You can't really take a moment like 615, switch out Hinata for Sakura, and then ask how our reactions would have been because the relationships between the characters are different. Hinata loves Naruto, so seeing her slap him, give her speech, and then think of how big and strong his hand is really isn't a big deal because we already know what Hinata's feelings for Naruto are. It's just another Hinata ---> Naruto moment, like most of the NaruHina moments have been. However, if we were to stick Sakura in Hinata's place, the moment becomes significantly different.
Sakura isn't confirmed to love Naruto, (though it has been heavily implied), so seeing her slap him, give that speech, and then follow up by thinking about how big and strong his hand is would be a huge deal for NaruSaku because it shows Sakura thinking of Naruto in a romantic way. (Though the "big and strong hand" comment would be OOC for Sakura, but I digress....) As for Naruto, his reaction in 615/616 wouldn't have hurt the moment as much had it been Sakura in Hinata's place because we already know that he loves Sakura. We don't need to see him react in an overly romantic way because we already know how he feels. We need confirmation of Sakura's love for him which, in this hypothetical situation, we would have had with Sakura standing in Hinata's place.
NaruHina, on the other hand, is looking for proof that Naruto loves Hinata, which is why the events in 616 hurts NaruHina more than it would have hurt NaruSaku. Because Naruto has an ulterior motive behind holding hands with Hinata, has absolutely no romantic thoughts while holding her hand, and follows up by holding hands with everyone else, it could be interpreted that there was no romantic intent behind his actions. This is a bad thing for NaruHina because, as I've stated, they're looking for proof of his love for her. You could argue that it would be a bad thing for NaruSaku as well, but the fact still stands that Naruto is already confirmed to love Sakura, which makes 616 less of an issue.
That being said, we don't really know if Naruto would have acted the same way had it been Sakura instead of Hinata. It's already been confirmed that he loves Sakura, so his actions may have been different if he was put in the same situation with her instead of Hinata. For instance, perhaps we would have seen him blush while she holds his cheek or when he goes to hold her hand, like he has done so many times in the past while interacting with Sakura. Perhaps he would have given her a more intimate "Thank you" than he gave in the canon version, considering she's done a lot more for him than Hinata ever has. Perhaps he would have had a more romantically inclined thought regarding the situation as opposed to thinking nothing at all, like he does with Hinata. Or maybe he would have acted the exact same way that he did with Hinata. It's hard to say as all we can do is speculate, but I believe that his love for Sakura could have sparked a deeper/more intimate reaction from Naruto than what we saw in the canon.
Anyway, for these reasons, I don't think it's fair to ask us how we would have reacted had it been Sakura instead of Hinata. The relationships and circumstances between the characters are different, so you need to take all of these factors (and probably more that I didn't think of) into consideration.
Edited by Slextrem, 23 February 2013 - 09:40 PM.