Konoha: Superman template, the spoiled brat becomes strong.

Shuiyue's scabbard clattered to the ground.

She took a half step back and bumped into the wall, her bloodshot eyes reflecting the dark figure, her throat tightening: "You mean... you split yourself into three individuals?"

So this... is just a backup? Her fingertips dug into her palm, the unique tracking signal of the Fog Shadow still buzzing in her temples, but at this moment she was so shocked by this news that she almost lost her hearing.

“Within the time rift.” Bai Ye’s core suddenly stabilized, the golden-red light coalescing into a circle again, but the fragments of memory scattered like ashes in the wind. “I foresaw the future—if I didn’t do this, the entire ninja world would be trapped in an endless cycle.” His voice held a hint of weariness, like someone who had just surfaced from deep water. “The first part of his consciousness remained in his main body, the second was sealed in the puppet’s core… the third…”

“Go and carry out the sins that someone must bear,” Chiyo suddenly interjected.

Her withered hand pressed on the device, the phantom of the Blood Pact Eye in her palm resonating with the core of the White Night. "So the massacre in the Fire Kingdom's Daimyo Prefecture, the bronze bells on the border, were all done by that 'third party'?" Her thumb slowly rubbed the runes on the device, as if confirming something. "You made yourself a scapegoat, and also a bait."

The crow's magnetic puppet suddenly emitted a blinding blue light.

When he looked up, sweat was trickling down his forehead along the newly formed bloodstain: "So the Akatsuki's mark, the tracking bugs, the Kirigakure's signal... were all deliberately left behind by that 'assassin'?" His voice was hoarse, yet carried the sharp edge characteristic of a Sand Village ninja. "He was drawing the attention of various countries here, while the real target..."

“It’s to make everyone believe that ‘White Night’ is still alive.” A golden light suddenly shot out from White Night’s core, precisely catching a strand of Chiyo’s falling hair—only then did the old man realize that he had been standing too close to the device without realizing it. “When the countries thought I was still in the Land of Fire, he would assassinate the Kazekage; when they tracked him down to Sunagakure, he would already be standing on the castle tower of the Land of Lightning.” His metallic voice suddenly gained warmth, as if he were telling someone else’s story. “This is a dead end game that ‘I’ must play myself.”

Shuiyue suddenly bent down and picked up the decapitation sword.

The blade reflected her distorted face: "And now, you..."

“It’s a backup.” Bai Ye’s core light dimmed. “If the original body dies, the second consciousness will take over the body; if the second is destroyed…” His voice was as soft as a sigh, “the third will become the final spark.”

The secret room suddenly fell into dead silence.

The bronze nail trembled slightly in the crack in the wall, and the crisp sound of water droplets falling came from somewhere.

As the light from the crow's Magnet Release puppet gradually dimmed, he felt as if his spine had been removed, and slowly collapsed to the ground—the corpse discovered three days ago on the border of the Land of Fire, the lights that had burned continuously in Sunagakure for the past three days, and the fragrance of flowers drifting in the sandstorm of the Land of Wind, all suddenly came together, binding his eyes until they stung.

Chapter 879 The Underground River of Naruto Falls

"So you showed me the Land of Wind now." He stared at the golden-red light in the device, his throat tightening. "You know you might never wake up, so you want me to remember... the scent of flowers in the sandstorm?"

Chiyo suddenly placed her hand on Crow's shoulder.

The old man's body temperature emanated through his coarse clothes, like a stone that had been exposed to the sun all day: "He's waking up because his third consciousness has gone out of control." She looked up at the device, the burning pain of the spiral mark had somehow turned into warmth, "The tracking bug, the fog signal, the mark of Dawn... these shouldn't all be happening at the same time."

That 'assassin' is revealing himself, or...

“Or he’s been affected by something.” Bai Ye’s core suddenly trembled violently, and strands of black thread seeped out from the golden-red light. “I can feel... he’s in pain.”

Shuiyue's knife tip pierced the ground with a "clang".

Her bloodshot eyes narrowed to slits as she listened intently to the vibrations in the air: "There's a chakra fluctuation!" She abruptly turned to look into the depths of the secret chamber, where there had previously only been a stone wall covered in runes, but now a faint black mist was seeping out. "It's coming from behind the wall, it sounds like..."

"The smell of burning puppet oil." The crow suddenly stood up.

His Magnet Release puppet lit up again, the sand that had gathered in his palm rustling between his fingertips. "It's the chakra fluctuation of a mechanical technique." He stared at the stone wall, his Adam's apple bobbing. "There couldn't be an unregistered secret door in a Sand Village's secret chamber... unless..."

“Someone found this place before us.” Chiyo’s hand rested on the puppet scroll at her waist.

The old woman's wrinkles were filled with vigilance, yet also with a hint of understanding—she should have realized that when the core of the White Night began to repair itself, certain dormant eyes would open.

Suddenly, a thin crack appeared in the stone wall deep inside the secret room.

Black mist seeped out through the cracks, carrying with it the faint sound of bells.

The grit from the crow's beak hardened into sharp spikes in his palm as he stared at the crack, his voice hushed: "If that 'assassin' is still at work..."

Before the words were finished, the sound of the bells behind the stone wall suddenly rose, like a thin needle piercing everyone's eardrums.

The core light of the White Night suddenly extinguished, leaving only a golden and red afterimage in the darkness, burning blinding spots of light on everyone's retinas.

The black mist seeping from the cracks in the stone wall, mixed with the sound of bells, swirled in everyone's ears like a red-hot wire.

The sharp grains of sand from the crow cracked his palm—only then did he realize he had gripped too tightly, the Magnet Release chakra almost scorching his skin. “Mirror Space…” His Adam’s apple bobbed, and with his other hand he pulled a yellowed sheepskin map from his robes, the edges still stained with dark red blood. “I found this three days ago while sorting through Ebizo’s belongings. He drew a double helix mark on the ley line node of the Daimyo’s mansion in the Land of Fire, annotating it ‘The Gate of Truth and Illusion.’”

Chiyo's gaze swept across the ink marks on the map, her withered fingers suddenly stopping at a small dot circled in vermilion: "This is the underground river of Naruto Falls." When she looked up, the spiral mark on her forehead glowed faintly, "After the First Hokage's battle with Madara, Hashirama Senju used Wood Release to seal a spacetime turbulence."

Ebizo couldn't have remembered this for no reason—"

“Because a third consciousness is using it,” Shuiyue suddenly interjected.

Frost condensed on the blade of her decapitation sword, while the water ripples on its back surged against the flow of chakra. "I've re-analyzed the Hidden Mist's tracking signal; the last coordinates of its disappearance are downstream of Naruto Falls." The black mist reflection in her blood-red eyes suddenly distorted. "That thing... no, that 'him,' is deliberately making us chase him."

Chapter 880 That's why I need to stay even more.

The temperature in the sealed room plummeted.

The crow's Magnet Release puppet suddenly emitted a buzzing sound, and sand grains condensed in mid-air into a semi-transparent barrier—the black mist within the cracks of the stone wall was thickening at a visible rate, and the outlines of bronze bells could be vaguely seen within them, each stained with dark brown dirt. "There's no time." Chiyo abruptly tore off the puppet scroll from her waist, the crimson fabric spreading out on the ground to form a massive spell array. "The crow and I are going to the Land of Fire, but Byakuya must stay in Sunagakure." As she turned, her sleeve brushed against the device's casing, and the metal surface immediately rippled with gold and red. "His core is stable, but the deep seal is still stuck in his heart—"

“A soul resonance ritual is needed,” Shuiyue interjected.

She sheathed the executioner's sword, but instead drew another short blade from her ninja tool pouch: the blade was entirely composed of flowing water, its surface covered in pale blue runes. "This is the forbidden Hidden Mist Technique 'Water Soul Slash,' capable of precisely severing seals at the soul level." Her fingertips lightly traced the water blade, droplets instantly freezing into ice crystals upon contact with her skin. "But the ritual requires the chakra of two people to resonate in unison; even a slight deviation..."

"His consciousness will be torn to shreds," Qian said in her place.

The old man's gaze swept over the darkened core of the device, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Are you willing?"

Shuiyue's blood-red pupils shrank to thin lines.

She stared at her distorted reflection in the water blade, recalling how she found the sword three days ago in the ruins of Mist Village. The scabbard was still stained with the blood of its former owner—her senior brother, who died at the scene where "White Night" assassinated the Mizukage.

But at that moment, a faint glow suddenly appeared in the golden-red light within the device, much like the lingering warmth beneath her forehead protector when her senior brother shielded her from the kunai years ago. "I'm willing," she said, pressing the water blade against the device's outer shell, ice crystals spreading along the metal's texture. "But I need your cooperation in forming hand seals."

Suddenly, the crow tugged at Chiyo's sleeve.

His fingertips still held the warmth of the Magnet Release sand, but his voice was as cold as the night in the Land of Wind: "You can't stay here." Sweat still clung to the young ninja's eyes. The charred corpse he'd seen three days ago at the border of the Land of Fire suddenly flashed before his eyes—the ANBU whose limbs had been severed, the same bell pattern etched on his chest as in the black mist of the stone wall. "If 'his' goal is to scatter us..."

“That’s why I need to stay.” Chiyo slapped his hand away, the spiral mark on her palm resonating with the device, casting a huge shadow on the ground. “Ebizo’s notes also record that when Hashirama sealed the spacetime turbulence, he used the bloodline of the Senju clan as an anchor point.” She turned to the core of Byakuya, her voice suddenly softening, like coaxing a grandchild who was throwing a tantrum. “And our little puppeteer happens to have the bloodline of the First Hokage.”

Shuiyue's water blade suddenly emitted a dazzling blue light.

Cold sweat beaded on her forehead. She could clearly feel the chakra inside the device fluctuating violently, like a deep pool churned by a hurricane: "Prepare the hand seals!" she shouted, and the water blade pierced into the device's gap—there was no metallic clang, but rather a soft, yielding sound, like a sharp blade piercing tofu. "Boi, Wei, Shen..."

Chiyo's fingers almost sparked in the air.

Each hand seal she recited brought forth golden chakra particles, which intertwined with the water-blue particles of Shuiyue in mid-air to form butterflies.

The golden-red light inside the device began to rotate violently, like ripples hitting the metal inner wall, splashing up tiny sparks, as if pebbles had been thrown into the surface of a lake.

Chapter 881 It's time for us to set off.

"Found it!" Shuiyue suddenly shouted.

Her blood-red eyes reflected the dark purple chains deep within the device's core, each link engraved with ancient runes. "This is... the Kaguya clan's bloodline seal?" A chilling aura emanated from her water blade. "Seven chains must be severed simultaneously, otherwise..."

“I know.” Chiyo pressed her forehead against the device, the light from the spiral mark almost piercing through her skin. “Senju Bloodline Resonance—Activate!”

A golden-red tide of light erupted from her palm, instantly engulfing Shuiyue's aquamarine chakra.

The device emitted a crisp sound like porcelain shattering, and seven dark purple chains snapped simultaneously, but a shiny black liquid seeped from the breaks, corroding the metal inner walls like rotting tree sap.

The core of White Night suddenly burst forth with a blinding light, and gold and red intertwined to form a huge bird shape. After circling once in the secret chamber, it disappeared back into the device.

"Success?" The crow's sand barrier had disappeared at some point. He stared at the core of the device, which had stabilized again, his voice trembling.

Shuiyue suddenly turned her head to look at the stone wall.

The black mist had dissipated sometime earlier, leaving only damp stone walls in the crevices, but her water blade was still slightly hot—a sign of sensing the residual power of powerful chakra. "No." She wiped the sweat from her brow; the ice crystals on her water blade began to melt. "When I severed the seal just now, I felt another force of chakra... pushing us."

Chiyo's fingers slowly traced the corroded marks on the device.

The black liquid was seeping into the metal's texture, leaving spiderweb-like scorch marks. "It's a third consciousness." She looked up, her wrinkles filled with worry. "He's helping us break the seal."

Or rather...

“He’s urging us on,” Shuiyue interjected.

Her blood-red pupils suddenly contracted, pointing to the top of the device—where a cloud of black mist had condensed, its shape exactly matching the bell that had been in the crack in the stone wall earlier. "Get back!"

Before the words were finished, the black mist suddenly exploded.

A chakra storm of gold, red, and dark purple swept through the entire secret room. Chiyo was thrown against the wall by the impact. The crow's magnetic sand particles condensed into a shield in mid-air, but were easily torn apart by the storm.

Shuiyue's water blades exploded into a sky full of water mist, which then instantly reformed and blocked the device.

When the storm subsided, the device's casing was riddled with cracks.

The core of the White Night was brighter than before, and his outline could be vaguely seen in the golden-red light: long black hair, a golden left eye, a red right eye, and a spiral mark on his forehead that was exactly the same as Chiyo's.

His lips moved, and a muffled voice, as if heard through frosted glass, rang in everyone's ears: "Go...to the Mirror Dimension..."

The stone wall suddenly roared.

This time, the crack didn't split in the middle, but rather the entire wall seemed to be torn open by an invisible hand, revealing the dark passageway behind it.

The clear sound of bells rang out from the depths of the passageway, even clearer than before, each sound like a hammer blow to everyone's heart.

“It was a signpost he left behind.” Chiyo wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and re-tied the puppet scroll to her waist. “Crow, take the map.”

"Water Moon, keep an eye on White Night." Her gaze swept over the crowd, finally settling on the golden-red light within the device. "We should set off."

The chakra storm in the center of the sealed room lingered, and golden-red and dark purple light particles still drifted in the air.

Suddenly, a dark purple particle landed on the crack in the device, instantly corroding a small hole.

A drop of black blood seeped from the hole and dripped onto the spell array on the ground, making a "sizzling" sound—it was a blacker black than before, so thick that it seemed to absorb even the light.

In a place unseen by everyone, deep in the darkness of the passageway, a pair of blood-red eyes slowly opened.

Chapter 882 This is... your memory?

The air in the sealed room still carried the burnt smell of the chakra storm, and the tip of Suigetsu's water blade was still trembling slightly.

She crouched down, dipped her fingertips into the burn marks on the ground caused by the black blood, and felt a cool sensation travel up her nerves—this was no ordinary blood, but more like some kind of cursed energy.

"Crow, grind the Magnet Release sand into a fine powder." Chiyo's voice was like a taut string. She knelt in front of the device and drew three puppet scrolls covered with spiral patterns from her waist. "Sprinkle them around the device to form an isolation layer." The old man's wrinkled hand pressed on the crack in the device, and chakra seeped into the metal patterns like golden threads. "Suigatsuki, use your water-style chakra to inscribe the Triple Water Binding Seal on the outside of the sand layer."

"That black blood..." She paused, her fingertips tracing the scorch marks, "In the corrosive spell array, we must first sever its connection to the outside world."

The crow responded, flipped its wrist, and pale blue magnetic sand floated in its palm.

He crouched down and circled the device, sand grains leaking from between his fingers, spreading fine silver lines on the ground. With each step, the soles of his boots would crush a few residual dark purple light grains, making a soft "crackling" sound.

Suigetsu crouched down, gripping the water blade. The tip of the blade lightly touched the ground, and ice crystals surged out with chakra, carving ice-like runes outside the sand lines—a simplified version of the Hidden Mist Village's secret Water Binding Technique, specifically used to imprison abnormal energy.

The device suddenly emitted a buzzing sound.

Golden-red light seeped from the cracks, licking at the corners of the three people's clothes like a living thing.

Bai Ye's silhouette gradually became clear in the light. His long hair was blown back by an invisible wind. His left golden eye reflected Chiyo's face, while his right red eye was fixed on the drop of black blood on the ground. "Stop." His voice was no longer indistinct, but hoarse with a metallic scraping quality. "That black blood... is the obsession that overflowed when my consciousness split."

Chiyo's hand hung in mid-air, and the golden chakra snapped with a "snap".

When she looked up, tears welled in the wrinkles around her eyes—this was the first time she had seen the full face of the boy known as the "First Bloodline Successor," and the spiral mark on his forehead was exactly the same as the core pattern of the puppet she had worn in her youth. "You...you're awake?"

“Temporary.” Bai Ye’s fingertips pierced through the light membrane and pressed against the inner wall of the device. The cracks healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. “The ritual has started.”

Shuiyue's water blade clattered to the ground.

She took two steps back, her blood-red eyes reflecting the scene inside the device: in the golden-red light, countless fragments danced like pieces of paper scattered by the wind—the scene of the massacre at the Daimyo's mansion in the Land of Fire, the Fourth Raikage's furious face as he smashed the conference table, the Third Tsuchikage Onoki using Dust Release to cleave the border fire, and... herself, her figure hiding in a dark alley while being chased in Kirigakure.

"This is...your memory?" The crow's magnetic sand suddenly dissipated, and he stared at one of the fragments—it was the scene in the Sand Village dungeon where he had been ordered to interrogate a rogue ninja.

“It’s the future.” A ripple appeared in Bai Ye’s golden eyes. “Or rather, it’s the reality that another ‘me’ is driving after my consciousness split.” His red eyes suddenly contracted, staring at the brightest fragment: the corpses of daimyo from various countries hung like strings of coins on cherry blossom trees on the border of the Land of Fire, their blood dripping into the soil and blooming into black flowers. “I originally thought that splitting my consciousness was to increase my power, but now I understand…” His Adam’s apple bobbed, “Another me is creating fear.”

Chapter 883 The Contingency Plan Left Before the Split Consciousness

The deaths of powerful lords from various countries, and the growing distrust between ninja villages, pushed the entire ninja world off a cliff.

"Why?" Crow's voice trembled as he recalled the secret report he received three days ago—the Land of Lightning had amassed 20,000 ninjas, and the vanguard was only half a day's journey from the border of the Land of Fire.

“Because they can’t see their own greed.” Bai Ye’s fingertips pressed against his forehead, and the chakra particles outside the light membrane suddenly spun wildly. “The Daimyo of the Land of Fire withheld tribute from various countries for ten years, and the Raikage knew about it but tacitly allowed it because he needed war to deplete the excess warmongers in the Hidden Cloud Village; the Tsuchikage pretended to mediate, but in reality, he was waiting for both countries to be exhausted so he could seize the Land of Fire’s land and mineral resources…” His golden eyes flashed with pain. “They need a common enemy, an opportunity to expose all their conspiracies to the light of day.”

"So you became that enemy?" Chiyo asked softly.

She recalled how, twenty years ago, in order to protect Sunagakure, she had used Sasori's puppets to create a horrific incident—some truths can only be revealed with blood.

Bai Ye gave a bitter laugh, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the light membrane: "When my consciousness split, I thought I could control two 'selves' at the same time."

But that other me moved too fast… He murdered a daimyo, instigated war, and tore away all pretense of decency in the most extreme way. His red eyes suddenly turned dark purple, and a colder tone crept into his voice: “They need fear to learn reverence; they need loss to cherish peace.”

"But you'll lose control!" Shuiyue suddenly picked up the water blade, pressing the tip against the device. "That drop of black blood just now... was another version of you corrupting your original self!"

“I didn’t lose control.” Bai Ye’s pupils turned back to golden-red. He looked at Shui Yue’s trembling hands, his gaze softening. “I just chose the most painful path.”

Just like the First Hokage who used Wood Release to quell a war, only to be met with suspicion from other villages; and Tobirama Senju who founded the Ninja Academy, only to die in a conspiracy by the Hidden Cloud Village… “His light membrane began to fade,” true change is never achieved through gentle persuasion.