Board Thread:Episode Discussions/@comment-1181222-20170906103845/@comment-734582-20170906134054

Ravenlot 27 wrote: I mean, Shin was clearly ready for Sasuke's Amenotejikara swap and intented to stab all three of them simultaneously to nulify its effect, but still somehow was taken by surprise by it. The way it was foreshadowed, it seemed to me that Shin expected Sasuke to Ameno with either him or his shin clone to open up the attack from both sides (e.g. Sasuke from his back and Sakura up front). Sakura running for Sarada threw him off for a moment, opening up his defense.

After all, his plan seemed to be to stab the three of them with his knives, him close-quarters against Sasuke and the ranged attack against Sarada and Sakura. All three were moves that worked very well in the past. Shin didn't expect Sasuke to put Sakura in such close-range because it goes against his idea that these people would die trying to protect each other.