Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

The shard grazed Bai Ye's shoulder, tearing a black mark on his translucent arm, but the light bridge merely swayed and became even brighter.

Bai Ye gritted his teeth and shook out the last puppet spore from his sleeve.

It was crafted from the scales of the Three-Tailed Isobu, and now it glowed with a ghostly green light in his palm. "This is a... thank-you gift for you." He smirked and pressed the spore onto the core fragment.

The explosion came without warning.

Waves of black and gold light swept across the entire white space, scattering the puppet's remains everywhere, and the gray figure staggered backward in the shockwave.

Byakuya seized the opportunity and ran wildly across the bridge of light. Every step felt like stepping on red-hot iron, but his gaze remained fixed on the end of the bridge—where Chiyo's trembling hand, Suigetsu's wide-open eyes, and Rasa's kunai held high in the air but not yet falling.

“This time…” His voice was swallowed by the sound of space being torn apart, “I will do it my own way.”

When consciousness re-overlapped with body, Bai Ye knelt on a damp, muddy ground.

Rotten reeds clung to the back of his neck, and the pungent smell of the swamp filled his nostrils.

He looked up and saw faded puppet remains hanging on the withered trees of the Old Shadow Swamp in the distance. When the wind blew, the wooden pieces made a soft rustling sound, as if telling some unfinished story.

Suddenly, a crisp sound of a dry branch snapping came from behind me.

Bai Ye suddenly turned his head, but only saw a black shadow moving in the mist—it was Gray Shadow's pursuers.

Or are they other prying eyes?

He pushed himself up, the blood spurting from his throat splashing onto the muddy ground, spreading into dark red patterns.

From the depths of the Old Shadow Swamp, the clicking sound of a puppet mechanism activating could be heard.

The morning mist over the Old Shadow Swamp had not yet dissipated, and rotting reeds clung to the back of my neck like a tattered rag soaked in bitter water.

Bai Ye propped himself up on his knees, a metallic taste rising in his throat, dark red blood splattering onto the muddy ground, mingling with the morning dew.

He could clearly feel the Wood Release patterns beneath his skin cracking, and pale golden chakra seeping out from the cracks, as if the last layer of clothing had been removed—this body was being torn apart by two forces.

"You're back!"

The woman's voice trembled and cracked, startling the water birds in the swamp into flight.

Bai Ye looked up and saw Shui Yue's figure emerge from the mist. The cleaver at her waist was still wet with water, and black swamp water dripped from her hair. Yet, she knelt beside him regardless, her muddy hand hovering above his wound. "Don't...don't touch it," Bai Ye warned in a hoarse voice. Shui Yue's fingertips froze in mid-air, her knuckles turning white from the force. "I...I just wanted to see where the wound was..." Her voice trembled, and her usually cold and hard brows furrowed, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Step aside."

Chiyo's cane struck the muddy ground with a dull thud.

The old woman's silver hair was tousled by the morning breeze, yet she was ten times more steady than Shuiyue—she knelt on one knee, her withered fingertips gently pressing on Baiye's wrist pulse point.

Chakra seeped into her fingertips, and when it touched the meridian that had been repeatedly scorched by Wood Release spores and bloodline power, Chiyo's pupils contracted sharply. "Your life force is flowing backward." She released her hand, the burning heat still lingering in her palm. "Wood Release is devouring your essence, just like... just like the backlash when that old bastard Onoki used Dust Release to burn through the Rock Village barrier."

Bai Ye forced a smile: "I know." He pressed his hand to his chest, where the fragment of the "Blood Pact Eye" was still burning hot, leaving a red mark even through his clothes. "So... help me destroy it."

"Are you crazy?" Chiyo slammed her cane down hard, startling the puppet's mangled limbs on the distant withered tree, causing them to rustle. "That's your last bit of regenerative ability!"

Chapter 862 The Secret Chronicles of Sunagakure: "The Language of Threads"

Without it, this body wouldn't last even three days!

"Then let it disappear." Bai Ye's voice was as soft as a sigh, but the light in his eyes was more scorching than phosphorescent fire in a swamp. "As long as it exists, someone will want to dig it up and use it as a weapon."

The core fragments of the Gray Shadow exploded, but the research data on the 'Eye of Blood Pact'... might still be locked away in secret chambers around the world. He looked up towards the edge of the swamp, where the sound of horses' hooves could be heard. "Luo Sha arrived quickly."

Before the words were even finished, the sound of horses' hooves had already broken through the morning mist.

The Fourth Kazekage's crimson sand armor gleamed coldly in the mist. As he dismounted, a gust of wind whipped up the wisps of hair that had fallen across Byakuya's forehead. "Seal off the swamp!" Rasa drew a kunai from his waist and pointed it in all directions. "Set up triple sentry posts at all entrances to Sunagakure. Detain anyone carrying the scroll on the spot!" He turned to look at Byakuya, the red markings on his armor tightening. "I've already had the Anbu burn the research data on the 'Blood Pact Eye'."

"Thank you." Bai Ye's voice was even softer. He could feel life force leaking out along the cracks in the Wood Release technique, like a leaky water bag. "As long as it no longer exists, this storm..."

“The price is too high.” Luo Sha suddenly interrupted him, his fingers clenched white beneath his armor. “You could have…”

“There is no ‘Mingming’.” Baiye shook his head, looking at the newly added white hairs at Chiyo’s temples and the still-dampened tears in Shuiyue’s eyes, and suddenly smiled, “At least... I’m back.”

The sound of light footsteps came from the edge of the swamp.

Crows, cloaked in the black cloaks of the Sand Village puppet army, emerged from the mist.

His right hand was always resting on the puppet mechanism box at his waist—a habit he had when he was ordered to monitor Chiyo's movements.

He stared at Bai Ye, his Adam's apple bobbing, before finally pulling a yellowed letter from his pocket, the seal still bearing dark red marks: "This is... something Lord Ebizo asked me to deliver before his death." He paused, his gaze sweeping over the burn mark on Bai Ye's chest, "He said... only you can decipher it."

The morning fog suddenly thickened.

The clicking sound of a puppet mechanism activating came from afar, like some kind of code.

Bai Ye took the letter, wiping the bloodstains on the sealing wax with his fingertips. He suddenly remembered the last time he met Ebizo, and how that hand that always liked to fiddle with the puppet strings must be cold by now.

"Keep it for now." He tucked the letter into his pocket and looked up to see Chiyo gazing into the depths of the swamp—where the puppet's severed limbs swayed in the wind, making a soft rustling sound, as if reciting some unfinished last words.

The crow's fingertips still held the warmth of Ebizo's dying moments.

He watched as Bai Ye took the letter, his Adam's apple bobbing again—three days ago in the secret chamber of the Sand Village, when Ebizo coughed up blood and stuffed the letter into his hand, his last words were: "That child can understand the secrets within the puppet strings, just as he can see through people's hearts." At this moment, the wind in the swamp lifted the corner of the letter, and the bloodstains on the seal gleamed dark brown in the morning mist, like a withered datura flower.

Bai Ye lightly pressed his thumb on the sealing wax, and the crisp sound startled Shui Yue, who held her breath.

The moment the letter was unfolded, his pupils contracted slightly—the yellowed pages contained no words, only dense stitches, embroidered with extremely fine puppet silk in spiral patterns, the spacing between the stitches varying from sparse to dense, which was the "thread language" of the Sand Hidden Transmission.

He remembered that Ebizo always liked to twirl the puppet strings around his fingertips, saying, "The string is more honest than the mouth." At this moment, those stitches were like the old man's fingers, speaking to him across the divide between the living and the dead.

Chapter 863 So this is what the end of the desert looks like...

“It’s an improved chakra transmission diagram.” A hint of melancholy rose in Bai Ye’s voice as his fingertips traced a section of encrypted stitches. “He wanted to hide the Blood Pact Eye’s repair mechanism… within the legacy of puppetry.” He suddenly smiled, a smile tinged with a helpless tenderness. “But he doesn’t know, I can’t even wait three days.”

The letter slowly curled up in his palm.

Bai Ye's knuckles turned bluish-white from the force he exerted, and when the shredded paper was swept up by the wind, one piece stuck to Shui Yue's hair.

She reached out to grab them, but saw that the scraps of paper seemed to be under a spell, drifting against the wind into the depths of the swamp, eventually disappearing into the shadow of the swaying puppet's remains—Ebizo's last puppet, now silently devouring his last wishes.

“You’re shaking.” Shuiyue suddenly grabbed his wrist.

Her palms still retained the coolness of the swamp, yet they were much warmer than Bai Ye's skin.

Bai Ye then realized that his knees were trembling, like reeds in the wind.

He tried to pull his hand away, but Shuiyue gripped it even tighter, the hilt of the Executioner's Blade digging into the back of his hand. "Don't try to be brave. You can't even control your chakra right now."

"There's one more thing." Bai Ye's voice was so soft it seemed to be carried away by the wind.

He reached into his clothes with his other hand and pulled out a puppet the size of a thumb, its surface engraved with spiral wood-style patterns that shimmered with a pale gold in the morning light.

Chiyo's cane suddenly tapped at his feet: "That's... a spore puppet nurtured with your primordial chakra?"

“It’s the last one.” Bai Ye turned to Chiyo, his gaze lingering on the white hair at her temples.

He could see the tremor in the old woman's eyes, like a pebble thrown into a deep pool. "It will remember my logic and make decisions for me when you face the lingering issues of the Blood Pact Eye."

The implantation process was faster than expected.

The moment the puppet touched Chiyo's wristband, pale golden chakra burrowed into her skin like a living thing, leaving a tiny spiral mark on her wrist.

Chiyo's fingers unconsciously touched that spot, and she felt a slight burning sensation under her skin, like a pebble warmed by the sun.

She suddenly remembered fifty years ago, at a similar temperature, when the First Kazekage touched her puppet and said, "The strings must be alive, and your heart must be steady."

It turns out that some things really can be passed down through bloodlines and beliefs, continuing the lineage in different people.

The sky had darkened without us noticing.

The fog over the swamp dissipated, but a layer of leaden-gray clouds remained.

Bai Ye slid down against the withered tree, his back pressed against the rough bark, as if leaning against a fading memory.

He gazed at the distant desert, where the sand grains swirled in the wind, much like the gold dust he had seen in the Land of Fire as a child. "So this is what the end of the desert looks like," he murmured, his voice growing softer and softer, as if each word required drawing out half a breath.

Shuiyue knelt at his feet, the decapitation sword resting across her knees like a silent barrier.

She stared at Bai Ye's fingertips—where a translucent light was emanating, like thin paper soaked in water. "Don't sleep." She gripped his hand, her nails almost digging into his skin. "You promised to teach me how to bind Raikage with puppet strings."

"Next time," Bai Ye smiled, a smile even fainter than mist.

His gaze swept over Chiyo's trembling lips, over Rasa's clenched fists that had turned white, over the puppet mechanism box that swayed slightly at Crow's waist, and finally landed on his own chest, which was gradually becoming transparent—the fragment of the "Blood Pact Eye" there had completely cooled down, like an abandoned stone.

As the last wisp of Wood Release spores dissipated, his body turned into dust.

It wasn't fine powder, but rather warm, luminous particles, each shimmering with pale gold, like stars scattered in the wind.

Chapter 864: Chiyo-sama!

Shuiyue instinctively reached out to grab him, but only touched nothingness; his last warmth still lingered in her palm.

Chiyo's cane slammed to the ground with a thud. She bent down and picked up a fragment of light that hadn't yet dissipated, holding it in her palm. Her knuckles turned bluish-white from the force she exerted.

“We will remember you,” she said to the wind, her voice carrying a vulnerability that the old advisor of Sunagakure had never shown before.

The wind in the Old Shadow Swamp suddenly changed direction.

Chiyo looked up and saw faint particles of light gathering into a spiral shape where the puppet's limbs were swaying in the distance—a sign that the spore puppet was activating.

She gripped the spiral mark on her wristband, gazing at the churning clouds at the edge of the desert, when suddenly she heard a barely audible clicking sound in the wind, like an ancient puppet slowly opening its eyes.

As the wind from the Old Shadow Swamp whipped up sand and lashed against Chiyo's face, she remained bent over.

The pale golden dot in my palm had cooled, yet it remained stuck in the lines of my hand, like a stubborn piece of amber.

Shuiyue's voice floated down from above, hoarse from not having slept all night: "Do you think... he's still alive?"

Chiyo straightened up, and the spiral mark on her wristband suddenly became hot.

She then realized with a start that she had unknowingly pressed the spore puppet onto the mark—perhaps when she picked up the light particle, or perhaps in the instant she watched the dust dissipate.

Pale golden chakra surged upwards along her blood vessels, weaving an invisible net across her wrist before finally flowing into her temples.

"There's a fluctuation." Her voice was as soft as a sigh, and her withered fingers pressed against her forehead.

The sensation of the First Kazekage teaching her to manipulate puppet strings fifty years ago suddenly surged up. The rough calluses brushed against the back of her hand, and the admonition, "The strings must be lively, and the heart must be steady," mixed with the wisp of chakra in the present moment, echoed clearly in her mind.

Shuiyue's decapitation blade clanged against the stone.

Her kneeling posture remained unchanged, but her back was taut like a fully drawn bowstring, and her reddened eyes were fixed on Chiyo's wristband: "What fluctuation?"

Is it his?

“Like…a dandelion blown away by the wind.” Chiyo spread her hands, the light particles having somehow blended into the lines of her palm. “But the roots are still there.” What she didn’t say was that the wisp of chakra contained the Wood Release aura that Byakuya was used to, carrying a hint of the dampness of decaying leaves in the Leaf Village forest, and the puppet lacquer smell that he always had on his sleeves.

The clattering sound of puppet limbs colliding echoed from the depths of the swamp.

Rasa's voice suddenly boomed from afar, startling several sand foxes into the reeds: "Lady Chiyo!"

The Fourth Kazekage charged forward, his official boots treading on the wet mud, his embroidered gold cloak billowing behind him.

Bloodstains still clung to his forehead—from a cut he'd sustained while trying to grasp the white night-light particles. "The vigilance at the Old Shadow Swamp must be lifted immediately!" he gasped, his fingers unconsciously tugging at the gold thread of his cloak. "The Fire Kingdom's envoys have arrived at Sunagakure Castle. They want to..."

"Why did Sunagakure allow villains to kill a daimyo?" Chiyo interrupted him, the heat on her wristband suddenly fading.

She glanced at the puppet mechanism box swaying at Luo Sha's waist—it was the one Crow had just handed to him, and the lid was still speckled with swamp mud.

Luo Sha's Adam's apple bobbed.

He had indeed received a threatening letter from the Land of Fire, but what made him even more uneasy was the residual chakra he had detected at the spot where the White Night had vanished. "I've already sent Crow to deal with Ebizo's belongings." He tugged at his collar. "All research related to the 'Blood Pact Eye'... must be destroyed."

"Destroy?" Shuiyue suddenly laughed, twirling the decapitation blade in her palm.

Her laughter was like shattered glass. "You Sunagakure puppeteers have forbidden techniques etched into your bones. You think burning a couple of notebooks can wash it all away?"

Chapter 865 Teacher?

Luo Sha's face turned bright red.

Just as he was about to retort, the communication puppet at his waist suddenly vibrated.

Hearing the chirping of the messenger crickets, his pupils contracted sharply, and as he turned, his cloak swept away half a clump of reeds: "The crows ran into trouble during the transport!"

Chiyo watched his running figure, then looked down at her wristband.

The chakra fluctuations within the spiral mark became clear at some point, as if someone was gently tugging at her puppet strings from a distance.

As night fell, the acrid smell of kerosene lamps filled Chiyo's camp.

She squatted on the sand, with half a scroll of intelligence she had found among Ebi's belongings spread out in front of her, the writing in patches damaged by insects.

The wristband suddenly vibrated. This time it wasn't burning, but a fine, tingling sensation, like ants crawling up the veins.