For some reason I found the "raikiri pierces all!" panel to be very funny.

On the "who hopes Kazuku will die or survive": I hope that Kazuku will die (or die after escaping) because Kakashi + shikamaru have been presented as nearly the strongest and most intelligent ninjas out of the introduced characters that the village has to offer. If Kakashi is unable to defeat someone who specializes in an element that lightning is strong against, then all of these eventual Akasuki death fights will drag out or have them die together in some massive Naruto-attack.