Naruto: Paradise for One [R-18]

When Saul and Hinata went to pick up Yakumo, he could sense it. Hinata was now mostly unbothered. She still held onto his arm as they walked, but when they approached the door the girl let him go. She stepped back intentionally, maintaining a respectful distance and smiling at him. This girl was going to get lots of love later.

*Knock knock*

"I'm coming!" Yakumo's excited voice rang out.

She opened the door smiling. The woman was literally glowing as she looked at him, radiating gold with flecks of pink. An unconscious release of her Genjutsu?

"Good morning Saul! And, Hinata." She bowed towards the latter.

"Morning." Saul greeted with a smile, while Hinata waved politely.

The three met up with Kurenai and completed another D-Rank mission. During their time at the training grounds however, he denied invitations to train with both Hinata and Yakumo.

"Kurenai-Sensei." Saul bowed.

Today, Kurenai had dark bags under her eyes. She hadn't slept much; he imagined. She also seemed to be nursing a headache. Saul handed her a bottle of water.

"Are you hungover?"

Kurenai accepted the water with a stressed smile. "You could tell?"

"Mhmm" Saul made a sound of affirmation.

She sighed, before taking a drink of the water. This thoughtful student of hers wasn't all that bad it seemed. When he wasn't out doing his own thing. He was patient as well.

After she finished the bottle, Kurenai handed it back to him. "So? What is it? Usually you like to train with Hinata."

Saul nodded. "Sensei, the Chunin exams are coming up. From the spars I've had, I've noticed a glaring flaw in my combat style."

Kurenai nodded.

"I have gotten quite good at the body flicker jutsu. Mobility is not a problem. I also like to fight with my clones almost exclusively, as this reduces the risk I take by quite a bit."

Now this boy was talking about being adverse to risk? Where had this mindset gone in Yakumo's case! It was a good mindset to have, but Kurenai had to correct this early. She didn't want him to become overly cautious - or Konoha would not be able to trust him with harder missions in the future.

"All Ninja risk their lives, Saul. You must be prepared to as well. There are many things a shadow clone cannot do - even one clone halves your chakra. This can leave your real body more vulnerable to certain jutsu if you're not careful. Shadow clones cannot take any injury either. What if you're tasked to guard a noble, and your clone is dispelled due to a minor wound?"

Saul had to concede to the first point she made - if he didn't use his clones effectively that could technically be an issue. He would make sure to keep that in mind. As for the second however - Saul never quit his dispersion resistance training. Only injuries that would normally be debilitating would cause his clones to disperse. If his real body took such an injury, he would have no choice but to flee.

"I will keep your words in mind, Kurenai sensei." He bowed before continuing, "My mobility is not a problem, and my transformations are always getting better and better. These allow me to escape danger and ambush more effectively. However, even though my skill in Taijutsu is getting quite good, opponents who outclass me in both speed and strength to a certain extent will simply overpower me and my clones."

Saul took out his Kunai, examining the glinting blade as it flickered under the sunlight, "With those opponents, I have no choice but to resort to more... Lethal methods. The mind body palm is too unwieldy for use in combat. I cannot make the hand seal to body flicker to my enemy, and then take the time to cast the mind body palm. Yet Genjutsu is my only other method of dealing with such opponents, in the case I do not want to kill them."

He looked towards her, "Can you teach me a long range Genjutsu, Kurenai Sensei? Yakumo could use such an option as well."

Kurenai sighed. She had once been in this exact same position. Being a woman had left her physically weaker than her male counterparts. And while she was a genius of Genjutsu, actually applying it in combat was a different matter.

"There is no long range equivalent for the Mind-Body Palm, currently. The only exception to this, which allows one to cast a full, comprehensive Genjutsu is the Sharingan. It is the only Genjutsu that offers a similar level of control from range. The Uchiha were mostly wiped out."

That was funny, coming from her. Soon she'd eat her own words.

Kurenai continued, "As you know with Genjutsu, the most important factor when it comes to combat is transmission. Your chakra must enter the body of your opponent for it to take any effect."

He nodded. "The mind body palm performs an active link of circulation between your Chakra network and your opponents. It's precisely so effective because the user can use all the Chakra they need to maintain the illusion."

"Correct. Then, how do you think you could transmit the chakra effectively?"

Saul thought for a moment. He ignored touch - that was precisely what he needed cut out of the equation. In the anime, Genjutsu was often transmitted through sound or smell. Transmission though sight was something almost exclusive to the Sharingan.

"I do not know for sure, Kurenai sensei. I'm not entirely sure how the Sharingan did it. However, I have some guesses. Since you're not casting it directly, maybe instead you could use some sort of physical intermediary, to store your chakra and transmit it to the opponent without touch."

Kurenai's eyes widened. He had such incredible insight! This man's genius regarding Genjutsu might just surpass her own!

"And?" Her voice grew excited, "What kind of physical intermediaries can you think of?"

"Chakra metal is famous for its unparalleled ability to conduct chakra. If I had something like a bell made with it, maybe I could transmit chakra into the sound from the bell. Certain pollens as well, like scents from a flower, are living. As such they can probably contain chakra. I could likely cast Genjutsu from such intermediaries as well, with the proper technique."

Saul was directly on the mark with every word. Kurenai couldn't believe he had just recently graduated from the academy. Even she herself used the scent of flowers to carry her Chakra, sakura petals to be exact.

"How do you even know all of this!? I do not remember teaching you such things."

The man laughed. Kurenai was finding it harder and harder to see him as a boy; he had a presence that always seemed to put her off kilter. Even though he was very refined, something primal inside of him was so masculine, always in control.

"You know, I am actually quite close to Yakumo. We talk about Genjutsu all the time."

Ah. Yakumo. Kurenai grew depressed.

"Speaking of Yakumo..." She gave a weak smile, "Could you bring her here? I'd like to teach this Genjutsu to her as well."

The girl would not even look at her during the earlier mission. Kurenai felt estranged from the only other woman alive akin to her very own flesh and blood. It was all her fault, too. But the girl might listen to Saul. Maybe he could help her make things up to Yakumo.

Saul, seemingly oblivious to her concerns, just nodded nonchalantly. "Of course. As long as this is about Genjutsu, I'm sure she'll come if I ask."

"Mhmm..." She still had a lot of work to do.

Yakumo came over shortly afterwards. She was very particular about how she sat down, taking special care around the tree and wincing when her butt gingerly touched the ground. Kurenai was paying special attention to the girl; she immediately noticed.

"Yakumo... Is everything alright? Did you hurt yourself during training?"

The brown haired girl glared at her coldly. "It's none of your concern, Sensei." She emphasized the last word, no longer cutely calling her Kurenai-sensei as she was accustomed to.

"So? What Genjutsu did you want to teach us?" Saul inquired.

Author's Note: Kurenai is a virgin, so she doesn't know exactly what Yakumo is going through. Otherwise the signs would be quite obvious to her, and considering she knew Saul went to Yakumo's place the night before, she'd have a fairly good picture on exactly what happened.

Here I originally planned to skip to the Chunin exams with the current Saul - but this chapter is a result of the popular request to increase Saul's strength some more before they actually begin.

In battle, range is king. Swords were stronger than fists, spears were stronger than swords, bows were stronger than spears, and guns are even more deadly. Adding range to his Genjutsu arsenal will be particularly deadly - especially because the methods to release Genjutsu are not widespread at all. Most ninja continued to fight despite being affected by Genjutsu or resorted to mundane methods such as stabbing themselves to barely shock themselves out of it.

Longer range Genjutsu however was not nearly as strong or versatile as close range Genjutsu, for reasons I will explain in the next upcoming chapter. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this early chapter! I will try to get another chapter written, so we can get back to a full two chapters a day.