Unfortunately that is not the case for Hinata
I guess kishi does thing differently, Naruto isn't the only one she should influence as a heroine also. She has had minimum impact in the overall series. She can't beat Sakura with that :O even if you might think of it as 'useless' for whatever reason.
Sakura has done things for naruto, she protected him in the forest of death the best she could and shes always been there in shippuden for support and concerned for his obsession with sasuke, going to lengths of trying to kill the one she knew she couldn't beat anyway to ease Naruto's burden.
If she was the one that had gone down to get her ass kicked by the pain path and assumed to be killed, Fox would have come out. Hinata should be happy she got that little development and also had use for her abilities in deflecting the juubi arms and showing some skills to be acknowledged for her rightful place in the hyuga clan.
Just because someone is beginning to get some long overdue development does not mean her status in the story will change. Everyone's a critic they say, but heroine status belongs to Sakura =/.
Giving a TnJ won't change that.
