Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-25178929-20141024050546/@comment-17623-20141024103528

I doubt it's that Hanabi is popular. More convenient.

Can't capture Hinata because she needs to be a presence throughout the entire movie to interact with the other heroes (ha ha ha ha ha!). But someone with a Byakugan needs to be taken to justify a Byakugan user (for whatever reason) and Neji is both male and dead so he was never really an option.

Of course, that assumes Hanabi isn't super popular in Japan. She probably is, her appearance looks like something they'd find pleasing.