I second that, Naruto was indeed awesome this time.
blocking the sword, catching Sakura and even preventing that guy from taking out this weapon.
the entire fight was good, close combat, but still not too much routine punch-out.

I still don't think the village had any ninja who was capable of finding Sasuke and killing him. not while he was with Orochimaru of course, and probably not now either.


Edit: I had a tripple post here, sorry 'bout that, but at least it wasn't a double post.