Dude. Do you not believe people can grow to love each other over time? Yes, Hinata had a one-sided crush on Naruto. And yes, Naruto also had a one-sided crush on Sakura. But guess what? They were twelve years old at the time!

The Last pretty much explains everything, but since you're still unwilling to accept the outcome, let me try and break it down.

The only reason Naruto even liked Sakura to begin with was because of her crush on Sasuke. He was always jealous of Sasuke. So, by developing a feelings for Sakura, Naruto thought he could turn her attentions from Sasuke to him and hurt Sasuke in some way. That didn't work since her feelings for the guy goes way beyond what we expect and Naruto wasn't really in love with her from the get go. Hinata, on the other hand, admired Naruto. She wanted to be strong like him and that grew into something more.

Now as for Sasuke.... I, myself, don't really care about how he and Sakura came to be. If she willing to accept the guy that tried to kill her multiple times, than good for her.

Just remember, buddy. Feelings can change. It can't always go the way you, as a fan, want it to.

Also, if Naruto & Sakura had ended up together, we would've had to endure her treating him like a punching bag for life. Naruto deserves better than that. And he got it with the animes sweetest girl, Hinata.

I disagree. Naruto liked Sakura for more than just because of Sasuke. He and her had the most character development as a "couple" than anyone. He went to the ends of the Earth to try to please her. And this isn't from a shipping standpoint, this is from one I saw in the manga story wise. Naruto felt hurt when she fake confessed to him and then still saves her ass when Sasuke tries to kill her. It didn't make sense.

Uhhh..........well, I really don't have any opinion (one way or the other) on any "pairings" in the manga other than those of our main characters, Naruto and Sasuke.........anything/everything else is just, well, bs shounen-style story bloat

You know, I've got to say, if you were going to be dissatisfied with Naruto/Hinata and Sasuke/Sakura romantic pairings......well, you know, that's kinda on you to be honest. Those romantic dynamics weren't just alluded to, they were stuffed right into our faces from chapter 1 and then over, and over, and over throughout the story (>_< yeah, reaaaaallly subtle), right?

It was enough to get a clear picture from all of those chapters. The ending pairings felt just thrown together without any concern of the rest of the story.

Well, "thrown together", be it whatever aspect of the ending, is an often-times heard complaint from many of these longer-running shounen titles that have been stretched out far longer than their core stories could ever support. They seem "thrown together" because they (very often) are thrown together. They (the publisher/author) only ended the thing because interest (sales) had finally started to wane (think Kimi no Iru Machi) or because the author just couldn't come up with any more drivel to pass off as "story" any more (and yeah, think Naruto and Bleach). It's just that simple.

There's just much disappointment to be had when you're reading from that demographic.....unless you're perpetually reading at the level of about 10-12 years old I suppose, which is, well, what they're really aimed at.

Maybe way back when it first started, but it did get relatively darker. Yes, it still in Shounen Jump, but the last half was more for the people who stuck around since the beginning, not newcomers who happen to be young teens.