"Wood Style: Great Spear Tree!"
As the words fell, the chakra within Simu surged like a rushing river toward his arm.
In an instant, his arm began to lignify. An incredibly powerful life force burst forth as the entire limb rapidly expanded, grew, and twisted into a terrifying giant tree. Like a massive spear, it pierced across the entire training ground.
The walls at the edge of the arena were utterly defenseless against this several-dozen-meter-long wooden lance, shattering the moment they made contact.
Danzo Shimura's eyes were filled with shock.
This kid... is he really a genius?
If the Root leader's eyes held shock, then Jia's eyes, standing to the side, were blank with dull amazement.
He found it impossible to understand. Why? Given that they were both Wood Style ninjas, why could this guy use Wood Style ninjutsu immediately?
"Did you really just learn this jutsu?"
Danzo probed, find it hard to believe.
While there were indeed geniuses and monsters in this world, Danzo had never encountered one quite this monstrous.
Learning a Wood Style ninjutsu in just one minute? This efficiency was already comparable to the jutsu copying of a Sharingan!
Simu put on a curious expression. "I just learned it."
Then, he added as if it were common sense, "The chakra circulation routes were written very clearly in the scroll. You just have to follow the tutorial inside."
Danzo looked at the nonchalant Simu, feeling a slight throb in his teeth from irritation.
This guy's expression seemed to say: Wood Style ninjutsu? Isn't this something you learn the moment you see it? Surely there aren't people who can't learn it or take a long time, right?
No way, right? People like that don't actually exist, do they?
However, Simu was a member of Root and his subordinate. The stronger his talent, the stronger Root would be in the future.
Still, why did it feel so frustrating?
Danzo let out a long breath and adjusted his mindset.
Then, as if refusing to believe in such luck, he pulled another scroll from his pocket and said to Simu, "This is another Wood Style ninjutsu. Try it."
"Oh."
Simu took the scroll from Danzo with a deadpan expression. He opened it, studied it carefully for a minute, and clapped his hands together.
"Wood Style: Four-Pillar House Jutsu!"
With a rumbling sound as the ground split open, four giant wooden pillars erupted, occupying the four corners of the training ground.
Next, countless wooden planks grew from these four pillars, interconnecting with one another.
With the rhythmic "thud, thud, thud" of wood impacting wood, the numerous planks formed a... house right before Jia's stunned eyes!
The training ground, which had been filled with a killing atmosphere just moments ago, was suddenly transformed into a cozy, wood-colored cottage.
No formaldehyde; ready for immediate move-in.
Danzo inspected the wooden structure that had appeared out of thin air.
Every connection between the pieces of wood was perfectly complete without a single error. This meant the caster's understanding of the technique had reached a high level, and he possessed exceptionally strong control over his chakra.
Danzo had originally intended to use Wood Style: Great Spear Tree to give Jia and Yi a reality check, and then use Wood Style: Four-Pillar House Jutsu to train their chakra control.
But now, it seemed there was no need.
At least for Yi, there was no need.
Seemingly having finally accepted the fact that Simu was a genius, Danzo's gaze softened.
"Alright. Take it down."
Hearing Danzo's command, Simu gave a tiny, obedient stomp of his foot. The newly built three-bedroom, one-living-room wooden house rapidly dissolved.
The planks retracted into the pillars, and the pillars sank back into the ground.
Only four holes at the corners of the training ground remained to prove what had just happened.
Danzo looked at Simu. Through these two techniques, he had discovered a few clues about the boy.
"You don't use hand signs when releasing ninjutsu?"
Hand signs were a vital matter for a ninja.
The essence of ninjutsu was guiding chakra flow through hand signs to manifest chakra in different forms, thereby achieving various effects.
Yet, this kid didn't use hand signs?
This was something only a handful of people could achieve. If Danzo remembered correctly, only the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, could release Wood Style without signs.
Consequently, the Wood Style scrolls stored in the village were actually hand signs designed by the Second Hokage—his teacher—who had forced the First Hokage to describe his chakra flow patterns.
The purpose was to provide a reference should another Wood Style ninja ever appear in the Hidden Leaf.
Unfortunately, for decades afterward, the Wood Style Kekkei Genkai never reappeared in the Senju Clan, and those scrolls remained buried in dust.
Until Orochimaru created this arm for him.
If one looked closely, his own Wood Style was a flawed version that had to be forcibly managed using the Sharingan for suppression.
The boy before him was using the real Wood Style.
It was truly enough to make one die of envy.
Facing Danzo's question, Simu tilted his head. "Lord Danzo, I did use a hand sign."
With that, he clapped his hands together to demonstrate for Danzo.
"Isn't this a sign?"
Danzo: "..."
Jia: "..."
Fine, so that's how you make a 'sign,' is it?
Looking at the "clear-eyed stupidity" in Simu's gaze, Danzo sighed deeply. He pulled himself together and asked again, "What I mean is, why can you release ninjutsu just by making a single sign like that?"
"Oh, that. You just have to control the chakra flow well. It's nothing special."
Who doesn't know about controlling chakra flow?
The point is, how the hell do you control chakra flow without hand signs, you brat!
Forget it.
Danzo decided to stop asking.
This matter was like a top student and a failing student doing a problem together. Some people know the answer just by looking at it, while others are still trying to remember the formulas.
If you asked the top student to teach the failing student, they wouldn't know how; to them, it's something that can be understood at a glance.
Danzo's gaze lingered on Simu.
Learning Wood Style in a minute and releasing it without signs.
It had to be said that this newcomer's talent was strong enough to surprise Danzo, and even make him wary.
A powerful weapon like this had to be held firmly in his own hands.
However, the sharper the weapon, the higher the risk of backlash.
Therefore, Danzo needed to install a safety device on this weapon.
"That will be enough for today. Go and practice these two techniques to consolidate your learning," Danzo said to Simu expressionlessly.
"Understood, Lord Danzo."
Simu acted quite obediently.
He could naturally understand Danzo's thoughts. No one wanted the sharp blade in their hand to eventually fall upon themselves. It was only logical for Danzo to temporarily slow his growth while searching for a way to control him.
After taking back the scrolls, Danzo placed them in Jia's hands.
"Since Yi can do it, you should be able to as well, right? Jia."
Jia, who had come along with Simu: "???"