Hanzo turned the prototype set of chakra armor over in his hands, deep in thought.
Ever since he had brought all the equipment back, the researchers had worked nonstop to reassemble everything, but it would still take a long time before the project was complete.
This prototype would be wasted just sitting there, so he had come to see for himself exactly how capable the armor was at its current stage.
"The core of this set is a compressed energy storage unit," the lead researcher explained.
"It can absorb and release chakra. Combined with the armor shell forged from a special metal alloy, it provides defense, absorbs ninjutsu, and amplifies the wearer's abilities."
"However, the problem with the core hasn't been fully solved yet. The materials required are extremely expensive, and there are too many candidate types. Finding the optimal combination is very difficult. Each experiment costs a fortune, and because the Land of Snow was short on funds, our progress was relatively slow."
He looked at Hanzo with obvious expectation.
"My lord, if you can provide sufficient funding, I can cut my research time by more than half."
Hanzo looked a little surprised.
"Oh? I dragged you here by force, and yet you're still this devoted?"
The man immediately answered with fanatic intensity, "I've dedicated my entire life to science. Completing this armor is my dream."
"This project was my proposal. I built it up step by step from the beginning. I could never allow all that work to go to waste."
A scientific zealot… almost on Orochimaru's level.
"Looks like I misjudged you," Hanzo said. "This armor is certainly impressive, but I can't shake the feeling that something's missing…"
"My lord, do you have any suggestions?" The man visibly brightened at the thought that someone could point out flaws.
"...Armor... armored suit..." Hanzo searched through his memory.
"If you've already got armor, then why not mount a gun on the vambrace? At the very least, you should have one holstered at the waist. Otherwise it just doesn't feel right."
"???"
"A gun?" the man asked blankly. "My lord, a long-handled weapon doesn't really suit this armor, does it? Chakra armor is better suited for ninjutsu-type shinobi. The enhancement to taijutsu isn't all that significant."
"...Right, I almost forgot—we're talking about two completely different things." Hanzo pressed a hand to his forehead and pulled out a sheet of paper to start sketching.
"Look. These parts... assembled like this..."
"This is a chakra round. Think of it as an iron core sealed behind chakra. Once that seal is broken, the chakra releases enormous pressure and fires the iron core forward."
"This is the magazine, the trigger, the hammer, the firing pin."
"And this is the barrel, the gas tube, the bolt carrier, the spring, the safety."
"The firing pin breaks the seal on the chakra round, igniting the chakra inside. The chakra turns into expanding gas, driving the gas piston backward, which in turn moves the bolt and ejects the spent casing."
"Then the bolt pulls a fresh round from the magazine and chambers it. The carrier also resets the hammer."
"And that creates a cycle…"
"Just imagine how much penetrating power a sharpened iron spike moving at supersonic speed would have. That kind of force wouldn't lose out to ninjutsu at all…"
The lead researcher took the blueprints and examined them closely.
A long while later, understanding finally dawned on him, and he stared at Hanzo in a daze.
"My lord… you're a genius!"
"This weapon is also called a 'gun'?"
He looked back at the sketches, eyes blazing.
"Now that I understand the principle, it's actually very simple."
"If I ignore firepower and rate of fire for the moment, I could compress it to less than the size of a standard ninja pouch."
"And if I give up the convenience factor, I can completely redesign the magazine structure and add multiple barrels to guarantee overwhelming firepower."
"As for your earlier idea of mounting it on the vambrace or carrying it at the waist—that's absolutely possible."
As expected of a professional. Hanzo had only thrown out a rough idea, and this man had already expanded it into several full concepts.
"…The one I designed—call it the AK. The first one you improve into that compact type can be called a handgun. The second, the one with multiple barrels… call it a Gatling."
Hanzo handed over the sketches.
"And from what I can see, this armor only covers part of the body. Why not protect the entire body? Or is that just because the budget isn't enough?"
"That's part of it," the researcher admitted, turning back to the prototype. "But the main issue is that chakra armor restricts a shinobi's mobility. If you fully armor the whole body, agility drops off severely."
"And the defense on movable sections becomes much weaker. The cost-effectiveness is poor, so chakra armor usually only covers vital areas."
"The cost and materials aren't a problem," Hanzo said after a moment. "I can satisfy those requirements completely."
Then he added, "Don't let fixed ways of thinking limit you. You need to account for the fact that shinobi serve different roles, and missions take place in very different environments. A single standard model of chakra armor won't suit every situation."
He went on, "You can divide the armor into different types according to their strengths."
"For example, abandon speed and focus entirely on defense. Or abandon defense and devote the armor's full capability to amplifying ninjutsu power…"
Hanzo's suggestion clearly gave the researcher a major burst of inspiration. He fell silent, already thinking furiously.
A standard armor model that sacrifices certain functions to maximize one area… that's completely feasible.
And if different specialized chakra armor types were combined into a squad, the resulting combat power could rise explosively.
How had I never thought of that before?
"My lord, all of these armor types are absolutely possible. But if we're making specialized variants like this, we can't keep using the old umbrella term."
"Since these new projects came from your idea, what should we call them?"
Snow Mastiff?
"Forget it. Just call them specialized chakra armor."
"How long will your original project take to complete?"
The researcher looked at the prototype, then at the staff still busy assembling and calibrating other devices.
"My lord, if the original project is fully funded, it will still require two to three years."
"The specialized chakra armor you've proposed has to be built on that foundation. But once the original model is complete, adapting it to specialized roles will be very simple."
"And as for the 'gun' you described, I can also create versions suited specifically for chakra armor. That will take some time as well."
"If funding remains fully available the entire time, then in about five years… the first batch of prototypes should be complete."
"Not bad. Five years… acceptable." Hanzo knew this wasn't something that could be rushed. Five years was already fast.
"I'm leaving this research institute in your hands. Don't betray the trust I'm placing in you."
Under the man's feverishly devoted gaze, Hanzo walked out.
"Hanzo-sama, there's an envoy from Konoha here to see you."
A Rain shinobi was waiting just outside the door and had clearly been there for quite a while.
"A Konoha envoy? What's going on?"
"Move."
Hanzo took the Rain shinobi with him and used Flying Thunder God to return straight to his office in Amegakure.
Kan and the Konoha envoy had already been waiting there for some time.
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