I knew that the one hiding up in the tree was not going to be a sound ninja ready to kill Shikamaru, but I thought it was going to be Shino up there. That would have made much more sense. While I do think it was cool for Asuma to beat so much ass, I think it would have been better if it had been Shino. Shino should have had chakra-sucking bugs come down and swarm them all right befor Shikamaru's stamina failed.

That would be a hell of an ambush... Shikamaru freezing them all with kagemane and letting Shino's bugs swarm them. He could release them all from kagemane after like one second and let the bugs do all the work. That way he could conserve his chakra.

The two of them would make an amazing team.