In the same scene Sakura tells a white lie to keep the others from being even more angry at Naruto- she states Madara was there all along, when actually he didn't show up until the end of this encounter with Sasuke.
I agree ciardha if Kishi wanted N/H he would have make Hinata tried to defend Naruto or making her think about him but none of the above happened it was Sakura the one who tried to defend Naruto from having the rookies getting upset with him and that's no all she thought to herself that he could be hiding something.
This is the most important thing that the N/H fandom has to understand about their pairing. Hinata doesn't know Naruto she barely knows him, she does know he's hardworking and he was lonely when he was little but after that she doesn't know anything about him. There's no strong development or bond forgning between them, the only person who knows Naruto better than anyone better than Hinata is Sakura. Hinata doesn't understand how much Sasuke matters to him, she doesn't know how deep his bond for him really is or even his bond with his team while Sakura does know and understand him because she feels the same way about her bond with her team and Sasuke.
Edited by Gravenimage, 23 June 2010 - 07:15 PM.