Ok, let's stick with the "precious person" theme of the story. Sasuke's going after Itachi, and Naruto is as well. Right now, Sasuke probably doesn't give a damn about Naruto, but still cares for him in some way. And there's no way that Sasuke's going to join Atasuki, because when he was with Orochimaru, they always complained that he never killed anyone, just injure his enemies.

The story's near the end. But what could happen is that Naruto finds Itachi first, and almost gets creamed. Then Sasuke comes along and goes off and kills Itachi to protect Naruto.

I don't think the story's near it's end. Sure things that I'd like to see such as naruto mastering the kyuubi chakra, or becoming the hokage, could all be finished and presented in 1-2 episode. But the whole sasuke-itachi quest isn't the only plot that requires a lot of episodes.
Remember that Akatsuki is still trying to unleash some sort of world war by unleashing all those tailed beasts (or whatever they plan to do with it). Even if they wouldn't be able to extract the 9tails from naruto, they might still go ahead with their original plan. Also a lot of akatsuki members, including the leader still haven't hade their appearance in the story. Also I'm quite confident we can expect some sort of comeback of either kabuto or orochimaru.

So anyway things are getting interesting but they're far from over yet. Even the sasuke-itachi plot will probably take much more time and chapters.



Wel wether Naruto is being assaulted by Itachi or not, Sasuke'll try to kill Itachi, regardless of Naruto's condition

When I said that the story was near its end, I meant that after they beat Atasuki, there wasn't going to be any more major bad guys popping up.