Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

Ziyuan plunged the dagger into the ground, her fingertips drawing blood between the cracks in the stone.

As the blood seeped in, dark purple patterns suddenly lit up the ground, and the ancient sealing array spread out like a living thing: "This is our only way out." She looked up at Bai Ye, her eyes filled with pain, hatred, and a hint of almost desperate expectation, "You said you would rewrite cause and effect back then, now... is it too late?"

Bai Ye's bone wings suddenly trembled violently, and the runes on the golden chains began to burn his skin.

He pressed his hand to his chest, a trickle of blood escaping from his throat, but his smile grew even colder: "Over the years, I've searched through the forbidden scrolls of the five great nations, and endured three thousand days and nights in the Ghost Lantern City prison—" He suddenly looked up, the chains lashing out like steel whips at the four corners of the altar, "to use my bone wings to replace the first generation's sealing vessel, to buy time for everyone."

Before he finished speaking, spiderweb-like cracks appeared on his skin, each crack emitting a faint golden light, as if some kind of power was being stripped away from his body.

Naruto then realized that those chains were not ordinary chakra creations at all—their patterns were exactly the same as the emerald light that surged from the ley line fissure three days ago, and perfectly overlapped with the First Forbidden Technique runes on the Raikage's severed horn.

"No!" Ziyuan suddenly gripped the dagger tightly, her nails almost digging into her palm.

She looked up at the black hole, and what she saw in her pupils was no longer mist, but a face that gradually became clearer—a face without features, yet capable of making one feel malice from the depths of their soul. "That's not just the true form of an evil god... there's another being behind it!"

The mist at the edge of the black hole suddenly solidified, and the blurry human face grinned, its laughter like fingernails scraping against a gong: "Your so-called 'will of the living'? It's nothing but a joke." Its voice exploded in everyone's mind. Naruto felt sharp thorns churning in his temples, Karin knelt down holding her head, and even the Third Tsuchikage staggered and grabbed a stone pillar beside him.

Bai Ye abruptly turned to look at Zi Yuan, the coldness in his eyes almost freezing: "If I'm not mistaken, that being is the mastermind behind the sealing ritual that helped the First Generation complete it." He took a deep breath, cracks spreading across his face, but instead, his smile became even more unrestrained. "Back then, the First Generation thought he had suppressed the evil god with the will of a living person, but little did he know that he was the one being used—and now, this thing will take it all back with interest."

"Then what should we do?" Naruto wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and the Nine-Tails' chakra surged out uncontrollably, shaking his coat to shreds.

He stared at the cracks on Bai Ye's body and suddenly recalled the smile of that illusory figure from earlier—a smile that contained no madness, only relief, "What do you need me to do?"

Bai Ye did not answer.

He looked at the sealing array activated by Shion, and then at the Yin-Yang Twin Array being reconstructed under the altar. He suddenly realized that the core of the sealing device that Karin buried three days ago and the first generation runes on Raikage's broken horn were all part of a scheme he had set up twenty years ago.

Those seemingly random fragments are now being pieced together into a complete chain along the trajectory he designed.

"Next, we must join forces to unravel this mystery," Bai Ye's voice was deep and resonant, "otherwise, the ninja world will face true destruction."

But before he could finish speaking, the altar beneath his feet suddenly emitted a piercing cracking sound.

The ground resembled clay being kneaded by a giant hand, with cracks spreading radially, and the entire space began to collapse—the black hole was expanding, the core of the evil god was struggling, and even the golden chains were emitting mournful cries of impending breakage.

Ziyuan staggered backward, but tripped over a crack in the ground.

She gazed at the collapsing altar and the ever-deepening cracks on Byakuya's body, and suddenly remembered that snowy night twenty years ago—the young Byakuya knelt in the ruins of Amegakure, holding his lifeless companion, and said, "I want all those who are forced to sacrifice themselves to be able to choose their own destiny."

"catch me!"

The roar of the white night pierced through the chaos.

His bone wings were almost torn apart by the chains, yet he still reached out, his fingertips almost touching Ziyuan's wrist.

The sounds of the altar collapsing, the roars of the evil god, and the suction of the black hole all became background noise at this moment.

Ziyuan looked at the blood-stained hand and suddenly smiled—it turned out he had never forgotten his vow from back then.

She reached out her hand towards that crimson light.

Chapter 515 The Secret of Former Allies

The sound of the ground tearing apart, mixed with the roar of the evil god, pierced the eardrums. Just as Ziyuan's fingertips touched the blood scab on Baiye's palm, she was pulled into the air by a tremendous force.

Bone Wings traced silver arcs above the collapsing altar. As she gazed at the black hole below that was devouring everything, she suddenly noticed that the chains in Bai Ye's arms were seeping golden blood—the chains that were originally used to imprison the evil god were now gnawing at his bones like living creatures.

Hold on tight. Bai Ye's voice was torn apart by the gale, and a crisp cracking sound came from the joints of the bone wings.

He could feel the bone fragments piercing his clothes, leaving hot, bloody marks on Ziyuan's back, yet he still tightened his grip on her arms.

Twenty years ago, a snowy night in Amegakure suddenly flashed before his eyes. Back then, he held his lifeless companion in the same way, letting snowflakes fall on his stiff body. Now, the warm breath of the person in his arms brushed against his neck, as if fate had finally given him a chance to make amends.

boom--

A muffled thud came from below as a huge rock crashed down.

Akazawa rushed over on the sandstorm, Gaara still unconscious on his shoulder, the Shukaku mark on his forehead glowing with a ghostly blue.

He stared at the shattered altar before him. The Sunagakure-made anti-collapse talismans were torn into pieces in the wind, and even the foundation reinforced by Onoki's Earth Release was cracked into a spider web. His pupils suddenly shrank to pinpoints: What happened here?

The Five Kage Joint Sealing Technique... how could it have failed?

Bai Ye gently placed Zi Yuan on the sand, her bone wings humming as they folded, revealing the hideous wound on her back.

Shion steadied herself by supporting his shoulder, the silver ornaments in her hair trembling slightly in the wind: "Twenty years ago, when the first generation of ninjas sealed the evil god... they used the wrong method." Her voice suddenly became hoarse, her fingertips unconsciously digging into her palms. They had turned to a being who called himself the Messenger of Destiny for help.

That guy gave her the sealing array diagram, but didn't mention the price—she looked up at the still expanding black hole; now, that thing was going to collect its interest.

Akasuna's hand rested on his kunai at his waist, the headband distinctive to the Sunagakure ANBU gleaming cold in the moonlight: "Lady Chiyo asked me to pass this on before she died." He tossed her a scroll wrapped in red silk, the gold thread of the Sunagakure clan emblem still warm from his touch. "If the evil god ever revives," he said, "this is the only thing that can stand against the messenger of destiny."

Bai Ye paused in his action of unfurling the scroll.

He was familiar with the Yin-Yang Twin Array Diagram on the inside of the scroll; Karin had used a similar technique in Konoha. But now, the patterns at the array's core seemed to writhe like living things, resonating with the golden blood within him. So that's how it is… he murmured, his fingertips tracing the remaining fragments along the edge of the array diagram. Granny Chiyo's true wish was for this array… to become a double-edged sword.

Wait! Ziyuan suddenly grabbed his wrist.

Her fingernails almost dug into Bai Ye's skin, and her other hand trembled as she pointed to the corner of the scroll—there was a mark the size of a sesame seed, like a drop of congealed blood, which was the tracking rune of Amegakure.

I've seen it in Hanzo's secret scrolls; once triggered, chakra fluctuations within a ten-mile radius can be located.

Before he finished speaking, a soft cracking sound of dry leaves came from the woods on the left.

Three faint streams of chakra were approaching, one of which carried the stinging sensation characteristic of lightning release—it was the ANBU of Kumogakure.

Bai Ye suddenly laughed.

He stared at Ziyuan's astonished eyes, his bone wings unfurled once more, and golden blood seeping from the cracks dripped onto the scroll, scorching the runes: Since they want to search, let them search to their heart's content. He formed a hand seal, and the scroll suddenly emitted a blinding white light. The Yin-Yang array transformed into a stream of light and pierced into the patterns of the bone wings, but prey and hunter... it was time to change positions.

The bright light blinded Ziyuan, and when she opened her eyes again, Baiye's bone wings had turned completely golden.

The broken bone fragments are reassembling, each bone wing shimmering with the faint light of array patterns, even the sand beneath their feet is tinged with gold and red.

Akasuna took two steps back while holding Gaara, feeling a massive amount of chakra being drawn from his body—not being plundered, but being summoned by some ancient power...

This is... He gazed at the cocoon of light gradually taking shape in the sky and suddenly remembered Chiyo's dying words: "When the golden wings cover the sky, that will be the turning point of fate."

He left. Suddenly, Ziyuan grabbed his wrist.

She gazed in the direction where the cocoon of light had dissipated, where even the wind had stopped, except for the lingering golden light.

The chakra fluctuations that had been approaching were now gathering wildly, like a group of sharks smelling blood.

Akasuna looked down at Gaara in her arms.

The boy's eyelashes fluttered, and the mark of Shukaku was fainter than before.

He looked up at the sky again, where a cloud, stained crimson with golden light, was slowly drifting toward the Land of Fire.

"Where did they go?" he muttered to himself.

The wind suddenly picked up.

Ziyuan looked at the scorch marks left by the golden blood at her feet and suddenly shivered.

The shapes of those scorch marks... were exactly the same as the Yin-Yang array diagram on the scroll.

As the last ray of golden light disappeared into the clouds, a crisp metallic scraping sound echoed in the distance.

Three corpses wearing Cloud-Hidden headbands fell from the tree, each with half a golden bone wing stuck in its throat—a mark left by White Night.

Meanwhile, on the border of the Land of Fire, thousands of miles away, a forgotten ancient altar is slowly rising from the ground.

On the stone platform in the center of the altar, there is a yin-yang array diagram that is exactly the same as the one on the scroll.

Moonlight shone on the indentation in the center of the array, where fresh bloodstains still remained.

It was as if they were waiting for someone, who had just arrived.

Chapter 516 Resurrecting the Evil God

The moment the golden light faded, Bai Ye's pupils contracted slightly.

He had thought that after the cocoon of light dissipated, he would return to the ruins of the Daimyo's mansion in the Land of Fire, but what he saw was grayish-blue stone bricks, with dark red moss crawling in the cracks, like congealed blood.

Six stone pillars, engraved with incantations, stood around the altar. Each pillar was topped with half a broken magatama. Moonlight shone through the cracks, casting spiderweb-like shadows on the ground—exactly the same scorch mark array that Shion had just seen in Sunagakure.

This was... Tsunade's chakra perception was the first to react. She spun around and held the medical scroll to her chest. The cinnabar mark on her forehead trembled slightly with tension. The way her chakra flowed... was like an independent space enveloped by some ancient sealing technique.

Before he finished speaking, the mist at the top of the altar suddenly surged.

The gray-robed man stepped out of the fog, his feet dangling three feet off the ground, his face completely covered by his hood.

His voice was like rusty gears grinding against a stone slab, each word carrying a chilling coldness: Welcome to my domain, White Night.

Tsunade clenched her fist instantly, the cold sweat seeping from her palms soaking the handle of her medical kunai.

She stepped forward, blocking Bai Ye's path, her gaze sharp as a blade: "So you're the so-called Messenger of Heaven?"

Why resurrect an evil god?

Don't you understand that this will destroy the entire ninja world?

The man in the gray robe raised his hand, and a water mirror floated in mid-air.

The scene in the mirror made Tsunade's breath catch in her throat—in the thunderstorm of Kumogakure, villagers were torn to pieces by purple chakra; in the fissures of Iwagakure, lava gushed out, encasing the corpses of Jonin; the clearest image was at the entrance of Konoha, where the Third Hokage's summoning beast, Enma, had its neck wrapped by a mass of black tentacles, and drops of blood from its ruptured throat were dripping onto the engravings on the Hokage Rock.

Destroy?

No, this is a reshaping. The gray-robed man tapped his fingertip, and the horrific scene in the water mirror suddenly accelerated. Broken houses were reassembled in the blood mist, and torn limbs of villagers were pieced together into neat rows. The ninja world had been trapped in the quagmire of the Five Kage's selfishness for far too long.

The daimyo waged war for their own interests, and the ninja villages slaughtered each other in the name of protection. The peace that the First Hokage bought with his life was nothing more than a piece of paper that could be torn at a touch.

Bai Ye didn't say anything.

His gaze remained fixed on the altar runes, and the golden chains on the bone wings suddenly shone faintly—the patterns of those chains wrapped around the surface of the bone wings resonated with the incantations on the stone bricks, like wind chimes tinkling in the depths of his consciousness.

What are you looking for? The gray-robed man's voice suddenly became lighter, as if wondering why your bone wings could sense the seal here.

This is the Yin-Yang array diagram that the first generation carved by hand to suppress the evil god.

Bai Ye's pupils suddenly contracted.

He suddenly flapped his wings, and the chains on his bone wings detached from his body as if they were alive, piercing into the nearest stone pillar with a whoosh.

The moment the golden chain touched the incantation, the flow of chakra in the entire altar became momentarily disordered—like a turbulent pool of water, and the mist around the gray-robed man noticeably dissipated.

A perfect opportunity! Tsunade immediately bit her fingertip and formed a hand seal. The green light of the medical ninjutsu surged out like a tide. Her companions, who had been injured by the aftershocks of the light cocoon, coughed and sat up. The mark of Shukaku on Gaara's forehead also faded a bit.

Akasuna carried the boy back to the edge of the altar, cautiously observing the gray-robed man.

Interesting. The gray-robed man was not angry. Instead, he raised his hand and caught a golden chain that had been shaken off. "Your bone wings can actually simulate the sealing technique of the first generation."

Back when he used Wood Release to carve these incantations, I stood by and studied them for months... I never expected that you, a spoiled brat, would be able to decipher them.

He slowly removed his hood.

Chapter 517 The Chessboard of the Evil God

The moonlight illuminated a face that nearly suffocated Tsunade—it was a face that completely overlapped with her memories: sharp eyebrows, tightly pursed thin lips, and a headband that was slanted across her forehead. It was none other than Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage who had long since died in the Valley of the End!

"This is impossible..." Tsunade's voice trembled. "I've seen the Second Hokage's memorial tablet, his body..."

The sacrifice of the first generation was necessary. Tobirama spoke as if recounting an ordinary experiment, but my death was merely the beginning.

Back then, I used a forbidden technique to seal my consciousness within the heart of an evil god, watching as the First Hokage's ideals were torn to shreds by the Five Kage, watching the Daimyo treat ninjas as pawns, watching you compromise time and time again for the sake of so-called peace...

His fingertips traced the bloodstains in the center of the altar, where images of past Hokage suddenly appeared: the First Hokage confronting Madara at the Valley of the End, the Third Hokage forming hand seals during the Nine-Tails' rampage, and the Fourth Hokage surrendering his soul before the Shinigami.

They were all repeating the same mistake—trading temporary peace for sacrifice. Tobirama's gaze swept across the white night, but what I wanted was true order.

Join me, and with the power of the evil god, crush all the old rules. You will become the creator of the new ninja world.

The altar fell into a deathly silence.

Tsunade's fingernails were almost digging into her palms.

She gazed at Bai Ye's profile; the man, always called a playboy, now had his eyes lowered, his bone wings casting a huge shadow behind him.

The wind ruffled the stray hairs on his forehead, revealing his ever-calm eyes—but this time, she saw surging undercurrents in that deep pool.

If this is your answer... Bai Ye suddenly looked up, his gaze sharp as a knife, then I can only choose the third path—to break your rules.

The bone wings suddenly unfolded, and golden chains pierced towards the door like a torrential rain.

Tsunade instantly formed hand seals, and her medical ninjutsu transformed into an attack-type chakra blade.

Red Sand handed Gaara to Shion, and the sandstorm condensed into a blade in his palm; his healed companions also formed hand seals, and chakra waves surged forth.

Tobirama merely chuckled.

He raised his hand and drew a semicircle, and suddenly all the incantations on the altar lit up with a bloody light.