This has probably brought up 1000000000000 times before but I can't remember, so I'll do it again....
Before I ever heard of Naruto I was a big Love Hina fan, and I was pretty familiar with all the characters including Shinobu-chan.
Then I started watching Naruto, and what the hell! There's a character called Hinata that looks exactly like Shinobu in every way, she's extremely shy like Shinobu, she has the same voice-actor, and the name 'Hinata' is the same name as the lodge that Shinobu lived in, the 'Hinata Inn'.
This has GOT to be intentional. Anyone else noticed this?
Like I said, it's probably been brought up before, if so I apologise.