They should've had Shino instead of Kiba in the genin group. Then all the "rescuers" would have had a past with the person they saved. Temari fought Shikamaru, Lee fought Gaara, and Shino fought Kankurou, but Kiba really has no relation to Kankurou at all.

And introducing Itachi back into the manga at this point doesn't really seem logical and wouldn't help the plot in anyway I can tell. Sasuke should first do whatever he has to do to get to Itachi's level so we can actually see the plot advance, otherwise it'll just be like the last time Itachi and Sasuke met and it'll be boring and a waste of chapters. Kishimoto should do a time-jump after this arc because I think it'll add a lot more freshness to the series that it once had, and give time for Sasuke and all the other genin to improve and do their thing.

And the change of clothes for Gaara and Temari looked great. Even Kiba without his jacket too. Gaara definitely looks more like an actually ninja now. They should have more changes in apparell for some of the other characters (Naruto is in dire need of one).