With payne gone, shouldn't the giant statue disappear as well?

you know what, I can accept the statue staying ("alive"?, who knows), but we really need an akatsuki explanation. the entire 'destroy people to bring peace' was valid as long as payne was in control, now that he's dead, it seems pointless for them to keep gathering stupid animals for the statue.

If madara was really in control the whole time, then he wouldn't have needed the statue to crush the leaf (seeing as how Payne himself was enough for that, so Payne and another akatsuki member would probably be able to destroy the village in two hours). but now that Payne is gone, Madare keeps enforcing the statue, implying he can control it. I find it hard to believe that Payne was being played all the time and didn't notice that someone else was messing with his junk (the giant came out his body, he has to know those kind of stuff).

which leads to the question of leadership in akatsuki, It's practically impossible that Payne worked under Madare, and if they were simply collaborating, I'd assume Qunan would know a bit more about his plans.

screw this, I'm still waiting for Naruto Kisame tag team.