You hit the nail on the head there man. Ever since the timeskip I started losing interest in the series, it really lost it's magic for me around when Jiraiya died. I can pretty vividly remember taking a loooooooong hiatus after everyone was revived at the end of the pain arc. I mean who actually died during part two, Jiraiya, Asuma and Neji? (only ones I can remember) During the biggest war they've ever had. There wasn't really anything for me to look forward to, in the end Naruto was just going to turn the bad guys and everything would be okay.
The only chapters I remembered enjoying really after that was Gai fighting Kisame and Naruto meeting his parents. I guess I'd gotten pretty burned out by the end and it left a foul aftertaste but I just try to remember the series as what it was for me all those years ago. I'll always be glad I started reading it if only because I met a lot of cool people on this forum.
Anyways I kinda lost my point whatever it was I'm a little drunk since it's labor day but this is the first time I've posted about anything Naruto related in awhile and will probably be the last time.
TL;DR: What Lid said.