With pre-timeskip rookie 9, it'd definitely be a much tougher fight. They have a numbers advantage, but the Four are pretty nasty foes and there'll be no Neji or Sand backup this time, and team Dosu'll keep the weaker members of the 9 occupied for awhile.
I... think I'd still go with the 9, but with plenty of wounded. I'll probably do a breakdown on the specific matchups later.
Close match. But I think Sasuke and Naruto will pull out the wins for them. The Rookie 9 are at an advantage because they can find their opponents more easily. Hinata's Byakugan and Kiba's nose should work wonders. Team Dosu will go down easily. The Sound Four will be much tougher but I think the numbers will help there.
At this point, Sakura, Ino, and to a lesser extent Hinata aren't too impressive (I think Kin and Zaku are the only one she could be expected to beat), though Ino could potentially possess someone to become a big threat. And while most of Team Dosu isn't too dangerous, Dosu himself is reasonably skilled.
Yeah, the girls of the Rookie 9 won't be able to help much as far as combat. But, Shikamaru and Ino work well together and could probably beat one with their combo attack. Hinata will make a fine scout for Shika to keep track of everyone. Sakura...well, she can set up some traps to distract their opponents. And give some very basic first aid to the injured.
But the rookie 9 simply have advantages that the Sound nin don't. Hinata and Kiba can keep track of the enemies and Sasuke and Naruto make up for the difference in power, though in a straight up brawl it's obvious the 9 don't stand a chance. So long as super genius Shikamaru is put on the helm, they should be able to survive.
Yeah, he will. Wonder how long he can hold that state though? We know he could absolutely thrash Jirobi(who was the strongest of the group physically right?) so his strength would certainly help.
Though he'd definitely be dead by the end of it.
I'm curious to see how Shino fairs against these guys personally. He pwned the crap out of Zaku without really trying. I wonder which of the sound 4 he'd be best to match up with?
It looked like the one shot in butterfly mode was it.
Yes, though considered the weakest of the four as a ninja.
I think he'd have the job of taking on Kidōmaru, in Neji's absence. The destruction bugs seem like they'd be good against web, and I think only he and Sasuke would be suited for that matchup.
Obviously. Which doesn't make much sense since he has one of the most haxxed jutsu ever.
Yeah, Insect Guy vs Not Insect Guy. Would be cool.
Another advantage that the Rookie 9 have over the Sound guys is the sound guys have to split up. Since they have no way of finding the enemies, the sound guys would have to split up. Hinata will notice this and split them up accordingly. The sound four would probably go off on their own due to their overconfidence while Team Dosu would probably stick together.
My guess is it would turn into:
Naruto vs Team Dosu
Choji vs Jirobi(already know how that will turn out)
Shino vs Kidōmaru
Hinata and Kiba vs Sakon and Ukon
Sakura, Ino, and Shika vs Tayuya.
Sasuke is sort of a wild card. He is the strongest of the nine so Shika himself would decide the best strategy for him.
Well, they did stick together when going after Sasuke originally, they could decided to stay reasonably close together.
They'll split up if they think it'll allow them to beat foes one-on-one or two-on-one, but they aren't likely to
I'd put him against the twins, and have Hinata as backup for whoever needs it and/or helping against team Dosu.
Hm, he'd also be quite good against Jirobi due to elemental advantage and speed. Choji wouldn't need his pill in that case, and Sasuke could win without taking himself out. So maybe Sasuke vs Jirobi and Choji helping against the twins or team Dosu.
They will. Because in a one on one fight, they would likely crush the 9.
Hmm...I can see helping against the twins more than Team Dosu. Naruto should have that one pretty solidly handled.
That would be cool. While Choji is distracting Jirobi, Sasuke can come in and speed blitz him from being. Drains Sasuke of chakra but keeps Choji around, which is probably a better deal. Actually, keeping Hinata and Sasuke together would be a pretty good strategy. Hinata can observe the battles and direct Sasuke to where he needs to back them up. Naruto has clones that can go anyway so he doesn't need much help and the others probably won't end their fights that quickly.
Eventually, but it'd take awhile and he might even be beat up by the end. Dosu's sound arm would be good at taking out clones, and Naruto's not good against genjutsu like Kin has. 3 on 1 can be rough even if the one is stronger and the three work as a team.
What if Shino is up against Dosu? Does Dosu's sound penetrate the hearing of Shino's bugs and do something random? Or does Shino just *female dog* slap him?
But sound is not exactly like air is it? (referring to fight with Zaku) Or is it? I don't really know... The databooks (which I know are NOT reliable at all) say that Dosu's and Shino's intelligence is 2.5, you think that changes a thing?
Yup, which we all known in that time is utter stupidity, but you have to remember his motive to not just be known as a test subject to Orochimaru, so he did ridiculous stuff to prove it.