Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

Chapter 787 Ghost Lantern Illusion Moon

The green mist was still floating in the air, but it had become so faint that it was almost invisible.

Water stains on the mine wall trickled down Bai Ye's neck, and he could clearly hear the gasps escaping from his throat, like a broken bellows leaking air.

The tingling and itchy sensation of the spores gnawing in my blood vessels hadn't subsided, but it was much lighter than before—the blood from the spot was indeed ruthless, even those cunning little creatures were scalded and shrunken into balls.

He stared at the pale green spots on his wrist, gently pressing them with his fingertips. A hint of excitement tinged with pain: it turned out that the power of the First Hokage and Madara could truly be held in his palm.

"White?" Chiyo's voice was tinged with burnt smell, and the salamander puppet's tail spikes were still dripping with black liquid corroded by water jutsu.

The old woman's hair was plastered to her face, but the light in her eyes was brighter than the daylight outside the cave. "The defense mechanism you mentioned earlier..."

“His final, improved puppet technique is hidden inside Sasori’s core.” Bai Ye’s lips twitched, blood splattering down his chin onto the metal shell of Sasori’s core. “When he betrayed Sunagakure, he sealed all his killing moves inside this thing.” He raised his blood-stained hand, his fingertips touching the crack in the core, golden patterns creeping across the back of his hand with the movement. “But it will take three minutes—”

“That’s enough.” Chiyo suddenly turned around, her withered hand resting on the puppet box at her waist.

It was a sandalwood box carved with the image of the Three-Tailed Isobu. The lacquer on the edge of the lid had peeled off, revealing dark red bloodstains underneath—this was her most treasured "Yamabuki," the final weapon she had prepared thirty years ago to assassinate the Kazekage.

As she lifted the lid of the box, the wind in the mine suddenly stopped, and twelve poisoned steel needles were pierced into the ceiling with a "whoosh." "Does the old bastard from Mist Village like to play dirty tricks?" She tugged on the chakra threads, and the rumble of gears meshing came from the puppet's chest. "I'll play the yang tricks with him."

Suddenly, a sharp sound of ice blades piercing the air erupted outside the cave.

Hozuki Gengetsu's voice, tinged with coldness, seeped in: "Lady Chiyo, are you going to personally intervene?" Before he finished speaking, an ice spike pierced through the stone lintel of the mine entrance, grazed Chiyo's ear tip, and embedded itself in the stone wall. "When you drove Akamaru out of Sunagakure back then, did you expect him to come back with Kirigakure's spores?"

Chiyo's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

She yanked the chakra threads, and Yamabuki's arms suddenly sprang forth with two serrated scythes, slicing through the oncoming water dragon.

The old woman's nails dug deeply into her palms, a hoarse laugh escaping her throat: "That piece of trash Akamaru can't even control the puppet threads properly, and he dares to mention the old days?" She kicked away the pebbles at her feet, chakra threads swirling around her fingertips, leaving afterimages. "But you, Hozuki Gengetsu—" An icy blue water blade grazed her left shoulder, slicing a bloody gash in her cloth robe. "If you dare touch Haku's people, you should ask Sunagakure's puppets for permission first!"

Deep in the mine, Bai Ye's forehead pressed against the scorpion's core.

The cracks on the metal surface were spreading at a visible speed, and a pale golden light seeped out from each crack, like a living thing breathing.

He could hear the hum of machinery operating inside the core; it was the technique that Sasori had fed with his own chakra awakening.

In his sea of ​​consciousness, the phantom of the First Hokage suddenly raised his hand, and the Wood Release chakra in his palm gently pressed against the edge of his sea of ​​consciousness. The gentle power flowed along the chakra circuit, gradually healing the wounds gnawed by the spores. Madara's Susanoo, meanwhile, crossed his arms, and crimson chakra surged in his pupils. His low laughter made his sea of ​​consciousness tremble: "Kid, don't let my blood be shed in vain."

"Who asked you to bleed for nothing?" Bai Ye twitched the corner of his mouth, pressing his fingertip into the core, drawing blood.

He could feel the spell within his core responding, like a long-dormant beast being scratched on the chin, slowly opening its eyes.

The sounds of fighting outside the cave suddenly became muffled; it was Rasa's Kazekage unit that had arrived—he had sent a message to Kankuro beforehand, and the guy certainly hadn't disappointed him.

Chapter 788 Shouldn't be kept in captivity

As the winds of the Land of Wind swept sand into the mine, Rasa was standing atop a cliff on Mount Asama.

The communication scroll in his hand was still smoking; it was an urgent report from the Anbu: "The Water Prison Technique of Kirigakure has been broken three times, and the puppet troops of Sunagakure have made contact with the enemy." He gazed at the churning clouds of chakra in the direction of the distant mine, his Adam's apple bobbing—just three days ago, he was still in a daze on his sickbed, thinking about how to consolidate his power using puppetry; now, staring at the Wind Release chakra in his palm, he suddenly remembered what Chiyo had said: "Power is a tower built of sand; it will crumble in the wind."

"Is Hyuga's puppet substitute ready?" he asked the Anbu behind him, his voice deeper than ever before.

The ANBU nodded and handed over a puppet wrapped with the Hyuga family crest—it was made using the Hiashi bloodline that Byakuya had previously acquired, and even the Byakugan chakra fluctuations were perfectly imitated.

When Luo Sha took the puppet, his fingertips brushed against the mechanism on the back of the puppet's neck, where a wind release technique he had personally carved was hidden. "Let it cut off the supply line of the Hidden Mist Village."

Hozuki Gengetsu wants a quick victory, so we'll give him a slow and steady wins the race.

As the secret agents disappeared into the sandstorm, the water escape techniques outside the mine suddenly became chaotic.

Hozuki Gengetsu's ice flowers shattered in mid-air. He stared at the sudden explosion of fire behind him, and for the first time, panic flickered in his eyes—that was his supply point hidden on the border of the Land of Fire, which was now being torn to shreds by a ball of Byakugan chakra.

Akamaru's gray robe fluttered in the wind as he shouted at the top of his lungs, "My lord!"

The Sand Village forces have surrounded them from three sides!

"Shut up." Hozuki Gengetsu's voice was like shattered ice.

He raised his hand, summoning a water dragon to envelop Akamaru, and icy blue chakra condensed into a dagger at his fingertips. "Chiyo's puppet won't last long, that kid's core..."

"The core has awakened."

Bai Ye's voice came from behind him.

Hozuki Gengetsu suddenly turned around and saw the boy at the mine entrance.

His mask shattered in two, revealing the surging golden pupil in his left eye, while the scorpion core in his palm was beating like a heart—with each beat, a golden ripple would explode in the air, the chakra threads of the Hidden Mist ninja would break inch by inch in the ripples, and even the puppet spores controlled by Akamaru would be shaken into green smoke.

"You..." Hozuki Gengetsu's water dragon suddenly dissipated into mist.

He stared at the severed chakra threads at his fingertips, finally revealing genuine terror. "This is..."

"Scorpion's ultimate defensive technique." Bai Ye stepped out of the mine, his boots crushing fragments of green mist on the ground. "He said that puppetry should not be kept by any power." He raised his hand to the core in his chest, golden spots creeping up his neck and cheeks. "Now, I'll speak for him—"

"From this day forward, no one will be able to control the fate of puppetry."

Hozuki Gengetsu's water-style techniques completely dissipated at this moment.

He stared at the golden light shining from the mine behind the boy, then suddenly chuckled, and a curtain of water enveloped Akamaru as he soared into the sky: "Interesting, truly interesting..." Before he finished speaking, the two had already disappeared into the clouds.

Chiyo's "Yamabuki" puppet crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

The old woman, leaning against the stone wall, was panting, but laughed like a child: "Bai, the way you looked just now..."

"Like a scorpion?" Bai Ye looked down at the core in his palm, the golden light in the crack slowly receding. "If he saw this, he'd probably scold me for stealing his lines."

As the winds of the Land of Wind swept in, carrying sand, Bai Ye stood at the mine's exit.

He gazed at the distant horizon, where a golden flower was blooming—not Wood Release, not Puppet Technique, but some ancient, more intense power awakening from the fragments of an embryo.

Chapter 789 Lord Raikage

As the sandstorm outside the mine swept past his ears, carrying bits of rock, Bai Ye's fingertips trembled slightly.

He lowered his eyes and stared at the still pulsating golden-red core in his palm. The heat of the embryo fragment seeped into his blood through his skin—the lingering echoes of the First Hokage and Madara's will finally vanished like ashes scattered by the wind, even the last wisp of fluctuation disappearing into the depths of the chakra ocean.

"Is it over?" he murmured to the wind, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Three years ago, when he first touched Sasori's puppet fragments in Amegakure, he never imagined that the path connected by the puppet strings would lead to a battle of wills with two legends of the ninja world.

At this moment, all the madness, struggle, and burning sensation surging in my blood subsided, but my chest felt empty and aching, as if something had been ripped out.

"White."

A hoarse call, mixed with grains of sand, entered my ears.

Chiyo's hand, which was leaning on a wooden cane, had bulging veins. She walked very slowly, each step as if she were fighting against gravity, but the light in her eyes was brighter than when she taught him how to control the lines at the Sunagakure training ground twenty years ago.

The old woman stopped half a foot to his side, her withered fingers hovering above the core, then gently lowering them. "That golden light just now... was it the First Hokage's Wood Release?"

Or is it Madara's Susanoo?

"Neither." Bai Ye rotated his palm, causing the core to refract fine golden light in the sunlight. "It is that their wills have finally reconciled."

"He paused, his throat suddenly tightening," just like what Scorpion wrote in his last note: the essence of puppetry should not be a weapon of war, but a vessel to hold the soul.

Now their souls can finally rest peacefully in their vessels.

The wind suddenly picked up, ruffling the silver strands of hair on Chiyo's forehead.

The old woman stared at the dark circles under the boy's eyes and suddenly reached out to touch the back of his hand.

Her hands were as cold as old jade. "And yours?"

"Me?" Bai Ye gazed at the fading golden light in the distance, a faint smile appearing on his lips. "It's time to go."

"Go?" Chiyo's wooden cane clattered against the rock. "To Kirigakure?"

Go to Yunyin?

"Or should we go back to that old house in Konoha that you never mention?" Her voice suddenly rose, like an old cat whose tail had been stepped on, "White, you've only just pulled the puppet technique out of the chains of the various forces!"

"Now that you're gone, those big shots' lackeys will be..."

“That’s why I’m leaving.” Bai Ye turned to face her, the golden spot in his left eye churning with emotion. “As long as I stand here, all the countries will be watching the puppetry technique.”

Grandma Chiyo, true freedom isn't about being protected by the strong, it's about letting it grow on its own. "He lifted the core and presented it to Chiyo's chest," this is Sasori's core, the spark of all puppeteers.

"You're better suited to guard it than I am—after all…" He suddenly laughed, "You're much fiercer than a scorpion when you scold a lazy apprentice."

Chiyo's fingers were trembling violently.

As she took the core, her fingertips accidentally brushed against the calluses on the boy's palm—the calluses he had developed over three years of controlling a thousand puppets. "You brat..." she sniffed, pressing the core to her chest. "When you've thought things through and want to come back, the Sand Village's puppet arsenal will always reserve the very center spot for you."

Before the words were finished, a deafening roar that shook the earth came from afar.

When Bai Ye looked up, he saw a dark purple thundercloud, crackling with lightning, crashing onto a sand dune a hundred meters away.

Sand grains were swirled into spirals by the thunderstorm, and the Fourth Raikage, A, stepped out from the clouds. His bare upper body was covered with charred wounds, and the Eight-Tails' chakra was faintly visible behind him. "I heard you're leaving?"

"Lord Raikage." Bai Ye took a half step back, his fingertips lightly pressing on the puppet scroll at his waist—not out of defensiveness, but out of habit.

Chapter 790 Chakra Cannon

"Don't call me sir!" A's fists clenched so tightly they cracked, and lightning chakra popped between his fingers. "You killed the daimyo of the Land of Fire, disrupted the supply lines of five countries, and now you say you want to leave?"

"You think this is child's play?" He strode up to Bai Ye, his hot breath brushing against the boy's face. "That power... the power that could overturn the Five Kage Summit, why would it be given to a lone wolf like you?"

"Why?" Bai Ye looked at Ai's reddened eyes and suddenly remembered that three days ago at the border of the Land of Lightning, this hot-tempered man had used his own body to take the Tsuchikage's Dust Release in order to save the Kumogakure medical team that was ambushed by Iwagakure.

He reached out and grabbed A's outstretched fist, the stinging pain of lightning emanating from his palm. "Because power never belongs to anyone." His voice was soft, yet it was like a needle piercing A's eardrum. "It's just a tool."

You used it to kill people, and you also used it to save people.

Is there a difference between me taking it away and keeping it in my possession?

Ai's pupils suddenly contracted.

He looked at his reflection in the boy's eyes—himself, enraged by the loss of control over his fearful power—and suddenly felt a tightness in his throat.

The Eight-Tails' chakra slowly dissipated. He loosened his fist, his knuckles still trembling slightly. "You..."

“I won’t use it for anything.” Bai Ye released his grip and took two steps back. “Just like Scorpion said, puppetry should be used to protect those you want to protect.”

"And I..." He looked up at the sky, reddened by the wind and sand, "wanting to first find what I need to protect."

Ai stood there, watching the boy's gray robe fluttering in the wind, and suddenly let out a heavy sigh.

As he turned to walk towards Lei Yun, his back suddenly seemed to age ten years. "Next time we meet..." His voice was torn apart by the wind, "Don't let me see you being threatened again."

As the sandstorm subsided, Bai Ye gazed in the direction where Lei Ying had disappeared and smiled gently.

He turned to go back to the mine to collect the last few puppet parts, but stopped abruptly when he looked up—a glimmer of icy blue light flashed deep in the clouds, much like the chakra fluctuations in Hozuki Gengetsu's Water Release technique.

He squinted; the light had already disappeared.

But a faint chill drifted in the wind, like a fine needle gently pricking the back of his neck.

“Grandma.” He turned to look at Chiyo, who was still caressing her core, “Tell Sunagakure to tighten their vigilance more recently.”

"What?" Chiyo followed his gaze to the sky and saw only a murky yellow.

"It's nothing." Bai Ye bent down and picked up a half-broken mask from the ground. "It was probably just that the wind was too strong and got something in my eyes."

Above the clouds, the water curtain of Ghost Lantern Illusion Moon slowly dissipated.

He gazed down at the boy below who was helping Chiyo tidy up the puppet strings, his icy blue pupils surging with an unprecedented calm.

Akamaru shrank behind him, about to speak, but was stopped by him raising his hand.

“Interesting.” Hozuki Gengetsu chuckled softly, the ice flower at his fingertips shattering into powder in the wind. “So the sharpest blade is never the one held in your hand.”

As he turned and merged into the clouds, the boy's figure in the water mirror behind him gradually shrank into a black dot.

And the core that Chiyo held in her palm was still flickering, like a fire that would never go out.

The moonlight filtering through the gaps in the clouds was tinged with a deep blue by the water-escape filter of the Misty Concealer. Hozuki Gengetsu's fingers, hanging by his side, suddenly tightened, and ice flowers crackled and exploded at his fingertips.

Below, in front of the mine, Chiyo's action of pressing the puppet core tightly to her chest felt like a needle piercing his eyes—something that Kirigakure should have fought over with blood mist and poison blades was now being held up as a spark by an old woman from Sunagakure.

Chapter 791 I'm not getting involved in this mess.

"My lord?" Akamaru's voice came from behind the water mirror, "The Iwagakure reconnaissance team has retreated to the border of Amegakure, we..."

"Retreat." Hozuki Gengetsu's icy blue pupils narrowed to slits, a low chuckle escaping his throat carrying a chill. "Retreat thirty miles from the border of the Land of Fire." He raised his hand and pressed it against the water mirror, the surface immediately rippling, crushing the boy's figure below into fragments. "Tell those brats eager to make a name for themselves that Wuyin is not going to wade into the muddy waters of puppetry."

Akamaru's chakra fluctuations paused behind him: "But the Three-Tails' seal..."

"The Three-Tails?" Hozuki Gengetsu turned around, half his face hidden in shadow. "Once that kid seals the wills of the First Hokage and Madara into the earth's ley lines, all the puppeteers in the ninja world will worship him like a god." His fingertips traced the edge of the water mirror, and an ice spike suddenly pierced its surface. "To try and steal it now would be to make an enemy of the entire puppetry school." He suddenly chuckled, "However..."