Even though that is the real Naruto that met with Itachi, it makes no sense because the real Naruto needed to stay with the group so his bunshins could act as trackers so the real Naruto could relay anything important to the group. I guess I can see that his bunshins can get the knowledge he gains but that's not what we were shown.

Anyways, one ray of major hope was the Jiraiya flashback...

...specifically the lines on the 3rd and 4th panel of page 6. Correct me if I'm wrong but the lines in those panels were not written in the chapter with the original meeting between Jiraiya and Naruto in the hospital.