I know its going to be unrealistic, but Im hoping naruto gets much stronger, and soon, without depending on kyuubi at all. No matter what kind of development, for him to catch up to sasuke in any way other than using the kyuubi is already absurd anyway. I just want the main character to be the main character again. If he suddenly learns new moves, becomes faster, stronger and smarter, I for one will not complain, as long as he learns it from actual battle and not training (since I can just rationalize to myself that Naruto always improved much faster in battle than training, yes absurd but still an excuse).