hinata was the only one who got her happy ending and i'm still super bitter about it. people are probably sick of hearing people rant about how awful everything was, but i think after giving kishimoto my loyalty for 8 years i deserve to be really sad and bitter that my favorite characters didn't get what the deserved. that's not just sakura - naruto, tsunade, kiba, ino, sai, choji, shikamaru, temari.... they all get the short end of the stick in favor of a side character who had almost no relevance in the greater plot line of the story, who caused the main character to let go of the story's core values, who essentially ruined a great series. and it's - technically - not her fault, i blame kishimoto but i blame the editors, SP, and other people who pressured him even more. yeah i'm still mad kishimoto for making the decision, but i can't help but wonder if he felt - for whatever reason - that he had no choice. maybe, despite his wishes, he really thought that this was what the fans wanted. i feel sorry for him, in a way, because he couldn't have been more wrong.
i don't care if it's 10 years from now - i hope some day he has the chance to write the ending the way he wanted to. i'm still convinced that this ending wasn't the one planned since 2006. there's no way. it was too rushed and abrupt. and i hope in that ending, sakura and naruto are happy - maybe not necessarily romantically together, but at least as best friends like they were for 80% of the manga.
out of all the characters, to me, sakura really got the crap end of the deal. because she was so human and believable and prone to mistakes (which she fixed or attempted to fix) she got the most hatred. i think sakura embodies the mindset and mistake-prone tendencies of actual teenaged girls (and young women) and i think that's why people seemed to hate her so much. but it's why i love her. i can relate to her. i can feel for her. she's someone worth rooting for. it's just a shame that she lost out in the end - she even lost her status as heroine, to a female who was never intended to have the role in the first place.