Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

Its hands hung at its sides, its fingertips covered in fresh sand, and a bluish-green crystal was embedded in its chest, pulsating rhythmically as people approached—that was the unique life rhythm of the Wood Release core, which could only be cultivated by someone who possessed both the Thousand Hands bloodline and top-level puppetry techniques.

"That's...Bai Ye's body?" Shui Yue's decapitation sword clattered to the ground.

Chapter 869 I am a part of him

She staggered two steps, her pupils shrinking to pinpoints—the puppet's face was exactly the same as Bai Ye's, even the small scar on his left eyebrow bone from when he was sixteen and on a mission was replicated exactly.

The crow's Adam's apple bobbed, and it reached for the detonation tag at its waist, but Chiyo pressed down on its wrist: "Don't move." Her voice trembled, and her fingertips gently traced the engravings on the edge of the platform—Bai Ye's handwriting, crooked and uneven, just like when he first learned to write his own name.

The core of the Wood Release technique suddenly started pulsating faster.

Chiyo's wristbands were so hot she could barely hold the spore puppet. The chakra within the spiral mark surged like a tide. This time, she heard it clearly: the faint sound came from the center of the platform: "Teacher, I'm sorry..."

The black-robed puppet's fingertips twitched slightly.

The blue light from the core of its Wood Release technique suddenly surged on its chest.

The moment the azure light from the core of Wood Release pierced the darkness, the black-robed puppet's eyelashes trembled.

That's a physiological reaction that only humans have, like a weary person suddenly stung by sunlight.

Chiyo's pupils contracted sharply as she saw gray mist-like chakra overflowing from the interface at the back of the puppet's neck, condensing into thin chains in the air—those were the nerve conduction lines unique to the Living Puppet Technique, exactly the same style that Byakuya always said was "too troublesome" and refused to install.

"Pupil...pupil!" The crow pressed the sharp point of its kunai against its palm, its nails almost digging into its flesh.

He stared at the puppet's slowly opening eyes. Where there should have been mechanical prosthetic eyes, a semi-transparent membrane had appeared, and beneath the membrane was clearly Bai Ye's face. The small mole at the corner of the eye twitched slightly with each blink. "It's Shadow Painting Technique."

Or... a projection of the soul?

Shuiyue's hand was already on the hilt of the Executioner's Blade.

The greatsword that had once slain seven generations of elite Kirigakure warriors was now burning hot in her palm, and the water-patterned runes on the hilt glowed with a ghostly blue, an instinctive reaction when she sensed danger.

She stared at the puppet's opening and closing lips, hearing the hum of mechanical gears mixed with the vibration of human vocal cords: "You...shouldn't have come." The voice was like the wind polished by sandpaper, the first half of the sentence was the cold, hard friction of metal, but the second half suddenly softened, carrying the hoarse tone that Bai Ye had after each all-nighter repairing the puppet.

Chiyo's breath hitched.

She took a half step forward, the spiral mark on her wristband burning her skin red. It was a "safety contract" etched by Bai Ye with his own chakra, now trembling wildly, as if responding to a long-awaited reunion. "Who exactly are you?" Her voice was more steady than expected, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the spore puppet at her waist—the "heartbeat resonator" between her and Bai Ye. "Where is Bai Ye?"

The puppet's neck turned half an inch, and the metal joints made a soft "click" sound.

It gazed at the wrinkles at the corners of Chiyo's eyes, and its gray mist chakra suddenly thickened to a tangible form, condensing into a translucent hand on its chest, gently stroking the white hair at her temples. "I am a part of him." A crack seeped through the gear-like sound, like the moment an old phonograph cassette tape malfunctioned, "and also his end."

The crow's detonation tag unfolded with a "whoosh".

The young ninja, who was always teased by Bai Ye for being "too serious," was now covered in cold sweat, and the fire-patterned seal on the detonation tag trembled: "Is it a substitute created by the 'Ring of Contracts'?" He remembered that three years ago, in order to break the Sand Village's forbidden technique, Bai Ye had drawn diagrams of such puppet structures fed with the consciousness of living people in a scroll, "using the obsession of the dying as the core?"

Chapter 870 I kept my promise

"A substitute?" The puppet looked down at its palm, its metal knuckles gleaming coldly white in the bluish light. "No." It suddenly laughed, its mechanical voice carrying the clear, youthful tone. "I am the will he left behind, the part he failed to complete in the time rift." Before it finished speaking, the puppets embedded in the walls around it simultaneously opened their eyes, their scarlet mechanical pupils merging into one in the darkness, the grinding sound of metal joints washing over them like a tide.

Chiyo's wristband exploded with a "hum" of blue light.

She crushed the spore puppet's head with a backhand swipe; it was a "will anchor" woven from Bai Ye's own hair. Pale golden chakra threads spread like a spiderweb, instantly wrapping around the black-robed puppet's neck. "Bai Ye!" she cried, her voice almost cracking, tears suddenly welling up—in the spore puppet's feedback, there was a sixteen-year-old boy, squatting in her puppet workshop, holding up a charred puppet arm guard and saying, "Teacher, I'll definitely be more careful next time"; and a twenty-year-old ninja, sucking the poison from her blood with his mouth when she was poisoned, his blood-stained face still smiling as he said, "Teacher's poison is much harder to deal with than puppet strings."

The black-robed puppet stopped moving.

Its Wood Release core trembled violently, blood-like cracks appearing within the blue light, and gray mist chakra began to surge, like a deep pool tossed with stones. "He... is still alive." The mechanical voice suddenly shattered into countless fragments, each fragment containing a different tone of voice—the voice of a boy, a young man, even the breathy voice of someone severely injured. "In... in the place where time melts away." It whirled around, its metal fingers pointing towards the other end of the valley—where the rock wall suddenly cracked open, revealing half a rusty bronze door. The chakra fluctuations seeping from the crack were perfectly synchronized with the frequency of the puppet strings that Byakuya usually used.

"Go there." The puppet's body began to disintegrate, metal parts falling like rain, only the head remained suspended in mid-air, gray mist chakra condensing into Byakuya's face, eyes glistening with tears, "Tell...tell the teacher, I didn't break my promise." As the last syllable dissipated, the Wood Release core exploded with a "bang," and a piece of charred cloth floated up from the blue light—it was a fragment of the outer garment Byakuya always liked to wear, with puppet patterns embroidered on the cuffs.

When Chiyo caught the piece of cloth, the spiral mark on her palm suddenly stopped burning.

She gazed at the bronze door cracked in the rock face, above which were engraved the words "Wait for me," embroidered with puppet threads—words known only to her and Bai Ye.

Shuiyue's decapitation sword was already drawn, its tip pointing at the cold wind surging from the crack in the door—a wind carrying the familiar scent of puppets, mixed with a faint trace of human body temperature.

The crow still held the detonator in his hand, but as he looked at Chiyo's trembling back, he suddenly stopped—some doors must be opened by the closest people.

A faint sound came from behind the bronze door, like someone putting down their tools, or like... the gentle trembling of puppet strings.

The bronze door groaned under the spiral mark in Chiyo's palm, and the rust crumbled away.

As she stepped inside, the wisps of hair at the back of her neck were blown up by the cold wind—the wind carried not only the scent of puppets, but also a very faint aroma, similar to a mixture of mugwort and pine soot ink, the kind of incense that Bai Ye always loved to use.

The secret room was more spacious than I had imagined, and the pale blue chakra mist floated like living things, soaking the space into a deep blue.

A semi-transparent humanoid device floats in the center, with an outer layer of interwoven spore network. Inside, one can vaguely see wood-style cells wrapped with pale gold chakra threads. At the very core, there is a cluster of dark red light, like a blood bead that has been imprisoned.

Shuiyue's decapitation sword sheath struck the door frame with a crisp sound.

She stared at the device, her pupils shrinking to slits: "He turned himself into a puppet?" The blade remained sheathed, but her knuckles turned white from the force—as a Kirigakure ninja who had fought against living puppets, she knew all too well how insane this method of forcibly fusing flesh and machine was.

Chapter 871 He's not dead yet

The crow's boot soles crushed metal shavings on the ground.

He reached out and touched the wall, but as soon as his fingertips touched the rune-covered stone, he was repelled by a gentle burst of chakra.

“This is no ordinary sealing technique.” He lowered his voice, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “It’s a self-sustaining life cycle system.” As an elite member of the Sand Village puppet army, he recognized the runes—each one was engraved by living puppet threads, forming a closed loop. “If the device is still running…” He turned to look at Chiyo, his voice trembling, “he’s not dead yet.”

Chiyo paused three steps away from the device.

Her shadow was stretched long by the blue light, almost touching the floating "body".

The puppet pattern on her cuffs rose and fell with her breath; it was something she had embroidered herself for Bai Ye—the sixteen-year-old boy always said, "Teacher's stitches are finer than chakra threads."

At that moment, she suddenly remembered that when she last saw him three months ago, the pattern on his cuffs was soaked with blood, but he still smiled and said, "After I've sorted out these things, I'll take you to see a puppet show."

"Bai Ye," she said, her voice rough and abrasive, "can you hear me?"

The core of the levitation device on its chest suddenly trembled, and the dark red light flickered and then dimmed.

A muffled voice came from all directions, like a piece of paper scattered by the wind: "I... am still... watching over this world."

Chiyo raised her hand and then lowered it, finally pressing it on the core.

The moment the chakra surged into her palm through the spiral mark, her pupils contracted sharply—a flood of memories overwhelmed her:

The Eye of Blood Pact shattered in the sky, cracks spreading across the entire heavens like a spider web.

Bai Ye knelt amidst the ruins, blood dripping from his throat onto the puppet strings, turning the gold threads red.

When he looked up, the wound on his forehead was still bleeding, but he smiled at the air: "My teacher said that a puppeteer's will should not perish with the body."

The scene then shifts to his back as he prepares spores in a sealed room.

Wood Release cells wriggled in the petri dish, his fingertips stained with pale gold chakra, as he painstakingly extracted fragments of his consciousness. "That way, even if my physical body dies, a part of me can still watch this world become a better place..."

Then came the bloody night at the Daimyo's residence in the Land of Fire.

His puppet strings pierced through the layers of guards, but paused before striking the target—the pause was so short as to be almost imperceptible, but Chiyo knew that he remembered her words, "Don't let hatred blind you."

My memory suddenly became distorted.

Fragments of the Blood Pact Eye spun in the void, each shard reflecting a white night: sixteen-year-olds, twenty-year-olds, wounded, laughing, and silent.

His voice came from each fragment, overlapping: "If it must be divided..."

"Lady Chiyo?" Chiyo realized she was already in tears when Suigetsu placed his hand on her shoulder.

Her fingertips were still pressed on the core, and she could clearly feel the chakra inside splitting—not collapsing, but actively and rhythmically severing, like a silkworm spinning silk, dividing consciousness into fine strands.

The spore network of the suspended device suddenly rippled.

The outermost spores fell off in a flurry, revealing the inner "anchor of will" woven from the hair of the White Night.

The pale golden hairs trembled slightly with the fluctuations of chakra, each one connected to a different direction: some pointed to the puppet workshop in Sunagakure, some to the battlefield on the border of the Land of Fire, and one was glowing faintly, heading towards the hidden door at the deepest part of the secret chamber.

Chapter 872 What He Left for This World

The crow suddenly gasped. He pointed to the shadow beneath the device: "Look there!"

Countless blurry shadows were reflected in the blue light on the ground.

Each shadow bears a seven-tenths resemblance to Bai Ye, yet each is distinct: one holds puppet strings, another wears a puppet arm guard given to him by Chiyo at his waist, and yet another… is calling out “Teacher” to the air.

As Chiyo gazed at those shadows, she suddenly recalled a scene from her memory a moment earlier—when the Blood Pact Eye shattered, such shadows also moved within the pupils of Byakuya.

She reached out and touched one of the shadows. The moment her fingertips passed through the blue light, a clearer voice came from the core, carrying the unique coolness of a young boy: "Teacher, this time it's my turn... to protect the world you want to see."

A click came from the hidden door at the deepest part of the secret room.

Shuiyue finally drew her sword, but the blade did not point at the hidden door. Instead, it hung at her side. The chakra fluctuations overflowing from behind the door overlapped with, yet were also different from, what she had sensed in the device earlier.

The crow held the detonator in its hand again, but this time it didn't light it.

He watched Chiyo's trembling figure disappear, and suddenly understood: those fragmented consciousnesses might not be a desperate struggle, but rather...

"It was a different possibility that he left for this world," Chiyo said softly.

Her fingers traced the spores on the device's surface, feeling a wisp of chakra drilling into her body along her spiral mark—the most tender chakra of a sixteen-year-old boy, carrying a hint of lingering impatience. "He was afraid he wouldn't make it to the end, so..."

The hidden door slowly opened.

In the breeze wafting out from behind the door, besides the incense and sticks, there was a faint trace of body heat, belonging to a young man and carrying a hint of medicine.

The dark red light in the core suddenly split into nine beams, each flying off in a different direction.

One of them slipped into the hidden door, while the other eight disappeared into Chiyo's spiral mark, Suigetsu's Executioner's Blade, the Crow's Detonation Talisman, and even the shadow beneath the levitation device.

“This is…” Shuiyue gazed at the pale gold chakra lines floating on the blade, her voice as soft as a sigh.

“It’s his will.” Chiyo wiped away her tears, a faint smile finally appearing on her lips. “He said he would watch a puppet show with me, so even if he splits into a million strands, there will always be one strand…”

A slight noise came from behind the hidden door, as if someone had put down a puppet tool, or as if a sixteen-year-old boy, holding up his charred arm guard, scratched his head and said, "Teacher, I'll definitely be more careful next time."

As the last trace of dark red disappeared from the core, the spiral mark on Chiyo's palm suddenly became hot.

She opened her hand, and in her palm lay half a fragment of the Blood Pact Eye. On the fragment, embroidered with puppet threads, was a line of small characters:

"Wait for me, in every possible way."

Just as the noise from behind the hidden door began, the core of the levitation device suddenly burst out with a blinding red light.

Chiyo's pupils hadn't yet withdrawn from the direction of the hidden door when they were pulled back by this sudden change—the outer spores, like gold dust swept by a gale, fell in a flurry, leaving fine streaks of light in the air, revealing the bluish-black Wood Release skeleton inside. The cells that had been wrapped in pale gold chakra threads were visibly shriveling up.

“Energy loss…unable to sustain…” A mechanical voice seeped from the rune array at the bottom of the device, like rusty gears grinding through gravel, “The consciousness anchor…is about to collapse.”

Chiyo's fingernails dug deeply into her palm.

Chapter 873 Don't you dare give up!

Three months ago, in the ruins, the boy did the same, using blood-stained puppet strings to hold up the collapsing sky. Now, gazing at those shattering anchors of will, she suddenly remembered when he was sixteen and first created a living puppet. Because of his unstable chakra control, he burned his arm armor, yet he held up the charred metal block and smiled, his eyes shining: "Teacher, I can fix it."

"We must fix it!" Her voice was ruthless and unstoppable, the spiral mark on her palm glowing with a ghostly blue light. "Otherwise, it will completely dissipate."

Shuiyue's decapitation sword clattered to the ground.

Her movement as she drew the short blade from her waist was as swift as a silver arc. She didn't even have time to frown as the blade grazed her fingertips—the moment a bead of blood appeared, she pressed it against the device's surface and used her fingertip to draw the first rune with the blood.

“The Hidden Mist Village’s ‘Reverse Regeneration Technique’.” Her voice tightened from the effort, her wrist twisting along the trajectory of the runes. “Back then, I saw the Mizukage use this technique to forcibly restore the chakra chain when the Three-Tails Jinchuriki collapsed.”

The crow's detonating talisman had long been replaced with a sealing scroll.

He paced rapidly around the device, tearing the scroll into pieces and slamming them onto the ground: "I'm using the Sand Village's 'Living Puppet Lock' to secure the Wood Release skeleton!" Sweat dripped from his chin onto the stone bricks as he stared at the gradually shrivelding cells, his Adam's apple bobbing. "But someone needs to maintain the core circulation—Lady Chiyo, your Spiral Mark can connect to his consciousness anchor point!"

The moment Chiyo's hand touched the device, chakra surged into the patterns like molten lava.

She could clearly feel those fragmented strands of consciousness being pulled away, like spider silk scattered by the wind, while the chakra of the sixteen-year-old boy in the spiral mark suddenly came to life, feeding back into the device along her meridians, weaving a pale golden net at the core.

"Hold on!" Shuiyue's fingernails almost dug into the device's metal casing. The second blood rune merged with the first at the top, bursting out with a dazzling purple light. "The Reverse Regeneration Technique requires dual activation—Crow, transfer your chakra from the sealing scroll!"

The crow bit its tongue, and a fishy, ​​sweet taste filled its mouth.

He pushed his chakra along the sealing veins on the ground, and the originally dark green wood release cells suddenly turned pale green, like a withered tree sprouting new buds.

The red light at the core of the device gradually weakened, but the dim red light re-condensed, like a dying ember being blown into a bright flame.

"Warning... Energy replenishment... Activation..." The mechanical voice suddenly changed tone, carrying a somewhat muffled human voice, "Chakra fusion rate... 37%..."

Shuiyue's blood flowed down the surface of the device, drawing crooked blood lines on the metal shell.

Her forehead pressed against the device, her sweat-dampened hair clinging to her face: "Bai Ye, if you can still hear me—" Her voice trembled, yet carried the ruthlessness unique to Hidden Mist ninjas, "Don't you dare give up! Back in the Blood Mist, I didn't close my eyes even when three of my ribs were broken, and you, who always talks about protecting the world..."

Before the words were even finished, the core of the device suddenly burst forth with dazzling golden light.

Chiyo's spiral mark burned hot, and the wisp of the boy's chakra suddenly materialized, condensing into a phantom of half a blood pact eye in her palm.