Sakura is highlighted because she represents the village as a whole (yes, this is stupid). Sakura’s hug conveys everyone’s gratitude in that scene and how thankful they are for what he has done for them. The overall scene portrays Naruto being welcome back to Konoha with open arms, and obtaining the acknowledgement he’s always wanted.
Did you forget 98 and 615? Naruto would lost not only the motivation and his "Never give up" attitude, but also the boost in confidence he needed before the Neji fight. And Obito's mindf*ck would have completely demoralized him and the entire Shinobi Alliance.
If that's so, then why did Naruto start to use Hinata's words? Even though she's just a side character... no real important role...
And actually, Naruto candidly mentions Hinata several times on-panel, but do bear in mind that with NaruHina there is more "showing" albeit subtle, than "telling". 615 is literally an on-panel acknowledgement of his to her of how she has always been by his side. Beyond that, he states in dialogue that it was thanks to her always being by his side. To give thanks to her for always (keyword here) being by his side is Naruto acknowledging her impact on him.
The entire point of the narrative is how Naruto inspired Hinata, a weak character to grow into someone who in turn could support him and inspire him (and effectively the Shinobi Alliance) when the chips are down. It's a give and take, and it's about their interaction. Kishimoto's entire thing with Naruto/Hinata was to highlight how a Yin type character (passive/dark/feminine) and a Yang type character (aggressive/bright/masculine) balance each other out to make each other stronger and bring the best of us.
Technically, Hinata never said she loves him.
Do not confuse the anime, which completely messes with the storyline, with the manga. As someone who never watches the anime and strictly follows the manga, I’m assuming that’s what is causing you to have some of your obvious misinformation. If you pay attention to the anime to the point that you think anime events are part of the actual story, then your argument becomes invalid right from the start due to the fact that you’re working under a false premise.
I consider the anime adaptation to have butchered the characterization of many important characters to the series, and have clearly pandered to a variety of pairing fandoms which is not true of the manga itself. So, if you question things and consider the anime valid, I don’t blame you.
I honestly prefered it this way. It made Naruto's reaction to her being hurt even more spectacular. :V Plus, Pain already one-shotted the entire village in about 10 seconds.
Kishimoto never said this. Instead, he said thrice that NaruHina (and SasuSaku) was planned since the very early stages of the story and even partially laid out their development in a Databook. The pairing itself also makes makes sense thematically.
I don't recall Naruto inviting Sasuke to a bowl of ramen for protecting him from Haku.
That being said...
This is funny, because Naruto was far more emotionally invested in Hinata’s struggle against Neji than he’s ever actually paid attention to Sakura’s character growth throughout the course of the story. Naruto has repeatedly shown ignorance of Sakura's desires outside of Sasuke, ever since the very beginning. With Hinata he actually manages to efficiently develop with, while with Sakura it doesn't go much beyond "You really like Sasuke, huh?".
The whole Naruto/Sasuke thing was just a run-a-mil rivalry until it suddently got "deep" via half-assed flashbacks for substance (in which both characters regard the other pretty much the same way Hinata did Naruto, only becoming competitive rather than affectionate) that Kishimoto had to overdramatize to give Naruto a reason to keep chasing Sasuke in Part II, hence the whole "You were my first bond even though we never actually spoke". It’s cool to make him empathize over the pain of loneliness, but it was done infintely better with Gaara IMO.
Oddly enough, all of Naruto's major developments as a character and person come from interactions with characters thematically considered on the outside of what classifies as the manga's "starring cast": Iruka, Hinata, Neji, Gaara, Jiraiya, Chiyo, Minato, Nagato, Karui, Killer Bee, Kushina, Itachi, Son and the Yonbi...
- Swearing vengeance on her blood.
- Fighting hard for her against Neji.
- Admiring her.
- Always smiles around her (unlike with Sakura, which makes Sai's book quote pretty silly).
- The face of awe he always does at her when she does something amazing.
- Lost his shit when she was stabbed.
- Has some implied mental connection with her on a few occasions.
- Acts tough because Hinata’s there, according to Kiba (and we all know Kiba is a honest guy and can detect bullshit).
- Hold her hand (an explicit romantic gesture in Japanese culture)
That's more than there was for Naruto and any other girl, and more care that Naruto has shown for most characters. The only character whose even slightly comparable is Sasuke.
You monster! Killer Bee was awesome ever since he whooped Sasuke's ass.
