I don't let the truth get in the way of my joke.
Payne's giant statue is actually a giant zombie hunting for giant brains. he won't stop until he consumes all the brains. the brains originally belong to the tailed beasts, and only they can access it, and that's why the akatsuki hunts them and store them in the statue.

I agree that Sakura should come, she needs to hear Kakashi's final words and guidance, he needs to tell her she must protect Naruto and Sasuke. and then finish his tragic story of his youth (well, I never thought his story was truly tragic, but you can +1 to it's tragic level with music). and then Sakura could save Chouji or be useful in some way.

if Kakashi does kick the bucket (finally!), then we'd have 4 deaths in the past 100 chapters, which is pretty good.