Chapter 13

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The group of Konoha shinobi ducked as something flew over their heads, dangerously low. When they stood upright again, they saw it was coming back at them. Neji got in front of the unidentified object and did a Rotation, stopping it and making it fall on the ground. Naruto saw it was the boomerang sword that had cut his seal. Suddenly the handle had a soft yellow glow and the whole weapon glided across the dirt towards where it came from. They looked and saw Kashou Ryuutake, formerly of Kiri's Seven Swordsmen, who's chakra-glowing hand caught the sword.

"Nice. Some Konoha bodies to carve. Don't expect to dodge again." Kashou stated before getting ready to throw his weapon again.

Naruto and the others tried moving into a better defensive position but found they could barely walk. All four looked down and saw that their feet were being held down by strands of sky-blue hair coming up from out of the ground. Lee was strong enough to tear it away from his ankles and Tenten used a kunai to cut it away from her. Neji meanwhile couldn't use his gentle fist against something without chakra points and Naruto tried to rip it off the hard way.

Kashou threw his sword at them expecting a perfect hit. Lee jumped at it and hit it dead center from above with a kick, making it impale in the soil. More hair burst out of the ground dislodging the blade and trying to impale Lee. He dodged, but it managed to wrap itself around him and hold him in place. The same thing almost happened to Tenten, but she cut with away with a sword. When it tried again, she slipped on some discarded hair and fell off the plateau.

Kashou retrieved his weapon but didn't throw it at anyone. Instead he just smirked at seeing his prey tied up. "Now which one to kill first?" He scanned them over and rested his eyes on Naruto. "Hey, didn't I already fight you? You got away alive? Okay then, you're first."

Naruto then created twenty shadow clones and had them attack the swordsman. His sword cut thru four of them right away, but the rest ambushed him and did an Uzumaki barrage. Before he fell, Kashou threw his sword at the still tied up Naruto, making a lethal hit. A sudden poof of smoke revealed it to be a shadow clone Naruto had done a substitution with. Without his weapon at the moment, the real Naruto fought Kashou while two clones worked at cutting Neji and Lee free of the strange hair.

Tenten used two sickles to get a hold on the wall of the plateau, then curiously looked to see just how far the drop down was from where she hung. It was about fifty meters, and she noticed a small outcove with a young boy with sky-blue hair sitting down with his hands making a strange hand sign. It looked like he was praying but his fingers forked at the middle and ring fingers on both hands. His hair was digging into the earth behind him so Tenten knew that this was the source of the hair. She dropped down onto the ledge, startling the boy. At that moment the hair holding the others slacked.

"Please do hurt me. It's not my choice to do this." He pleaded.

"Then why are you doing it?" The kunoichi asked.

"A long time ago in Kiri, someone discovered a way to cure baldness. Anyone who took the medicine would never have to worry about going bald. The problem was that the hair never stopped growing and it grew too quickly, especially when someone used their chakra. Soon users would either be crushed by the weight of too much hair or they would starve to death since the hair takes so much nutrition from the body. My clan however could withstand the strain on our bodies so we became the only ones to use the medicine." The boy started to explain.

"We even found ways to put our chakra into our hair and use it in combat. It's like we have an extra arm or something. And we found a way to seal the effects so the hair grows at a much slower rate." The boy then showed her a small red ribbon with ink on one side. "When I wear this, my hair grows normally. But everyone in my family was killed but me, and Ryuutake is the only person left who knows how to make this seal if something happens to this one. I don't like working for him, but if I don't then I'll have to cut my hair five times a day just to stay alive."

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