@soupongo @TheAncientCenturion @MarineHQ @Sentinel
Team 8 has easily got to be Kishimoto’s most mismanaged characters. They were actually very impressive in the Chunin Exams.
They had the best cheating methods in the written exam. Shino using his bugs to cheat was pretty much undetectable. Kiba’s and Hinata’s cheating methods were a bit more obvious, but still pretty discreet (certainly much better than Tenten hanging mirrors on the ceiling, Ino passing out mid exam, and Gaara forming a floating eyeball)
They were the first team to pass the Forest of Death
Hinata didn’t do good in the preliminaries, but in her defense she did get paired with the 2nd strongest Genin at the time, who was also just a direct upgrade of her. Kiba was kicking Naruto’s ass and only lost to a fart gag. Shino demolished Zaku and would have likely been promoted to Chunin along with Shikamaru had his fight with Kankuro played out in the actual exam, since he clearly had the power, cunning, and levelheadedness needed to become a Chunin.
And then cut to Shippuden, where Kiba and Shino do jack shit, and Hinata is only slightly relevant just for shipping purposes. And then there’s Kurenai, who got to do nothing besides be Asuma’s baby momma