K3V7

Personally, I never really care about pairings in general (quite low on my list of priorities for anime, even for romance genres)

Like Bryon though, if there is to be a pairing(s), then what I care about is that there is consistent, mutual development on the part of each person both individually and romantically.

 

With Sakura AND Hinata, both of them started out with shallow crushes, "loving" them based much more on what they saw in front of them, but not much deeper than that (of course, extremist NH fans try to make out Hinata's crush as "different" somehow). The only difference was that Sakura was loud about her crush while Hinata was silent about her own.

However, as the story continued, Sakura actually grew and developed as both an individual character and with her relationship to Naruto. As mentioned many times, she went from someone who bashed Naruto without knowing him, to learning and understanding him bit by bit and seeing he's nothing like what she thought, and the same when it came to Sasuke; that he wasn't the person she thought or wanted him to be and that everything she wanted from Sasuke she was finding more and more in Naruto. She found herself not just wanting to help him attain his dream of becoming Hokage, but also wanting to protect him from harm on a much more personal level than simply because of being a comrade and fellow shinobi of Konoha hence why she tried to get him to let go of his promise to her of "saving" Sasuke, because, in part to Shikamaru and Sai's words to her, she realized how much pain trying to keep that promise was causing him and she didn't want to see him continue to get hurt (both physically and emotionally) over it, especially given, as said, Sasuke was not the person she thought and clearly didn't want to be saved. But when Naruto refused to let it go, she tried to take the matter into her own hands by trying to kill Sasuke herself in order to lift the burden off Naruto's shoulders. While she may not have been able to do it (which extremist NH lovers try to say is "proof" that she truly loves Sasuke and not Naruto), the fact that she even made the attempt speaks volumes.

Yes, she's not perfect and is flawed, but that's what also makes her far more realistic and relatable to viewers. She and Naruto have not had, do not, and would not have a perfect relationship. There would be ups and downs, disagreements and arguments like any relationship would have which, again, makes it realistic and relatable.

And as brought up countless times, there's the constant symbolism (Hinata tripping and pretty much giving up, despite having some, if barely any, Kurama chakra left whereas Sakura had none left, but fought like hell to get to Naruto and save his life with her bare hands) and parallels made throughout the story too. For Kishi to try to actually blame the fan base as "misreading" all of that is a huge insult and is really one of the main reasons much of the fan base hates him now. An author trying to blame the fan base rather than take responsibility for his own mistakes...it's like a commanding officer making a poor strategic decision that results in not only a huge failure, but the deaths of many soldiers along the way, but rather than admit he was wrong about the decision and taking responsibility, he places all the blame on the soldiers for doing a poor job or something.

Of course, you still have Naruto constantly showing he loves Sakura, putting her own happiness ahead of his own, not even trying to deny her as his girlfriend to Edo-Minato.

On the other hand, Hinata never went anywhere after the Chunin Exams. In fact, they took what little strength and background they gave her back then and tossed it aside, turning her right back into that same "blank" girl we were introduced to back in Part 1 when she appears again in Shippuden, as if we're being introduced to her for the very first time again (and right when I first read that part, it made me wonder how the hell she was even able to make Chunin rank to begin with given Chunin aren't just about strength, but about leadership qualities and such). But instead of trying to actually (re-)develop Hinata into getting her out of that Part 1 mentality, truly becoming stronger and developed, and expanding her horizons, they instead regress her character into someone completely obsessed over Naruto to the point where nothing else around her matters as long as Naruto is there in some way.

Who cares what happens to Ko (her bodyguard) if I die (would most likely be executed for failing to protect me if they managed to survive) or the rest of the village? Naruto's in danger! I must throw my life away in order to make a death bed confession, resulting in Naruto becoming pissed off that someone died and nearly releasing the Kyubi and destroying everything himself (including the rest of my Clan), and if by some miracle he managed to come back from that, probably kill himself from thinking he was personally responsible for it, being too kind to blame me for it when it would be obvious to anyone!!! But at least I managed to confess! That's all that matters!

Naruto got kicked?! Oh no! I must take my attention away from the obvious enemy right in front of us to make sure he wasn't killed by that simple kick!

Neji died right in front of me and his corpse is still laying just inches away? Who cares? Naruto's hand is so big and manly!

Hanabi got kidnapped and her eyes getting ripped out? Who cares? I must finish knitting this scarf for Naruto!

If there is anyone who has not changed at all from Part 1, it's Hinata. Well, she did change, but for the worst.

And not once in the manga has Naruto ever showed any sort of reciprocation or mutual development of those "feelings" from Hinata. He still remained completely oblivious up until her confession, and even then, it was never revisited in the manga. The two of them have never had any sort of normal conversation outside of battle (what few times they start to always results in Hinata fainting or something after but a few words). They never hung out together alone (Hinata would faint anyway and nothing would happen). They never actually get to know one another, much less Hinata ever coming close to understanding Naruto's feelings on things or his pain on others and vice versa. The best one could call them in the manga are acquaintances, not even "friends" really.