Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

Bai Ye pulled open his collar, revealing the dark blue seal on his left chest. The light there finally overlapped with the light from the puppet's heart—not devouring, not being devoured, but resonating.

"Grandma Chiyo!" He turned to look at the old woman at the ice archway, who was using her puppet arm to support the collapsing ice beam. "Help me stabilize the energy wave!"

Chiyo's pupils contracted sharply as she saw Byakuya's chakra threads darting out from his sleeve and disappearing into the cracks in the ice wall like dragons—these were the lines connecting the energy nodes throughout the ruins.

On the icy plain, two clusters of eerie blue light, which should have been opposing forces, were now pulsating at an eerie, harmonious frequency.

No one noticed that on the ice between Bai Ye and the puppet, a thin golden line was spreading along the chakra lines, like the awakening of some ancient contract.

The tremors of the ice field almost shook a person's bones apart.

As Bai Ye's chakra threads pierced through the cracks in the ice wall, a burning pain shot through his fingertips—those energy nodes had long been corroded into poisonous thorns by the obsessions of generations of puppeteers, and every inch they extended felt like a severing of his nerves.

But his pupils were clearer than ever as he watched the ice crystal fragments swirling in the resonance field, and he suddenly chuckled softly, "I see..."

"White!" Chiyo's shout was shattered by the sound of the ice dome cracking.

Her puppet arm was desperately holding up the ice beam that was about to crash down, the control lever in her palm had carved deep grooves, but her gaze remained fixed on the figure standing in the center of the altar.

The old man saw his chakra threads suddenly dart in eight directions as if they were alive, outlining glowing patterns on the ice surface—it was the "Star Array" recorded in the forbidden jutsu manual of Sunagakure, which required the operator to connect to eight energy sources at the same time, and the slightest mistake would result in being devoured into dust.

"Grandma Chiyo, shift Sasori's resonance field to the southeast!" Byakuya's voice was hoarse, like metal scraping, and beads of sweat on his forehead fell onto the ice surface, instantly freezing into ice crystals.

He could clearly sense the two surging forces within the earth's veins: one was the First Hokage's compassion, carrying the distinctive scent of grass characteristic of Wood Release; the other was Madara's ferocity, a wind enveloped in the smell of blood and rust.

They collided at the seal on his heart, like two trapped beasts tearing at his internal organs.

"Are you crazy?!" Shuangying collapsed to the ground, the blood from her severed leg frozen into a dark red icicle.

He stared at the golden patterns creeping up the fragments of his scepter, then suddenly coughed violently—not blood, but fine, dark purple mist. "That's... Soul Corrosion Liquid!"

Are you willing to drag yourself down with you?

Chapter 800 A Daring Trick

"Because I want to burn away all the seeds of the cycle." Suddenly, blood beads burst from Bai Ye's fingertips, and chakra threads wrapped around the blood beads disappeared into the ice surface engravings.

He could hear the First Generation's sigh echoing in his mind, and Madara's cold laughter pounding at his temples, but this time, those voices were no longer shackles, but sparks of fire.

The moment he ripped open his collar, the wind from the icy plains rushed into his chest, but it was nothing compared to the searing pain in his heart—the azure seal was expanding with his heartbeat, as if it would shatter his ribs.

"First Hokage, Madara." He spoke to the air, his voice as soft as if he were telling a secret, "You use puppetry to prolong your will, yet you are trapped in your own obsessions."

"Now..." he pressed his palm against the seal on his chest, his nails almost digging into his flesh, "it's my turn to give you your freedom."

The illusory image of the ice wall suddenly trembled violently.

The First Hokage's Wood Release phantom transformed into a green rain of light, while Madara's Susanoo phantom cracked into crimson markings, and two streams of light pierced through the ice surface markings along his arm.

The golden patterns on the purification array instantly surged, like living vines that entwined around the puppet that resembled him.

The puppet's heart stopped beating, and dark red blood beads, enveloped in golden light, rose into the air, condensing into tiny star fragments—the remnants of the souls of puppeteers who had been devoured throughout the ages.

"Clang-"

The sharp sound of metal striking the ice startled Chiyo, causing her to let go. Just as the ice beam crashed down, Scorpion's puppet remains suddenly extended their tail stinger, precisely catching the falling ice block.

The old man gazed toward the altar, his pupils reflecting the swaying figure within the golden array of light: Bai Ye's clothes were soaked with blood, and his hair was covered in ice, but his eyes shone with an astonishing brightness, as if they contained the entire sun.

"This is..." Shuangying's voice suddenly became soft, as if all her strength had been drained away.

He watched as the puppet warrior's metal shell shattered, revealing a semi-transparent soul curled up inside—a little girl clutching a puppet, the last shrine maiden of the Snow Ninja Village.

As the golden light swept over her, she finally smiled and whispered "thank you" before fading away.

The soft sound of stone chips falling came from deep within the ruins.

A stone tablet covered in ice dust slowly rose, and the inscription on it appeared in the golden light: True freedom is not in inheritance, but in choice.

“It’s over…” Bai Ye’s knees buckled, and he almost collapsed onto the ice.

But he suddenly felt a warmth around his waist—Chiyo's puppet arm wrapped around his waist, the old man's body heat coming through the puppet's shell, with a somewhat clumsy force.

"You brat..." Chiyo's voice trembled, her fingers gripping his sleeve tightly, as if afraid he would shatter into pieces if she let go. "If you dare to play such a reckless trick again..."

Bai Ye looked down at the old woman and noticed that the tears in the corners of her eyes had frozen into glistening ice beads.

He tried to laugh, but coughed up a mouthful of blood, which stained their clasped hands red.

But his gaze passed over the ice field and landed on the distant mountain peaks bathed in moonlight—there, a golden flower was emerging from the ice, its petals still covered with unmelted snow.

"I won this battle." His voice was as soft as a sigh, yet clearer than any vow.

The tremors on the ice field gradually subsided.

With the sound of the last ice spike hitting the ground, the entire ruin began to sink—the ice surged like a living thing, swallowing the shattered altar, the broken scepter, and the stone tablet inscribed with "Freedom" into the depths of darkness.

Chiyo helped Byakuya walk out of the ice field.

She could feel his weight getting heavier and heavier, his chakra fluctuations as weak as a candle flickering in the wind, yet his back remained ramrod straight.

As they reached the edge of the ice field, Bai Ye suddenly stopped and looked back at the ruins that were gradually being frozen over.

Under the moonlight, the last glimmer of golden light burst forth from the ice, drawing a golden line in the sky before disappearing behind the clouds.

"What's wrong?" Chiyo followed his gaze and saw only a vast expanse of ice gleaming with a cold light.

Bai Ye did not answer.

He gazed at the ruins and suddenly remembered that in the purification array, the souls of the First Hokage and Madara smiled at him before dissipating—it wasn't sorrow, but relief.

The wind whipped up snowflakes, blurring his vision.

But he knew that some things had changed.

As the two figures disappeared at the edge of the snowfield, a faint cracking sound came from beneath the ice.

Unseen by anyone, at the site where the ruins sank, a faint blue chakra wave was spreading along the earth's veins into the distance, like a seed waiting for its time to sprout.

Chapter 801 Ramblings

The wind on the ice field whipped up snowflakes that stung my face like tiny ice needles.

Bai Ye's footsteps stopped at the edge of the ice field, and the white breath he exhaled was scattered by the wind as soon as it rose.

He gazed at the gradually sinking ruins behind him, where the ice churned like living things. As the last glimmer of golden light shot into the clouds, a metallic taste suddenly rose in his throat—he raised his hand to cover his mouth, and beads of blood seeped from between his fingers fell onto the snow, instantly freezing into dark red ice crystals.

"You brat!" Chiyo's puppet arm tightened even more, the metal joint pressing against his waist so hard it almost dug into his flesh.

The old man's other hand was on his back, his body heat radiating through the thick winter coat, causing him to shiver slightly.

As she looked up, the tear frozen into an ice bead at the corner of her eye reflected the moonlight, slicing her furrowed brows into tiny fragments of light: "What do you mean you won? Now you can't even stand up straight?"

Bai Ye looked down at her clasped hands.

The heat from the purification array still lingered in his palms, but now they were as cold as ice. Chiyo, her fingers wrapped in coarse cloth gloves, was gently patting the back of his hand, like soothing a sulking child. "It's really alright," he said, a slight smile playing on his lips, his voice softer than snow. "Those things weighing on my back... are finally off."

Before he could finish speaking, a sound like a dry branch snapping came from behind him.

两人同时转身。

A man in gray clothes was kneeling in the snow.

His hair was streaked with ice, half his face was buried in his hands, and his shoulders heaved violently, as if he were laughing or crying at the same time. "They're finally gone..." his voice was muffled, mixed with the soft sound of snowflakes falling into his collar, "But what did they leave behind?"

What was left behind?

Chiyo's pupils contracted slightly.

She recognized the face—Frost Shadow, the last guardian of Snow Village, the man who, just three days ago, was holding an ice-breaking spike, ready to pierce White Night's throat.

At this moment, his chakra fluctuations were as chaotic as a crumpled ball of yarn, and the bracer on his left wrist cracked open, revealing a bluish-purple curse mark underneath, from which black blood seeped out as he spoke.

"Do you think you've won?" Shuangying suddenly looked up.

His eyes were hollow, like two dry wells, with bloodshot veins crawling across the whites. "The chains of fate... just continue to exist in a different form." The last few words were almost squeezed out between his teeth, carrying the stench of rotting flesh.

Chiyo's fingers twitched inside her sleeve.

Her puppet pouch popped open with a "whoosh," and three walnut-sized detection puppets shot out along the chakra lines, forming a triangular formation as they plunged into the icy plain.

These gadgets, crafted from magnetic gold dust, can penetrate 30 meters through ice. Right now, following the aftershocks of the earth's tremors, they are extending their sensing range inch by inch toward the location where the ruins have sunk.

"What do you know?" Bai Ye took a half step forward, but Chiyo quietly tugged at the corner of his clothes.

He could feel the pressure of the old man's fingertips—it was a unique warning signal from Sunagakure: the enemy is in the shadows, proceed with caution.

Shuangying suddenly smiled.

His laughter was like shards of ice hitting a stone wall, causing snowflakes to fall from the branches: "What do I know?"

I know that the will of the first generation was never a shackle, but a seed! "He staggered to his feet, his boots crushing two thin pieces of ice," they said, "They say they want to sever the inheritance, but what is inheritance?"

It's a curse etched into your bones!

yes..."

"Enough." Chiyo's puppet arm drew a silver arc at her side.

A willow-leaf-shaped kunai grazed Shuangying's ear and embedded itself in the snow, the resulting air blade slicing through half of his sleeve.

The old man's voice suddenly turned cold, like a poisoned needle: "The guardian of Snow Village should know better than anyone what crazy talk will bring."

Frosty Shadow's laughter abruptly stopped.

Chapter 802 Still Choosing to Move Forward After Seeing the Cause and Effect Clearly

He stared at the kunai at his feet, his Adam's apple bobbed twice, and suddenly turned and stumbled into the depths of the icy plain.

His footprints were crooked and quickly covered by the newly fallen snow, leaving only a trail of increasingly faint breaths: "You'll know when it wakes up..."

"Should we chase after them?" Bai Ye reached for the puppet silk at his waist.

Although his chakra was weak, his senses were clearer than ever before—at the site where the ruins had sunk, a kind of eerie blue fluctuation was surging beneath the ice, like a heartbeat, like breathing, like... something slumbering stretching its limbs.

Chiyo didn't say anything.

Her gaze was fixed on the perception transmitted back by the detection puppet.

One of the puppets suddenly trembled violently, the chakra threads on her fingertips stretching into thin lines. "No need to chase." She smirked, a smile colder than the wind of the icy plains. "What he said has come to him of its own accord."

Bai Ye followed her gaze.

Under the moonlight, the previously calmed ice field suddenly rippled.

The ice layer cracked with spiderweb-like fine lines, spreading outward from the center of the sunken ruins. A ghostly blue light seeped from each crack, as if someone underground was holding up thousands of lanterns.

The probe's tremors suddenly became sharp.

Blood seeped from Chiyo's fingertips—a sign of chakra overload.

She gritted her teeth and pulled back three puppets, their metal surfaces covered in scorch marks, with smoke still rising from the eye area of ​​one of them.

"What's going on?" Bai Ye's puppet silk had already wrapped around his palm three times.

He could sense that there was no malice in the fluctuation, but it carried a familiar feeling that sent chills down his spine—it was just like the lingering sense of resentment deep in the souls of the First Hokage and Madara before they disappeared within the purification array.

Chiyo did not answer.

She stared at the miniature display screen on the puppet's abdomen, her pupils slowly contracting.

The images on the screen flickered in and out of view amidst the static and noise, barely revealing the outlines beneath the ice: a broken altar, a sunken stele, and...

A soft "click" sounded.

The screen suddenly went black.

Chiyo's chakra threads snapped with a "snap," leaving a red mark on her palm.

She gazed at the surging blue light deep within the icy plains, then suddenly grabbed Bai Ye's wrist and pressed it against her chest: "Can you feel it?"

Bai Ye's fingertips touched the old man's violent heartbeat.

Deeper still, beneath the ice, in the pulse of the earth, that dark blue wave is accelerating.

Like a seed breaking through its shell, like a bud sprouting, like... something that has been sealed away for thousands of years, finally waiting for its time to break through the soil.

"Return to Sunagakure." Chiyo's voice was as soft as a sigh, yet it carried an undeniable ruthlessness. "Leave now."

Bai Ye did not refute.

As he gazed at the gradually brightening, eerie blue light emanating from the depths of the icy plains, he suddenly recalled the last words spoken by the First Generation within the purification array: "True freedom is not about severing cause and effect, but about choosing to move forward even after seeing cause and effect clearly."