After walking a few minutes in silence, all of a sudden a deep voice thundered through the cave.

"Don't go on!" it warned.

It was followed almost immediately by another.

"Go back, while you still can!"

And they kept coming.

"This is not the way!"

"Take heed and go no further..."

"Beware! Beware!"

"Soon it will be too late..."

The warnings came from enormous faces that had been carved in the rocky walls of the passage. They wore gloomy and some even distressed expressions. The mosses and cobwebs that covered the stone made them look even more grim.

"Don't pay attention to them," Shikamaru told Temari, "They're probably just false alarms. It must mean we're on the right track."

"Oh, no, you're not!" one of the faces bellowed.

"Shut up!" Temari grumbled.

"Sorry... I'm just doing my job," it moped.

"Never mind, Temari," Shikamaru muttered, "It's too troublesome telling all of them individually that they don't have to bother."

"Beware! For the path you take will lead to certain destruction..."

"Oh, that one was particularly fancy," Temari noted.

"Thank you very much." the face replied, still sounding depressed. Temari figured that they were most likely unable to sound anything other than miserable.

The two walked for a while longer until they reached a T-junction. There stood a man who started giggling giddily as they approached him. Just the sight of him made Temari burn with rage, because, although she'd never seen him before, he was yet again someone who wore the same cloak as her brother's kidnapper. Apart from short, spiky, black hair, there wasn't much of him visible, because he wore an orange mask with just one hole to look through.

Temari picked up her speed, but Shikamaru held her back. "Be careful not to look into his eye," he whispered in her ear, "It looks like he has a Sharingan."

"A what?"

"It's a very powerful Kekkei Genkai that was common in a clan that came from my village: the Uchiha-clan. One of its abilities is to create persistent illusions."

"Thanks for the heads up," Temari mumbled.

She marched toward the masked guy, who was still tittering like an idiot.

"Doomo~!" he screeched.

"What do you want?" Temari asked him mistrustful.

"Eeeh, imagine running into a Suna in a place like this! Oh, and a Konoha, how nice!" he added jovially as he saw Shikamaru come up to him.

"Do you think you're funny, idiot? I asked you something!" Temari said, losing her patience.

"Oh, there's nothing in particular," he replied with a little uneasy chuckle, although Temari had a feeling it wasn't genuine, "But I suppose that, now that we've met so conveniently, I could give you a welcome gift!"

He turned his head to his left, toward the dark path as if he expected something to come out into the light. Temari followed his glance as she got ready for whatever it was he was looking for. She heard Shikamaru shift behind her, probably doing the same.

After a few moments the clown, scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "Ah- haha... hahaha!" he chuckled nervously, "Well, I guess it won't show up!"

"Mendoukusei..." Temari heard Shikamaru mutter.

"Don't mess with us, bastard!" she growled.

"Oh! Here it comes after all..!"

There was a change in the man's voice that sent a shiver down Temari's spine. It suddenly sounded as dark as the route that his face was still directed at. Temari stared at him with increasing amazement when she saw that a whirl of... something came from his eye.

It became solid just beyond the reach of light. Abruptly it came to life and started making squeaking and puffing and rattling noise. From out of the shadows waltzed a machine that was covered in spinning knives. This didn't particularly frighten Temari, it didn't look like it was very agile, so all she had to do was step back from where she came and let it pass.

Except – of course...Temari thought exasperated to herself - the passage had been closed off. What did surprise her, was that the masked man was trapped with them.

"Shouldn't you start moving?" he asked Temari, who stared at him speechlessly. The mocking smile he wore on his concealed face could be heard in his voice.

Temari glanced at Shikamaru, who shrugged and started running and Temari followed, because the machine started accelerating. When she looked behind her, she saw the masked man simply step through the wall.

"Did you see that?!" she asked Shikamaru astonished and he nodded quietly.

"Who the hell is that?! I've never seen a technique that enabled someone to walk through a solid wall."

"I know, but for now let's just focus on escaping from that thing," he nudged his head in the direction of the machine.

"Right!" Temari agreed quickly, "Got a plan?"

"There are false walls," Shikamaru said, "They aren't easy to spot, but there are clues."

"Like?"

"Well, they're cleaner."

Slowly, the machine gained on them and thus they started looking feverishly for signs. Temari held her fan ready to strike. After a few minutes Shikamaru saw something.

"There!" he pointed ahead of him, to the right and, understanding Temari's intentions, reduced his speed so that he came to run behind her. Temari swung: this time her Kamaitachi no Jutsu sliced right through the surface and created a ragged opening. They slipped through it hurriedly and ended up in a narrow niche.

"That was close..." Temari sighed, as she watched the machine ramble past them.

"Alright, a ladder!" Shikamaru said behind her.

She turned around and saw an unstable looking stepladder, that disappeared into the darkness above them.

"It doesn't seem too safe, but I guess it's all we've got," Temari assumed, "Let's go."

She started climbing and Shikamaru followed, not too closely, in case the steps proved to be as fragile as they looked. Sure enough, one of them snapped underneath her foot.

"Uwa~a!" Temari exclaimed, "This thing makes me nervous as hell!"

"Well, hurry up and get going so that we're out of here as soon as possible," Shikamaru urged.

"Yeah, yeah!" Temari grumbled.

Finally she felt a ceiling of some sorts, that turned out to be the lid of a jar big enough to fit them both. Blinking into the bright sunlight, she crawled out of it, followed by Shikamaru.

"Well, this is where we part," he stated.

"Yes, You promised to bring me above ground and that's what you did," Temari replied coldly, "Thanks for that."

"No need to thank me," he said and turned around without another word.

Temari watched him as he slouched off with his hands in his pockets and his face turned up to the sky and she actually felt sorry to see him go.