Karui kept her sword in a high guard as she circled Daisuke who neither turned nor acknowledged her movement. Taking a step forward she noticed him twitch as he drew out his left sword and slashed in her direction. Dropping below the attack and rolling Karui landed safely. Daisuke cleanly slid his sword back in his scabbard and folded his arms.
Leaping back towards him she ducked under the attack and charged the katana with her natural raiton element. The strength of the technique is in its speed. The cold misty air turned to a hot steam in the wake of her attack. Daisuke's two short swords flew in his hands and came together like a pair of scissors, the blades were glowing with a soft white light. Karui's stolen katana snapped in half as the two blades cut through the metal and nearly cut her, but spinning the hilt of the katana in her hands she managed to turn Daisuke's attack away from her, allowing her to jump back to a safe position where she knelt down.
Karui looked up at Daisuke and the mountain behind him. Finding her broken Chokuto on the ground, she put it back in her scabbard and silently assessed the situation.
'Kiba said he came down after we had left the cave, that means the Sage may have sent him down to stall us. His attacks are wind based, which puts my raiton blade at a disadvantage. I'd be better off going up the mountain to face Akie and her doton jutsu.' With each breath the air seemed to thicken with moisture, Karui collected her reserve to stave off panic. 'We're running out of time.'
Seeing Kiba in her peripheral vision Karui saw that familiar, determined look on his face. He was baring his fangs at Daisuke, which she assumed would do little to impress the sword user. Akamaru stood strong on his wounded leg and let out a growl, Karui had no doubts about how tough the ninken was.
Standing up Kiba cracked his knuckles and his neck. Advancing he said without looking back,
"I've done this dance before. Akamaru and I will take him out, we'll cover you on your way up. With any luck, we'll be right behind you."
Akamaru ran straight at Daisuke, without even a command. The attack was faster than Daisuke had expected, though he dodged the claws Akamaru's bite came away with one of the short swords. Kiba rushed at Daisuke, but Karui's focus was on the mountain. A stairway carved into the rock was now visible, which was invisible the last time they had passed the entrance as the fog had been too thick to see through.
Kiba's grunts and Akamaru's barks faded into the rumbling of the growing thunder. After climbing a few hundred meters Karui came across a staging area which had the same fine powder residue as was in the mine. Several broken bags had been left here with a few trails leading off in the same direction. Continuing upward Karui found the stairs tapered off before finally ending. She was near two kilometers up by this point, her ascent had been fast and between the thin air and the thick clouds, breathing had been a labor.
Knowing she was approaching the precipice Karui continued upward, the rocks were slanted at around thirty degrees but the high speed winds had blown away most of the sand and debris, making for sure footing. In the distance she could make out a figure sitting on a flat patch of ground and meditating. A sudden gust of wind blew in a thicker layer of cloud, which obscured her vision for a moment. Drawing her chokuto, she slashed at a shadow she saw move in the clouds. Her attack made contact and the shadow collapsed as it crumbled into pieces of stone.
"A rock clone," Karui's eyes scanned the mists around her attempting to get a fix on Akie's position, "you're going to have to do better than rock clones if you want to get the jump on me."
A hand formed from the mountain and grabbed at her feet, a slash cut it off and it turned solid rock again but then it seemed to melt back into the mountain. The earth shifted and the mountain made a cracking sound, as though it were trying to echo the sky's thunder. The clouds thinned slightly giving Karui a clear vision of what Akie had done. It was not one hand that had clawed its way out of the rock, but many. Arms freed themselves from the stone and were pulling themselves from the stone. Heads, chests, torsos all visible in every direction, none had formed past that point. Hundreds of rock clones were fused to the mountain waist down in a ring around Karui.
The abominations all spoke at once, each with a different voice, they joined in a mocking din that was so loud it brought Karui to her knees. Bringing her hands together Karui focused her chakra hoping this was a genjutsu so she could release it. As the stone clones began to fade as the mist grew thicker. And she knew she was successful.
"Not bad Karui." An arm slipped around her neck and Karui felt the blade of a Kunai slide into her back. Akie laughed as she twisted her grip, breaking Karui's neck.
Even disarmed of another sword, Daisuke was no less dangerous. Kiba had to dodge another wind slash as it arced his direction. The chakra blade cut the tops of several nearby trees before it faded from sight. Pulling a hand scythe from his vest, Daisuke swung it at Akamaru, barely missing the hound as the ninken's claw cut into his right shoulder.
Akamaru pulled back to a safe distance as Kiba moved in again. Dodging two chakra blades, Kiba jumped in the air and let himself be hit by the edge of a third along the side of his vest. The impact put him into a spin, which was exactly what he wanted as it heightened the force of the heel he brought down on Daisuke's position. The ground shattered and a small crater formed from the strike but Daisuke had sidestepped to evade the impact.
Sweeping his clawed hand to his side, Kiba cut the larger man across the right calf muscle. Daisuke twisted the kama in his hand and a weighted chain fell from the handle that twisted around Kiba's right arm. Both hands on the kama, he gave a hard pull and Kiba flew up into the air against his will. Grabbing the chain around his arm, Kiba adjusted his position in case Daisuke pulled on the chain. Kiba had every intention to meet an attack with a counterattack.
"Heh, idiot boy." Daisuke frowned as he tightened his grip. The chain began to glow with a faint white light as the metal started digging into Kiba's arm. Kiba fell to the ground and heard a popping sound, his bracer was snapping from the pressure of the technique. As the arm guard shattered Daisuke pulled on the chain, leaving Kiba facedown.
An ear-splitting bark came from across the clearing. Daisuke fell backwards and let go of his sword as he reeled from Akamaru's technique. With the large man's equilibrium and balance thrown off Akamaru was free to tackle the man. It was all Daisuke could do to raise his left forearm to the ninken's powerful bite to spare a more critical wound. Spinning the kusari-gama in his hand, he managed to wrap Akamaru in the chains. They rolled along the ground until Daisuke had his arm freed from Akamaru's jaws and the dog was even more bound by the chain.
He was staggering and without a blade in hand. Kiba took his chance, not wanting him to recover Kiba threw one of his specialized flash-bangs hoping to add blind and deaf to disorientation; but Daisuke proved to be both fast and attentive. With his good hand he grabbed the kunai mid-air and crumpled the flash-bang before it went off.
"Toys," Daisuke said mockingly, "you accost me with toys." Pulling a scroll from a hidden pocket in his vest Daisuke unrolled it and spread the blood from his left arm across the page. The page smoked and a sword near at tall as Daisuke appeared in his right hand. It was a double-edged wave blade with a blood-red motif along the fuller. Where most swordsmen would have trouble holding a weapon of such size in both hands, Daisuke hefted it as thought it were light with his injured arm. As more blood dripped from the wound in his forearm, the sword seemed to glow with an ominous red light that radiated out into the mist itself.
"I can sense certain things, especially where blood is involved," Kiba said with a sharp sniff and did not like what he smelled, "that sword eats life, doesn't it?" An involuntary twitch in Daisuke's upper forehead was all the confirmation Kiba needed. "Well that makes one of us who is willing to put their life on the line for this. It would be insulting on my part to not respond in kind."
Kiba felt the hairs on the back of his neck all stand up straight as he focused the chakra pathways in his body. His heart beat faster, his vision intensified, and each breath seemed to last a lifetime. "Open the first gate. Kaimon."