Originally posted by NephthysUm, the plot is dictated through Naruto's eyes. Even what you say is true, the main thing is Sakura's character has no ties or major change in the story when it comes to the protagonists actions. You know, Sakura got owned trying to protect that scroll, the PIS thing about it is the sound nins just toyed with her until they waited for Sasuke to do something.
No.You seem to be mistaking Naruto himself for the plot. He isn't, he's just the protagonist. If Sakura hadn't of defended the teams scroll (or inspired Lee to) then they wouldn't have passed to the next part of the exam. End of manga. Heck, Naruto and Sasuke might have flat up died. Without her Chiyo dies and Sasori lives, and Gaara dies too. Naruto goes into a depression probably at Gaara's death. By contrast the two most significant things Hinata does is get her ass kicked by Neji and Pain. Those are the only two things she does in the entire series now that I think about it.
In part 2, Gaara himself should have died. But Naruto would have learned to take his death seriously and stop focusing on saving Sasuke and stopping the Akatsuki first. So I support it. Sakura may have been the key element destroying Sasori but she was still the reason Chiyo herself died. The plot would have moved reguardless of what Sakura did. The plot haltered indefinately when Naruto fought Pain and was Pinned down, that Hinata actions saved the plot and Naruto is the reason she seems more vital to Naruto story than Sakura.