I agree with everything you said, specially that Naruto was starved of attention. Although we can't forget the fact that Hinata gave the attention to Naruto but he kinda ignored her after the Pein arc and then he chose to run after Sasuke anyway.
till this day i can't see what was the point of that confession if they just forgot about it and then made The Last movie to get Naruto and Hinata together....hell even Neji's death did nothing when he clearly told Naruto that Hinata loved him.....as i said Kishi has a strange conception of love and bonds