Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

This is... the map that Tsunade held her breath, the map the First Hokage saw back then?

Akashi suddenly staggered and grabbed a stone pillar for support: No... He looked up and saw the gradually condensing mist reflected in his pupils—the night sky, which had been clear just moments before, was now shrouded in gray fog, as if the air had been sucked away, and everyone's breathing became heavy.

A faint sobbing came from the mist, like countless people talking at the same time, their voices overlapping and indistinguishable.

It's an illusion! In an instant, Bai Ye shielded Tsunade and Shion behind him, his bone wings fully unfurled, and chains drew a defensive circle around him. The Messenger of Destiny hadn't completely dissipated; he was using our fear to create an illusion!

Before the words were finished, a person emerged from the mist.

White hair, a full beard, and a bandage covering his left eye—it was none other than the late Third Tsuchikage, Onoki!

The old man's skin was a deathly gray, and black blood seeped from the bandage around his left eye. His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping: "Bai Ye, give up... you can't change your fate."

I tried to end the war with Dust Escape back then, and what was the result?

The conspiracy of Kumogakure, the division of Iwagakure... He stretched out his hand, his fingernails turning into jet-black spikes. You think killing the daimyo of various countries will end the chaos?

No, you will only become the next Chosen One!

Shion screamed and shrank into Tsunade's arms.

Tsunade gritted her teeth and gathered chakra, only to find her hands trembling—she remembered Onoki standing at the forefront of the battlefield during the Third Shinobi World War, using Dust Release to shatter thousands of troops; she remembered the later decline of Iwagakure, with the old man sitting on a stone bench at the village entrance, staring blankly at the distant ruins.

"Shut up!" Bai Ye's chains suddenly burst into a blinding golden light. He closed his eyes, and images flooded back like a tide: Yueyin's smile before she disappeared, Shion's front teeth stuck with candy when she was a child, and Tsunade's reddened eyes as she stayed up all night in the medical tent treating the wounded.

He suddenly opened his eyes, and the chains pierced the phantom of Onoki like sharp swords: I am not here to change fate, but to let those who survive live like human beings!

Where the golden light swept, the mist emitted a piercing shriek, and the phantom was torn to shreds.

As the last wisp of gray mist dissipated, the marker on the ninja world map suddenly flashed violently—all the particles of light converged into a red dot, which landed deep within Amegakure!

Amegakure? Akagasa wiped the cold sweat from his face. Ever since Hanzo's death, it had become a no-man's-land, filled with war survivors and wandering ninja...

Bai Ye stared at the red dot, the incantations on the bone wings still humming softly.

He could feel that the frequency of the jade pendant burning in his arms was exactly the same as the frequency of the red dot flashing.

The hooting of owls echoed in the distance, and the faint smell of rust drifted on the wind—a scent unique to Amegakure, a mixture of blood and decaying earth.

Pack your things. Bai Ye turned around, picked up the scroll from the ground, and set off at dawn.

Tsunade tidied Shion's wind-blown hair and glanced in the direction of Amegakure: Why do you think the Chosen One led us there?

Because he feared we would find the truth. Bai Ye retracted the chains into his bone wings, the moonlight illuminating his face and outlining his cold, hard features. And the truth always hides in the most dangerous places.

Night falls early in Amegakure.

By the time Bai Ye and the others passed through the dilapidated wooden sign at the border, dusk had completely enveloped the land.

In the distance, nestled in a mountain valley, an abandoned altar looms in the mist. The incantations carved on the ruins glow with a ghostly blue light, like pairs of eyes silently watching the arrival of the uninvited guests.

Chapter 522 A Life Changed

The fog in Amegakure was thicker than rumored.

White Night's boots crunched over the rotting moss, the crisp sound startling a few crows that flapped and shattered the fog.

The runes on the altar ruins glowed with a ghostly blue, like living things awakened by some force. As they approached, dark red blood beads seeped from between the runes, meandering along the cracks in the stones into tiny streams that converged into dark red puddles on the ground.

The stones here are crying. Ziyuan suddenly spoke, her voice as soft as a sigh.

Her fingertips brushed over the nearest rune pillar, and a drop of blood clung to her palm, instantly crystallizing into a dark red crystal. Twenty years ago, when I left, these runes were just markings.

Now... she looked up at Youluo, who was standing on the highest step of the altar, his long sword pointing diagonally at the ground, the Amegakure Village crest on the hilt covered with a layer of dust.

Youluo's gaze lingered on Ziyuan's face for three breaths before turning to Baiye.

His pupils were a murky gray, like glass stained by war: "You brought outsiders to this holy land. Do you even know the rules established by Lord Hanzo?"

Hanzo's rules became invalid after he died in the mouth of the salamander. Shion tugged at the corner of her clothes, revealing the short blade at her waist—the blade was wrapped in faded blue cloth, the same cloth used when teaching children to carve wooden swords at the Amegakure orphanage. Uncle Youluo, you've guarded these ruins for twenty years; it's time to see the outside world.

The blood of the Fire Country's daimyo soaked the tatami mats, and the Cloud Ninja of the Lightning Country piled up corpses on the border. They were all searching for the same answer: what did the messenger of destiny want?

Bai Ye didn't interrupt.

His bony wings spread slightly behind him, and the incantations flickered with his breath, gradually coinciding with the frequency of the altar runes.

As his gaze swept over the recessed stone groove in the center of the altar, the jade pendant in his arms suddenly became incredibly hot, leaving a red mark on his skin through his clothes.

He reached for the bone wing, and the moment his fingertips touched the chains, the blood stream in the stone trough suddenly boiled. The splashed blood droplets condensed into gold dust in the air and fell into the stone trough, forming a line of ancient characters.

This is... Shion leaned closer, her eyelashes trembling in the blood mist, the contract text of the First Shinobi.

I've seen fragments in the Amegakure ancient texts that say the First Hokage sacrificed his life for peace in the ninja world, but what exactly did he sacrifice in return...?

"I've been given a new life." Youluo suddenly sneered, the blade striking the stone steps with a clear sound. "Back then, my father was the altar guardian. He said that on the day the first generation lay in the stone coffin, the shadow of the messenger of destiny blocked out the sun."

They said that as long as the First Hokage's remains were there, there would be no real calamity in the ninja world—but the calamities never stopped, right? His voice suddenly went hoarse, so my father carved a mechanism under the altar. He said that if the Rain Village couldn't survive one day, they should go down and see if the First Hokage had lied to us.

Before the words were finished, a muffled thud came from the stone trough in the center of the altar.

Bai Ye took a half step back, looking at the spiderweb-like cracks on the edge of the stone trough, revealing stone steps extending downwards.

Moss sprouts from the cracks in the rocks, like countless green hands, climbing up the steps to the ground.

"I'll go down first." Bai Ye pressed down on Zi Yuan's shoulder, which was about to move.

The moment his bone wings unfolded, he leaped into the darkness, the chains taut in his palms, guiding his direction like living beings.

The cold air in the abyss was ten times stronger than outside, making his nose sting with cold until he landed and stepped on something hard—a skeleton.

Moonlight streamed down from above, illuminating the white bones scattered on the ground.

There were bones of ninjas, civilians, and even infants, piled up layer upon layer to form a staircase of skeletons, eventually leading to the stone coffin in the center.

The surface of the stone coffin was covered with the same patterns as the bone wing chains, and golden light flowed through each pattern, like a living thing being sealed away and struggling.

As Ziyuan and Youluo jumped down, Baiye reached out to touch the stone coffin.

Chapter 523 Guardian God

A sharp pain exploded from my fingertips.

He saw figures in the blood mist—the First Hokage, dressed in mourning, kneeling before the stone coffin and signing a contract with a shadowy figure; he saw the infant of Amegakure being carried onto the altar, tears dripping onto the runes; he saw that in the secret chambers of the various daimyo, there were jade pendants with the same patterns as the stone coffin; finally, he saw his own face superimposed on the First Hokage's in the reflection of the stone coffin.

The will of the living... Bai Ye released his hand, and the chains automatically detached from the bone wings, jingling as they wrapped around the stone coffin. It turned out that what the messenger of destiny wanted was never the life of the first generation, but the hope of every generation of ninja.

They used the remains of the First Hokage as a vessel to collect the life force of the ninja world and maintain their existence.

Are you insane? Youluo's blade is pressed against Baiye's neck. The First Hokage was the guardian deity of Amegakure. How dare you...?

Guardian deity? Shion's short blade pressed against Youluo's wrist. The blue cloth gleamed old in the darkness. When I was six years old, there was a famine in Amegakure. The grain in the altar was moldy and couldn't be distributed.

My mother knelt before the altar, begging for the First One to appear, but the guards dragged her away and beat her to death—her last words were, "First One, my little Yuan hasn't even had candy yet." Her voice trembled. "Now you're telling me these skeletons are guardian spirits?"

The stone coffin suddenly shook.

Golden light gushed from the gaps in the chains, condensing into a semi-transparent human figure above the sarcophagus.

The sound was like metal scraping together, with a teeth-grinding screech: You've finally found the truth, White Night.

But can you afford the cost?

The skeleton of the first generation rose from the stone coffin, and golden light seeped from the empty eye sockets.

Youluo's knife clattered to the ground, and he staggered backward, crashing into a pile of bones: Stop!

The First Hokage's resurrection would devour all chakra, turning the Five Kage Villages into ruins!

He was not resurrected. Bai Ye stared at the skeleton, the chains burning in his palms. He was the vessel, containing the food of the Chosen One.

Now, it's time to empty the container.

He swung his arm, and the chains pierced the bones as if they were alive.

The golden light suddenly surged, illuminating the abyss as bright as day.

Ziyuan suddenly lunged forward and grabbed his wrist, her nails almost digging into his flesh: Wait!

The chains on your bone wings are part of the original covenant; if you release them...

Before he finished speaking, the bone wings made a sound like tearing silk.

The bone wings that were originally connected to Bai Ye's spine suddenly detached, and the chains broke one by one, forming a complex array in mid-air.

The messenger's laughter mingled with the sound of the wind and entered my ears: It seems you've made your choice.

But don't forget the true cycle of reincarnation...

It's not over yet. Bai Ye finished speaking for it.

He felt his body becoming lighter, like a leaf swept up by the wind, merging into the golden light of the array.

Shion's hand slipped from his wrist, and Youluo's exclamation became distant. Only the skeleton in the stone coffin became clearer and clearer—it was the First Hokage, and everyone who had risked their lives for the ninja world. Their will was breaking through the chains, like birds breaking free from their cages.

At the last moment, he heard Ziyuan scream and saw the tears in her eyes crystallize in the golden light.

Where the bone wing detached, new lines were growing under the skin, dark red with gold, like a rekindled flame.

The light from the array diagram engulfed his figure.

In the abyss, only the skeleton of the First Hokage floats silently, while the life force that was once sealed is spreading in all directions of the ninja world along the cracks in the chains.

Chapter 524 Whispers of the Bones

The moment the bone wings shattered, Bai Ye's consciousness, like a wisp of silk pulled from her body, drifted further and further away in the golden light.

Ziyuan's scream struck her eardrums like muffled thunder through a thousand layers of fog, Youluo's exclamation was shattered by the sound of the wind, only the skeleton in the stone coffin suddenly emitted a faint blue light, every bone fragment trembling, as if singing a war song forgotten for a thousand years.

Mortal, you have finally arrived.

A hoarse voice cleaved through the fog of consciousness, and Bai Ye suddenly opened his eyes, finding himself standing in a void.

Countless fragmented images floated around: a battlefield under a blood moon, ninja officers engulfed in flames, and ninjas kneeling before an altar, their bodies covered in blood—finally, all the fragments converged into a figure, a man wearing faded armor, bone fragments protruding from his chest, yet more angular than when he was alive.

The first generation? Bai Ye intuitively felt that this was the owner of the skeleton in the stone coffin.

"It's me." The First Hokage's voice was like a rusty sword scraping against a stone slab. "The chains you see aren't the shackles that seal the evil god; they're the chains that bind me." He raised his hand, and a scene from that time appeared in the void: the messenger of destiny, shrouded in black mist, his knuckles pressed against the First Hokage's throat. "You must bear the karma for the ninja world. Use your will as fuel, and I will ensure them a hundred years of peace." The First Hokage's pupils contracted violently in the scene. "They say this is a sacrifice, the glory of a hero."

But I'm just a watchdog with its teeth pulled, feeding the thing hiding behind the scenes with the will to live.

Bai Ye frowned: So the so-called sealing technique...

"It's a hoax." The First Hokage interrupted him, his bony finger plunging sharply into the depths of the scene. The true seal was located in the forbidden area of ​​Kumogakure, on the Demon-Suppressing Stele carved with the blood of successive Raikage.

I've been trapped here for eight hundred years, waiting only for your hands that can sever these chains. His skeleton suddenly trembled violently. Go back quickly, your body can't hold on much longer!

When consciousness was abruptly pulled back to reality, the chill of the void still lingered on Bai Ye's fingertips.

His body was faintly visible in the golden light of the array, like a paper figure soaked in water. Ziyuan's hand was still gripping his wrist, her nails almost digging into his flesh: "Your eyes just now... turned bone white!"

"The forbidden area of ​​Kumogakure?" A gasp came from nearby.

The guardian of Amegakure hadn't even sheathed his sword yet, and the cloud pattern on the hilt was turning white from his grip. That was the Raikage's burial ground, where even the Cloud Village Jonin could only kneel on the outskirts on the night of the full moon.

Do you know where everyone who goes in ends up? He suddenly drew his sword, the blade pointing diagonally at Bai Ye's throat, and more importantly—what makes you think you can carry the secrets of Amegakure across the five countries?

The last outsider who broke into the sacred site was nailed to the village entrance and left to bask in the sun for three months!

Ziyuan's pupils contracted sharply. She stood in front of Baiye, her hair ends standing up in a mess of raven feathers as spiritual energy surged: Youluo, are you crazy?

He came to save us!

Help? Youluo's sword didn't budge. Have you forgotten the great drought in Amegakure three years ago?

There was also a savior who said he would break the curse, but what happened? His Adam's apple bobbed, and he led all the boys and girls in the village into the altar, only to return with half a charred corpse.

What's the difference between what Bai Ye is doing now and what that person is doing?

Bai Ye stared at You Luo's reddened eyes and suddenly laughed.

He raised his hand, and the remnants of his bone wings unfurled behind him, the chains clanging softly against the metal—the very chains that had just severed his spine when they snapped, now docile as a tamed snake. "You fear I'll break the rules of Rain Village." He took a half-step forward, the chains grazing the blade of the Netherworld Blade, leaving spiderweb-like cracks on the steel surface. "But you fear more," he thought, "fear that I truly find the answer, fear that the sacred ground you guard is actually a feeding trough for monsters."

Chapter 525 Don't Keep Me Waiting Too Long

Youluo's blade trembled.

A sudden roar came from afar, and the rune pillars at the bottom of the abyss cracked with spiderweb-like patterns, and rubble rained down like a storm.

The messenger's laughter, mixed with stone dust, reached everyone's ears: What a wonderful show... But the altar is about to collapse. Are you going to continue arguing, or try to survive?