I agree. They need to be able to find a happy medium. They have to (at the very least) make Kara appear as something which can hold its own. If it can't best the protagonists through sheer strength it needs to be able to run rings around them to the point where the reader will question Naruto/Sasuke's ability to defeat them (bit like the Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. They manage to become a powerful fighting force even though they were outclassed militarily by the Americans).

In any case the next chapter or two could change the course of the next several years or so. It remains to be seen whether Ikemoto and the team have what it takes to deliver in the ways which matter.