Watching his reckless training pace, even Kakashi could not help making a comment.
"If you keep training like this, sooner or later you'll ruin your body."
Fang Xu had been munching on a rice ball at the time and merely looked up.
"I'll get stronger before that happens."
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.
"I'm growing, and I train a lot. It makes sense that I'd eat a lot."
Kakashi looked at the three empty lunch boxes on the table and said nothing more.
It made sense?
A six-year-old eating twice as much as an adult in one meal made sense?
Hatake Sakumo, however, was quite supportive.
"Training your body means eating enough."
"If you don't eat enough, your body won't hold up."
Fang Xu loved hearing that.
The problem was that there was a limit to how many meals he could get at the Hatake Residence. He could not treat his teacher's home like a cafeteria and clean it out every day.
Meanwhile, his own savings were dwindling at a visible rate.
Fang Xu's greatest gain that week was successfully combining Thunder Breathing, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's real lightning, and the Incomplete Cloud Lightning Body Tempering Technique into a body-tempering method better suited to himself.
He gave it a simple, blunt name.
Thunder Body Tempering Technique.
At first, he had only wanted to incorporate Thunder Breathing's breathing rhythm into the Cloud Lightning Body Tempering Technique.
But after two attempts, he discovered that simply copying it would not work.
The Hidden Cloud's body-tempering technique relied on lightning release 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, produced actual lightning.
Forcing the three together did not make him stronger. His body gave out first.
During his first experiment, he had merely let the current stimulate his calf in time with Thunder Breathing, only for his calf to cramp on the spot. It hurt so much that he nearly plunged headfirst into the river.
The second time, he lowered the intensity and added chakra to protect his meridians.
This time, he did not cramp, but the lightning fell out of sync with his breathing. Rather than increasing his strength, it caused his body's exertion to hitch.
Fang Xu did not rush.
This was when the Attribute Panel's value fully revealed itself.
Every adjustment to the intensity, every change to the lightning's path, and every alignment of his breathing with his chakra rhythm drew feedback from the panel.
Effective, ineffective, excessive consumption, insufficient bodily tolerance.
Although this information did not directly teach him how to train, it saved him many detours.
On the third night, he finally found the key. Rather than cramming three systems together, he needed to give each a separate role.
Thunder Breathing governed his breathing rhythm and muscular exertion.
Lightning release chakra protected his meridians and stabilized the current's direction.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit's lightning did the actual tempering of his flesh.
When he drew a breath into his lungs, used Thunder Breathing to engage the muscles throughout his body, then used chakra to press the current into the spaces between his skin, muscles, and bones, his entire body felt as though a lightning hammer had pounded it from the inside out.
It hurt terribly.
But for the first time, the progress on the panel made a noticeable jump.
[Thunder Body Tempering Technique: beginner]
At that moment, Fang Xu sat on the scorched clearing in his secret base, his forehead drenched in sweat from the pain, yet grinning with satisfaction.
This path worked.
Over the next few days, he did not chase quick results.
His arms, calves, lower back, and the outer layers of his chest and abdomen-he tempered each area separately. He still left his brain and internal organs untouched.
The Thunder Body Tempering Technique's effects also far surpassed those of any single technique.
Using the Cloud Lightning Body Tempering Technique alone provided more direct stimulation, but it was crude. Using Thunder Breathing alone noticeably improved explosive power, but leaned more toward combat skills.
Now that he had combined them, his physical capabilities improved significantly faster.
His legs no longer grew sore so easily when he ran. His wrists were steadier when he swung his blade, and his shoulders and back could better withstand repeated slashes.
With Lightning Mode active, his body could withstand more, and his bursts of power lasted longer. He could even practice high-strain moves like Thunderclap and Flash a few more times.
It truly felt great, and it truly burned through money.
That night.
Fang Xu sat at his desk, looking at his ledger, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
Meat, eggs, fish, rice, nourishing medicinal herbs, topical ointments, medicinal broths for relieving physical fatigue-added together, the figures were more frightening than he had expected. His original savings of over seven hundred thousand ryo had seemed like quite a lot.
But at his current rate of spending, they would last about three months at most.
That was with occasional meals at the Hatake Residence and fish caught by the river to supplement his food.
If he kept increasing the Thunder Body Tempering Technique's intensity, his expenses would keep rising.
Fang Xu tapped the desk and let out a soft breath.
"They really weren't kidding about scholarship being for the poor and martial training for the rich."
Ninja training was no different. Talent mattered, techniques mattered, and resources mattered just as much.
To strengthen his body, he had to eat.
After intense body tempering, his body needed large amounts of nutrients to repair itself. Without enough food and medicine, forcing himself to train would only break him down.
Fang Xu urgently needed one of two things: a large sum of money or unlimited food.
Preferably both.
His gaze settled on the exchange talent in his mind.
The weeklong cooldown was finally over.
[Exclusive talent: exchange level 1.] [Cooldown complete.]
Fang Xu perked up. This was what he had been waiting for.
This time, he did not take out the B-Rank ninjutsu scrolls his parents had left him.
Those were valuable and could not be wasted carelessly.
He took a scroll he had copied himself out of the drawer.
Chakra Refinement Technique.
It was one of the exchange materials he knew best and could use most safely.
Last time, a handwritten copy of the Chakra Refinement Technique and a mass of chakra had brought him the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
This sort of basic training method was commonplace in the Shinobi World.
But in many worlds without a chakra system, it was highly valuable.
Fang Xu raised his right hand, slowly gathering a mass of pale blue chakra in his palm.
He compressed the chakra to the size of his thumb and stabilized its outer layer with mental strength, making it look like a faintly glowing seed.
Looking at the scroll on the desk and the chakra in his palm, he said quietly, "Give me something that can solve my food problem this time."
"Money's fine, food's fine. Ideally, a gadget that can produce unlimited food."
Fang Xu placed the chakra beside the scroll and gently pressed his palm onto them.
He formed the thought.
"Exchange."
The next instant, the Chakra Refinement Technique scroll and the mass of condensed chakra vanished from the desk together.
The familiar tugging sensation appeared.
Fang Xu's consciousness was lifted once more.
The scene changed.
A blue sea beat against the rocks.
On a small island, coconut palms swayed wildly in the sea breeze, and a few broken planks lay scattered along the beach.
A backpack and camping boxes could still be seen out at sea, swept far away by the waves.
Several children sat on the beach in a bedraggled state.
Nobita clutched his stomach, his face nearly scrunched into a ball.
"Doraemon, I'm starving!"
"All our food got 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 loads of gadgets?"
"Hurry up and get us something to eat!"