As Takumi got his sky view of the landscape and the ones surrounding it, Shaoling was moving about below, still with no blade in her hand though that was about to change. She was now more than halfway up the mountain and still not winded. But the members of the Stealth Force who intended to stop her, had started gaining more weapons and more skill as she progressed upwards. 'At least they are retaining formation. It's one I taught them so... ironic but at least they still follow orders,' she thought to herself as one young man approached her with a tanto from one side while another tried to stab her through with a katana. Her body spun in a tight circle as she drew her blade to stop the katana while the tanto was captured within the sheathe of the wakizashi she'd just drawn. She'd then kick away the man who'd so recently lost his short blade before drawing it with one hand and throwing it into his shoulder. Once he was down the man before her was pushed against with all of her body weight, sending him off balance and tumbling forward so that she could trip him off the edge of the very narrow walkway. 'Still you all have a long way to go,' she thought and as such she'd continue after sheathing her blade.

After she reached the halfway point, the elders of the clan gathered about the plateau in a circle. They were whispering among themselves and one person was obnoxious in his words. "I can't believe you all even entertain such a thing. There is nothing that girl can prove over Akito. Even if she makes it up here... we decided already that the spirit of the hornet can't be trusted for not choosing a male heir," he commented. The man had a long graying beard and spoke with a perpetual snarl. He was obviously balding but didn't seem to care, instead he sat there with smugness in his countenance knowing he would come out victorious in this moment.