Originally posted by: Uchiha Barles
Hiten:

Naruto will never beat itachi. He won't be strong enough to pull that off till near the end of the series, or if he does become strong enough at some point, he won't get the opportunity to kill him, cuz Sasuke's gonna do it. But that's ok, we'll then get to see the Naruto/Sasuke rematch that matters.

And Naruto most certainly did grow mentally. In his previous fights, he never thought about the weakness inherent to an enemy's abilities. This time, he did. Plus, there was that kage bunshin trade off "game" he played with Kakashi at the beginning of the fight, which ended in a stalemate. Seeing as Naruto wasn't made to look like an idiot during the fight, he came up with a strategy to take advantage of a disadvantage in his opponents ability (which he never did before), and did all this using only his trusty kage bunshin, I'd say he grew mentally. Quite a bit.
Dunno what you're tallking about, but Naruto sure didn't get a beat down during his last encounter with Itachi. If it didn't happen before when Naruto was really an idiot. It sure isn't gonna happen now, when you said yourself that Naruto has improved.

"Naruto will never beat itachi." That's quite a hyperbole, but judging by your user name, I guess it fits. It's really up to Kishimoto now. I hope he lays all this garbage to rest because when Naruto becomes Hokage; I don't want to hear any, "but Naruto never beat Itachi." That's why Naruto can not become Hokage until he beats his enemies. After Naruto beats Itachi, Sasuke will say,"hey, that Naruto beat the hell out of my brother. If he can do it, then I can too." Naruto once again helps Sasuke out with his life long goal. If it does't work out that way, then right when Oro is about to take Sasuke's body, Sasuke makes a last wish. " I don't care if you take my body, I just want you to kill my brother with it." You know, kinda like how he inhabited his latest body.