I completely disagree. I know sacrifices are necessary for war, but using a prominent character to bring together two other characters who didn't actually interact, but there were certain moments when they did interact and could be considered a "couple." However, if the author couldn't really develop it as he wanted, he could have simply extended it a few more episodes (which wouldn't have been a problem because the anime itself is already long) or started a romance at the end of Shippuden. Using the death of a character who wasn't used properly and didn't receive due attention with the prominence he had as "the genius" was neither fair nor justifiable.
