Fang Xu cleared the table and spoke while staring at the tablecloth.
"Medicinal chicken soup to replenish energy and nourish the blood."
A steaming bowl of chicken soup appeared.
The broth was clear, with chicken, red dates, goji berries, and several medicinal herbs he recognized.
Fang Xu took a sip.
Warmth flowed into his stomach. His body did feel a little warmer, and his spirits lifted.
"Medicinal lamb soup to strengthen tendons and bones."
This time, it worked too.
A rich, milky lamb soup appeared. The medicinal smell was stronger than before, but it still counted as food.
Fang Xu kept testing.
"High-grade medicinal cuisine to restore stamina."
The tablecloth paused for half a moment, then produced a serving of medicinal congee.
"Topical wound medicine."
No response.
"Antidote pills."
Still no response.
Fang Xu soon figured out the boundaries. Pure medicine was out, but as long as something fell into the category of "medicinal cuisine" or "food," the tablecloth could probably produce it.
That was enough.
What the Thunder Body Tempering Technique needed most had never been topical ointments, but large quantities of food and nutrients.
Now ordinary meat, staple foods, drinks, and medicinal cuisine were all taken care of.
The more Fang Xu looked at the tablecloth, the more satisfied he became.
"Blue Fatty's world really is a treasure trove."
A single Gourmet Tablecloth had solved his biggest current resource problem.
What about the other gadgets?
The Anywhere Door, the Time Furoshiki, the Small Light, and, most importantly, the 4D Pocket.
Thinking of Doraemon pulling gadgets out of his pocket one after another made Fang Xu's heart burn with excitement.
If he could exchange for the 4D Pocket someday, that would be when he truly took off.
Portable storage was only the beginning. If he could bring out other gadgets from inside it too, that would be absurd beyond belief.
But Fang Xu quickly reined in his thoughts.
The exchanges were far too random.
Getting the Gourmet Tablecloth this time had already been a stroke of incredible luck. If he wanted to connect to Doraemon's world again, he could only keep trying over time.
He folded the tablecloth again and put it in his most concealed cabinet.
From that night onward, Fang Xu's training routine changed completely.
Before, when he practiced the Thunder Body Tempering Technique, he had to ration his food.
Whenever his body neared its limit, he had to consider whether he had enough meat for the day and whether he should conserve his medicinal cuisine.
Now he no longer had to.
Before leaving in the morning, he loaded up on beef, eggs, rice, and hot soup.
After morning training, he replenished himself with a high-protein breakfast.
While attending the Ninja Academy during the day, he ate a substantial lunch too.
Before heading to the Hatake Residence for sword practice after school, he ate something at home first.
After returning from the Hatake Residence at night, he used medicinal cuisine to replenish what body tempering had consumed.
Once he ate enough, the effects of the Thunder Body Tempering Technique changed immediately.
He no longer cautiously held his body back, instead training right at his limit every day.
Thunder Breathing mobilized his muscles, Lightning Release Chakra stabilized his meridians, and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's real lightning tempered his flesh little by little.
After every session, the pain left him drenched in sweat.
But after a meal of medicinal cuisine, he could keep going the next day.
The changes in his condition on the Attribute Panel grew faster and faster too.
The time needed to recover from fatigued to healthy shortened, Lightning Mode lasted longer, and Thunderclap and Flash put less strain on him.
It was as though his constitution was being forcibly pushed upward.
In the backyard of the Hatake Residence, Kakashi soon noticed something was off.
After a sparring session, he put away his sword and frowned as he watched Fang Xu breathe.
"You've gotten faster again."
Fang Xu slid his long sword back into its sheath.
"I've been eating pretty well lately."
Kakashi stared at him.
"Eating well can make your swordsmanship improve this fast?"
Standing nearby, Hatake Sakumo also looked over with a smile.
"Kakashi, don't just look at his speed."
"Fang Xu's footwork is much steadier than last week, and he applies his strength more smoothly."
"This isn't simply his body getting stronger. He's absorbed the fundamentals."
Kakashi fell silent.
Of course he could see it. Precisely because he could, it was even harder to take.
Lately, Fang Xu had been like a dry sponge, absorbing however much Hatake Sakumo taught him.
Grip, footwork, distance, rhythm, holding back his strength.
Mistakes he still made the day before were noticeably fewer the next day.
For the first time, Kakashi felt that even a genius like himself had to fight desperately to keep up.
Hatake Sakumo watched the two children, in a very good mood.
"Fang Xu, starting today, I'll add some analysis of practical combat to your training."
"You've already developed the beginnings of your Lightning-Attribute Ninja Swordsmanship, but it isn't stable enough yet."
"In a real fight, powerful moves alone aren't enough."
"When to draw your sword, when to withdraw it, and when to hold back your strength matter more than power."
Fang Xu immediately straightened up.
"Please guide me, Teacher."
In the days that followed, Fang Xu's Kendo improved even faster.
With Sakumo, one of the Shinobi World's finest swordsmen, guiding him, he avoided so many detours.
And in his secret base, he never stopped integrating his techniques either.
Thunder Breathing was no longer merely the Demon Slayer Corps' sword techniques.
After he incorporated real lightning into Second Form: Rice Spirit, each of its five consecutive slashes carried paralysis and burning.
For Third Form: Thunder Swarm, he used Lightning Release Chakra to fix the trajectories. The slashes no longer scattered chaotically, instead closing in like a net of lightning.
With Fourth Form: Distant Thunder, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit allowed the blade's flashes to send arcs of lightning farther.
In Fifth Form: Heat Lightning, heat and electric current erupted together, leaving the edges of severed tree trunks completely charred.
Sixth Form: Rumble and Flash became a storm of lightning slashes that maintained relentless pressure.
What satisfied Fang Xu most was still Thunderclap and Flash.
Lightning Mode propelled his body, Thunder Breathing concentrated his explosive power, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit provided penetration, and Lightning Release Chakra stabilized his blade's path.
With a single slash, he crossed more than ten meters almost in the blink of an eye.
The wooden post he struck did not snap in two. Instead, a charred hole blasted straight through its middle.
Its power had surged.
Fang Xu did not get carried away.
He still followed his routine every day.
Train, eat, train again, eat again.
He powered through more than a month just like that.
During that month or so, his Exchange Talent came off cooldown another five times.
Fang Xu tried it five times too.
Unfortunately, no grand prize on the level of the Gourmet Tablecloth appeared again.
Only three exchanges were truly worth noting.
On the fifth exchange, he left the original untouched and only transcribed a copy of the Incomplete Cloud Lightning Body Tempering Technique.
After the exchange, a chunk of Sea King meat big enough to encircle with both arms appeared.
That meat came from the One Piece World.
Its flesh was firm, and the nutrients it contained far exceeded those of ordinary meat.
After preparing it with seasonings produced by the Gourmet Tablecloth, Fang Xu took an entire week to finish eating it.
That week, his progress in the Thunder Body Tempering Technique increased noticeably.
Ordinary food could replenish his body.
But high-energy ingredients from another world like this helped with body tempering far more.
On the sixth exchange, Fang Xu reused the Chakra Refinement Technique paired with Chakra.
This time, he connected to a Hong Kong film world.
What he ultimately received was a Desert Eagle pistol and one hundred bullets.
Fang Xu's expression was complicated after he received them.
Against ordinary people, this thing was highly lethal.
But in the Shinobi World, its loud gunshots, heavy recoil, and straight bullet trajectories made it difficult to use as a primary weapon against ninjas with quick reactions.
Still, as a surprise tactic, or for researching a system of gunpowder weapons, it was not entirely useless.
He carefully sealed away the Desert Eagle and its bullets and hid them at the bottom of the cabinet.
On the seventh exchange, Fang Xu snipped another small tuft of Obito's hair.
This time, the image connected to the apocalyptic world again.