Ino inside Choji's mind

Hi elites, how have you been?

So, this 12^th season of Shippuden  is about the 4^th Great Shinobi War. Every battle so far has gotten me excited, kept me wondering, surprised at the end, pumped & ready for the next one. There have been some dramatic breakthroughs in many characters as well as the introduction of many, how one would say… ‘badass’ shinobi, whether from the Allied Shinobi Forces or those revived with Edo Tensei. What’s more, alot of the episodes in this season did not include Naruto, yet were incredibly brilliant and full of drama (that’s what it’s all about!). This gives others a chance to shine. I was especially surprised by the light Ino and TenTen shone when they were given the spotlight, considering their rep for being useless characters.

But, who said these kunoichi were useless? Well, we all did. And we still do. But here’s why I think they deserve a break.

Ino

Ino's using mind transfer jutsu on 2 white Zetsus

After four years of Shippuden, this is the only season Ino has fought. She was of no help to her teammates when they first encountered Hidan & Kakuzu, and she cried a river when she found out Sasuke had teamed up with Akatsuki. Plus, she did not contribute her skills during the Pain arc. The idea that she was almost a pointless minor character stemmed from the first series, but these aforementioned incidents reinforced that notion— at least until now. During the assemblage of the Allied Shinobi Forces, Ino had uttered to Shikamaru & Choji that they had better not let her down. I thought, ‘You won’t even do any of the work, anyway.’ But, I was wrong: turned out Choji was the one to wimp out and she was the one to step in and save him! She was a brave bird from the get-go, and it was obvious how refined and polished her mind-transfer jutsu had become after she had entered the mind of two—no, not one, but two— white zetsus during ino-shika-cho. I think she deserves 3 out of 5 stars.

Tenten

She's so awesome!

Tenten is a character we don’t see enough, but we could certainly use more of her: she’s the only one who specializes in weaponry, so it’s sort of like a breath of fresh air to see a weapon-skilled shinobi. The issue with her though, is every time we do see her she’s either complaining that her teammates are running too fast, or losing in a battle without much hardship. She was honestly hopeless and annoying. Seeing her on the frontlines, complaints were all I expected from her, but when the time came to fight, she got right into it. She found a new toy to play with—the bashosen— and couldn’t let it go despite all the chakra she was losing. I enjoyed watching her fling that fan to-and-fro! I give her 4 out of 5 stars!

So, what do you think and what did you enjoy most about this arc so far?

.COMPLEX