Beyond burning her to ashes, I considered Neji because he has both a wide range dispersal from Kaiten and then a fast multiple strike in his Hakkeshou attack that would enable him to fend off and take on at least a couple reams of paper at a time. Lee being part of it was more just to see his "springtime of youth" reaction to Konan...
As far as Lee or Gai easily taking out pain, I can just see Pain holding his metal stick out and pulling their heads straight through it. Remember, he's trying to capture Naruto alive, not kill him. He just beat the crap out of three giant frogs. I think he's plenty strong to take out anyone. And it's not like his physical attacks and speed are lacking either. And he might be able to see through their attacks easier like Sasuke did with the Sharingan. Rinnegan probably works better, too.
Oh, I'm surprised nobody mentioned it yet, but we actually got to see what all 9 of the Bijuu looked like in this episode.
That bug thing looks particularly wicked.