Kiba got to the ground and lunged immediately to start the fight. He was fast, inhumanly fast!

Two clones stepped out from either side and blunted Kiba's charge. Kiba ripped into them with two cross-sectional swipes, and they dissipated into smoke. Saul flinched.

A moment later, 4 other clones surrounded Kiba on all sides. One of the clones was distracted by Akamaru jumping out of Kiba's cloak at this point, biting viciously, but Saul's clone didn't dispel. The rest pinned Kiba to the floor and beat him with their fists. Kiba was disoriented from the pain from all sides and quickly lost the ability to resist.

The real Saul, standing in the back with Kunai in hand, was stunned. Really, was that all? He was contemplating throwing Kunai to assist, but he hadn't had the clones use Kunai because they were dangerous. They were essentially knives that could alternatively be used for throwing. He didn't really want to cause any life-threatening damage in a spar, but if it came down to having to face the threat of Kiba's claws he was going to stab the guy. 

Kiba at this point was not the threat he'd become half a year later in the Chunin exams. He couldn't use the fang over fang jutsu yet and even if he could, it was just doping with drugs and using one other shadow clone. That Kiba would probably still have a chance of losing to the current Saul - especially if his clones were also using Kunai. The Kiba right now, who constantly slacked off and was needlessly arrogant? No chance.

Saul dispelled the clone restraining Akamaru and had a new uninjured clone take his place. Then he also created one more clone to approach Kiba. The other clones held up Kiba and restrained him - understanding the original's thought process.

"Kiba. Are you good? Kurenai sensei, should we end the spar here?"

"This... Is not over yet! Sau- oomph!"

Saul's clones started beating Kiba up all over again. Kurenai quickly called out, 

"Stop Saul! This is just a spar! You win!"

Saul shrugged his shoulders as Kiba fell back down to the floor, trembling and curled into the fetal position. 

"He said it wasn't over yet. I thought he might have some sort of trick up his sleeve."

Saul was not your traditional Naruto villain. He wouldn't sit there and give Kiba every opportunity to somehow win! It would be such a joke if he lost to a guy lying face flat on the ground completely helpless just because Saul decided to argue with the man verbally until he finally recovered the strength to stand back up and continue the fight.

Who knows, maybe the guy keeps a doping drug around just in case? Or maybe he'd try to blind him with a smoke bomb and attack purely based upon his refined sense of smell? Regardless it was completely unnecessary to allow - if he didn't bring out all his cards before the fight ended then that was his fault, not Saul's.

Kurenai however was speechless. How could he treat his teammate like... Some sort of animal?

She performed first aid on Kiba and then left the man to his own devices. He was adamant about not returning to the Inuzuka clan just yet. Instead Kiba sat at the edge of the training ground watching, yet unable to move much after the beating. Akamaru licked his wounds.

"Saul, could you and Hinata spar? I'll need to be able to assess all of your strengths and weaknesses."

Hinata quickly refused even before Saul said anything, 

"No! I won't ever hurt Saul-kun."

Kurenai smiled at Hinata. "Its just a spar. You don't have to hit hard."

Saul interjected, "A spar between Hinata and I seems pointless, doesn't it? Sure my brute strength is greater than hers, but her gentle fist causes her hand to hand strikes to be much more devastating than pure brute strength. I will not be attempting to use Kunai on Hinata either."

"But what about your shadow clone technique? Couldn't you just use multiple clones to even the odds?"

"Well actually... Hinata can use shadow clones too. With her chakra capacity, she can create and use more than double the clones I can."

A Little While Later

Hinata, the uncrowned king of the genin, sat next to Saul with a contented smile on her face. She watched his face dreamily as he focused on parts of Kurenai's lecture. 

"...that's why by disrupting one's chakra, one can dispel any Genjutsu."

Saul queried, "But what if the Genjutsu is being continually cast? Disruption is a momentary technique - one the body cannot withstand doing repeatedly. Would it really be able to take over all the foreign chakra?"

Kurenai smiled, "For such a thing to work, your chakra would have to completely eclipse your opponent's. In that case, what would be the point of using Genjutsu in the first place? The process of casting Genjutsu is like attempting to ride and tame a wild horse. Specific Jutsu that it is cast with are the rider's implements - a carrot and a stick. Disruption is the horse bucking, trying to shake the rider off and trampling him to the ground."

"I see. So if the enemy is tricked by the illusion, that is the carrot. They won't know to struggle. The stick is any pain or fear inflicted by said illusion - disrupting any attempts to buck the rider off."

This boy seems to have an intuitive understanding of Genjutsu! Kurenai started growing excited. He already understood so much after being taught for the very first time!

Kurenai smiled joyously, "Yes! You're exactly right! There are a couple of more points though, such as..."

Hinata yawned. This entire conversation was going entirely over her head. Why did Saul-kun seem so invested in learning Genjutsu? Wasn't it weak? Regardless, she would protect him no matter what. It didn't matter.

Kurenai grew more and more visibly excited talking about Genjutsu as the time passed on. But finally, the sight of Hinata falling asleep on Saul's shoulder and the absence of Kiba tipped her off.

"Well, ahaha, it's getting late. Would you like to come with me and meet my other disciple, Kurama Yakumo? I was going to teach her a beginner's Genjutsu technique!"

She scratched her head and smiled awkwardly. "It's fine if you don't though, I know Genjutsu doesn't really have the best-"

"I'll go."

Saul was an ordinary Civilian Ninja. He seemed to lack chakra compared to most other Clan Ninja of his age, and he didn't seem to have any sort of special bloodline or constitution. Sure early on he could still keep up with intelligence, a good physique, and a willingness to improve. But later on, the only written path to power for those who lacked a special bloodline was The Eight Gates. Saul didn't want to spend his whole life pushing himself to the limit for strength, only to sacrifice his second chance at life to truly stand a fighting chance. It was pointless.

If you asked Saul "what would you do if today was your life was the last day you had to live," his answer would be simple. "Doing what I enjoy." A seemingly innocuous answer at first, but what did a degenerate like him enjoy? Fucking the shit out of women! During that last day regardless of the method, whether by Manipulation, Blackmail, or Conquest, he would get what he wanted or die trying!

Saul knew his second life was on a short timer - whether it be the Fourth Great Ninja War, The Otsutsuki Clan, or even some random 'C-ranked' mission - it only took one mistake for everything to be over. The memory altering capabilities of Genjutsu would be a big step towards both getting what he wanted without quickening his inevitable end.

"I'm looking forward to meeting Yakumo! I wonder what she's like." Saul smiled innocently.

Author's Note: Alright, Saul finally shows his true colors. It was fun writing his thought process and general motivations - hopefully this gives you all more insight into who Saul is as a person rather than some Generic strength pursuing protagonist.

Anyways I hope you all enjoyed it! I had fun reading some of the comments lol - they're my main source of motivation for writing tbh.

Also let me know if I should artificially make some fight scenes closer for more dramatic effect. Saul vs Kiba wasn't even close unfortunately considering the intelligence gap and habitual methods, but I could have likely lengthened the scene to make it more interesting by having Kiba grow a brain or Saul make a mistake. LMK