Otogakure: Things Were Getting Desperate

"Uh... Kiba, are you joking?"

Hearing Kiba's words, Naruto looked at him skeptically.

"What do you mean, 'girly'? You mean his fighting style looks reckless, like some crazy shrew, right?"

"No, I mean exactly what I said!"

Perhaps because he was Kazeka's teammate, or perhaps because of what had happened with Haku, Kiba was very sensitive to changes in personality.

"His strength has definitely increased by a lot, but at the same time, his personality has changed too. I have a feeling Kazeka's behind this!"

"Kazeka's behind it? We've been fighting this guy Zaku the whole time. We haven't seen Kazeka do anything. And besides..."

Naruto spoke in disbelief.

"Isn't Kazeka our friend? Why would he help our opponent?"

"Kazeka has plenty of tricks. I've never seen him perform surgery without anyone noticing, but it doesn't seem impossible.

"Besides, I think Kiba's right. This guy really has changed..."

Sasuke had also been through plenty of Kazeka's experiments. Seeing Zaku's condition, he felt an unmistakable sense of familiarity.

"But Naruto's right about one thing. Kazeka wouldn't help an opponent get stronger for no reason.

"There has to be something else going on. Maybe we can start by following Kiba's suggestion!

"I've been watching Zaku for a while, and the stronger he gets, the more embarrassed he seems to become.

"Yes, embarrassed in the literal sense. He seems terrified of having his clothes torn!"

"Sasuke, you're joking, right?"

Naruto was even more astonished.

"Is this guy really going to scream in terror if a few pieces of his clothes get torn? That's ridiculous!

"Hey, no way..."

Seeing Zaku look horrified and even take a step back at his words, Naruto stared at him in bewilderment.

"I was just joking. You're not really afraid of having your clothes torn, are you?"

"Torn clothes and things like that..."

Zaku swallowed with difficulty.

"I... I'm not afraid!"

Naruto: "...I still don't believe you..."

"Whoosh!"

Kiba had no patience left for Naruto's rambling. He flung five or six kunai at Zaku.

This time, Naruto saw it clearly. As Zaku defended himself, he would rather let a kunai slice the back of his hand than let it tear his clothes!

At the sight of such an unbelievable scene, the three exchanged glances and grinned wickedly!

"Ninja Art—Multiple Shadow Clone Clothes-Pulling Technique!"

"Fang Over Fang Clothes Shattering Technique!"

"Kunai Throwing—Clothes-Ripping Technique!"

These three shameless guys had quickly mastered the techniques they'd just come up with. Zaku's unusual condition made them improve their skills even faster.

If Zaku had been a girl, Naruto and the others would never have done this.

But Zaku was a guy, so the three of them showed no mercy!

As if to prove just how terrifying Kazeka's drug was, Zaku, who had been so valiant before, now looked utterly desperate.

Even though his strength had been greatly increased, he was terrified when even a bit of his sleeve got torn.

"Stop!" "Leave me alone!" "You perverts!"—he shouted incessantly.

At last, when Kiba ripped a large piece of cloth from Zaku's chest, Zaku finally broke down.

Clutching his chest with both hands, he began to sob softly under everyone's stunned gaze!

"Uh..."

Zaku looked so pitiful that Naruto couldn't help poking Sasuke beside him.

"Did we go too far...?"

"Naruto, don't get the wrong idea..."

At Naruto's gesture, Sasuke hurriedly explained, as if he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't.

"I was only trying to end the fight as quickly as possible. I really didn't tear Zaku's clothes on purpose.

"You have to believe me. I'm not interested in that Zaku!"

"I never thought you were interested in Zaku, and why are you explaining yourself to me?"

Naruto shuddered and instinctively sidestepped.

"Sasuke, I really think you should see a psychologist soon!"

"Could you two stop clowning around right now...?"

Kiba glanced at the two of them helplessly, then looked at Zaku. A complicated expression crept into his eyes.

"Could Kazeka have messed up his brain with all those experiments and turned into a pervert?"

"My... God!"

Kiba wasn't the only one thinking that. Dosu was staring at Kazeka like he was a pervert.

"You're a pervert, aren't you?"

"Hey, hey, watch what you're saying..."

Kazeka gave him a displeased look.

"I admit that after I sent you flying, I used an extremely skillful method to perform surgery on Zaku at a distance, quickly and without being noticed.

"That technique was so skillful it could certainly be called perverted, but the way you're talking makes it sound as if I'm a pervert myself!"

"Are you not?"

Dosu glared at Kazeka.

"You turned Zaku into such a girly guy. What other explanation could there be?"

"Hey, hey, this is an extremely important scientific breakthrough. It's not nearly as lewd as you think..."

Kazeka hurriedly set the record straight.

"My original intention in developing this drug was to target high-ranking officials in various countries and the decision-makers in their hidden villages.

"Think about it. As the brains of their countries and villages, these people need to make incredibly calm decisions.

"If my drug were successfully deployed and made them lose their composure and change their personalities, so they started grabbing each other by the throat over the tiniest things...

"Then there'd be no need for any outside threat. They'd destroy their own countries themselves!"

"Bullshit!"

Dosu had spent enough time around Kazeka to know not to believe him.

"Forget everything else. Otogakure has its own intelligence network.

"If your drugs had those effects and were used, they'd cause chaos somewhere, and the news would spread. You couldn't keep it under wraps.

"But I've never heard anything about this!"

"Ah, it's a long story..."

Kazeka sighed.

"The drugs are still in their early stages of development. Their effects don't last long, they're easy to detect, and they can be easily cured.

"It'd be more convenient to just use poison than go to the trouble of using this drug.

"If I want to improve it further, I'll need plenty of time, effort, and resources.

"I'm desperately short of all three.

"Perhaps that's the tragedy of being a scientific genius!"

Dosu: "..."

Watching Kazeka sigh, Dosu felt like he'd just been hit by a truck. He was about to scold Kazeka some more when he suddenly froze.

Since Dosu had been affected, what about their remaining teammate, Kotone?