Despite his continued objection, Karui got Kiba to take his shirt off. Stubborn insistence would not allow him to let her clean the wound, so she turned back to the pages of her Bingo book. When he was finished cleaning and sewing the lesion closed she helped wrap the gauze around him. Her strong hands brushed against him, the rough callus' on her fingers were signs of long hours training with a sword.
"Akamaru, smell anything in the corridor?" Kiba asked. The ninken lifted his head from his seated position and sniffed at the air.
"Can't you smell it yourself?" Karui asked as she finished with the wrap.
"There's a different air current in the shaft than in these side caves." Kiba closed his eyes to focus on the scents. "The shaft has an air current from the mines, it smells of old fire and chalk. It's odd, but the caves smell more like the forest."
"Maybe there's a way out to the forest then." Karui suggested.
"I think you're right." A bark from Akamaru confirmed no new scents were present. Looking at Karui with her fingers in pages of the book Kiba asked, "You find anyone new?"
"I already know the girl. She's Akie, one of my rivals from the academy. Vanished from Kumo four years ago, the investigation turned up nothing but dead ends. She's fast, a taijutsu expert, and is very good with her doton ninjutsu. She had the bad luck of getting paired against me though, my elemental nature and hers never got along."
"Worth anything?" Kiba asked as he got up.
"Only a couple thousand. Now the big guy is worth ten million." Karui handed Kiba the book which had a detailed profile of the tattooed man. "Daisuke Steelhands. I remember he used to train with my teacher Bee. He used to brag that he could sleep with a sword in one hand and a woman in the other and nobody would get cut."
Kiba's eyes went to the list of bureaucrats and officials Daisuke had killed. A skilled assassin who became a sell-sword after leaving Kumo. He was most wanted for killing an Earth Country lord and his entire entourage after the last war.
"Akamaru," Kiba raised his voice assertively as Akamaru walked over and sat down next to Karui. Karui scratched him behind his ears, "follow the air current in the caves to find the way out." The dog barked and nodded as he sniffed and ran off down a tunnel.
They followed Akamaru for a few minutes before Karui spoke again.
"So what's the connection? It's obvious that Akie was here to help with the mining operation." The passage ahead had a low ceiling so they ducked down, a sharp crystal scratched against Kiba's shoulder.
"Remember what we saw at the shed? They were experimenting with crystals, changing their structure and properties. At first it didn't make sense, but if they were mining chakra crystals here… then what's the point?"
Akamaru scratched a wall up ahead and growled before backing away from it. Karui scratched the wall with her sword and knocked her hand against the rock. Laying her ear against the stone face she said, "Two meters of rock and another three meters of earth."
Kiba flexed his left forearm, but his grip still felt weak from the cut. Getting a soldier pill he motioned to Akamaru, "Here boy."
The soldier pill caused a noticeable change in the ninken. His fur turned a shade of red and his eyes opened wide. A loud bark reverberated through the cave and shook the walls. After a few moments of concentrating his chakra, Akamaru's claws began to glow softly. Jumping at the wall paw-first Akamaru began to claw at the stone, which yielded like soft soil to a shovel. After a minute of digging Akamaru had make a hole big enough to get out.
"Good work boy." Kiba said as Akamaru began to resume his usual shade of cream. After stepping outside Kiba turned back to offer his hand to Karui to exit the mountain. Her gasp caused Kiba to turn around quickly.
The entire floor of the valley was covered in mist. A southerly wind blew violently through the trees and up towards the mountain. Looking up to the pinnacle Kiba saw a mass of clouds growing larger and larger, centering around the peak.
"It's the mist." Kiba's eyes focused on each particle of the mist, the individual bits f water rose and fell with the wind. "The old man controls the mist. I remember it pulling back when he arrived and his… footsteps."
"If he controls the mist," Karui paused for a moment, "Does that mean he's the one behind our chakra failure? But what's the connection to the crystals?"
Kiba scratched his head and wished he had learned more about natural chakra substances. "I don't know anything about these crystals; supposedly only the first Hokage had the ability to use them."
"But we know they were changing the crystals with Hiroyuki's fire technique."
"And then pulverizing them into a fine powder. A powder he infuses the clouds with."
"Then he wasn't bragging about destroying Kumo. If he can knock out every shinobi inside of his cloud…" Karui's voice grew silent as determination filled her eyes.
The wind increased in intensity. Looking out to the lake, three small water funnels spun as they reached higher into the clouds. The lake water slowly drained as the clouds grew larger and darker. Kiba turned his eyes back to the ground, looking up was a distraction. After tightening the straps on his armor Kiba removed his right glove and balled his fists.
"He's a Sage, odds are he knows we're alive." Karui held her breath for a moment afterward.
Kiba focused his chakra, beginning his metamorphosis. Not knowing how long he would have until he would lose his strength meant that a strong start was crucial. The sensitivity of his senses enhanced. His eyes, ears, nose, touch and even taste were all sharper. Every fine hair on his body gave him more information about his surroundings than any normal shinobi could gather. Finally his fingernails became claws. Putting out his weaker left hand, Kiba ran his nails down the rock, scraping and cutting a path as they went.
"We move fast then. I can still smell them, so they haven't released all the crystal dust into the storm. From our experience we know that the effect isn't permanent, but I guess it lasts long enough for his purposes."
Karui checked her sword in its scabbard, making sure that it would come out easily despite being broken. Behind them Kiba heard Akamaru stretch and yawn as the ninken's own claws effortlessly tear up the rocky ground. After a quick nod, Karui ran ahead in the direction of the mine's entrance. Kiba followed at top speed, overtaking her in but a few seconds.
"The girl is up the mountain, close to the Sage. The big one is coming down on his own, probably to get those bags. We take him out, then we move up." Kiba noticed that Karui didn't respond to his statement, her focus was keen as the blade still left on her sword.
Arriving at the cave entrance, they found Daisuke standing calmly with folded arms. Karui charged in and slashed her sword at Daisuke who turned her away with a slap knocking her off balance. He pulled a katana from a strange holster kept inside his vest and brought it down in a two-handed slash against Karui. Using the momentum from the slap, Karui went into a cartwheel kicking the sword out of Daisuke's hands as she dodged out of his range.
The sword reflected a pale flash of light across Kiba's eyes as it flew. Akamaru brought up the attack from the rear as Kiba concentrated on the man's left. Daisuke's hands went to his waist, where matching short swords in scabbards were tucked into his belt. As fast as the swords were out they were put back into their scabbards.
A moment passed before Kiba realized he was on his back, a great slash mark decorated his vest but hadn't cut deep. Akamaru lay near the entrance of the cave, licking a new wound on his front left leg near his paw. Karui stood with the Daisuke's fallen katana in her hands.
With a cold face Daisuke turned from Kiba to Karui as he said, "Don't disappoint me children."