Naruto Shippuuden Episode 96

[Azonalanthious]

Um... Yeah. So, it's okay for filler characters to be adaptive but our old, named heroes should be left helpless if the opponent happens to be immune to their main attack..? I don't think so. Surely at this point, being chuunin and all, they should have secondary attack forms, which would allow some degree of resistance even if inferior to their primary one. Why didn't Hinata have a single kunai, for example and for heaven's sake? The dude looked like a gum sausage, so she should have been able to cut it easily enough (no bones) into nice slices fitting into a frying pan perfectly.

And since it's obvious a dog man like Kiba relies on his nose, it should be of utmost importance for him to be able to cover that weakness if ever needed. Even if it meant fighting at partial power. Now he could do nothing but leave Hinata behind and run. A really nice choice, considering the enemies had a number of men out there, who could have ganged up on Hinata and made her unsuitable for marrying anybody anymore (like they always say in anime).

Hinata not pulling out a kunai is an excellent point. But Kiba I don't agree with - while important in other aspects of his ninja skill set, his sense of smell is not in any way required for his fighting style EXCEPT to help serve as a backup messure for when he can't see his foes. If there was no smoke, him not being able to smell would have made no difference. If there had been no sight but smell, he would be in the fight at partial power point you mentioned. Now, there is nothing wrong with having a backup for a backup (ok, I can't see so I'll smell, ok, can't smell either so I'll ...) but thats more the type of thing I would expect to see out of Shikamaru, with plans within plans within plans. Kiba is a brawler and a scout, not a tactition, and only one layer of backup seems perfectly reasonable to me.

[Kraco]

EXCEPT to help serve as a backup messure for when he can't see his foes. If there was no smoke, him not being able to smell would have made no difference. If there had been no sight but smell, he would be in the fight at partial power point you mentioned. Now, there is nothing wrong with having a backup for a backup (ok, I can't see so I'll smell, ok, can't smell either so I'll ...)

Um... Based on the video there was several meters of visibility (the closest trees were all the time in sight). While it certainly would have meant you can't see somebody throwing a kunai or shooting an arrow at you from 20 meters, for these folks it should have been enough for tolerable defense. Why, Akamaru as a dog has so excellent hearing that he could have warned those two of anybody approaching.