Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

Bai Ye stared at the hand pointing to the hidden door, then looked down at the seal on his chest that glowed with a faint blue light—the power of the traction threads was almost tearing his heart out of his chest. He could even hear the First Generation's voice echoing in his memory: "Some secrets can only be unlocked by blood."

“It seems…” He loosened his grip on the kunai, and the chakra threads slowly retracted into his sleeve, “I have to go in and take a look.”

As his toes touched the first paving stone in front of the hidden door, the ice golem on the snow hill suddenly turned into a cloud of ice mist.

The wind whipped icy mist through his hair, and he heard the last shard of ice whisper in his ear: "Remember... puppetry is never a curse..."

The hidden door opened with a "bang," and the surging hot air melted the ice beads on his eyelashes into water.

He gazed at the faintly visible golden altar inside the door, and touched the still-warm puppet scroll in his arms—the core of the scorpion, the bloodline of the first generation, the clues from the ice puppet, all pointed to this place.

In the dead forest at the edge of the snowfield, the figure wrapped in a straw hat was squatting in the snow, his fingertips touched with snow water melted by the golden light.

He removed his straw hat, revealing the menacing water mark on his left cheek—a unique symbol of the Hozuki clan.

“Golden blood, puppets, ancient ruins…” He brought the snow water to his nose and sniffed, a cold smile playing on his lips. “What Lord Hozuki wants is finally becoming a reality.” He put his straw hat back on, and as his figure blended into the snow, the kunai on his fingertips flashed with a ghostly green phosphorescence—this time, no matter what Byakuya finds, Kirigakure will get a share.

Bai Ye stood in front of the hidden door, able to clearly hear her own heartbeat.

The heat inside the door carried the smell of rust, much like the sweet and metallic scent of the first generation's bloodline awakening that night in the underground palace of the Daimyo's mansion in the Land of Fire.

He took a deep breath and stepped inside—behind him, the hidden door was slowly closing, shutting out the moonlight from the snowfield and leaving only a golden light, and a faint, almost imperceptible sound from inside, like the turning of a puppet's joints.

Chapter 796 The Betrayal of the Snow Village

The resounding crash of the closing hidden door sent shards of ice raining down from above. As Bai Ye's boots rolled over the first scorching gold brick, the smell of rust assaulted his temples.

The smell was exactly the same as when my bloodline awakened in the Fire Country's underground palace, but with a more stale, musty quality, like a rusty sword that had been soaked in snow water for a hundred years.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and his right hand unconsciously touched his left chest—where the seal was emitting a faint blue light with each heartbeat, overlapping with the voice of the first generation in his memory: "Some secrets can only be unlocked by blood."

“Madara’s chakra…” He narrowed his eyes, his tongue pressed against his back teeth.

The energy fluctuations floating in the air were all too familiar; it was the ferocity of Madara using Susanoo to shatter the mountains during their confrontation at the Valley of the End, yet it was also wrapped in a layer of icy coldness. "But no, where is the First Hokage's gentleness?"

A sudden stinging pain shot through his fingertips as chakra threads burst from his sleeves, weaving a semi-transparent net across the door frame behind him.

He bent down and buried the silk thread into the gaps between the gold bricks. The fingernail-sized explosive tags were strung together with chakra threads into a chain. "Hozuki's scent hasn't dissipated yet." He chuckled softly, his fingertip tracing the patterns on the explosive tags. "Dare to follow me here..." His words were cut off by a soft sound from the direction of the altar.

Three kilometers away, beneath the snow-covered hill, Chiyo's withered fingers suddenly clenched.

The puppet core on her knee hummed, and red spores condensed into a blurry light and shadow in her palm—it was the chakra fluctuation of Bai Ye, even more intense than half an hour ago.

A sharp glint appeared in the old woman's cloudy eyes. Her withered hand pressed against the wooden shelf behind her, and the sandalwood box on the top shelf popped open with a "click," revealing the puppet head of Sasori of the Red Sand, which gleamed cold silver in the moonlight.

“That child…” She stroked the carving on the side of the puppet’s neck, a crooked scorpion that Sasori had carved in a fit of pique when he was fourteen. “Back then you said puppetry was a cold art, and now, some even crazier kid is using it as a spark.” She pulled the crimson cloak from her waist and wrapped it around the puppet, channeling chakra into its core through her fingertips. The mechanism under the wooden frame creaked and turned, and six black ant puppets emerged from the ground. “The Sand Village’s advisors won’t just sit and wait for their juniors to die.”

The golden light from deep within the ruins grew increasingly dazzling, and Bai Ye's pupils shrank to slits in the intense light.

As he rounded the third ice sculpture, the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end—the outlines of the eyebrows and eyes of those ice sculptures were exactly the same as those of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

The First Hokage held a Wood Release seedling, while Madara held half a broken Kusanagi sword in his hand. The ice platform beneath their feet was engraved with contract symbols, with the central gap directly facing the groove on the altar.

"You finally came."

The sound was like shattered ice hitting bronze, and Byakuya's chakra threads instantly taut.

As he spun around, a gust of wind arose, causing the frost on the surface of the ice sculpture to flutter down—in the shadows stood a man wrapped in a gray robe, with a deep scar on his left cheek that revealed the bone, and in his right hand he held a scepter inlaid with the core of a puppet, the chakra flowing within the core resonating with the traction threads within his body.

"Snow Village..." Bai Ye's throat tightened.

He had seen a description in Sasori's Puppet Notes: the ancient ninja village buried in snow, whose last village chief's scepter could control ice and snow puppets. "Are you Frost Shadow?"

The gray-robed man's pupils contracted sharply, and the icicles on his scepter cracked with a sharp sound. "It seems the Senju bloodline hasn't forgotten us." He took two steps forward, the sound of his boots crunching over ice shards echoing clearly in the empty ruins. "Fifty years ago, the First Hokage and Madara swore an oath here." He pointed to the contract inscribed at the foot of the ice sculpture. "The Senju used their bloodline as a guide, and the Uchiha used their Sharingan as a pact, to seal something that would drive all puppeteers mad—"

“But they failed,” Bai Ye replied, as the seal on his chest suddenly burned.

He saw fragments of memories swirling before his eyes: the First Hokage kneeling in a pool of blood, Madara's Sharingan oozing blood tears, their chakra threads tangled into a knot, yet still unable to stop the dark purple mist from entering the ice sculpture.

“Because of the betrayal of the Snow Village.” Frost Shadow’s voice suddenly trembled, and a ghostly blue spark burst forth from the core of his scepter. “They needed the Snow Village’s Ice Release to seal the last gap, but the Daimyo coveted the First Hokage’s golden blood and sent ninjas to slaughter the village…” He abruptly ripped open his gray robe, revealing a gruesome knife wound on his chest. “When I carried the village chief’s body into the icy plains, I saw that cloud of mist enter the altar.”

Bai Ye's fingertips dug into her palm.

He could hear the muffled thud of chains being dragged beneath the altar, overlapping with the First Hokage's sigh from his memory: "Some secrets will wait for their successors in the cruelest way." Chakra threads unconsciously wrapped around the puppet scroll at his waist, and Sasori's improved Explosion Release mechanism burned in his palm—he was waiting for Frost Shadow's next words, waiting for the answer that had to be unlocked with bloodline.

“And you,” Frostshadow suddenly laughed, the scar spreading across his face, “are the only one among the first generation of bloodlines who can simultaneously control golden blood and puppet strings.”

That wisp of mist… “His scepter pointed to the altar groove,” it said, “it awaits you, to mend the final seal with your blood.”

A faint tinkling sound suddenly came from afar, like the delicate sound of a spider's silk being cut by a sharp blade.

Chapter 797 The Uncontrollable Will of the Puppet

Bai Ye's ears twitched slightly, and the chakra threads on his sleeve trembled slightly—the trap he had set around the ruins had been triggered.

He turned his head to look towards the hidden door. Moonlight leaked in through the crack in the door, casting long, thin shadows on the gold bricks, like a knife held to his neck.

“Take care of the guests first.” He chuckled, chakra threads darting like living things towards his cuffs. “As for what you said…” His gaze returned to Shuangying’s face, “we’ll talk about it when I get back.”

The tremor at the end of the chakra thread crawled from his fingertips into his bone marrow. Bai Ye lowered his eyes and glanced at the moonlight leaking through the crack in the dark door—the shadow was twisting at an extremely slow speed, like a snake whose tail had been stepped on.

He flicked his cuff, and three strands of transparent silk thread suddenly straightened, precisely wrapping around the three protrusions at the edge of the shadow.

“Your breath-holding technique is good,” he said casually, twirling the detonator and pressing wrinkles into the edge of the paper with his fingertips. “But after being hidden in the snow for three hours, the ice on the soles of your boots should have melted by now.”

The sound of fabric rubbing came from outside the door crack—the muffled sound of a ninja's usual sound-dampening technique failing.

Bai Ye suddenly laughed, and the chakra threads tightened sharply—a man covered in weasel skin fell out of the shadow, his left cheek adorned with the distinctive water pattern tattoo of Kirigakure, and his right hand clutching half an unactivated communication talisman.

"The Hozuki family's Dark Guard?" He tilted his head, the silk threads wrapping around the man's neck and slowly pulling him upwards. "Did Gengetsu send you to probe the depths of puppetry?"

The man's Adam's apple bobbed, and a fierce glint flashed in his eyes.

Bai Ye's fingertips suddenly stopped—he saw the other person's thumb quietly reaching for the poisoned kunai at his waist.

Chakra threads pierced through the man's palm in an instant, weaving a fine net within his flesh: "Don't rush to die, I have something for you to take back."

He leaned down and whispered in the man's ear, his warm breath startling the man's pupils to shrink: "Tell Huan Yue that the altar's seal is missing the golden blood catalyst." The threads tightened abruptly, and the last thing the man heard before he fainted was Bai Ye's nonchalant threat: "If he still has his eye on the First Generation's puppetry, he'd better make his move before the snow melts."

With a flick of the fingertip, the chakra threads snapped, and the man fell into the snowdrift like a rag doll.

Bai Ye watched his struggling figure crawling towards Wuyin, his knuckles touching his chin as he chuckled softly, "Wuyin's puppetry research has stagnated for twenty years, apparently due to bloodline resonance." As he turned, the heel of his boot crushed half a piece of ice crystal, "Huan Yue, the catalyst you need... is not just golden blood."

The golden light deep within the ruins suddenly became blinding, and the ice wall behind the altar cracked open with a "crack".

Byakuya's senses traveled along the chakra lines, and the moment he touched the cold, hard stone surface, his breath caught in his throat—it was a stone tablet.

He almost stumbled as he lunged forward, his fingertips trembling as he traced the marks beneath the ice shards.

The first generation's handwriting was strong and vigorous like a pine tree, while Ban's strokes had a sharp edge with a touch of wild cursive. The two lines of blood pact gleamed with an eerie light under the ice: "If puppetry will eventually destroy humanity, we are willing to use our will as a lock to seal it in endless reincarnation."

“So…” His throat tightened, and the seal on his chest suddenly burned with pain, “You all knew there would be a cycle.” Fragments of memories surged back: the First Hokage gripped his hand tightly in the pool of blood, Madara’s Sharingan reflected his face, “It’s not the end, it’s the beginning.”

"So that's why you said the secret will wait for its heir in the cruelest way." He slammed his fist on the ice wall, the shards of ice stinging his face. "So I didn't end anything at all, I just became the new lock."

"You finally understand."

Shuangying's voice came from behind, carrying a hint of sorrowful relief.

As Bai Ye spun around, he saw the old man's scepter pressed against the groove in the center of the altar, and icy blue chakra seeped into the crack in the stone as if it were alive.

The entire ruins began to tremble, and the contract text beneath the ice sculptures suddenly glowed red, while the dark purple mist sealed by the First Generation and Madara surged along the patterns.

“This is the last mechanism of the Snow Village,” Shuangying’s hands trembled, but she gripped the scepter tightly. “Back then, the village chief used Ice Release to freeze the puppet’s will, which even the First Hokage and Madara could not suppress.”

The ice cracked beneath the altar, and a puppet covered in ice patterns slowly rose up.

Embedded in its chest cavity is a beating heart, and dark red blood droplets drip down the ice crevice, which emit a faint blue light in sync with the seal on Bai Ye's left chest.

"Are you the new container... or the terminator?"

The puppet's voice sounded like metal scraping, causing ice shards to fall in a rustling sound.

Looking at the heart that resonated with his own blood, Bai Ye suddenly remembered what Scorpion had once said: "The most perfect puppet should have the heartbeat of a living person." But at this moment, this heart was clearly forged with the obsession of countless puppeteers.

His fingertips gently traced the puppet scroll at his waist, and chakra threads shot out from his sleeves like silver snakes.

Frostshadow's scepter trembled, and the mist on the ice sculpture began to surge wildly into the puppet's body, dyeing the ice armor a strange purplish-black.

"I must win this battle." Bai Ye's voice was soft, yet it was like a heavy hammer striking ice. "Not for the First Hokage, not for Madara..." He gazed at the puppet's gradually clearer face—it was clearly his younger self. "For all the souls devoured by the Puppet Technique."

The ice wall shattered completely behind him, and moonlight mixed with the golden light of the ruins poured in, casting a long shadow of Bai Ye.

His chakra threads had already wrapped around the puppet's joints, and the puppet's right hand was slowly rising towards his throat.

Chapter 798 Greed

The moonlight on the ice field mingled with the golden light from the core of the ruins, refracting into tiny spots of light on the cracked ice surface.

Byakuya's chakra threads had already wrapped around the puppet's elbow joints, yet he could clearly sense the power flowing beneath those metal joints—not ordinary chakra, but resentment tempered by the obsessions of countless puppeteers, which, like a venomous snake, burrowed along the chakra threads toward his fingertips.

"You think you can escape your fate?" Frost Shadow roared, ice shards crashing down. The old man's scepter was deeply embedded in the altar's groove, the veins on the back of his hand bulging like twisted icicles. "You are nothing but another vessel!" His withered fingers pressed down hard on the diamond-shaped ice crystal at the top of the scepter, and the icy blue chakra suddenly exploded into a net, enveloping the entire altar in a blinding blue light.

The puppet's heart suddenly pounded violently, and dark red blood droplets splattered onto the ice armor, making a sizzling, corrosive sound.

What made Bai Ye's hair stand on end was that the puppet with the same face as him had the same sealing pattern on its left chest—a faint blue light that flickered with his heartbeat, perfectly in sync with the burning pain in his heart.

"So... this is the core of the cycle." Byakuya's Adam's apple bobbed, and chakra threads left red marks on his palm.

He finally saw clearly the look in the eyes of the First Hokage and Madara in those fragments of memory—not regret, but sorrow.

They knew all along that the puppetry they created would breed an independent will, and that each successor would become a new lock, sealing this soul-devouring obsession within their bloodline.

"white night!"

A familiar, hoarse voice boomed through the ice.

Bai Ye's pupils contracted slightly as he turned around and caught a glimpse of the end of the ice field—Chiyo, wrapped in a scarlet cloak, stood before the collapsed ice archway. Her wrinkled hands rested on the scorpion puppet scroll at her waist, and the remains of the Red Sand Scorpion puppet floated behind her, with pale golden puppet energy waves seeping from the tip of its stinger.

That was the "stable resonance field" that Sasori researched before his death, which could interfere with the chakra manipulation of all non-living things.

"Don't let history repeat itself!" Chiyo's shout was torn apart by the icy wind, but her fingers pressed heavily on the puppet's control stick.

Golden light waves spread like ripples, and the black-purple mist that had been surging wildly into the puppet's body suddenly stopped. Several cracks flashed on Frost Shadow's scepter—the manifestation of energy interference.

"Old man!" Frost Shadow's neck veins bulged, and his face, covered with age spots, turned bluish-purple.

He suddenly drew his scepter, the icy tip piercing his palm, blood dripping onto the altar's engravings, like a lit fuse.

The puppet's heartbeat suddenly rose, causing ice spikes to fall from the ice dome. One of them grazed Bai Ye's ear and embedded itself in the ground, with ice shards flying into his left eye, causing him to squint in pain.

But the pain actually made his mind clearer.

He stared at the puppet's gradually distorted face—it wasn't his face, but the faces of puppeteers throughout history who had been devoured by puppetry techniques: there was the old village chief of Yukigami coughing up blood, there was Sasori's empty eyes when his soul was finally extracted, and even there was the First Hokage's resentment as he clenched his hand in the pool of blood.

"That's why you chose me." Bai Ye suddenly laughed, his laughter mixed with the crisp sound of ice shards, "Because my bloodline can simultaneously contain the will of the First Hokage and Madara, because I am strong enough to become a new vessel."

But you forgot... "His chakra threads suddenly surged, coiling like silver snakes around the puppet's neck, wrists, and ankles," I am more greedy than you.

The puppet's right hand stopped three inches from his throat, its metal knuckles groaning under the strain.

Chapter 799 Soul Corrosion Liquid

Bai Ye could feel those obsessions struggling, like flies trapped in a glass jar, making his temples throb.

But when his gaze swept over the phantom images of the First Hokage and Madara on the ice wall, those two figures who had once inspired awe now seemed so insignificant—they were trapped in their own era, clumsily perpetuating so-called "hope," yet they had sown the seeds of a cycle with their own hands.

“The real enemy has never been this puppet,” Bai Ye said softly, chakra threads stretching into thin lines in his palm. “It’s our cowardice in not severing ties with the past.”

Frostshadow's scepter snapped in two with a "crack".

He staggered backward, watching as the surging black-purple mist within the puppet suddenly changed direction—this time it didn't rush towards the puppet, but instead drilled into the depths of the earth's veins along the altar's engravings.

The entire ruins began to shake violently, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the ice dome. Moonlight and golden light mixed with ice shards rained down on them.

"The ley lines... the ley line energy is out of control!" Fear finally showed in Frostshadow's voice. He lunged at the collapsing ice wall, but was hit in the calf by a falling ice spike and collapsed to the ground.

Bai Ye's pupils reflected the surging, eerie blue light from the depths of the earth's veins—it was the resonance of his seal, and also the resonance of the puppet's heart.

He suddenly released the chakra threads, letting the puppet's metal fingers brush against his chin.

To everyone's astonishment, he placed one hand on the first phantom of the ice wall and the other on the phantom of Madara.

"First Generation, Madara." His voice drowned out the roar of the collapsing ruins. "Thank you for giving me power."

But this time, I'll choose the path.

The illusory image of the ice wall suddenly vanished, transforming into two warm currents that flowed into his heart.

The puppet's heartbeat suddenly became clear and distinct, like his own heartbeat.