This is actually the first thing i actually tried googling but failed
I think next chapter is gonna answer your question

Naruto is dumb but not that dumb. He had to have known they were rez'd with edo tensei and there was no way to know if they would be friend or foe so "buying time" to wait for the hokages is a big no no IMO. I do believe naruto did the only thing he could do which was stall. Like when he faced pain he could go all out and keep pain controlled but in this case no way for all of the allied forces to retreat safely. Like when the 2nd died it would be that sort of thing however it would be dozens if not hundreds who had to make the sacrifice. Naruto biggest thing in most fights is the kyuubi whether it was controlled or not, now the enemy has a greater biji so even an all out attack with all the kyuubi chakra wouldnt be near enough. Didnt he have to use it just to stop madara using that tree technique?

So yes in a way he is buying time but i do believe that is because its ALL HE CAN DO until he or someone else figures out something.

Now back to my favorite naruto topic! Maito Gai! I am actually sadden to say i myself may have hyped the 8 gates up to much. I thought about it and i remember when he was facing kisame the 2nd time he said something like " i need to finish this fast" and popped 6 gates and did his thing. then the same thing with the 3rd fight with kisame he said get ready because im about to finish this with one attack which was 7gates + afternoon tiger. Now when he was going to stop the tailed beast bomb barrage he didnt mention anything of the such like ending this fight or war which even chouji in his calorie mode spoke of, also this was when zetsu were still around along with quite a few of the edo tenseis(kind of finally how chouji seems to be a little bitch now after talking about ending the war and realizing his limit lol).
However i do hope the 8 gates gives him way more power than the kyuubi cloak does as i do not believe the kyuubi cloak does anything aside from added protection(durability + regenerate) and more chakra.

This could just be me reading to much into a manga and 8gates are actually pretty fantastic maybe actually being the cause of the victory such as : what ichigo(gai) did to aizen(madara) but kisuke(naruto or 1st) being the one to actually beat him. gohan(naruto or 1st) vs cell(madara) and vegeta(gai) weakening cell with that blast. It is probably going to be sasuke or one of the dead hokages though who do it.

I think it's safe to say that buying time is clearly not all that Naruto is capable of. The only certain reason that he's buying time in this fight is because everyone around him would be killed if he wasn't saving them. If he didn't have the burden of having the preserve the lives of well...the entire allied shinobi army, he'd probably be able to seriously threaten Madara. I only made mention of Naruto biding time for the Hokage because Naruto did not seem the least bit surprised to see the edo version of his father appear on the battlefield.

I think Gai is as likely to impact this fight in a serious way as any other character. They could send Kiba in to save the day and it would have the same impact as if Gai did it.

The series should just be called "Gai" instead of Naruto.
He and Rock lee are the only odd ninjas out there and they are able to compete with "regular" ninjas who use ninjutsu.

Imagine the plot as "Gai" learns more and more taijutsu while learning how to release gates.
Releasing the 8th gate would kill him and the antagonist (by defeating him) thus ending the series.
would've been more entertaining to see an underdog like Rock Lee who can't use chakra excel to god like shinobi levels with just taijutsu and will power alone.

Obviously responded without reading as i mentioned exactly what you said and even gave an example as to why he would still be outmatched by madara along with the deaths of his comrades in front of him. He used up all the kyuubi to stop 1 ninjutsu from madara, yes naruto was weakened a bit before but madara has unlimited stamina and chakra so he can fire off enought ow ipe the kyuubi out. Not to mention the biju constant barrage im sorry but naruto only hope is exactly as shikamaru mentioned which was fight quality with quantity therefore naruto is doing all he can which just so happened to coincide with the hokages being rez'd. If naruto used all of his kyuubi just for himself hell even turned into the kyuubi madara +10 tails still wins while annihilating all the other people which would probably crush narutos spirit.

No No No chouji sure but kiba or shino or hinata or ten ten none of their techniques nor parents techniques have been shown or alluded to to be as powerful as the 8 gates. The end all be all of taijutsu users we've been shown and told about. So i have to say you are factually wrong in what the story has shown us. YES because it is a manga those chars can pull something completely new out but the 8 gates has basically been proven to be able to contend with whats out there. Kakashi was going to use his kamui to stop 5 or so tailed beast bombs and Gai said nah you would waste your time and not even solve the problem, gai then suggested he was going 8 gates mode and kakashi only response was you would die AFTER. Then naruto stopped it but that was why we didnt see 8 gates YET again which seems like it will be saved for something major. SO HELL NO to a kiba or anyone else i can think of atm from konoha or hell any one outside of oro 4 hokages and sasuke. I already explained why the 8 gates may still be to hyped seeing as how gai wouldnt say like he said against kisame twice or how chouji with one little technique he used before said they would end the war.

hinata is hyuuga... why is the byakugan not as powerful as the 8 gates when neji is undefeated against rock lee

why didnt they develop the byakugan more in this manga!!!!! it bothers me

they amped it up so much early on in naruto.. then never talked about it again

i really want something to change with the byakugan make it better or something!