Ohhhhh you know my soft spot now don’t you
yes the bond between those two is unironically the most well established relationship in the show lol I don’t know in what world would a guy be this obsessed with a “friend” after all the fucked up crimes he did
and I don’t believe Kishimoto for even a second that he “decided Hinata is the heroine long ago”, because Sakura was the one that hugged Naruto at the end of Pain arc, and even in the final arc dude was still teasing both NaruSaku and NaruHina(fucking Minato thinking Sakura is Naruto’s gf lmao)