Now that this has been brought up, do you think that Sakon/Ukon's character could have been fixed if they switched places with Tayuya? As in, have her and Shikamaru be the ones that fall down the cliff and get separated from the main group, after which you show Sakon being able to fight off both Naruto and Kiba until Kimimaro shows up, takes the casket and Naruto follows him. That may be able to solve the problem of Sakon not appearing as strong as he's supposed to be, since he's now been shown to be able to fight two guys (+Akamaru) from the SR team simultaneously. Also Kimimaro would probably look more intimidating if he was scaring the leader of the sound four instead of Tayuya.