In the Hokage's office in Konoha, the atmosphere was heavy to the point that some people were feeling out of breath, all because of the recent news of the attack on the village hidden in the sound.

Bakorio recounted to them what happened, and Hiashi was the first to speak "Beings with strong Genjutsu making it hard to locate them and caused chaos among the ranks of weak-minded ninjas, yet they can also use devastating attacks despite them being a bit slow and need time to recharge… Just what kind of other monsters are we not aware of and will have to face in the future…?"

Fugaku frowned when he heard this, but he eventually shook his head and said "The problem is their ability to avoid detection… You all know who's the true leader of the village hidden in the sound, that snake isn't someone careless in terms of security, in fact, he might even be better than us in that regard, so it's safe to assume that those monsters are masters of infiltration!"

The heavy mood grew much more heavier, and eventually, Shikaku turned to Bakorio and asked "how do you suggest we deal with them?"

All the attention in the room instantly focused on Bakorio and he couldn't help but frown as he stared at their hopeful eyes and thought 'This is bad, they are becoming too reliant on me…' Bakorio's blood-red eyes shined with a devilish light as he said

"They are beings that can even face the strongest of Kages, one way to deal with them is to have a lot more strong ninjas at our disposal, or you can think of a better solution on your own, I won't be able to help you every time such a thing happens"

Choza, the clan head of the Akimichi slammed his giant hand on the table and said "Are you saying you won't help the village if we get attacked?"

"Choza stop, this isn't what Bakorio's saying" spoke Inoichi, the clan head of the Yamanaka clan and a close friend of Choza.

Yet Bakorio eerily stared at them and said "No, that's exactly what I meant, I don't have the time to waste on wiping your asses every time a problem arises, you will have to learn how to deal with these kinds of problems on your own, starting from now, and continuing ahead in the unknown future…"

After Bakorio said this, he disappeared like an illusion leaving Choza and many who shared his opinion fuming in anger as someone yelled "How can he act so irresponsible"

"Indeed, we should punish him

"His power got to his head"

As the voices started to accumulate, Fugaku suddenly opened his eyes which already transformed into his Mangekyo Sharingans and shot every single person that opened his mouth a heartless glare before he yelled "Silence"

The room grew silent as no one wanted to offend the strong Hokage and they were shocked when they heard him say "Bakorio's contribution to the village and the whole world is far more than any of you can achieve in 10 lifetimes, I better not hear any of you complaining about his decisions in the future or they will instantly be expelled from the village"

Choza wasn't convinced, and considering his status as a member of the Ino Shika Cho alliance, he tried to complain saying "But fifth Hokage, he's clearly avoiding responsibility-"

However, someone suddenly cut Choza off and it was none other than Shikaku who had a similar look to Fugaku as he said "I agree with the Hokage, plus all of you seem to be misunderstanding something"

Choza had a doubtful look on his face as he saw his old friend opposing him so held back his anger and asked "What did we misunderstand?"

Shikaku let out a long sigh as his lazy but sharp eyes scanned the crowd before he said "These monsters you are fearing, they are merely pawns the enemy sent out and we don't even know how many they can send in the future…

The people Bakorio have been worried about and dealing with this whole time are the masters behind these disasters we are facing, you should be grateful that he doesn't simply abandon this world and leave it to face its demise…"

Choza froze slightly as he and many others simply couldn't fathom what kind of being Shikaku was talking about, but one thing was for sure, many of these clans that complained lost a lot of their standing in the village after this incident…

…

Meanwhile, in front of Konoha's hell gate, Hashirama was sitting silently on top of a rock with his eyes closed as Bakorio approached him and asked "How's your training going?"

Bakorio noticed that Hashirama's eyelids were orange with black contours surrounding the eyes and when he opened them, Bakorio was surprised to see that he had toad pupils, clearly he already learned the toad sage arts!

"I'm doing fine, my real body is guarding the gate here while my clones are training in mount Myoboku"

'What a terrifying talent, this guy truly deserves his reputation as a monster among monsters' thought Bakorio while staring at Hashirama's innocent smile, although he could see the true beast it was hiding…

"That's great, for the snake sage art, you will have to visit Ryuchi cave personally and meet the white snake sage, I will be here guarding the gate in your stead while you do so"

"Oh, that will be much appreciated!" spoke Hashirama enthusiastically and how can he not be, he was growing stronger, but he suddenly paused and asked Bakorio curiously "How's Madara doing?"

Bakorio had a strange look on his face when he heard this question and he couldn't help but mutter "Madara huh… well he…"

….

Flashback

"Give me back my Rinnegan" Spoke Madara coldly after he got to a secluded location alone with Bakorio, but Bakorio simply shrugged and replied "Nope, I won't give you anything, plus you can't use them anyway since you don't have Hashirama's bloodline anymore, at least not to their full extent"

"Is this your final answer?" Spoke Madara again with his eyes slowly transforming into his eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, but Bakorio was unfazed as his eyes also transformed and he remained silent

"Fine then, let's see what kind of power you have, you who also possess Jikininki!"

A terrifying clash started between the old Uchiha legend and the young Uchiha legend, and the final victor was without a doubt Bakorio whose Susanoo was stronger than Madara, not to mention that he also has six paths sage chakra!

"Impossible, how can you be this strong when my chakra reserves are clearly far stronger than yours… ugh" spoke Madara in astonishment as he coughed some blood yet he didn't seem bothered as his eyes remained fixed on Bakorio waiting for an answer to his question.

Bakorio remained silent for a bit before he said "Indeed, you by far surpass me in the quantity of chakra, but in terms of quality, mine is far higher than you can begin to imagine"

"Quality…" Muttered Madara and Bakorio calmly approached him and said "Haven't you learned your lesson after having faced Hashirama all this time? I will give you a bit of advice, you better start putting your ego in check, otherwise he's going to leave you in the dust, and not only him but many others…"

Madara felt helplessness covering his body, when he recognized his weakness against Hashirama, he decided to follow the quick path to success and captured Kurama to assist him in his fight, but even that wasn't enough to surpass his rival and he was forced to go the other path of stealing his bloodline, yet now, he encountered someone who could defeat him despite having his same bloodline, so how can he not be moved, he could grow stronger without external help!

Yet, despite all of his emotions, his ego still didn't allow him to ask for help, and Bakorio realized this so he let out a sigh and lent him his hand and said "Do you want to grow stronger?"

Madara stared for a long time at Bakorio's outstretched hand and his eyes that returned to normal, he even used Jikininki as his right eye started bleeding yet he couldn't feel any ulterior motives in Bakorio's heart so he eventually took Bakorio's hand and said "I accept your offer…"

"You should start calling me teacher then" Spoke Bakorio with a wide grin, but Madara simply turned his head away and said "In your dreams"

'Tch what a tsundere' thought Bakorio

End of flashback

….

"OHH, I can't believe he accepted to be trained by you, I can't wait to see his progress" Spoke Hashirama and Bakorio could see the clear happiness on his face for his friend which brought a smile to his face

'What a guy…'