Shōseki

Glasses sit on a wide, rounded face, and his black hair hangs flat and lifeless above small, dark eyes. For clothing he layers a red jacket buttoned to a tall collar over a blue kimono-style shirt, keeping it closed with a plain brown sash. Brown trousers and sandals cover his lower half, while black gloves and cloth wrappings run down both his arms and legs.

Serving as Iō's assistant means long hours at the workbench, and Shōseki is quick to grumble about the strain of it. His judgement can slip when money is tight: hoping to stretch the workshop's thin budget, he once handed off two of Iō's genuine creations, Tsurukame and Dakō, to Gameru and Kusune, mistaking the finished weapons for throwaway test pieces.

His first appearance finds him engulfed in flames until Tenten yanks him clear, eager to learn more about the tools Iō builds. Shōseki fetches the armourer's newest device to display for the Konoha shinobi, only for intruders to break in mid-demonstration. Recognising the weapons the raiders carry, he confesses to Iō in a flood of apology, explaining that the meagre village grant left them unable to fund their research, so he sold off the pieces believing them mere prototypes. Once Tenten crushes the pair using the Jidanda, Shōseki promptly reclaims and reseals that weapon too, to her irritation. He shows a basic grasp of sealing technique in the process. His name likely nods to saltpetre, a key component of gunpowder.