Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

The next second, the entire altar emitted a dying wailing.

The rune array was torn open, and the black mist inside surged out wildly, only to be scorched the moment it touched the golden light net.

Just when Bai Ye thought he was about to succeed, an overwhelming backlash suddenly struck his chest—it was an energy even more violent than the Tailed Beast Ball, which directly shattered his bone wings into fragments, causing him to crash into the stone wall, coughing up blood mixed with fine bone fragments.

Before his consciousness began to fade, Bai Ye saw countless transparent hands reaching out from the black mist, trying to pull at his soul.

But when those hands touched his palm, the headband fragment suddenly burst forth with a blinding white light—it was the scene from when he first found the fragment in Amegakure, the blood-stained headband lying beside a corpse, the Anbu's fingers still in the position of protecting it; it was the cup of tea the Third Hokage handed him when he was repairing the fragment with chakra at the Konoha Anbu base; it was when he was assassinating the Daimyo in the Land of Fire, the fragment suddenly becoming hot, reminding him to avoid a deadly kunai trap...

"So you've always been here." Bai Ye whispered, her consciousness being pulled into a deeper space.

There was no altar, no cracks, only countless points of light floating around.

Chapter 551 Forbidden Land of Thunder

Each point of light represents a memory: his trembling hand when he killed for the first time, his tears as he held his dying comrade, and his vow to the heavens on the edge of a cliff to change the face of the ninja world.

The voice of the messenger of destiny came from the depths of the light: Every step you take is within my calculations.

Now tell me—are you willing to give everything just to save this world?

Including life?

Including the soul.

Including being misunderstood by everyone?

Including becoming the monster they talk about.

Bai Ye stared at the points of light and suddenly burst out laughing.

He recalled the last words of the Anbu member from Amegakure: "The headband is not an honor, it's a responsibility." He thought of the First Hokage's smile before his illusory form dissipated, a smile so much like that of the boy who founded Konoha.

He thought of the shard in his palm, which had never left him since the day he found it.

Since you say this is a gamble, he stared at the headband fragment in the very center of the light spot and said, "Then I'll bet everything."

Before the words were even finished, the entire space was torn to pieces.

As Bai Ye fell, he saw a huge map of the ninja world unfold before him, with mountains, rivers, and villages clearly visible. Finally, all the light converged in the northeast of the Land of Lightning—there was a hidden valley shrouded in mist, which even he, an intelligence expert, had never heard of.

It seems you have found the final answer. The voice of the messenger of destiny has faded into silence, but remember, the price of your choices is always borne by yourself.

When consciousness returned to her body, Bai Ye was lying in the ruins of the altar.

He touched his chest; the fragments of his headband were still there, and the warmth was greater than ever before.

The crack had closed, and the crystal fragments gleamed coldly in the moonlight.

He stood up, brushed the stone dust off his clothes, and looked towards the Land of Lightning.

The night wind lifted the hem of his clothes, and the howl of wolves echoed in the distance.

"The hidden valley of the Land of Lightning..." Bai Ye murmured softly, his fingertips gently tracing the fragments of his headband. "The belief the First Generation spoke of was probably that I should go there to find the answer."

The moonlight stretched his shadow long, like a knife pointing into the unknown.

The moonlight carved cold, hard outlines into the mountains of the Land of Lightning. Byakuya had been traversing the forest for three days, his footsteps still wet with morning dew on the gravel path.

His night clothes were stained with grass clippings, and his hair was still damp with the night mist, but he never stopped walking—the map of the ninja world unfolding in his mind was too clear, and the valley shrouded in mist in the northeast of the Land of Lightning was now like a magnet, pulling him every step of the way.

As the first rays of dawn pierced through the clouds, he finally caught sight of the valley.

The mist, like cotton wool crumpled by an invisible hand, surged at the mouth of the valley, while deep within the mist, a dark blue barrier of lightning hummed.

Electric arcs moved across the surface of the barrier like living things, each as thick as an adult's arm, and their scorching aura carried on the mountain breeze.

Outsiders, stop here. A deep voice, crackling with the sound of electricity, exploded from within the barrier.

Bai Ye paused, his gaze piercing through the mist.

His fingertips gently traced the fragments of the headband against his chest, where the warmth of last night's altar ruins still lingered. "I have come to seek the truth of the will of the living." His voice was as calm as a deep pool, without a single undulation.

The barrier suddenly went still for a moment, and all the electric arcs simultaneously contracted into thin chains, weaving together the outline of a human face in the center.

It was a young man with high, sharp brow bones, and a dark red scar below his left eye that pulsated slightly with the flickering of lightning.

He wore dark armor adorned with lightning patterns, and tiny electric currents seeped from the gaps in the armor, like some kind of ancient seal.

"Raizo." The man introduced himself, his voice cold and hard, like the scraping of metal. He was the last surviving Raikage of all time, the guardian of this valley's graves. His right hand rested on the short sword at his waist, its scabbard also adorned with lightning patterns. "Do you know what you're doing?"

This place is a forbidden area for all the Raikage, and even the current Raikage is not allowed to set foot here.

Bai Ye looked up and met his gaze: I know.

Chapter 552 So I Brought the Answer

So I brought the answer. He removed the fragments of his headband and held them between the two men.

The fragments gleamed warmly in the morning light, bearing a striking resemblance to the lightning patterns on Raizo's armor.

Raizo's pupils contracted slightly.

He suddenly raised his hand, and the barrier vanished with a crash.

The mist was swept away by the wind, revealing a path paved with gravel, with weathered stone lanterns standing on both sides. The wicks of the lanterns had long since turned carbonized, but the burnt smell of lightning chakra still lingered.

"Come with me." Raizo turned around, his armor making a soft, rustling sound, but "If I find out you're lying"—he didn't finish, only his knuckles on his sword turned white.

The valley was wider than I had imagined.

The further in you go, the thinner the fog becomes, revealing the dense carvings on the rock walls on both sides.

Those markings were not ordinary ninjutsu marks, but spiral patterns similar to curse seals, each entwined with faint lightning.

Bai Ye's bone wings trembled gently behind him. He could feel some ancient power sleeping in those patterns, like a living thing sealed in amber.

This is the blood oath etched by each Raikage before their death. Raizo's voice suddenly lowered. From the First Raikage to the Third, every Raikage would come here before retiring, using chakra to carve their obsession with the Land of Lightning. He stopped in front of a rock wall, his fingertips tracing the lowest inscription. "My father... the Fourth Raikage, left his last mark here."

Bai Ye took a closer look and discovered that the pattern of those engravings was exactly the same as the rune array on the stone wall of the forbidden area of ​​Konoha.

His breathing faltered slightly: These are... fragments of a sacrificial ritual?

Raizo whirled around, lightning flashing in his eyes: "So you knew!" His short sword was drawn three inches from its sheath. "The people of Konoha have been investigating these things for a while now. We intercepted their secret messages, saying something about how the will of a living person needs constant nourishment—"

"It's not just Konoha." Byakuya interrupted him, pressing his fingertips against the rock wall, his chakra flowing along the engravings. This was a deception of the entire ninja world.

The belief the First Hokage spoke of was actually using the will of the living as sacrifices to feed some higher being. He turned to look at Raizo, and said, "Your Land of Lightning's forbidden grounds are one of the altars of this deception."

Raizo's sword clattered to the ground.

He took two steps back, his back pressed against the rock wall, his fingertips digging deeply into his palms: So Father always said before he died that the will of the Land of Lightning was burning... So he meant that our will was being used as fuel?

Bai Ye did not answer, but simply took out a fragment of his headband from his pocket.

The fragments were now emitting a scorching light, resonating with the carvings on the rock wall. "I need your help." He looked at Raizo. "The natural lightning power here is key to activating the array, and I need you to guide these forces."

Raizo bent down to pick up the knife, but no longer pointed it at Byakuya.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, the lightning in them even brighter: "My father said that the way to protect the Land of Lightning is never to hide secrets." He raised his hand to form a hand seal, and a purple ball of lightning rose from his palm. "Let's begin."

The two of them simultaneously channeled their chakra into the rock wall.

Bai Ye's bone wings unfolded, and a ghostly blue light flowed across the black bone blades—the power he gained when his cheat ability awakened.

Raizo's lightning ball merged with the engraving, and the originally dim lines instantly became as bright as day. Countless tiny lightning bolts gathered from all around the valley, forming a huge thunderstorm cloud overhead.

"Now!" White Night whispered.

He flapped his wings and took flight, the sharp whistling of his bone wings cutting through the air mingling with thunder.

The moment his bone blade touched the core of the array, the entire valley trembled violently.

The carvings on the rock face began to flow, like silver snakes coming to life, eventually weaving into a giant six-pointed star array in mid-air.

The power of resonance surged into Bai Ye's body like a tidal wave.

He felt something awakening deep within his soul; the fragments of destiny instilled by the messenger of fate were being crushed bit by bit by this power.

Suddenly, a cold laugh from the messenger of destiny echoed through the air: "You think you can change the outcome by joining forces with others?"

Chapter 553 The End of Everything

Unfortunately, you are nothing but pawns!

Before the words were finished, a blinding white light burst forth from the center of the six-pointed star array.

Bai Ye was thrown into the air by the impact, crashing into the rock wall before falling heavily to the ground.

Raizo lunged forward and grabbed his arm, and the two rolled into a depression in the ground.

Looking up, the previously condensed lightning threads were being dispersed by some invisible force, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the six-pointed star array.

He's stronger than I imagined. Raizo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his knuckles turning white from the force.

Bai Ye stared at the black mist seeping from the cracks in the array diagram. Our actions had shaken his foundation. He propped himself up; the wounds on his bone wings were healing. Look there!

Following his gaze, everyone discovered that a dark crack had appeared in the center of the storm at some point.

Deep within the crack, a shadowy outline of a colossal building could be seen—an altar constructed from countless massive stones engraved with runes, topped with a bloodstained longsword.

Wait! Raizo suddenly grabbed Byakuya's wrist. The aura from that crack... seemed to be the backlash of a space-time ninjutsu.

You can't—

If we don't face it, we'll never end this. Byakuya grasped Raizo's hand in return. "Your father's will, the will of the Land of Lightning, shouldn't be devoured like this." He pulled his hand away from Raizo's and strode towards the rift.

Just then, a torrent of black energy suddenly erupted from the crack.

The energy, like a living thing, bared its fangs and claws, instantly enveloping the two of them.

Raizo's pupils shrank suddenly, and with a roar, he pounced on Byakuya.

The dark armor shattered inch by inch under the energy impact, and lightning burst forth from his body, forming a shimmering lightning shield.

"Go!" Raizo's voice was hoarse, and his body began to turn transparent. "This is our...only chance."

No! Bai Ye tried to pull him up, but only touched nothingness.

Raizo's figure vanished like morning mist, leaving only the short sword lying on the ground, the lightning patterns on the hilt still faintly glowing.

From within the crack, a stone staircase slowly emerged, leading straight into the depths of darkness.

The messenger of destiny's voice rang out again, but with a hint of anxiety: the real game has only just begun...

Byakuya bent down and picked up Raizo's short sword, putting it and the headband fragment into his robes.

He looked up at the crack, and in the darkness at the end of the stairs, the outline of the altar became clearer.

The night breeze lifted the hem of his clothes, carrying a faint scent of thunder—the last trace left by Raizo.

"I will find the answer," Bai Ye said softly, his voice carrying an undeniable firmness.

He lifted his foot and stepped onto the first step.

Each step of the stone staircase gleamed with a faint blue light, like a living thing imbued with some ancient magic.

As Bai Ye's boots touched the thirteenth step, ripples suddenly spread across the stone surface beneath his feet. When he looked up again, he was standing in the center of a circular altar.

Moonlight poured down from the crack overhead, but was distorted into tiny specks of light the moment it touched the altar.

The altar was three times the size of the Fire Shadow Rock, and its four walls were carved with spiral yin-yang twin arrays. The black and white patterns flowed in the dark night, like two intertwined giant pythons.

In the very center floats a crystal as tall as a person, its surface covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and inside, countless golden runes, like stardust blown by the wind, are rotating in an eerie trajectory.

Welcome to the end of everything, White Night.

The voice of the messenger of destiny seeped from the crystal, this time without the previous anxiety, but instead carrying a kind of calm that came from finally seeing the truth.

Bai Ye's fingers unconsciously traced the hilt of the Raizo short sword in his pocket. The Raizo pattern glowed slightly under the fabric, as if responding to his taut nerves.

He looked up at the crystal and discovered that the rotating runes were gradually arranging and combining—ultimately coalescing into a face exactly like the Messenger of Destiny.

The true secret of the living's will lies hidden here. The face within the crystal grins, revealing gleaming white teeth, but are you sure you want to know?

Chapter 554 Some truths can burn a person to ashes

Some truths can burn a person to ashes.

Bai Ye did not respond.