I'm just stating my opinion. Also, that didn't answer my question. Imo he held her hand as a sign of his acknowledgement for what she had done (speech/risking her life) and for him to give her chakra.
I just felt like she disrespected Neji in this weeks chapter because she only gave him one panel and then her drive for her to powerup was all about Naruto-kun. It should of mostly been about Neji, the person who had died for her and actually trained her to use the technique imo.
Well, I did answer your question. One thing is saying that they are canon because they held hand for two seconds, one other thing is saying that he holding Hinata's hand is the same as him giving the high five to some unknown shinobi to pass chakra. I think both descriptions are extreme and partial. Naruto cares about her, that much is certain, and held her hand because he does.
Thing is, not everything is about pairings. In fact, only pairings are about pairings and the one dictating the pairings will be Kishimoto whenever he feels like it. Power level has nothing to do with pairings (Hinata could marry Naruto and live happily ever after but she'd still be weaker than Sakura), personality has little to do with pairings (I could like Hinata as a character but that doesn't necessarily mean Naruto has to end with her) and mutual affection has once again little to do with pairings - but Naruto doesn't think of Hinata as he thinks of Ino or Tenten or Temari, that is pretty clear just as it is clear that he doesn't think of her as he thinks of Sakura.
About your second point, I kind of agree that the scene would have been better if Kishi wrote Hinata focused only on Neji in that particular moment, just like I think it would have been a smarter move to depict more interaction between her, Kiba and Shino without Naruto being the center of every damn thought she ever has. I blame it equally on her obsession and on Kishi's writing of women which isn't always excellent. I still don't think she doesn't care about Neji.