interesting, I hadn't thought about Itachi being weak against Taijutsu at all... I always figured a pure Taijutsu fighter would be screwed against him, since the second they made a mistake and looked into his eyes it would be over. I always thought the best kind of fighter against Itachi would be an ambush type fighter, someone to get him before he used Sharingan.

But, since he's there and prepared, I suppose it'll be up to Sakura to keep his Genjutsu dispelled, Kakashi to act as the main distractor and Chiyo or Naruto to do the real damage... Rewatching episode 12, it does feel like the Akatasuki didn't want Itachi going up against Gai, so maybe you're all correct. Interesting stuff.