Damn, I was gonna reply to a few people, but I lost the quotes... Anyway, someone mentioned the silver medal argument, and the way I see it, that's exactly what happened; the story established Naruto's unwavering love for Sakura, but he had to settle for Hinata because Kishi made Sakura end up with Sasuke. The reason Hinata is relegated to a silver medal/pairing fodder role is because her character and her relationship with Naruto was not built upon enough throughout the story to warrant romantic feelings between them. It seems Kishi/SP want to mitigate this mistake by devoting a film to the beginning of their romantic relationship, but there's something wrong from the get-go: it's been 2 years since the end of the war, and Naruto still hasn't even acknowledged her confession. "Her feelings have not reached him", says the synopsis of the movie. How, in the span of what I assume will be days, at most weeks, will Naruto suddenly acknowledge Hinata after years of knowing her feelings for him and what will happen with his previously established unwavering love?
I think Kishi when sitting down to write 699-700 at some point noticed he always wanted to write a shoujo, so he made that ending in order to write The Last as a shoujo anime film.
Some of you say the last chapters were character assassination; the way I see it, the whole story was assassinated, which is why I can't take Kishi seriously anymore in whatever he does from now on.
I'm glad this season is full of good anime (I'm drowning right now in over 20 this season alone), so Naruto's bad ending doesn't really affect as much as it would have months ago. I'm also glad I got Assassin's Creed: Unity and Halo: MCC today, next week comes Dragon Age: Inquisition, and I'm getting Sunset Overdrive on the Holidays. Plus I may be getting involved in a blog making game and film reviews, so I'll definitely be busy (too busy to lend any attention to Naruto) next year if all goes well.