Hinata Hyūga Is More Important Than You Think

The Byakugan is one of the most regarded Dojutsu in the world, passed down through the Hyūga clan and the reason why they became as renowned as they are now. Its power and regard lies in its ability to see through anything, even down to the invisible chakra paths within every person. It’s in that ability that the Hyūga became so renowned…and through that power that they, ironically, became blind to the power of the individual, defining everyone by the labels of powerful and weak, gifted and worthless, genius and failure…main family and branch. Those labels defined the placement of every member of the Hyūga, for it’s only those in the main family that can inherit that great power as well as the family as a whole. Everyone else is forced to the branch family, branded with a curse that forces them to submit to the head family until the day that they die. Even then, only the most talented and powerful of the head branch can ever hope to succeed the family…and that was the plight of Hyūga Hinata, the eldest daughter of Hyūga Hiashi labeled as a failure with no talent as a shinobi, let alone a Hyūga. For her lack of ability along with her weak demeanor, this meek girl with eyes that see through all was forever cursed to never be seen by anyone.

That was until a little boy with a dream bigger than anyone else changed that fact.

This is Hyūga Hinata.

Our introduction to HInata within the series is pretty much entirely within the background. She’s shy and she doesn’t stand out, and her teammates insist that she needs to learn to become more assertive. Yet, over and over again she would fail her missions, be it out of a lack of confidence or just a lack of ability. She trained as hard as she could until her hands bled yet over and over again she kept messing up. She was seen as a failure. The only notable thing that we do notice is that she has a very strong crush on Naruto. Despite everyone else’s view of the loudmouth ninja being that of irritation and pity, all that Hinata saw was someone who was amazing. No one believed in him, no one saw anything else other than a prankster, a brat, a failure yet over and over again he kept on trying. No matter what everyone else thought of him, he continued to proclaim that he would become Hokage, and during the Chunin Exams, it was loudmouth Naruto who showed that he wasn’t a failure. He managed to win a fight that no one thought he would win against Kiba, not only showing his ingenuity and newfound skill in ninjitsu, but proof that his determination could bring him victory. It was through hard work and a steadfast belief in oneself that accomplished this. But to a certain genius, this was nothing more than the pitiful dreams of someone destined to be nothing.

For Neji, who was proclaimed by to be a genius at his young age for mastering what is said to be the most powerful dojutsu and the skills that come with it, the actions of Naruto were inconsequential and almost sad to watch. In his own words, there are only two types of people in this world: the elite and the failure. Neji had skill that gave him the right to claim this name, and in his eyes someone like Naruto and the meek girl in front of him in the Chunin Exams are doomed to stay in their place. No amount of training and no amount of effort could bypass the destiny of a failure, the destiny that for Hyūga Hinata seemed all too certain. Nothing can change one’s destiny, just like how nothing can change the fact that Hinata was from the Main Family and Neji from the Branch.

Naruto never gave up despite what people said about him. Despite what the world thought of this failure, he worked to achieve his dream of becoming Hokage and never once listened to the idea that he’s destined to be nothing, and be it out of sympathy or a desire to prove his own ideals, Naruto reached out to Hinata who believed in him to tell her that he believed in her and that she could decide for herself whether she’s a failure or not, and in those words, she decided to change. She never gave up and never backed down, even after falling and being told to stay on the ground. She never goes back on her word. That’s her ninja way. She showed them her growth and stood her ground against the strongest Genin of Konoha. She changed, and that angered Neji beyond belief.

Neji was everything Hinata wasn’t. Talented, confident and skilled above any of his peers, he was proclaimed as the genius of the Hyūga clan. But Hinata was from the main family and was thus destined to inherit the techniques that the branch could not. Those of the Hyūga who are not part of the main family are destined to be controlled by those of the main and retain inferior techniques to those of the main and there was nothing that could change that. Yet, Neji, whether he realized it or not, was contradicting himself when he stood there before his cousin in the exams. By all means, even if she was a failure, she was still part of the main family. Even if she was a failure, she was still going to be above Neji. Neji was branded by destiny, yet he was standing there before the main family in opposition because he refused to accept that he was doomed to be nothing but a failure and reached the level of genius. That contradiction was exposed by Naruto who defeated him despite this destiny and Hinata who never fell despite everyone saying she should. Everyone, again, except Naruto.

It was because Hinata stood her ground and never gave up, so much so that it angered Neji to the point of almost killing her, that Naruto gained the resolve he needed to stand against Neji. It was because Naruto called out to Hinata that she was able to change, and it was because she changed herself that Naruto refused to back down. She managed to evolve past the person she was, and as proven by both her fight and Naruto against Neji, people are truly able to change despite destiny.

The change that Naruto and Hinata desired was that of recognition, to be more than the person that they currently are. Naruto desired to be recognized by the village and desired to become Hokage in order to do so. Hinata wanted to be recognized as well, but she only ever desired that recognition from Naruto. Her own family rejected her as nothing but superfluous, her little sister of five years being able to match her in ability, yet all she wanted was to be recognized by Naruto because he was someone who inspired her. She achieved that, as it was no one except Naruto who called out to her from the audience. Her and Naruto’s fights against Neji began to make a change in the perceptions of the two, but it still did not address the problem that created Neji’s and Hinata’s fates of being branded by destiny, as they Hyūga’s abilities are those of tools to be used for power and war. Ninja far and wide desired the power of the almighty Byakugan, killing the members of the Hyūga just so they could gain its power, forcing the Hyūga to create a curse on the branch families that destroyed the Byakugan when they died. They were tools that were only good for war. They were tools to further the cycle…of hatred.

For Pain, who watched the injustice of the world of shinobi and knew of the suffering war causes, he wanted to end that cycle by enacting his own justice, creating the Akatsuki for those goals. His attack on Konoha was nothing more than an execution of that justice, with no one with the power to stand against him except Naruto. The entire village fell before the power of the Rinnegan, the power of a god, yet Naruto stood alone with the other toads against the Six Paths of Pain. Both stood against each other alone, but against the Deva Path, Naruto was soon defeated, trapped with seemingly no way of winning as the rest of Konoha stood back out of fear of getting in Naruto’s way or out of the belief that there was nothing they could do to help.

The only one who dared stand against Pain and tried her best to save Naruto was Hinata. There was no way she could stand a chance, no way she could make a difference against the godlike power of Pain, yet she still stood there. The one she admires, the one who changed the very person she was was out there fighting for her, for the sake of Konoha. The only person who cheered for her all those years ago was now fighting alone, and if it meant she could protect him, she would fight until the end.

The actions of Pain were those made out of fear of pain. He split himself up into Six Paths in order to avoid it, yet ultimately stood alone. Naruto, similarly, worked as hard as he could to fight alone against the one who killed his Sensei. Pain saw all of his loved ones die before him out of that cycle of hatred, at the hands of Konoha ninja. He saw Yahiko’s ideals lead him to his death and thus Pain became a god to isolate himself from others. He wanted the world to experience pain, to experience empathy for all those who suffered, yet chose to stand away from everyone else. But even in the most dire of moments, it was Hinata who came to Naruto’s aid. It was because she understood him and empathized with him that she was pushed to protect him. Naruto, who was lying there as if all was hopeless was pushed to fight again by the one who protected him and admired him more than anyone else.

If anyone understood the despair and the pain that the cycle of hatred caused, it would be the Hyūga. If anyone understood the idea of being elevated, revered and isolated because of one’s power, it would be the Hyūga. They ostracized their own blood for the sake of that power, for the sake of the family, yet the one branded a failure was the one who stood against Pain who sought to create peace through shared empathy of that pain. Hinata saw the power that Naruto’s ideals of peace and justice held firsthand because those same ideals gave her hope and saved her when she thought she was nothing.

With her fight against Neji, she inspired Naruto to hold true to his ideals, those same ideals that changed her. In her fight against Pain, she pushed Naruto to get up even if all seemed hopeless. And when the world of Shinobi faced its greatest crisis yet, Naruto’s ideals would be challenged once more.

The arrival of Uchiha Obito and the revival of Uchiha Madara caused the deaths and suffering of many of the ninja, the deaths of many comrades. In order to fight against them, they had to assume their roles as tools of war once more to protect all that they loved, but against the power of these two, there was seemingly no way of victory. But Naruto proclaimed that no one would die. He wouldn’t let them. He couldn’t. He gained all of this power for the sake of protecting his comrades…yet he still let another friend die.

Neji died to protect Naruto, who proclaimed that he would protect everyone else. This failure seemingly proved Naruto wrong. This was reality. Naruto’s ideals wouldn’t save everyone, they couldn’t. The bodies of fallen comrades surrounded him and Naruto couldn’t do anything to stop it, his ideals proving to be worthless in the face of the truth.

She brought Naruto out of his hopelessness. She reminded him once again that he was not wrong. Neji told him that his life was no longer just his own, that Neji’s life, his goals and his hopes were now in Naruto’s hands. Neji would not die so long as Naruto fought to achieve those ideals. His comrades would not fall because Naruto was bound to them from the moment they met and those bonds made him stronger, and it was Hinata who reminded him of that.

It is in these critical moments that Hinata showed that she came far. She made the one she admires take full notice of her skill and power against the symbol of the Hyūga’s hypocrisy. She protected the one who stood alone fighting for her and the ones she loves to her last breath which pushed the Naruto who had fell into despair into action. She reminded Naruto of his ideals that he held again and again, even in the face of overwhelming odds. Naruto had long since recognized her for her power and her skill, but even after Naruto achieved his goal of recognition from everyone, all that remained was to make him recognize her love.

In the events of the Last, we see that even before Naruto began training as a ninja, Hinata had admired him. When no one believed in him, Hinata was there. When she was being bullied by kids for her appearance and her family, Naruto stood against them, wearing a red scarf that Hinata never let go of, that red string of fate that connected them. When asked who they would spend their last days with, Naruto didn’t have anyone that he could put down. But Hinata only had one name she could think of, and it was the one who came to her aid.

What you have to understand is that Naruto barely understands the concept of love, let alone the idea that anyone could be attracted to him. If anything, he could only understand a juvenile crush that he had towards Sakura that was mostly built off of his desire to surpass Sasuke. What he did understand was power, effort and ideals, things he recognized in Hinata. But Hinata always recognized Naruto, even when no one else did. Her eyes that gave her such hardship that she gained confidence in because of Naruto always saw what he was capable of and how amazing he was. She had spent so long chasing after Naruto’s back, and when he finally realized her love for him…it was his turn to come running after her.