The Fourth Exchange

Kakashi watched his reckless training pace and could not help saying once,

"If you keep training like this, you'll cripple yourself sooner or later."

Fang Xu had been biting into a rice ball at the time. At those words, he merely looked up.

"Before I cripple myself, I'll get stronger first."

Kakashi fell silent for a moment.

"You've been eating more and more lately, too."

Fang Xu swallowed the last bite of his rice ball, his tone perfectly matter-of-fact.

"My body is growing, and I train a lot. It makes sense that I eat more."

Kakashi looked at the three empty bento boxes on the table and said nothing more.

Made sense?

A six-year-old eating twice as much as an adult in one meal was supposed to make sense?

However, Hatake Sakumo was very supportive.

"When you train your body, you need to eat enough."

"If you don't eat enough, your body won't hold up."

Fang Xu loved hearing that.

The problem was that there was only so much food he could mooch off at the Hatake Residence. He could not treat his teacher's home like a cafeteria and empty it every day.

Meanwhile, the savings at his own home were visibly dwindling.

Over the past week, Fang Xu's greatest achievement had been successfully combining Thunder Breathing, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's true lightning, and the Incomplete Cloud Lightning Body Tempering Technique into a body-tempering method better suited to himself.

He gave this set of techniques a simple, blunt name.

Thunder Body Tempering Technique.

At first, he had merely wanted to incorporate Thunder Breathing's rhythm into the Cloud Lightning Body Tempering Technique.

After two attempts, however, he discovered that simply copying it over would not work.

The Hidden Cloud Taijutsu used lightning-nature chakra to stimulate the body.

Thunder Breathing relied on breathing and muscular exertion to push the body's explosive power to its limit.

The Rumble-Rumble Fruit, meanwhile, was actual lightning.

If he forcibly combined all three, the result would not be greater strength. His body would be the first thing to give out.

During the first experiment, he merely let the current stimulate his calf in the rhythm of Thunder Breathing. His calf immediately cramped up, and the pain nearly sent him headfirst into the river.

For the second attempt, he lowered the intensity and used chakra to protect his meridians.

This time, his leg did not cramp, but the lightning and breathing rhythms were out of sync. Not only did his strength fail to improve, his body even hit a snag when exerting force.

Fang Xu did not rush.

The value of the Attribute Panel became fully apparent at this moment.

Every adjustment to the intensity, every change to the lightning's path, every alignment of the breathing rhythm with the chakra rhythm, the panel gave him feedback.

Effective, ineffective, excessive consumption, insufficient bodily capacity.

Although this information would not directly teach him how to train, it allowed him to avoid many detours.

On the third night, he finally found the key. Rather than cramming the three systems together, he needed to divide their roles.

Thunder Breathing was responsible for breathing rhythm and muscular exertion.

Lightning-nature chakra was responsible for protecting the meridians and stabilizing the direction of the current.

The Rumble-Rumble Fruit's lightning was responsible for truly tempering his flesh.

When he drew a deep breath into his lungs, used Thunder Breathing to drive the muscles throughout his body, then used chakra to force the current between his skin, muscles, and bones, his entire body felt as though it had been hammered from the inside out by a lightning hammer.

It hurt terribly.

But for the first time, the progress on the panel noticeably jumped.

[Thunder Body Tempering Technique: Beginner]

At that moment, Fang Xu sat in the charred clearing of the secret base, his forehead drenched in sweat from the pain, yet he grinned with delight.

This path worked.

Over the next few days, he did not rush for results.

Arms, calves, waist and back, the outer layers of his chest and abdomen—he tempered every area separately. As for his brain and internal organs, he still did not touch them.

The effects of the Thunder Body Tempering Technique also far surpassed those of any single technique.

Using the Cloud Lightning Body Tempering Technique alone provided more direct stimulation, but it was rough. Using Thunder Breathing alone clearly improved explosive power, but it leaned more toward combat technique.

After merging them, the rate at which his physical abilities improved increased by a full notch.

When running, his legs no longer became sore so easily. When swinging his sword, his wrists were steadier, and his shoulders and back could withstand consecutive slashes more effectively.

After activating Lightning Mode, his body's endurance became stronger and his burst duration grew longer. He could even practice high-burden moves like Thunderclap and Flash several more times.

It felt amazing, but it also burned through money like crazy.

At night.

Fang Xu sat at his desk, staring at the account book as his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

Meat, eggs, fish, rice, nourishing medicinal ingredients, topical ointments, medicinal soups to recover from physical fatigue—once everything was added up, the figure was more frightening than he had expected. His original savings of more than seven hundred thousand ryo had seemed considerable.

But at his current rate of consumption, they would last at most around three months.

That was even with him occasionally eating at the Hatake Residence and catching fish by the river to supplement his diet.

If he continued increasing the intensity of the Thunder Body Tempering Technique, the expenses would rise even further.

Fang Xu tapped the tabletop and let out a soft breath.

"Poor scholars and wealthy warriors. That saying really isn't just talk."

Ninja training was the same. Talent mattered, techniques mattered, and resources mattered just as much.

If the body was to grow stronger, it had to eat.

After high-intensity body tempering, the body needed massive amounts of nutrition to recover. Without enough food and medicine, forcing himself to train would only break him down.

Fang Xu urgently needed one of two things now: a huge amount of money or unlimited food.

Preferably both.

His gaze fell on the Exchange Talent in his mind.

The one-week cooldown had finally ended.

[Exclusive Talent: Exchange LV1.]

[Cooldown complete.]

Fang Xu's spirits rose. This was what he had been waiting for.

This time, he did not use the B-rank ninjutsu scrolls left behind by his parents.

Those things were valuable and could not be wasted casually.

He took a scroll he had copied himself from the drawer.

Chakra Refinement Technique.

This was one of the materials he knew best and could exchange most safely.

Last time, a copied version of the Chakra Refinement Technique and a ball of chakra had been exchanged for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

This basic cultivation method was ordinary in the Shinobi World.

But to many worlds without a chakra system, it was highly valuable.

Fang Xu raised his right hand again, slowly gathering a ball of pale blue chakra in his palm.

He compressed the chakra to the size of his thumb and stabilized its outer layer with spiritual power, making it resemble a faintly glowing seed.

Looking at the scroll on the table and the chakra in his palm, he murmured, "This time, give me something that can solve my food problem."

"Money would work, food would work too. Best of all would be an item that can produce unlimited food."

Fang Xu placed the chakra beside the scroll and gently pressed his palm over them.

The thought descended.

"Exchange."

The next instant, the Chakra Refinement Technique scroll and the gathered ball of chakra vanished from the table at the same time.

The familiar pulling sensation appeared.

Fang Xu's consciousness was lifted once more.

The scene changed.

A blue sea crashed against jagged reefs.

On a small island, coconut trees swayed wildly in the sea breeze, while several broken planks lay scattered along the beach.

Backpacks and camping boxes could still be seen being swept farther away by the waves.

Several children sat miserably on the beach.

Nobita clutched his stomach, his face scrunched into a miserable knot.

"Doraemon, I'm starving to death!"

"Our food was all swept away by the waves!"

Gian sat on a rock, his stomach growling loudly.

He glared at Doraemon, his voice urgent and fierce.

"Hey, Doraemon, don't you have lots of gadgets?"

"Hurry up and take out something to eat!"