Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

Akahoshi's Adam's apple bobbed.

He tried to retreat, but found that his escape route was blocked by a hundred small, split guard puppets, each with a poisoned needle aimed at his vital points.

Cold sweat dripped down the edge of his headband and into his collar. He finally remembered the legend of Chiyo: in her youth, this old woman single-handedly slaughtered an entire puppet army of an enemy country, and could even poison the tears of puppets.

The east wall of the Wind Shadow Tower suddenly exploded.

White Night's black cloak, stained with gravel, rushed into the room, water dripping from the tunnel still clinging to his hair.

His gaze swept over Akahoshi's deathly pale face, then fell on the "false life puppet" behind Chiyo, a faint smile appearing on his lips: "You're always one step ahead of me."

Chiyo snorted, but Kinsa quietly supported his lower back—she smelled a faint scent of blood on him, the scent of the attack that had occurred in the tunnel earlier.

Akahoshi suddenly screamed and lunged towards the window: "The Finance Minister will kill you! He's already contacted the Land of Lightning—"

The white night's stubble pierced through his shoulder.

The ninja was pulled back to the ground, writhing in pain like a shrimp.

Bai Ye crouched down, pressing his palm against the man's brow, and spores burrowed into his chakra pathway: "Let your master hear—the real Bai Ye is still alive."

Chapter 892 Eternal Fear

Akahoshi's pupils suddenly dilated.

He saw countless green lights explode in his consciousness, piecing together a picture of an underground chamber: amidst the swirling sandalwood incense, an old man dressed as the Minister of Finance was staring at twelve crystal mirrors, each reflecting the army on the border of the Land of Fire, the Cloud Ninja's assembly point in the Land of Lightning, and even the supply tunnel outside the Sand Village—the very place that Byakuya had just passed through.

"The game should end." Bai Ye's voice, mixed with static, boomed in the sealed room.

The old man's teacup fell to the ground.

He suddenly stood up, and the projection diagram on the crystal mirror instantly distorted. One of the mirrors suddenly cracked with a spiderweb-like pattern—that was Akahoshi's perspective.

"Withdraw—" He had barely opened his mouth when all the mirrors shattered into pieces at the same time, glass shards embedding themselves in the back of his hand.

A thousand miles away, an abandoned post station on the border.

Shuiyue squatted in front of a pile of broken glass, her tongue pressed against her canine tooth.

He moistened his fingertips with water and pressed them against a mirror-like surface. The "Water Mirror Retrospection" technique of Wuyin shimmered with blue light in his palm.

The wind whipped sand into the broken window, making the shattered glass clatter, and one of the pieces suddenly flashed green—it looked exactly like the remnant of some kind of spore.

“Interesting.” He chuckled softly, aquamarine chakra spreading along his glasses. “Let me see… what you’re up to.”

The wooden windows of the abandoned border post station rattled in the wind, and shards of glass reflected dappled light onto the dusty wooden table.

Shuiyue crouched amidst the mess, her azure chakra seeping from her fingertips into a green-stained lens. Grains of sand from her hair fell softly onto her knees—left behind when the wind swept the sand wall in.

"Water Mirror Retrospection - Development." She uttered a low voice, and a blue light suddenly shone from her palm.

The shards of glass suddenly trembled, and the greenish shard in the very center blurred at first, then slowly reflected an image, like a cleaned windowpane:

In a secluded room filled with the fragrance of sandalwood, an elderly man dressed as a finance minister was stroking twelve crystal mirrors.

His fingers traced across the mirrors, and one of them immediately displayed an image of the Cloud Ninja gathering in the Land of Lightning, while the other showed a structural diagram of the Sunagakure supply tunnel—the very tunnel that Byakuya had just traversed.

"My lords, the death of the Fire Country's daimyo is just the beginning." The old man's voice carried a strange, sticky quality, like a blade dipped in honey. "When the Tsuchikage dies under 'White Night's' blade, the armies of the Lightning, Water, and Earth countries will pounce on the Fire Country like hungry wolves; once the Sand Village's supply lines are cut, the Wind Country's grain caravans will turn to me." He lifted a hidden compartment under his desk, revealing a row of glass jars containing the bodies of children, with silver chips inserted into the back of their necks. "These children have been implanted with White Night's battle memories. Starting tomorrow, for every daimyo who dies in the ninja world, the shadow of 'White Night' will appear at the scene."

Shuiyue's pupils suddenly contracted.

She brought the lenses closer, her nose almost touching the cool surface—one of the glass jars was labeled “Experiment Subject-07”, and the child’s features bore a striking resemblance to the missing orphan she had seen in Kirigakure three years ago.

"So he wanted to create a ninja world of perpetual fear so that he could become the only 'savior'," she murmured to herself, her tongue lightly touching her canine teeth.

The wind blew in again, carrying sand and making her bangs fly wildly, but it couldn't dispel the twisted smile on the old man's face in the mirror—he was holding up a glass of wine, with half a fragment of the Fire Kingdom's emblem at the bottom.

A drop of water suddenly fell from her fingertip and landed with a "plop" on the lens.

Chapter 893 The Indifference of the Powerful

The image shattered instantly into points of light, like a popped soap bubble.

Shuiyue raised her head and looked through the broken window toward the east—the direction of the capital of the Land of Fire.

She pulled the water blade from her waist, slashed a bloody line across her palm, and the blood droplet landed on the shards of glass. She whispered, "That was pretty fancy, but... it's my turn to play."

Fine water droplets seeped from the stone walls of the underground vault, clinging to White Night's black cloak like a thin layer of frost.

He stood against the corner of the wall for what felt like half an incense stick's time, listening to the footsteps of the guard puppets approaching from afar, while the spores on his fingertips had already burrowed into the wall through the cracks in the bricks.

"Three, two, one," he counted silently in his mind, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly.

The last guard puppet's footsteps disappeared around the corner, and hundreds of extremely fine chakra threads shot out from his sleeves, wrapping around the beams like a spider web—these were "shadow threads" he wove with spores, each one mimicking the guard puppet's chakra fluctuations.

Voices suddenly came from deep inside the vault.

Bai Ye's breath hitched, and he moved along the wall to the area below the ventilation opening.

The scent of sandalwood mixed with mildew wafted into his nostrils. He saw an old man dressed as a finance minister standing in front of a bronze mirror. His brocade robe was wrinkled, but he smoothed it out repeatedly, as if soothing some raging beast.

"...Tomorrow, the Earth Shadow will die at the hands of 'White Night,' and war will break out immediately." The old man's fingertips traced the stacks of contract scrolls on the table, each scroll bearing the name of a daimyo from various countries. "Once their bodies have cooled, I will stand on the ruins and declare: Only I can end this catastrophe." He smiled at the bronze mirror, but the corners of his eyes were unnaturally red. "Those powerful figures who kicked me away back then, those nobles who called me a 'beggar'... their blood will extinguish the fire in my heart."

Bai Ye's knuckles gently tapped the wall, and the spore network trembled slightly between the beams and pillars.

He didn't reveal himself immediately, but instead stared down at his palm—where the bloodstains from his fight with the guardian puppet in the tunnel still remained. "You copied my technique, but you don't understand its meaning." His voice was low, yet it pierced the sandalwood mist like an ice pick.

The old man suddenly turned around, and the teacup crashed to the ground with a clatter.

His pupils contracted to pinpoints as he stared intently at the black cloak in the shadows: "You...how did you get in?"

The chakra sensing of the guardian puppet—"

“Replaced by my spores.” Bai Ye stepped out of the shadows, water dripping from his hair onto the bluestone slab. “You used orphans to create puppets, and used memory chips to copy my techniques, but you don’t know… true puppetry is the resonance of the human heart.” He raised his hand and flicked it lightly, and all the “shadow threads” opened their scarlet eyes at the same time, and the synchronized illusion surged into the old man’s consciousness like a tide.

The image in the bronze mirror began to distort.

The old man staggered, grabbing the corner of the table for support, veins bulging on his forehead—he saw himself kneeling in the snow, his little finger black with cold, clutching the hem of the official's robe: "Please, sir, open the granary and release the grain! The children at the east end of the village haven't eaten for three days..."

“You say peace is useless,” Bai Ye’s voice mingled with the howling of the wind and snow. “But what you truly hate is the indifference of the powerful and wealthy.”

The old man suddenly laughed, the laughter rolling out of his throat, tinged with a sob: "That's why I want them all to die!"

Let the world remember—

"Remember what?" Bai Ye's spores pressed against the back of his neck, spores drilling into him along the chakra pathways. "Remember a pitiful person trapped by hatred?"

The old man's laughter stopped abruptly.

Chapter 894 The Dirtiest Road

He stared at his distorted face in the bronze mirror, then suddenly grabbed the contract scroll on the table, his fingertips almost piercing the pages: "You wouldn't understand...you wouldn't understand the feeling of watching your loved ones starve to death, unable to even beg for a bowl of hot porridge!"

Bai Ye's gaze swept over the scrolls bearing the names of various countries, then fell on the old man's trembling hands—hands that had once held a broken bowl for begging, now stained with the blood of orphans.

He paused for a moment, released Mu Xu, and took half a step back: "I understand."

But you chose the dirtiest path.

The old man suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with a madness like red-hot iron: "Filthy?"

Once the Tsuchikage dies tomorrow and war breaks out, they will all come begging to me!

By then—

“That time is over.” Bai Ye interrupted him, pressing his fingertips against the spore network on the wall. The “shadow threads” began to contract, slowly severing the old man’s chakra threads. “Your dream of being a savior should end.”

The old man swayed, but managed to stand by holding onto the corner of the table.

He stared at his gradually blurring reflection in the bronze mirror, then suddenly let out a shrill laugh, which grew louder and louder, almost piercing the stone wall: "You think you've won?"

No...no!

They'll find out sooner or later that without me, the ninja world will only get worse—"

Bai Ye turned and walked towards the vault exit, the wind from his cloak stirring up the contract scrolls on the table.

The top scroll, bearing the name "Earth Shadow," was blown to the ground, stained with tea, the ink spreading like a drop of congealed blood.

The old man's laughter still echoed in the vault, mingling with the subtle tremors of the spore network.

Meanwhile, at a post station a thousand miles away, Mizuki was putting the last shard of glass into her ninja tool bag. The bloodstains on her fingertips glowed faintly red in the moonlight—she had heard that laugh, and she had also heard the hoofbeats of the Cloud Ninja from the Land of Lightning gathering in the distance.

The sound of falling stone chips came from the vault's dome, and Utara's maniacal laughter crashed against the stone wall, causing the candlelight to flicker.

He staggered toward the bronze mechanism at the base of the wall, his fingernails scraping against the incantation-engraved protrusions with a grating sound: "Die!"

go to hell!

When the 'All Things' crush your bones, they will know—"

"Knowing you're just another puppet bound by hatred?" Bai Ye's voice, like a blade dipped in ice, pierced through his scream.

He looked up at the giant puppet that was descending. The crests of the daimyo of past dynasties were inlaid on the dark red armor and gleamed coldly. The chakra patterns flowing at the joints were exactly the same as the Shadow Silk Technique that he used regularly—that was something that Utara had plagiarized from the memories of the test subjects.

"Activate!" Utara pressed the last mechanism, and the dome's iron chains emitted a dying groan. Suddenly, the eyes of "All Things" burst forth with scarlet light, and its bronze arm slammed heavily into the ground. Amidst the flying debris, a wind blade grazed Byakuya's ear and cleaved into the stone wall.

Instead of retreating, he advanced, leaping onto the collapsed beams and pillars with his toes touching the ground, pressing his palms against the rough rock surface—the bloodline of the First Generation burned in his veins, and the bluish-green chakra seeped into the cracks in the stone like a living thing.

"Wooden Release: The birth of the tree world!"

Amidst the earth-shaking roar, countless vines sprouted from beneath Bai Ye's feet.

Dark green tree roots, coated in sap, pierced through the floor tiles and instantly wrapped around "Wanxiang's" knees; emerald green branches lashed out like steel whips at the puppet's shoulder joints, scraping sparks off the bronze armor.

Utara was thrown to the ground by the shockwave, his brocade robe torn by the rubble. He looked up at the vault that was gradually being shrouded by the tree canopy and suddenly let out a sobbing laugh: "You can't trap it... It feeds on the resentment of the daimyo of various countries, and the fear of the ninja world—"

Chapter 895 The Tsuchikage Colludes with Rogue Ninja

“But fear requires belief.” Bai Ye hung in mid-air, the vines hanging from his hair pulling him toward the core of “All Things”.

He could hear the gears meshing inside the puppet, and smell the chakra fluctuations mixed with the stench of rust—the putrid odor of the experimental chip. "When they see your confession, their fear will turn into rage."

Suddenly, the right arm of "All Things" rose, and the resulting airflow almost lifted the white night off its feet.

His pupils contracted slightly, his left hand gripped a vine tightly, and his right hand quickly formed a hand seal.

The vines hardened instantly like iron, leaving deep marks on the puppet's arm.

At the same time, the spores on his fingertips burrowed into the joints of "Wanxiang" along the vines, climbing towards the core area like a swarm of black ants.

A thousand miles away on the border, the sound of horses' hooves startled a flock of seagulls.

Onoki stood before the Tsuchikakushi army, leaning on his cane, his cloudy eyes reflecting the smoke and dust from the direction of the Land of Fire.

Just as he was about to give the order to advance, a blue light suddenly exploded overhead—Shuiyue knelt on one knee, her water blade embedded in the sand, drops of blood dripping down the blade's spine into the water array she had drawn on the ground.

"Look." Her voice was mixed with the buzzing of chakra. The water mirror in the air was replaying the scene of Utara fiddling with the crystal mirror. The child's face in the glass jar was flickering in and out of focus in the sandstorm.

Onoki's eyebrows furrowed, and he slammed his cane into the ground: "Mist-Hiding Water Mirror Technique?"

Do you think I'm a three-year-old child?

"And this?" Shuiyue flicked her finger, and the scene switched to the real-time view inside the vault: Baiye's vines were wrestling with "Wanxiang", and Utara's face, which was lying on the ground laughing wildly, was magnified to a height of ten feet.

Onoki's pupils contracted sharply as he recognized the contract scroll engraved with the Land of Earth's emblem—the very same ceasefire agreement he had sent to the Land of Fire three days prior.

“Old man, if you don’t leave now, you’ll really become a pawn.” Suigetsu pulled off the wet hair on his face, blood dripping from his chin onto the sand. “Utara wants all countries to pay for his hatred. If you cross the border of the Land of Fire now, you will see the words ‘Tsuchikage colluding with rogue ninja’ in the Raikage’s battle report tomorrow.”

Onoki's Adam's apple bobbed.

He turned to look at the silent Tsuchikakushi ninja behind him, then at Utara's distorted face reflected in the water mirror—the old retainer who always smiled obsequiously at the Daimyo's residence, now had a madness in his eyes that reminded him of the carnage that had shrouded Iwagakure in blood mist. "All troops, set up camp!" he suddenly roared, the sound shaking the rock patterns on his armor. "Shadow Guards!"

Send a carrier pigeon to Kumogakure and Sunagakure, saying that Ōnoki wants to hold an emergency meeting of the Five Kage!

Inside the vault, the core compartment of "Wanxiang" finally cracked open under the strangulation of the vines.

Using the elasticity of the vines, Bai Ye leaped into the gap, and the spores gathered into a small black ball in his palm.

He could hear Utara's scream piercing through the layers of vines: "You can't destroy it!"

Those chips have long been distributed to various countries—

“But I can let them know who scattered it.” Bai Ye pressed the spores into the core’s energy slot, and chakra spread along the spore network to every chip.

He watched as the flashing red light in the core area gradually turned blue and white, the signal that recording had begun. "Your confession will travel farther than the shadow of 'White Night'."

Suddenly, "Wanxiang" emitted a mournful, metallic wail.

The vines completely writhed its joints, and its bronze body, like a giant beast whose tendons and bones had been pulled out, crashed to the ground with a deafening roar.