Fuu shouted angrily after Kyo as he dashed down a hole, and Kuroda followed up to help the intrepid genin out with a burning torch.<br/><br/>Niikon growled and went to bring the pair back from the edge of the pit, but his elder sister stopped him, suddenly silent.<br/><br/>A wind had picked up from the boughs of the trees, disturbing many leaves and twisting them about with an invisible hand. The breeze sighed through the small clearing, and disturbed loose dirt on the ground.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, in the pit, as Kyo lowered himself and Kuroda stood above, a young girl, probably the genin's age, was at the bottom. She was in a light purple shift,her dark hair pinned up in a bun. She was dirty and thoroughly distressed, and to the genin's dismay was bleeding from her arm and leg, a result of falling into the pit, at the bottom of which were a cluster of small but viciously sharp wooden stakes. The young girl had probably fallen on them...but what the pit was doing here and how the girl had fallen was a mystery...all that was clear now was there was a girl in pain who needed medical attention.<br/><br/>Above the pit, as the shadows lengthened with the onset of evening, the wind picked up stronger this time, rocking the smaller trees in the clearing. To anyone looking at the etched faces on the trunks of the trees, they would seem to warp and twist...as if the faces inscribed there years past were...<em>moving...</em><br/><br/>Suddenly, wooden clunks could be heard. As dusk fell and the wind seemed to drop as suddenly as it had come, shapes detached themselves from the trees. Human-sized, bipedal<em>bodies</em>pried themselves free of trees and quickly took up positions close to the genin on the ground. Complete with arms which seemed to hold curved and sharp-looking appendages, the wooden men lunged at the genin on the ground as one.<br/><br/>On the edge of the pit, Kuroda was launched at by two of the tree-things, one thrusting at him with its curved-sharp appendage, the other trying to clasp him from behind.<br/><br/>Fuu and her brother Niikon quickly formed up in a back-to-back sibling formation as they were surrounded by tree-men who were launching blows at the pair from all sides.<br/><br/>Seiyuri and Jun and the others in the trees would be able to see all of this.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, Kyo on his descent would only be able to see the injured girl, who was in tears. He would be able to hear the ruckus from up above him, but clearly there were more pressing issues right in front of him...