The destination; a small village nestled in a craggy crevice of a plateau near the border of Lightning country. The journey; uneventful, but not nearly as quick to be done with as the leading shinobi would have cared for, owing to his... partner's, speed. Fast by most standards certainly, most definitely in comparison to the average civilian, but to an A-rank speed elite, a painfully slow crawl by most any measure or mean. The objective; find cultists, kill cultists. Simple enough in theory, but practice almost always had something else to say on the matter.

The village was a small, nameless border-town, possessing a single solitary trade road. It only had any particular note as one of the main village's various "fall back" positions; the village itself was sequestered inside a canyon, hollowed out into the very walls of it. It created an excellent choke-point with which to funnel enemy troops, and building the dwellings into the very walls of the canyon meant that an enemy could not simply position themselves on top of the canyon and rain down death from above. Barring a significant force of Doton users, it was well protected and secluded, the latter feature likely being the source of the cultist interest.

Gouka crested a dip rise in the road, the remaining pathway dipping down towards the canyon. They had long since left behind any tree line, and what little ground wasn't barren rock was merely low, dense shrubbery and plains grass. It wasn't quite desert-like, per-say, but it was an unpleasant place to be on days as hot and sunny as the present time was. The all-black uniform was proving a less than comfortable experience.

He paused at the crest, surveying the path before him warily. They had not yet run into any sign of the cult's activity, and per the mission briefing, they were well within the range of their "net." And yet, they had come across no resistance, even though the cult must surely know they were coming, and for that matter, had not caught even the faintest glimpse that they might have had lookouts. True, the long, barren landscape would have made it easy to see the pair from a long distance off, they still had speed on their side, and would have easily caught up with any lookouts. Combined with Gouka's sensory ability, and it was troubling that there had not been a single solitary sign.

He held up his hand, waving his genin... partner, to a halt. "Keep a sharp eye out. That canyon entrance would make for a perfect ambush." It was, of course, useless busy-work. He doubted the Kessho had a keener eye-sight than him, and even then, baring a stealth expert of equal to a jounin KYOBU, Gouka's sensory skill ensured that nothing would be able to approach within one hundred meters of him without its chakra signature betraying its precise location. Motioning with his hand again, he began to move forward again. The canyon loomed ahead, rising slowly higher and higher the further down the road they approached.

Masked eyes flitted back and forth. Still nothing; he found it unfathomable that the cult, knowing a shinobi had escaped their net, could not possibly be waiting for and expecting them. It defied logic that there wouldn't be a lookout, an ambush... Something. And yet, the continued apace within the canyon without incident, the crevice far above a narrow strip of light. The sun had not reached its zenith yet, so the canyon was blessedly shady and cool.

Suddenly, though the crevice remained narrow, the walls opened expansively. The buildings had been carved a fair ways into the canyon walls, with ample spaces and passages between them. The effect was such to create two very large caves, housing many stout, plain-faced buildings that rose seamlessly out of the stone floor from which they'd been carved, as it they stone had simply risen up of its own accord to create the homes. Dangling outside some of the buildings were weathered wooden signs, marking shops, and a single pub.

Gouka halted in his tracks, his hands slipping slowly to his daggers as he turned in a half-circle, warily surveying the area. There was no sound; not even wind gusting through the canyon. And certainly nothing to indicate that this was the thriving, bustling trade town it should have been. And while the entire thing stretched for half a kilometer down the canyon, for the first hundred meters at least, Gouka could not detect a single solitary chakra signature.

They'd arrived at the village. So where were all the villagers?