At the training ground, Obito was sweating profusely.
He drove punch after punch into the wooden post, his knuckles already raw and red.
“Obito.” Makoto called out to him.
Obito halted his movements and turned around.
Upon seeing Makoto, his eyes lit up.
“Makoto!
You’re here!” “Yeah.” Makoto walked over.
“How’s the training going?” “Not bad!” Obito wiped away his sweat.
“I just keep feeling like I’m missing something…” “Missing what?” “Missing…” Obito thought for a moment.
“…a trump card that can beat Aoki!” Makoto chuckled.
“What a coincidence.
That’s exactly what I came to teach you today.” “Really?!” Obito grew thrilled.
“What kind of move?” “A new taijutsu technique,” Makoto said.
“It’s called Tekkai.” “Tekkai?” Obito tilted his head.
“Sounds really hard.” “Yeah, rock hard.” Makoto dropped into a stance.
“Come on, hit me.” “Hit you?” Obito froze.
“Why?” “So you can feel it for yourself,” Makoto said.
“Don’t worry, you won’t hurt me.” Obito hesitated.
“B-but…” “No buts,” Makoto urged.
“Hurry up, it’ll be dark soon.” Obito gritted his teeth.
“Then…
I’m really gonna hit you, okay?” “Go for it.” Taking a deep breath, Obito clenched his fist tightly.
He remembered how Makoto had easily handled Aoki with one hand.
He remembered Makoto telling him, *We’re both geniuses.* He remembered the grueling special training over the past month.
Then, he threw a punch with everything he had.
*Thud!* A dull, heavy impact echoed.
Obito felt as if his fist had struck a solid slab of iron.
Grimacing in pain, he shook his stinging hand and backed away.
“Makoto…
what is this…?” “That’s Tekkai.” Makoto dropped his stance and rubbed his chest.
He felt absolutely nothing.
At 70% mastery, Tekkai’s defensive power was already formidable.
At the very least, an attack at Obito’s level couldn’t breach it at all.
“That’s…
that’s incredible!” Obito stared wide-eyed at his swollen knuckles.
“If I used this in a real fight…” “In a real fight, Aoki could punch you ten times and you wouldn’t feel a thing,” Makoto said.
Obito’s eyes sparkled even brighter.
“Teach me!
Makoto!
Teach me!” Makoto looked at Obito and smiled inwardly.
*As expected, you can’t just shear wool off a single sheep.* *** “Ha!
Tekkai!” On the training ground, Obito Uchiha sank into a horse stance, his face flushing crimson and every muscle in his body tensing up like rock.
A short distance away, two sparrows perched on a branch, cocking their heads at him.
Squatting in the shade of a tree with a small notebook in hand, Makoto Uchiha shook his head as he watched.
“Thirty-seventh attempt.
Duration…
1.2 seconds.” He made a tally mark in the notebook.
“An improvement of 0.3 seconds over last time.
Obito, do you know what this means?” “It means…
I’m almost there!” Obito squeezed the words out through clenched teeth while holding his rigid posture.
“It means at this rate, by the time you can actually use Tekkai in real combat, the grass on our graves will be three meters high.” Makoto snapped the notebook shut and let out a sigh.
In truth, Obito wasn’t entirely to blame for being slow.
The principle behind Tekkai was deceptively simple—it was essentially pouring chakra into the muscles to harden the body.
But the problem was, would an enemy wait for you in a real battle and say, *Hold on, let me get ready*?
Of course not.
An opponent would just slash right through with a swift blade.
By the time you finished holding your breath, circulating your chakra, and shouting the technique’s name, the sword would already have pierced clean through your chest.
Obito released Tekkai and collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air as if he had just run ten kilometers.
“Brother Makoto, this move…
this move has a fatal flaw!
There’s no time to use it!” “You only realized that now?” Makoto arched an eyebrow.
“I wanted to mention it three days ago.” “Then why didn’t you say so earlier?!” “Would knowing earlier have helped you learn it?” Makoto stood up and dusted off his pants.
“Come on, we’re done practicing this for today.” “Huh?
Then what are we doing?” “Something more advanced.” Makoto led Obito to the other side of the training ground and found a flat boulder to sit on.
Obito stared up at him with eager eyes, looking just like a puppy waiting to be fed.
“Obito, have you ever heard of ‘partial hardening’?” Makoto asked.
“Partial…
what?” “Meaning you don’t have to harden your entire body.” Makoto extended his right arm.
“For instance, during a fight, when a punch comes at you, you only harden the exact spot taking the hit, while the rest of your body moves freely.” Obito blinked, his mind turning gears for a long moment.
“Then…
wouldn’t that mean…” “It means you only defend what needs defending, leaving the rest of you able to move,” Makoto finished for him.
“That way, you won’t turn into a stationary target, yet you can still block attacks.
I call this ‘Flowing Iron Body’.” “Flowing Iron Body…” Obito repeated, his eyes gradually lighting up.
“Brother Makoto!
You’re a total genius!
How did you even come up with that?!” Makoto chuckled inwardly.
*Genius?* *In the pirate world where Tekkai came from, people used this concept to death, didn’t they?* Armament Haki was essentially a form of Flowing Iron Body.
Outwardly, however, Makoto put on a solemn expression.
“Actually, I’ve been researching it for a while now.
I haven’t slept well these past few nights just trying to figure it out.” That was the truth!
He really hadn’t slept well, though not from researching Tekkai, but from endlessly browsing his system interface, trying to figure out how to fatten up his two cash cows, Obito and Guy.