All the past 24 hours have reinforced for me is how much I absolutely hate Hinata.
Look, new characters hijacking the spot of primary love interest is not unheard of. The biggest example of this is probably Lum from Urusei Yatsura. Lum was supposed to just be a comedic foil to the main hero, the perverted Atatu. The problem was that fans and the author's editor preferred Lum and wanted her to be the main love interest, so the author, the infamous Rumiko Takahashi, very reluctantly made Lum the primary love interest (rumor has it that the love affair Japan had with Lum is why Rumiko made a parody of Lum in her next series, Ramna 1/2, Shampoo, who is basically Lum with all of her positive qualities stripped away).
What does this have to do with Hinata? Well, besides my fear that history is repeating itself (i.e.: Studio Pierrot insisted on a NaruHina ending to the series), Lum got something Hinata never did. Actual character development. And you actually saw Ataru start to develop a legitimate attraction to her, even if he would never say it (and never did, but it's a comedy manga, so it's OK). Hinata never got any of these things. Naruto never acknowledged any sort of attraction to her. So it's not only hijacking the plot, it's not even providing any reason to do so, just "Studio Pierrot thinks she's their waifu and forced me to write this ending. Who cares about plot and character development?"
Maybe we'll see a Hinata expy in Kishimoto's next manga, and she'll die horribly. I'd laugh.
