Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

"You're insane!" The girl tried to break free from his grasp, but he bound her behind her back with puppet silk.

Bai Ye's fingernails pierced through the skin, and blood mixed with golden light particles gushed out. He actually tore open that layer of flesh, revealing half of a golden heart with wood-style blue patterns: "This is the core that the First Hokage nurtured with wood-style and my chakra." He broke off a fragment and stuffed it into the girl's palm, "Use it to pierce your right eye, and the First Hokage's wood-style will reverse and erode Madara's will—but you need to actively guide it."

"Then you..." The girl's pupils trembled.

"I am a container, not a host." Bai Ye pressed his forehead against hers, his voice as soft as a sigh, "Even if half of my heart is shattered, I won't die."

The golden shard in the girl's palm suddenly became hot.

Looking at the reddened corners of his eyes beneath the White Night mask, she suddenly remembered that three days ago in Sunagakure, this masked man had squatted in front of her puppet workshop and used chakra threads to repair her broken "Black Ant" puppet.

At that time, his fingertips were also stained with this golden blood, but she jokingly said that it looked like "honey mixed with gold dust."

"Close your eyes," she suddenly said.

Bai Ye was stunned.

Suddenly, the girl's puppet silk burst out from her sleeve, its tip piercing her heart with pinpoint accuracy.

The moment her clothes were stained with blood, she pressed the golden fragment against her right eye with her other hand: "Use my chakra as a catalyst!" The blue patterns of Wood Release surged from the fragment, spreading along her blood vessels, and clashed with Madara's golden emblem in her eyeball.

The sky outside the mine suddenly darkened for a moment.

Mei Terumi gazed at the swarm of golden butterflies that had suddenly gone berserk in the water mirror. They no longer attacked in a scattered manner, but began to hover in the air, their wing vibrations gradually becoming uniform.

Her Wood Release perception extended thousands of miles away, vaguely catching the chakra explosion in the direction of the mine—something was shattered, and something else was being reborn.

On the sea surface above Kirigakure, the largest golden butterfly suddenly flapped its wings.

The six-tomoe patterns on its wings were clearer than ever, casting huge shadows in the sunlight.

Chapter 719 I am not the first generation!

All the Golden Butterflies suddenly stopped moving, as if waiting for some instruction.

Deep within the mine, Bai Ye watched as the girl's chakra fluctuations gradually subsided, and gently removed his mask.

The same golden emblem as the girl appeared on his left cheek, but it was slowly covered by the green vines of Wood Release.

From afar came the shrieking of a swarm of golden butterflies, and in the sound seemed to be mixed with the maniacal laughter of the spotted butterfly.

Water seeping from the mine walls pooled at their feet, forming a thin stream. When Bai Ye released his grip on the girl's nape, his fingertips were still stained with her scalding blood.

The girl's eyelashes trembled violently twice before finally closing, and the blood-stained puppet silk hung softly, leaving a winding red trail on the sand.

He looked down at his chest—the torn flesh was healing at a visible speed, but the new skin had an unnatural blue-gold hue, like a piece of rag that had been forcibly pieced together.

"You think severing the contract will end this?"

Ban's voice suddenly exploded overhead.

Bai Ye suddenly looked up and saw that the mine's dome had been filled with golden butterflies, and the buzzing of their millions of wings caused sand to fall from the rock walls.

The golden butterflies arranged themselves into a giant moon in mid-air, each wing reflecting a scarlet light, enveloping the two in a blood-red shadow: "The sacrifice for the puppet technique... is the soul of a ninja!"

Bai Ye's mask suddenly glowed with heat.

He reached out and touched it, and the face of the First Hokage appeared on the metal surface—it was the Wood Release will left behind by the First Hokage during the battle at the Valley of the End three years ago. At this moment, it was twisted and revealed an angry expression, and its lips seemed to be shouting: "Don't believe his bewitching words!"

"Chakra Resonance!" Mei Terumi's clear shout came from the direction of Kirigakure.

Suddenly, a surge of powerful Wood Release chakra, carrying the salty, damp scent of seawater, flooded Byakuya's senses.

He turned his head and saw Mei Terumi's figure approaching in the water mirror—her arms were wrapped in chains of interwoven light blue and turquoise, a product of the complete fusion of Wood Release and Water Release, and the light patterns flowing through the chains were exactly the same as the lapis lazuli core in his heart.

"In the name of Kirigakure..." Mei Terumi's chains pierced through the mine's rock walls, precisely binding Byakuya's wrist and Madara's phantom. "I choose to be the final sacrifice!" Pale blue blood beads seeped from her fingertips, flowing down the chains towards Byakuya. "Your core needs a living sacrifice, and my chakra... is pure enough!"

Bai Ye's pupils suddenly contracted.

He could clearly feel that Mei Terumi's chakra carried the will of the Mizukage of Kirigakure through the ages—the Second Mizukage's violence, the Third Mizukage's melancholy, and the Fourth Mizukage's madness. At this moment, she used the gentleness of Wood Release to soothe them one by one, and finally condensed into a clear light that flowed into the wound in his heart along the chains.

"Foolish!" The phantom of Ban twisted violently, and the Moon Wheel Golden Butterfly suddenly began to shrink, its countless wings rubbing together and emitting a piercing shriek. "Even if you risk your life, you'll only be making a wedding dress for me—"

Before he could finish speaking, the lapis lazuli core in Bai Ye's chest suddenly burst forth with a dazzling light.

The First Hokage's face peeled off the mask, transforming into a giant Wood Release hand that pressed directly onto Madara's phantom.

The wooden branches pierced through Ban's body, each branch radiating a pale golden light—the residual earth vein power left over from when the first generation sealed Ban.

"You...you can't be..." Madara's voice began to break.

"I am not the First Hokage." Byakuya's mask cracked in the bright light, revealing a face that was so ordinary it was almost mediocre—no mark of a bloodline limit, no sharpness unique to ninjas, only the lingering red marks at the corners of his eyes. "But I carry his will."

Chapter 720 Remaining Hidden Beauty Underworld

Just like all these years, you've carried a heavy burden of conviction.

The morning light outside the mine suddenly pierced through the clouds.

The moon, composed of golden butterflies, disintegrated in the light, each butterfly turning into golden dust that fluttered down onto Byakuya's shoulders, the girl's hair, and Mei Terumi's chains.

The phantom of Madara glanced at him one last time, and there was a moment of dazedness in its eyes, as if it could see the cherry blossoms of the Valley of the End a thousand years ago through his face.

"So that's how it is..." The whisper before the phantom disappeared was as soft as a sigh.

Mei Terumi's chains snapped.

She staggered two steps, grabbed the rock wall for support, and black blood spilled from the corner of her mouth—the lingering erosion of Ban's will.

Bai Ye stepped forward to help, but she waved her hand and refused, saying, "Go see the child."

The girl is still unconscious.

Bai Ye gently picked her up, and when his fingertips touched her right eye, the golden emblem had completely faded, leaving only a faint red mark.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but when he looked up, he found Mei Terumi staring at the direction outside the mine, her light blue pupils churning with turbulent emotions.

“Iwagakure Village…” her voice trembled, “Listen.”

White Night pricked up its ears.

The crackling sound of burning fabric could be faintly heard in the distance.

He activated his chakra perception and sensed a familiar, metallic-sounding chakra surging in the direction of Iwagakure—it was the unique gear-turning sound of puppetry, but more vibrant than ordinary puppets, as if life was wriggling within it.

As the two rushed out of the mine, they saw the flag of Iwagakure burning in the morning breeze.

Black flames licked the earthen-yellow flag, and where the ashes fell, a dark golden liquid seeped from the ground.

The most bizarre thing was at the center of the flames—a fist-sized lump of flesh was writhing in the ashes, its surface covered with fine metallic patterns, clearly...

“A puppet heart embryo.” Mei Terumi’s voice was as cold as the sea in Kirigakure. “Only the most skilled puppeteers can cultivate such a thing using the chakra of a living person.”

As Bai Ye gazed at the mass of flesh, the azure core in his heart suddenly felt slightly hot.

He recalled that three days ago at the puppet workshop in Sunagakure, the girl had pointed to an ancient scroll and said, "The Kage of Iwagakure have a tradition of secretly training 'Kage Substitutes'... the kind that preserves willpower through puppetry."

The wind suddenly shifted.

A wisp of ash drifted to him, and he caught it, discovering that it contained tiny golden scales—exactly the same as the gold dust on the wings of the golden butterfly.

The girl stirred in his arms, murmuring sleepily, "White...night...hot..."

Bai Ye lowered his head and gently smoothed her blood-soaked hair, his gaze fixed on the direction of Iwagakure.

The sky there was shrouded in black smoke, and several men who looked like miners could be vaguely seen moving through the smoke, their napes...

"Mei Terumi," he suddenly spoke, his voice carrying its usual calmness, yet concealing a barely perceptible tension, "look after her for me."

"You're going to Iwagakure?" Mei Terumi raised an eyebrow.

Bai Ye gently placed the girl in her arms and turned to walk towards the sandy area outside the mine.

His shadow was stretched long by the morning light, and fine golden threads had seeped into the sand beneath his feet, like some kind of veins awakening.

“Go and see,” his voice was carried away by the wind, “why are golden emblems appearing on the back of those miners’ necks?” Bai Ye walked on the sand towards Iwagakure Village, the morning sand crunching softly under his heels.

The warmth in his arms had long since dissipated when the girl was taken by Mei Terumi; only the lingering warmth on his fingertips reminded him of the palpitations he had felt earlier.

Chapter 721 A Puppet Created from Physical Chakra

He quickly drew his knife, and the blade sparked brightly as soon as it touched the chain.

"The core material of a mechanical puppet?" Bai Ye's pupils contracted slightly. He made a hand seal, but the wind blade that had gathered in his palm was deflected the moment it touched the chains. "Forged with the chakra of a living person?"

The black smoke in the distance was still billowing, like a black dragon with its claws outstretched, blurring the outline of Iwagakure into a dark shadow.

His chakra seeped into the sand from the soles of his feet, and his senses spread out like a spider web.

The first thing you feel is a tremor coming from deep within the vein—it's not the fluctuation of a natural ley line, but rather the hum of some kind of mechanical gear meshing.

Closer still, he saw several miners moving through the smoke, their backs hunched over, with golden lines gleaming beneath the skin of their necks, like talismans embroidered in gold thread into their flesh.

“Their blood…” Bai Ye narrowed his eyes, chakra condensing into a pale blue light in the depths of his eyes.

He saw a dark golden liquid flowing in the veins on the side of the miner's neck, resonating with the metallic luster seeping from the earth's veins, "resonating with the earth's veins."

Before the words were finished, a sharp, tearing sound, like metal being torn apart, suddenly came from underground.

A dark chain shot out from the sand at his feet and precisely wrapped around his ankle.

The chain was covered in barbs; the moment it pierced the flesh, white...

"As expected of the vessel chosen by the First Generation."

A sinister voice came from deep within the mine.

Bai Ye looked up and saw a man wearing a mechanical prosthetic eye emerge from the shadows.

His right cheek was covered with bronze armor plates, his left eye gleamed with a ghostly blue light, and his left wrist was wrapped with dense puppet strings, each string ending in a gear the size of a fingernail.

"Wujuro?" Byakuya recognized the attire of the ANBU commander. "When did the Iwagakure ANBU start using living people and mineral veins to raise puppet embryos?"

“You should be glad you’re alive and know this secret.” Wujuro’s mechanical eye flashed red as it swept over the pale pink scar on Baiye’s left cheek. “The first generation’s living vessel did indeed come following the puppet virus—the gold powder in that scar, is that a tracking marker?”

Bai Ye's fingers curled slightly at her side.

Three days ago in Sunagakure, the ancient scroll that the girl found did mention "the substitute of the shadow," but who would have thought that the "substitute" in Iwagakure was to cultivate the heart of a puppet using the mineral veins of living people.

He never expected that the scars on his face were actually tracking marks left by the original generation.

"You think you can trap me with just this?" Bai Ye sneered, his chakra forming a vortex around him, attempting to break the chains.

But the chains tightened even more, and the pain of the barbs digging into his bones made him break out in a cold sweat—the chakra within the chains was absorbing his power.

"Trapped you? No, I'm going to send you where you're meant to be." With a flick of his wrist, Wu Shilang sent dozens of puppet threads hanging down from the mine ceiling, precisely binding Bai Ye's shoulders, waist, and arms.

The gears at the ends of the lines suddenly began to spin, emitting a piercing roar, “Go into the lava pipes and reunite with your kind.”

Bai Ye was pulled and staggered, the ground cracking open beneath his feet to reveal the surging orange-red magma below.

The scorching heat hit his face, and he could even see several half-melted lumps of flesh floating in the magma—the puppet heart embryos that Mei Terumi had mentioned.

"Let me go!" Bai Ye gritted his teeth, condensing a Rasengan in his palm, but it was repelled the moment it touched the puppet strings.

Chapter 722 Onoki is outdated

The lines were covered with metallic patterns like chains, indicating they had been enhanced with a puppet virus.

“The First Hokage used living containers to preserve his will, and we use living human veins to nurture new Kage.” Wujuro’s voice mingled with the boiling sound of magma. “Once the embryo matures, Iwagakure will no longer need that old man Onoki—and you will become the best nourishment.”

The puppet strings suddenly tightened.

Bai Ye was thrown into the lava pipe, the wind whistling in his ears.

He gazed down at the churning lava and suddenly heard a broken sob.

"help me……"

The sound seemed to seep from magma, carrying a scorching heat and the stench of rotting flesh.

Bai Ye's pupils constricted as he saw a figure leap from the lava—it was Chi Sha Ling!

Her clothes were almost completely burned off, and the puppet heart inside her chest was pounding wildly, its metallic patterns glowing with an eerie red light.

Black, sticky fluid seeped from her eyes; those were tears eroded by the puppet virus.

“They’re feeding the embryos with my Wind Release chakra…” Her puppet threads wrapped around Bai Ye’s wrist, burning hot. “Please… destroy those embryos…”

Bai Ye's palms were marked with red welts from the puppet silk, but at the moment of contact, the lapis lazuli core in his heart suddenly erupted with scorching power.