Karui's hands moved quickly and surprisingly accurate in the darkness. After fully disarming Hiroyuki she propped the short man against a tree and tied him up with a combination of razor line and rope. When satisfied that he would not be able to escape she contemplated lighting a match to check the status of the stab wound on his shoulder; but rather than risk her night vision, she trusted in her skill with the sword to not inflict a serious injury.
The conditions were less than ideal. The mist grew heavier, but had none of the properties of the strange clouds encountered over the past few days. As much as she was glad of the change, it was unsettling to think of a vapor that can inhibit chakra. Looking up to the sky yielded nothing, as the moon and stars were well hidden behind clouds that would freeze on their way north eventually dropping snow along the northern coastline.
Claws digging into the soft ground was the only noise Karui could make out, Akamaru had been keeping busy making ditches and shallow recesses for Kiba's crude traps. Though he had said his specialty was not in making traps, her reassurance that Hiroyuki had been a terrible teacher convinced him to take over the task. When completed Kiba easily found his way through the darkness to her.
"Explosives are set," He said in a voice lower than a whisper, "I only smell one person coming this way. I'll use the explosives to drive him towards the dry creek where you'll be waiting."
"And if that doesn't work and you need backup?"
"I'll fire off one of those flares."
Satisfied with the plan, Karui made her way back to the seasonal river bed. Knowing the evening would soon get bright once again she rubbed her eyes in an attempt to enhance her focus, though even if she had excellent night vision she would still see little in the fog. The wind began to pick up. The chill in the air was so that she retied her forehead protector so that it covered her ears better. She debated removing her earrings as well, but decided not to.
The wind's strength continued to increase, nearing the point of it seeming unnatural. She turned back the way she came when the first explosion broke the evening's quiet. Hearing a noise spring up behind her she drew her sword to find a nocturnal deer run out of her vision. It was then she realized that the wind had thinned the fog significantly, even more surprising was that the moon was shining in it's waning phase in the sky. Two more explosions came in rapid succession, their distance seeming farther away than the first one. When she could barely hear the fourth one she became worried.
"Agh!" she grunted as she shielded her eyes, the sky became bright green as a flare shot up from the ground.
Running as fast as she could, she knew she was still a few minutes away from Kiba's location. On her approach she confirmed one suspicion that she had, this wind was definitely not natural.
Taking cover in one of the shallow ditches did little to shield Kiba from the near hurricane force of the wind, but it prevented the fast flying debris from hitting his front. After setting off the flare Kiba had lost track of Akamaru, and in this wind his ability to track by smell was useless. When the wind died down slightly, Kiba focused his chakra to get a better position of the man in the wind. It seemed that the hurricane force gales lasted for only a minute or so, requiring some time to build them up again.
Finding his target's scent, Kiba activated the bombs he had planted near that position. Sending up the flare meant the original plan of driving him to the river was finished, but the bombs might still be useful.
A concussion wave filled the air, as though the force of the bombs was amplified and directed specifically towards Kiba. He struggled to keep his footing, but the shockwave temporarily threw off his equilibrium. In a haze he saw a dark shape with dreadlocked hair moving towards him. Grabbing a kunai he attempted to throw it but dropped it in a weakened grip.
"I wondered when we'd finally have an assassination squad come up here. My money was on tomorrow, guess I lose another bet to the Sage." the man's voice rang distorted in Kiba's ears.
With his head finally starting to clear Kiba saw the man was wearing very dark tights, a large bag was hanging from his waist. Unsheathing a short sword strapped to his back he flipped it between his two hand before he brought it down on Kiba.
"Ha!"
Karui's own sword flashed as the moonlight reflected off it, knocking the much smaller blade out of the dark man's hands. He leaped back finding a smoke cloud appear next to him. Akamaru had been disguising himself as a large tree root and made to bite the shinobi's arm. In a move better suited to a dancer than a fighter he spun and kicked the large ninken to the side.
Back on his feet Kiba rushed forward alongside Karui. Their opponent quickly formed seals indicating another attack. Focusing his own Chakra Kiba concentrated on his feet, deciding to run straight into the wind with his feet firmly secured to the ground. Karui took a different approach and ran off to the side hoping to flank him, dividing his attention and creating an opening for an attack.
"Futon: Daitoppa."
The wind seemed to emanate from the mouth of the attacker, but most jutsu rely to some degree upon a manipulation of the environment. Kiba knew the technique really raised the air pressure behind the user and lowered it in front, creating a tunnel of sorts for the high speed winds. Still the wind generated was staggeringly strong. Kiba's feet stayed firm. He raised his hand once again to shield his eyes, just in time as luck would have it.
He felt an impact hit his bracers, practically shattering his left one. From the glimpses he saw, Kiba noticed that his attacker was reaching for rocks in his waist bag and tossing them forward into the wind. The speed would amplify the force of even small pebbles into deadly projectiles. A rock hit him just above his right knee and he fell to the ground, another grazed his left ribcage, sending him to the ground in a spin.
Looking up after the wind stopped Kiba saw their aggressor actually throwing stones, now imbued with his Wind elemental chakra, with even greater force than those thrown in the gale. Akamaru dodged as a rock punched through a tree as it might paper. Karui's own sword took on an unfamiliar glow as she sliced through oncoming rocks, deflecting them to either side of her. Still he managed to keep both Karui and Akamaru at a distance safe for himself. His hands combined in another sequence of seals, as he did Kiba jumped to a nearby tree and hoped he had enough time.
"Futon: Kamika…" The jutsu was interrupted by a massive explosion.
Kiba didn't look away from his target as he laid the cables down, they had been the controls to his final bomb trap. Walking up he saw that the man in black lying on the ground clothes smoking from the explosion; his hair all burned off, but he was alive.
Karui stood, seeming in awe. Before she could ask, Kiba answered.
"I can't see flows of Chakra like those with doujutsu but I like to think I'm luckier to have my other senses enhanced. The air pressure he generated was like a vacuum to my ears, I couldn't see it but I could feel where it was. Throwing the last bombs into that space caused them to explode from the stress, and the only place for the explosion to go was right at him."
"I can see why they gave you that mask now." her voice seemed part sincerity and part incredulity.
'Is she trying to insult me or compliment me?' Kiba wondered to himself. Though he thought that, he couldn't stop feeling a small swell of pride at her approval.
