Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

"Snapped."

A very faint popping sound.

When Chiyo looked up, the spore golem on her wristband had already unfolded on its own.

Countless translucent micro-spores emerged from the puppet's joints, shimmering like scattered diamonds in the moonlight before disappearing into the sand.

The sand grains began to move.

Chiyo held her breath.

Pale golden light traced a winding path through the sand, first drawing a spiral, then branching out, and finally condensing into a small dot at a certain point—that was the mark of the Valley of the Wind, the secret base where the First Kazekage trained puppeteers.

"This is... a clue left by Bai Ye?" Her fingertips trembled as she touched the light marks on the sand, the temperature of which was exactly the same as the palm of the first generation fifty years ago.

The wind suddenly picked up, making the kerosene lamp wick crackle. In the lamplight, a small arrow suddenly appeared on the light trail, pointing straight into the depths of the Valley of the Wind.

"teacher?"

Shuiyue's voice came from behind.

When Chiyo turned around, she saw her leaning against the tent pole, her guillotine hanging at her side, but not on her shoulder as usual.

The moonlight stretched her shadow long, just covering the light marks on the sand.

"What are you looking at?" Shuiyue asked, her eyes fixed on the light still flowing within the sand.

Her toes twitched slightly, as if she wanted to step on it, or as if she was being drawn forward by something.

Just as Chiyo was about to speak, she suddenly heard a very faint "click" sound.

The sound came from the direction of the Valley of the Wind, like a puppet that had been sealed away for many years finally turning its first joint.

Shuiyue's fingers rested on the hilt of the Executioner's Blade.

She didn't look at Chiyo, but stared at the darkness where the moonlight couldn't reach, her voice as soft as a sigh: "I'll go take a look."

Before Chiyo could respond, she had already blended into the night.

The light trails on the sand continued to extend, following the direction she had gone, drawing faint traces in the wind.

As the moonlight carved silver edges along the dune ridges, Shuiyue's boots sank half an inch into the warm sand.

Her breath almost condensed into a fine mist—the "click" sound just now was not an illusion, and there was still a faint smell of puppet strings and wax in the wind.

She ran her fingers along the shark-tooth pattern on the cleaver twice, then suddenly ducked and rolled into the sand hollow.

The moment the sand grazed my ear, I heard a soft snapping sound behind me as a dry branch broke.

As she turned and stood up, the moonlight illuminated the collapsed cave entrance in front of her—a natural depression eroded by the wind, with a few strands of faded red silk hanging from the entrance, the same color as the puppet decorations that Bai Ye often used.

"Interesting." Shuiyue licked her lips, the tip of her knife lifting the red silk.

Half of a bronze lock was visible beneath the silk, with a pale golden spore stuffed inside the lock's core.

She stared at the spore for three breaths, then suddenly flicked her finger.

The spores burst open with a "pop," and the lock fell off with a thud.

The musty smell mingled with the scent of pine resin wafted out of the cave.

Chapter 866 Those Spore Golems Eat People!

Shuiyue squinted to adjust to the darkness before she could see a puppet lying at the bottom of the cave.

Its body was carved from thousand-year-old sandwood, with fine platinum threads wrapped around its joints, and crooked spiral patterns engraved on its chest—marks that Bai Ye always tried to carve on his new puppets, as if they had been scratched on by a child with the tip of a knife.

"Hey, you've been hiding it well." Shuiyue squatted down, her fingertips just about to touch the spiral pattern, when a faint blue light suddenly flashed in the puppet's eye sockets.

She leaped backward, holding the decapitation blade horizontally in front of her chest, but the light only flickered before dimming again.

"Playing tricks?" she snorted, bending down to grab the puppet's right arm.

The wooden core felt cold to the touch, yet a warmth seeped into her palm—it was residual chakra.

Even more bizarrely, there was a very shallow mark on the back of the puppet's neck, resembling the character "等" (děng, meaning "wait") drawn with a fingernail.

Suddenly, the screams of sand foxes echoed from outside the dunes.

Shuiyue looked up abruptly and saw three dark figures darting out from behind the sand ridge.

Their movements were too orderly, unlike wild beasts—they were puppets!

She spun around and swung her sword, the blade cleaving open the head of the foremost dog-shaped puppet. But what emerged from the severed neck was not wood chips, but a dense mass of pale golden spores.

"Damn it." Shuiyue wiped the spores that had splashed on her face and turned to run out of the cave.

The spores clung to the blade and were crawling along the metal grain towards the handle.

As soon as she rushed out of the cave, she heard a "crack" behind her—the sand puppet sat up, its eerie blue eyes now solidified, like two small lamps.

Luo Sha's hand, gripping the communication scroll, trembled. The seventh outpost had lost contact.

"Lord Kazekage, Lord Crow has sent a message." The ANBU ninja knelt on one knee, his communication insect trembling like a leaf. "The guards at the 'Seabuckthorn' outpost on the western border have all disappeared."

"All gone?" Luo Sha's nails dug into his palms. "Where are the bodies? The bloodstains?"

“No.” The ANBU’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “There are…wood Release traces on the ground.”

Rosa's pupils suddenly contracted.

He suddenly overturned the table, and the teacup smashed to pieces on the ground: "Wood Release!"

That guy is clearly a puppeteer, how come he knows Wood Release?

"Perhaps... it's the bloodline of the First Generation?" the Anbu cautiously added.

Rasa's cloak suddenly fluttered without wind—his chakra was in complete disarray.

When Byakuya appeared in the Daimyo Prefecture three days ago, he did sense the wood-attribute chakra, but at the time he thought it was an illusion.

In retrospect, that was not an illusion at all.

"Go and summon the crows back!" He grabbed the map of the Land of Wind from the table and stabbed it into the location of the Deadwood Valley with his dagger. "Have all patrols gather here, and whatever they see—" His voice suddenly choked up, "No, whatever they see, burn it all!"

Just as the secret agents were about to retreat, the sound of rapid hoofbeats suddenly came from outside the tent.

Luo Sha lifted the tent flap and saw Crow tumble from his horse, his armor stained with brown blood. "My lord!" Crow grabbed his boot, "Those...those spore golems eat people!"

They burrowed into the guard's throat, and then...and then the whole person turned into a puppet!

Luo Sha abruptly shook off his hand.

Pale golden spots of light moved in the crow's pupils, the same color as the spores left behind by the White Night.

He took two steps back, pulled out a kunai, and pointed it at the crow: "You've been parasitized?"

Chapter 867 Don't be afraid, teacher

"No!" the crow cried, tearing off its headband to reveal a fresh knife wound on its forehead. "I cut open the wound with a kunai, and the spores were burned to death by chakra!"

But the other brothers... their eyes had all turned gold, and they moved like puppets on strings!

Rosa's back was attached to the tent pole.

Looking at the bloodstains on the crow's face, he suddenly recalled the rumors from fifty years ago when the First Kazekage died—that a puppeteer used living people as puppets and was sealed away in the Valley of the Dead by the First Kazekage.

Is it possible?

"Gather all Jonin!" he suddenly raised his voice. "Target: Drywood Valley, depart immediately!"

Chiyo's torch flickered in the wind.

She stared at the light marks on the sand and finally recognized that the winding path was a code left by the first Kazekage—each spiral branch corresponded to the annual rings of the dead trees in the Deadwood Valley, and the arrow pointed to the tree hole where Bai Ye first awakened the power of the puppet.

"Teacher, there's some noise ahead." The accompanying Chunin pressed down on the hilt of his sword.

The night wind carried the sound of metal scraping together, like countless puppet strings being stretched taut.

Chiyo squinted and looked out. On the ridgeline of the sand dunes under the moonlight, twenty puppets stood in neat rows.

Their joints gleamed with a cold light, and the deep blue in their eye sockets was exactly the same as what Shuiyue had just seen.

"Retreat!" Chiyo grabbed the nearest Chunin and ran back, but the puppets moved even faster.

The one in the lead suddenly leaped up, and when it landed, it sent sand flying everywhere.

The moment Chiyo looked up, she met its gaze—its pupils were light gray, with spiral patterns around the edges of its irises, exactly like Byakuya's eyes.

“White...Night?” she blurted out.

The puppet's mouth suddenly parted into a grin, revealing wooden teeth.

It raised its arm, and the twenty puppets simultaneously raised their kunai.

"Protect Lady Chiyo!" The Chunin unleashed a barrage of kunai.

But the puppets simply raised their hands to block, and the kunai were all embedded in their arms, like they were stuck in a sponge.

Chiyo's wristband suddenly became hot, and a familiar chakra fluctuation came from the spiral mark—it was Byakuya's, with a hint of impatience, and also a hint of...apology?

"Retreat to the outskirts of the Deadwood Valley!" Chiyo suddenly shouted. "They're forcing us there!"

The lead puppet tilted its head, as if it understood.

It waved its hand, and the twenty puppets accelerated simultaneously, creating a sandstorm that obscured the moonlight.

Chiyo ran in front, the heat from the wristbands almost burning her skin.

She knew that whether what lay ahead was a trap or the truth, the answer left behind by Bai Ye must be hidden beneath the tree hollow in the Deadwood Valley.

As the fingertips of the first puppet brushed against the hem of her clothes, she heard a soft rustling in the wind, as if someone were saying, "Don't be afraid, teacher."

As the sand grazed Chiyo's ears, her wristband burned so badly it almost scalded her skin.

The metallic scraping sound approached like a tidal wave from behind. The sandstorm stirred up by the twenty puppets surged under the moonlight. The gray eyes of the leader flickered in the sand and dust, much like Bai Ye's gaze before each dangerous mission—calm to the point of indifference, yet concealing a certain resolute determination.

"To the right!" Shuiyue suddenly grabbed her arm.

The female ninja, formerly of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, had somehow drawn her Executioner's Blade from her back. The cold light reflected from the blade cleaved through the sand, revealing a broken wall half-hidden behind a sand dune on her right.

Chiyo stumbled and bumped into it, her fingertips touching the uneven engravings on the wall. Her heart skipped a beat—those were the puppet codes created by the First Kazekage, each indentation corresponding to the underground veins of the Drywood Valley.

"Teacher!" came the crow's voice from the left.

His headband was already torn to shreds, and blood was still seeping from the knife wound on his forehead, yet he still held up his kunai as a last line of defense. "These puppets have chakra circuits in the joints!"

Chapter 868 That is... Bai Ye's body?

They are mimicking the breathing frequency of a living person! Before the words were finished, the nearest puppet had already swung its arm. The crow spun and rolled, and the kunai grazed the puppet's shoulder armor, leaving sparks, but it didn't even scratch off the paint.

Chiyo dug her fingernails into her palm.

The spiral mark on the wristband suddenly glowed with a bluish light, and familiar chakra surged up along her meridians, much like the warmth of the hand that had held Bai Ye's when she was sixteen and had failed her first attempt at manipulating the Hundred Puppet Technique, apologizing to her. "Don't be afraid, teacher." That faint sound drifted in the wind again, this time clearer, with a slightly hoarse, breathy tone, like the lingering effects of a long-burning throat.

"Retreat to the bottom of the valley!" she suddenly shouted. "Follow the secret text!" Although the Chunin did not understand why, they habitually obeyed the oldest advisor of Sunagakure.

The group sprinted along the broken wall, sand exploding at their feet. The puppet's footsteps followed closely behind, yet always kept a three-step distance—as if driving them away, or perhaps guiding them.

When the stench of decay mixed with the metallic smell from the bottom of the valley hit her, Shuiyue suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Her nose twitched, and the tip of her decapitation sword touched the ground: "No." Under the moonlight, the valley floor, which should have been a gravel beach, was covered with large slabs of charred rock, with tiny metal fragments embedded in the cracks. "The sand here has been melted by high temperatures, at least the residual heat of an S-rank fire escaping technique."

But judging from the crystal structure... "She crouched down and picked up a handful of sand," it looked more like it had been scorched by some kind of continuously running machine.

The crow crept closer, its pupils slightly contracting: "Lord Ebizo's notes mention that when the First Kazekage sealed that puppeteer, he used Konoha's forbidden technique, 'Earth Vein Fusion.'" He pointed to a stone gate half-buried in the sand not far away, the swirling pattern on the lintel being the First Kazekage's symbol. "He said he wanted to seal the puppeteer and the puppeteer together in the Earth Vein Fusion, so their chakra would burn forever."

Chiyo's breath caught in her throat.

She took out the spore puppet from her waist—it was specially made by Byakuya using her own hair mixed with puppet strings, and only her chakra could activate it.

The moment the puppet touched the crack in the stone door, a muffled thunderous roar echoed from the ground, stone chips fell in a flurry, and a ghostly blue light seeped from the crack. "It's still working..." she murmured, as the spore puppet's tentacles suddenly exploded, as if it had been violently pulled inside by some force.

The moment the stone door opened, the stench was replaced by an even stronger smell of engine oil.

The Chunin instinctively stepped back, but Chiyo stopped them by raising her hand.

She stared at the air emanating from the doorway—a faint, lingering scent of puppets, made from mithril and human fat, a material only top-tier puppeteers would use. “Go in.” She took the first step, the warmth of her wristband giving her a sense of security. “What he wants us to see is inside.”

The underground workshop was larger than I had imagined.

Hundreds of puppets were embedded in the wall like specimens, some missing arms and legs, some with dark red scabs on their surfaces. On the platform in the very center stood a puppet dressed in a black robe.