A new group formed in the world of ninjas called the dead hunters… And only a few people had an idea about the origins of this group and its purpose.

This group with unknown numbers specialized in one thing only, just like their name implied… They hunted the dead!

No one knew how they gathered their information or how they appeared, but whenever a dead person came to life, they would immediately be captured and taken to an unknown location never to be seen again…

In the pure land, Izumo who was sitting on his throne with a lazy expression on his face was suddenly visited by one of his underlings.

His underling had a hunched back and was wearing a cloak that covered all of his body as if he was afraid of the light touching it, yet this cloak did close to nothing to cover the rotten stench coming from his body showing just what kind of monstrosity was hiding under that cloak.

This was Izumo's right-hand man, and he came to report to him regarding the unwanted development on the 'surface' so he bowed and said "Izumo-sama, someone is interfering with our minions, they call themselves the dead hunters... how would you like us to deal with them?"

There was no worry in the servant's voice, only pure coldness and dullness so Izumo lazily stared at his underling and replied "I already sensed someone messing with our plans… And he can control death energy to a certain extent as well and even remove our branding on those bodies..."

Mara, Izumo's underling froze slightly before he said "Would you like me to deal with them personally?"

Izumo's smiled suddenly and simply leaned back further on his throne and said "No, things are getting a bit interesting, how can we put an end to them quickly, plus I already have an idea of who's behind them… Just start with phase two of the plan directly and make our cute minions wreak havoc… You can unleash the phantoms to investigate this group, but try to avoid confrontation with them"

"Yes sir" Said Mara before he disappeared as eerily as he came leaving Izumo alone in hi throne room to enjoy the wails of terror and despair from the ghosts around him…

"Someone can use the power of death huh… I wonder if it's that boy… But a whole group of them appearing, this is quite interesting…" muttered Izumo in silence as he felt a bit more excited about the grim future of this world…

….

The capture of hell, the pure land, the demon realm, and the beast world wasn't something done carelessly by the darkness.

In fact, other than the beast world… The others were used as prisons to capture and torment all kinds of helpless souls and turn them into the purest of evil energy for that darkness to devour. As for the main world, it was left as a breeding hub to gather more unfortunate souls to torment… Cruel wasn't enough to describe such a thing, yet this wasn't even the full extent of that darkness...

…..

Near Konoha, in a densely forested area, a giant gate suddenly opened and all kinds of devilish beasts started emerging from it.

Konoha's ninjas, led by none other than Jiraiya were prepared for this so they immediately started a cleaning operation while far in the distance two people watched all of this taking place…

"Bakorio, are you sure these are the weakest kinds of devils from hell?" Asked Hashirama with a concerned look on his face since as far as he could see, the weakest beast that left the gate so far was at least comparable to an elite Chunin…

"Unfortunately, yes, and this isn't even the worst of our troubles, I'm sure you already heard of your old friends that started spreading through the land of demons… Soon that land will truly become as its name suggests, and they appear to be no weaker than these devils..."

Hashirama nodded worriedly before he said "Thankfully, we evacuated the residents of that land ahead of time thanks to the cooperation of the land of earth and the other adjacent lands in the west… Do you have any plans to deal with those demons?"

Bakorio nodded at this and said "Yes, I plan to leave that to the various tailed beasts and their Jinchuriki… along with Kurama, they should be enough to stabilize that region for a while. Meanwhile, we need to deal with the beasts spreading throughout the world… I have a bad feeling that they are going to be our strongest foes, especially when knowing who's their leader..."

Hashirama remained silent after remembering the four people he saw in Bakorio's Genjutsu and he couldn't help but wonder 'I can't believe all of these things had been hiding in the dark all this time, I guess my current strength isn't enough to do anything about this situation anymore'

After a while of silence, Hashirama turned to Bakorio and sincerely bowed before he said "Please teach me your sage arts, I want to grow stronger"

Bakorio remained silent before he said "To reach my level, you need to master 6 kinds of sage arts… I can help you but it would still take a while... but I'm sure you can succeed. However, I suggest you follow in Madara's footsteps as well and try improving your bloodline"

Hashirama hesitated slightly before he replied confidently "I saw that Minato already mastered three sage arts, I believe I can do the same… As for the matter of bloodlines, I will leave it to when the time is right"

"As you wish, let's start with the toad's sage arts…" And so, as they protected the gates of hell, Bakorio's true clone began teaching Hashirama...

….

Meanwhile, inside Konoha, four people were currently facing each other, they were Kaguya, Hagoromo, Hamura, and Bakorio's true body.

The first to speak was Hagoromo as he asked "Bakorio-kun, why don't we counterattack instead of fighting passively like this… didn't you say that this will only create darkness and benefit those people?"

Hamura and Kaguya seemed to agree with Hagoromo's perspective but Bakorio couldn't help but sigh and say "You think I wouldn't have done that if I thought we are strong enough? You and Kaguya are indeed strong since you two retained your powers as the Jinchuriki of the ten tails, and even Hamura has gotten stronger after absorbing his old Tenseigan and the power it accumulated during the past 1000 years… But those 4 have been around for more than 1000 years. Not to mention the one behind them… Unless I'm confident in dealing with him, we won't act carelessly"

"And do you have a plan to deal with this person?" asked Hamura expectantly, causing Bakorio to remain silent for a while before he smiled coldly and said "Yes, I have a plan… but it needs time, and we need to grow as strong as possible"

"Fine we shall wait" Replied Kaguya calmly… only she noticed the eerie emptiness that seemed hungry in Bakorio's eyes, but even she didn't know the meaning behind it… But the chill she felt from it lasted for a long time...

….

In the Kato village not far from Konoha, a group of 9 teenagers were walking warily while following Weird footprints around the village.

"Teacher, there seem to be many huge beasts nearby, even bigger than the ones we encountered during our Genin exam…" The one that said this was none other than Kiba who had great hunting instincts, and he was saying it to none other than Bakorio who had a hunting talent.

"This village is near Konoha, so the beasts harassing it are considered weak compared to those in the border and empty areas. But you should still act carefully, after all, I'm just here to assist the bunch of you"

As he said this, Bakorio shot a look at the teens behind him, they were team 7, 8, and 9 respectively… Team 7 was his own and its members were Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata. Team 8 was made of Kiba, Shino, and Shiki Uchiha, and finally, team 9 had Sakura, Sogetsu, and Kazuki (The two kids that Bakorio saved and became part of Kakashi's new team).

The teens nodded at him and were full of confidence so Bakorio simply smiled and said "Good then, good luck" Before he disappeared from their sights without leaving a trace. However, in reality, he was still standing in front of them and simply turned invisible thanks to his light release and suppressing his scent through wind release…

'Let's see how the next generation is going to do and if they can help in my future plans' thought Bakorio as locked into the beasts laying in wait for them not so far away like apex predators…