Part I:
Originally posted by: Death BOO Z
it actually reinforces the belief that Akatsuki is also after Gaara, and that's why they've paired Itachi with Kisame: Itachi becuase he knows the leaf village well, and Kisame to stop Gaara's sand (and Naruto's chackra) from taking effect...
I've thought about this, and I dont' think Akatsuki would give a rat's ass about Gaara's wannabe demon. Shuusaku afterall is only like an old priest that became a demon incarnate or something like that.

We all know what Shuusaku would pale in comparison to Kyuubi. Kyuubi>gamabunta>shuusaku.

Kyuubi reigns supreme and it is one of the legendary monster thingamabobbers. Maybe if Akatsuki screws up on Naruto they'll go after Gaara. Supposing that they don't have contracts with better summons already.

Part II:
I think we have to remember in the end that Kimimaro supposedly had lost his ability to completely metamorphasize according to Kabuto.

Either what he's doing now is beyond his threshold, and he will end up dead - or his actually capabilities hasn't been done yet. We'll have to see. I hope he doesn't go up in flames just because of his "accident" when he really turns up the heat. I want this fight to be gooooood =).

BTW - Any predictions on how is Kankuro going to handle the "other" half - seeing how he prefers distance fighting while pugface likes close-combat. What about Temari?