Inside a simply decorated room that was located In Bakorio's base where his main body hid, a woman with long white hair and a weird slit on her forehead was currently meditating with her eyes closed.

However, as the sound of footsteps approached her room, she calmly opened her eyes and stared at the man that was standing in front of her curiously

"Bakorio… need something?" Asked Kaguya with her curiosity turning into a slight frown on her face after noticing the cold look on Bakorio's face…

"Ah" Bakorio nodded calmly before he sat facing her and said directly "I found your old friend"

Kaguya seemed slightly surprised but there wasn't much expression on her face as she responded "Old friend? I have no such thing"

Bakorio couldn't help but smirk when he heard this as his Sharingans started to revolve silently before he said "Let me show you, he might disagree with your statement…"

Then, his eye ignited with a blood-red light, and Kaguya didn't resist it and allowed herself to be dragged into his memories… The memories of his fight with the man called Jigen.

After a few moments of silence, Kaguya's snow-white eyes suddenly started gushing with pure coldness as she muttered through gritted teeth "There's no mistaking it, only that man can use Daikokuten (Isshiki's Dojutsu)… This is definitely Isshiki using a mortal's body as his vessel, but it appears that he barely found a suitable vessel and this one is barely containing his immense power which is why he's showing this meager level of power…"

Bakorio couldn't help but shrug when he heard this and eventually said "You call the peak of super Kage level meager?"

"We need to kill him before he turns into trouble!" Spoke Kaguya seriously while standing up as she knew full well the danger of a man like Isshiki, but Bakorio instantly caught her hand and said calmly with his previous smirk gone from his face "Calm down, I have plans for him"

"No, he's too dangerous to be left alone like this!" Spoke Kaguya again but she suddenly paused when she noticed the eeriness in Bakorio's eyes as he said "Trust me, there's no escape for him"

Kaguya contemplated silently for a while before she decided to show Bakorio her battle with Isshiki to make him understand just how strong he is but his expression didn't change at all to her surprise and she eventually gave up and nodded "Fine… but tell me what you plan to do"

Bakorio's previous coldness dissipated as he replied with a smile "Sure…"

….

Meanwhile, at the south of the land of fire, Bakorio's and Kakashi's teams were currently doing their best to fight the S+ rank gorilla.

Sogetsu was working on restraining it while Kazuki kept using flashy attacks to distract it. Sasuke and Naruto were responsible for finishing it off while Sakura and Hinata remained on standby to assist them if they ever need it.

With them was Kurenai and her team which consisted of Kiba, Shino, and Shiki Uchiha, and they were tasked with keeping an eye on the surroundings.

However, their plan failed spectacularly when a wave of monkeys that had many A ranks and B ranks come rushing at them from all sides and almost annihilated team Kurenai if not for Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and Sakura helping them out to fend them off.

This shift made the pressure of fighting the S+ ranks beast fall on the shoulders of the two brothers, and they were struggling to deal with this beast...

Yet despite all of this, they still received many injuries among their ranks including Sakura and Kurenai that tried to save Hinata from a sneak attack, and this outcome is already good considering they would have died if not for Bakorio's training that taught them how to deal with crowds even if they were at a disadvantage.

Currently, Sasuke and Naruto were standing back to back, each holding a short sword in hand and panting slightly from having to deal with the countless waves of monkeys and defending their friends and Naruto couldn't help but ask "Oy Sasuke, can you see any way out of this situation?"

Sasuke's eyes scanned the battlefield quickly and he promptly launched an explosive Kunai at a Monkey that was trying to sneak attack the injured Kurenai before he said "At this rate, we will definitely die here"

Naruto suddenly clenched his hands and he couldn't help but grit his teeth, especially when he saw the injured Kazuki and Sogetsu fighting that dangerous beast alone and he couldn't help but think 'If only we can take down that huge monkey, the situation will become more manageable…'

Sasuke was feeling the same, but they knew they couldn't get distracted at all, or one of their friends might die!

In this despair-filled situation, a monkey managed to sneak past their defense and lunged at Kurenai!

"NO! Protect Sensei!" Yelled Kiba, as he rushed at the monkey causing their formation to break, which made that monkey smirk and retreat as another one suddenly attacked from the new hole created!

"That was a trap… It seems like this is the end for me…" Muttered Kurenai as she watched the giant monkey carrying a huge stone club and swinging it at her. The battlefield almost grew still and even Sogetsu's usually calm eyes rippled like waves from the helplessness he was feeling, but a voice suddenly broke the silence causing the giant club and the gorilla to freeze mid-air as he said

"Sorry but I can't let you harm my teacher's future wife"

"This voice?" Kurenai's eyes widened slightly and she couldn't help but stare at her side and noticed a young man emerging from her shadow with an annoyed look on his face, and surprisingly, his shadow was connected to the gorilla's shadow!

"SHIKAMARU!" Naruto yelled in excitement and Shikamaru responded with a sigh "I can hear you just fine if you don't yell"

But this wasn't all as a young man suddenly landed from the sky on the top of the stunned gorilla with his eyes shining with a blood red light and he started absorbing its life force until its black fur turned completely white and Shikamaru retrieved his shadow and let it crumble under the weight of the club it was carrying...

Meanwhile, The blue-haired kid had his face turn completely flushed making him appear even cuter before he rushed to Kurenai's side and started feeding her that life force to assist Sakura who was trying to heal her

"This is… How warm... You are that new kid that joined the academy… What a wonderful Dojutsu you have" Muttered Kurenai as she felt the life force coursing through her body and making her feel alive... Ranmaru simply smiled shyly not knowing what to say before he responded "I unlocked this ability thanks to teacher healing me… Although I can't keep that life force stored for long…"

"It's still amazing enough" Spoke Kurenai with a smile as she slowly stood up feeling like she completely recovered before she turned to Shikamaru and asked him without hesitation "What's the plan?"

"Why do I have to come up with one?" Muttered Shikamaru in annoyance but Kurenai simply patted him before she said with a grin "Because you are a Nara!"

"Guess I don't have a choice then" Muttered Shikamaru lazily, but his eyes in contrast were scanning the battlefield nonstop and he noticed that Naruto had a weird look on his face as he kept staring at the giant monkey in the distance so he yelled "Oy Naruto, can you use that Jutsu?"

A hesitant look appeared on Naruto's face for a second while Sasuke shot him a confused look since he didn't know what Shikamaru meant, but the former eventually nodded and said "I need you to buy me 10 seconds, that's all!"

Hearing this, Shikamaru calmly nodded and turned to everyone else "Teacher Kurenai, please assist Ranmaru with your Genjutsu to hide Naruto from the beasts, the rest of us will do our best to buy enough time, this is good by you two?"

The last two he was referring to were clearly Sogetsu and Kazuki, and they simply shot Ranmaru confused looks before they nodded at Shikamaru…

The plan was set and Naruto understood clearly 'Everyone is putting their fate in me… I can't fail them… This time I will definitely succeed!' Thought Naruto before he crossed his fingers and created two shadow clones…