A/N: I'm bleeding from the stones you threw, so here's a bonus chapter!
A/N: This chapter contains elements that may unlock new fears related to, hair, and personal safety. Feel free to skip the chapter if you want. You will be missing a new service for the salon, and some details on Renji's hair manipulation ability, but I'm sure they can be inferred from the coming chapters.
You have been warned.
By closing time, Ayame came running back from playing with her friends. The moment she spotted Renji, she launched herself at him like a missile, clearly intending to topple him over again!
But this time, he was ready. Bracing himself, he caught her mid-leap without stumbling back.
'Safe!' he thought smugly, holding her steady with her legs wiggling.
She pouted at her failed attempt to topple him, but her mood bounced back instantly.
"Renji, guess what! I told my friends you're opening a salon to make hair pretty, and they all said they want to come! Can I bring them?"
Renji chuckled, amused. "Of course. How about this—anyone you bring can use one free service."
"Yay!" Ayame cheered, bouncing with excitement.
Later that night, Renji lay staring at the ceiling, thoughts churning. Sleep refused to come, his mind looping endlessly over the plan. Finally, he sat up with a sigh.
'Fine. If I can't sleep, I'll do something productive.'
'One of the most critical steps would be cutting and moving kunoichi hair discreetly. If that part failed, everything else collapsed with it.'
'What if the cutting makes noise? What if the movement isn't stealthy enough? I need to test if this actually works.'
Closing his eyes, he spread his [Demonic Energy Sense]. Multiple hair styles bloomed across his awareness, each representing a woman in 1km radius. 'I need to be stealthy.'
He grimaced, whispering in his thoughts, 'Sorry, Ayame… but I need this test. I promise, I'll do something nice for you later.'
Hardening his resolve, he reached out to her hair.
From his room, he carefully manipulated Ayame's braid with [Hair Manipulation]. He kept sensing her emotions from the braid. He sighed in relief noticing she was still in sleep.
'Good. Let's begin.'
'I should start by growing her hair longer. If something goes wrong, it'll be easier to explain—and she'll forgive me as long as it's not shorter compared to before.'
With that thought, he used [Hair Manipulation] on the hair, willing it to grow longer. Immediately, her braid started pulling away from her, with the hair growing longer quickly. He stopped after the total length reached approximately twice as before. From the emotions he sensed, she hadn't woken up.
'Good… she's still asleep.'
He observed the process closely, not missing a single detail. Two things stood out.
First, the newly grown portion of Ayame's hair was flawless—silky, radiant, and healthy beyond compare. It looked like something out of a hair product commercial, except this was real!
Second, the growth hadn't come without cost. The majority of the Demonic Energy within her braid had been consumed, leaving only a little bit behind.
'The quality of the new hair is incredible! If I introduce this as a service at the salon, women would go crazy for it. Not yet though… I'll need to disguise it, make it look like a reasonable technique—not something supernatural. Maybe I can pass it off as a variant of a hair related jutsu, like Jiraya's Wild Lion's Mane Technique.'
As for the energy cost, he had half-expected it. Even ordinary [Hair Manipulation] consumed a sliver of Demonic Energy. 'No surprise there. But, permanently growing hair… it's expensive.'
While he was mulling it over, he noticed something curious—the faint remnants of Demonic Energy in Ayame's old hair were slowly seeping into the freshly grown portion, spreading evenly along the strands.
'So, after a while, the energy redistributes throughout all the hair. That lowers the concentration… I'll need to act quickly in the future.'
He refocused on the experiment. The next step was critical. Cutting had to be completely silent.
In his mind space, the realistic replica of her her swayed gently, the bottom still woven neatly into a french braid. He visualized his fingers turning into a pair of scissors and carefully snipped at a small section above the old braid.
In the real world, the same lock of hair detached itself without the faintest sound. He has been carefully listening for it from where he sat.
"Yes!" Renji pumped his fists in triumph.
Without hesitation, he seized the braid in his mind space and, using his scissor-fingers again, chopped it off completely.
In the real world, Ayame's French braid detached in total silence, slipping free and resting neatly on the bed.
Renji studied the braid now resting in his grasp within his mind space. Satisfaction welled up inside him.
'My method works. It's doable. Now… onto the next step.'
With a thought, he commanded the real braid to unravel and slither toward him.
On Ayame's bed, the braid stirred, unwinding and the individual strands flowing to the floor like a waterfall. The individual hairs crept silently across the wood, slipped beneath the door, and flowed into his open palm where he sat waiting on the bed. Then, under his direction, the strands wove themselves back together—smooth, tight, and identical to before, Ayame's brown French braid, recreated flawlessly.
Gripping the cut braid in his hand, Renji's chest thumped with excitement.
'I can do this! And, if I can get my hands on Kushina's hair, there's no way the energy inside won't unlock another skill.'
He allowed himself a quiet celebration before setting the braid aside and refocusing.
'I should make sure Ayame's hair looks exactly the same as before. Right now it's too… perfect. And it's open.'
Turning his attention back to Ayame's hair, he felt the difference immediately—the Demonic Energy in her current new hair was faint, with most of it in the severed braid. Cautiously, he manipulated the locks of hair to braid themselves, weaving back into the familiar side French braid.
Following his instincts, he introduced tiny imperfections: a wrinkle here, a split end there, trimming the extra length. Slowly, and carefully, he dulled the flawless sheen until the braid looked as it had before.
Minutes later, he pulled back with a nod of satisfaction. The hair still contained a trace of energy, so it wouldn't disintegrate. But it was weak—too weak to manipulate again until it had time to regenerate naturally.
'Good. As far as Ayame's concerned, nothing happened. She'll never notice the difference.'
He slumped back against the pillow, bone-deep tired.
'That was more exhausting than anything I've done so far.'
'Even with these instincts, making detailed damage is exhausting.'
He picked up Ayame's original braid and turned it over.
'What should I do with this? Absorb the remainder so it turns to dust…?'
He hesitated for a moment, then made a decision.
'No. It doesn't contain much energy anyway. it would be a waste. I can stash it for now.'
'It could be useful in a fight—manipulate it into deadly weapons I can throw. Or maybe there are other uses I haven't thought of yet.'
He set the braid aside carefully.
'I need a secure place to run experiments and store the hair I collect. A basement under the house—under the salon once it's finished—would be perfect.'
He thought about the whole test. 'The result was promising.'
He clenched his fist, tension tight in his knuckles.
'It's a little creepy... But, if I ever had to go rogue, stealing like this might be my only option—at least until I get strong enough. I should try very hard not to let that happen.'
He relaxed his nerves and ran a summary in his head.
'Controlling hair can be extremely stealthy if I want, and deadly too. As long as there's a woman in an enemy group—even if there are a dozen of them—I could secretly manipulate her hair and strike them all at once.'
'It has tremendous combat potential. A skilled shinobi might track the hair weapons and dodge, but even then, it's a viable option, especially as a sneak attack.'
Secondly, the newly grown hair had astonishing quality—silky, glossy, and healthy.
'This has a lot of potential to attract of women. I could use this as a service, grow their hair, cut off the old hair seeped in Demonic Energy, and collect them.'
'More hair means more Demonic Energy. With [Hair Manipulation] I could turn them into deadly, stealthy weapons whenever necessary.'
'And if I ever end up with excess, I can absorb their energy and reduce the evidence to dust.'
With this, he was finally able to relax and slowly drifted off to sleep.
A/N: Alright, I can't resist asking. Did this unlock a new fear? Like someone stealing your hair?