Quote Originally Posted by DarthEnder View Post
Well, we say that, but look at Gaara. He's still plenty powerful without Shukaku.
I'd say he's an exception. I actually feel the author just powered him up because the character's appeal wasn't something he could simply write off. Or maybe he had some other means to get crazy strong that we never learned about,.. like how Naruto learned Sage techniques before he unlocked Kyuubi's power in a controllable manner.

As for match-up: Sasori vs Kankuro Rematch. In order to win Kankuro would have to use a puppet of his own instead of digging up Sasori's old designs.

Dan was just stupid IMO. As far as I know he wasn't very strong. It'd a good thing to aim for weakness, but to hinge the entire fight purely on the effectiveness of psychological warfare is stupid. As far as shounen goes, gaining psychological powerups is the easiest one you can use on the fly.