"Beautifully done! You actually broke free through your own strength!"
On the distant city wall, Asuma's eyes lit up.
These little guys really hadn't let him down.
A smile tugged at Kurenai Yuhi's lips, too. When faced with adversity, they hadn't given up. Instead, they'd worked hard to find a way to escape. That was already the makings of excellent ninja.
Hinata and Ino's chakra bursts, though, gave her pause.
Were these two girls really that strong?
Hinata in particular—if she had this kind of strength, why had her father, Hyuga Hiashi, given up on her?
"Looks like we won't get a chance to step in. It's their turn to fight back now!" Asuma hadn't given it much thought. He was simply happy for his students.
After all, to an elite Jonin like him, the fight below looked like child's play. He hadn't thought it strange at all that Ino had broken through the binding.
Kurenai knew this wasn't the time to investigate. Though she had questions, she didn't bring them up.
On the battlefield, the bandits stumbled backward in panic.
The one uninjured rogue ninja stood in front of them, but he looked no better off.
"How is this possible? How could you all break free of the Binding Technique so easily?" the rogue ninja roared, his face full of disbelief.
Shino controlled his Kikaichū and helped Kiba and Akamaru break free, too.
With a calm expression, he explained, "Your so-called Binding Technique uses some kind of jutsu to secretly inject chakra into us during close combat. We don't notice it happening, so we're caught without realizing it."
"But that trick doesn't work on me, because my Kikaichū can devour chakra!"
He raised both hands slightly, and a vast cloud of black insects surged into the air.
Shikamaru picked