I hate how you guys made me go back to that atrocious interview, but basically: Kishimoto says that it has been decided a good while ago that Hinata is the heroine, so she and Naruto needs some triggers to get close to each other, and he did the thing at the Pain battle, then he wants another event where this time Naruto will realize how fortunate it is to have Hinata at his side, “so…because of that I really wanted Neji to become..you know..(another guy: a trigger?) yeah, I want him to have the role of a Cupid”