Quote:Porbably a bit later than that - the way I see it Gai sent a message to Nobegami after the first chuunin exam and the whole Mizuki/kinjutsu scroll thing, so Nobegami arrives back in Konoha about three months before the Chuunin Exam he'll enter the kids for. The message is basically a request for Nobegami to help Lee devise strategems against ninjutsu and kinjutsu that he can't use himself. Nobegami, obviously, is well versed in the capabilites of foreign ninja.
Drakensis - I like! if it's six months after Team Explosive Youth was (officially) formed (after practising together anyway for months, and the guys for nearly a year) then that's three months after the chuunin exam Gai didn't let them enter, and nine until the one that he will.
Then TEY! go off to build the bridge and Nobegami next appears helping Gai train Rikou and Naruto for the finals, until Jiraiya turns up.
Quote:I guess their fathers have been filling their heads with this Ino-Shika-Cho stuff to the point that they focused on doing the technique rather than completing their mission. Which is kind of sad in Shikamaru's case, although Chouji's bear-hug - which neatly avoided any restraint the arms was pretty silly.
Naruto anime - is anyone else as unimpressed with 'Formation Ino-Shika-Cho' as I am after seeing ep145? Chouji grabs, Shikamaru shadow-binds, Ino mind-controls... and they stand there, burning their stamina, not doing much of anything to actually, you know, take out their opponents. Not so much as wrapping them up in a freakin' rope... of course, this is kind of a sad filler arc so far anyway, but it wasn't actively bad before now.
At a guess the directors didn't want the kids to be cold-blooded killers and couldn't be bothered to work out a method of restraint.
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.