Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

Just as his fingers touched the edge of the stone slab, a sharp, gold-flecked blade suddenly slashed down from the side!

It's Luosha!

The daimyo of the Land of Wind had bloodshot eyes and a grin that stretched to his ears: Hahahaha!

I knew you'd try to steal this!

With the Divine Tree Slab, I can ensure the gold mine never runs dry and make the Land of Wind the richest country in the ninja world... Black runes were wrapped around his fingertips, indicating that he had already secretly touched the slab.

Bai Ye instinctively rolled to the side, and Luo Sha grabbed the stone slab in his hand.

But the next second, something unexpected happened—the runes carved on the stone slab suddenly came to life and darted into Rasa's arm like black venomous snakes.

His skin began to fester, his fingernails turned into black, sharp spikes, and an inhuman roar came from his throat: No... This is impossible!

I am the daimyo of the Land of Wind, and I command you...

"Fool." The messenger's voice was laced with a cold laugh. "The power of the Divine Tree has never belonged to the living. You think you can control it?"

Rasa's body began to collapse.

His left leg turned to dust first, then his right arm, and finally his head dissipated amidst screams.

The stone slab clattered to the ground, bounced twice, and came to rest at Bai Ye's feet.

The moment Byakuya bent down to pick up the stone slab, countless memories flooded back—the Second Hokage's regret, the God Tree's greed, and the atrocities committed by successive Daimyo using living people for sacrifice.

His temples throbbed, but he gritted his teeth and aimed the stone slab at the center of the vortex.

Are you crazy? The Messenger of Destiny is finally panicking! This will reverse the spatial turbulence, and you will be...

"By what?" Bai Ye interrupted him, forcefully plunging the stone slab into the ground.

The runes suddenly reversed.

The vortex that had been devouring everything began to shrink, and the darkness at its center dissipated like the receding tide.

The rubble that had been sucked in fell back to the ground, and Chiyo's barrier made a crisp cracking sound. The old man staggered over and grabbed Byakuya's arm: Chakra!

Your chakra is draining!

Bai Ye looked down and saw that his skin was becoming transparent.

The blood patterns on the bone wings lost their luster, like a painting whose colors had been drained.

He could feel that when he reversed the runes just now, he had poured all his chakra into the stone slab—it was an exchange of his life for the power of the Divine Tree.

Is that enough? His voice grew softer and softer, and his vision began to blur.

Chiyo's tears dripped onto the back of his hand: Enough, child.

You made the secret of the sacred tree disappear forever, and the crimes that were covered up by the great names of the past... She sniffed, "You did it."

But the future of the ninja world needs more people like you.

Bai Ye wanted to laugh, but found that she didn't even have the strength to move the corners of her mouth.

He took one last look at the sky—the vortex had completely disappeared, and sunlight streamed in through the cracks in the rock wall, casting dappled light on the stone slabs.

Then, darkness enveloped his vision.

In the last moment before he lost consciousness, he vaguely felt the blood-patterned map on his chest getting hot.

The mark that had accompanied him for many years was fading at a visible rate, as if it had completed some kind of mission...

Chapter 562 The Price of Coma

The light spots on the stone slab danced on Bai Ye's closed eyelids, much like the shards of light when blood droplets fell to the ground during the rainstorm in Amegakure three years ago.

His consciousness sank into darkness, and the first thing to rise was a patch of scorched earth.

The broken blade pierced the boy's chest, and blood flowed down the hilt, staining the muddy ground in a twisted circle—that was Aku, who had graduated with him at the same time and died in the border war during the attack on Konoha by Iwagakure.

Aku promised to take him to Ichiraku Ramen, but even as he breathed his last, half a piece of candy remained in his ninja tool pouch.

The scene shifts to the blood mist of Kirigakure (Hidden Mist Village).

The girl's blue hair was dyed a glaring red, her kunai was still stuck in the throats of three Kirigakure Jonin, but she herself had been pierced through the abdomen.

That was Aoi, the rogue ninja from the Land of Water. She had promised to take him to see the Lake of the Seven-Tails, Chomei. Now, only half of her bloodstained headband remained, swaying in the wind.

Your strength comes from your belief, but is belief alone enough?

The deep voice, like an icy spring seeping from a crevice in the rock, washed over his consciousness.

Bai Ye tried to grab the fragments, but the moment her fingertips touched A Jiu's headband, they turned to ashes.

Xiao Kui's blue hair was also fading, turning into a dark red like the blood-patterned map on his chest—the mark that had existed since he could remember was now gradually dimming in reality, as if even his memories were being pulled away.

"Isn't that enough?" he roared into the darkness.

The anger I felt three years ago when I witnessed the Fire Country Daimyo slaughter an entire ninja village, the trembling I felt two years ago when I held a dying child in the ruins of Amegakure, and the burning sensation I felt just now in the forbidden area watching the successive Daimyo use the power of the stone tablets to manipulate war and extract profits—don't these count?

The illusion suddenly distorted.

The battlefield had transformed into the banquet hall of the Fire Country's Daimyo's mansion. Behind a gilded screen, the Daimyo was pushing a wooden box filled with gold coins towards an envoy from Iwagakure. "If you create a few more conflicts at the border, this year's iron ore..." His words were cut off by Byakuya's kunai, but the next second, it was Aku who fell.

A-Ku's eyes were famous, and Xiao-Kui's face had scars from Iwagakure Jonin. They pointed at him and laughed: "Can you kill them all?"

When one great name dies, ten new ones appear; when one war ends, a hundred new ones begin!

White Night's bone wings unfolded in his consciousness, but the blood patterns on the bone blades were dimmer than in reality.

He swung his blade at the twisted figures, and with each one he shattered, more illusions crawled out of the blood mist.

Their voices combined: You can't save everyone!

You can barely protect yourself!

enough!

In reality, Bai Ye's fingers suddenly twitched.

Chiyo was wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with a warm cloth when she saw his eyelashes trembling violently. She immediately pressed down on his arm, which he was about to raise: "Don't move, child, your chakra is still dissipating."

The safe house outside the forbidden area of ​​Sunagakure is a stone house surrounded by a barrier. The walls are inlaid with glowing fluorite, which makes Ebizo's face appear to light up and then dim.

He squatted on the other side, his fingers pressing on Bai Ye's pulse point, chakra seeping into his fingertips—that was the Sand Village secret technique of bloodline perception, which could detect the state of chakra flow within the target's body.

Seven chakra chains broke. Ebizo withdrew his hand, his brows furrowed. He had used all his chakra as fuel when he reversed the runes, and now he could barely maintain his basic metabolism.

Sister, are you sure you want to...?

"Confirmed." Chiyo's voice was soft, yet powerful, like sandpaper scraping against rock.

She took out a scroll from her waist, which unfolded to reveal a diagram embroidered with mithril thread. This was a resurrection spell I found in the First Kazekage's notes. It could forcibly awaken someone in a deep coma, but it would take away three years of the caster's lifespan.

Ebizo's pupils constricted sharply: Sister!

I've lived for over seventy years, what difference does it make if I live three years more or less? Chiyo laid out the array diagram beside Byakuya, her withered fingers pressing on the array's core, but he couldn't afford to be harmed.

You see the stone slab in the forbidden area—the daimyo of past dynasties used it to collect the negative emotions of war and transform them into the power to control people's hearts.

Bai Ye reversed the runes, causing these powers to backfire, but the core source remained. She looked up at her younger brother, a fire burning in her eyes. If he didn't wake up, there would be more A-Ku and Xiao-Kui in the ninja world.

Chapter 563 Leading to the Secret Meeting Place of Sunagakure

Bai Ye reversed the runes, causing these powers to backfire, but the core source remained. She looked up at her younger brother, a fire burning in her eyes. If he didn't wake up, there would be more A-Ku and Xiao-Kui in the ninja world.

Ebizo fell silent.

He recalled that in the forbidden area, the runes on the stone slab originally rotated clockwise, and with each rotation, blood mist rose—that was the vengeful spirits of some battlefield being drawn away.

As Bai Ye pierced his own palm with his bone wings and dripped blood onto the center of the stone slab, the runes suddenly reversed, the blood mist began to flow back, and finally exploded into fragments with a bang.

The boy's eyes at that moment were just like the eyes of them when they were young, holding their dying comrades in the ruins of a battlefield.

"I'll do it." Ebizo suddenly pulled over the array diagram. "You save your life to teach Kankuro puppetry. I'll trade my old life for his awakening. It's worth it."

Chiyo wanted to argue, but saw that her younger brother had already bitten his fingertip and added the last line of blood to the center of the formation.

The spell emitted a golden light, making Bai Ye's face appear somewhat blurry.

The darkness in the space of consciousness was suddenly torn open with a crack.

Bai Ye saw golden light seeping in through the crack, and the distorted illusions began to scream and flee.

He lunged toward the light, and the blood-red patterns on his bone wings began to glow faintly again—in reality, the mark on his chest, though dim, still had a trace of dark red, like a dying ember.

He couldn't fall... His consciousness crashed against the crack; there was still so much left undone...

puff--

In reality, Bai Ye suddenly coughed up black blood.

Ebizo staggered back two steps, grabbing the wall to keep from falling.

His temples turned completely white in an instant, clearly indicating that the technique had extracted more than just chakra.

Chiyo immediately caught Byakuya as he was about to fall, pressing her fingertips on the pressure points on the back of his neck: "Steady up, child, take it slow."

Bai Ye's eyelashes trembled as she opened her eyes.

His pupils first went out of focus, and then gradually focused.

When he saw Chiyo and Ebizo clearly, he immediately tried to sit up, but Chiyo held him down: the stone slab had stopped absorbing negative emotions, but the power of reversal was still spreading. She took a water pouch and fed him a couple of sips, like throwing a stone into a pond—the ripples wouldn't disappear immediately.

The core source... Bai Ye's voice is hoarse, where is it?

Ebizo pulled a straw mat from the side and wrapped it around him: "The daimyo of all ages used stone slabs to collect power, so there has to be a place to store it."

Based on the rune trajectory you disrupted, it should be in... He suddenly stopped and looked at Chiyo.

Chiyo sighed softly: The underground chamber of the Daimyo's mansion in the Land of Fire.

But the boss died suddenly three days ago, and now the place is surrounded like an iron barrel by secret agents from various countries.

Bai Ye's fingers clenched the straw mat: Take me there.

Your current state—

I can hold on. Bai Ye lifted the straw mat, and bone wings slowly unfolded behind him.

This time, the bloodstains on the bone blade were fainter than before, but with more subtle golden glints. Just now, in my consciousness, I saw my dead comrades... They didn't want me to stop, they wanted me to go further. He looked at Ebizo and said, "Thank you."

Ebizo turned his face away: "What are you thanking me for? You should thank yourself for your tough life." But his fingers secretly touched the scroll at his waist—there was the last Shadow Clone Talisman of Sunagakure, which could be used to block a blow for Byakuya if necessary.

Chiyo took out a bronze bell from her bosom and shook it gently.

Amidst the crisp sound of bells, the walls of the stone house suddenly rippled, revealing a tunnel entrance just wide enough for one person to pass through.

This is the passage leading to the secret meeting place in Sunagakure. She looked at Byakuya, "There are some things I need to tell you in person."

Bai Ye stood up, his steps still a little unsteady, but his eyes were like a sharpened knife.

As he walked toward the tunnel, the mark on his chest suddenly glowed with a very faint red light, as if in response to something.

Deep inside the tunnel, Ebizo's mutterings echoed: "This kid is more troublesome now that he's awake than when he was unconscious..."

Chiyo's gaze passed through the vines at the entrance of the tunnel and landed on the sky outside Sunagakure.

Several carrier pigeons were taking flight, and in the bamboo tubes beneath their claws was a secret letter she had just written—to the shadows of Konoha, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure: The crisis at the Stone Slab is not over yet, come to Sunagakure quickly to discuss this.

The wind in the tunnel swirled up a few withered leaves, brushing against the back of Bai Ye's hand.

He looked down and saw a pale golden line that had appeared on his palm, like some kind of ancient contract.

The door to the secret meeting place awaits quietly ahead.

Chapter 564 The Council of Shadows

The musty smell in the tunnel was diluted by the sandalwood incense the moment they stepped into the secret meeting place.

When Bai Ye looked up, the first thing that caught his eye was the seven bronze lamps hanging from the dome, their oil glowing with a faint blue light, illuminating the entire circular stone hall with a play of light and shadow.

In the center of the stone hall stood a circular stone table. The Fourth Raikage, A, was leaning on the table with one hand, his muscular arm crackling with arcs of lightning chakra. The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, was huddled in a stone chair, his face, resembling withered tree bark, half-covered by a straw hat, revealing only a pair of cloudy yet sharp eyes.

"Perfect timing." Chiyo's voice was low as she tapped her fingertips three times on the stone wall, sealing the entrance to the tunnel with a hidden mechanism.

Hai Laozang took a half step back, the protrusion of the scroll at his waist faintly visible in the moonlight—he had touched the location of that Shadow Clone Talisman seven times in the tunnel.

This is the Emergency Shadow Council. Chiyo led Byakuya to the empty seat at the stone table. Three days ago, carrier pigeons from Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure simultaneously delivered secret reports: the ancient stone slabs within the territories of each country suddenly resonated, and even the mark on the heart of the charred corpse in the Daimyo's mansion in the Land of Fire was burning hot.