A\N: I do not own Eyeshield 21 or Naruto.

I wanted to update sooner, but RL got in the way. Hopefully, next chapter will be out quicker. Please review!

It was yet another beautiful spring day in Konoha, two weeks after the genin team assignments. Asuma had dismissed his team after a celebratory lunch following their 10th D-rank mission, the capture of Tora the cat. The team hadn't set any records, but Asuma suspected they'd had more fun capturing that accursed cat than any other genin team in history. Hiruma had acquired a seemingly inexhaustible supply of firecrackers, which he had distributed to his teammates. With Sena's bakyugan, they had then proceeded to run the cat in circles by dropping explosives in its path whenever it tried to hide or make a break, closing in for the capture only after the traumatized cat dropped from exhaustion. The kids had a lot of fun blowing things up, and it was certainly an impressive display of teamwork in the way they'd managed to keep the cat boxed in.

All in all, Asuma was very pleased with his team. All of them, even Hiruma, had accepted the tedious D-rank missions with good – or at least, not terrible – grace, and they had settled into a comfortable schedule. D-rank missions five mornings a week, and training during three of the afternoons. Asuma had so far limited the training to taijutsu and team exercises, but he thought it might be time to start them on chakra control. He'd planned to give it at least a month before starting them on chakra control, but any more team training seemed redundant. Kurita and Hiruma worked seamlessly together. Sena might have been odd-girl-out, except Hiruma claimed that the 'Demon Princess' needed to take her rightful place leading the 'Devil Bats', and pushed her hard to combine herself effectively with the team. Hiruma pushed everyone. He seemed obsessed with getting better as quickly as possible, and determined to drag the rest of his team along for the ride. Well, Asuma wasn't complaining. The lad was a natural manipulator, and as long as he acted for the good of the team, Asuma was willing to turn a blind eye to his methods, which often involved liberal application of pointy things and explosions.

To make things even better, on this particular afternoon, specialist jounin Anko Mitarashi was out of town on a mission. This meant Asuma could spend a pleasant few hours wearing away the defenses around the heart of the raven-haired beauty Kurenai Yuhi, without worrying about interruptions from her irreverent, snake-wielding, gossip-mongering best friend. He knew Kurenai would be free because, by pure coincidence, his genin team's daily schedule matched hers to the minute.

Thus, it was with understandable irritation that Asuma observed Hiashi Hyuuga, the Hyuuga clan head, crossing the street to speak with him. Still, it wouldn't do for a jounin to blow off a clan head, so Asuma paused and gave the man a polite bow. Hiashi gave a barely-perceptible nod in return, and spoke in his clan's trademark haughty tones: "Asuma-san, I know that jounin are given wide latitude in the training of their genin teams. Nonetheless, I feel your schedule is somewhat excessive. You are leaving no time for the training of clan techniques, techniques that are the mainstays of Konoha's strength."

Asuma's face darkened. Kurenai's schedule specifically left gaps so that clan members could keep getting instruction from their families. Was the bastard saying he wanted even more time? "What exactly do you mean, Hiashi….sama?"

The pause before the honorific was a clear signal as to what Asuma thought of the conversation, but Hiashi didn't seem to notice. "What I mean is your habit of holding team-training and D-rank missions six days a week, from morning to night, leaves hardly any time for Sena's jyuuken (Gentle Fist) training. Her mastery of jyuuken is far from acceptable, and this neglect is only making matters worse." the man elaborated in icy tones.

Asuma was about to protest, but then his brain ground into action. If Sena was staying out six days a week, then it was his job as jounin-sensei to know why. And he would be damned if he would admit ignorance in front of this stuck-up prick. "I shall give your request careful consideration. Now, if you don't mind, I have a team to train." he replied evenly, then ambled on his way. As soon as he felt Hiashi's sight leave him, he took to the roofs. He didn't know where Sena was, but he suspected Hiruma had something to do with it. Silently mourning his lost afternoon, he started his search.

o-o-o-o-o

Hiruma sat on a cushion on a marble floor. It was a vast room clad in patterns of white and black marble. Hiruma was looking at a hand of cards, while in front of him rested a large pile of multi-colored chips. Reaching out, he plucked four green-patterned chips and three blue ones from the pile, and slid them into a much smaller pile several feet in front of him. "Seeing your bid of forty farms and raising you three islands from Wave."

A deep, evil chuckle echoed around the room. Beyond the chips representing the pot, stood a vast, barred gate segregating the room. The two halves of the gate were held in place by a tiny strip of paper with the kanji for "seal" written on it. Beyond the gate, five playing cards floated in the air, each taller than Hiruma. Studying those cards were two enormous yellow eyes with slitted red pupils, the only defining features visible in a cloud of malevolent red chakra that seemed to fill the room beyond the gate. A gigantic paw emerged from the cloud. In a moment, it had morphed into a clawed hand that reached out delicately to pluck up several chips over three feet across from a towering pile. The hand rolled the chips through the bars of the gate. The chips immediately shrank to normal size, before rolling into the pot. "Seeing it, and raising you four mines from the Land of Iron."

There was a moment of silence, and then Hiruma gave a snort of annoyance. "Fold." he said, tossing down his hand. There was another chuckle, as the pot slid towards the gate. As the chips passed through the bars, they giant-sized before adding themselves to the demon's pile. "Yuk it up, fur-face. I'm still kickin' yer ass." muttered Hiruma, as his opponent's cards shrank themselves and returned to him to be shuffled.

It had seemed that simply knowing he was a jinchuriki, a demon container, had been enough to open up a line of communication. Within a few weeks of finding out the truth, Hiruma had found himself in his mindscape during his sleep. The mindscape, a spiritual representation of his own mind, was also where the gateway to the seal containing the nine-tailed demon fox Kyuubi was located.

When Hiruma had first arrived, the place had taken the form of a sewer, with water everywhere. It had offended Hiruma's sensibilities, and so he had set about rectifying the situation. Learning how to manipulate his mindscape had taken a month of frustrating trial-and-error, especially since the Kyuubi proved singularly unhelpful. During those first weeks, the fox either insulted him, or ignored him entirely.

But Hiruma understood something – the fox was bored. It might be a millennia-old chakra entity whose laziness would put a Nara to shame, but there was only so long you could spend napping or observing the day-to-day life of a twelve-year-old. By the time he had figured out how to change the mindscape into its present form, the Kyuubi had become marginally civil. Civil enough that Hiruma felt comfortable inviting it to a game. They had tried chess first, but the Kyuubi had little patience for strategic thinking. It much preferred games of chance. And here, they ran into a major snag. The whole exchange was taking place inside Hiruma's head. This meant the results of any game of chance were affected by Hiruma's subconscious desires.

It had taken three months, and a raid on Konoha's library for information on meditation techniques, before Hiruma managed to craft the deck of cards they were currently using. Hiruma was proud of that deck. It was, literally, a piece of his mind that was hiding from itself. Now, he could gamble in his mindscape without his own brain interfering with the outcome. Their playing chips each represented resources and territories from the world map. After all, what was the point of gambling with a demon, if it wasn't for the entire world? Even the fox had been pleased by his success, and that was when it had told him its name, Kurama.

As Hiruma shuffled the deck, he considered this mental trick. He had practiced it to the point where he could create such mental constructs with only minor effort, but he had yet to figure out a practical application. Maybe he should consult with Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress, Kurenai… assuming he could find a way to pry her loose from Asuma-sensei…

Kurama stirred inside its cage. "Someone's coming."

Hiruma took its word for it. The fox was more sensitive to chakra than he was. Abandoning the game, he concentrated briefly before opening his eyes onto the real world. His teammates had already stopped their spar; Sena must have spotted the newcomer as well with her bakyugan eyes. She turned towards him nervously, and mouthed the word, 'Asuma', just as the jounin made his entrance. Well, it took the old fart long enough.

o-o-o-o-o

Asuma paused for a moment, taking in the scene. Two genin sparring while a third meditated. Nothing particularly unusual, except that the two kids were sparring while standing on the side of tree twenty feet off the ground, while the third meditated while sitting on the surface of the Nara river. Well, at least Asuma now knew what his team was getting up to behind his back.

"Alright, you brats, line up."

Kurita and Sena hurried to comply. Hiruma got up and ambled over in his usual slouch. Morally certain that the spiky-haired blond was behind the whole affair, Asuma addressed him. "How long have you lot been practicing chakra control without telling me?"

Hiruma gave his usual smirk. "I've been at it a couple of months. I told fatso weeks ago, and chibi-hime joined us from the first day after we passed the test."

"I see. And who exactly taught you these exercises? They're only meant to be taught to active genin."

Hiruma shrugged. "Tree-climbing and water-walking are real simple; you can get them out of scrolls just fine. Library had everything. As long as you walk in wearing something that looks vaguely like a Konoha headband and chuunin jacket, they don't ask any questions. Don't worry sensei, I returned the scrolls after I was done with them."

Asuma was tempted to yell that it wasn't about the scrolls, Hiruma had broken the law, but he knew the blonde wouldn't care. So, he tried a different tack. "If you wanted additional lessons, why didn't you come to me?"

Hiruma's grin grew even broader. "I would've, but I didn't want to cut into your time with Kurenai-san."

Asuma spluttered and glared with killing intent at the boy, but even though the others wilted under the pressure of his will, the blonde remained annoyingly chipper. Asuma gave a huff and brought his temper under check. Really, what could he do? He couldn't exactly bawl out his genin for taking the initiative in training themselves. They'd probably advanced his training schedule by over a month. Still, he had to build some sort of trust with his team. They shouldn't have felt the need to go behind his back in the first place.

"I commend you on your initiative, but it was very wrong of you undertake this training without at least letting me know. Even if I couldn't always be here because of… other commitments… I'm still your jounin-sensei, and it is up to me to create a balanced training schedule."

Asuma focused specifically on Hiruma. "To be precise, it is up to me to ensure that my students have enough time to meet their commitments at home. Hiruma, you're an orphan, so you have quite a bit of freedom as to how you spend your time. But Kurita and Sena have clans with their own special and powerful jutsu that they can only master by training at home. While I think it's wonderful you want to spend time with your teammates, don't you think you're being rather selfish?"

"Naw, not really. Kurita has been practicing his clan techniques with me since our second year in the academy. It's never slowed him down any. He picks up the basics at home, and then polishes them up with me."

Kurita nodded affirmation. "Tha-that's right, Asuma-sensei. I'm used to practicing my clan techniques with Hiruma."

"Well, it isn't the Akimichi who are complaining. I just had Sena's father chewing my ear. He claims that Sena is getting worse with their clan's jyuuken style."

He noticed the girl turn bright red with embarrassment, as she tried to hide her face in the collar of her jacket.

Hiruma, though, simply smiled more widely. "Sensei, who's the best at taijutsu of the three of us?"

"That would be Sena." replied Asuma, wondering where this was going.

"By a big fucking margin." agreed Hiruma. "So, how's about you spar with her. Only this time, she's going to use only what her clan taught her."

Asuma blinked, then mentally kicked himself. He'd spotted the difference between Sena's style and the ones used by most Hyuuga, and had put it down as being a variant of the traditional jyuuken. He'd never even suspected that Sena might be using her own style.

He silently indicated that Sena should take her stance. Even as they squared off, Asuma could see the difference. There seemed to be a tenseness about Sena beyond her usual shyness. The girl had the air of a trapped animal. Once the spar started, the differences became more pronounced. She was still as fast and agile as before, and her jyuuken strikes were delivered with her usual speed and precision. But the whole performance was…. Uninspired. That's the word. No surprises, no innovation, purely mechanical. thought Asuma. Sena was going through motions that had been drilled into her for almost a decade, but there was no life in her moves. The biggest difference, Asuma noted, lay in her footwork and defense. The jyuuken style used an extremely steady stance from which the user could rapidly shift positions for both offense and defense. The defense consisted primarily of jyuuken blocks that simultaneously deflected and paralyzed an opponent's limbs, and rapid circular footwork to avoid what couldn't be blocked. It was a brutally elegant style developed over several generations. Sena's style was clearly rooted in the jyuuken, but she eschewed the defensive strikes entirely, preferring to dodge all her opponent's attacks. Her footwork reflected this, never standing still, always moving, trying to force opponents into a misstep. Where a traditional jyuuken user would do everything possible to close the distance, Sena would cheerfully allow her opponents to open up space, often doing it herself, before rushing in to close the distance again.

Her style was chaotic, unrefined, and full of holes, yet as Asuma sparred with her, he realized she was twice as effective using her homegrown style than when using the technically superior jyuuken.

Once the spar was finished – far too quickly – Asuma sighed. "All right, I get the picture. The traditional jyuuken doesn't suit Sena. But can't you talk to your father Sena? See if he can give you instruction in developing your new style?"

Sena mumbled something while staring at the ground. Hiruma stalked over to her, and delivered a sharp kick, eliciting a squeal from the girl. "Sensei asked you a question; let's hear the fucking answer, chibi-hime!"

Rubbing her backside, Sena glared at Hiruma before addressing herself to Asuma. "Father says as the Hyuuga heir I must master the jyuuken. He says I am a coward for not staying steady in the face of the enemy. It is true, both Neji-kun and Hanabi-kun have no trouble with the jyuuken. But I am a failure, I-I just c-cannot… I'm so sorry…"

"Alright, alright, I understand." Asuma cut her off before the girl started crying. Damn Hiashi and his stubbornness.

Asuma talked to the group as a whole, "Well, you three have managed to land me in a nice mess. Hiashi-sama is under the impression that Sena has been training under me all this time. When he finds out the truth, he'll hit the roof. What do you expect me to do then?"

"You're the fucking jounin-sensei. If you say we need the training, nothin' no one can do except shut up and bear it."

"To make that convincing, I'll actually have to be here six days a week. And unlike Gai and Kakashi, I actually happen to have a life. Seriously kid, six days a week? Don't you have games to play or books to read or something?"

All three smiled at this. "Don't worry sensei, we don't work all the time!" piped up Kurita. "In fact, we were going to play a game of football today, out on the river. Training's fun that way!"

"Well, sensei, if you're afraid of bein' bored, how about we set up some joint training with Kurenai-sensei's team?"

Asuma once more found himself delivering a futile glare at the infuriating blonde. "I don't know where you get your gossip, Hiruma. Me and Kurenai are just good friends! Nothing more!"

"Hai, hai, sensei. I was just saying, since you are 'good friends' it'll be more fun working with them than on our own. Plus, Kurenai-sensei is supposed to be a genjutsu mistress. I figure we can really learn quite a bit about genjutsu from her."

Asuma considered it. "I didn't know you were interested in genjutsu, Hiruma. With your chakra reserves, you'd be much better off specializing in ninjutsu."

"Are you kidding? Genjutsu lets you mindfuck your enemies using just a tiny bit of chakra. 'Course I'm interested. And even if I'm no good at it, she can still teach us how to go about spotting and breaking that shit. Not all of us got lucky enough to have the bakyugan. So, whaddaya say, sensei?"

Asuma considered it. It would be nice to have an excuse to hang around Kurenai at all hours of the day. Plus, he had a sinking feeling that if he refused, Hiruma would go bug Kurenai on his own.

"All right, I'll ask her. But!" Asuma held up a finger, and subjected his students to a glare of doom, "You will not go behind my back like this again. Not only is it annoying, it's dangerous!"

"Deal!" said Hiruma cheerfully, while the others shuffled their feet embarrassedly and muttered acquiescence.

Asuma sighed and wondered how, in the space of fifteen minutes, he'd gone from attempting to discipline some disobedient genin, to conspiring with them to deceive a clan head. He had little doubt he could persuade Kurenai to agree to the joint training. The only question was if she would forgive him afterwards.

o-o-o-o-o

(A few days later)

"GAAH! YOU BASTARD, WHAT THE FUCK?!" screamed Kiba, as he rolled on the ground clutching his face. Beside him, his nin-dog Akamaru also rolled on the ground, whining and scrabbling at its nose.

"Kekekeke! Feel the wrath of my Chili Powder Clones! Now die with your fucking eyes melting!" cackled Hiruma as he proceeded to deliver kicks to the downed boy's kidneys.

"All right, that's enough!" barked Kurenai. Hiruma immediately stepped away.

"Hai, Kurenai-san!"

Asuma sighed. Half an hour. That's exactly how long it had taken for the Inuzuka boy to lose his temper with Hiruma during their very first joint training session. Luckily, since Kiba had thrown the first punch, Kurenai couldn't blame Hiruma. But that just meant she'd find a reason to blame Asuma instead.

Sure enough: "Chili powder clones? What sort of stupid jutsu have you been teaching your genin, Asuma?"

Asuma held up his hands defensively. "I haven't taught them any jutsu, Kurenai-san. We just got through basic chakra control. That's Hiruma all the way."

"Well, where did he learn it then? It's been less than three weeks since they graduated! Come to think of it, how is it possible to make chili powder clones in the first place?"

"I have no idea. Hiruma, care to explain?"

"Hell, no. Shinobi's secret, sensei. But I will trade the info if Kurenai-san agrees to teach our team a cool genjutsu."

"What makes you think you can learn one of my genjutsu in the first place? It needs superb chakra control. Right now, Sakura's the only one on my team who's suitable." Sakura beamed with pride at this.

"Well, that's what the joint training is about ain't it? If we can't we can't, but if we can, you gotta teach us. That is, if you want the secret to the chili powder clone for you and your students."

"You don't mind letting my students know your secret?"

"In exchange for lessons from the great Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha? No problem!"

Kurenai blushed faintly at the flattery. At this point, the third member of her team, Shino Aburame, spoke up for the first time. "Sensei, it is your decision, but I must confess interest in this chili powder clone jutsu. Why? Because given its effect on Inuzuka noses, I think it will make a fine addition to our training." The high collar of his jacket prevented anyone from seeing Shino's expression, but there was a definite tinge of amusement in his voice.

"Oh, yes, please sensei!" chirped Sakura cheerfully.

"Traitors." mumbled Kiba, blinking tears from his bloodshot eyes.

"Well… alright then. Hiruma, you've got a deal."

"Kekeke… excellent! Gather around and pay attention! The chili powder clone is a combination of two ingredients. The first ingredient is a solid clone. Shadow clones like mine are best, but any solid clone will do. The second ingredient… is this!" with that Hiruma held aloft a paper tag.

"What's that?"

"Storage scroll containing a fuckload of chili powder."

There was a moment of absolute silence.

"THAT'S IT?" shrieked Sakura. "You just make a clone and let it hold chili powder?"

"Well, it takes a bit of practice to get the timing down right, but yeah, pretty much. Why, were you expecting clones made out of chili powder? That's flippin' impossible!"

Kurenai's attempt to glare the blonde into submission was interrupted by the snickers emanating from her boyfriend. "I suppose I should have warned you." chortled Asuma. "Making a deal with Hiruma is like making a deal with the devil. No matter how good it sounds, you're screwed in the end."

Kurenai let out of a soft chuckle. "Well, I suppose a deal's a deal. Genjutsu lessons, was it? Let's get started."

Something in her voice rang alarm bells in Asuma's head.

o-o-o-o-o

Late afternoon saw Team Asuma heading back home. Kurita was twitching like a spastic, constantly glancing all over the place with panicked eyes. Hiruma looked steady, but his jaw was clenched and his right eye was twitching. For the normally unflappable boy, this was the equivalent of a screaming fit. Sena was staring straight ahead, the veins around her over-large pale eyes showing the red bruises of Bakyugan over-usage. Every few seconds, she softly muttered a genjutsu-dispelling "Kai!" under her breath. Even their jounin-sensei Asuma looked haggard, as he puffed away like a chimney on his cigarette, trying to calm himself.

With one long, shuddering breath, Asuma finished one cigarette and used the burning stub to light another. "I hope you learned your lesson, Hiruma. Hell hath no fury like a pissed-off kunoichi."

The only response from Hiruma was a pained grunt.

"She's evil." Sena said in a soft, horrified whisper. "Only a sick, twisted mind could come up with that genjutsu. It takes almost ten seconds for even the Bakyugan to see through it. Kai!"

Asuma sighed. "In her defense, she didn't come up with it. She merely recreated something some of us jounin were unfortunate enough to witness."

All three genin looked at it him with horrified eyes.

"You mean that actually fucking happened?" snarled Hiruma.

"But… those eyebrows… the green spandex…. the hugging…oh Kami, the hugging! Kai!" whimpered Sena.

"I'll never think of a sunset on the beach the same way again. Where did that come from?" wailed Kurita.

Asuma sighed sadly. "None of you three have met Maito Gai and his student Rock Lee, have you? Well, at least you're now ready for the real thing."

"I'll get back at her." muttered Hiruma through clenched teeth. "I don't know when or how, but I promise it will be fucking epic."

Asuma patted the boy on the shoulder. "Normally I'd object, but I have to agree, this time Kurenai went too far. There are some depths no shinobi should stoop to. Weaponizing the Sunset of Youth – what was she thinking?"

A\N: Next chapter – C-Rank missions!