Tap tap tap...
The Konoha shinobi who had fled earlier realized something was wrong behind them — and turned back.
Waiting for them was a scatter of shuriken, flung lazily from the trees by Ishiki Kujo.
The shuriken thudded into the dirt, carving a line across the ground — a silent command: Stop.
"State your codeword," Ishiki's voice called down from above.
Standard protocol.
Every Konoha team operating outside the village carried secret verification codes.
No confirmation — no trust.
The other side hesitated.
Then, instead of answering, one shinobi pulled out a scroll — sprawling with a dense mess of numbers and letters.
Ishiki's lip twitched.
Fine.
He unfurled his own scroll.
Within five seconds, both sides spoke at once.
"Ramen."
"Beef Ball."
Ishiki relaxed. "Good. Stay here — the captain's almost done."
The scrolls were a clever trap: they appeared random, but only someone trained in the cipher could extract the correct keyword.
Hesitation meant death.
Just then, Kawahara Junji appeared.
Ishiki stepped aside, withdrawing silently — and focused on his Stand.
Instead of recalling Highway Star, Ishiki pushed it further outward, deeper into the battlefield.
This was a perfect place to test its powers.
Battlefield conditions.
Close to the Land of Lightning.
Plenty of targets.
Highway Star's supposed max speed was sixty kilometers per hour — around seventeen meters per second — decent but not overwhelming in a world of chakra-enhanced monsters.
Yet Ishiki quickly noticed something:
Highway Star, under his control, was faster.
Way faster.
Maybe it was due to his mental strength — stronger spirit, stronger Stand.
Either way, if Highway Star really was capped at just sixty kilometers an hour, it would be crushed by elite Jonin in a heartbeat.
But practical testing was better than theories.
And then — Ishiki's vision through Highway Star cut out.
Abruptly, only the Stand's sense of smell remained connected.
It had happened the moment Highway Star crossed roughly a kilometer away.
Ishiki froze.
Fortunately, he could still sense the Stand's position — though its vision was now gone.
Instinctively, he pulled out a map.
Calculating quickly, he realized Highway Star had stopped on a road just beyond the forest edge.
Completely still.
Ishiki frowned.
This wasn't something he had anticipated.
He thought back, piecing together fragments of memory about Highway Star from JoJo.
Back then, Rohan Kishibe had encountered Highway Star in a tunnel — a mysterious room suddenly appearing — and was trapped by the Stand.
Meaning—
Once Highway Star leaves a certain range from its user, it switches into autonomous mode.
A special hunting behavior.
It no longer obeyed commands directly — it would seek out targets on its own.
And the worst part?
The choice of target was random.
Ishiki couldn't see what Highway Star saw anymore — he could only feel where it was.
But there was an upside:
When Highway Star hunted autonomously, any damage it took wouldn't reflect back onto Ishiki himself.
Moreover, Highway Star's sense of smell was conceptual — tracking not just physical scent, but something closer to a spiritual essence.
Even if a target masked their bodily scent, Highway Star would still pursue them — the soul's "scent" could not be hidden.
And if a target managed to escape temporarily?
Highway Star would teleport near them after a short delay and attack again.
Almost unavoidable.
The only true way to defeat it was to locate and kill the Stand user — Ishiki himself.
Or maybe seal the Stand somehow.
But that wasn't exactly easy either.
"I see," Ishiki muttered.
"Kujo," Kawahara's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "We're moving."
Ishiki nodded, following quickly.
The squad they had rescued earlier fell in behind them too — Kawahara had apparently decided after brief negotiations to join forces for now.
Ishiki didn't mind.
More bodies meant more targets for enemies.
More people between him and death.
Perfect.
If they weren't in active movement, Ishiki would have pulled out one of his books to study medical ninjutsu.
He still had so much to learn.
As for Highway Star —
Ishiki decided to let it roam for now.
Test it.
See what it could do in the wild.
Meanwhile—
Not long after Ishiki's group left, a Kumogakure squad appeared at their previous location.
They weren't tracking Ishiki's team, though — they were following the trail of the destroyed Kumogakure unit.
As they crossed a large dirt road, all four shinobi spotted something strange:
A lone wooden house, standing eerily by the roadside.
Inside —
A glimpse of a woman.
Barely clothed.
Beautiful.
The four Kumo-nin exchanged sharp glances.
No one trusted it.
A woman like that, alone in the wilderness?
Obvious trap.
Their captain raised a hand, signaling orders.