I just realized i might have come off smug-like..My apologies. As for Naruto, not that i know of...but it makes no sense now that i think about it. If Neji could go from Genin to Jounin then Naruto should have been a Jounin in the last as well....perhaps you are right as that would mean from the results of the Chuunin exams, Neji was promoted to Jounin but Naruto at that stage definitely can't be competing in exams.
As for Gaara, i was sure it was Genin to Kage for him as there is no mention of an interim Kazekage and i think it was mentioned there's a time limit for a village's Kage to be absent?