[The Saint's Right Eye]

"You three get the kid out of here—I'll go after him!"

Ishiki Kujo didn't hesitate.

He had no idea why the Saint's Corpse—that bizarre, holy relic from another world—had manifested here, let alone how Iwagakure had ended up possessing the Right Eye, but one thing was clear: he had to retrieve it.

That strange surge of heat he'd felt earlier wasn't a coincidence. He had a hunch.

Maybe his own body… was a part of the Saint's Corpse.

His skin bore the unmistakable Joestar birthmark—the five-pointed star. He had no other symbols. And those symbols were the keys: mystical emblems that pointed toward the next piece of the Corpse. That Iwa-nin—despite possessing the Saint's Right Eye—hadn't triggered the next location either. Ishiki had seen it in that brief moment their gazes met: there was no guidance.

But still…

That right eye held Latin script. The name. The power.

He couldn't let it stay in enemy hands. And deep down, he knew—just as he sought to take it, the one possessing it would seek him in turn.

Because that relic wasn't just a tool.

It called to those worthy of it.

"Wait—!"

Aburame Muta tried to call out, but Ishiki had already vanished.

He activated Yang Release chakra, his entire body glowing gold with surging energy. In a flash, he accelerated—faster than Inuzuka Zawa's Fang Over Fang, faster than any of them had seen him move.

Back at the battlefield, Zawa and Tokuma Hyūga returned to action. Tokuma reached down and clutched Deidara by the collar, surging chakra into the boy's tenketsu to lock him down. One strike to the nape later, and Deidara was unconscious.

"Captain, what now?" Muta gestured after Ishiki with a wry grimace.

"He knows what he's doing. We follow the route he marked."

Zawa's gaze shifted to the ground.

There—drawn clearly in the dirt—was an arrow pointing opposite of Ishiki's pursuit path, back toward the borders of Grass Country.

No hesitation.

Zawa led the squad forward. The path wouldn't be empty, but if Ishiki had marked it, it was their best shot. The direction of weakest resistance.

Zawa had always known.

Ever since Ishiki had summoned Turtle Island, had mastered Triple Rashomon, Zawa knew it:

Ishiki was the strongest among them.

Their job?

Don't get in his way.

—