Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

The excruciating pain felt like lightning cleaving my brain.

Countless golden stars exploded before Bai Ye's eyes, and in a daze, he saw the bloodline memories that the Hyuga main family had guarded for generations surge like a tide: the spiral mark branded on him as an infant, the chain that pierced his heart during his coming-of-age ceremony, the image of each head of the main family kneeling and bleeding before the altar... But beneath these memories lay a colder truth—the so-called "guarding the taboo" was nothing more than a fuse planted by the first generation, meant to send the Hyuga bloodline and the puppet virus together into the core of the ley lines.

"Endure it!" Hiashi Hyuga's voice seemed to come from an extremely distant place. His body began to become transparent, and black markings were spreading from the top of Byakuya's head to his entire body at a visible speed. "The ley lines... will devour the virus... but it needs your body... as the last line of defense!"

Bai Ye gritted his teeth until they broke.

He could sense that the puppet virus was following the guidance of the Hyuga bloodline, burrowing into the earth's ley lines like a venomous snake; the phantoms of the First Hokage and Madara were frantically grabbing at the edge of the black hole, their Wood Release Root system and sonic energy condensing into tangible weapons at their fingertips, stabbing towards his heart.

Suddenly, the golden vortex in his chest swelled, and the golden sand and the white eye emblem intertwined into chains, tightly binding the attacks of the two phantoms.

"Break for me...!"

When Bai Ye roared those two words, the entire cave shook.

His scar suddenly split open, spraying blood onto the fragments of the mask. The floating fragments miraculously pieced themselves together to form a complete mask, and the golden flowers reflected in it withered completely.

The phantoms of the First Hokage and Madara roared simultaneously, their bodies began to disintegrate, their Wood Release Roots turned to ashes, and their magatama shattered into starlight in their pupils.

At the last moment, their gazes swept over Bai Ye simultaneously, and the same smile appeared on their lips once again.

When the last fragment of the puppet's heart exploded, the cave suddenly fell into a deathly silence.

Bai Ye collapsed to the ground, the bleeding from the scar slowly stopping, leaving only a plain light pink mark—the virus seemed to have truly been swallowed by the earth's veins.

The morning light had somehow pierced through the clouds and leaked in through a crack in the cave ceiling, illuminating his blood-stained face.

Bai Ye looked up and saw the direction of Konoha's border. The golden flowers that used to cover the mountains and fields had all withered, leaving only withered branches swaying in the wind.

But suddenly, a faint resonance came from deep underground, as if something slumbering was being gently awakened...

He leaned against the rock wall to stand up and staggered toward the deepest crevice in the cave—where the chakra fluctuations from when Chiyo fell in still lingered.

I had just squatted down when I suddenly felt a burning pain in the back of my neck.

Bai Ye reached out and touched it, his fingertips brushing against a new scar, throbbing with pain in sync with the resonating sounds from the earth.

Chapter 745 The Omnipotent First-Generation Cell

The moment Bai Ye's fingertips touched the new scar on the back of her neck, a burning pain shot up her spine to her forehead.

He staggered half a step, his fingernails digging deep into the rock wall, his knuckles turning white from the force—this pain was exactly the same as when Chiyo's granddaughter's right eye virus went out of control, like a red-hot needle pricking at the memory of his nerve endings.

A soft rustling sound suddenly came from deep within the crevice, like dry sand being repeatedly kneaded by an invisible hand.

He looked up and saw a blurry outline emerging in the darkness: black slime wrapped in golden emblems, slowly wriggling into the shape of an embryo, each contraction causing the rock wall to tremble slightly.

"The emblem on her right eye..." Bai Ye's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice hoarse from tension, "is absorbing the residual Wood Release energy from the earth's ley lines."

Before he could finish speaking, Hiashi Hyuga suddenly let out a muffled groan.

When Byakuya turned his head, he saw the head of the main family's Byakugan gleaming with a dazzling bluish-gold color—his once pure pupils were now covered with the Wood Release patterns that were the First Hokage's signature.

"The puppet virus is penetrating her pupils..." Hiashi Hyuga's chains shot out from his sleeves, precisely piercing the ground beside the fissure. Chakra condensed into pale blue patterns on the chains. "Rebuilding the earth's ley line resonance field!"

The moment the end of the chain touched the quicksand, the surface texture began to turn black.

Bai Ye watched helplessly as the steel chain shattered into wood chips with a "rip" sound, like a piece of paper soaked in strong acid, the fine powder floating in the air carrying a burnt, fishy smell.

What sent chills down his spine even further was the faint whimpering coming from the broken chain, which sounded exactly like the voice of Chiyo's granddaughter before she was ravaged by the virus.

"Hyuga-sama!" Byakuya rushed over to help, but was stopped by Hyuga Hiashi raising his hand.

Cold sweat beaded on the old man's forehead, and the Wood Release patterns on his Byakugan were spreading outwards at a visible speed. "The ley lines... are responding to the virus's call... the resonance must be severed."

Bai Ye took a half step back and placed his palm on his left chest.

The scars there had faded to pink, but he knew that the blood of the original was still boiling in his veins—a gift he had unexpectedly received when he merged with the phantom, and the only bargaining chip he had to fight the virus at this moment.

"Use the blood of the first generation to temporarily neutralize the resonance!" He gritted his teeth and tore open his clothes, the blood-stained puppet threads popping out from his fingertips and precisely piercing the deepest part of the crack.

Dark red blood dripped down the silk threads, spreading a golden-red hue on the quicksand.

A miracle happened in an instant.

Where every drop of blood fell, the blurry reflection of the First Hokage appeared, and the unique life force of Wood Release, mixed with the stench of blood, permeated the air.

A fleeting image of Chiyo's granddaughter suddenly crawled out from the eye of one of the statues. Her translucent form was covered in black slime, and the virus emblem on her right eye flickered in rhythm with the earth's ley lines.

"Grandma..." Her voice was like crumpled paper, crackling and hissing. Tears welled in her eyes and slid down her cheeks, dripping onto the quicksand and blooming into tiny black flowers. "It hurts..."

Bai Ye's breathing suddenly became rapid.

He could sense that the black flowers were spreading outwards from the afterimage, and the original reflections in their path were being corroded into fragments.

Even worse, the throbbing pain in the scar on the back of his neck intensified, as if a thread was threading through his spine, quietly tying him to the outline of the embryo deep within the fissure.

"Hold on." He lowered his voice, the puppet threads taut in his palm, blood flowing continuously into the cracks along the threads. "I'll take you..."

Chapter 746 The Hidden Solution in the Bloodline

The words stopped abruptly.

Suddenly, the afterimage's fingertips lifted, black viscous fluid condensing into fine needles at her fingertips, while her empty right eye was locked tightly on Bai Ye's wrist—there, a pale pink scar throbbed painfully with the rhythm of the earth's veins resonating.

When the quicksand, carrying the smell of rust, suddenly wrapped around Bai Ye's wrist, he didn't even have time to pull his hand back.

The black viscous fluid that should have been suppressed by the blood of the first generation seemed to come alive, seeping into the gaps of the pale pink scar on his wrist. Every wriggle carried the stinging pain of Chiyo's remaining consciousness—like an old wound soaked in vinegar, both sour and swollen.

“In Grandpa’s puppet silk…” The afterimage’s throat emitted a gurgling sound like bursting bubbles. Its translucent fingertips dug deep into White Night’s wrist bone, and the viscous fluid condensed into tiny golden runes upon contact. “It contains the coordinates of the ‘Symbiotic Altar’ that the First Hokage buried in the forbidden area of ​​Konoha!”

Bai Ye's pupils suddenly contracted.

He recalled the puppet remains he had discovered three months ago in the underground of the Daimyo's mansion in the Land of Fire. The mechanisms bearing the mark of the First Hokage did indeed contain undeciphered dark patterns—it turned out they weren't for defense, but for coordinates.

More violent tremors came from underground.

Hiashi Hyuga suddenly staggered two steps, the veins on his neck bulging like snakes, the Wood Release patterns of his Byakugan covering half his face, and even the white hair at his temples turning a strange bluish-gold: "The puppet virus is devouring the bloodline of the main family!" The old man's voice was like sandpaper rubbing, and his right hand suddenly drew a short sword from his waist, the blade reflecting the eerie light from the cracks and gleaming coldly white.

"Hyuga-sama!" Byakuya tried to retreat, but found that his wrist, which was entangled in quicksand, felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

He could feel the mucus seeping into his heart through his blood vessels, burning the defenses of the First Hokage's bloodline—the bloodline power he gained when he merged with the phantom, a power that could suppress most ninjutsu, was now in full retreat.

The sharp sound of a dagger slicing through the air preceded the pain.

Bai Ye watched as his left arm severed at the wrist joint, the blood droplets being sucked clean by the mucus before they could even splatter.

But the expected relief did not come. Instead, Hiashi Hyuga's chains suddenly wrapped around their broken wrists—the blue light of the main family's forbidden technique, "Blood Pact Lock," penetrated their flesh and forcibly twisted their blood vessels and nerves together.

"With my bloodline... activate the reverse erosion of the puppet threads!" Hiashi Hyuga's pupils contracted to pinpoints in agony, blackish-red blood seeping from where the chains pierced his flesh. "Your First Hokage blood can attract viruses, my Hyuga blood can lock bloodlines..."

Bai Ye's left hand still clutched half a piece of puppet silk, and the blood from his severed wrist dripped onto the silk, strangely flowing back into the depths of the rift.

He suddenly saw the outlines of the embryos writhing in the darkness—every wrinkle was exactly the same as the virus emblem on Chiyo's right eye, and at the very core of the embryo, a crimson chakra was gathering, just like Madara Uchiha's Sharingan.

"Puppetry has never ended..." A burst of crimson light suddenly erupted from the afterimage's right eye, and Madara's phantom emerged from it, a smug smile on his lips identical to that during the battle at the Valley of the End, "It's just changed the vessel."

These words struck Bai Ye like a hammer blow to the temple.

He recalled the First Hokage's dying words, "to seal the Tailed Beasts with the Puppet Technique," and the puppet core he found in the ruins of Amegakure with Madara's name engraved on it—it turned out that the so-called "end" was nothing more than a scheme set up by Madara and the First Hokage.

The tremors of the earth's veins suddenly subsided.

Chapter 747 The Missing Puppet Master

Chiyo's afterimage transformed into countless black specks of light, merging into the embryo deep within the rift, and dragging in Madara's phantom as well.

Suddenly, a crack appeared in the mask of the White Night, and a piece of it reflected a dark blue light—it was the direction of the forbidden area of ​​Konoha. He had seen a similar description in the First Hokage's notes: "When the three sacrifices are combined, the symbiotic altar will appear."

"The sound of a mechanical puppet starting up!" Hiashi Hyuga suddenly turned his head to listen.

A sharp, metallic whistling sound came from afar, like the mechanical puppets of Sunagakure, but deeper and more muffled, carrying the precise gear sounds only found in Konoha's Anbu—it was Juzo.

The puppeteer who disappeared after the Chunin Exams?

Laughter came from underground at the same time.

An aged voice, echoing as if squeezed from the deepest earth veins, said: "The third sacrifice... has finally found its true vessel."

Bai Ye suddenly felt a burning sensation at the point where her wrist was severed.

On his and Hiashi Hyuga's wrists, which were bound by chains, the blood of the First Hokage and the bloodline of the Hyuga clan were frantically merging, forming eerie golden patterns under their skin.

Meanwhile, Hiashi Hyuga's Byakugan, with its originally bluish-gold Wood Release patterns, was turning black at a visible speed.

The earth's tremors had just ceased when Hyuga Hiashi's neck suddenly bulged with veins.

In his originally blue-gold pupils, the Wood Release patterns were twisting and contorting with a scraping sound like fingernails scraping glass—the central spiral pattern first bled, then the entire iris seemed to be soaked in ink, with the shiny black veins surging with vibrations in sync with the puppet virus.

"The puppet virus is reshaping my bloodline..." The old man's Adam's apple bobbed violently, and the chains dug into their wrists, spraying black and red blood mixed with golden droplets. "It says I am the first generation's 'fourth vessel'!"

Bai Ye's pupils suddenly contracted.

He could clearly sense two opposing forces surging through the blood vessels connected by the blood pact: the Hyuga bloodline, like barbed silver threads, hooked onto every nerve in his body; while the First Hokage's blood transformed into a scorching golden stream, attempting to melt those silver threads into molten iron.

When the words "fourth container" hit his eardrums, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end—the first generation's notes mentioned an altar where the three sacrifices overlapped, but never the number of containers.

"puff!"

Hiashi Hyuga suddenly bit his tongue, and the sweet, metallic scent of blood mixed with incantations sprayed onto the chains.

The blue light that had been wrapped around his wrist suddenly surged, and the end of the chain pierced through Bai Ye's clothes, creating a bloody hole in his heart.

Golden blood and black viscous fluid seeping from the severed wrist dripped down simultaneously, intertwining at their feet to form a distorted, nascent curse mark—a pattern that Byakuya had seen on the core of the puppet in Amegakure, now slowly rotating with the flow of blood.

"Are you crazy?!" Bai Ye's left hand was still clutching half a piece of puppet silk, and a burning pain shot through the nerve endings at the severed wrist. "This is Madara's sealing technique!"

"That's why we need to use the Hyuga bloodline to lock its directionality!" Hyuga Hiashi's Byakugan turned completely black, but the whites of his eyes turned a sickly bluish-gray. "The Blood Pact, a forbidden technique of the main family, can nail two souls into the same body... Now, you and I are both sacrifices!"

A sharp, metallic whistling sound came from underground.

The sonic puppets of Juzo emerged from the cracks at the feet of the two men, fueled by the black tide spewed from the earth's veins. Each puppet's eye sockets were inlaid with black emblems of the same origin as those of Hyuga Hiashi, and the turning of gears at their joints made one's eardrums ache.

The giant puppet at the head opened its mechanical jaws, revealing a dense array of sonic emitters inside: "Activate the resonance field with the blood of living people!"

Before the words were finished, thousands of golden butterflies suddenly surged from behind the puppet horde.

Madara's phantom stood in the center of the butterfly swarm, his crimson Sharingan reflecting Byakuya's face: "Foolish Hyuga, do you think you can trap me with your bloodline?"

The First Hokage's blood within this body is a gift shared by me and Hashirama Senju.

The swarm of butterflies instantly formed a cage, enveloping White Night and Hyuga Hiashi within it.

Chapter 748 Otsutsuki...Hamura!

Almost simultaneously, cyan-gold cracks began to appear at the bottom of the cage—that was the aura of the First Generation Wood Release, emerging from the blood hole in Byakuya's heart, gnawing at the butterfly's golden dust like vines.

"The resonance field requires three bloodline sources of the same frequency!" Bai Ye suddenly grinned, and the viscous fluid at the severed wrist suddenly boiled. "Hyuga's blood, the First Hokage's blood, and..." He suddenly tightened the chain connecting him to Hyuga Hiashi, using the recoil force of the sonic impact of the puppet group to press the old man's Byakugan against his own heart. "Madara's Sharingan virus!"

The black emblem was instantly branded onto Bai Ye's chest, burning him so much that he groaned.

But the next second, the golden patterns on his chest darted outwards like living things—first climbing up Hiashi Hyuga's chains, then spreading over the joints of the puppet group, and finally wrapping around Madara's butterfly cage.

"Ah!" Madara's phantom roared, the crimson of his Sharingan fading into a murky gray. "You actually used the First Hokage's blood to activate the quicksand barrier... Hashirama Senju!"

You really did have a backup plan!

A deafening roar came from underground.

Deep within the forbidden grounds of Konoha, the statue of the First Hokage, sealed for decades, suddenly opened its eyes. Blue-gold Wood Release chakra erupted like a volcanic eruption, surging into the sky and striking precisely the crack in the Butterfly Cage.

The puppet group of Xu Shizang simultaneously came to a standstill.

The giant puppet's sonic transmitter emitted blue smoke, and human tears welled up in its eye sockets, which were inlaid with black emblems.

"Did you succeed?" Hiashi Hyuga's voice suddenly became weak.

The lines around his eyes began to peel away, revealing the grayish-white irises beneath. "The resonance field is isolated by quicksand... the container of the speckle..."

Before he could finish speaking, his body suddenly became transparent.

The blue light of the blood pact gradually dissipated, and the old man's hand slid from Bai Ye's chest, casting a final shadow on the ground: "Remember... the third sacrifice..."

Bai Ye suddenly felt a heat at the point where her wrist was severed.

He looked down and saw a thin puppet thread slowly wriggling inside the wound covered in mucus—the end of the thread seemed to be wrapped around half a blurry human face.

"white night..."

The faintest call, mixed with the sound of metal scraping, entered my ears.