Potion

"Ah, you pervert!"

"You damn sleazebag!"

"Oh my god, he's completely naked!"ŴŴŴ.

"Boom!"

Though they were in the women's bathhouse, these were still Konoha's kunoichi. The instant the wooden wall came crashing down, all but a handful who hadn't reacted in time and stayed submerged had already gotten dressed. Countless pairs of battle-hardened eyes fixed on Jiraiya, their icy gazes swirling like demons from hell, ready to destroy the fool who'd dared trespass!

"Jiraiya, you scum!"

An enraged shriek rang out. A beautiful young woman with gleaming blond hair swept up in a bun, a generous bust, and a remarkably slender figure now radiated the aura of a demon from hell!

"It's not like that!"

Faced with this sudden crisis, Jiraiya tried in vain to explain. But at that very moment, his actions spoke louder than words: "If you won't let me see you naked, then I'll show you me naked!" It was an act of truly shameless depravity.

Of course, Jiraiya was pretty bewildered by what was happening, too!

Completely naked, he searched for Zhou Duan amid the chaos of attacks, but the kid had already run off. There was no sign of him anywhere!

The sensible thing would have been to get away immediately and figure out how to deal with the situation later. But he was facing a whole squad of kunoichi, made up of Chunin and Jonin. Even with his Elite Jonin strength, making a clean retreat without hurting them would be difficult. That moment's hesitation was all it took for Jiraiya to pay the price!

A massive amount of Chakra gathered at blinding speed, then was packed tightly into a fist. Before the strike even landed, a deep sense of danger closed in around Jiraiya. His opponent was an Elite Jonin too, and after spending half a day building up that furious blow, she struck with such force that even Jiraiya's hasty response couldn't stop it.

Its momentum was overwhelming, its power like a living hell. Its name—Monster Strength!

The instant fist met flesh, Jiraiya spat out a mouthful of blood. Then the terrifying force sent him hurtling away, carving a deep furrow through the earth before he disappeared from sight.

After unleashing an attack that could easily have been called an attempt to silence him forever, Tsunade glared in the direction Jiraiya had vanished, her contempt plain to see. Then she waved to the kunoichi, who were clearly still shaken, and led them away.

At the far end of the tunnel, rows of trees had been snapped in half. A battered figure lay helplessly among the broken trunks. Zhou Duan looked at Jiraiya, covered in blood and unconscious, and his brow twitched slightly. Then he spoke with a blank expression:

"System, start recording the results of my latest Clothes-Bursting Potion experiment!"

"Ding. The system is recording. The system reminds the researcher that the experimental subject is in a life-threatening condition. Leaving him untreated may result in death!"

"Don't worry about the details!"

Zhou Duan spoke with utter indifference:

"This scumbag spent so long spying on the women's bathhouse without getting caught, and he didn't even tell me how he did it. He deserves to die. Start recording. First, the Clothes-Bursting Potion takes effect seven seconds after being swallowed;

"Second, the Clothes-Bursting Potion perfectly corrodes the user's clothing without causing any side effects to the user's body;

"Third, after the Clothes-Bursting Potion is swallowed, the user's Chakra surges out of control, creating a massive cloud of smoke. The resulting blast can destroy a wooden board ten centimeters thick!"

"Ding. Recording of the Clothes-Bursting Potion is complete. Researcher—Zhou Duan. Your 100th potion formula has been recorded. The system will award you a formula suited to your current level of research in 24 hours!

"Ding. The system detects that the experimental subject is in critical condition. Leaving him untreated may result in death!"

"Honestly, if he had a skill for spying on the women's bathhouse without getting caught and wouldn't share it, then he can just die!"

Zhou Duan stared at Jiraiya with complete indifference. This left the Konoha Guard watching from the shadows at their wits' end.

"Hey, does this kid have any humanity at all? That's Jiraiya! And Ming, you heard him, right? He's so young, but already so lecherous and so full of spite. Is this kid really only eight?"

The speaker was Uchiha Ren, a member of the Guard with a two-Tomoe Sharingan. The one he called Ming was a cold, expressionless ninja with a Three-Tomoe Sharingan. Because of the system, most of what Zhou Duan said to it went unnoticed by others. But both guards had heard him say he'd let Jiraiya die without helping. Faced with the situation, even the most stoic person couldn't help making a face like they'd just bitten into something awful.

"Damn it, Jiraiya is one of the village's major fighting forces. He doesn't exactly support the Uchiha Clan, but if he dies in such a pathetic way, that's still a major loss for us. And..."

Uchiha Ming said with a deeply troubled expression:

"This is our patrol zone. If he dies, we won't be able to explain ourselves!"

It wasn't that the two guards were wasting time instead of immediately helping. Just looking at Jiraiya's miserable state was enough to tell them that unless a Medical Ninja of at least Genin rank treated him immediately, even lifting the lecher would risk killing him. By the time they ran to Konoha Hospital and dragged a doctor back, all sorts of things could happen. Zhou Duan was a junior Medical Ninja, and a pretty good one at that. If he helped, none of this would be a problem. But the real question was... would he?

Watching Zhou Duan gesticulate at Jiraiya without lifting a finger to help, Uchiha Ming and Uchiha Ren exchanged glances and sighed. They put on their masks and flashed over to Zhou Duan. Uchiha Ming stepped forward and spoke directly:

"Hatake Shudan, we're with the Konoha Guard. Given the situation, we need you to treat Jiraiya immediately and take him to Konoha Hospital. With your strength, carrying one person shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Zhou Duan looked at the two men who had suddenly appeared. He was silent for two seconds, then suddenly eyed them warily.

"You say you're with the Konoha Guard, but how do I know that? Where's your proof? The very first lesson in ninja school was not to trust strangers easily. I remember it perfectly!"

"Hiss!"

Uchiha Ming sucked in a sharp breath. He'd never met such an infuriating brat. Who in Konoha would dare impersonate the Konoha Guard? With so many Sharingan watching, they'd make your life worse than death. And judging by Zhou Duan's behavior, he'd recognized them as members of the Konoha Guard at first glance. He'd only brought up that ridiculous nonsense about not trusting strangers because he had no intention of saving Jiraiya!

Uchiha Ren had reached the same conclusion as Uchiha Ming.

"Hey, kid, you wouldn't happen to have some grudge against Jiraiya, would you? Refusing to help someone in danger is a major taboo in the village!"

"How could I refuse to help him!"

Zhou Duan's eyes widened, and he looked furious.

"Jiraiya was badly injured. Eight ribs are broken, all shattered. The bones need to be wrapped in Chakra to clear out the pooled blood and keep the muscles from causing further damage. And the broken ends are dangerously close to his heart. One wrong move and he could die. Both arms are fractured. That's not life-threatening, but the broken ends are close to major arteries and tendons. The bones need to be carefully realigned, then treated with the Healing Technique..."

Zhou Duan went on without pausing, explaining the precautions for treating him in detail. But the darker Uchiha Ming and Uchiha Ren's faces grew, the more obvious it became: he didn't want to help, did he? He obviously didn't want to help. He'd explained everything so thoroughly—was he really incapable of even administering emergency treatment?

"Don't look at me like that. Do I seem like the kind of person who'd refuse to help someone in need?"

Seeing their faces darken, Zhou Duan promptly revealed his trump card:

"Besides, I didn't bring any medical supplies for treating patients today!"

"Clack!"

As soon as Zhou Duan finished speaking, something fell from him and hit the ground—a palm-sized Konoha medical kit!

Zhou Duan pursed his lips and ignored the two men's stunned expressions. He leaned down to Jiraiya's ear and said:

"Jiraiya, I'll never forget what you did to me. Even if I'm killed, even if I jump off Kage Rock, I will never save you!"

Jiraiya, who had been "unconscious," opened his eyes and spoke through a twitching mouth:

"Zhou Duan, I was wrong to refuse to lend you my ninja frog for research. I admit I was wrong to take your wallet and stand you up, too. My wallet's on me, and you can have the ninja frog. You can summon it right now!"

Looking at how cooperative Jiraiya was, Zhou Duan finally smiled with satisfaction.

"First aid? It's actually not that hard!"