When Shikamaru had disappeared from sight, Temari turned around and looked at the surroundings. She found herself on a little round square, which actually looked quite peaceful. Instead of dark brick walls, the maze was now formed by high, fresh hedges and green archways. Besides the jar that she and Shikamaru had climbed out of, the square was decorated with funny looking sculptures, little sandstone steps and a single stone seat, carved so that it looked like it was made out of books. There was a sundial placed in the middle of the square as well: a charming reminder of her race against the clock.
It was not much use to Temari, though, because the castle was nowhere to be seen over the hedges (she tried pruning them a little, but, guess what, the plants were bloody indestructible), so she had no idea how far she had come and how far she still had to go. Of course, distance didn't mean anything either, she just knew she had to keep moving forward. The question now was, which way forward could be.
Temari knew from about which direction she had come and, based on that knowledge, was on the verge of making up her mind about through which archway she would step to proceed her journey, when she felt someone's chakra approach. She didn't recognize it, so it could be friend or foe, but she wanted to wait for its owner to come out, despite the risk. It might be someone who could give her a push in the right direction, voluntarily or not.
It turned out to be an old man with a pointed goatee and a full head of messy grey hair. He wore a red kimono and a white haori. He just walked to the seat and took no notice of Temari until he sat down.
"Oh, a young girl!" he then said, excitedly.
Suddenly Temari felt another, rather impressive chakra coming closer and someone in a black and orange jumpsuit dashed across the square, jumped and landed on the backrest of the old man's seat. He wore a broad, red, pointed hat with on the front a white patch with the kanji for fire on it.
"So you had my hat!" the old man told him reproachfully and grabbed it from his head. Now that Temari could see him better, she saw that he had wild, blonde hair, bright blue eyes and whisker-like stripes on his cheeks.
"You're not allowed to wear it yet, you know!" the man continued.
"Ohh, let me get used to it, jiichan!" the boy complained. "Urusai, I'm busy," was the old man's reply and he cleared his throat as he turned once more to Temari.
"Eeeh! A girl!" the boy now noticed.
"Well then, can I help you, girl?" the man asked her.
"I hope so," Temari replied, "I have to get to the castle in the centre of the labyrinth, do you know the way?"
"Ah!" the man grunted.
"Eh?" his nuisance mimicked him instantly.
"Ah!" the elder repeated distractedly.
"Eh?" the boy sniggered again.
"Ah, yes... You want to get the castle, huh?"
"I'll show you the way!" the boy said cheerfully and in a flash he stood by Temari's side.
"Imbicile!" the man scolded, "You know the way no better than she does! Besides, you're needed here.
"Let me give you some advice, young woman," he addressed Temari, "the way forward is sometimes the way back."
"Keh! Will you listen to this rubbish..." the boy murmured.
"Will you please be quiet!" the man roared with an emphasis on every word.
"Alright!" the boy replied curtly.
"Okay?"
"Okay!"
"Alright."
"Alright!"
"Finished?"
"... Yes."
Temari was getting impatient, but, hoping for some good guidance, waited for them to finally stop bickering.
The old man returned his attention to her.
"Quite often, young lady," he spoke slowly, "It seems like we're not getting anywhere, when in fact-"
"We are," the boy finished for him.
"We are..." the man growled, glancing at him irritably.
"Well, I'm certainly not getting anywhere at the moment," Temari said, feeling that this had been a waste of time.
"Join the club..." the boy grumbled.
"Well, thank you. I'll be on my way now." Temari bowed at the old man and walked through the archway she had been about to take, before the couple had showed up.
She had only crisscrossed through the new scenery shortly, when she heard a savage roar not too far from where she stood. The noise persisted and Temari decided to follow it. When she peeped around a hedge, she saw a red and grey clad, small giant, with one foot caught in a rope, dangling upside down from a tree. His long brown, bristly hair was draped over a pile of food and he was flapping his (even compared to his body) huge hands at little white creatures that were pecking at him, in an attempt to fight them off. He failed to do so, however, because they came from everywhere.
Temari saw that the ones he did manage to hit, instantly fell to the ground. One of them landed at her feet and on closer examination she discovered that it was an origami bird. She stepped around the hedge, took out her fan and gave one moderately powerful swing that blew every paper bird away.
Temari walked up to the large guy to help him get out of the tree, but he had his eyes tight shut and kept waving his arms around, so that she had to duck to avoid them.
"Oi, stop!" she told him, "Is that a way to treat someone who's trying to help?"
The trapped bloke opened his eyes and his arms froze.
"Are they gone?" he asked and looked around him before he sighed with relief and let his arms drop.
"Thank you!" he said and grinned widely at Temari, "I'm Chouji!"
"My name is Temari. Pleasure to meet you," she replied, "Let me get you down," she said and cut the rope with a kunai.
Chouji landed softly and with skill, which Temari had not expected, considering his size, but then he plumped down heavily next to the pile of food and started to gorge himself.
"It was torture hanging up there," he explained between mouthfuls, "With all of that delicious stuff out of reach!"
Temari had been walking for a few hours now and felt she was somewhat hungry herself. She found anpan on the pile and enjoyed it while she scanned their location. It seemed like she had reached the edge of the garden-like part, because she saw a high sandstone wall. A bit to the left she saw, once again, two dark wooden doors, which were unguarded this time.
But when she looked better, she saw that there were no handles, just knockers with brass faces. She inspected them for clues how to open the doors, when the left suddenly started talking.