Sakura has the problem most of the cast has, "people wanted her to have a story, while kishimoto was content with just having a moment at the last chapter." This bit him in two ways. One, him doing nothing with Sakura most of the time made people think he was sexist because she wasn't as important as her teammates. Two, most fans developed headcanons to fill the voids in the story, some that even contradict what actually happens...hell that SS manga clearly contradicts how the ninja world was set up.
Sakura clearly at least had the ability to invoke strong feeling in the audience. Most writers dream of having a character have as strong of an impact as some Naruto characters did.
Unfortunately, Kishimoto not going through Neji and Hinata story lead to fans filling in the blanks, some ended up working at SP, and their desires even up overwriting him. Of course they felt pity/sympathy/lust for her so they made her perfect. The hyuuga plot was Neji's with his death it was dropped. For Hinata Goddess Princess of the Moon.
Oh I heard something recently. Apparently, in Japanese folklore the moon is suppose to be the pure land of divine beings/gods live. So by making Hinata the princess of the moon is short hand in Japanese to making her the Princess of the Gods. The more I learn about Japanese culture, the more blatant you realize they were in trying to shove her down everyone throats.
It is how I sum up how I've seen people reaction/how they connect to her. No one really likes her obsessing over Sasuke...to some extent not even SS fans; as they would at least like some development.
Kakashi was made Hokage for Hinata's big movie. Then he had to stay hokage to justify him being there for that movie. Shortening the amount of time Naruto could be hokage and screwing over Tsunade's role in the manga. As she was suppose to be hokage till Naruto was ready.
Part of it was him being upset for his mother. Of course when she keeps explaining that his father has an important job, he still act like a brat.
A story can only be deep if its set up beforehand. The problem is Naruto isn't allowed to reflect on anything too much, which prevents him from learning or growing too much. Because Kishimoto didn't want to or know how to deal with it. Which means in order for Naruto to work it has to be kept simple and avoid the hard topics as much as it can. It did that under Yahagi but afterwards it slowed down and tried to be deeper and more nuanced without any of the build up.
Look at what One Piece is doing right now with the Reverie arc, that story has been set up and building since at least the Drum Island arc.
Now compare to... Dark Naruto. When Naruto meets his evil side containing all the dark thought he ever had they only thing that is brought up is that he didn't give those two random mooks at the start of the arc his autograph. And he find inner peace by coming up with an autograph that he will give out to anyone who asks from then on.
Sasuke had two scenes: he was the first to offer Naruto food during the bell test and he protected Naruto during the wave arc. Those two scenes had to hold up the entire story from then on. Which includes chasing after him for what...ten maybe twelve years real time? No matter how good those two scenes are, those years will stretches the believability of Naruto still chasing after him, and more importantly the audiences' patience.
Kishimoto made Sasuke returning the village=saving the world because he wanted them to be the final battle without really justifying why it should be.
In theory, Naruto wanted ninja to see themselves as humans instead of tools of war...wasn't as explored as "how to get Sasuke to return to the village?" Of course the lessons Boruto is learning how to beocme the perfect ninja weapon...which goes to show how far Naruto failed.
Its not just what he did with Sakura that had people thinking he was sexist Its how he wrote all his female characters+ words from his own mouth that leave people feeling that way. Example 1: "Oh, I don't know how to write women." Example 2: "Sakura would be a bad women if she moved on from Sasuke."
Almost every single woman in the series is inferior skill wise to their male teammates. The only exception I can think of to this is Tsunade who is visibly shown trouncing Orochimaru+Kabuto at points (Although she had an assist from Naruto, Gamabunta and Jiraiya so 
) and is the sole reason why the Kage's survived going toe to toe with Madara as long as they did. In fact what female other than Konan is shown soloing a big bad? None. Even Sakura's big fight with Sasori was a team effort. Her character defining struggle with the Sound 3 required outside interference. The only (Shown) solo fight she had was against Ino.
I'm not even going to go too much into Kurenai or Hinata because I don't have an issue with women choosing to build families over their careers but there absolutely is something about the way that Kishimoto writes women that feels dismissive. And I'm someone whose mad that Mei didn't fulfill her dream of getting married.
Yes, it is a shounen, yes the main character is Naruto, followed by Sasuke, but Kishimoto is the one who set up the expectation that Sakura would have a bigger part to play and didn't follow through on it.
You're absolutely right that the fandom is mostly sustained by headcanons and fanfiction tho. Every one knows the story and the characters had so much potential and EVERY ONE was ultimately left disappointed even if their pairing happened.
The least Hinata could have done after getting Neji killed was take up his mantle and work on abolishing Branch and Main families but I guess the feeling was that she's not an important character, so why give her any substance at all 
If you look at what SS fans write in their fanfictions you'll get a clear idea of what they want SS to be and its the exact opposite of what they got in canon. Sasuke is deeply passionate about Sakura, possessive, wants to be near her, protective and apt to kitten her up a wall at the drop of a dime He chases her, makes affectionate gestures. He's aloof on the outside, doesn't talk a lot but physically touchy.
Nothing about fandom Sasuke is like Canon Sasuke other than his name, looks and skill set.
If I recall correctly, Kishimoto wanted another arc between the Wave and the Chuunin exam but Yahagi in a rare mistake rushed him forward. That extra arc might have helped. (or not, since its Kishimoto.) But he had every opportunity to slip something in there that was believable... instead he just pulled some kitten "They're reincarnated brothers and you can never abandon your brother!!" move. It really doesn't help that from the chuunin exam onwards, all we really get from Sasuke towards Naruto is absolute SALT that Naruto has improved himself and become "stronger". Sasuke only liked Naruto when he thought he was better than him.
At the end of the day, despite Kishimoto setting Naruto up to be some kind of Ninja civil rights activist, nothing was more important to him as a character and narratively than "Reforming" Sasuke--and even that he did such a sloppy job of. "ninja are human beings and deserve to have emotions and the right to self determination! They shouldn't be hunted like animals for refusing to follow the status quo" -proceeds to hunt Sasuke because he refuses to follow Naruto's dictations.- 
mixed messages galore.
I actually like Tarot cards--not because I believe in the cards but because I think its fun in the same way horoscopes and fortune cookies are. But 1. These cards are ugly, artistically lazy and 2. do not match their assigned characters.
I'm going to separate my complaints into two camps 1; looks. There is no reason for Sakura and Hinata to both be holding books, this is proper for the high priestess (Who is my fav card) but NOT for the empress who sits on a throne with a crown (typically 12 starred.) and wields a scepter.
As for meanings, The High Priestess is ruled by the moon (huh, that sounds more like Hinata.) Balanced between Peace and Severity ( Okay I can see Sakura in that.) but also about mystery, balance, patience and science. In the reverse it can be about Vanity, instability, selfishness, deception, lust and for lack of better wording; ignorance. okay maybe this one fits her
The Empress is associated with Venus, motherhood, earth and wisdom. Luxury and abundance. She is growth and fertility. (I actually think Tsunade would have fit this card best.) In the reverse she is overindulgence, dominance, barrenness and sensual pleasure.
Naruto is no way similar to the Emperor who is all about material wealth, reason and logic, restrained emotions, protection, regulations and unyielding power. In the reverse its rigidity, miserly-natured, lack of self control, confusion. obstruction, and immaturity.
Maybe I'll do more of these deconstructions later. They put like 0 effort into these and it shows.
Yeah Im hoping Japan stays as far away from ESG weve all seen what that can do to a company. Look at Bud Light? They hired that inexperienced woman who single handily destroyed them the same with Kennedy with all the things shes done and then all the kitten happening at Marvel.
I mean I dont care what they do with Naruto hell Id welcome the woke to destroy Naruto even more as they can be crazy.
At this point they are just doing all they can to get the Naruto name to sell money but it wont.
I'm about as far from a "woke liberal" woman as they come without verging on weird and the issue with Bud light is that they forgot who their target audience was--and that's endemic to media as a whole right now. They keep trying to play to the vocal, fringe minority after the majority have just silently stood around letting them say and do whatever they want (because they're scared to be called bigoted for saying "No." ) but the slippery slope is real and they've slide down too far.
As for the Live Action Remakes, they're essentially copy-pasted versions that can never live up to their originals. They ONLY one that some how managed to be GOOD and likable was the first one they did; Cinderella. beautiful dress, beautiful actress who managed to capture the look and spirit of the animated version. Disney got lazy after that. Beauty and the Beast: Emma Watson can't sing, she refused to wear a dress with a "corset" because muh feminism and frankly I find her to be a kitten actress in general. 
Aladdin? What Genie could ever compare to Robin Williams?
Lion King? Failure because hyper realistic lions can't sell emotions the way animated lions can.
Realistic Flounder/Sebastian, dingy grey underwater, mishmashed characters (If you're going to commit to making Ariel black maybe have her family match. Just a thought.) tweaking song lyrics to be more "modern" (They did this same kitten with "Baby Its Cold outside" ) Even when Ariel OBVOUSLY wants/needs Eric to kiss her are just some of the poor choices that movie made. (And this was literally my fav movie as a kid, touching it was basically heresy on Disney's part.) Awkwafina as scuttle 
"woke" writers suck realistic, human emotion and the ability of the audience to draw their own conclusions out of everything.
The real issue with Marvel isn't their movies, its their comics from the last 10yrs or so which they are now trying to inject into the movies.
Oddly, Captain Marvel/Carol in comics twenty/15 years ago was likable, then they made her into a kitten and then adapted the kitteny, unlikable version into the movies. 
