Ishiki Kujo could guess, more or less, what Kawahara Junji was thinking.
But Ishiki wasn't deliberately underperforming.
He knew exactly where he stood.
As a medical-nin, charging recklessly into battle would be no different than suicide.
His role was clear — the squad's lifeline, the healer, the "babysitter" standing at the rear.
Besides, with a Jōnin and two Chūnin present, when would a mere Genin medic even get a chance to shine?
If they eventually kicked him out of this elite squad, Ishiki didn't mind.
Elite squads had their perks, but they also had their own special brand of death.
In an ordinary team, survival odds were simply higher.
And for Ishiki Kujo, staying alive was the only real victory.
Two days earlier, back in the Land of Hot Water, he'd heard the voice he'd been yearning for:
[This month's Stand Ability draw: Highway Star. Would you like to replace your current Stand?]
Highway Star?!
Immediately, the image of an old, grinning man flashed through Ishiki's mind — that iconic scene where Rohan Kishibe, with cold disdain, snapped: "I refuse."
Ishiki remembered Highway Star well.
A long-range Stand.
It could leech nutrients from its targets to replenish its user, had incredible speed, and most importantly — an unbelievably keen sense of smell.
Without hesitation, Ishiki chose:
"Replace!"
Now, in the dead of night, while taking his watch with Aoba, Ishiki perched silently atop a thick tree.
Glancing around to ensure Aoba wasn't paying attention, he released his new Stand.
It materialized with a shimmer — humanoid, covered in crisscrossing stripe patterns, darker in some areas, lighter in others, giving it a strange, hypnotic look.
Highway Star had the classic "bulb-eyes" of many Stands.
Its chin was adorned with a stylized metal piece resembling a Pharaoh's beard.
Heavy metal cuffs ringed its wrists and ankles, and each knuckle — save the thumbs — gleamed with metallic plates.
As soon as it appeared, Ishiki realized something:
He could share his senses with it.
And the smell — gods, the smell.
The acute sensitivity hit him like a punch to the brain.
Grass.
The distant stink of someone relieving themselves.
Even — faint, very faint — the iron tang of blood drifting in from afar.
Blood.
Ishiki's pulse quickened.
He glanced back at his Stand.
Highway Star's body began disassembling, breaking apart into rings that spun and vanished.
Yet Ishiki could still see — not just through his own eyes now, but through Highway Star's.
A dual-screen view.
Like piloting a machine with two monitors.
Adjusting to the double perspective, Ishiki watched as Highway Star moved, faster than any creature in the forest, weaving through the trees like a whisper of death.
It didn't take long to reach the source.
There — a squad of shinobi, sprinting through the forest, headed straight toward their position.
Above, a raven suddenly shrieked.
Aoba's messenger.
Something had been spotted.
Kawahara Junji's figure blurred into view.
"What's the situation?" the Jōnin barked.
"A Konoha-affiliated squad is heading our way," Aoba said, a raven perched on his shoulder. His hands flashed through signs, linking his vision to the raven's.
"Chased by pursuers, probably Kumogakure."
Ishiki kept Highway Star in observation mode, careful not to reveal it.
In its disassembled form, Highway Star left only faint traces — footprints, scattered distortion — almost invisible even to sensor-nin.
"Are they really ours?" Kawahara asked sharply, even as he slammed a palm to the ground.
The earth rippled once — then stilled.
A trap laid.
Earth Release techniques were Kawahara's specialty, perfect for ambushes.
"They're wearing Konoha forehead protectors. But confirmation is impossible from this distance.
The pursuers are definitely Kumogakure," Aoba reported swiftly.
"Then treat them all as hostiles.
We use Strategy C: I bind, Aoba covers, Raimu attacks, Ishiki observes."
As the words left his mouth, Kawahara disappeared with a flash of the Body Flicker Technique.
Aoba melted into the trees with his raven entourage.
Raimu slipped into the underbrush, kunai gleaming faintly.
Ishiki moved too — scaling a tree, vanishing into the canopy's embrace.
From his vantage point — through his own eyes and Highway Star's — Ishiki studied the two squads.
Neither were elite units.
Ordinary battlefield formations: one Jōnin leading several Genin or low-level Chūnin.
Hardly a threat.
Highway Star sniffed the air, analyzing further.
No hidden enemies detected.
Ishiki allowed himself a shallow breath of relief.
Everything was ready.
The Konoha-marked squad ran headlong into Kawahara's unseen trap.
And Kawahara — patient, relentless — didn't spring it immediately.
He waited.
Only when the Kumogakure squad entered range did Kawahara strike.
Four massive stone pillars erupted from the earth, caging the cloud shinobi inside.
Earth Release: Stone Pillar Binding!
At the same moment, flames roared to life overhead.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
Aoba, perched like a vulture in the trees, unleashed a massive fireball, engulfing the pillars in roaring heat.
Inside the trap, the Kumo-nin panicked.
Two hastily formed seals.
Two desperate dashes for the gaps.
Too late.
From above, a massive object plummeted —
A lid, huge as a fortress, slammed down atop the pillars.
Earth Release: Heaven's Lid!
BOOM!
The earth shook.
Dust billowed.
The greenish, pig-shell patterned lid sealed the prisoners inside.
The Great Fireball's inferno turned the enclosed space into a blazing oven.
One desperate figure broke free — tearing through the soil with Earth Release.
But before he could flee more than a few paces —
A blade flashed.
Silent as a guillotine.
Surrounded by swirling ravens, Raimu's black katana slashed across the man's chest.
A gout of blood exploded into the air.
And from the shadows, Raimu — the scarred youth — stepped out, the dying Kumogakure shinobi collapsing at his feet.