Saul-san left back through the window shortly afterwards. The man had so casually dealt with her Kekkai Genkai curse. The same curse that almost destroyed her family, killed him, and drove her into despair. She felt a sense of surreality. Like it wasn't real. Like it was all in her head. Actually, it really all was in her head!

He was such an amazing guy, that Saul. He really came breaking into her window to save her, like a white knight in shining armor. Even if his intentions weren't pure, so what? They were sincere. She could feel it when their consciousness were merged. She had felt that sense of sincerity constantly when he was talking, telling her everything with confidence.

She felt so much better. 

Yakumo went downstairs, where her parents had quieted down. They were cuddling, side by side, sitting together in the living room. Hugging. She sighed. Where were you, Dad. Where were you when you knew I was suffering? Even though Mom was making such a fuss at you for loving your daughter, for giving her a chance, you're still here, comforting her instead.

She understood why deep down, but it hurt. It really hurt to know the answer to the question that had been plaguing her earlier. He was indeed a very good father but an even better husband. Would she ever find someone that would be this good to her? To support her, no matter what, even if she was in the wrong?

Even though she had been excited to tell her father that she had subdued the demon. Even though she had just contained it, brought it under control. She felt no need to mention it anymore. Her father had made his priorities clear to her at that moment. If her mother couldn't see her for who she truly was, then Yakumo wouldn't bother to keep making things difficult for him. There was no need to make her father feel guilty by explaining what happened.

"Father, mother." Yakumo greeted, her tone uncharacteristically flat.

Her mother, Uroko, quickly jumped up. She hid behind her father, Murakumo.

"Demon! Why did you come down here? Murakumo! Say something!"

Murakumo sighed. Forcing a smile, he said, "Yakumo, I'm sorry, your mother... Is just shaken up."

"She's no daughter of mine."

"Uroko! How long do you want to keep arguing like this? You gave birth to her and nursed her. She's your daughter! Our daughter! Whether you like it or not."

"..."

He gave Yakumo a weak smile, "Are you feeling better, my love?"

She could see it. See the divide she was causing. See the conflict, love, and pain in her father's eyes.

"About the same... Dad. Actually... I think it would be better for me to leave the manor."

"Why!?" 

"Mother... She is right to be scared. I have a demon inside of me, a demon so powerful that it could kill everyone in the clan. Your life, her life, by being with me both of you are in danger." She smiled, a smile so sad and delicate it was like a purple orchid swaying in the wind.

"Can you get me a place somewhere else to stay, Dad? I don't want to end up hurting anyone."

It was this sentence that broke Murakumo, making the grown man cry, sob, and hug his daughter. All Yakumo could do was to tell him it would be alright. Uroko on the other hand, smiled vindictively.

The Next Day

After our unfortunate daily mission of acting as petty debt collectors for civilians, Team Eight finally got another reprieve to go train. Saul was beginning to see it as a break from work, more than anything else. Plus after meeting Yakumo, he had quite a few new ideas about his Genjutsu. Especially the Yakumo + Id dynamic. If Yakumo was able to nurture an entity subconsciously from her Kekkai Genkai, what was to stop Saul from doing the same?

Of course, he didn't want to create something *exactly* like Id. He already had control of his mind - and although he was talented, he was still in the realm of human. Creating an alter-ego would likely merely weaken his control over his own mind, which is something he'd never allow.

Rather, he had some ideas about how the reality affecting aspects of her Genjutsu functioned. Seeing it first hand, being connected deeply to her through the Genjutsu, being given control. It gave him deep insight.

"Mind-Body Palm!"

An aura of light blue coated his palm. He didn't taint the casting with any prior illusion. This Genjutsu was meant for him, after all. He raised his palm and placed it onto his forehead.

"This place, huh."

Discarded beer cans, a dilapidated home. This was his place of residence in his former life. He kicked a stray can, then sat down in the middle of the floor. The surroundings swayed, back and forth, turning into nothing but mist. Saul closed his eyes. No distractions.

He visualized the way he performed his most practiced jutsu. The transformation jutsu. A single hand seal. Chakra flows out, mixes into a sphere. How did it move? Ah. It expanded outward. The sphere enveloped the body, then was pulled back in. The will was inherent, as all the chakra in the Genjutsu moved according to his will.

Within the Genjutsu, his form continuously shifted. Sometimes, it was his old appearance. At others, Hinata, and then, moving onto everyone he knew. He continued to practice until it became instinctual.

No ninja would practice like this. In the world of Genjutsu, even though your chakra moved directly according to will alone, hand seals did not work in the same way because there was technically no body. It was a lucid dream. You could fly, lift planets, destroy galaxies, and make them all again with a single thought. You were a god within the realm of your own Genjutsu. Similarly, nothing trained in a lucid dream would hold any physical validity. 

Nothing except the memories left behind of your experience. That point, exactly, was the loophole Yakumo's Genjutsu seemed to exploit. Fire, Plants, they were all things she had come to intuitively understand. Her chakra seemed to somehow link to her desire within the Genjutsu and form them in reality according to the blueprint of her understanding. This was the function of her Kekkai Genkai. This is how it transitioned her illusions from fiction to fact.

Saul did not have this Kekkai Genkai. If he wanted the same effect, he would have to do what her body was doing subconsciously, manually. Store the chakra movements he wanted within his chakra's memory using Genjutsu. Then call upon that stored jutsu within the real world. At least that was the case in theory.

Saul opened his eyes. Without casting a single hand seal, he immediately morphed into another appearance! He deactivated the transformation, then tried again. Saul looked down on his unchanged hands and frowned. Nothing... The chakra memory he made within the Genjutsu... It didn't stay with him. It dissipated with the chakra used to cast the jutsu.

This might seem like a lot of overhead for little effect. It was limited by his knowledge in reality, constrained by his chakra, and required him to put himself in a Genjutsu to even initialize its functionality. For what... Simply casting a single-use Jutsu he already knew how to use without hand signs by expelling the Genjutsu marked chakra he made?

After all, the memory he built within his consciousness was not tied to some sort of bloodline or kekkai genkai. It would go away with the chakra itself used to cast the jutsu! However, if you believed this technique was weak, you hadn't truly thought about the implications.

Frontloading the time it takes to make the hand seals for any jutsu is extremely desirable. Powerful ninjutsu often took many more hand signs to create. Unless your name was Kakashi, you wouldn't sit around and wait for your enemy to take a break and form 44 hand seals in the middle of battle, trying to match it directly! Such ninjutsu would be easily dodged because of the ridiculous wind up, becoming just a waste of chakra. However, while frontloaded, you showed up to every fight with your ultimate move already ready!

In addition, mixing chakra directly rather than forming seals meant he could still do other things while the jutsu was forming. Like performing another jutsu, throwing Kunai, etc. His combat potential would shoot through the roof! As long as he had the chakra...

Saul formed a hand seal, then dispelled himself. The Main body needed to know of his success.

Author's Note - There you have it. Seal-less jutsu acquired. I hope I explained everything well enough, from the way he used his connection with Yakumo's consciousness to get an intuitive feel of how her Kekkai Genkai worked, to the in-universe reason why it works, to its limitations. I will clarify if any of you have questions in the comments, just let me know.

Finally, as always, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!