This article contains spoilers for the Naruto franchise. If you are not up to date with the series we recommend that you do not read it.
One of the points in favor of the Naruto series is its large cast of supporting characters; its author, Kishimoto, gave the “Eleven of Konoha”, the then-last generation of Konoha ninjas, stories and varied personalities who successfully built the lore of Naruto. One of these characters is Hinata Hyuuga, the former heir to the prestigious Hyuuga Clan who was considered too "soft" to become the leader, and who would later become Naruto's wife, her platonic love and who would acquire her own strength by its own merits.
With an already intriguing background, Hinata's character had enormous potential but, like most female characters in Naruto, Kishimoto did not devote a satisfactory development to Hinata. The heir to the Hyuuga Clan is loved by fans of the series for her sweet personality, kind manner, and compassionate attitude (something she already sells, for example recently, Miku Nakano from Go-Toubun no Hanayome). However, this sympathy derives mainly from her role as the cute girl who does not give problems and that, although she had a dedicated arc for her development, in reality she left many fans unhappy.
Beginnings of the character
Hinata Hyuuga debuted as part of "Team # 8", together with Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzaka and Kurenai Yuhi, the latter being the leader. Originally, Hinata was training with her father, Hiashi, to become the heir to the Hyuuga Clan instead of becoming part of a team. However, Hinata proved to be too weak by her father's standards, so she decided to train Hanabi (Hinata's younger sister) to be the heiress, leaving Hinata with Kurenai, as an act of discarding her. Understandably, Hinata developed low self-esteem from this and became too shy to talk to other people. However, after meeting Naruto (and starting to stalk him in the process) he found his nindo (his Ninja Path) and began to develop his inner strength.
The story of the ninja girl from the Hyuuga Clan promised good development based on her growth and acceptance. But Kishimoto never devoted time to it again, in fact, some consider that he “discarded it” (along with practically all the other female characters); so Hinata fans had to trust that fillers could give it a little more development. In the main story, Hinata was shown training with Neji, her cousin and rival, but was unable to demonstrate her strength. In fact, despite this training, when Hinata's key moment had finally come in the fight against Pain, she was quickly defeated. Even though this was, in fact, considered a great moment for Hinata's story and character, it actually left some quite unsatisfied because she didn't feel like the character had progressed (of course she wasn't expected to win, but nor that he lost like this). Similarly, after Neji's death, Hinata stepped forward to confront Naruto, showing a side of herself that had only been hinted at before. This was a moving moment, but because Hinata's development was not seen up to this point, her actions lacked the impact it might have had.
These fleeting moments are representative of Hinata's entire arc as a whole: poorly written and filled with an inconsistent development that ceases to be relevant in the next episode because the shy Hinata is too cute to change. Although some will surely argue that she was only a minor character, Hinata would become Naruto's love interest and that makes her someone relevant to the plot. In addition, characters such as Choji and Shikamaru had a masterful development, although they had no relevance at some points in the series. Hinata, however, never enjoyed this, barely evolving enough to stop being the Naruto-obsessed stalker girl. Relationships should be based on two different characters that help each other improve; but Hinata did not figure within this concept.
Without bows of redemption
Hinata's father also didn't do anything right when it came to her. Despite this, the man who abandoned his daughter came to present her at the altar to Naruto at the end of the series. There is an arc of redemption (the one in which a villain should be "forgiven") between Neji and Hiashi, but there was never one between Hiashi and his own daughter, Hinata. In fact, he never apologized for throwing her away and never took back the words he said to her that caused Hinata's poor confidence in herself. Hinata's story as the secondary loser parallels Naruto's own quest for recognition. It would have been completely satisfying to see her father apologize (and perhaps hug her) to Hinata in the same way that the Village of Konoha eventually began to accept Naruto as a ninja. Admittedly, there is indeed a brief moment when Hiashi entrusts Neji's life to Hinata during the Fourth Ninja War, but this is completely less than what he should have done. All this results in the smile that Hiashi gives to Hinata during their wedding does not make any sense and, again, does not have the same impact that it should have had. Fans of the series were forced to accept that Hinata's years of trauma were relegated to oblivion.
Hinata's greatest strength is her compassion and willingness to do her best. Clues to these traits shine in the filler arches where he is shown to develop his new jutsu and in the fight against the Kamizuru Clan. But this development was not carried over to Naruto Shippuden. The animated adaptation cut through many of Hinata's relevant moments, such as when she performed the Eight Palm Trigrams in conjunction with Neji, or when she brought down the Ten-Tail clones with a whole new jutsu.
What could have been, but never will be
A satisfying conclusion in Hinata's overall developmental arc would have been to explore how her compassion could have brought changes to the Hyuuga Clan or how her kindness would have been essential in ending the cycles of hatred. Hinata was her family's "punching bag," being the target of Neji's anger, his father's cruelty, and Hanabi's own insecurities. However, she managed to break the Hyuuga Clan's cycle of hatred by not perpetuating the negativity of others, something that was explored during the history of the Fourth Ninja War. She could have become a diplomat, normalizing relations with other villages or something similar to emphasize the importance of peace and kindness in a world defined by hate.
And just like the union of Naruto and Hinata, she could have included herself in Naruto's nindo with her own kindness to change the clan's terrible branch system. That could have been the absolute expression of Hinata's fight for self-acceptance and love. Readers could have seen him as a character as weak and with as little self-esteem as Hinata had become someone with enough confidence and empathy.
Sadly, Kishimoto seems to have trouble developing female characters and missing out on their potential. Hinata was another victim of poor development and the fact that her unique personality in the series was never properly developed. The former Hyuuga Clan heir was a breather in the corrupted Shinobi world as a gracious character, and she might have had a beautiful story that reaffirmed these values of self-acceptance and empathy. A fully developed Hinata could have reinforced and increased Naruto's themes, but as it was shown, she only ended up being a completely wasted character.
Source: CBR
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