Author's note:
TL;DR - Go to the end, you need to read that.
I try not to care to much about not getting too many reviews. I'm as guilty as the next person of reading without commenting, and I know I haven't been consistent with updates. Usually I'm pretty happy with five or six comments per chapter. Lately though I've barely been getting one or two from the some 150+ people that read every chapter.
Now, I'm not saying this to beg for more comments, but as the writer, feedback gives me a chance to gauge what works, what doesn't, what readers like or want to see, and what they'd rather I do less of. While certain plots are set in stone, I do want to provide the readers, especially those who have been with this story for so long, what you like. For instance, I don't know if the low reviews in the latest chapters are from no one commenting or people not enjoying the team fluff chapters and would prefer to keep closer to the plot-based arcs.
So, I'm writing this now because I have to make a decision about the course of the story that I didn't expect. When I first started the story ten years ago, my goal was always to develop this world with realistic outcomes and conditions, and all parallels to the canon Naruto had to happen naturally and with reason. I didn't want to present anything that felt shoehorned in just so it would happen. I had a specific plan in mind and in that version there was only one plausible pairing for Hinata that would both take the story where I wanted and made sense in this AU.
Since then, I've changed a number of plots that required that outcome and the manga has ended, answering a lot of questions that I had to guess about earlier. This has opened up other possible paths and pairings that could realistically work. For some time now, I've been debating whether to continue with the plan I set out with or pair Hinata up with someone else. Since so few comment compared to the number who read, I haven't been able to gauge who you readers, as a whole, hope she ends up with.
So, this is what I ask. I am about to start a large arc that will affect things much later on and I need to choose her pairing in order to continue. As thanks for all the wonderful readers who have been with me for so long, I want to give you the choice.
To be fair to the whole readership, I need a lot of people to answer. It's not right for ten or twenty people to decide for everyone. So if at least half of the people who read this (that's about 75-100) answer and there is an obvious preference that is plausible in the plot I have planned, I'll accept that pairing. If not enough people answer or the vote is tied too closely, I'll make a final decision myself, but I'd prefer to leave it up to you.
As long as you answer, the choice is yours. Who do you want her to be with?