I would have thought getting rid of the training weights would come before releasing the gates. Maybe Gai figured it would be quicker to release the gates than to get his socks off.

I the episode was good overall. Again the cut between two fights is annoying. They should build up to one fight and then finish it off before moving on to the next one. I can't see how this is extending the life of the anime vis a vis the manga, its just irritating.

Oh well, seems despite Naruto's release he still hasn't fully shaken off Itachi's genjutsu.