More like no one dropped the series because Neji wasn't important in Shippuden and Hinata was more popular that's why Kishi halfass his death. Kishi killed Jiraiya because he already served his time and passed on his torch to the next generation;
Due to success, Kishimoto pretty much gained the authority to express his freedom as a writer. And as a writer, Kishi noted that he has no intention of going through the fans perspective and we know exactly that he has every intention to kill off the older characters and the same thing apply to Naruto and Sasuke since they are counted in this regard.