Kirigakure was utterly silent, like a ghost village.
"Something's wrong!"
"Stay alert, everyone!"
Zhou Cheng called out a warning, and the others nodded.
"Chojuro, lead the way!"
Zhou Cheng was naturally unfamiliar with Kirigakure.
He remembered only a small area on its outskirts.
Chojuro nodded and walked ahead.
He led Zhou Cheng and the others straight to the place where Mei Terumi had been ambushed.
They reached their destination in little more than ten minutes.
The area was a wreck, littered with bodies and traces of Lava Release.
"They haven't had time to clean this up, which means the fighting is still going on. So why is it so quiet?"
Zhou Cheng frowned. Something was very wrong here!
"Chojuro, take us to the Mizukage Building!"
Chojuro nodded and silently led the way.
As they ventured deeper, they finally encountered their first living person.
He was a rebel, though. Zhou Cheng subdued him at once and began questioning him.
"Where did everyone in the village go?"
The man refused to speak.
Zhou Cheng used genjutsu to distort his five senses, then pressed him again.
"Where did everyone go?"
The man looked up at Zhou Cheng again and immediately dropped to the ground in terror.
"They all went to the Mizukage Building!" he said in a trembling voice.
"The civilians are all hiding in their homes. They don't dare come out!"
"That's why it looks like a dead village. I couldn't stand the atmosphere, so I sneaked away."
Zhou Cheng kicked him aside.
Then he had Chojuro continue leading the way.
A little over ten minutes later, they saw the towering Mizukage Building.
At last, they heard the clamor of voices.
The sounds of fighting rang out from time to time as well.
"Genji, you old fossil!"
"Can't you see what the