when i saw the next episode preview for episode 101, i almost cried.

A couple months ago i was reading one of my friend's issues of Newtype Magazine and i came across an article about naruto. It was a QandA with the director i think. One thing discussed was what's going to happen next in the series. The director said that they will be taking a break from the main storyline to space out the anime from the manga, and that they'd introduce a new major character for this part of the story. So when i saw this new character, i knew this was the begining of the side story.

I'm not sure about this tho, i'm going to try and get that issue of the magazine from my friend so i can confirm my fears. When i do i will try to post the article here.