Flak jackets are a form of padded protective clothing designed to provide at least partial protection from things such as blunt-force trauma, shrapnel and other projectiles. This can be seen when it protected Lee from a three bladed claw like weapon, only receiving minor injuries.
Background[]
They are usually worn by chūnin and jōnin over their normal clothing in most villages, although the design varies among the villages. The jackets are among the most iconic pieces of shinobi equipment. Most of them have pockets or scroll pouches, which can be used to store scrolls, weapons, and supplies. This allows a ninja to access them quickly and/or quietly.
The Konohagakure flak jackets are green. They have three scroll pouches on each side of their chest for scrolls, medicine, and other ninja tools. For protection they include a neck guard and extra padding over the shoulders (which is fastened on by steel buttons). They also have a zipper down the middle. A swirling crest is also integrated onto the back of the jacket.
Konoha's Anbu flak jacket is steel grey, come with steel gauntlets, and seem to be connected with a interwoven band near the stomach along with two straps over the shoulders. They also come a sword mounted on the back just over the right shoulder by a metal holster. Furthermore, they come with two equipment pouches instead of one to compensate for the lack of scroll pouches.
Iwagakure
The Iwagakure flak jackets are bright brown with only one red sleeve on the left arm. They have a large brown zippered pouch over their stomach and a larger, buttoned one over the lower back of the vest. Both pouches are fastened on by a brown strap over the stomach. None of these flak jackets hold the presence of neck guards though they do retain shoulder padding held in place by buttons and zipper that go down the middle.
Kumogakure flak jackets are white. They have a rather utilitarian version with no scroll pouches and are fastened by only one strap over the left shoulder. The strap is attached via a button and the jacket has a strange design on the front which consists of one diagonal line going down to the left with four small lines on top and one medium size line line going down to the right that is perpendicular the previous line. And while the flak jacket only covers half of the torso, this is compensated with the use of shin and arm guards.
