Naruto reached into his system space and pulled out the Universal Meatball. The moment it left the sealed space, his hand suddenly dipped, as if he'd just dropped a bag of bricks. The ground beneath him even cracked slightly from the weight.
He was stunned. When the meatball was in the sealed space, it felt like nothing. But now that it was out, he could feel the immense weight of the Universal Meatball. If Sasuke had been the one holding it, that weakling would have hit the ground for sure, Naruto thought with a grin.
His mind started to wander. With this thing, I won't ever need to look for weight-training gear again. I'll just use the Universal Meatball. He mused for a moment longer, I wonder if it has a shelf life?
Casually, Naruto tossed the Universal Meatball to Uzumaki Naruko. If not for the cracked ground beneath him, anyone would have thought it was just a glowing green snack.
Naruko caught the meatball, but her body immediately sank, and the cheerful smile on her face disappeared.
"Really, Naruto?" she said with a hint of irritation, rolling her eyes at him. "Are you seriously messing with your own clone?"
Naruto couldn't help but smirk. Beautiful girls with attitude—always a bit more intimidating, he thought.
Trying to divert the situation, Naruto turned to Uzumaki Starrk.
"Hey, Starrk, is there a way to make sure the next time I use the Shadow Clone Jutsu, I get you guys instead of someone weird?"
It finally dawned on Naruto that maybe he had been doing something wrong with his Shadow Clone Jutsu all this time. Maybe this is why it's considered a forbidden technique by the Second Hokage, he thought.
Naruko, noticing his worry, sighed and said, "Just remember how we look when you're forming the hand signs. As long as you don't let random thoughts creep into your mind, you won't end up with... strange clones."
Naruto pouted, half-believing her. He had to admit, he was indeed thinking about Brother Chicken moments ago, but he would never confess to thinking about dressing up as a woman.
Interrupting his thoughts, Naruko suddenly announced, "I'm going to eat it!" She then swallowed the Universal Meatball in one gulp.
Naruto watched as Naruko's face turned a shade of red. "How is it?! Did anything happen?" he asked, eyes wide with concern.
Naruko nodded, then shook her head, and then nodded again, leaving Naruto thoroughly confused. "My strength... it's increasing," she mumbled, pounding her chest with her fists. "But... water... I'm choking!"
Naruto sighed, rubbing his forehead. How tough are you? People in the game have to chew this thing several times! And you just swallowed it whole!
Despite his frustration, Naruto quickly pulled out a bottle of water for Naruko. He definitely didn't want to experience the memory of a Shadow Clone choking to death.
But just as he was about to hand her the water, there was a loud poof, and Naruko exploded into a cloud of smoke.
Naruto was about to lament the loss of his clone when the memories from Naruko hit him. She wasn't choked to death... She was choked to death by the Universal Meatball!
Naruto shook his head, realizing that system items shouldn't be eaten so carelessly. He immediately created several new Shadow Clones, including another Naruko. This time, the clones were much more normal-looking, not the bizarre versions he sometimes ended up with.
He spread a cloth on the ground and began laying out all the food items that could boost his clones' abilities. He was determined to figure out the safe ones and avoid any more disastrous experiments.
Meanwhile, Kakashi, who had been watching from a distance, was utterly confused. Weren't they supposed to be training? What's going on with Naruto?
Curious and now a bit hungry himself, Kakashi closed his book, hopped down from the tree, and said to Sasuke and Sakura, "You two keep practicing. I'm going to grab a bite."
As Naruto finished preparing the "death experience" package for his clones, he noticed Starrk looking at him expectantly. Naruto scratched his head, chuckling awkwardly before pulling out the large iron door he often used.
"Can you upgrade this for me?" he asked.
Starrk, who had been recording the results of the food experiments, looked at the iron door in disbelief. Can't he get some normal weapons? Starrk sighed, finally taking the iron door from Naruto's hands.
"What kind of upgrade are you thinking?" Starrk asked.
Naruto's eyes lit up. "Make it tough, able to fly, and capable of taking out undead enemies! Oh, and can you write 'This is it, this is it' on the door? And if possible, make it so that it plays the phrase 'you broke the defense' when it hits an enemy!"
Starrk stared at him in silence for a moment before responding, "Naruto... Are you sure you won't get beaten to death if you do this?"
Starrk was confident he could make the modifications, but he couldn't help but imagine the absurdity of it. Just think—Madara attacking Naruto, only to be met with a flying iron door that taunts him with "This is it, this is it," followed by "You broke the defense."
Naruto grinned, pulling out another item from his backpack—a small golden totem symbolizing immortality. With a loud boom, the totem appeared in full view.
The Uzumaki team fell silent, staring at the totem, which was now almost as tall as Naruto himself.
Naruto gaped at it, lost for words. Why is this thing so big now? He imagined himself in battle, carrying this massive golden totem on his back. Forget looking tough—I'm going to look like a complete joke!
Just as Naruto was contemplating his increasingly bizarre future, Kakashi wandered over to the food experiment area, eyes locked on a strangely colored steak.
"Oh, what's this?" Kakashi asked, picking up the steak. "This food looks interesting."
4o