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

Sorry for the delay, I'd been planning an update for weeks but I'm a professional procrastinator.

okamiamateratsu8: Thanks for reminding me about Hiruma's character quirks. But a lot of them are very over-the-top and I want a slightly serious tone for the story. I'll try to keep them, but I don't want it to feel forced.

Suntan140: The football mention was a shout-out to ES21, but I'm not going to actually put a football game in a story about ninjas. Not unless it's relevant ;)

To everyone else who reviewed, even if I don't respond, be assured I read them all.

Fanfic Recommendation: WHITE by The Dish. It is awesome. www fanfiction net/s/9296210/1/WHITE

On with the story! Please review!

It was a hot morning in late summer in the village of Konoha. Training ground 17 was clear – until, in a blur of wind and leaves, jounin-sensei Asuma Sarutobi appeared on the scene. He was followed within a second by a gray blur, which stopped exactly ten feet behind him to reveal a short girl, about 4'5" with large pupil-less lavender eyes and short black hair, wearing dark trousers and a full-sleeved gray top. Two seconds later, an orange flash resolved itself into a skinny blond boy of around 4'10" in bright orange jacket and sweats, standing to the left of the girl.

The group waited for three seconds, before yet another fast-moving blur joined them. This boy was 5'3" with black hair and a round face, and looked big enough to eat the other two and have room to spare. Unlike the others, who had stopped with pinpoint precision, the large boy skidded, stumbled, and almost face-planted before finding his balance and lining up beside the orange-clad boy. This boy was dressed in earth tones of brown and green.

Asuma turned around and inspected his genin team, trying to keep his pride off his face. One full lap around Konoha matching his pace using nothing but the Shushin less than two weeks after he had started teaching them the technique. True, Kurita could still use some more practice, but he had kept up, and that's what was important. There was really no other way of putting it – Team Asuma was more than ready for their first C-rank mission.

He looked at three children whose lives were in his hand. Sena was standing shyly and looking at the ground, but there was an ocean of difference between this girl and the one who had first started training six weeks ago. A casual observer wouldn't notice – "And apparently, neither does her family", thought Asuma sarcastically – but this girl was at peace with herself. It was a far cry from true self-confidence, but Sena, after much help from her team, had come to terms with her faults rather than beating herself up over them. She had also ditched her bulky jacket for a simpler top. Having Kurita drag her down by the jacket and sit on her three spars in a row seemed to have had its effect. Kurita was the same as ever, a big soft-hearted fellow who worried about everything. He was now considerably more decisive in combat, but he still preferred to remain a passive observer rather than try and assert himself. The leader of the trio, Hiruma, was looking directly at Asuma with a knowing smirk on his face. The boy had been agitating for weeks for a C-rank mission, and he knew Asuma had no further reason to hold them back.

Truth be told, Asuma could have taken his team out on a C-rank almost a month ago. Thanks to Hiruma's forcing the entire team into a training schedule far beyond what Asuma had planned, the team had mastered water-walking within a few weeks of graduation, and had perfected all basic team drills even earlier. All three students had complete control over the Academy techniques, and Hiruma had actually managed to cut his Kawarimi from five hand-signs to three. Their cross-training with Team Kurenai had also paid off – all three had greatly improved their genjutsu recognition, and Kurenai had indicated that Sena, and maybe even Hiruma, could eventually learn to cast genjutsu in battle. And this wasn't even talking about Sena and Kurita's clan techniques, and whatever skills Hiruma had picked up on the side. Truth be told, even Asuma wasn't sure exactly what Hiruma could do. He knew the kid could make his own storage and explosive seals, but he also knew Hiruma had his shadow clones running around researching lots of things besides Fuinjutsu.

In spite of their capabilities, Asuma had insisted all three learn the Shushin before he take them out of the village. This was not because he expected them to use it in battle – it took years of practice to refine the Shushin to the point where it could be used in a fight. He wanted them to learn it so that they could retreat when a mission went sour. Asuma hadn't survived 15 years as a shinobi without learning that no matter how careful you were, sooner or later a mission was going to blow up in your face. If it ever happened to his genin team, he wanted his kids to have the option of running the fuck away.

True, there were those in the village who would be less than pleased over how much care he was taking in preparing his team. To be precise, one particular member of his team. "Well, I am following their instructions to the letter. If they don't like it, fuck 'em." Asuma thought with cold satisfaction.

(Begin flashback)

Asuma watched the Hokage's advisory council and several clan heads leave the Hokage's office, then turned to his father, fury etched in his face. "You cannot be serious. Are you really going to sit there and let them tell me to backstab one of my students? This is not what I signed up as jounin-sensei for! Hells, I thought you liked Hiruma!"

"Do not be angry, Asuma. You have to see things from their perspective. Hiruma's childhood has given him no reason to love Konoha. The incident with the forbidden scroll, instead of proving his loyalty, just underlined how dangerous even an untrained Hiruma Uzumaki is. They look at him and they see a powerful, clever, unscrupulous, manipulative youngster. Konoha knew a genin like him once before, and it didn't end well."

It took Asuma a few seconds to realize who his father was talking about. "Orochimaru? You have to be joking!"

"Is it such a laughable thought?"

His father's somber tone caused Asuma to pause and think carefully. Slowly, he spoke: "I will admit there are certain common points between him and Hiruma. But I remember the snake from my early days. The sannin might have been a legendary team, but Orochimaru always stood apart from his teammates. Hiruma is, if anything, the exact opposite. He clings to his teammates like a drowning man to a piece of wood. I can't see him betraying Konoha, not if it means hurting Kurita and Sena."

"That is now. They are worried what will happen if he ever becomes powerful enough to defy the village. You know there was a movement to confine him solely to training with the Kyuubi's power, a human weapon to be used and then locked away."

"That idea was stupid then and its stupid now, and you know it. No one can predict the future, but I do know that Hiruma's smart enough to know if I try to jerk around with his team's training, and then he'll really have a reason to hate us."

"I'm glad you feel that way, since I completely agree."

Asuma opened his mouth to argue further, then spluttered to a halt. He gaped at his father for a moment, then seemed about to ask something else, before closing his mouth once more as a thoughtful look came over his features. "The council is an advisory body. You did not veto their advice, but neither did you order me to follow it."

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave his son a serene smile over steepled fingers.

"You realize that it's my neck on the line? But then, you've never shied away from sacrificing your own blood, have you?"

The Hokage's smile slipped, but he didn't say anything. There really was nothing to say.

(End flashback)

Asuma allowed himself a small smile as he surveyed his team. They wanted him to hold Hiruma back? Well, technically, he was holding him back by teaching him D-rank jutsu like the Shushin, given the kid's chakra reserves were provably adequate for B-rank ninjutsu. Never mind that few genin so young knew the Shushin. And if Hiruma were to pick up fuinjutsu, or genjutsu, or demolitions on the side – well, what his genin did outside of training was none of his business.

"Alright, brats, a deal's a deal. You guys managed to learn the Shushin, so we are picking up our first C-rank mission today."

Kurita and Sena looked nervous, Hiruma's smirk turned into a shark's grin as he threw his arms into the air with an exultant "YA-HA!"

o-o-o-o-o

When Team Asuma showed up at the missions desk, the Hokage was there to greet them. This did not surprise Asuma. He knew his father usually spent several hours a day hanging around the missions desk, either in person or as a shadow clone. There, he always had a kind word for the shinobi who came to pick up and report back on missions, no matter how low-ranked. It was the Hokage's way of keeping in touch with the common ninja.

Iruka Umino seemed to have the duty today. "Yo, Iruka-sensei, great to see ya. How's the fucking hand?"

"Language, Hiruma. And the hand's fine, thank you for asking. So, we have a dog-walking job, or a fence-painting…."

"None o' that crap! Today, the Devil Bats take their first C-rank! Let the world tremble!"

Iruka looked in shock at Hiruma, then glanced at Asuma, who nodded confirmation. "What have you got in the C-rank lists today?"

"But…but it hasn't even been two months since graduation…" protested Iruka.

The Hokage spoke up from behind the man: "Now, now Iruka, Team Kakashi came by to pick up a C-rank mission over a week ago. I suppose the genin in this class are just naturally gifted."

"That lazy-ass Shikamaru actually agreed to a C-rank this early? What's the world coming to?"

"I do believe it was Sasuke Uchiha and Ino Yamanaka who pushed for it." replied the Hokage cheerfully.

Iruka, frowning disapproval, glanced at the coding on the side of a random C-rank scroll. "Caravan escort work for you?"

"We're not picky." replied Asuma, as he snagged the scroll and walked out, his team following on his heels. There were several small meeting rooms near the missions desk, just for teams to have meetings. Asuma picked an empty one. His genin team automatically checked for eavesdroppers, Sena briefly activating her bakyugan. Once they had ensured their privacy, Asuma opened the scroll and looked through the contents. "Alright, seems simple enough. There's two wagonloads of weapons due to leave town. Swords, spears, shields, and crossbows. The shipment is meant for local militias in four nearby towns in the Fire Kingdom. According to the schedule, the caravan will make stops every four or five days, the last stop being twenty days' journey from here. Or in shinobi terms, a four-day run. The last two towns are near the Earth kingdom border, so we'll have to be on our toes there. You guys have the rest of the day to pack, I'll go talk to the caravan boss. Meet me at the gates tomorrow at six. Dismissed."

o-o-o-o-o

Morning saw Team Asuma assembled by the gates, along with two medium-sized horse-drawn wagons weighed down with their loads. As the caravan-master set about seeing to last-minute preparations, Asuma checked his genin team's packs. Given the length of the mission, some may have been surprised at how little the team was carrying. This was because every member of the team, including Asuma, had access to storage scrolls. Sena and Kurita got them from their clans, and Asuma and Hiruma knew how to make their own. Asuma checked everyone's packs, raising his eyebrows at some of the more unusual contents. He thought Sena was going a bit light on weapons, but that's the Hyuuga for you. Kurita had a fairly well-balanced pack, with the addition of several high-volume scrolls containing nothing but food. Hiruma had far more kunai and shuriken than normal, along with, for some reason, a spear, and he seemed to have packed enough explosive tags to account for a small grove of trees. He also had some resistance seals, durability seals, and a seal-making kit. Looks like he's farther along with fuinjutsu than I thought. These are all pretty basic seals, but not even most chuunin know them.

Personal idiosyncrasies aside, all his genin had packed everything that could be remotely useful – a feat possible only due to having no weight limits. I think I'll file a petition to make the storage seal part of the academy syllabus. Kids don't need to understand fuinjutsu to draw a seal by rote. Satisfied that his team was as ready as they could get, he went over to inform the caravan master that they were ready to start. Within an hour, Team Asuma had left Konoha on their first C-rank mission.

o-o-o-o-o

Around the same time that the wagons were leaving the village, Hiruma Uzumaki's clone sat down in the darkness of his apartment with all the windows closed, only a small lamp for light. While many people knew of his shadow clones, right now he had reasons not to let anyone know that he had left clones behind in Konoha.

It was an experiment for him to see just how disparate experiences can be combined using shadow clones. In the previous weeks, he had figured out that clones transferred their memories to him when dispelling. So far, he had mostly used clones to help him with whatever he happened to be doing at the time, at most having clones on one other project. Now, though, he had four clones in Konoha, each working on something different. He had also figured out that having a clone active for more than 24 hours resulted in severe migraines and disorientation, so orders were for each clone to make a clone of itself before dispelling at the 24-hr mark. Hiruma judged that in this way, he could safely operate clones for 4 days before they disappeared due to chakra exhaustion.

This particular clone had holed itself up in Hiruma's apartment, and was working on fuinjutsu. The clone rubbed its head, wishing it had been assigned to something easier. There was a reason why true sealing expertise was such a rarity. Most seal-users were hackers, learning seals by rote and combining pre-existing seals to achieve new effects. Actually creating a seal from the ground up was an entirely different story. Seals were like hand-signs, in that they were both tools for molding chakra. Hand-signs, however, were a focusing tool, used as a guide for the brain in molding chakra. With enough practice, it was possible to do away with signs entirely, molding chakra for a jutsu with will alone. Seals, on the other hand, were an actual physical circuit for the chakra to flow through. The snag being, chakra was a force that existed in three or more dimensions, while seals were two-dimensional. The mind-bending mathematics required to express an n-dimensional reality in two-dimensional form was the reason why so few people ever tried to learn true sealing.

Hiruma, however, was adamant. Partly because of pride in his own intellect - fuinjutsu was the most intellectually demanding of the shinobi arts, harder than cryptography, and it was only right and proper that he learn it. Partly, it was a way of claiming back some of his lost heritage – asking around under a Henge had quickly turned up the information that the Uzumaki were an extinct clan of seal-masters from the destroyed hidden village of Uzushio.

Mostly, though, Hiruma wanted to learn sealing because it was just so incredibly efficient. Seals cost chakra to create, but once made they could be activated at any time with only a spark of power. They could allow a shinobi to remain a threat long after he had emptied his chakra reserves. Hell, it had been repeatedly proven that you could lock away a bijuu with pen, paper, and a suitable container.

Now, which idea to pursue first? A durability seal capable of strengthening shadow clones, seals with a dead-man switch method of activation, or further improvements to the explosive tags he called Widowmakers? Decisions, decisions…

o-o-o-o-o

At about the same time, two nondescript chuunin made their up the steps of an apartment complex. They stopped outside a door – the door belonging to Kurenai Yuhi. Finding her address had been frighteningly easy. The two carefully checked for traps, before one of the shinobi transformed into a long spool of wire. Such a transformation would have been impossible for a flesh-and-blood shinobi, but as chakra constructs, shadow clones had far more flexible limits. The second man took the wire and carefully fed it in through the keyhole. Once the entire wire had been passed through, the clone in the apartment transformed back and got to work.

The second clone headed for the library. Hiruma had an ongoing research in natural remedies and poisons. A lot of the most powerful poisons and herbs were either very rare or secret to the Nara and Yamanaka clans. But there were several weaker substances that could be found around Konoha without too much difficulty. He couldn't kill anyone with the stuff he'd developed so far, but they could weaken and disorient an opponent. Paradoxically, few shinobi bothered developing immunity to the weaker poisons, meaning they were actually more likely to work than some of the well-known combat venoms. Plus, there were some toxins no one could become fully immune to. At the same time, he had decided he needed to develop a more original delivery system – poison-coated throwing weapons was something any shinobi watched out for. Well, one thing at a time. Poisons first, delivery system later. Hiruma didn't know why more ninja didn't try and learn about poisons, they were just so efficient.

o-o-o-o-o

The fourth and last clone had the simplest task. Heading for a secluded training ground under a Henge, it got to work on chakra control. If jounin Maito Gai was a fanatic for physical training, Hiruma was a fanatic for chakra control. Better chakra control opened up hitherto inaccessible branches of the shinobi arts, in particular medical jutsu and genjutsu. But even without that, it simply made everything more efficient.

o-o-o-o-o

It was evening of the first day on the road, and Asuma observed Hiruma, Sena and Kurita all sitting by the campfire with leaves stuck all over their body. "Chakra control again, guys?" the jounin asked genially.

"Can't stop practicing. Kurenai-san says that I got the right type of mind for genjutsu and Sena already has the control for it. I want to start on that when we get back." came the reply from Hiruma.

At the mention of his lady love Asuma grew pensive. I wonder what Kurenai's doing now.

o-o-o-o-o

At that very moment, Kurenai was vowing to castrate whichever motherless son of a bitch had booby-trapped her shower with pink dye. Striding out of the bathroom in a fury, she ran face-first into the trap storage scroll on the bathroom door. In fairness to her, the reason she hadn't spotted the trap going in was because it hadn't been there at the time. The clone had concealed itself as an item on her shoe rack and had ghosted forward to set the trap as soon as she had gone in.

Now, the clone transformed itself into the form of a masked human, in order to have eyes to fully appreciate the sight of a naked Kurenai Yuhi covered in permanent pink dye and flailing in a mixture of glue, rotten eggs and chicken feathers. The clone dispelled itself before Kurenai could react to its presence. Now, that was a memory worth keeping. As it dispelled, the clone idly wondered which of the other traps Kurenai would step in next – the dead fish inside her sleeping mattress, the blocked sewage pipe, the itching powder in the bandages she wrapped herself in, the rubbing alcohol soaking her spare underwear, or the hallucinogens in the drinking water.

A shame he couldn't stay to find out.

o-o-o-o-o

(Three weeks later)

Team Asuma watched as the contents of the last wagon was received by their proper recipients. Asuma accepted the payment for a successful mission. As soon as the team was out of sight of the clients, Hiruma threw up his hands in frustration. "That was fucking BORING! Threw weeks trampling horseshit and nothing fucking happened! I've had more fun D-ranks than this!"

Asuma lit a philosophical cigarette. "When you've been at this business as long as I have, you learn to appreciate the quiet missions for what they are – a blessing from Kami."

"Fucking hell, we take these missions to get experience. What kind of experience was this? When we heard rumors of bandits on that last stretch of road I thought we'd see some action, but even that fizzled out."

"Now, now Hiruma. We should be happy we didn't run into bandits. Bandits are scary… ow!" Kurita stopped talking as an infuriated Hiruma kicked him in the shin.

"Shut up, I got a plan. Hey, Asuma-sensei, there's no urgent reason for us to rush back to Konoha. What say we get on our Henge, and go back down that bit of road and fish for bandits?"

Asuma considered it. Truth be told, he had been looking forward to seeing his team perform under fire. Not to mention, without the caravan to worry about, things were actually safer than before.

"Alright, I guess we can, but we'd better plan this carefully…"

o-o-o-o-o

Four days later, a middle-aged man looking like a well-off civilian, accompanied by his plump young apprentice, a teenaged daughter, and a young maidservant were walking down the road. All of a sudden, half a dozen ragged-looking men jumped out of the bushes, armed with swords and clubs. Some of them were wearing bits of leather armor, but most were in ordinary clothes.

"Your money or your –"

The exclamation was cut short as a kunai buried itself in the speaker's throat. Hiruma, dropping his Henge, sent a second kunai into another man's eye, dropping him like a rock. Asuma, sticking to the plan, Kawarimi'd out of the ambush and into position to oversee his genin's performance and act as reserve. Sena used a strike to the wrist to disarm the man nearest her, then a jyuuken strike to throat and neck to drop him. Kurita, in a blink of an eye, suddenly grew over ten feet tall and grabbed the nearest bandit in a bone-crushing bear hug.

The last two men seemed too shocked to respond, and Hiruma was just drawing another kunai when Sena let out a shout: "ARCHERS!"

Hiruma didn't hesitate, diving to the ground as arrows buzzed above him. He heard a cry of pain from Kurita, but he didn't have time to look. Even as he fell, he formed his fingers in a non-standard cross-sign and pumped chakra into the jutsu. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

With a puff of smoke, six clones appeared in formation around the primary. Almost immediately, one puffed into smoke as an arrow ripped through its skull.

Hiruma looked up and counted four archers about fifty feet away. Three were struggling to hit anything now that the targets were aware and maneuvering. The fourth archer, in an incongruous display of speed and skill, fired off two more arrows before anyone could respond, tearing apart two more clones.

The three remaining clones responded with a hail of Shadow Kunai, shredding one of the archers and injuring a second. Unfortunately, not only was the dangerous one unhurt, he had fired off another arrow as he danced around the clones' attack, popping yet another clone.

Gritting his teeth against the pain of losing four clones in rapid succession, Hiruma decided it was the ideal time to field test his new device. Drawing an unusual-looking kunai, Hiruma dashed towards the archers, his remaining clones running interference. By the time his last clone popped, he had closed the distance to less than forty feet. Diving to the ground once more, he used his forward momentum to launch the kunai at the master bowman, while shouting out one word: "WIDOWMAKER!" It was not the name of a technique, but rather a warning to his teammates.

The kunai that left his hand was unusual in that it was made of wood. The blade was intricately painted, while the handle had lead rings to lend the device some weight. It did not fly as fast as a regular kunai, and the target had no trouble getting out of the way. That was when Hiruma released a chakra pulse, activating the seals on the blade.

Early in his sealing career, Hiruma had realized that it was not strictly necessary to make seals on sealing paper with chakra-infused ink. Any chakra-conductive medium would do. Alternate media includes blood, the body of living creatures, and chakra-conductive metal. In the case of the kunai, it was made from the same chakra-infused wood that is used to make sealing tags and chakra paper. It was not a very efficient medium for sealing, but it was adequate for the two simple seals that Hiruma had inked onto the blade. The first seal was a storage scroll that unraveled to release a few pounds of loose four-inch nails. The second seal, designed to activate a tiny fraction of a second after the first, was a garden-variety explosive tag. Together, they were the Widowmaker.

Hiruma felt the buzz of stray shrapnel passing over his head. Someone was screaming. Looking around without lifting his head, he realized the screams were coming from one of the archers. As for the rest of the goons, Sena and Kurita had taken them down even before the Widowmaker had gone off. Now, his two teammates got up off the ground, and Hiruma saw an arrow sticking out of the fleshy part of Kurita's arm. Looking around and realizing the fight was over, Kurita focused on the wound and concentrated. Dropping the Multi-Size jutsu, the carefully controlled contraction forced the arrowhead out of his flesh. Kurita promptly set about washing and binding the wound. Sena looked completely unhurt, if a little frazzled by the blast. Sighing in relief to see his teammates safe, Hiruma started looking for their sensei. I really hope he didn't get caught in the blast…

Asuma, it transpired, had been circling around to flank the archers, but had been well-concealed enough to be protected from the shrapnel. Of the four archers, only one had survived the blast. He was the one doing the screaming because a nail had lodged in his groin. The lead archer who had given Hiruma so much grief had been the closest to the blast. His corpse was recognizable as human and not much else.

After securing the prisoners (two of them), the group headed for the bandit's base camp. On the way there, Asuma lectured Sena on the importance of staying alert for reinforcements. The reason the archers had gotten so close to total surprise was because they had been out of Sena's sight when she had spotted the first six bandits, and she hadn't been sweeping as diligently as she should have, so focused was she on the enemies she knew of. Sena started to stutter apologies, and Hiruma shouted at her to stop apologizing and start practicing.

It turned out the bandits had left two members to guard their camp. This time, Sena spotted them well in advance, and the fight was over before it even started. Asuma had no further interest in messing around. The number of prisoners increased to three, the group then salvaged whatever they could from the bandits, before burying the bodies. They headed to the nearest town to drop off their prisoners before heading for home.

o-o-o-o-o

(Three days later)

Team Asuma returned to Konoha with a minimum of fuss. They should have been filled with the pride of a successful mission, but both Sena and Kurita were still coming to terms with the lives they had taken in the course of the fighting. Hiruma had killed more than the two of them put together, but if he was bothered by it, he showed no signs. Instead, his attention through the last few days had been occupied by a novelty.

As the team traveled to the missions office, their passage was accompanied by a strange twanging noise. "Hiruma, you've been playing with that for three days. Are you seriously planning to learn how to use it?"

"You bet I am sensei! With this shit, I'll be able to outrange 99.9% of all known shinobi techniques. Why wouldn't I learn how to fucking use it?"

Three of the archers had used shortbows commonly found in Fire. The leader, though, had used something rarely seen in Konoha – a powerful compound hunting bow straight from the smithies of Iron. A weapon like that usually sold for thousands of ryo. As far as Hiruma was concerned, it was another weapon that gave him an edge over the local opposition. The problem being, practically no one in Konoha used bows. Still, Hiruma was sure he could find someone who could figure the thing out.

After they had finished reporting in, Hiruma suddenly spoke up: "Asuma-sensei, when you see Kurenai-san next, be sure to be sympathetic."

"Sympathetic? Why?"

"You'll figure it out. It was like I said, fucking epic."

A\N: What is this? A mission which went according to plan and where the opposition was within parameters? What will we crazy fanfic writers think of next?

This chapter had a lot of focus on what Hiruma is up to in his spare time. This doesn't mean that Kurita and Sena are slacking off, its just that Hiruma is yet to apply his particular brand of out-of-the-box thinking to their training, which means their skills are still within 'normal' parameters.