Get it throught your thick skull HERO'S CAN LOSE, and this one will and no one will show up because it just wont happen,
Itachi might of had a secret agenda and we might find out what it was on friday. And a time jump would not suck because more or less they will tell what happened in those lost years, and the protagonists of the story will be like 17(good guys that are like 12 arent very cool) and nobody wants to see Naruto stepping in dog crap anymore, because of the circumstances he will change(think of him as Jak from "Jak III" in the time jump) hell know what hell be doing and hell most likely have the resources to do it.