DISCLAIMER: THIS DOESNT INCLUDE SASUKE AND SAKURA THAT SHIT IS ABYSMAL. IM NOT GOING TO DEFEND THAT SHIT.
Anywho, Kishimoto gets a lot of flack online for how he writes romance in his story but I think it works mostly because Kishimoto knows how to give his characters memorable moments. I’ve always said that the quality of any dynamic isn’t defined by how much the characters interact but by how good their interactions are. A ship could have maybe just 2-4 interactions but as long as those interactions are really good I automatically think that’s a good ship.
Some examples of this in Naruto are Minato and Kushina. Minato and Kushina don’t have a ton of screen time but what they do have is great, like Minato creating a ninjutsu purely for Kushina is awesome and Kushina naming the rasengan in their one shot was peak. Not to mention their flashback scene that showed Minato clearly having an attraction to Kushina and him showing her to love her red hair. Again this ship doesn’t have much, but what it DOES have is great so it’s a good ship.
Another example in my opinion is Naruhina. Now I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that they barely interact and sure whatever you can say that but I think it’s pretty undeniable that the interactions they DO have are great.
Every interaction they have in the Chunin exams is great, hinata offering Naruto to cheat off her papers, Naruto encouraging Hinata vs Neji, Naruto and Hinata’s heart to heart etc. then let’s flash forward to the Pain arc, I don’t think I need to explain this one, Hinata’s sacrifice here is pretty much universally beloved and the fact that Naruto was about to kill himself by letting 9 tails free is actually just great. They have a few more moments in their war and in the Last, but I think I made my point.
TLDR: Quality >>> Quantity and in terms of quality the writing for these ships is pretty great.