Well Kishimoto has certainly rewarded you for carrying that torch. I did see Sakura as essentially the only choice for him until he created Karin. Then I was like well wtf Kishi why would you do this to Sakura when essentially that is all her character is standing on at this point?
Sakura IS a main character and was funnily enough another of the characters I grew to like but eventually began to dislike because of how he kept needlessly dragging her through the mud. I swear she must be the representation of some girl he knew growing up and uses her to vent out all of his unresolved childhood issues or something.
The pairings were just a side thing for me but I admit Jiraiya/Tsunade was a real shame in my book because it never happened, but also adds to the tragedy of Jiraiya's character and why I love him so much. Also you forgot Shikamaru/Temari.

You are making sense no worries. All in all Kishimoto did a terrible job with most of the romance and it would have been better off if he didn't throw out a bunch of red herrings or randomly shipped some of these characters near the end.
See I always feel bad about Naruto being the gateway series for so many people because these past few years have made it hard on the fandom in different ways but the last couple of chapters have at least been bearable. The worst thing is that transition phase when your gateway series is over. At least for me the likes of Dragonball, Rurouni Kenshin, and Shaman King were already over by the time we got them here in the states but to be following Naruto in real-time for over a decade makes it harder to deal with the end if it was your first. But hey, at least you have a Part 3 to look forward to!
The pairing wars will mainly consist of 2 out of the big 3 being triumphant over their pairing winning, their anti-shippers trying to troll them for the last time, and the last of the big 3 holding their funeral if they haven't already bailed on the pairing before now.