Issei left his home that morning with a purpose. He had been working practically all night on finishing the last touches on his chakra armor sets, and created an outfit and rebreather based on the cultures he'd studied. The dream of his organization was slowly coming together piece by piece, after being established with Rogue earlier in the week. But, any great organization was nothing without its members, and Issei and Rogue were just two people. They needed more numbers, both to bolster their forces and to establish more variety and diversity. The Chuunin strapped on a large shoulder bag and slipped the armor prototypes into it, followed by the robes and finally the masks. It was terribly heavy, but Issei was a strong man and he could manage the weight. The clouds and fog of the village greeted him as he left the house.

Now, Issei had been advertising the group actively. Talking to other shinobi, posting flyers around the village, explaining to local shop owners about his recreation of chakra armor. Despite these best efforts, the group's start hadn't gotten much attention and thus wasn't creating much buzz, so Issei figured the best thing to do next was to take to the streets, go out into the city and show off his prototypes. By the time he reached the shopping district of Kirigakure no Sato, the clouds had parted and let the summer sunlight through, and the streets were bustling with activity. He kept his bag around his shoulder for fear that someone would attempt to steal from him, but reached in and retrieved a chakra gauntlet from within. He equipped it to his left hand and as soon as it was in contact with his skin and integrated with his chakra system, it lit up like a star.

"Good citizens of Kirigakure! My name is Issei, and I would like to demonstrate something for you." he called out into the crowds, hoping he would gain an audience by taking advantage of people's curiosity.

As Issei put himself out in front of the crowd, he attracted the attention of a few people, especially those who had seen the device on his wrist activate. This was just the beginning of the demonstration he had planned. He made a soft smile out of relief, because he wasn't sure if he would get a good reaction out of his fellow citizens, if any at all. "I have recently started an organization called Ninshiki, intended to be a group of travelers, historians, and shinobi alike, with the purpose of preserving culture, knowledge, and relics of the past. Our first goal is to find the lost village of Yukigakure, where this device was originally invented." The Chuunin held his arm out to display the device, turning it slowly. The light had dimmed a bit since it had activated because there was no jutsu within range to absorb. It seemed to be of metal composition, a bit heavy but not unbearable, with wires going across the back of the hand and up the forearm. The palm is where the light source was and where the chakra was absorbed. It hadn't been an easy task creating this armor; Issei had spend hours going between research of old blueprints and documents and local weapon and armor shops to get it modified and enhanced as best he could, and it had cost him a hefty sum of the money he had saved working for the last year. It was worth it though, because much to his own surprise, it had worked flawlessly, which was almost unheard of for a prototype. Thus, he felt a great sense of pride as he continued.

"In Yukigakure, such devices as this were commonly worn across the entire body, and referred to as Chakra Armor. It was an ingenious invention that gave shinobi of Yukigakure an upper hand against their foes, who lacked such advanced technology. It is powered by the wearer's own chakra, and is capable of absorbing other jutsu; this model is one that I created myself using what I could find about the ancient versions of chakra armor, and it functions slightly differently." He closed his hand and funneled chakra into the gauntlet, causing its light to intensify once more. He nodded, glad that things were running smoothly. "Now, it is time for the grand demonstration. I will require one volunteer from the crowd. Do not worry, if you are shy, you may remain in place and you do not need to come up here and face the audience. However, my one requirement is that you have to be a shinobi who is capable of using ninjutsu, even if only one jutsu. That will provide the best demonstration of this device's capabilities." Issei waited a moment, letting his eyes scan over the crowd, but there were no immediate volunteers, which was a bit disappointing. Nonetheless, they all seemed intrigued, their eyes following the gauntlet with every movement Issei made. He put his opposite hand on his hip and smiled.

"No need to be afraid; in fact, the whole purpose of this model, Chakra Absorber Type 0 as I have named it, is to act defensively, and when it is used properly, safety is guaranteed."

 
 

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Word Count: 1004

Between the whispers in the audience, Issei scanned with his eyes, looking for anyone who wanted to help. No one volunteered at first, which could either mean his reassurances were disregarded, or simply a number of people in the crowd could not use Ninjutsu. Finally, slightly to the left of Issei's line of sight, came a young, blonde haired woman who stepped forward. The crowd, one by one, moved around her and stared, waiting for something big to happen. She started to speak, politely offering to be Issei's volunteer. She expressed her doubt of it all, claiming that she wasn't sure if it was the "real deal", a concern that made Issei smile and nod, and lastly she asked what she needed to do. Issei didn't need all too much from her aside from a little bit of effort. He held his glove out and pointed it directly at her, still alight with raw energy. "Alright! My lovely assistant here. I am going to need you to use a Ninjutsu technique. Feel free to make it as strong as you'd like; I've formulated this device to be able to withstand intense amounts of chakra, meaning that the only things that could overpower it are jutsu classified as A-Rank or even higher." He hoped that she wouldn't purposefully use an A-Rank jutsu in hopes of testing the armor's limits, since if the device broke, it would be terribly expensive to repair. Regardless, he wasn't sure what her general power level was, so it was hard to predict what she was capable of.

"And before you attack, I just want to ask, what is your name?" Issei felt the girl's sense of curiosity, her willingness to learn, her interest in the whole demonstration, in Issei's invention, in Ninshiki. He hoped that, if the demonstration went to her liking and if he managed to impress her, that he could get a chance alone with her and offer her the opportunity to join Ninshiki. It was still a small group by all means, so Issei was happy about every potential member he could attract. She looked back at him with bright, hazel eyes, and he knew that he was ready to get this going.

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Word Count: 523

The girl assessed her options after Issei explained exactly what needed to be done, confirming her understanding by repeating "ninjutsu" and then "got it". Issei flashed a toothy grin, letting his brilliant white smile captivate the audience further. He had never considered himself to be a performer or someone who worked well in front of an audience, but in this case, his skill was enough to surprise himself. Before she let loose her ninjutsu, she formally introduced herself just as Issei had, this time including a last name. "My name is Teru Uchiha, glad to be of service." This blonde shinobi before him, this Teru, had caught Issei entirely off guard with the announcement of Uchiha. It only increased his interest in her; he couldn't recall ever meeting another Uchiha in person, so this was a first for him just as this was her first time seeing chakra armor. In everything he'd heard of the clan, they tended to have dominant traits: black hair, pale skin, and dark eyes that held a dormant dojutsu, the famous Sharingan. Teru was something else, and Issei liked it.

Teru had started to back away and the crowd was splitting around her, giving her ample space both so that they could see better and for their own safety, as well. Issei was preparing to make another comment when his eye caught sight of her Tiger hand seal, so he pursed his lips and kept his open palm poised forward. A fire-based ninjutsu? Just my style... the Kaguya thought to himself as he watched the flames spout from her mouth in a frenzy. They moved toward him fast, but he was trained for combat and confident in his invention's capabilities, so he did not flinch or feel any fear as the fire approached. Mere feet away then, the jutsu was close enough that Issei could feel its heat, and the light of its flame combined with the chakra armor's light painted his face a hundred different shades of orange, yellow, and white. Mechanical noises buzzed beneath the gasps and cries of the audience, who, due to their skepticism, had assumed Issei would be consumed in flame and be sent away to the hospital.

But they were all wrong in this assumption.

The white light overpowered everything else, followed by blue streams of chakra pouring out of the flames and into the gauntlet. Issei's own chakra willed it so, like a game master deconstructing a complex puzzle, piece by piece, and putting it away in a chest. Within seconds, the gauntlet had slowed, weakened, and finally consumed the ninjutsu and left nothing behind, no light, no sound, no heat. The crowd's awe and, less favorably, disbelief were evident in all of their faces, but Issei had expected there to be unwillingness to accept such bounding technological advances. The one person he had his eyes focused on was Teru, hoping that her reaction to the feat was enough to sway her to joining the cause, or at least want to ask a few questions one on one after Issei's concluding babble and flyers. "And this chakra armor? This is only the beginning of what I hope to accomplish with Ninshiki."

185/200:

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Word Count: 692

There Issei stood, standing on his makeshift stage, still feeling quite out of his own element. People had started to leave once his demonstration finished, though a few came up and took flyers from the pile he'd left near his feet. Teru was who was important, and she approached Issei slowly at first, saying that he must have put a lot of thought into this, this being his recreation of chakra armor. "Yes, it's consumed most of my days for the last few weeks, but it was manageable." She continued, a bit hesitant, finally asking him exactly what he wanted to hear and what she'd probably been wanting to say since she watched the chakra armor at work. She said that Ninshiki didn't seem so bad, and in fact, she wanted to join, so she asked where to sign up. Issei let out a lighthearted chuckle, half-relieved that someone was interested enough to join his cause. "You're in the right place, Teru! I'm the guy you talk to to sign up. Here, I just need you to write down some personal information for me..." Sadly, this was a step that Issei hadn't prepared for so quickly. In fact, he thought that nobody would want to join on the spot; he was just hoping to build gather some attention for the group, so he hadn't brought any formally printed applications, only flyers. Luckily, he was a writer, which meant that he always carried a notepad and a pen on him, and that would have to suffice for the time being. He took out a sheet and his pen and started to write in elegant letters.

The form he drafted was simple. He already knew Teru's full name, so he omitted that, only creating spaces for her occupation, rank in the village, her age, and her address so that he could get in contact with her in the future if he needed to. From there, he tore the page from the pad and handed it to her gently, along with the pen. "You can fill this out for me and hand it back to me and that'll be it for the formal side of things. I do have a gift for you, too." Issei turned to the bag behind him which contained the gear, containing four pieces of chakra armor and five sets of robes and masks. He'd forgotten that he was still wearing the gauntlet, so he took it off and put it back into the bag before lifting it up to show her its contents. "Ninshiki is a small group for the time being, and you're our official third member. As such, I expect you to try and attract some attention to it, tell your friends about us, help grow our numbers and all. But, to show you my appreciation for joining, I'm offering you chakra armor, a set of robes, and a rebreather mask. The robes and masks are all standardized across the board, one size fits all, but I have vests, pauldrons, and gauntlets for the chakra armor, so take your pick. I hope you like it."

These are officially yours! Don't forget to add them to your locker:

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Word Count: 609
Total Word Count: 3729
Thread Status: Exiting

~Ninshiki Gear Accepted~

Training Summary:

Teru filled out the form and excitedly accepted the items as Issei offered them, the sparkle in her eye something that Issei would never forget. He was surprised to find that she was a Special Jounin, but that only assured him that she was even more qualified to be a part of the organization than anyone else. He felt good about the future, and how this would all play out. She assured him that he was glad to be a part of the cause, and she would do her best. She bowed politely, before explaining that she had other duties to attend to and as such she would have to leave. Issei nodded, understanding that as a shinobi, there were a number of responsibilities that came with the title. "Of course. It was wonderful meeting you, Teru. Until next time." And with that, she departed, as had most of the crowd before her, leaving Issei to pick up what was left of his flyers and put them in his bag along with the armor and robes and masks. He slung the bag over his shoulder and started the trek to another area of the village, where he planned to do another demonstration and pass out more flyers before going home.

With every small step that he took, Issei only became more motivated and worked harder. Ninshiki was coming together nicely.

[ Exit, Thread Closed ]

Training: