Wood Release!
It was the invincible ninjutsu of the all-powerful First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
Now, Wood Release was stated to be a Kekkei Genkai of Earth Release and Water Release. Which was - at least to Ryuma - extremely non-convincing.
Long story short, he didn't believe Wood Release was a Kekkei Genkai. It simply didn't follow the rules of what made a Kekkei Genkai.
A Kekkei Genkai is a unique genetic mutation that is only observed in a lineage or bloodline. It is a combination of two different chakra natures, leading to the formation of a brand new chakra nature transformation, that only those with that special bloodline can use. That's why it's called a Bloodline Limit.
Kekkei genkai just means you have to have the genetic predisposition to be able to manifest the ability. A lot like a trait, essentially. It is completely hereditary. For instance, ghe ability to wiggle your ears. You have to inherit the right genes or combination of genes. If you don't then you can't wiggle your ears no matter how much you try or practice. A kekkei genkai is like that; you can't combine elements the way they need to be combined to make the kekkei genkai if you just weren't born with the ability to.
A Kekkei Tota on the other hand, is the same but requires the combination of three or more chakra natures. Additionally, it cannot be inherited in the same way as a Kekkei Genkai.
Now, Ryuma doesn't understand the fundamentals of Wood Release.
On one hand, it's described as a Kekkei Genkai. Yamato/Tenzou literally explains how he uses Wood Release, saying that he combines Earth Release and Water Release.
One the other hand, it behaves like more a Kekkei Tota, rather than a Kekkei Genkai.
It is not a bloodline-specific ability.
Hashirama Senju was the only person who could do it. And the only reason Yamato can, is because he possesses Hashirama Cells in his body thanks to an experiment, and his body was compatible with it.
How is it possible for Hashirama to be the only person with Wood Release and none of his descendants inherited even a fraction of that ?
Was it because he was the first incarnation of Ashura ? Because if so, then Naruto should technically be capable of it as well.
Wood Release had the one-of-a-kind ability to breathe life into existence. The creation of life itself. No other ninjutsu could replicate this ability. Additionally, it also has similarities to the Divine Tree of the Otsutsuki. To be precise, it possesses a chakra absorption and suppression ability, similar to the Divine Tree and the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Although Yamato was fairly powerful with his Woof Release, Hashirama was a different breed of shinobi, capable of creating entire forests with a single hand sign.
And of course, there's his utterly bullshit ability - [Sage Art Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands].
It was a jutsu that dwarfed all sense of reason and physical limitations entirely. A jutsu that sprouted a massive wooden buddha, so frighteningly big that it could blot out the sun and touch the heavens. A buddha so big that it could pick up and already kaiju-sized tailed beast like Kurama, as it he were a simple house cat.
It was a jutsu capable of ripping off a Perfect Susanoo armour from a tailed beast as if it was paper mache. It was a jutsu capable of levelling an entire country by itself. A jutsu so strong that even the legendary Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was left utterly helpless.
And apparently...
Ryuma has inherited Wood Release.
Could Ryuma ever managed to reach the level of Hashirama Senju with this ? Could he perhaps even surpass him ? It was such an interesting turn of events, it left him shaking and quivering in excitement.
The rouge ninjas were just as excited too, if not more. Annoyingly so. And as much as he hated it, he couldn't bring himself to blame them for their ecstatic behaviour. After all, he had the invincible ninjutsu of the venerable First Hokage - Hashirama Senju.
He has inherited his great grandfather's technique.
How could they possibly not be ecstatic about something like that ?
They even decided to throw a whole party just to celebrate this day and they even treated him like he was a human being - for once in his life. Of course, their opinions did not change. He was still just a tool. A slave. A weapon. They were merely rewarding him for being such a "powerful and efficient tool."
They had just obtained the deal of a lifetime.
They had obtained an amazing slave.
Ryuma was one of the two last remaining Senju in the world. Ryuma was considered dead by the world. Ryuma was the son of Tsunade Senju and Jiraiya - two of the Legendary Sannin! Ryuma was the great grandson of the Hashirama Senju. He was a one in a million genius, that learned chakra enhanced strength on his own. He was a genius who was already qualified to be a Genin at the insanely young age of three. Although he hadn't yet reached Chunin levels of strength, as he was barely five years old and did not know how to use ninjutsu of any element, he was still capable of taking down a low Chunin by himself. And now, he had apparently inherited Wood Release too?!
This kid was a gem.
His value could not be measured with money. He was more than just merchandise, clearly. He was an extremely talented child with enormous potential. And he belonged entirely to them, in both body and mind.
As far as Mahito was concerned, he has completely cheated Danzo. He made the greatest deal in the past couple centuries!
In his drunk and oblivious stupor, he blatantly made fun of Danzo and laughed, remembering how they had "cheated him" to obtain their golden ticket to a life of luxury.
Not once did he realise that there were two Root ANBU spies within his little mercenary group. He never even considered such a possibility and lived the past couple years in ignorance, not once noticing that Ryuma was being turned into an emotionless, obedient weapon; not for him, but for Konoha, under the vigilance of Danzo Shimura.
As many people would and have said; ignorance is a bliss. And Mahito was the fool that assumed he was in control of the situation, when in reality, he was merely an unaware pawn.
There existed a web of deception, lies and manipulation. Between Mahito, Danzo, Inori, Oushi and Ryuma himself.
Inori and Oushi are emotionless dolls - disposable pawns of Danzo.
Mahito was a pawn that believed he was in control.
Danzo was not a pawn; he was the one calling all the shots. He was the one that orchestrated the entire situation. He was one that was always watching. He was in complete control of the situation, from the shadows. And he did all this in secret, without anyone knowing; not even the Third Hokage.
And of course, his plans would one hundred percent work if Ryuma actually had the mind of an infant and was raised the way he was.
But the deception came from Ryuma, who played along while bidding his time, slowly getting stronger. Of course, he was also aware of what this meant for him.
The existence of Wood Release means Danzo will likely have to accelerate his plans. So instead of waiting for a while longer, he would have to retrieve Ryuma pretty soon while simultaneously making sure he doesn't get exposed.
It also means that he cannot keep his identity hidden. It would be impossible for Danzo to hide a user of Wood Release from Hiruzen, like he originally planned.
Danzo would have to make plans to "rescue" Ryuma quickly. And simultaneously, Ryuma will have to come up with Wood Style techniques himself, because he currently has no teacher.
Also, Ryuma was extremely uncomfortable after hearing Mahito and his top goons talk about his future and about repopulation. It freaked him out.
"Well, originally I was just planning on keeping him with us, but now, he can't settle with just one Wood Style user, now can we ?" He said in a cryptic tone, grinning while imagining a future army of monstrous weapons, all emotionless and completely loyal to him; unquestionably so!
"He's only um..." Mahito was about to speak, but his face scrunched up and his voice trailed.
He paused, thinking for a little while, before looking at his Inori and asking, "How old is he again ?"
"He'll turn five next month, boss." She responded, making him nod and clap his hands.
"Oh yeah! He's already five years old! Can you guys believe it ?" He asked, looking at the people around him. He started patting Ryuma's head, as if he was actually proud of him.
"The kids already a toddler and he's growin' up real fast! Can't believe it's almost been four whole years since we bought the brat!" He laughed, not removing his hand from Ryuma's head, much to his chagrin.
"He'll be old enough to have kids soon, ya know ?" His words sent shivers down Ryuma's spine. He was mature enough to understand what Mahito was insinuating.
"There's still some years left, boss. He's barely five right now."
"Oh, puh-lease! Four years went by so damn fast! What's six more years, hm ? He can get busy from then..."
"But... How'd he gonna have kids with us ?" One of the idiots in the group questioned, not understand how they would increase the Senju population.
"NOT US! Are you stupid!!?" Mahito screamed, smacking the man that spoke into the wall.
"Also, that's gross as hell! He's not a girl, unfortunately..." This made Ryuma glare at Mahito.
'Okay, I'm gonna prolong your death...' He started imagining the ways he would slaughter this piece of shit slaver.
"We'll just kidnap a bunch o' women and make him impregnate them. It's not that complicated. When he isn't being trained, he'll get us more weapons." He said this in such a nonchalant way that Ryuma nearly felt the urge to strangle him.
No, he did feel the urge to strangle him. But he was weak, so he held it in. Once he reaches the level of strength required, he vowed to make this man's death painful.
Too bad he didn't know medical ninjutsu to prolong his death further...
'Once I return to Konoha, I'll learn medical ninjutsu. It might- no, it will come in handy.' Ryuma nodded, making up his mind while closing his eyes.
However, since he nodded after hearing Mahito's words, they - Mahito and his personnel - assumed he nodded his head in agreement to their words, not realising that he was merely lost in murder-hungry fantasy. Mahito laughed and ruffled his hair even more, which genuinely started to irritate Ryuma now.
"That's my boy! You'll only listen to me, won't you ?"
Ryuma did not respond.
Mahito's glare hardened and he repeated, "I said, you will only listen to me... Right?"
Ryuma opened his head and nodded his head, not once looking up at Mahito. Seeing his subservience, he smiled and leaned back against the wall.
"That's what I thought...!'
'I'm going to cut his tongue out and feed it to him!'
•••
"Wood Release?!" Danzo exclaimed.
His voice was unnaturally high and his remaining eye was wide open. One would think his good eye would fall out. He had some perspiration on his face, which he swiftly wiped off with a handkerchief.
"That boy actually has Wood Release... I knew he'd be invaluable, but to this extent...?" This was beyond even Danzo's wildest imagination. He did plan on rescuing Ryuma and secretly recruiting him as a member of Root underneath Hiruzen's nose, but this brings both good and bad news.
The good news is, he can be turned into an excellent weapon for Konoha. Someone who would emotionlessly do anything and sacrifice anything for the greater good of the village. And he'll be loyal to boot.
And then, there's the bad news... He cannot recruit Ryuma in Root without Hiruzen's approval. Normally, it would have been easy to hide Ryuma's identity. But with the current predicament, it would be impossible to keep it a secret. Wood Release is a ninjutsu unique to Hashirama Senju and there's only one other person in the world who can use it - Yamato, formerly Kinoe. If Ryuma joined Root and uses his Wood Release, which he would have to eventually, Danzo would be exposed.
Hiding Ryuma Senju became an impossible task.
"Make preparations. We'll create a search party in two months and then, I'll go and look for him myself. After I 'locate' him, we'll organise a rescue team for him within three months."
Danzo wanted to wait a few more months , maybe even two or more years, but this discovery prompted immediate action from him and from Konoha.
"For the sake of the leaf, Ryuma must be brought back." He said with a grimace. Wood Release completely ruined his long-term plans.