jinchuuriki you're unstoppable! Well news flash kid, you're not! You're lucky he was toying with you and only decided to cut your wing off instead of your head!"

Fū looked down and away in shame. She didn't even have a comeback for that one.

"Hey! Don't take it out on her!" Naruko said as she walked up, holding her shoulder, "I'm the one that rushed in. Yell at me if you have to yell at all."

"Both of you need some sense beaten into you." Han said.

The trio began a small argument as the Scorpion intently watched them. It was still pinned by the chains.

Han sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, then turned his attention back to the scorpion, "So what do we do about him?" He asked

"Free him from the chains, of course." Naruko said before she walked over to the scroll that the chains protruded from.

"Really? Cause I say we leave him like that and get out of here. He's already showed us hostility." Han said.

Naruko just ignored Han's statement.

"Of course it's not like you're going to listen to me..." Han sighed again before approaching the scroll with Fū in tow.

Naruko knelt down and examined the scroll and its seal work, "I'm still not that good at seal work, but If my guess is right all I have to do to retract the chains is this..." She said before pushing two fingers against the center trigram, "Fuuin!" she said as she pumped a little chakra into the seal. The chains instantly vanished in puffs of smoke.

The scorpion launched had its cobra tail bare its fangs at the trio.

Naruko stood up and held her hands up in a safe gesture, "It's okay! we don't want to fight!"

"You expect me to believe you? When moments after you left here those bastards attacked?!" The arachnid growled.

"We didn't have anything to do with that. We aren't affiliated with these nobodies." Fū stated.

"I don't care. I've already told you once! None are welcome here! Leave now before I dissolve you all!" He ordered as he took a few steps towards them. However an echoing voice halted him in his tracks.

"That's enough Doku." The feminine voice called out. It seemed to be coming from all directions, "Be at ease."

"But, we can't trust outsiders! All of them have been nothing but trouble!"

"Doku, it's okay. I sense no hostile intent. In fact, it's quite the opposite."

"Where the hell is that voice coming from?" Fū asked as she looked around.

"I apologize for my Guardians abrasive nature. Doku please bring them to me. I will explain."

With a sigh and a puff of green smoke the scorpion returned to his cloaked human shape, "As you wish. Follow me." He instructed before turning towards the entrance of the mansion.

The trio exchanged looks before Naruko shrugged and started following Doku. The others then followed her.

Once inside Doku began leading them through the vast halls of the mansion until they reached a large spiral stair case that lead all the way to basement and to the top floor.

He silently lead them down the staircase that seemed to go on forever. Naruko picked up her pass a bit to catch up to the man, "Hey, its Doku, right?"

"What is it?" The man asked blankly.

"I just wanted to thank you for that antidote. I'd be dead if it wasn't for you." She said.

Doku merely shifted his shadowed eyes to the girl, then back to the stairs.

They reached the basement and Doku lead them to an old storage room. He walked up to an old suit of Samurai armor, that was poised proudly with its Katana tip on the ground and its hands resting on the end of the hilt.

Doku grabbed the katana and pulled it out from under the armors hands. With out this brace, the arms lowered in an almost mechanical fashion, just before a loud clicking noise was heard and the stone wall behind the armor folded in like a pair of suicide doors, revealing another set of stairs.

Doku propped the katana against a nearby crate before walking into the secret passage.

"hhm... I expected the book shelf or a torch holder to open a secret path." Fū stated.

"Everyone does. That's why its not one of those." Doku said.

After they followed the stairs down about another floors worth, they came to a small room with a large metal door on the other end. Doku walked up and pushed the large door open revealing a large underground chamber. The chamber walls were lined with vines. It appeared to be a bottomless pit that a gentle blue light seemed to emit from. The only thing to walk on was a thin stone bridge that lead to a platform in the center of chamber.

Doku brought them to the center before stopping. "Here they are." He announced.

"Thank you Doku." They heard the voice once again. Just then the light from below grew a bit brighter, soon the trio realized it was because the light source was rising up to them from the pit.

Within moments the blue spectral form of a beautiful young woman rose up in front of them. Her body-long hair flowed gracefully around her. Her nude appearance revealed a sensual and curvy body with C-cup breasts.

The trio just kind of stared at her radiant opalescence.

The spectral female opened her eyes to look upon her guests, "Greetings my friends. My name is Satori, the Spirit of the Vine."

"Okay, yeah, that's definitely a new one in my book." Han stated in awe.

Satori let out a slight giggle, "What are your names?" She asked

"I'm Uzumaki Naruko."

"I'm Fū"

"And I am Han no Gobi."

"I was asking the girls. I am already very aware of who you are Han. After all, Kokuo is a friend of mine."

"You're what hurts?" Han asked with a bit of disbelief.

Satori giggled again, "Yes, I've been in contact with Kokuo since you three arrived in the valley. That's the main reason I trusted you three enough to let you down here."

"That explains why he's been quiet since we got here." Han looked at the seal on the back of his hand.

"Oh, I assure you he's been anything but quiet. I forgot how much of a talker he was." Satori smiled.

"So you mean to tell me that you're friends with the Gobi?" Fū asked, "What is this? Coincidence day?"

"There is no such thing as coincidence. Only fate." Satori answered.

"So what are your guys' story?" Naruko asked.

"Well it all started almost three hundred years ago. The feudal lord of what is now known as the Wind country, built this mansion as a Safe house. Then when assassins sent by a political rival almost killed him, he fled with his family and small number of loyal servants to this valley." She explained, "Deciding that giving up his title of feudal lord was the best way to keep his family safe, they remained here. But several months later his daughter was poisoned by an assassin, with the venom of a red back scorpion."

"That's terrible..." Naruko said.

"Shortly before that, they had discovered the capabilities of the vines that cover this country. They deemed them, Chakra Vines. Just like specially crafted metals of the modern day, these vines can be manipulated with chakra. They also have several medicinal purposes. However their knowledge was not expansive enough to prevent the young girl from dying. She was on her death bed with only hours to live. Her father, in a moment of grief and desperation, had his most trusted advisor use a forbidden art, to extract her soul, chakra, lifeforce and mind from her dying body. He then sealed it within the Great Tangle. The very roots of the vines."

"Obviously that was you." Han said as he slipped his hand into his gi.

Satori nodded, "In doing this I was able to live on, eternally linked to the Vines. Although I don't age and must live forever, it does come with useful perks. I am able to see, feel and communicate with anything that's within the range of the vines. Everything from complex life-forms like Bijuu, to humans, to the simplest of insects."

"That's sooo cool" Naruko awed.

"I thought so too, at first." Satori giggled, "But I soon realized this is partially a curse. My friends and family aged away and died, while I remained. I also discovered the weight of responsibility that came with this gift. After a couple of decades had passed and my family was gone, I grew lonely. Until Kokuo happened upon this Valley. We became friends. However Kokuo was a wild and free-spirited being. So he would often leave the country to travel and see the world. But he always returned. That went on for almost fifty years. But then one time he left to venture north. I never saw him again after that until now."

"Iwa sealed him away. It wasn't his fault." Han stated.

"I know, I understand that now. I thought he had abandoned me. Not long after that, I met Doku here. He had traveled far, from another continent. He had collapsed in the far western reaches of the Dreadlands, nearly starved to death, wounded by humans who were hunting him. I used the vines to protect him and bring him here where I healed his wounds. He's been with me ever since. My own self-appointed guardian." She giggled.

Doku blushed under the shadow of his hood.

A light bulb went off in Naruko's head, "Wait a minute, you said you were stung by a Red back scorpion." She turned to Doku, "Is that why you helped me when I was stung by one? Because Satori had to endure that?"

Doku nodded, "Yes. I saw a bit of Satori in you at that time, and I didn't wish for more needless deaths."

"See? Told you he wasn't such a bad guy!" Naruko smirked at her two comrades.

"You all must be tired, cold and sore." Satori stated as she held her palm out to them, "Here, this should help." She said as three vines peeled them selves off the walls. One went towards Doku, one to Naruko and one to Fū. Flower-like bulbs suddenly grew from the vines and bloomed, releasing a gentle flow of green chakra onto the three. Their wounds quickly healed and vanished.

"Wow, the pain is gone." Fū said. Just to be sure, she sprouted her wings and the one that was severed had grown back, as good as new.

"Jeeze, you can do allot can't you?" Naruko asked.

"What? I don't get any awesome healing chakra?" Han asked.

"Forgive me if I am mistaken, but you aren't injured in any way, are you?" Satori looked at him with her head slightly cocked to the side.

"Well... no, I'm not, but it would have been nice to have been considered." Han said as he crossed his arms.

"You're adorable. Very much like Kokuo!" Satori said. Her, Naruko and Fū all started giggling at the armored man.

Han's eye twitched and Doku merely shook his head.

NEXT CHAPTER:

The Jinchuuriki request Satori's help in finding Yoshimaru

Has the trio found two powerful new allies?

Well there was chapter 7! Again sorry for the wait. I hope you all enjoyed.

'Til next time this is Damiad signing off from the Void!