1)It was noted that it was a rough seal and messed up all of Naruto's chakra flow (not just the demon fox stuff). When he went to fight kiba, he still won even with this handicap. This is more to help show what kind of character naruto is, not an overall plot point.

2)I think it wasn't anything important. I also think he may have had it just to try and make the enemy underestimate him.

3)Delayed to stop him getting sasuke, mentioned above. Very important, and it will have a definate impact on the future of the story.

hope that has answered the questions [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]