What would have happened...?

...If Hinata was not struggling on the ground when he injury re-opened while watching Naruto vs Neji's match?

I personally think if that did not happen this way, that NaruHina would have been canon by now. When Naruto won the match against Neji, he was looking for Hinata. He wanted to celebrate this victory especially with her and to dedicate it only to her but unfortunately, he did not know what happened to her.

The thing is that it happened when both were still quite young and I understand that it would have been maybe too soon for them to get together. Anyway, I don't know if that issue will come up again, for instance Naruto telling Hinata that he was looking for her after this match and thought that she was not interested to come or whatsoever...

Anyway, I have the feeling that it was to keep the suspense but at the same time, it was quite frustrating that Naruto did not realize that Hinata was actually there.

Thoughts?

even tho I agree with you but I think kishi wanted to build something more between them first and then make it official and that is what he is doing now. he is building it with every interaction they make with each other making the bond they have stronger each time.

I gotta another question to ask but I will ask it in the anti-narusaku thread

To be honest, nothing would've happened. Naruto said that he was looking for Hinata in his thoughts. He didn't say it out loud nor actively searched for her (he just went back up to wait for his next fight that eventually never happened) and Hinata wouldn't have approached Naruto at that time regardless. Naruto didn't even know until the invasion that Sakura was there for certain so I don't consider it a big deal. It was a large stadium and picking out one person from a crowd isn't always that easy (even if she had been in a position to be spotted).

The only thing as far as the manga goes is that Kishimoto would've probably had to show Kiba doing something (which basically would've involved protecting Hinata) during the invasion. My personal "head canon" for Tenten is that she was protecting Lee, possibly with Neji during the invasion. Though it is possible she was knocked out by the genjutsu too and left sleeping (same could've happened to Lee). Due to being unconscious, neither Kiba nor Hinata were a threat that needed to be dealt with by the enemy (same for Ino & Chouji who were clearly left unconscious by the choice of Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, & other Konoha jounin).

^He was looking for Hinata in his thoughts because that was important for him given the blood vow and the PF speech. How do you think he would have reacted if she was not lying on the ground?

Anyway, I think it was important for Naruto to share this victory especially with Hinata.

He wouldn't have seen her in the crowd so it wouldn't have mattered if Hinata was lying down or not. That's why I don't consider it that big a deal. If Naruto was really trying to find Hinata, then Naruto would've actually looked for her in the stands instead of worrying over Sasuke's match so much and then pushing Shikamaru down for his own.

Naruto thinking of Hinata was important to point out the fact that he mainly considered the fight against Neji personal because of her. It was an important scene to help flesh out the fact that Naruto considers Hinata to be somewhat special to him. It was part of developing Naruto & Hinata's relationship, but wasn't meant to make it romantic yet at all. Hinata had barely realized that she was in love with Naruto at the time.

However, the fact that she did not supercede others at that moment (which is the reason he did not actively search for her) is perfectly fine for me. I think it's much better that the fact that she currently does supercede others now is due to him recognizing her own actual actions instead of due to the fact that he beat up Neji as her own knight in shining armor.

I get your point and I find it very interesting. Maybe it's my "knight in shining armor" subjectivity which made me think about it, lol, because although I was not interested in the pairings' issues at that time, I was a bit frustrated that he did not see her.

Anyway, Hinata was/is definitely special to Naruto.

I think she would have been able to go on the sand cloud with Sakura, I mean Sakura did say (well, in her mind) that she was running out of chakra, so Hinata would've been useful. Oh well, some things happen for a reason (and hopefully Kishi will emphasize that reason next chapter >u>)

Also I was kinda confused when she was referring back to Neji, since I saw two different translations of that panel. One was something along the lines of, "Neji said that i need to protect Naruto" while the other said, "Neji, please protect Naruto!"
I'm pretty sure the first trasnlation is the mangabee one, but yeah .-.

^ Sorry I think you might have overlooked something. In fact this thread is about something which happened in Part 1 when Naruto fought Neji during the Chunnin exams... Anyway thanks.