Ok guys...look. Yes, killerbee and Raikage are amazing, that is unerstood. I liked killer bee ever since he took sasuke to town quite a few chapters back, but at the same time Kisame is a whole nother story. For those of you who dont remember, kisame fought Gai at the beggining of the rescue garaa series and whooped some serious tail. And did I mention that he hardly even used the sword? That fight was based on his Jutsu alone...and it was also a clone with only 1/3 of his actual chakra. On top of that, there is a REASON that he was paired with Itachi (who could have killed KB in no time flat). Yes, this fight he relied heavily on samehada, but bee relied heavily on the eight tails. You also need to take into account that in every fight, the akatsuki members are fighting with the handicap of keeping the Jinchuuriki alive. (otherwise bee would have died LOOONNNGGG ago). Don't belittle either of these characters tho, they are both powerhouses. Kisame probably is not dead. There would be no sense in making the members of akatsuki dwindle any farther. I believe that kisame will be back in the future, and he's gonna prove all you who believe "the sword is his only power" wrong. (also, think of zabuza....he used his sword more than kisame does...no one complained about that)
On the subject of the sasuke situation. Someone mentioned that sakura stands no chance since sasuke was able to kill people like orochimaru and itachi. First off, sasuke willingly admits that orochimaru was weakend when sasuke absorbed him. Orochimaru was desperate for a new body because the old one was dying off and he underestimated sasuke. And with Itachi...there was a whole freaking chapter explaining that Itachi LET sasuke win. That is the reason that he gave sasuke his eyes. Do you really think if he WANTED to kill sasuke he would be like "you killed me even tho I wanted you dead...so im gonna be nice and give you amaterasu, totsuka, and susanoo."? NO! Sasuke's victory over Itachi was PLANNED by Itachi.