"So... You want me to climb... That ?" Ryuma asked, unsure of his ability to actually do that.
He pointed at the tree in front of him, it was extremely tall and the bark was flat. He had to use only his feet to scale the tree. As in, he was expected to walk up it.
"Yes. If you fall, we'll catch you."
"Even with these chains ?" He asked, pointing at the shackles connecting his feet.
"Yes."
"Well... Here goes nothing."
Ryuma started to apply chakra into his feet and climb up the tree. Surprisingly, he found it pretty simple. In fact, his prior method using his hands and feet was actually harder.
He didn't realise it at the time, but he was actually doing something more complicated. Using all four of lis limbs instead of just two meant he had to use more chakra and he had to focus on all four instead of just his feet. Additionally, only his toes were against the wall and he had to change the chakra levels on his hands as he moved.
Walking up a flat surface was actually easier and Ryuma found himself capable of doing it fairly easily.
"Hey, this isn't as hard as I thought!"
He then jumped back down, and did it again, this time going higher.
He repeated this process again and again, for a few days, untill he no longer needed to actually focus. By the time he was done with his tree climbing exercises, he could move across it as if it were second nature for him.
Later, he learned how to hop between trees and run through the forest. By the time he was three years old, he had even learned how to walk on water. His chakra Control had gotten so good that he made no ripples when walking on water.
Whenever he wasn't training, he was thrown in the room. Numerous time, with chains. Mahito wanted to make him believe that he must live a restrained life, chained down.
"Ahahaha!" Mahito was laughing, ruffling Ryuma's hair.
The boy himself was expressionless.
"Look at this little monster! Only two years old, and he can already walk on water! Don't forget who saved you, boy...!" Mahito reminded, making Ryuma obediently nod his head.
They had spent the past two years telling him that his parents had abandoned him and left him to die. They kept reminding him that they saved him from death and loneliness and therefore, he owes them everything. Of course, they were just saying this continuously to make sure Ryuma internalised this and truly came to believe it.
Within just two years of gaslighting, Ryuma "didn't remember" his parents anymore. He had no memories of them and only knew their names. He had become stoic and only smiled every now and then. He started doing only things that the rouges wanted and never cried for anything.
To test it out, Mahito even made two of his men attack and smack Ryuma around, but Ryuma didn't react. He cried in pain, but no tears came out. He also held nothing against them. He never complained. He simply took it and stayed silent. When asked to apologise, he did.
Mahito laughed because he believed that Ryuma was becoming the ultimate, emotionless weapon. His plan was finally in action.
Meanwhile, Oushi went to report to Danzo about all the progress Ryuma has made.
Danzo was surprised when he heard that Ryuma could already walk on water and trees. He knew the boy was talented, but to such an extent?! The only thing the boy lacked was Jutsu. At the rate at which he was going, he'd be qualified to be a genin before his fifth year of living.
Danzo coldly turned to them.
"Do not allow those filthy bandits to corrupt the boys mind. Tell him that his parents abandoned him, but Mahito and his goons are no better. Keep reminding him that he's a slave with no free will of his own. Remind him that he should follow me."
Ryuma was a child with no clue who this "Danzo" was. But constantly hearing his name would make the child internalise it.
Oushi and Inori told him that Mahito was a bad person and a child abductor. He was fed numerous stories from two different sides who believed he listened to them.
According to Mahito, since they "took him", he must be theirs. Because they have him life and they can take it away.
According to the ANBU, he had to kill Mahito eventually to be a true shinobi of the leaf and be "free".
Danzo was hoping that Ryuma grew attached to Oushi and Inori, as they were his caretakers. According to the reports he got, Ryuma listened more to two of them than he did Mahito and the other missing nins; which was a good thing!
Ryuma on the other hand, was feeling pretty irritated. Being chained up like an animal was something he hated. Being talked down on and gaslighted from every angle every single day was also something that he hated. If he wasn't a reincarnation, he was sure he'd already become an emotionless tool.
Ryuma played along and fed them all the lies they wanted to believe. All while he cursed them at night. He hated the thought of being alone. He hated the thought of being a slave.
But he realised what Danzo's play really was.
Danzo kidnapped him and made it look like he died, making his parents leave the village from sheer grief. Just like that, two Hokage candidates were gone, and Hiruzen was left emotionally weak, which gave Danzo even more leeway.
During his time here, he was going to be mistreated as a slave and gaslit into believing that he was abandoned by his loving parents, so he would grow up to hate them. He was made to believe that he was destined to be a slave with no free will of his own. As an infant, he would completely internalize this and grow up to believe in such things.
Then, afterwards being fed lies about freedom and good things about the leaf from Oushi and Inori, Danzo would heroically come to save him. He would come to view Danzo as his saviour and now, since he has nothing, become indebted to him. With no other purpose in life, Danzo would become his sole purpose. He would be a loyal puppet, obedient in every way.
Additionally, Danzo would go to great lengths to make him believe that his parents abandoned him and didn't care about him. He would kill every messenger, sabotage Hiruzen, wait for Hiruzen to die and then, use Ryuma against his parents.
"For the sake of the leaf", he'd say.
'Too bad for you, Danzo. Your plan will not work on me.'
If Danzo wanted to play, then Ryuma was ready to join his little game. And he'll make sure to flip the entire damn table.
•••
"Teach me the Henge no Jutsu." Ryuma demanded.
Inori didn't know what to do.
On on hand, he was only three years old. On the other hand, his chakra control was godly.
She recalled Danzo's words: "Listen to everything Ryuma says and obey them, unless it's for freedom."
"Follow my lead." She told him.
She used three hand seals and transformed into a random guy, then transformed back.
"The hand seals are dog, boar and ram. Then, hold the ram seal and push chakra into it while precisely imagining what you wish to turn into. After that, you need to properly focus on your transformation to make sure you don't transform back. It may be difficult to master and you definitely will not get it the first time, but with enough practice, you will be able to do it."
POOF!
Some smoke poofed out and Indori stopped talking.
Standing in front of her, was herself.
Ryuma made the hand seals required and immediately transformed into her. She blinked, not knowing what to think of it. Even an emotionless Root ANBU like her didn't know how to react to this.
This three year old just learned the transformation jutsu, one of the ninjutsu techniques required to graduate from the Ninja Academy.
Now he just needed the basic clone jutsu and substitution jutsu.
Which wouldn't be hard for him. With his incredible chakra control, it wouldn't be a lie to say that he could already control all the chakra in his body.
"Now teach me more." He demanded.
Four days passed.
He mastered the substitution jutsu.
Seven days passed.
He mastered the basic clone jutsu.
It was also about this time that they started to train him in taijutsu and kenjutsu. Being capable of fighting, both bare-handed and with weapons, was a skill that any good shinobi should have. Ninjutsu alone cannot carry you to victory.
During one of the taijutsu sessions, Ryuma accidentally broke his opponents arm. His own arm also broke, but that doesn't matter now does it ?
He got punished for hurting one of his masters, but he didn't mind.
In fact, Ryuma was surprised to see that he had a healing factor! Even with a broken hand, he was able to keep using taijutsu. The hand itself healed fairly quickly. How ? He had no idea. Ryuma was certain that he wasn't a jinchūriki, so how could he have a healing factor ?
Within a few months, his strength had improved tremendously. And so had his taijutsu.
His claustrophobic room, his cage, was cracked. The walls were cracked, the floor was shattered, and parts of the ceiling were falling apart. Not because of poor quality or anything, but because Ryuma punched the room too hard.
How was he able to deal such damage ?
That's where Chakra Enhancement comes into play.
Chakra enhanced strength is a specialized taijutsu technique used by his mother, Tsunade Senju. It utilizes precise, high-level chakra control to concentrate energy into the hands or feet, and then releasing that chakra on impact. This generates an explosive force that shatters anything it comes into contact with.
And Ryuma was determined to learn how to do it. He broke his own hand because he lost control of his chakra there and made sure to never repeat that mistake again. He slowly but surely learned how to properly enhance his strength with chakra.
•••
"Hm... I wonder... Can I use the Shadow Clone Jutsu ?" Ryuma questioned.
He was now four years old.
He knew how to use the basic clone jutsu. He also knew that in order to create real clones, he had to split his chakra in half and mould it to match his shape and body. It has only a single hand sign and wasn't a complicated jutsu to master.
It was just very chakra exhaustive.
With his chakra control, Ryuma should be able to create shadow clones. But could he actually figure out how to do it without being taught ?
Ryuma shrugged.
"Let's find out." He said, positioning his hands in a peculiar hand sign that he remembers even though he never saw it being used after his reincarnation.
He started to push chakra out of his body, splitting it exactly in half and pushing it out. That chakra was then given shape. Ryuma has no idea if he could actually succeed in getting an A Rank Jutsu like this first try, but he should be able to figure it out.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A puff of smoke appeared next to him, slowly disappearing to reveal a perfect clone of himself standing right next to him.
Seeing the perfected shadow clone, Ryuma grinned.
"Let's see how many I can afford to make for now."
Several puffs of smoke appeared around him and ten shadow clones appeared. Ryuma let out a huff, and grinned. He didn't seem extremely winded, but he could feel the strain.
"How interesting... I guess this could make the training process faster though!"