You know...Sakura was still a good character even after 693 if Kakashi's words about her not wanting to be Sasuke's lover and only loving him as a person were true. I personally loved that chapter because it destroyed sasusaku so completely and gave no logical reasons of why anyone should support such a pairing. I truly believed it was Kishimoto's way of telling the readers why SS wouldn't happen.
Boy was I wrong.
I agree. There was nothing wrong with Sakura, even in 693. I hated to see her illustrated crying again, because it's such a passive role for her. (In general, I hate all both Naruto and Sakura's attittudes towards Sasuke. So seeing her crying was just another in a long list of scenes I wish were done differently.) But her words did put an end to SS and introduced the idea of a familial love where, as Kakashi said, she loved him in the past and now cared only about his wellbeing. This was reinforced by Sasuke seeing the team and remembering his family.
(And don't feel alone, in Kishimoto's eyes, both you, me, and Kakashi were wrong!)
But when you think about NH happening the last two chapters of the manga, it just seems to be so pointless. Why ruin the development of the whole manga? Why tout NH in the last two chapters, only to make her a passive side character again in the next series. Would it have been that different if it had been Sakura instead of Hinata?
- Well, for starters, they wouldn't have been able to have that gag-fest of a movie about a damsel in distress. It would have had to revolve around Team 7 or some other villain or threat.
- Naruto would have been happier in the epilogue. Sasuke's life wouldn't change that much. (Yes he has a child in the village, but it's not tied at all to his goal of rebuilding his clan. So I feel like he could take it or leave it.) He would still be a traveling shinobi.
- The next series could still revolve around the children, but instead of it being a straight reboot of neglected children in a peaceful village, the writers would have to work on an original plot.
Anyway, other than generating some buzz about his ending, there's no good reason for inserting Hinata as the lead girl/pairing. They even had to jump through some hoops to make it happen, namely killing off Neji. Because after the movie's over and the new series starts, Hinata's going back to the lurking in the background.