Iron Body

"Iron Body?" Guy tilted his head. "Sounds pretty tough."

"Right. Toughness is the whole point." Cheng straightened up and took a few deep breaths. "The principle is to flood your muscles with blood, increasing your defense."

"Flood your muscles with blood?" Guy thought for a moment. "Like how your muscles swell up after a workout?"

"More or less." Cheng nodded. "But it goes a step further. If you can mix chakra into it and fill your muscles with both..."

He paused, looking at Guy.

"Your defense can increase several times over."

Guy's mouth fell open.

"Chakra... and blood... together?"

"Right."

"Then... wouldn't you burst?"

"That's why you have to control the ratio." Cheng spouted nonsense with a perfectly straight face. "I've been researching it for ages. Only recently started getting somewhere."

"That's amazing!" Guy excitedly slapped Cheng's shoulder. "Cheng! You really are a genius!"

Cheng grimaced under the blows, afraid Guy would knock loose what he had hidden against his chest and expose the whole thing.

"Stop hitting me... Any more and I'll fall apart..."

"Sorry, sorry!" Guy quickly withdrew his hand, but his eyes still sparkled. "So can you use this Iron Body yet?"

"I can..." Cheng rubbed his shoulder. "But I need someone to test it."

"Test what?"

"Its defense, obviously," Cheng said. "Talk doesn't prove anything. It needs a combat test."

Guy nodded. "Makes sense! Who should we ask? Obito?"

"Obito hurt his hand today." Cheng lied without batting an eye. "So..."

He looked at Guy.

Guy pointed at his own nose. "Me?"

"Right." Cheng nodded. "You're strong. You're perfect for it."

"But..." Guy hesitated. "I'm afraid I'll hurt you."

"Don't worry." Cheng patted his chest. "My Iron Body is ready for combat testing. I won't get hurt that easily."

"Really?"

"Really."

Guy stared at Cheng for a few seconds, then nodded firmly.

"Okay! I'll give it a try!"

The two found a deserted alley.

Cheng took his stance and drew a deep breath.

"Come on. Use your full strength."

"My full strength?" Guy frowned. "That doesn't seem like a good idea..."

"Just do it," Cheng urged. "Otherwise, how will we know how tough Iron Body really is?"

Guy thought it over and decided that made sense.

"Then... I'm really going to do it, okay?"

"Go ahead."

Guy stepped back a few paces and assumed his opening stance.

Cheng also took the "standard" Iron Body stance, which really just meant crossing his arms over his chest and bending his knees slightly.

Under his clothes, though, he had padded his chest with an iron plate.

He had swiped it from some unlucky member of the Uchiha.

"Here I come!" Guy shouted and charged.

His fist whistled through the air, driving straight toward Cheng's chest.

Cheng felt a little nervous.

This kid isn't actually going to punch through the iron plate, is he?

Thud!

A muffled impact.

Cheng felt his chest jolt, and his whole body slid back several steps.

Once he steadied himself, he looked down.

His clothes were fine.

The iron plate was fine too.

But he had actually been knocked back several steps-and his opponent was only a hot-blooded six-year-old idiot.

How could his punch be so terrifyingly powerful?

He looked up at Guy.

Guy stood where he was, fist raised, looking a little dazed.

"Cheng... are you okay?" Guy asked.

"I'm fine." Cheng rubbed his chest. "What about you?"

"I..." Guy looked at his fist.

The skin across his entire fist was split and bleeding.

But instead of crying out in pain, he smiled.

"Cheng! You really figured it out!" Guy jumped with excitement. "That punch really felt like I was hitting iron!"

Cheng inwardly sighed with relief. Good. He had fooled him.

[Ding! Target 'Might Guy': trust assessment for the lie 'Iron Body Taijutsu': 100%]

[Manifestation of the lie "Iron Body Taijutsu" capped at 70%]

[Manifestation beginning... Manifestation level is affected by both character weight and trust...]

[Manifestation complete. Host has acquired the skill 'Iron Body']

[Notice: Today's usage limit for the 'lie-into-reality' ability has been reached (1/1)]

It worked.

Cheng felt something new inside his body.

It was like muscle memory, yet also like instinct.

He tried tensing his muscles.

Humm-

A strange sense of fullness surged through his entire body.

It felt like... he really had become harder?

He had his reasons for choosing Iron Body this time. First, the technique was relatively simple, making it easy to understand and visualize.

Second, ninja tended to have high attack power but low defense.

A technique with strong defense like Iron Body would give him more room for error.

"Cheng! You're amazing!" Guy was still brimming with excitement. "I've never seen Taijutsu like this before!"

"It's all right." Cheng feigned composure. "Just a little trick."

"How is this a little trick?" Guy clenched his fist. "If you master this, think how many injuries you could avoid in battle!"

Cheng didn't answer. He glanced at the sky. The sun was about to set.

"Let's call it a day," he said. "I need to go find Obito."

"Obito?" Guy paused. "Didn't he hurt his hand?"

"Ah... right." Cheng kept a straight face. "I'm going to see how bad it is."

"I'll come too!"

"No need." Cheng waved him off. "Keep going with your ten laps. Don't let your youth go to waste."

Guy thought about it and decided that made sense.

"All right! See you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow."

Cheng turned and left.

Once out of the alley, he felt his chest.

The iron plate was still there.

He found a trash can, pulled out the plate, and tossed it inside.

"Don't need you anymore," he muttered. Now he had the real Iron Body.

Though it had only manifested at 70%, that was enough. After all, he also had his genius talent. As long as he kept practicing, sooner or later he would be able to unleash its full power from the original work.