Sakura and Ino in the Brawl to Settle it All! Sakura starts off with a Clone Jutsu, but Ino figures she can spot the right one quickly, and is thrown when all three leap off the ground. The Real Sakura punches Ino across the duel room. It's a different Sakura now, Ino. Recognize! Ino accepts Sakura's offer for the kid gloves coming off. Kakashi comments, as we've seen, when it comes to the fundamentals Sakura's the best of the rookies, particularly placing her Chakra where it needs to be. The girls go for a clench with in the middle of the ring, neither gaining any ground and both leap back away to regroup. They throw shuriken which knock each other out of the air. Ino's wondering just what the hell happened to Sakura to turn our girl's knob up to 11. Exhausted, both go for a brutal right cross, and both connect in shot to make me recoil in my seat a little. All of a sudden, they're evenly matched and it looks like Hayate might call it a draw. Ino yells in frustration about how on earth is Sakura as suddenly as good as she is, and Sakura fires back about not being as good as Ino is, but better. Mind games for the win!
Ino's so thoroughly riled by this point, she cuts her own hair off, yelling how she also doesn't need it anymore. Ino starts to prep the Mind Transfer Jutsu, but her teammates aren't as impressed by that as we think they might be. Sakura starts rattling off the exact description, and we see how much it would suck to fight a walking Ninjutsu dictionary. It's an all or nothing attack, and it's literally nothing if you don't hit - you're stuck outside your own body - It's not a battle Jutsu. Ino's not deterred, even though it's normally comboed with Shikamaru's Shadow Possession Jutsu. Sakura heads on the move as Ino fires it off and... Ino sinks to her knees, but Sakura's paused, too. Then Sakura's body starts to chuckle, and our girl's still in residence. She starts to move for Ino's helpless form, but swerve! Ino's got her locked up with some Chakra chains, and the point again is hammered home Ino is no slouch. She used her hair as the conductor to help her with the Mind Transfer. Mind games for the win, the sequel! Ino fires it off again, and this time connects. Naruto hasn't twigged to the fact Ino's in the driver's seat. Everybody's on the edge of the seat as Ino-in-Sakura tries to concede. Naruto reminds us why we like him, shouting down encouragement to Sakura even though it technically shouldn't do any good. But you know what? It does. Sakura starts twitching, and Ino's feeling the chill. The power of Naruto being obnoxious is what drives shakes her out of her stupor, and that's brilliant. We flash into Sakura's subconscious and Inner Sakura is giving Ino what-for, and I can't get the smile off my face. In desperation, Ino has to eject, and both girls fall to their knees. Sakura has FIGHTING SPIRIT, but both of them are about done. They both charge in for the final blow...
As is the norm, we flashback over some scenes from their earlier friendship, then cut back right as they knock the ever-loving piss out of each other. Both of them try to sit up, but collapse back down. It's a double-knockout! Damn. Their respective squads loudly rush in to check in on the girls, which is cool to see, and everybody's proud of the Kunoichi. No time to reflect on personal growth, though! The Billboard spits out the next match, Tenten vs. Temari, and the former's all fired up. As am I. I crack up at Lee and Guy's encouragements for Tenten. "The power of youth!" "There is no end to your youth!" Sakura finally wakes up to see Ino sitting next to her, and both upset at having lost, though neither really did. The girls start to act like the friends they were, but it quickly turns south, and I can bask in the comfort of familiar things.
Next Episode: More Kunoichi and Shikamaru threatens to punk out.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment