its possible at this point that he has made naruto so powerful that he doesnt quite know what to do with sasuke. he has given naruto the ability to defeat kages with clones and then make multiple clones just as powerful as that one. and on top of that naruto hasnt even pirated....i mean gotten full control of the kyubis power. now once hes done that he's got to figure out what the hell to do to even sasuke out. and hence the dragon ball z syndrome is now inevitable. as far as itachi, i think maybe itachi will be a starting point to which opens the door for sasukes turning point. theyll talk they might even fight together, but eventually itachi will die....again. madara, well, hes obviously going to milk the living hell out of that. so i wouldnt be surprised if we see a liiiiiitle more madara action and then back to naruto or sakura or something.