Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

The crow suddenly grabbed Chiyo's wrist.

The old man followed his gaze and looked up. He saw that the black mist at the top of the device had condensed into the shape of a bell again. The sound of the bell from the depths of the tunnel was more urgent than before, as if someone was urging them to hurry up.

Meanwhile, the drop of black blood on the ground had somehow become covered with fine black tentacles, slowly wriggling along the gaps between the sand lines and the water-bound marks.

"Time is running out." Bai Ye's outline began to blur, and the golden-red light gradually receded into the core. "There are backup plans I left behind before splitting my consciousness in the mirror space."

"You..." His voice was suddenly drowned out by the sound of bells, "Remember, whatever you see..."

"Wait!" Chiyo rushed to the device, her calloused hands pressing against the light membrane. "Can you regain control of the situation now?"

The golden-red light within the light membrane flickered.

Bai Ye's lips moved, but no sound came out.

His right eye flashed with dark purple, then was quickly covered by golden red, as if two forces were fiercely vying for power.

Finally, he gently shook his head at Chiyo.

The sound of bells from deep within the passageway suddenly rose, like a silver needle piercing everyone's eardrums.

The black blood tentacles suddenly straightened and snapped with a "crack," leaving charred marks on the ground.

In the darkness unseen by all, the bloodlust in those eyes intensified—it had waited too long, finally waiting for its prey to walk into the trap itself.

Chapter 884 What they want is my fragmented consciousness

The bells in the secret room were still ringing shrilly. Chiyo's fingertips almost dug into the light membrane, and the water droplets in the folds were shaken and fell down.

"Can you take control of the situation now?" Her voice was softer than before, as if afraid of startling something.

Bai Ye's golden-red pupils flickered within the light membrane, while dark purple patterns crept out from the edges of his red pupils, like a venomous snake spitting its tongue.

He opened his mouth, but the dark purple part spilled out half a sentence: "One more step—" The golden red suddenly countered, its pupils shrinking to pinpoints, "I must find the 'assassin's' true form." His light membrane suddenly trembled violently, casting flickering light on the faces of the three, "The other me hid fragments of consciousness within the core of the puppet, using the deaths of various daimyo as fuses..." His right hand pointed to the corner of the secret chamber, where several dusty puppets lay piled up. The one on top wore a dark-patterned kimono, the metal at its joints gleaming coldly in the shadows, "That puppet has the power to activate it for me."

"Why that one?" Shuiyue still gripped the water blade in her hand, her knuckles turning white.

She stared at the puppet in the corner, her bloodshot eyes reflecting the spiral pattern on the puppet's neck—exactly the same as the mark on Bai Ye's forehead.

"It contains a culture of the First Hokage's cells." Bai Ye's voice suddenly became like shattered ice, the dark purple almost swallowing the golden-red. "It can suppress the erosion of my other self... Hurry!"

Chiyo's old back was almost bent into a shrimp shape. She staggered and fell to a corner, her withered fingers brushing over the spiral pattern on the puppet's forehead.

When she personally injected chakra circuits into this puppet twenty years ago, she never imagined it would be used in this way.

"Crow!" she shouted without turning her head, "Use magnetic sand to secure the puppet's joints, don't let the chakra turbulence scatter the core!"

The crow's magnetic sand darted past with a "whoosh," and the pale blue sand grains, like living creatures, burrowed into the gaps in the puppet's shoulder armor, wedging the rusty gears tightly together.

His ears twitched—he heard soft footsteps coming from outside the passageway, as if someone was approaching through the damp moss.

"Lady Chiyo, there are chakra fluctuations from at least five people outside." He lowered his voice, magnetic sand condensing into sharp spikes in his palm. "Their chakra attributes are mixed, like... the ANBU of various countries?"

Shuiyue's water blade hummed with a blue light. Leaning against the door of the secret chamber, her nails dug deeply into her palms: "Are you here to silence me? Or are you following Baiye's scent?"

"Activate the puppet first!" Bai Ye's light membrane suddenly expanded, and a golden-red beam of light crashed into the ceiling, sending rubble raining down. "What they want is my split consciousness. Now that my main body has awakened, they will kill you all too!"

Chiyo pressed her fingers on the interface at the back of the puppet's neck, and chakra surged into the metal patterns like boiling water.

Suddenly, the puppet's eye sockets lit up with a ghostly blue light, and the gears at its joints began to turn, emitting an old "click" sound.

Shuiyue bit her lip and rushed over, pressing the tip of her water blade against the interface. Pale blue chakra seeped into the puppet's body along the blade. The water attribute chakra of the Hidden Mist Village was best at harmonizing violent energy. She could feel a tangled mess of chakra in the puppet's core, which was being slowly straightened out by her water attribute.

"It's done!" Chiyo suddenly let go and stepped back, her forehead covered in cold sweat.

A crack appeared in the puppet's chest, revealing a semi-transparent culture chamber embedded inside. A rhombus-shaped crystal floated in the pale green liquid. "The activity of the first-generation cells has been awakened."

The white night's light membrane "whooshed" into the culture chamber, and the moment the golden-red light merged with the green liquid, the chakra throughout the entire chamber began to tremble.

Chapter 885 This is... my new body

Shuiyue was jolted and staggered, his back slamming heavily against the wall; the crow's magnetic sand collapsed with a "poof," and he hurriedly tried to grab it, only to see the sand particles condense into a vortex in mid-air, pointing towards the incubation chamber.

"This is... my new body." Bai Ye's voice came from the incubation chamber, echoing with a metallic sound.

The green liquid in the incubation chamber began to boil, and golden-red veins spread across the surface of the rhomboid crystals. "Although it's not the original me, it's enough to suppress the erosion of another consciousness."

Chiyo pulled out an ebony wristband from her bosom, which was adorned with tiny golden spores.

She walked over, her wristband hovering briefly before the green liquid before gently pressing it against the outer wall of the culture chamber: "These are spores cultured using the blood you left behind during your first mission." Her voice suddenly became hoarse. "They can spread along with your chakra; they are an extension of your will... If one day you can't hold on any longer..."

“That day will never come.” Bai Ye’s golden eyes lit up in the green liquid, but his red eyes remained fixed on the bottom of the incubation chamber—where a wisp of dark purple was climbing up the metal seam. “I’m going to the Land of Fire, to sever his consciousness chain before my other self kills the last daimyo.”

The incubation chamber snapped shut, and the puppet's eye sockets glowed brightly.

Bai Ye's voice suddenly became clearer, as if it had been taken by a younger voice: "Keep an eye on the traces of black blood; that's an anchor point left by another me. If I don't return in three days..."

"Bai Ye!" Shui Yue suddenly called out.

She stared at the puppet's feet—the drop of black blood on the ground had sprouted tentacles again, crawling along the cracks in the magnetic sand towards the incubation chamber. "The black blood is moving!"

"Go!" Bai Ye's puppet suddenly moved, its metal joints emitting a sharp whistling sound as it cut through the air.

He grabbed the wristband from Chiyo's hand and fastened it to his wrist. Spores immediately burrowed into her skin, forming golden patterns on his wrist. "There's a teleportation array at the end of the passage that leads directly to the border of the Land of Fire." As he turned, the hem of his dark-patterned kimono brushed against the black blood tentacles, which curled into balls as if burned. "Tell the Fifth Hokage that the time I traded for with the First Hokage's cells... is enough for her to set up defenses."

Before the words were even finished, the puppet had already rushed into the passage.

The torches in the passage were blown about by the chakra wind, illuminating his swiftly moving shadow—the right half of that shadow had inexplicably turned dark purple.

Chiyo staggered to the entrance of the passage and watched the puppet's figure disappear into the blue light of the teleportation array.

She reached into her pocket for the puppet control lever, but her fingertips trembled—twenty years ago she used puppets to create terror, and twenty years later, she uses puppets to protect hope.

"You must come back," she whispered into the empty passage, her voice swallowed by the hum of the teleportation array.

Shuiyue's water blade fell to the ground with a "clang".

She crouched down, staring at the black, bloody tentacles on the ground, her own distorted face reflected in her blood-red eyes.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of sharp blades cutting through the air outside the passageway. She looked up sharply and saw several dark figures slipping in through the crack in the door—the lightning blades of the Cloud Village, the earth spears of the Rock Village, and the decapitation swords of the Mist Village.

"Crow!" She grabbed the water blade and leaped to her feet. "Help Lady Chiyo hide in the secret compartment!"

The crows shot out their magnetic sand like sharp arrows, building a sand wall at the doorway.

He glanced back at the blue light of the teleportation array at the end of the passage, then looked down at his palm—it was covered with golden-red chakra and still warm.

"Let's go!" He pushed Chiyo towards the hidden compartment. "I hope that guy... can really win."

Meanwhile, at the other end of the teleportation array, cherry blossoms were falling in profusion along the border of the Land of Fire.

Chapter 886 Those assassination attempts were not committed by Bai Ye at all.

The puppet of the white night stood in the shadows of the trees, the golden spores on its wrist rising and falling with its breath.

He gazed towards the distant direction of the Daimyo's residence in the Land of Fire, where the sky was tinged with a dark red, as if it had been soaked in blood.

The dark purple in his right eye crept up a bit more, but he smiled—the other "him" must have sensed it too, right?

"It's time to end this," he said softly, his figure disappearing into the shower of cherry blossoms.

On a branch he couldn't see, a crow tilted its head, its eyes gleaming with the same dark purple as his right pupil.

Deep within the ruins of the Land of Fire, broken tiles and charred wood formed a natural shelter. Crows huddled behind half-fallen shrine pillars, the copper tube of a telescope pressing painfully against their eye sockets.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and he whispered into the communicator on his wrist, "The target hasn't shown up, but three outposts in the south of the city were attacked by puppets last night—" His words were half-blown away by the wind, and he suddenly held his breath—the dark shadow on the roof was sliding down the ruins.

The image in the telescope suddenly became clear: the puppet was about eight feet tall, its skeleton was cast from a mixture of black iron and magnetic sand, and the eerie blue runes in its eye sockets moved like living things. It was the backup body "Crow's Tomb" that Bai Ye had mentioned before.

The crow's knuckles turned white as it gripped the communicator, and the hairs on the back of its neck stood on end—this puppet should be sealed away in the Sand Village, how could it appear in the Land of Fire?

"Crow's Tomb" lightly touched the broken cherry blossom patterned roof tiles with her toes, each step precisely avoiding the moonlight, heading straight for the entrance to the underground secret passage of the Hokage Building.

The crow stared at the puppet strings hanging from its waist, suddenly recalling the golden-red chakra that Byakuya had stuffed into its palm three days ago: "If you see the crow's mound move, you'll know I'm baiting you." It suddenly grinned, its fingertips brushing against the already cooled mark on its palm, and lowered its voice to add into the communicator: "A fish has taken the bait."

The water in the underground culvert reached above Bai Ye's ankles, and the musty smell mixed with the smell of rust filled his nostrils.

His back was pressed against the damp stone wall, the golden patterns on the spore wristbands on his wrists flickering with his breath—this was a chakra mimic cultivated from first-generation cells, now simulating the faint fluctuations of "death's last breath".

At the assassination sites of various daimyo, the Anbu detected similar fluctuations, which aroused his suspicion: those who could accurately mimic his chakra characteristics were either of the same bloodline or...

“Someone is using my name to set up a scheme.” Bai Ye lowered his eyes and stared at the water’s surface, the dark purple of his right pupil slowly spreading in the reflection. “And I will turn this scheme against them.” He tapped the stone wall with his finger, the rhythm of three long and two short taps echoing in the canal, and a faint response came from afar—the crow’s tomb had triggered the bait he had set.

In front of the Hokage Building, Aoyama Nanaho's short sword cut her palm, and blood dripped onto the sealing chains.

Behind her, twelve secret agents spread out in a Big Dipper formation, their hand seals moving so fast they left afterimages.

"Seal!" she hissed, and the chains suddenly taut, gleaming with golden light as they wrapped around "Crow's Tomb's" neck.

The puppet's movements froze, and the azure runes flickered wildly, yet it could not break free from the sealing spell.

Qi Sui approached, stepping on the broken tiles, the silver hairpin in her hair gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

From the day the daimyo of the Land of Fire died suddenly, she vowed to tear the murderer to pieces. Now, looking at the puppet face that resembled Byakuya's seven parts, the hatred in her eyes almost burned through her pupils.

"Let me show you what happens to traitors." She pressed her fingertips against the puppet's chest, and the chakra of the sealing technique slithered into the cracks of the mechanism—

A sudden, excruciating pain exploded within me!

Nana staggered backward, fragmented images flashing through her mind: a dark red cloak swept across the edge of the sandalwood bed, a hand wearing a bronze mask gripped puppet strings, the ends of which were wrapped in spiral patterns identical to the White Night Technique; the Fire Country Daimyo slumped on the couch, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, yet revealing a sinister smile: "As long as the new order... can end the war..."

"No—" Qi Sui grabbed the broken pillar beside her, her nails digging deep into the wood.

She stared at the chained puppet, a bitter taste rising in her throat: So those assassinations weren't Bai Ye's doing at all; someone had stolen his techniques, and perhaps... even bribed a powerful figure?

Chapter 887 Forbidden Technique Using Live Human Blood as a Catalyst

Meanwhile, the real White Night had already sneaked into the Hokage Building's cellar through the hidden channel.

The musty smell grew stronger. He took out a tinderbox and blew on it. In the dim light, a stone tablet covered with dark red patterns came into view. The tablet was densely covered with the names of various countries. The inscription at the bottom was soaked with bloodstains, but it was still faintly legible: "Voluntarily pledge your life to usher in a new order."

Bai Ye's fingers traced the words "Daimyo of the Land of Fire," feeling their warmth—fresh bloodstains.

The dark purple in his right pupil suddenly surged wildly, almost engulfing the whites of his eyes.

So those daimyo weren't killed, but rather sacrificed willingly?

The mastermind behind it all is hiding under the guise of the "New Order," using the entire ninja world as a chessboard.

"Click."

The stone door at the entrance to the cellar made a slight noise.

Bai Ye suddenly turned his head, and the firelight illuminated the figure at the door: Ebizo's sand-patterned hat was half-lowered, and he held a secret order stained with sand grains in his hand, which gleamed coldly in the firelight.

"I am acting on the orders of the Wind Shadow—"

The second half of the sentence was cut off by the sound of the wind.

Bai Ye stared at the old man's white knuckles, a low chuckle escaping his throat.

Dark purple chakra slithered out of his sleeve like a snake, winding its way onto the ground like a blade.

This game has only just begun.

Water droplets seeping from the cracks in the cellar stones hit the bluestone slabs, their tinkling sounds shattered by Ebizo's words.

The sand-patterned tassels hanging from the edge of his straw hat trembled slightly, and his knuckles turned white from gripping the tassels so tightly—the roll of parchment stained with sand rolled up in the firelight, like a snake that might bite at any moment.

"Confirm the threat?" Bai Ye's smile was laced with icy intent. Dark purple chakra crawled down his sleeves to his fingertips, condensing into half a blade on the ground.

As he looked into Ebizo's scrutinizing eyes, he suddenly remembered what Chiyo had said three days ago in the secret chamber of Sunagakure: "Ebizo's calculations always turn faster than the wind and sand." It was no coincidence that this old man was now in the ruins of the Land of Fire.

Ebizo's gaze swept over the fresh bloodstains on the Blood Pact Monument, his Adam's apple bobbing. "The Kazekage received intelligence that a ninja wielding your puppetry techniques is active in the Land of Fire." He lifted a corner of his straw hat, revealing grains of sand glistening in the wrinkles around his eyes. "I didn't believe it at first, but just now I overheard you say 'someone is impersonating me' outside the sewer—"

"So you followed me in." Bai Ye interrupted him, the dark purple in his right pupil swirling like a vortex.

He ran his fingertip along the name of the "Daimyo of the Land of Fire" on the monument, the bloodstains still warm from his body. "These fools thought that sacrificing their lives could bring about a new order, but they didn't even know who pushed them onto the altar."

Ebizo's pupils suddenly contracted.

He staggered, his withered hand bracing itself against the monument, his fingertips stained with blood before he quickly withdrew them—the bloodstains seemed to climb up his palm lines, licking his skin like a living thing.

"This is... a blood pact?" His voice trembled. "A forbidden technique that uses the blood of living people as a medium, capable of binding the karma of the living..."

“They did it voluntarily.” Bai Ye’s voice was as heavy as if a boulder was pressing down on it.

He recalled the scene he had seen when Nanaho was being devoured by the puppet: a hand wearing a bronze mask, spiral puppet strings, and the eerie laugh of the daimyo on his deathbed—it wasn't fear, but liberation.

“Someone has bewitched them, saying that death can bring peace.”