By the riverbank.
Fang Xu stared at the stone with the blackened crater blasted into it by Thunder Bird, his chest still heaving.
Strong.
Really strong.
Even with only a weakened version of Thunder Bird, even though his body could not support anything close to Enel's level of power, he had still unleashed destructive force far beyond that of his peers.
But the problem was obvious, too.
It consumed too much stamina.
After just a few attempts at Elementalization, Lightning Assault, and Thunder Bird, he had been drained until his limbs went weak.
If he actually fought an enemy and failed to finish them off in the first few moves, he might be the one to fall.
"Fruit abilities consume stamina."
Fang Xu raised his hand, tiny arcs of electricity still dancing at his fingertips.
"But the core of a ninja's combat power is chakra."
An idea suddenly popped into his head.
What if I could use chakra to replace some of the stamina consumption?
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit belonged to a different system.
Chakra was the foundation of power in the Naruto World.
Both now existed within him, and they did not conflict with each other.
Since they did not conflict, could they be converted into each other?
Or rather, could he use chakra to assist his fruit abilities and reduce the burden on his body?
The moment this thought surfaced, Fang Xu's breathing grew heavier.
"If this works, it won't be as simple as just having an extra Rumble-Rumble Fruit."
"Lightning Release plus the Rumble-Rumble Fruit."
"Chakra plus Logia."
"If I can really connect these two powers, my ceiling will rise by a huge margin."
But Fang Xu soon calmed down again.
The idea was good.
But he had not even confirmed the most basic issue yet.
His original chakra affinities were water and earth.
No lightning.
That was precisely why he had never been able to properly practice the C-rank Lightning Release: Lightning Ball Technique his parents had left him.
It was not that someone without a lightning affinity absolutely could not learn Lightning Release.
It was just much harder, consumed more chakra, and produced less power.
For a civilian student with relatively little chakra, forcing himself to practice a release technique that did not suit him was a waste of time.
But things were different now.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit had merged with his body.
His entire body could turn into lightning.
Would his chakra affinities have been affected, too?
"I'll know once I try."
Fang Xu did not stay by the river.
Although the place was secluded, the commotion he had just caused was not small.
If he stayed any longer and a patrolling ninja discovered the scorched marks, explaining them would be troublesome.
He reined in the electric arcs and dragged his exhausted body home.
After entering, Fang Xu first drew the curtains, then checked the yard and outside the house again.
Only after confirming that no one was paying attention to the place did he take a small wooden box from the bottom of the cabinet.
Inside the box lay several sheets of Chakra Paper.
It was what the Ninja Academy had used to test affinities. The body's original owner had later bought two sheets himself, intending to test again once his chakra improved.
But his previous test had still shown water and earth, so he had left them untouched ever since.
Fang Xu picked up a sheet of Chakra Paper and took a deep breath.
"Don't disappoint me."
He slowly poured chakra into it.
The paper soon reacted.
One corner on the left grew damp first, as though soaked in water.
Immediately afterward, one corner on the right began to grow heavy, the paper's surface turning rough as tiny cracks appeared along its edge.
Water affinity.
Earth affinity.
The same as before.
Fang Xu had only just begun to frown when, in the next second, a sudden change erupted.
Crackle!
An extremely faint electrical sound came from inside the paper.
The paper, which had merely been half damp and half cracked, seemed to be pierced from within by an invisible force of lightning.
The whole sheet shuddered violently, fine wrinkles appearing across its surface before it broke into large scraps with a snap.
Fang Xu's fingers froze.
It had broken apart.
The whole sheet had broken apart.
It was not simply the edges crumbling as they did with an earth affinity.
Instead, it had first shown water and earth reactions, then been pierced straight through by a more overbearing surge of lightning-nature chakra.
He looked down at the scraps in his palm, his heart beating faster and faster.
"Lightning affinity..."
Fang Xu could not help laughing aloud.
"I really awakened a lightning affinity!"
His original water and earth affinities had become three affinities: water, earth, and lightning.
And this lightning affinity was clearly not as simple as an ordinary awakening.
It came from the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
From a top-tier Logia ability.
Fang Xu could even feel that, when he poured in chakra, some of the lightning power within him had been stirred as well.
What did that mean?
It meant that chakra and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit really did have a point of intersection.
They were not two paths that would remain parallel forever.
"I can learn Lightning Release: Lightning Ball Technique now."
Fang Xu immediately thought of the scroll among his parents' belongings.
Before, he could only look at it longingly.
Now things were different.
With a lightning affinity acquired, this C-rank Lightning Release technique could finally serve its purpose.
More importantly, Lightning Release Ninjutsu itself could help him understand chakra shape transformation and nature transformation.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit gave him an instinct for lightning and Enel's experience developing it.
Lightning Release provided the way chakra circulated within the ninja system.
By comparing the two, he might really find a way to convert them into each other and substitute one for the other's consumption.
Fang Xu put away the torn Chakra Paper, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.
"Insufficient stamina is my biggest weakness right now."
"But chakra can be trained, and so can my physique."
"If I can make chakra support my fruit abilities, then use lightning to temper my body in turn..."
He paused, suppressing his excitement.
A meal had to be eaten one bite at a time.
A road had to be walked one step at a time.
No matter how big his ideas were, he had to start with what he could do right now.
Lightning Body Tempering.
Enel's experience did contain similar things.
Lightning could stimulate the body, sharpen reactions, and improve explosive muscle power.
But it really was dangerous, too.
Too little intensity would have no effect.
Too much would cripple him with electricity first.
His internal organs and brain in particular were things Fang Xu did not dare touch at all right now.
He sat cross-legged and raised his right index finger.
"I'll start with one finger."
A current thinner than a strand of hair emerged from within his body and coiled around his index finger.
Numbness.
Itching.
Then came a needlelike pain.
Fang Xu gritted his teeth, forcing the current to stay under control rather than run wild.
The skin at his fingertip reddened slightly, and his flesh felt as though countless tiny insects were gnawing at it.
He did not rush to increase the intensity, instead feeling out his body's limits bit by bit.
Ten seconds.
Twenty seconds.
Half a minute.
Only after his index finger had adapted did he spread the current to his entire hand.
His palm, the back of his hand, his wrist, his forearm.
For every inch he advanced, Fang Xu stopped to adapt.
It really did hurt.
But the effect was obvious, too.
Wherever the current had stimulated him, his muscles seemed to awaken, warmth mingling with the aching tightness.
Fang Xu clenched his fist a few times and could feel his arm responding a little more readily than before.
Only a little.
But that was enough.
"It works."
He exhaled and continued expanding the area.
Skin.
Muscles.
Bones.
The current was like a tiny hammer, striking the outer layers of his body again and again.
Fang Xu held firmly to one boundary throughout.
Do not touch the internal organs.
Do not touch the brain.
He avoided his heart, lungs, abdominal cavity, and the area around his spinal cord entirely.
He wanted to temper his body, not kill himself.
Half an hour later, Fang Xu finally stopped.
The instant the electric arcs dispersed, he nearly toppled to the floor.
It was not pain.
It was hunger.
Extreme hunger.
His stomach felt hollowed out, and every part of his body was crying out for food.