Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

“This is impossible…” Hamura Shinobu’s sword fell into the stalagmite bushes. He stared at the ground at his feet—there was a thin, almost imperceptible golden vein crawling up the sole of his boot to his calf. “The ley lines…the ley lines are repelling us?”

Byakuya leaned against the cave wall, watching Hamura Shinobu's face flicker in the red light.

He could feel the core of the eternal life contract deep within the earth's veins spinning even faster. The echoes of the First Hokage and Madara chuckled in his sea of ​​consciousness, as if saying, "Let him see who is truly trapped by obsession."

Hamura Shinobu suddenly drew his short sword and cut off the gold markings on his calf.

Blood splattered on the stalagmite, yet strangely seeped into the ground along its veins.

When he looked up, he saw that beneath Bai Ye's shattered mask, the golden spot on her left eye had merged into a complete tomoe.

"Get in!" he roared at his guards behind him, his voice filled with a desperate madness. "Tear down that stone wall—"

The guards took two steps forward, holding torches.

As soon as the soldiers at the front stepped onto the land outside the mine, ripples suddenly appeared on the ground.

He was horrified to find that his feet were stuck in the rocks, as if he were sinking into a quagmire.

Even more terrifying, he heard the rumbling of gears turning from underground, as if some enormous creature was slowly opening its eyes.

As Shinobu Hamura's combat boots rolled over the stalagmite, the sound of metal scraping against rock made his back teeth ache.

The familiar exterior of the mine now resembled a crumpled parchment scroll by a mischievous child—the tunnel on the left, which should have led directly to the core area, had taken three strange turns, and the ventilation shaft on the right had become a deep, vertical shaft with dark red patterns crawling all over its walls, like breathing blood vessels.

“Illusion!

"It must be that bastard's illusion!" He slapped the captain of the guards across the face, his knuckles striking the man's headband and causing blood to gush out, then used chakra to strike the rock wall!

Break it for me—"

The captain of the guard covered his burning cheek, his palm trembling as he pressed it against the rock wall.

Chapter 783 I Have a Famous Name

As soon as the chakra seeped into the stone, his eyes suddenly widened, and a whimper, like that of a beast, escaped his throat.

Hamura Shinobu saw the skin on his wrist visibly shrink and contract, the bluish-purple veins bulging up his arm, as if an invisible hand had gripped his lifeline. "Sir...it hurts..." the captain of the guards gasped, "It's...draining my chakra..."

"Useless!" Hamura Shinobu drew his short sword and severed the captain of the personal guard's wrist. Blood splattered on the rock wall, but was swallowed by the array patterns before it hit the ground.

He then noticed that fine golden spots seeped from every crevice in the rocks. Those sparkling points he had once regarded as ordinary minerals were now forming complex runes as the earth trembled. "Puppets...this is puppetry!" He staggered backward, his boot heel getting stuck at the intersection of two golden patterns, and he fell heavily to the ground. "The whole mountain is made of puppets?"

The rumble of gears meshing echoed from deep within the mine, clearer than before, like a sleeping behemoth stretching its limbs.

Hamura Shinobu suddenly remembered the puppet he had seen three days ago in Daimyo's mansion—Byakuya stood inside a skeleton filled with mechanisms, and when the golden spot in his left eye swirled, even the Third Hokage's Fire Release technique was easily dismantled. "No... impossible..." He scrambled to his feet, blood seeping from under his fingernails, "I am the true master of the Land of Fire!"

What makes those old geezers' lousy techniques so...?

"Your greed is too noisy."

The sound was like an icicle piercing the back of the neck.

Hamura Shinobu turned his head sharply and saw Byakuya standing twenty paces away at the corner, his shattered mask gleaming coldly in the golden light.

On the rock wall behind him, the puppet phantoms of the First Hokage and Madara were faintly visible. Madara's Sharingan was no longer scarlet, but rather seemed to be shrouded in mist; the Wood Release patterns of the First Hokage had also lost their aggressiveness, and instead resembled a gentle embrace.

"You...how did you get here?" Hamura Shinobu pointed his short sword at Byakuya, his hand trembling uncontrollably. "I made sure they blocked all the entrances..."

"The entrance to the mine is never on the rocks." Bai Ye's voice was soft, but it struck Hamura Shinobu's heart like a heavy hammer.

He could see the golden spot in the boy's left eye flickering in rhythm with his speech, a frequency unique to puppeteers when they manipulated the core. "Didn't you want to know the secret of the Eternal Contract?" Bai Ye took two steps forward, his boots grinding against the golden patterns, causing ripples on the ground. "Now, it will tell you the answer itself."

The mine shaft suddenly shook violently, and loose rocks poured down from the ceiling like a torrential downpour.

Hamura Shinobu hurriedly braced himself with the back of his sword, only to see the golden patterns creep up the hilt of his sword and imprint a tiny totem on his palm.

He tried to fling the sword away, but the metal felt like it was ingrained in his hand. Chakra was flowing wildly down the blade, and even his internal organs were burning hot. "Stop!"

I am the acting daimyo of the Land of Fire—"

"Acting Daimyo?" Bai Ye's laughter was tinged with pity. "Three days ago, when you knelt before the Daimyo's corpse and swore to avenge him, you said the same thing." He stopped five steps away from Hamura Shinobu, raised his hand and lifted half of his mask, revealing the complete golden tomoe on his left eye. "But what you really want is to shut up everyone who knows you embezzled disaster relief supplies, to turn the Land of Fire's leyline resources into your private property, and to make puppetry your tool for eternally sitting in a high position."

Hamura Shinobu's pupils contracted sharply.

He remembered the ledger he burned in the secret room last night, the inspector he had pushed off the cliff, and the handprint he had pressed onto the contract with his daimyo's blood. "You...you peeked into my memories?"

Chapter 784 A Pathetic Person Without Power

“No need to peek.” Bai Ye’s fingertips traced the core of the puppet on his chest, Sasori’s relic, which was now buzzing. “Those with too strong an obsession can have their heartbeats heard even by the earth’s ley lines.” He suddenly raised his hand, crimson chakra gathering in his palm, drawing twisted runes in the air. “What the First Hokage and Madara sealed in the earth’s ley lines with Wood Release and Susanoo was never some kind of immortality technique.” The runes merged into the earth’s ley lines, and the golden spots in the entire mine suddenly shone as brightly as day. “It was their regret—regret for dividing sides with power, regret for replacing dialogue with hatred, regret for not holding each other’s hands when they could turn back.”

Hamura Shinobu felt a cold touch creep into his temples, and those deeply buried memories surged up like a tide: kneeling in the snow at age eight, begging his father not to sell him for grain; watching his wife being run over and killed by a nobleman's carriage at age fifteen, yet not daring to utter a sound; adding an extra zero to his ledger for the first time at age thirty... He suddenly cried, tears mingling with blood dripping onto the gold pattern, "I just... wanted to live like a human being..."

"So you've made more people live like non-humans." There was no blame in Bai Ye's voice, only weariness. "The end of obsession is not immortality, but the cage you built with your own hands." He pressed his hand on the stone tablet behind him, and the phantoms of the First Hokage and Madara solidified completely, placing their palms on his left and right shoulders respectively. "Now, it's time to let them out."

As the earth's tremors reached their peak, Shinobu Hamura heard his bones cracking—not from pain, but from some kind of more complete disintegration.

He saw a cocoon of light formed from golden spots envelop the white night. The First Hokage's Wood Release patterns and Madara's Susanoo chakra intertwined on the surface of the cocoon, as if mending something broken. "No...no..." He tried to lunge forward, but found his legs already buried in the ground. "I haven't...I haven't..."

"You've finished." Bai Ye's voice came from the cocoon of light, carrying a buzzing sound like an echo in an empty valley, "But they... haven't."

The cocoon of light suddenly burst open, and golden specks scattered like a meteor shower across every corner of the mine.

The last thing Hamura Shinobu saw was the golden speckled magatama in Byakuya's left eye, where the phantoms of the First Hokage and Madara were smiling at each other—just like the two boys when they first met at the Valley of the End a thousand years ago.

As darkness crept back in, he heard the sound of his consciousness being torn to shreds, mixed with a muffled murmur: "This time... it's my turn to guard."

The shouts of battle outside the mine had stopped at some point.

Chiyo stood at the entrance, supporting the salamander puppet, watching the golden spots surge out of the cave and form a huge puppet outline in the sky.

She reached for the communication talisman at her waist, her fingertips touching the remnants of Rasa's chakra, and suddenly smiled—that child had said that true puppetry was about carrying souls, and now it seemed that he not only carried the souls of his predecessors, but also... something even more important.

Inside the cave, Bai Ye knelt on one knee in front of the stone tablet, the gold spots on his palm still burning hot.

He could feel the lingering echoes of the First Hokage and Madara fading away, not disappearing completely, but rather like nutrients flowing into his blood, carrying a warm touch.

A subtle sound was wriggling in his mind, as if something dormant had been awakened—it was the resonance of the puppet heart embryo fragment, clearer and more... alive than before.

He touched the scorpion core on his chest; the metal surface still retained his body heat.

Kankuro's shout came from outside the cave, carrying the distinctive rustling of the wind unique to Sunagakure: "Byakuya!"

The jammer brought about—"

Chapter 785 It's not about taking lives

Looking up, Bai Ye saw that in the sunlight filtering through the cave entrance, golden spots were slowly gathering into new array patterns.

He smiled, and beneath the shattered mask, the golden spot in his left eye trembled slightly, as if responding to some distant call.

The lingering echoes of the will of the First Hokage and Madara were finally no longer just a noisy murmur trapped in the sea of ​​consciousness.

But the real test has only just begun.

The dampness in the mine, mixed with the smell of blood and rust, seeped into my throat.

Bai Ye's back pressed against the cold stone wall, his knuckles digging deeply into his palms, the golden spots peeking out from under his skin like fireflies dampened by a downpour.

He could hear his own heartbeat, weaker and weaker, like a leaky bellows—the will of the First Hokage and Madara had indeed merged, but at the cost of a shattered net in his chakra circuits, making every finger movement feel like cutting flesh.

"Bai!" Chiyo suddenly grabbed his wrist with such force that she almost crushed his bones.

The old woman's face flickered before him, fine beads of sweat glistening in the wrinkles around her eyes. "Hozuki Gengetsu's men have reached the border of the Land of Fire. Kirigakure's Water Prison Technique has been laid out seven times at Asama Mountain." Her other hand pressed against the scorpion core on his chest; the heat of the metal surface made her frown. "You don't even have the strength to form three hand seals right now. That old bastard doesn't want your life—"

“It’s a fragment of an embryo.” Bai Ye interrupted her, his voice like sandpaper scraping against a knife blade.

He looked down at his palm; the fragment trembled slightly with his heartbeat, a faint glow seeping from its golden-red patterns. "He knew that the First Hokage's Wood Release could nurture this thing." Kankuro's footsteps echoed from outside the cave, mixed with the clicking of puppet joints, but were drowned out by a deeper vibration—the muffled sound of chakra disturbing the air, like thunderclouds pressing in before a storm.

Chiyo's pupils suddenly contracted.

She released her grip and took a half step back. The salamander's tail spikes shot out with a "whoosh," leaving sparks on the ground: "Here it comes."

The sunlight at the entrance to the mine was blocked by shadows.

Hozuki Gengetsu stood there, the hem of his light blue kimono stained with undried blood, his long hair falling over his forehead, obscuring half of his sharply defined face.

Behind him followed a hunched figure, his gray robe embroidered with the three-curved jewel pattern that Sunagakure had long since abandoned—it was Akamaru, the puppeteer who had defected thirty years ago. Chiyo remembered his scream when he was expelled: "You will regret this day!"

“Mr. Haku has lived up to expectations.” Hozuki Gengetsu’s voice was like an ice pick striking the surface of water. He raised his hand, and Akamaru immediately took two steps forward, several metal balls the size of fingernails falling from his sleeve. “But you should understand that there is no power in this world that belongs to only one person.” The metal balls exploded into green mist the moment they hit the ground, carrying a stench like rotting flesh. “Akamaru’s improved puppet spores can gnaw at the host’s will along the chakra lines.”

The First Hokage's Wood Release?

"Sandalus's Susanoo?" He laughed. "In the face of the virus, it's nothing more than succulent food."

Bai Ye's molars clenched painfully.

The moment the green mist touched his skin, he heard a series of crackling sounds coming from inside his body—his chakra circuits were collapsing.

The golden spots suddenly became scorching hot, as if someone were running a red-hot wire under his skin. He saw the First Hokage's Wood Release phantom flicker in his mind's eye, its originally clear outline beginning to blur, and Madara's Susanoo chakra was also condensing and dissipating.

"You think I want fragments?" Hozuki Gengetsu stepped into the mist, water chakra condensing into ice flowers beneath his feet. "No, I want you as a vessel."

The bloodline of the first generation, the will of the stigmata, and this embryo... "His fingertips brushed against the glass tube Akamaru handed him, inside which floated a cluster of translucent spores, "Once they've gnawed you into an empty shell, I'll fill you back in with these little guys—"

Chapter 786 Your turn to do the work?

"What should I fill in?" Bai Ye suddenly looked up.

The golden tomoe on his left eye spun violently, a fleeting image of the tomoe flashing within it, accompanied by a wisp of dark red chakra. "Fill your ambition?" He leaned against the stone wall to stand up, staggering two steps. Suddenly, the fragment in his palm burst forth with intense light, scorching a hole in the green mist. "Granny Chiyo, jammer!"

Kankuro's voice came from outside the cave: "Catch!"

A diamond-shaped metal dart hurtled through the air.

Bai Ye reached out to catch it, but stopped halfway—he saw that Chi Wan's mouth was stretched to his ears, and the veins on his arm under his gray robe were bulging. The green mist suddenly changed direction and crawled into his wound through his sleeve.

A sharp pain shot from my wrist straight to the top of my head.

Bai Ye's knees buckled, slamming against the stone wall, and beads of blood trickled down between his fingers.

He could feel the spores wriggling in his blood vessels, like countless tiny teeth gnawing at the First Hokage's Wood Release chakra. The originally warm power was becoming sticky, like rotting tree roots.

"It's too late." Hozuki Gengetsu's voice suddenly came very close.

Bai Ye looked up and saw him standing five steps away, his distorted reflection mirrored in his icy blue pupils. "What you should be worried about now is..."

"My blood." Bai Ye interrupted him, ripping open his shirt with his left hand.

On the metal shell of the scorpion's core, an extremely fine crack was spreading. "You thought the spores could erode the will of the First Generation, but you forgot..." He quickly formed a hand seal with his right hand, and puppet silk shot out from his sleeve, precisely wrapping around the wound on his wrist. "I still have Ban's blood."

The green mist suddenly churned violently.

Madara's chakra, burning with intensity, surged from his sea of ​​consciousness, colliding with the First Hokage's Wood Release in his blood vessels, exploding into a blinding golden-red light.

Bai Ye's puppet silk tightened his wrists until they turned white, but he could feel the spores slowing down their grazing, like ants being thrown into boiling oil.

Hozuki Gengetsu's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

He took a half step back, and the ice flowers beneath his feet cracked into a spiderweb-like pattern: "You..."

“I just remembered,” Bai Ye’s lips twitched, blood seeping from beneath his shattered mask, “that guy Ban hates being used as fertilizer.” His puppet silk suddenly tightened, the skin at the wound turning white, but successfully blocking the spread of the spores. “Now, it’s your turn to worry.”

A ninja's exclamation came from outside the cave.

Chiyo's salamander puppet let out a low growl, and the sound of its tail slicing through the air drew closer.

Hozuki Gengetsu glanced at the outside of the cave, then turned back to stare at Byakuya, and suddenly laughed: "Interesting." He raised his hand and summoned a water-style technique, his icy blue chakra enveloping Akamaru. "Next time we meet, I'll bring even more delicious spores."

Before they finished speaking, their figures were enveloped by the water curtain and disappeared at the mine entrance.

Bai Ye slid down the stone wall and sat down, his back soaked with cold sweat.

He loosened the puppet silk and looked at the pale green spots on his wrist—the spores were still there, but they were suppressed.

In his mind's eye, the phantom of the First Hokage solidified again, looking at him with gentle eyes; Madara's Susanoo crossed his arms, a disdainful smile playing on his lips.

"So," Bai Ye whispered, panting, "it'll be your turn to do the work next time?"

The phantom of the first generation nodded.

A muffled laugh came from Madara's chakra fluctuations, as if to say, "Don't expect me to help you for nothing."

Chiyo's voice called from outside the cave: "Shiro! How are you?"

Byakuya looked up and saw Kankuro rushing in, holding a jammer, his face covered in blood, but he was smiling and showing his white teeth.

He touched the scorpion core on his chest. In the cracks of the metal surface, the fluorescence of the embryo fragments shone even brighter, like a beating heart.