Near ending .. ? At the route the battles were going, the entire Konoha squad [and Lee] were going to die. The remaining Sound would have congregated to Sasuke's location, or Orochimaru. Naruto probably would have been ganged up on. Possibly killed, or angered to the point of the Kyuubi killing everyone. .. Not quite the ending to the story arc I would have been looking for.

Ninja vanish.