And I would like to add to that: Sakura was NOT MERELY the girl of his dreams, he had an actual emotionally intimate mutually respectful relationship with her. Naruto shows genuine appreciation and admiration for Sakura when he sees her saving Kankuro's life,is always defending her worth from Sasuke's scathing remarks towards her and always shows a genuine sensitivity regarding Sakura's feelings. In turn, Sakura was gradually looking past he initial negative first impressions of Naruto and seeing that he was a genuinely selfless, compassionate, understanding young man, was growing to admire him and started to think he was amazing in how he pursues his dream. In short They were fell for each other's best traits, accept each other for who they are, and actually interact and communicate as an actual real life couple should.
That is actually the point their relationship wasn't a shallow crush or "he's pretty, I like him" but on a different level of understanding, caring and respecting. That's why I loved it so much and still do. It's this sort of relationship you just rarely see (in real life) because people often don't want to ruin their friendship. I also think Sakura felt as if she didn't deserve Naruto, she kind of pushed Hinata towards him and also accepted Sasuke. She thinks she deserves Sasuke, and not in a good sense. That's all I can say about that in a matter of sense.