Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

The wind carried the direction of the Leaf Village's border. He recalled the withering of golden flowers reflected in the fragments of the mask, and the smile in Chiyo's right eye. A sudden unease rose in his throat.

From deep within the earth's veins came a long, drawn-out rumble, similar to breathing.

Chapter 753 Forbidden Technique Corrupted

The moment the morning light pierced through the clouds, Bai Ye's fingers, which were pressing against the new emblem on his chest, suddenly trembled.

Beneath that scorching pattern, the energy fluctuations of the earth veins were like surging magma, more than ten times stronger than before. Each tremor shot up the spine to the back of the neck, exploding into a fine, tingling sensation under the scalp.

"The puppet virus is devouring Juzo's sonic energy."

A familiar female voice, carrying a sweet, sticky smell, entered his ears, and Bai Ye's pupils contracted sharply—the afterimage of Chiyo's granddaughter had somehow appeared behind him, her translucent fingertips pressed against the back of his neck, and black slime seeped into his blood vessels along the skin's texture.

He could clearly feel the viscous fluid devouring his chakra like a living thing, causing a burning pain in the meridians it passed through, and even cracks appeared on his chest, which had just healed, with pale golden blood beads seeping out.

"You..." He tried to turn around, but his afterimage dissipated into the earth's veins like smoke, leaving only slime forming bluish-black veins under his skin. "Why now?"

This question was shattered by the sudden tremor.

From the direction of the forbidden area of ​​Konoha came the crisp sound of falling stone chips. When he looked up, he saw a spider web pattern crack between the eyebrows of the First Hokage statue. On the originally compassionate face, the left corner of his mouth slowly turned up - it was the unique aggressive arc of Uchiha Madara.

In the morning light, crimson chakra seeping from the cracks in the statue licked the sky like a snake's tongue, resonating with the rumble coming from the depths of the earth.

"The symbiotic altar requires a living vessel!"

Hiashi Hyuga's afterimage rose from the quicksand at his feet. His Byakugan eyes were sickly pale, and his fingertips were forming the Soul-Locking Seal, a secret technique passed down in the main family. "My bloodline... is still resonating with the altar!" Before he finished speaking, countless silver chakra chains shot out from his palms and wrapped around the puppet silk hanging from Byakuya's waist.

Bai Ye took a deep breath.

The moment the chains touched the puppet silk, the new emblem on the chest emitted a dazzling golden light, devouring the chains' chakra in the opposite direction.

He could feel the Soul-Locking Seal's runes twisting beneath his skin, like countless fine needles stabbing wildly in his blood vessels. "The Hyuga clan's forbidden technique... has it been corrupted by the emblem?"

The afterimage of Hiashi suddenly trembled violently, and Byakugan's pupils contracted to pinpoints: "Impossible!"

This is the ancestral head family... ugh—"His lower face suddenly began to turn transparent, the absorbed chakra surging back and exploding into a black hole in his chest," This emblem... it's not puppetry at all...

The words stopped abruptly.

Before the afterimage of the sun's foot completely dissipated, the crisp sound of the last chain breaking overlapped with the rumble of the earth's veins, making Bai Ye's eardrums ache.

He staggered two steps, grabbed the rock wall beside him, but when he looked up, he crashed into a vast ocean of sound waves.

Thousands of puppet fragments floated in the air, each shimmering with a ghostly blue light. They intertwined to form a gigantic human face—the face of Juzo Inu. A mechanical voice exploded simultaneously from each fragment: "Use your heart... to complete the final ritual!"

From the human-faced eyes, crimson chakra surged forth as if alive, condensing into golden butterflies.

Bai Ye recognized Madara's chakra signature. As the butterfly fluttered its wings, his consciousness was suddenly pulled into a blood mist, where he saw Madara's phantom standing in the center of the mist, his fingertip pointing towards his heart: "This body should be controlled by a true powerhouse."

"shut up!"

A low growl came from deep within his body, and the First Hokage's Wood Release: Root system suddenly grew wildly in Byakuya's blood vessels.

He could feel the green chakra wrapping around his heart like vines, tearing Madara's butterflies to shreds one by one.

The roots even penetrated his skin, forming bluish-gold tree patterns on his arms, and even the black viscous fluid injected into the back of his neck was forced to retreat by the vitality of the Wood Release technique.

Chapter 754 The Strongest Puppet Master

"It's so hot..." Bai Ye gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead.

The vitality of Wood Release and the killing intent of the Sharingan were once again locked in a fierce struggle within his body, this time even more intensely than before—the First Hokage's Root system attempted to repair all the damage, but Madara's chakra tore open cracks again in every inch of the repaired area.

He could hear the groans of bones, taste the rusty blood in his throat, and see the alternating hues of lapis lazuli and scarlet in his pupils.

“Not enough…” he gasped, his nails digging deep into his palms.

The rumbling of the earth's ley lines continued to intensify, like the prelude to the awakening of some ancient being; the Madara-style smile on the Konoha statue became clearer and clearer, as if waiting for the final blow; the slime left by Chiyo's afterimage, though suppressed by Wood Release, formed an undercurrent beneath her skin, ready to counterattack at any moment.

What made him most uneasy was the beating frequency of the new crest on his chest—it was no longer just the pulse of the earth's veins, but a mixture of the treacherousness of the puppet virus, the First Generation's compassion, Madara's ambition, and... his own heartbeat.

"The end is far from over." He repeated his earlier whisper, but his voice was more resolute than ever.

As Juzo's sonic face drew near again, as Madara's butterfly tore open the gap in the Wood Release: Root system, and as Chiyo's slime gathered enough power in his veins, he suddenly clenched the emblem on his chest.

A series of cracking sounds came from beneath the skin, like the crisp sound of some kind of seal being broken.

Byakuya's pupils suddenly contracted into vertical lines, and he could clearly "see" the surging consciousness within the earth's veins—the lingering obsession of Chiyo's granddaughter, the unquenched resentment of Inujuzo, and the unfinished conspiracy of Hyuga Hiashi, all entangled around his heart like a bone-deep affliction.

"It's time to put an end to this." He said softly to the air, his fingers slowly moving down to press on his heart.

The rumbling from deep within the earth's veins suddenly intensified, like the roar of something awakened.

In this roar, a dazzling golden light emanated from Bai Ye's palm. The light penetrated his skin and outlined more complex patterns on his chest than before—the outlines of all the consciousness entities, the trajectory of the puppet virus, and the veins of the earth's energy.

His fingers began to exert force.

The moment Bai Ye's fingertips touched his sternum, a burning pain, like bone cracking, shot through his skin.

The First Hokage's Wood Release: Root system surged wildly in his blood vessels, trying to envelop his palms and stop him from self-harming, but Madara's chakra sliced ​​through the blue-gold vines like a sharp blade, cutting fine beads of blood from his palms.

He gritted his teeth, his nails digging deep into the gaps between his ribs—this wasn't pain, but the roar of the earth's energy reconstructing his meridians, the final screams of the puppet virus in its last struggle.

"Does it hurt?" The afterimage of Chiyo's granddaughter suddenly emerged from the earth's veins, her semi-transparent hand hovering over his trembling wrist. The black slime no longer bled, but instead shimmered with an eerie blue hue. "You should have known that the obsession of a consciousness is more stubborn than chakra." Her voice was no longer sticky, but rather like the wind polished by sandpaper, carrying a hint of the hoarseness of the old people of Sunagakure before their death.

Bai Ye looked up and saw fine grains of sand floating in her eyes—those were brought in by the wind from Sunagakure, the flowing sand bathed in the golden-red light of the setting sun when she last stood on the training ground as a puppeteer. "You...aren't you going to be resurrected?" He panted, his ribs cracking under his fingers, pale golden blood trickling down between his fingers, spreading lotus-shaped marks on his clothes.

"Resurrection?" The afterimage suddenly laughed, rows of puppet strings emerging from its semi-transparent body. "I died long ago from the scorpion's sting." Her fingertip lightly touched the new emblem on his heart, and the slime crawled into the wound along the lines. This time, it didn't burn, but instead brought a chill. "Over the years, I've drifted through the puppet strings with the virus, and I've seen too many fools trying to become the 'strongest puppeteer'."

"Now I understand—" Her voice suddenly choked, and tears streamed down her face, "The puppeteer's end... is never for the living, but... is to give their obsession a place to rest."

The sonic face of Inujuzo pressed down from above, his mechanical voice filled with twisted ecstasy: "Don't listen to her nonsense!"

Crush me!

"Crush me and you'll gain control of the earth's veins—" Before he could finish speaking, the human-faced man's right eye suddenly exploded, splattered with Bai Ye's blood.

Chapter 755 Atonement for the Scorpion

Those pale golden blood droplets, like living things, burrowed into the gaps in the sound waves, tearing the mechanical sounds to shreds.

"What I want is not control." Bai Ye suddenly tore open his chest, the crisp sound of his ribs cracking mixed with the rumbling of the earth's veins.

His left hand reached into the bloodied and mangled chest cavity, his fingertips touching the wildly beating heart—its surface was covered with black slime, golden chakra, the Blue Gold Wood Release Root system, and countless translucent afterimages of consciousness, twisted together like vines.

Chiyo's afterimage suddenly lunged forward, her transparent fingers gripping his wrist: "Crush me!" Her body began to disintegrate, and within the outline formed by sand grains, the First Hokage's Wood Release Seed emitted a faint light, "My obsession is... to atone for Sasori's sins."

Using my will as a trigger, the reverse resonance will sever the viral chains of all the puppet threads!

The human face of Xu Juzang emitted a shrill shriek, the sound waves transforming into steel needles that pierced Bai Ye's eardrums: "You dare!"

I want to be resurrected!

I want--"

"Shut up!" Bai Ye's right hand grabbed the tangled consciousness, his nails piercing through the translucent arm of Chiyo's afterimage and through the sound wave core of Juzo.

He could feel Chiyo's obsession flowing between her fingers like a gentle breeze; and Juzo's resentment struggling like a thorny snake. "Use your will... to activate the reverse resonance of the puppet threads!" he roared, and the golden light in his palm suddenly surged, crushing the two consciousnesses into fragments.

The earth's veins suddenly trembled violently.

The previously suspended group of puppets exploded simultaneously, and golden emblems shot out from Bai Ye's chest like living things, spreading along the shattered puppet remains—each puppet fragment lit up with golden patterns, like countless small suns burning in mid-air.

Madara's phantom roared in pain, his crimson chakra being gnawed open by the golden markings. His previously upturned lips twisted into an angry arc: "You dare to use my chakra to counter me?"

At this moment, the statue of the First Hokage emitted a clear and resonant roar.

Suddenly, azure-gold light seeped from the cracked brow, and the golden patterns surged along the earth's veins, crawling onto the surface of the statue in the shape of wood-based roots.

Hashirama Senju's face gradually became clearer, and the cold smile on the left side of Madara was covered by a compassionate smile, as if he was absorbing this energy.

"The puppeteers never disappeared... they just changed vessels!"

The sound of mechanical gears turning came from deep within the forbidden area, like countless steel needles rubbing together.

Bai Ye looked down and saw the sand beneath his feet suddenly churn, and a semi-transparent, embryo-like object emerged—it was the puppet heart of Juzo Inu, its surface covered with golden emblem vortexes of the same origin as Madara, and it was slowly unfolding six mechanical tentacles, reaching towards his heart.

"This is... the core of the Symbiotic Altar!" Chiyo's afterimage suddenly solidified completely, no longer transparent.

Her right eye transformed into the Magnet Release crystal unique to Sunagakure, gleaming with a ghostly blue light. "I should have known, he sealed his consciousness within the embryonic heart!" She turned and rushed towards the embryo, the sand kicked up by her skirt condensing into a sandstorm in the air. "Sunagakure's quicksand... will seal you forever!"

The embryo's tentacles pierced her abdomen, and black mucus gushed from the wound.

But she didn't stop. She grabbed the tentacle with her right hand and cried blood from her left eye: "Wood Release Seed...give me power!" Azure-gold light exploded from her body, and the First Hokage's Wood Release Root system crawled into the embryonic core along the tentacle.

Her right eye pierced the deepest part of the embryo. The moment the magnetic crystal shattered, a crisp sound of a statue breaking came from the depths of the earth's veins—it was Madara's half of his face that had completely disintegrated.

Byakuya felt a relief in his chest as the tangled chakra suddenly cleared away.

But the next second, the puppet silk around his waist suddenly became hot, and the golden patterns activated by the reverse resonance crawled back to his skin along the silk rope, leaving new patterns on the old scars.

He staggered and clung to the rock face, a sweet, metallic taste of blood welling up in his throat, but as he looked up, he saw—

On the forehead of the first statue, the Wood Release Root system is intertwined with new golden patterns; and although Madara's phantom has dissipated, the remaining scarlet chakra has penetrated into the embryo, dyeing it half red and half gold.

“They haven’t given up yet…” Bai Ye murmured, reaching up to touch his eyes.

The moment his fingertips touched his eyelids, he suddenly froze—in his left eye's field of vision, the azure-gold veins of the Wood Release: Root system appeared; in his right eye's field of vision, there were pulsating, eerie blue ripples of sound wave frequency.

The two images overlapped on his retina, like two hands tearing at his consciousness.

The rumble of the earth's veins gradually weakened, but in his ears it transformed into two voices: one compassionate, the other arrogant, both speaking simultaneously—

"Who should control this body?"

Chapter 756 Chosen One Suitability

The sand trembled, and Bai Ye's fingertips remained on his left eye.

A sharp pain deep within his pupils suddenly exploded, as if two carving knives were simultaneously sculpting his retina—the left iris split into bluish-gold wood-like patterns, the veins crawling towards the corner of his eye like living things; the right iris emanated eerie blue sound waves, so fast that his temples throbbed.

In the instant the two perspectives overlapped, he staggered and crashed into the rock wall, the blood foam from his throat splattering onto the sand, staining it with a few dark red spots.

"They're fighting for my consciousness!" he growled through gritted teeth, his left hand digging into the rock face, blood seeping from between his fingers.

Two completely different forces surged deep within his consciousness: one, carrying the sweet, earthy scent of grass and soil, gently enveloped his consciousness; the other, scorching with the smell of rust, was like a red-hot blade, cutting through his defenses inch by inch.

"Choose symbiosis and become a new container."

A compassionate voice, enveloped in the azure-gold light of Wood Release, emerged from the earth's veins as the First Hokage's phantom appeared.

His palm pressed against the back of Byakuya's neck, and root-like chakra surged down his spine, attempting to fix that chaotic energy into some kind of order.

The left half of the phantom's face still bore the outline of Madara, but now it was covered by a gentle smile. "You have the resonance between Hashirama's cells and the Sharingan in your body. This is a perfect match made in heaven."

"Destruction is the only true eternity."

Another sound rang out, grazing the eardrums. Madara's scarlet chakra suddenly burst forth from the embryo, condensing into a semi-transparent outline in Byakuya's right ear.

His fingertips traced the sound wave pattern on Bai Ye's right eye, each stroke like plucking a taut string. "You've tasted the sweetness of power, do you want to be bound hand and foot by this kind old man's compassion?"

Crush them all, and let the ninja world remember your name—"

"Shut up!" Bai Ye shook his head violently, veins bulging on his forehead.

He could clearly feel two forces drilling into the depths of his brain along the lines of his pupils, like two snakes fighting for the same cave.

His left hand uncontrollably reached for the puppet silk at his waist. The scorching golden patterns suddenly came to life, climbing up his skin to his neck and leaving a new mark on his Adam's apple.

"The puppet virus requires the will of a living person..."

Whispers tinged with blood came from beside me.

Bai Ye turned his head and saw Chiyo's afterimage kneeling on the ground.

The wound on her abdomen was still oozing black mucus, but her right hand was gripping his wrist tightly, and the magnetic crystal fragments at her fingertips were piercing his skin.

The mucus flowed into his veins through the wound, as cold as an ice pick piercing his bone marrow. "You know the truth better than we do... What they want is not a vessel, but a 'living sacrifice' that can bear two wills."

Her right eye suddenly glowed white.

That's Ban's memory.

Byakuya's consciousness was forcibly pulled into the scene: a young Madara stood in front of the First Hokage, holding half of an embryo with golden patterns in his palm. "This is a symbiotic core cultivated with your Wood Release seed. It needs a body that can accommodate both the Senju and Uchiha." The First Hokage's expression froze in shock, while Madara's lips curled into a cold smile. "When it matures, you and I will coexist forever—in another person's body."

"boom!"

The roar of machinery rips through memories.

Bai Ye suddenly opened his eyes and saw the sand in the distance churning like boiling water.