March slipped by in deceptive calm.
At the tail end of the month, Ishiki Kujo was introduced to his new squad—and given a new mission.
As for the Maximum Security Block incident? It was as though it had never happened. Life in the village carried on, tension only flickering when Iwagakure began acting up.
But Ishiki knew: this was only surface-level peace.
His new assignment was—of course—connected to the brewing war.
After a long phase of probing, Iwagakure had finally chosen to strike at Konoha.
As always, the battlegrounds were the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain.
Ishiki's destination: the Land of Grass.
His new role: part of a reconnaissance unit, not a medical team this time.
Their orders were to infiltrate Grass, gather intelligence on Iwagakure's troop deployments and personnel movements, and if necessary, cross the border into the Land of Earth to locate the Four-Tails' Jinchūriki.
Team leader: Inuzuka Zawa.
An unusual jōnin from the Inuzuka Clan. He didn't work with ninken.
He was the ninken.
According to him, his sense of smell rivaled that of the finest ninja dogs—so he had no need for one.
Ishiki later learned from their teammate, Aburame Mutaguchi, that Zawa once had a partner ninken, lost in the Third Great Ninja War.
Since then, he had never sought another.
Mutaguchi carried a massive canister on his back, wore signature green-lens glasses and Aburame garb—and had a serious case of verbal diarrhea.
It was hard to tell whether he was talking to Ishiki or his insects.
Still, Ishiki found him dependable—if a bit too chatty. But those insects… they gathered far too much. Ishiki decided to be cautious around him.
Their final teammate was a silent, sharp-featured branch member of the Hyūga Clan: Hyūga Tokuma. Cool, distant, by-the-book.
A top-tier jōnin paired with three elite chūnin from Konoha's founding clans.
Not a bad setup.
But Ishiki couldn't help but feel like he was still being watched.
Byakugan. Chakra-sensitive insects. A nose that could trace a fugitive through a hurricane. This was Hiruzen's masterpiece of passive surveillance.
Old man Sarutobi really went all-in.
Then, on April 1st, the moment he'd been waiting for arrived:
[Monthly Stand Draw in Progress: Magician's Red. Replace current Stand?]
Yes. Replace it.
As Ishiki wrote it down in his notebook, he grew more certain:
He hadn't been granted some system—he'd awakened a Stand.
But even if that was true, how could he truly connect with it?
Magician's Red. One of Ishiki's favorites.
Compared to Survivor, it was like comparing a god to a roach.
This was Avdol's Stand. The first real enemy in Stardust Crusaders. A flaming, hawk-headed embodiment of raw elemental destruction.
Its ability: fire manipulation.
There was even a meme online: Magician's Red was so OP, Araki had to write Avdol out early or the rest of the series would've been a joke.
And maybe that wasn't wrong.
The blazing phoenix could dodge Silver Chariot's strikes with ease, destroy other Stands in a single hit, and manipulate flame for detection, restraint, scorching, or ranged offense.
It was absurdly versatile. Practically illegal.
In a mind-game-heavy manga, Avdol had main-character-tier firepower.
To Ishiki, this was perfect.
He already excelled in Katon and Yang Release, and with Uchiha-derived abilities now bolstering his fire style, adding Magician's Red to the mix was a dream.
Strategic Stands were good. But a pure battle-type?
It felt like shōnen again. Hot-blooded. Satisfying.
He couldn't wait to test it.
Sleep-deprived and red-eyed, he showed up to the mission rally point the next morning grinning.
Zawa raised a brow at the sight but didn't comment. With a wave of his hand, he led the squad to join a larger deployment.
War was moving. Konoha had mobilized.
Ishiki's squad wasn't alone: 25 teams, 100 shinobi total, were marching out—just one wave of many.
And this didn't even count the ninja already deployed at the border.
After some distance, the groups dispersed, fanning out to patrol, reinforce, and eliminate any Iwa scouts attempting infiltration.
Ishiki's team? One of the main recon-assault groups.
With Byakugan, kikaichū insects, and that hound-like nose, they were built for tracking and sweeping out spies.
Hyūga Tokuma activated his Byakugan the moment they left Konoha's perimeter.
Mutaguchi's swarm buzzed quietly in and out of the canister on his back, his mouth barely stopping.
Zawa sniffed at the wind, nostrils twitching.
And Ishiki?
Just vibing.
He was used to it by now. Instead of watching the surroundings, he pulled out a book.
A medical reference manual. One that detailed poisons, antidotes, formulas, and theory.
After all, poison was normal in ninja warfare.
Every shinobi carried emergency antidotes and toxins issued by the hospital—small vials that could be used to coat weapons and maximize lethality.
The antidotes were basic—standardized mixtures meant to delay death, not fully cure.
The moment a medic nin arrived, they'd use techniques like Fine Extraction to eliminate the toxin from the body. Ishiki had mastered that jutsu long ago.
Now, his interest was deeper.
He wanted to learn how to craft those antidotes. How to understand poison at its core.
From the corner of his eye, Mutaguchi glanced at the title on Ishiki's book—and felt a chill.
He couldn't quite place why.
Then Ishiki pulled out a notebook and began scribbling notes like a mad scientist:
"How to infuse chakra into poison compounds."
"Chakra scalpel + venom = instant fatality?"
"Viability and recipe: Kiss of Death formula."
"Can I synthesize Laughing Half-Step Dementia?"
"Top 10 poisons for daily murder and vacation prep."
"Improvised toxins: battlefield chemistry hacks."
Mutaguchi's kikaichū twitched inside his canister.
"…You're a medic, right?" he whispered to his bugs.
"…He's supposed to be a medic… right?"
And yet, everything about Ishiki screamed:
This guy is terrifying.