Defenses don't really stack here and there aren't resistances or damage reductions by rank (as imaginably everyone would then take them, categorize them, etc running wild from the RP essence).
Some abilities can be permanent, and some are purely like jutsu which don't tend to be permanent. Forged armor and medical-related things can be permanent in some ways.
If purely wanting a passive defensive ability (from the craftsmanship of the armor), you could write for the armor something like "as a dedicated defense the armor is more likely to have advantages when clashing". Or an active ability that works exactly like jutsu also wouldn't need to be a D-rank reduction and can be a full B-rank defense if you'd like. In both these cases taijutsu can still be defended somewhat depending on how RP plays out.