Yeah I'd agree with WiseTomato on that. After the Timeskip (which was three years) Naruto and Sasuke became fairly badass. Sakura became extremely skilled in specific areas. Granted Naruto also continued learning and his abilities increased greatly in the year after the Timeskip as well, but the point is that if you have exceptional ninja with high potential and focus, you can do a lot in three years just looking at canon.