Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

The footsteps from deep within the tunnel suddenly drew closer, mingling with the dripping of groundwater, much like the soft turning of gears when Scorpion manipulated the puppet back then.

Bai Ye's pupils suddenly contracted, and his right hand reached for the kunai at his waist, but stopped the moment his fingertips touched the hilt—the sweet fragrance was even stronger, it was Sasori's favorite benzoin, mixed with the bitterness of Puppet Lacquer.

"Is it you?" he whispered into the darkness, blood trickling down between his fingers from his wound. "Or is it..."

Before he finished speaking, a sharp sound of gravel falling suddenly came from the top of the tunnel.

Bai Ye suddenly looked up and saw several chakra fluctuations descending like a spider web—it was a tracking technique used by a sensory ninja.

He gritted his teeth and pushed aside the rock wall; the heat of the broken pieces almost burned through his clothes: "That old hag Chiyo is really hot on his heels..."

At the same moment, in the withered forest on the border of the Land of Fire, Chiyo's wooden clogs rolled over a charred leaf.

Her fingers pressed against the Inuzoku Puppet's neck, and the puppet's joints emitted a piercing metallic scraping sound—this corpse, which had been transformed into a moving puppet, was now twisted at an eerie angle, and a memory crystal the size of a thumb was embedded in the place where the chakra core was originally stored in the chest cavity.

"As expected, they had a backup plan." She narrowed her eyes, her fingertips forming the puppet seal unique to Sunagakure.

A faint blue light emanated from the crystal's surface, and an image unfolded in the void:

In the scene, Byakuya leans against the stone wall of the dark room, his clothes stained with blood, yet he laughs freely: "The power of the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan can suppress the spread of the virus, but the First Hokage's Wood Release..." He pauses, tapping his chest with his knuckles, "will allow the virus to evolve."

Just like Madara used Wood Release to cultivate Hashirama's cells back then, now it's my turn to cultivate this lump of stuff.

With a "snap," the memory crystal shattered in Chiyo's palm.

She took a half step back, her lower back slamming into a tree stump, her fingernails almost digging into her palms.

Three years ago, when we first met in Sunagakure, this kid was just a prickly brat. Now, he's managed to mix up the First Hokage's bloodline, puppetry techniques, the remnant of the Sharingan, and the viral embryo into a chaotic mess—

“We must find him.” She pulled her headscarf down to cover half her face, the wind whipping her silver hair. “Otherwise, once the virus fully awakens…”

Meanwhile, in a secret passage in Sunagakure, Ebizo was stuffing a scroll covered in coded text into a crow's beak.

His fingertips traced the wax seal on the edge of the scroll, and a cold smile appeared on his lips: "That old bastard Hamura thinks he can swallow Iwagakure?"

"Ha, the puppet virus is the key to unlocking the ninja world."

As the crow took flight and passed through the ventilation shaft, Ebizo heard the sound of fabric rubbing behind him.

He turned around and saw the leader of the secret guards kneeling on one knee, holding another secret letter in his palm.

"Lord Hamura's reply."

Chapter 775 Kill him, seize the scroll

Ebizo unfolded the letter, revealing vigorous handwriting: "The deal is done. After it's done, I'll grant you three castles in Sunagakure." The vermilion seal at the end of the letter was blurred by ink, but upon closer inspection, one could make out a line of extremely small characters: "Kill him, and take the scroll."

"Interesting." He crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it into the brazier, watching the sparks lick the ink. "Let's see who gets the virus data first."

The White Night ran even faster inside the tunnel; the heat of the fragments almost pierced through its skin.

He could hear the shouts of the pursuers fading into the distance, but another surge of chakra was approaching from the left—the direction of the mine.

"An abandoned mine?" He staggered around the bend and saw a crack in the rock wall ahead, from which the musty smell mixed with the fishy smell of ore rushed towards him.

Moonlight leaked through the cracks in the cave ceiling, shining on the mineral marks on the cave walls, like scattered silver.

Bai Ye slid down the rock face, supporting himself, and tore off his clothes to cover the wound on his ribs.

The fragment was burning hot in his palm, and he could clearly see the new patterns emerging on its surface—the First Hokage's Wood Release mark, intertwined with Madara's three-tomoe Sharingan.

"Don't rush," he whispered to the wreckage, sweat dripping from his chin onto the stone floor. "Wait until I've healed..."

Suddenly, the hooting of an owl came from outside the cave.

Bai Ye suddenly looked up and saw that the moonlight on the cave ceiling was blocked by a shadow—it was a raven, a spirit beast, with half a bloodstained scroll clutched in its claws.

He squinted, and the moment he reached out to catch the scroll, the fragment suddenly vibrated violently.

Deep within his consciousness, the voice of the First Generation and the laughter of Madara rang out simultaneously, mingling with the hissing of the viral embryo, weaving an invisible net in the darkness.

Deep inside the mine, the sound of dripping water suddenly became more frequent.

Water droplets seeping from the mine walls slid through his fingers into Bai Ye's sleeve. He shivered and realized that the puppet fragment in his palm was so hot it almost pierced his skin.

The puppet runes and wood-style seals on the surface of the fragment intertwined like living things, casting flickering shadows on the back of his hand.

“The Hyuga clan’s sealing technique…” He gritted his teeth and tore open his clothes, revealing a hideous wound on his ribs—there was a pale golden curse mark there, the sealing secret he had stolen from Hyuga Hiashi’s bloodline when he infiltrated the Hyuga main family the day before.

With his fingertips pressed against the edge of the curse seal, chakra seeped into his skin like threads. He could feel the First Hokage's Wood Release agitation being temporarily suppressed, but Madara's Sharingan remnant soul suddenly let out a shriek, stirring up black mist deep within his sea of ​​consciousness.

“Blood eyes can reflect the beginning of reincarnation…” He suddenly remembered the murals on the dome of the Uchiha shrine, those ancient characters that the clan elders had covered with talismans.

He was hiding on the beam at the time, and the moonlight shone through the carved window lattice onto the mural. The two characters "Blood Eyes" glowed with a dark red light, like two drops of congealed blood.

At this moment, the strange movements of the Sharingan remnant soul overlapped with his memories, and he suddenly clenched the fragment—in Madara's chakra, there was actually a wave of energy that originated from the same source as the First Hokage's Wood Release, like twin trees that had been forcibly separated.

"So the Sharingan is..." His breathing suddenly quickened, the sharp pain from his broken ribs making his voice tremble at the end, "...the container that split off?"

Suddenly, a crisp sound of a dry branch breaking came from outside the cave.

Byakuya held his breath for a moment, and the remaining chakra spread out like a spider web—three chakra fluctuations at the Jonin level were approaching in a triangular formation.

The chakra at the very front has a metallic, rusty feel, a unique chakra flow characteristic of puppeteers.

“Chiyo…” He pulled off the puppet silk from his waist and tapped his fingertips rapidly on the stone wall. “Ebizo’s people?”

No, the chakra is heavier... it's from the Anbu of Sunagakure.

Meanwhile, in the dense forest on the border of the Land of Fire, Fugaku Uchiha pressed the blood-stained intelligence scroll onto his Sharingan.

The three tomoe spun rapidly in his pupils, and the text hidden by the secret technique on the scroll gradually became clear: "The viral embryo within Byakuya's body coexists with the First Hokage's bloodline; it must be seized before the Wood Release fully merges." A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips as his fingertips traced the clan crest on his headband. "The Konoha higher-ups always talk about maintaining balance... but balance has always been a toy for the strong."

Chapter 776 Puppet Weaving Net Formation

"Master," the ANBU ninja knelt on one knee, "the Sharingan unit has infiltrated the border of the Land of Fire. According to Lord Hamura's intelligence, Byakuya's last known location was..."

"Enough." Fugaku waved his hand to interrupt, his three-tomoe Sharingan suddenly transforming into a kaleidoscope. "Send them directly to the mine." He gazed at the moonlight in the dense forest, his Adam's apple bobbing. "The First Hokage's bloodline, the remnant soul of the Sharingan, the puppet virus... these things shouldn't fall into the hands of outsiders."

Inside the mine, Bai Ye's puppet threads suddenly trembled.

He looked up at the cave ceiling—where a very thin silver thread hung down, gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

It was the "Thousand-Mile Silk" he laid out three days ago, connecting to the Uchiha base twenty miles away.

The vibration frequency of the silver threads at this moment is the code signal for "the Sharingan troops to be mobilized".

“Fugaku…” he chuckled softly, blood splattering onto the wreckage, “more impatient than I expected.”

The footsteps outside the cave grew closer.

Byakuya quickly formed hand seals, and the Hyuga sealing technique illuminated golden patterns around his body, suppressing the surging chakra back into his dantian.

He took out the puppet parts from his pocket, and seven bronze gears spun in his palm, gradually forming the outline of the "Net Weaving Array".

"Grandma Chiyo," he said softly to the outside of the cave, his voice still carrying a hint of the clear, youthful crispness of his younger days, "You've come at just the right time."

The shadows at the mine entrance were suddenly torn away.

Chiyo stepped in, leaning on her iron staff, her silver hair dancing wildly in the wind, followed by three members of the Sunagakure Anbu.

Her gaze swept over Bai Ye's blood-stained clothes, then landed on the gears in his palm, her pupils shrinking slightly: "You're setting up... a puppet net formation?"

"Yes." Bai Ye pressed the gear against the stone wall, and the array pattern spread along the vein of the mine. "Connect the intelligence networks of various countries into one network, let the truth about the death of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire be revealed, let Ebizo and Hamura's deal be revealed, let Fugaku's ambition be revealed..." He looked up at Chiyo, a dark fire flickering in his eyes, "Let all the things that cannot be seen in the light be exposed to the sun."

Chiyo's iron staff slammed heavily onto the ground.

She recalled the memory crystal she had taken from the Inuzoku Puppet three days ago, and the smile on Byakuya's face when he said "the virus will evolve." At this moment, she suddenly understood the coldness in that smile—he wasn't playing with fire, but rather trying to overturn the entire ninja world's chessboard and expose all the players to the gaze of the pieces.

“You’re insane,” her voice trembled. “This will start a war.”

"The war has begun." Bai Ye's fingers traced the center of the array, and the last gear snapped into its slot. "Look."

Suddenly, the cawing of crows came from outside the cave.

Chiyo turned her head and saw three summoning beast crows flying past from different directions, each clutching a blood-stained scroll in its claws—secret reports from the Land of Wind, the Land of Lightning, and the Land of Earth.

“Ebizo contacted Iwagakure, Fugaku bribed Kumogakure, the Minister of Finance of the Land of Fire…” Byakuya’s voice trailed off, a smile curving his bloodied lips. “They think they are the ones in control, but they are nothing more than puppets infected by the virus.”

Chiyo gazed at the golden light of the Hyuga sealing technique and the red light of the puppet fragments flickering beneath his blood-stained clothes, and suddenly remembered the boy who had gambled with someone on puppets in the streets of Sunagakure three years ago.

Back then, his eyes were filled with hatred, but now there's something more scorching—not ambition, but... clarity.

“The real enemy is not me.” Bai Ye poured the last of his chakra into the array’s core, and a muffled thunderous roar came from the depths of the mine. “It’s that thing hiding behind the virus, driving all the powerful ones mad…”

Suddenly, a sharp shriek, characteristic of the Sharingan, came from outside the cave.

Bai Ye's pupils suddenly contracted—the Uchiha forces had arrived.

He grabbed a puppet string from the rock wall and flashed a white smile at Chiyo: "Grandma, may I borrow your puppet string?"

Chiyo's iron staff suddenly sprang out three puppet threads, which precisely wrapped around his wrist.

She watched his retreating figure as he turned and leaped towards the crack in the cave ceiling, listening to his voice being torn apart by the wind: "Once the net array is complete... all the secrets will surface."

Deep within the mine, the array patterns of the puppet net formation suddenly lit up.

Countless streams of chakra spread outwards along the mineral vein, like an invisible net slowly tightening in the darkness.

Chapter 777 Puppet Spore Trap

A draft blew through the cracks in the mine walls, making the stray hairs on Bai Ye's forehead flutter.

He leaped upwards, clinging to Chiyo's puppet threads. Red marks appeared on his palms from the threads, but they couldn't compare to the burning sensation surging within him—the golden light of the Hyuga seal was colliding fiercely with the red light of the puppet fragments, as if two hands were tearing at his meridians.

"Awake again?" He chuckled through gritted teeth, tasting the metallic tang of blood in his throat.

Three days ago in the dungeon of the Land of Fire, when the echoes of the First Hokage and Madara's wills first revived, he thought it was just a hallucination caused by the backlash of the Puppet Technique.

But the muffled thunder coming from the depths of the mine was clearly mixed with two overlapping sounds: one clear and melodious like the sound of a sword, and the other deep and somber like the sound of a war drum, which was flowing into his sea of ​​consciousness along with the chakra of the puppet weaving array.

The Sharingan's shriek from outside the cave grew closer.

Bai Ye stopped at the edge of the crack and turned to look down—in the center of the mine, Chiyo's iron staff was propped on the ground, and the old woman's white hair was reflected red by the array pattern. She was looking up at him, the turmoil in her eyes suppressing the unspoken words of advice.

"Grandma, guard the key point of the formation!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice torn to shreds by the wind.

Just as his fingertips were about to grip the rocks outside the cave, a chill suddenly ran down the back of his neck—it was the oppressive feeling of the Sharingan locking onto its target.

"Byakuya!" came Fugaku's angry shout from below.

The figure of the Uchiha clan patriarch burst through the hole, his crimson Sharingan shining like a blood lamp in the darkness, a kunai wrapped in chakra blades pointed directly at his back.

Bai Ye's pupils suddenly contracted.

He had anticipated that Fugaku would come after him—three days ago at the Daimyo's residence in the Land of Fire, he had used the puppet virus to expose the evidence of the Uchiha clan leader's collusion with the Land of Lightning. Now, the other party's pursuit was less about protecting the clan's honor and more about silencing him.

"Perfect timing." He chuckled softly, flicked his wrist, and the puppet needles hidden in his sleeve shot out.

Those fine steel needles, coated with the paralyzing toxin unique to Sunagakure, suddenly bloomed into pale purple spores the moment they touched Fugaku's chakra shield.

Fugaku's Sharingan suddenly contracted.

He'd seen these spores before—the same purple particles embedded in the nasal cavities of all the corpses at the Fire Kingdom's intelligence center, destroyed by White Night three days ago. "A puppet spore trap?" He spun away, his kunai sparking against the rock face. "You knew I'd come after you?"

“From the day you had the Uchiha Anbu intercept the Fire Country caravan.” Byakuya took the opportunity to leap out of the cave, cold air rushing into his blood-stained clothes. He reached for the puppet box at his waist, his fingertips touching the gear with swirling patterns engraved on the bottom of the box—a fragment of the first puppet's core.

At this moment, the fragment was hot, burning his palms red, and the voice in his mind became clearer: "Kid, do you think you can trap humanity with an intelligence network?"

Madara and I were just as naive back then.

"Shut up." Bai Ye gritted his teeth and threw out three kunai with his backhand.

The kunai pierced Fugaku's earlobe and into the cave wall, but the moment it touched the rock, it detonated the explosive tag hidden in the crevice.

With a roar, he leaped to the mountaintop using the air currents, looking down at the continuous mineral veins below—the red light of the Puppet Weaving Array was spreading along the underground veins, like a giant blood-red net, enveloping the borders of the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and even the Land of Thunder.

"Time to head to Misty Retreat," he murmured to the wind, pulling out a communication insect from his pocket.

Three days ago in Sunagakure, he had Kankuro plant tracking spores in the puppets of Kirigakure spies. At this moment, the tentacles of the communication insect are trembling wildly—that is the signal that Kirigakure ninjas have entered the Land of Fire.

At the same time, in the secret underground chamber of Kirigakure.

Chapter 778 Poison Mist Tracking Technique

Hozuki Gengetsu put down the intelligence scroll in his hand and tapped his fingertips on the stone table in a regular rhythm.

The last page of the scroll read: "Abnormal chakra fluctuations detected in the mines of the Land of Fire, suspected that Byakuya is not dead." His scarlet snake eyes narrowed, and seven phantom images of Samehada appeared behind him—chakra clones he controlled using a secret technique.

“White Night…” he murmured, a hissing sound like that of a snake emanating from his throat, “Three years ago in the Blood Mist, I personally pierced his heart.”