Before the Finals

Human World, Hanging Neck Island.

After Genkai's death and reincarnation, the members of Team Urameshi's entourage that felt Genkai's death, other than Irene and Erza, were confused when they saw her returning to the hotel with James, Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama.

Though they were surprised to see her alive, they were even more surprised to see that she had regained her youth. Eventually, it was explained to the group that James had resurrected her as a member of his peerage and they all nodded with some level of understanding.

"So, Genkai-San is like Irene and Erza, now?" Keiko asked.

Considering Keiko was a normal human in every sense of the word, James took the time to explain everything to her patiently.

"That's right." James replied with a nod. "She's become a devil just like the three of us."

"You, like them?" Hiei said with disdain. "Hmph! Don't make me laugh. You're still only a half---."

Before Hiei could finish what he was saying, an enormous amount of killing intent crashed down on him, stopping his words in his throat. Feeling the massive amount of killing intent, Hiei's eyes opened wide while his Jagan began to glow brightly through his head band.

"If you want to live long enough to fight in the finals, Hiei, I suggest you don't finish that sentence." James said in a menacing tone. "You, of all people, should know what it's like to be made an outcast for being different."

As he spoke, James glanced at Yukina for the briefest of moments. A moment so brief, in fact, that no one, other than Hiei noticed.

Seeing that glance, Hiei knew that he had said too much. Considering that he was exiled as an infant just for being born a male, James was right. Of course, Hiei was too proud to admit that he had said something he should not have.

"Hmph!" Hiei snorted, looking away from James' intense glare. "Just an empty threat."

Even though he said it was an empty threat, Hiei made sure not to finish whatever it was he said before James interrupted him. Noticing that, James smiled and retracted his killing intent.

While the less experienced members of the group thought that Hiei had backed off because he knew he was in the wrong, which was true, the more experienced fighters looked at James with shock in his eyes.

'Holy shit!' Yusuke thought. 'It wasn't even directed at me, and I can feel the back of my shirt is soaked in my sweat.'

'How can one teenage condense so much killing intent?' Kurama thought. 'What's even more terrifying is that it did not leak away from Hiei at all.'

'He's gotten even better at controlling his aura than the last time he showed it off.' Genkai thought as she stared at James. 'It's easy to see why Master Scathach is so proud of him.'

"Anyway, what do you guys plan to do for the rest of the night?" James asked the rest of the group with a smile.

"I'll go for a walk, I've got a lot to think about." Kurama said in a calm tone.

"I think I'll go for a walk, too." Kuwabara said. "I spent all day in the room today. So, I'll take the chance to stretch my legs for a bit."

Nodding in understanding, James then turned his head toward Yusuke.

"I'd suggest you get some rest, Yusuke." James said with a smile. "Tomorrow, you'll be sparring with me all day."

"Seriously?" Yusuke asked in a tone of disbelief. "Why?"

"If you don't want to spar with J, then you can spar with me." Genkai said in her usual tone.

"Okay, hold on." Yusuke said, holding up a hand toward Genkai. "Why are you still talking with that old hag voice when you look so young?"

Although no one else would have ever said anything about it, they all had to admit that Genkai using the same voice she used before her reincarnation was a bit weird.

"Clearly because it bothers you, Dimwit." Genkai said casually, letting her voice change to a much younger sounding version. "There, is that better?"

"Damn it, Genkai..." Yusuke said in an annoyed tone. "Did hearing so many of J's stupid jokes over the past three months affect your sense of humor, too?"

Ignoring Yusuke's question, Genkai stared at her disciple.

"*Sigh* I'll spar with you then, Old Hag." Yusuke said while shaking his head.

"Seriously?" James said in a genuinely shocked tone. Then, he shrugged his shoulders and let it go. "Well, at least you have me and Yukina here to fix your broken body tomorrow."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Yusuke asked with a bit of fear in his tone.

"Well, not only did Genkai regain her youth and return to her peak after she was reincarnated." James said, beginning his explanation. "But due to the [Evil Piece], or the [Pawn Pieces] to be exact, she gained a small boost to her overall capabilities."

"On top of that, when I was at my pea, I was at the low A-Class, or the initial-level of the ultimate-rank, and with the boost of the [Evil Pieces] I can feel that I've almost reached the advanced-level."

"And if it's anything like when I was reincarnated, Master Genkai will need a bit of time to regain full control over her power usage and output." Irene added.

"Ah, I remember, I also had a bit of trouble controlling my strength properly after I was reincarnated." Erza chipped in.

Hearing what the four devils had to say, Yusuke began to pale. Then, he looked at Genkai and spoke once again.

"I think I'll train with J instead." Yusuke said in an extremely serious tone.

"Oh, you think you can just decline my offer then come back to accept it whenever it suits you?" James said with a mischievous smile on his face. "Sorry Kid, but that ship has sailed already."

Hearing James' response, Yusuke paled even further. Meanwhile, Kuwabara laughed at Yusuke's misfortune while Keiko looked at him in worry.

After that, like they said they would, Kuwabara and Kurama went for a walk while the rest of the group chatted and drank. Eventually, shortly after Kurama and Kuwabara returned, they all decided to turn in for the night.

The next morning, the day before the finals of the Dark Martial Arts Tournament, right after breakfast, Yusuke was dragged out of the hotel by Genkai for their training session. And just as James had mentioned the night before, he and Yukina followed them to provide any necessary healing.

Kuwabara stayed in the room, continuing his energy control training. By now, he had finally been able to coat three fingers in his energy and dip them in the water without disturbing the surface. But making it four fingers was still eluding him.

Meanwhile, Kurama was in his own room experimenting with an item he received during his walk from the night before from a source that he did not expect.

===Flashback===

After leaving the hotel, Kuwabara and Kurama walked together in silence for a while. However, that silence was broken when a voice spoke to them.

"Shouldn't the two of you be training or something?" A somewhat familiar voice said from the darkness.

Taking their combat stances, Kuwabara and Kurama readied themselves for a fight, considering that most of the demons on this island wanted Team Urameshi dead.

"Please, calm down, would you?" The voice said as he stepped into the moonlight. "Since my team has been eliminated, I'm more on your side than anyone else's."

"Hey, that's the clown from yesterday, right?" Kuwabara asked.

Although they both somewhat recognized the voice, they could not get a good look at the face under the face paint after James fought him, since his face was so swollen after the fight.

"What do you want, Suzuka?" Kurama asked, still not dropping his vigilance.

"As I'm sure you are aware, I was the one who created the items that my team used against you in our match." Suzuka said, holding a pair of items, a bottle with a golden liquid and a sword hilt, towards Kurama and Kuwabara. "And I think these will help you defeat your opponents in the finals."

"But why would you help us?" Kurama asked, eying the bottle with curiously.

"Because I want revenge." Suzuka said. "In the past, Toguro defeated me while only using three percent of his repugnant strength. Then, when he did, he left me alive, the greatest insult of my life. On top of that, he called my creations useless."

===Flashback End===

Like Yusuke and Genkai, Hiei also left the hotel to continue his own training. Unlike Yusuke and Genkai, however, he chose to train alone.

Returning to the sight where Genkai and Toguro fought the day before, Hiei was amazed by the crater that was present after the fight. From what he had heard from Genkai, that crater was cause by one of Toguro's punches.

Thinking himself Toguro's equal, at the very least, Hiei coated his right hand in his demonic energy. Then, he leapt high into the air. Once he reached the peak of his jump, he allowed gravity to do its thing. A moment later, Hiei's fist slammed into the ground a distance away from the edge of the crater Toguro created.

An instant after the collision, the ground around Hiei began to collapse, creating another crater. Before Hiei fell with the rest of the collapsing ground, he jumped away and watched the destruction his punch brought to the land. And when he saw the extent of the devastation and compared it to what Toguro had done, he was more than a little annoyed.

"This is impossible." Hiei muttered to himself in both annoyance and disappointment.

Taking a step back, one would be able to see the two craters in the ground. And if one were to look at the crater that Hiei's punch created, they would see that it was a little more than half the size of the crater Toguro had created.

Seeing these results, Hiei naturally pushed himself even harder in his training. And like that, the day passed without issue. There were no more sneak attacks or any other interactions between Team Urameshi and Team Toguro.

Eventually, night fell on Hanging Neck Island. While most of the people who were still on the island were simply looking forward to the finals of the Dark Tournament that would take place tomorrow, Team Toguro was in the suite of a hotel that was different from the one Team Urameshi stayed in. As they either meditated or simply relaxed, Toguro sat with a glass of orange juice in his hand while he looked out into the night sky.

'So, that boy reincarnated her as a devil, huh?' Toguro thought to himself. 'This better not keep Yusuke from reaching his full potential. Otherwise, I might do something that boy will regret.'

As Toguro was lost in his thoughts, a spike in spirit energy caught his attention and made him focus on the scenery outside the window of his suite. A moment later, a thick ray of spirit energy was fired into the sky and caused the few clouds hanging over the island to disperse.

Recognizing the spirit energy as Yusuke's Toguro smiled before taking a sip from his glass of orange juice.

'Good, it looks like I won't be disappointed.' Toguro thought to himself after seeing the display of power. 'It looks like I won't have to hunt you and everyone you know and love down after the tournament ends.'

Like most of the others on the island, Toguro did not know about James' true identity. However, since he had only been working in the human world as a gun for hire for rich humans over the last fifty years, it would not be such a surprise to any of the high rollers in the supernatural world that he had no idea who James really was.

However, like everyone else on the island, Toguro would get the chance to figure out James' identity before the finals were completed. Since things would not go as smoothly as everyone expected tomorrow.