Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

He fell into nothingness.

Chapter 588 Living Like a Human Being

All around was a greyish-white fog, yet countless images floated clearly: in the Land of Fire's tavern, an old ninja used a broken sword to pry open the seal on a wine jar, saying, "This wine was brewed with my son's blood; he died on the border of the Land of Wind"; at the entrance to the Rain Village alley, a little girl squatted by a puddle, the water reflecting the tear tracks on her face, while behind her, her mother lay buried in the ruins; and when he was seven, his father's last words as he shoved him into the cellar: "Little Night, remember, when you're in pain, don't scream. If you scream, they'll know you're still alive..."

"Your strength comes from your belief." A deep voice came from all directions, like rusty gears grinding together. "But is belief alone enough?"

Bai Ye wanted to cover her ears, but found that she had no physical form.

The images suddenly sped up, becoming a fast-forwarded slideshow: his trembling hands when he killed for the first time, the blood splattered on his face when he first tore open an enemy's throat with his bone wings, and himself hiding behind a tree and crying for half an hour when he first saw "zero civilian casualties" in the mission report.

"You can't save everyone." The voice turned sharp. "Your parents are dead, the comrades you protected are dead, and the peace you risked your life for will be torn to shreds by the ambitions of the daimyo tomorrow."

A mirror emerges from the fog.

The image in the mirror was not Bai Ye, but him on the altar: his bone wings were broken, blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, yet he was still smiling.

That smile was like a knife, cutting through all the false illusions.

"Enough!" Bai Ye's consciousness roared.

He suddenly remembered the temperature of Chiyo's touch on his forehead, which was just like the temperature of his mother's body when she hugged him for the last time; he remembered the Raikage's roar of "Don't sleep, brat!" before he fell unconscious, with the rough, thunderous sound unique to Kumogakure; he remembered the muffled sound of Onoki slamming the ground with his Rock Release technique—that was the Tsuchikage saying "Hold on" in the most clumsy way.

"I don't need to save everyone," he said to himself in the mirror. "I just want the living to live like human beings."

The image in the mirror suddenly shattered.

Bai Ye's consciousness was pulled back to reality. For a moment, he heard countless voices shouting, "Don't stop." Those were the children he had saved, the people he had failed to save, and all the ninjas who were struggling in the darkness.

"cough..."

The campfire inside the cave suddenly leaped up.

Chiyo and Ebizo turned their heads at the same time and saw Byakuya's fingertips moving.

His eyelashes trembled violently, like butterflies blown by the wind, and he finally slowly opened his eyes.

His pupils focused and then focused again, finally settling on Chiyo's face: "The stone slab..." His voice was hoarse like sandpaper, "Is it still working?"

Chiyo pressed down on his shoulder as he tried to straighten up: "The direction of the runes is reversed, but the ninja world's consciousness network is still in turbulence." She wiped the bloodstains from the corner of his mouth with her thumb, "Like a muddy pool, you have to find the mud at the bottom to clear it."

Bai Ye's fingers clenched the swaddling clothes tightly.

His gaze swept over the medical scroll in Ebizo's hand, over the churning sandstorm outside the cave, and finally settled on Chiyo's face: "Take me to the source," he said, his voice soft, but like a rock in Iwagakure, "Now."

Ebizo suddenly laughed.

He put away the scroll, stood up, and dusted off his clothes. "Sister, you're right." He bent down to pick up the medicine bowl from the ground and handed it to Bai Ye. "This kid..." A sly look appeared in the wrinkles around his eyes. "He's even crazier than we were back then."

Chiyo smiled too.

She turned and walked out of the cave, and the sand barrier automatically dispersed under her chakra.

The wind whipped in sand, but her chakra kept it three steps away. "I had Kankuro send the location of the secret meeting place via crows." Her silhouette was stretched long by the moonlight, like an arrow pointing into the distance. "It's time to let those hiding in the shadows see the light of day."

Bai Ye drank the medicine.

The bitterness explodes on the tip of the tongue, yet it is mixed with a hint of sweetness—the unique licorice flavor of Sunagakure.

He stood up, leaning against the cave wall. Although the mark on his chest had faded, the sound of his heart beating was clearer than ever before.

Outside the cave, the sandstorm was receding. The eastern sky was turning a pale white, like a piece of jade that had just been washed.

Chapter 589 Hidden Allies

The sand still clung to Bai Ye's eyelashes as he followed Chiyo into the underground venue, the stinging sensation of the wind blades still lingering on his ear tips.

Ebizo walked at the back, his palm pressed against the stone door mechanism. Amid the rustling sound of stone chips falling, he heard Chiyo's extremely low voice: "The backup secret room for the Five Kage Summit three years ago. Kankuro used crows to lure away all the Anbu."

The venue was small, with twelve people sitting around a round stone table.

The Fourth Raikage, A, whose gold and red cloak took up half the chair, raised a thick eyebrow when he saw Byakuya and tapped the table with his knuckles—that's how Cloud Village ninjas greet each other.

The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, huddled in a high-backed chair, with only his hawk-like eyes peeking out from under his white beard. When his cloudy eyes turned, the hairs on the back of Byakuya's neck stood on end.

"This is the key figure you were talking about?" Onoki's voice was like two rocks rubbing together. "Since when did the Sand Village's advisors start bringing young brats to Kage-level meetings?"

Chiyo didn't reply, but simply raised her hand and placed it on the back of Byakuya's shoulder.

The force was neither too light nor too heavy, as if it were saying, "Stay steady."

Byakuya stared at the chakra lamp floating on the stone table. The flame reflected the hilt of the Raikage's Raikiri sword at his waist, and the faint rock patterns on the Tsuchikage's sleeves. Finally, it landed in his palm—where he still clutched the faded swaddling clothes. The fabric was worn and frayed, but it still kept his hand warm.

“He has seen the core of the stone slab.” When Chiyo spoke, the temperature in the entire venue seemed to drop two degrees. “He has also witnessed the methods of the Chosen One.”

The Raikage's fingers suddenly clenched his cloak, the gold and red fabric making a tearing sound: "That old bastard is still alive?"

“Whether you live or die is not important.” Onoki sneered, slamming his wrinkled hand on the table, which cracked with a spiderweb pattern. “What is important is that you were all used as pawns by him—destroying the stone slab? Hmph, I should have known when the Second Hokage’s body was discovered in the secret chamber of Konoha three years ago.”

The Raikage abruptly stood up, his chair leaving a grating scratch on the ground: "Onoki! You always have a way of muddying the waters! How many ninjas' consciousnesses have been swallowed by this stone slab? My Hidden Cloud Village lost seventeen Jonin in three months, all of them suddenly going limp during missions, as if their souls had been ripped out!"

"That's because you Kumogakure kids only know how to use chakra to tough it out!" The Tsuchikage's Rock Release chakra overflowed uncontrollably, and a faint yellowish-brown light seeped from the cracks in the stone table. "The real threat is the unification of the 'will of the living'—when the thoughts of all ninjas are kneaded together, the first to go mad will be you Kage who are used to giving orders!"

The sounds of the argument crashed against the stone wall, causing the chakra lamp to sway.

Bai Ye looked at the bulging veins on the Raikage's neck and the eerie light flickering in the Tsuchikage's murky eyes, and suddenly remembered what Chiyo had said in the cave about "the rotten mud at the bottom of the pool".

They were arguing about the stone tablet and the chosen one, but the real disagreement lay deeper—the Raikage wanted to protect his own, the Tsuchikage wanted to scheme, and they were both afraid, afraid that the power they controlled would be crushed by a greater will.

"Whether it's the stone slab or the messenger of destiny."

Bai Ye's voice, like a cold piece of iron, crashed into the boiling argument.

All eyes swept over; the Raikage's mouth was still open, and the Tsuchikage's finger was still hovering over the crack in the stone table.

Byakuya loosened his grip on the swaddling clothes, letting the piece of cloth hang at his side: "Their core purpose is to unify the will of the ninja world into one voice. But true peace..." He recalled the voices shouting "Don't stop" before he fell unconscious, and the warmth of Chiyo's touch on his forehead. His Adam's apple bobbed, "...can only be fought for by the living."

The venue was so quiet that you could hear the crackling of the chakra lamp wick burning.

Raikage was the first to react. He slumped back into his chair, a barbed smile tugging at the corner of his mouth: "You brat, you're better at talking than some old fogies." Onoki slowly withdrew his fingers into his sleeve, his cloudy eyes narrowing into slits, lost in thought.

Just then, a laugh came from the top of the hall.

The laughter was like a rusty blade scraping against glass, with an indescribable distortion.

Bai Ye suddenly looked up and saw the rune array on the stone ceiling suddenly glow with a ghostly blue light—those runes that he had seen in the cave and that Chiyo had reversed were now climbing up the stone wall towards the feet of each participant.

"It seems you have already become aware of my presence."

The sounds came from all directions.

When that figure emerged from the runic mist, Bai Ye's pupils contracted sharply—it was a face reconstructed by chakra, its outline strikingly similar to the Second Hokage in the Konoha archives, but its eye sockets contained no pupils, only two swirling starlight.

The stone slab fragment in his hand gleamed with a faint light, and the patterns on its surface were exactly the same as the fading mark on Bai Ye's chest.

Chapter 590 Ninja World Consciousness Network

"You think you can stop me by joining forces?" The Destiny Messenger's fingertips traced the fragments, and the light of the rune array suddenly surged. "The power of the stone tablet has long been integrated into the ninja world's consciousness network—even if it is destroyed, the thoughts of all ninjas will be like puppets strung on strings, obediently heading towards the ending I want."

A sharp pain exploded in my temples.

Bai Ye staggered a step and saw the Raikage's body becoming ethereal in the light mist, while the Tsuchikage's Rock Release chakra was being frantically devoured by the runes.

He gritted his teeth and spread his bone wings, but the sharp whistling of the bone blades cutting through the air was completely swallowed up by the light mist—his chakra was being forcibly extracted by some force.

"Don't move!" The Raikage's roar was laced with bloodlust. His right hand was covered in blue lightning, while his left hand formed a chakra barrier in front of him. "This is a genjutsu space! Concentrate—"

Before he could finish speaking, the fragment of the Messenger of Destiny suddenly pointed at the Raikage.

A black beam pierced through the barrier, exploding into a spray of blood on Lei Ying's left shoulder.

The old man swayed, but stubbornly planted his feet firmly on the ground, causing the barrier to shine even brighter: "You brat! Take them away!"

Bai Ye's fingernails dug into her palm.

He saw Chiyo forming hand seals not far away, her Sand Release technique attempting to tear through the light mist; Ebizo's medical scroll trembled, yet it remained protective of the two young ninjas beside him.

The messenger's gaze swept across the back of everyone's neck like a snake's tongue—he was choosing the next target.

"Go!" Lei Ying roared again, blood seeping from the cracks in the barrier. "I've lived for fifty years and never been afraid of anyone! But you—" He stared at the swaddled baby on Bai Ye's chest, "You have to make those children live like human beings!"

Bai Ye's heart pounded violently.

He recalled his words in the cave, "I just want the living to live like human beings," and the words Raikage shouted before he fell unconscious, "Don't sleep, brat."

He whirled around, grabbed the wrist of the nearest young ninja, and his bone wings drew a silver arc behind him: "Stay close to me!"

Gasps and gasps could be heard rising and falling from the misty light.

As the last person was pushed out of the stone gate, Byakuya glanced back—Raikage's barrier had shattered into specks of light, and Onoki's rock pillar was rising from the ground, attempting to trap the Messenger of Destiny.

The fragment of the Messenger of Destiny was aimed directly at the Raikage's heart.

"Go!" The Raikage's mouth movements were clearly visible.

The stone gate slammed shut behind them.

Bai Ye leaned against the stone wall, panting, and Ebizo's medical chakra immediately surged into his meridians.

Chiyo stood not far away, the Sand Ninja Communication Crow in her hand flapping its wings, its feathers stained with blood.

“Map,” Chiyo suddenly said.

Ebizo took out the ninja world map scroll he always carried with him. The moment he unfolded it, everyone gasped – deep within Iwagakure, a previously blank area was marked with a dark red mark, like a drop of freshly splattered blood.

The small characters next to the mark were illuminated by a faint glow of chakra: "End of Days Altar".

Bai Ye pressed his fingers on the mark, and the swaddling clothes in his palm suddenly became hot.

He recalled Chiyo's words about "the mud at the bottom of the pool" in the cave, and the "ninja world consciousness network" mentioned by the messenger of destiny.

The abandoned altar in Iwagakure Village... Could that be the source of that murky water?

"Prepare your luggage." When Bai Ye looked up, the focus in his eyes was clearer than ever. "We're going to Iwagakure."

Chiyo's Sand Release technique condensed into a blade at her fingertips, while Ebizo's medical scroll rustled as it rolled.

In the distance came the booming sound of a stone gate being shattered, mixed with the roar of thunder, like a thunderclap splitting the darkness before dawn.

Meanwhile, in the direction of Iwagakure, a wisp of faint black smoke rose from the sky, like a thread leading all the living people toward an unknown end.

Chapter 591 What a wonderful gift

The mountain road to Iwagakure Village was steeper than I had imagined.

As Baiye's boots crunched over the gravel, he heard Ebizo's suppressed breathing behind him.

The Sand Village advisor, who always carried a medical scroll around his waist, had blood scabs on his forehead. The young ninja protected by chakra was still hanging on his back—the child whose headband had been burned through by the light mist during the breakout. His breathing was as light as a feather.

"We've arrived." Chiyo suddenly stopped.

White Night Looks Up.

The silhouette of the abandoned altar in the twilight resembled a crouching beast.

The stone walls were covered with dark green moss, and the lintel that once bore the emblem of Iwagakure was cracked in two, with one half of the stone lying on the ground, revealing dark red patterns underneath—not naturally growing moss, but bloodstains soaked in chakra.

“A barrier.” Ebizo’s fingers trembled as he stroked the air. “It’s cold, like ice shards digging into your bones.”

You can see things more clearly in the white night.

His pupils contracted slightly, and his bone wings gleamed with silver light behind him—the barrier that enveloped the altar was not an ordinary ninjutsu. The runes floating on its surface were seven-tenths similar to the sealing techniques he had seen in the forbidden area of ​​Konoha, but with a twisted, stench, like a talisman soaked in putrid water.

"The First Hokage's sealing technique..." he murmured, the swaddling clothes in his palm suddenly burning hot, "but it was modified."

"What are you going to do?" Chiyo's sand blade materialized at her fingertips. "You need us—"

"No need." Bai Ye interrupted her, and when his bone wings unfolded, they created a gust of wind that made everyone take a half step back.

He remembered that when breaking the barrier in Konoha's forbidden area, the core of the First Hokage's sealing technique was "resonance," which involved using the caster's chakra to resonate with the sealing array and then using the sharpness of lightning to cut open the gaps.

Although the runes within the barrier were distorted at this moment, the basic frequency... He closed his eyes, and the lightning chakra crackled on the bone wings. "Follow the frequency."

The moment the tip of the bone wing touched the barrier, Bai Ye shuddered.

Like a piece of iron being thrown into boiling water, the stinging pain spread from the point of contact to the spine.

He gritted his teeth to maintain his chakra output, and the hand seals of the First Hokage appeared before his eyes—the forbidden technique fragments he had stolen from the archives of the Land of Fire, which now seemed to be engraved into his very bones.

The resonance of thunder and the frequency of runes began to overlap, ripples appeared on the surface of the barrier, and a crack half a person's height was torn open with a "rip," releasing a foul-smelling wind.