Why I dislike NaruHina - parts 2 and 3
Sequel to the last entry. Because I somehow managed to get a "post too large" error message. *twitch*
- Part 2. Why NaruHina irks me "in canon" -
I. The lack of NaruHina in the current manga
Basically, people think Hinata has this Huge role in Naruto's life. She doesn't.
I.1. Reminder: they've interacted for less than 2 hours in their lives...
Yes yes, I'm fairly certain of that one.
- up till Chuunin exams, Naruto called Hinata a dark weirdo girl who can't look him in the eyes. In short, she most probably never talked to him.
- they talked Once between the prelims and the match against Neji, and that's it.
- then Naruto went to train with Jiraiya.
- then there was the rescue arc.
- between the end of the rescue arc and Naruto leaving, Hinata did not speak to Naruto Once: when she went to see him at the hospital, she fainted and had since not gathered the courage to speak to him again.
- weirdly enough, she hasn't spoken to him post-timeskip either...
Add to that how much trouble she has to approach and talk to him the few times she did manage, and the fact that she actually Fainted when trying to approach him at other times, and I'm fairly certain she rarely managed to approach him outside of the scenes where we did see them talk, if at all.
Wait, what's this part for? Maybe for all those who think that Naruto will suddenly realize that he's been in love with Hinata all along. There Is no "all along." Maybe I'm biased, but I think a relationship should be based on more than 2 hours of interaction. If the "relationship" were to happen, it'd have to be developed more First. Next.
And as someone else said: whatever she made of Naruto's state, it's pretty obvious that she didn't focus on it to help Naruto, but to help Herself.
I.2. Hinata didn't see Naruto's pain just for what it is, but by relating to him through the underdog aspect.
Nobody else (save Iruka and Sandaime) saw his actual pain either. But neither did Hinata, as people like to claim.
Hinata perceived the difficulty of the situation through analogy to her own situation. But what she saw was Naruto remaining strong and confident despite that, not his actual sufferings. I think this is why she wasn't even shown Thinking of reaching out to him: because in her opinion, Naruto got back on his own feet just fine. Which is why she admired him. Really, this makes sense: it wouldn't have made sense to write a (non teacher-like?) character who perceives his sufferings "just for the sake of" perceiving his sufferings. Kishimoto worked by empathy on things she could relate to instead.
I also think it had nothing to do with just being too shy. If you don't help someone who's suffering just because you're too shy, that's... rather pathetic. Besides that, we haven't seen her even Trying to reach to his pain while being unable to because of her own shyness. The chronology is off, really. First she noticed his strength, Then she developed a crush on him, so by the time the "shy" aspect gained significance, she didn't have a reason to try to "save" him anymore (since she saw Naruto as strong on his own). Moving on.
I.3. But as such: how Hinata's impact on Naruto's life is pretty much overblow. She cheered him on the point that she related too, but missed Naruto's much greater pain of loneliness.
Insulting hardworkers has generated outrage from Naruto, yes. He worked for recognition of his skills too. But Naruto's most fundamental pain (thus need for acknowledgement) is actually somewhat different from Hinata. Loneliness. He told this pain to Gaara while tears gathered in his eyes, as he crawled on his chin towards Gaara to ensure that this opponent would not kill those precious people who saved him. And during that time, he showed who in his mind saved him from this pain: Iruka, and team 7.
Just being called a loser isn't what gnawed at him. The loser aspect just meant an additional reason why people would not look at him. The entirety of team 7 had not acknowledged his skills yet, but they accepted his existence, his being, and that was what truly mattered to him. Now by the time Hinata joined the list of people he considered to have acknowledged him (in any way), it was just about at the same time as everyone else:
She's just one in the sea of people who Naruto knows have accepted him. Not "the only one who's ever reached to him" (she never did "reach to him" until the chuunin exams).
I.4. In fact, the motivational speech itself barely had an impact on Naruto's life, or even on the Naruto vs Neji match: how Naruto was then motivated by other reasons.
As I see, that motivational scene was in the end was only part of one of the three big reasons he's thought of to win the fight. He fought that fight with actually Three people in mind:
- Hinata: "Insulting Hinata! Automatically deciding that she's a loser! Pieces of shit like you [...], I will never forgive!"
- Neji: "Yeah! I'm definitely going to defeat you, and prove that!" (after Neji's rants on the Hyuuga past) "Stop whining about stupid crap like that, since... you're not a loser like me."
- Naruto himself: "Because I was called... a loser." Actually, I think he was also thinking of losers in general, and here's where that motivational speech of Hinata's came in:
So it had just about as much impact as -Lee's- speech. =\
In the meantime, Naruto's biggest source of influence by far is actually team 7. They're among the first bonds he's forged. He's risked his life for them, beat up Gaara for them, practically sold his soul to Kyuubi for them (well, for Sasuke), trained 2.5 years with his teammate in mind, and compared that, the Neji match and everything involving Hinata really wasn't the biggest event in his life. Point is, while Naruto may represent nearly everything to Hinata, the reverse is far from true. Naruto is much more than just the proud loser aspect. As I've said, he's also:
- the pain of loneliness
- the pain of being a jinchuuriki
- the pain of losing one of his first bonds
- the will to fight to the death for those precious to him
But I'm disgressing.
That said, NaruHina in part 1 could still have been considered one of the "deepest" relationships in the manga because out of all the genins back then, Hinata acknowledged and admired Naruto the first and the most, and related to him the most (through the underdog aspect), at least among the girls. Because she related to at least part of his sufferings back then, she had the best shot of somehow reciprocating the favour Naruto's done for her, thus taking the relationship out from mere one-sided idolization. Her cheering Naruto up could have been interpreted as that first step. That was part 1.
I.5. A broader look on the usage of themes and plotlines in Naruto
At this point I'll just point to a more objective view of how Kishimoto seems to work. Basically, Kishimoto follows the following pattern Very systematically whenever a character exerts or gains influence from Naruto:
- common background aspect (usually common pain)
- common theme (or opposing theme, right until Naruto bitch-slaps the person into accepting his own point of view)
It really makes sense really: the first part is to maximize empathy and/or basically not make the person talk "out of his ass." Iruka was also an orphan, Haku was also not acknowledged, Neji had an unerasable mark, Gaara was also a jinchuuriki, and Tsunade also had the "background" element. Sakura? Sakura's case is interesting. Basically, her "common background" is team 7 as a whole. Sai has the "brother" background. And Yamato? While he doesn't share a common background, he basically shares the "jinchuuriki" relevence: he's the new teacher of the group so to say, fulfilling a guidance role with Naruto much like Kakashi attempted with Sasuke. And because of his Own background (jinchuuriki half-expert so to say), he speaks as someone who knows what he's talking about.
The second one is also pretty obvious: basically, if Naruto influences the characters, it has to be on Something right? For Neji, it's about fighting against destiny. Gaara, it's about protecting precious people (instead of killing people). For Tsunade, it was about the belief in being Hokage. There are also lesser characters: "hero" with Inari, "no shortcut to becoming Hokage" with Konohamaru.
And here's something significant I've noticed out of all this: when the characters manifest a "return", meaning a resolution on theme, it's through the very themes they are influenced on. Gaara fought to protect his village, Neji told Kidoumaru that "nobody can determine another person's destiny," Tsunade fought in the Hokage name, etc. Maybe it seems rather limiting, but it does the great job of enhancing current manga emotional impact and relevence (it's -Naruto's- power of inspiration that they're showcasing after all), and the backgrounds of the characters enable them to also be able to be stand-alone characters.
After this "theme" resolution, the characters can get a full "background" resolution as well by taking care of the problem that started it all in the first place. Gaara for example became fully accepted as Kazekage, thus completing the circle, and Naruto will become Hokage (yes he will folks). My hopes for Hinata is that she'll also get a background resolution on top of the "themes" resolution that she's had after her confrontation against Neji, then her talk with Naruto (where she showed that she did gain confidence: she didn't even let her loss get to her). Basically, the background resolution will be her becoming fully acknowledged, probably as clan head, of the Hyuuga clan. But well, refer to part 1 for all this again.
Still, you might see where I'm going. That's right. Part 2 of the manga.
II. How it's unlike to improve in the future: Hinata's total lack of connection to Naruto's current pains. Which don't represent any plotlines, they're the Main plotlines
II.1. The pains Hinata related to Naruto on are no longer his current pains
As said, in part 1, Hinata related to Naruto the most among the genin girls (just the girls, Gaara and perhaps Neji otherwise related to Naruto more). She shared the two follow following pains with Naruto:
- the pain of not being acknowledged
- the pain of being a loser (tied together actually, especially for Hinata, but whetever).
And could thus call on him on those (which she did to a point right before Naruto's match against Neji).
But for those who haven't been paying attention to the manga, those are no longer Naruto's current pains.
- acknowledgement: In his genjutsu nightmare then flashback, Naruto actually felt Guilty to have so many people around him now when Gaara didn't. So Hinata's lost the "exclusivity" of acknowledging Naruto (not that she had it in the first place), she's just one of the many people that Naruto knows accept him, minus the closeness Naruto feels for some of them (Iruka, Sasuke, Sakura, probably Jiraiya and Gaara too).
- as for "loser": what about it? =\ Naruto's even bragging about being stronger than Iruka and Kakashi now. He's no longer a "proud loser", he's a strong shinobi who absolutely needs to go for the win this time. Try telling him "Don't worry about failing to bring back Sasuke! You're a proud loser, so you'll get right back up!" and I'm not even sure if he'll take that well. Still, if you want to argue about her getting Naruto more confidence, see point II.3.
Basically, she's lost her theme relevency.
II.2. The current plotlines, involving the "jinchuuriki" and the "Sasuke" plotlines, have been main guiding forces since the Start
Right now, the pains Naruto feel are:
1. that of being a (persecuted) jinchuuriki (that he shares with Gaara, a pain that made him go 2-tails mode) and
2. his by far biggest pain: the pain of losing Sasuke (that he shares with Sakura, and that made him go 4-tails upon meeting Orochimaru)
Naruto was Obviously a jinchuuriki from the start, and it was the reason of his original suffering. Sasuke was introduced right after that, with his own foreshadowing of problems since it was revealed that he lived for revenge right at the beginning.
All the other major plotlines basically somehow tied to one of these two aspects:
- Orochimaru: Sasuke's revenge.
- Akatsuki: both the jinchuuriki aspect, and revenge through having Itachi in it. Gaara's kidnapping directly involved the jinchuuriki aspect.
- Danzou's possible schemes: through wanting a role with Orochimaru, probably influences Sasuke as well.
I made this (slightly outdated) graph once, for my plotlines essay:
In short, I really doubt you can dismiss them as any random sub-plotlines that'd quickly be taken care of so a brand new plotline where Hinata would actually have a role could be ushered in. These aren't any plotlines, they're much more of the main guiding forces of the manga. By the time they're taken care of, the manga will probably be over.
II.3. How Hinata doesn't tie into them in any way (isn't it obvious?), while someone else Does.
It's pretty obvious, she's lost that "background" relevence, which might not have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that someone Else did get it.
So anything she says to Naruto now would hold no ground. What's she going to say: "I believe in you, based on everything I've seen of you in part 1, which didn't include just about everything that's the source of your current problems"? Basically she's lost the background to Understand any of Naruto's problems.
Wait, am I saying Sakura does fit in? Yes, because Sakura Does have those background elements. For the Sasuke aspect, basically, the Entire part 1 was her "background," while she further gained on the "jinchuuriki" background through being the prime witness.
Hey hey! What if Hinata gains that background later on, like Sakura did in part 1 then part 2? How about I put it this way: she's off to a veeeeerry bad start. Sakura specifically trained 2.5 years with the goal of helping Naruto as well. Hinata did not train in this goal, she trained "for herself" so to say ("I must do my best too", not "I must do my best for Naruto"). And she'd thus have to catch up to Sakura's 2.5 years + of development into this aspect.
Basically, this handy-dandy comparison chart.
Kishimoto's actually specifically did Not develop her character towards those aspects, while he specifically did with Sakura, so Hinata will most probably have no role in helping Naruto deal with his current sufferings.
Even then, Sakura is barely hanging on in there as is, nevermind trying to have Hinata interfere.
Oh by the way, on Hinata's side: Naruto already knows everything he needs to know about Hinata, I remember some fics where he simply isn't aware that she is suffering as well. In the manga again, Neji match: "Hinata too has suffered. [blablabla] In truth, you're both alike!" (notice that he identified Hinata's situation with Neji's, not with his own) So it's not through this "common" suffering that he'll hook up with Hinata.
II.4. Maybe other themes? Bringing back the acknowledgement and confidence themes? Cheering up? Politics? Just romance?
For those who don't trust the "background" thing...
Maybe if Kishimoto brings back the theme of acknowledgement again, now that Naruto is truly turning into a monster? Except I really doubt that Kishimoto would put down the character development of:
- Sakura
- Tsunade "he's the future Hokage"
- Jiraiya who well... knows the Kyuubi part of Naruto quite well already
- Kakashi who also knows about Kyuubi
- Iruka who has always accepted Naruto
- Gaara who was also a jinchuuriki
- Neji who also regards Naruto as a saviour
- Kiba ie someone who looks up to him
- "we're friends" ultimate friendly guy Chouji
- "we're friends" perhaps not so friendly guy Shino
- "we're fellow shinobi of Konoha" Shikamaru
- Lee who is plain Nice
- or any of the other ex-genins
- or "Naruto's our boss" team Konohamaru
- or even Ebisu who knows about Kyuubi but has come to consider Naruto as a better teacher than himself
- or all the adults that cheered for Naruto in the chuunin exams
... just to have Hinata stand out, especially if she can't relate any more than the rest. Many of the adults have accepted Naruto already. Even if they see the new Naruto/Kyuubi, some like Ebisu have Specifically changed their mind about Naruto already so are unlikely to turn on him again. And if even many of the adults can accept Naruto for who he is, I doubt the other ex-genins would start rejecting Naruto instead.
Naruto considers them people who have accepted him and he probably knows that they won't change their minds Too easily. ALL the ex-genins in particular, not just Hinata would probably react the same way upon learning as Temari did: feel sorry, but still support Naruto. Even Gaara has a whole village now. They're not making our friendly ex-genins and co. more shallow than the Suna folks. And all of these people believe in Naruto (well, as much as relevant).
How about just the "cheering him up" then? She's already cheered him up once after all.
The problem is that it's already been USED. And more importantly than that, Hinata "knew" what she was talking about back then. But things have since moved on but Hinata really doesn't seem up to date with the events. Basically if she were to offer him the Exact same speech Now, it'd no longer hold weight. Back then she could speak thanks to all her observation, and because she could tell from her own background. Now though, she'd be shooting into the blind.
Besides, as I said, the speech didn't have the biggest impact on Naruto's life anyway.
A possibility might be by bending a bit and having her tell him that Sasuke is not a hopeless case since he did manage to save Her "brother" Neji after all (not that a "brother" bond Ever developed between Hinata and Neji before). Except the Neji case doesn't come anywhere Near the depth and complexity of the Sasuke case. Neji also believed in Naruto to save Sasuke. Did he count on the situation being so grave that Naruto nearly losing his soul in order to do so? Besides, Kishimoto doesn't seem intent on having Her portray this brother theme. Instead he created a brand-new character, with a custom-made background that Does fit Right into the theme without having to twist, and who possibly adds to the plot on top of that. Yes, I'm talking about Sai.
Just romance perhaps? Wait, pure Romance? This is a shounen manga. There have been threads asking what people would think if this turned into a shoujo manga. And basically, the majority thought it a bad thing. How should I put it...
How about Politics? If Naruto becomes Hokage while Hinata is head of clan? Eeeeh... sorry, I don't see it, do you? =\ Maybe it's because Hinata and Naruto are nowhere near leading right Now and in the foreseable future, busy as they are with missions. Besides if you bring politics into it, I'd personally find it irky for the head of a village to be married to the head of one clan. Conflict of interest. I don't see it as the best thing for Hinata either, as Naruto's role as village leader would overshadow her own role as clan leader whether she likes it or not. >__<
II.5. Things that don't help #1: how Kishimoto missed all these "opportunities" to develop NaruHina
Hinata being the last people to "see" Naruto off might have been foreshadowing to bigger roles... (like Sakura with the jinchuuriki aspect). Yes well:
- Hinata wasn't the first to greet back Naruto post-timeskip
- she wasn't the first to learn that Naruto can't get rid of Kyuubi without dying. Sakura did, and did feel for Naruto, so Hinata won't be getting any exclusivity here.
- diddo with (not) seeing Naruto going KN4.
- when Naruto came back a second time, she wasn't the first to greet him either. Instead she got just about as much screentime and dialogue as well... Shino, and her feelings were lopped together with the rest of team 8 as a static "everyone seems the same as always." Oh yeah, and the characters themselves took her display of affection so seriously that Shino was more interested in moping about the fact that Naruto didn't notice Him, but that's another story.
- she didn't even get some alone time with Naruto. Sakura did.
- um, etc.
Really, Sakura is the one with the firm claim on "saving" Naruto (and Sasuke) now, and she's actually relevent because of her "background" in the form of the entire part 1 of the manga. Hinata would not be able to look at KN 4 and feel Extra bad because of remembering the depth of the bond between Naruto and Sasuke, thinking of Naruto's promises to bring back Sasuke, etc, so it does make sense that she'd not be getting this role if Kishimoto wants to maximize the emotional impact. =\
II.6. Things that don't help #2: Kishimoto preferred to introduce two brand-new characters to deal with these aspects of Naruto rather than force Hinata into dealing with them
Yamato and Sai. I think I've already explained in I.3. Just saying. To repeat: Yamato is to help on the jinchuuriki aspect, while Sai is supposedly supposed to bring out the brother aspect, though it's been so rushed so far that I don't find it funny. There's still hope but this has nothing to do with the essay anymore. >__<
II.7. In short: how she's really, Really unlikely to help Naruto deal with his problems, thus take this relation out of shallow one-sided admiration into two-sided Mutual admiration and respect
Well yes.
Shallow? Yes. With Naruto being her idol, this simply keeps the relationship really unbalanced, she won't ever be able to do something to restore the balance (by returning the favour). So it'd remain one-sided idolatry, not two-sided respect/admiration and gratitude.
And with the tone of the manga so dark right now, I think it's rather superficial for Hinata to be going "My idol! *sparkly eyes* I want to be just like you! *faint*". She is not the only one to admire Naruto, but Tsunade, Sakura etc, perceive his pain as well, and I really doubt they envy him at this point. So yes, now that the manga has darkened so much and that the focus of Naruto's suffering has completely shifted, Hinata's crush born out of idolization does come off as rather shallow to me, especially now that they don't Share the same pains anymore, and she can't help him any either.
For crying out loud, the guy is drowning in his sufferings and she's stuck at "Omg it's HIM!!! *sparkly eyes* *blush* *faint*". The image just seems wrong to me. It's not her fault, she can't be blamed to not be the one to be right by his side when the main sources of his current sufferings were revealed, but it certainly doesn't work in favour of NaruHina either. They don't share a same pain anymore, and Hinata is completely out of touch with Naruto's current pains (unless she becomes a jinchuuriki but that'd just suck).
III. Why I'd think it off character-wise as well
III.1. Reminder #1: Naruto has never been romantically attracted to Hinata. "I like people LIKE you." Not "I like you."
Naruto's never taken an interest in her character before the fight, and he didn't seek her out afterwards (during normal circumstances) either. He was always more interested in Sakura. =\
But he already said that he likes her! He said that he likes people Like her, not that he Liked Her romantically. It was an acknowledgement of her character (most likely of her determination and also of her views on things), but not a declaration of love (not from His point of view anyway). As far as I can tell, she might as well be a female Rock Lee.
III.2. Reminder #2: Hinata's attitude towards Naruto is more positive idolization (with a resulting crush) than tragic unrequited love
Basically, I've addressed this in part 1, Hinata really doesn't understand him much at this point.
III.3. Unless something happens, Naruto has no real reason to prefer Hinata over Sakura. No, Hinata hasn't "always been there" for him. Naruto's actually grown fonder of Sakura's personality
For helping Naruto, Sakura already has the upper hand, as shown above.
For common history, Sakura also has the upper hand, through being so long with Naruto, and now through being by his side as he goes through the most difficult moment of his life.
I just don't see Naruto -> Hinata chemistry, especially since the only thing Hinata has to offer is admiration and acknowledgement that lots of others offer him as well (ie she'd suck up to him). The only way I see NaruHina happening is not because Naruto would have seen something in Hinata over Sakura, but because Sakura dumped him, which would make Hinata second-choice by Far (no, this wouldn't be the case for NaruSaku: the reason Sakura rejected Naruto before is because she didn't understand him, but now that she does and has been growing closer to Naruto, she might actually Chose Naruto over Sasuke). Honestly, what can Hinata offer that Sakura can't?
- Acceptance? Sakura has unconditional acceptance of Naruto at this point. The fact that Hinata started a little earlier doesn't make a difference Now.
- someone to admire? Naruto admires Sakura for her improvement And for her medical skills. That's the strong point Sakura has over Hinata: her strength lies in medic and supports, domains in which Naruto does not compete, so he can "look up" to her in those areas. But Hinata is pure offensive, unless she matches up to Naruto's skill Naruto isn't about to be more impressed with her than he is with Sakura.
- company? Last I checked, Naruto and Sakura got along fine, while Hinata barely participates in any of Naruto's activities.
- remember, Naruto had a crush on Sakura first, while he never did notice Hinata. And no, it wasn't a superficial crush based on looks: way back in chapter 3, in the henge scene, Naruto said that he finally understood why he likes Sakura when Sakura said that she'd do anything to get acknowledged by the one she cares about. So it's a matter of kindred spirit. Still, it wasn't the deepest relationship at that point, but his relationship with her then grew throughout all the missions and difficulties they've had to face as a team, if only in a platonic way. You can check out my team 7 essay. Though all this is another matter. In the meantime, Naruto and Hinata have Still interacted less than 2 hours in their entire lives. Unless Hinata's team suddenly dies off, forcing her onto Naruto's team for some reason, it's not getting better very quickly.
- post-timeskip, he seems to enjoy Sakura's company just as much, if not more now. And look at that happy smile on his face the first time Sakura blew up the ground below Kakashi. =\
And Sakura can now offer Naruto something that Hinata can't: even while she admires Naruto, does not view him as a superior, but as an equal that she can and must help. Hinata just follows after Naruto's back and hopes to closer to him, while Sakura marches by his side and can catch him when he falters. And Hinata as I've said, will most probably not be the one to help Naruto out of his current sufferings, so will Never "reach his side" like Sakura more or less has. If Hinata were given the opportunity to be THE firsthand witness to Naruto's sufferings then she might have had those opportunities and development, but if you've read everything up till now: she wasn't. And circumstances shape a relationship as much as everything else. Sakura's the one to get that role.
IV. Wait, but since I don't dismiss the possibility of NaruHina happening Anyway, then... how?
No, I don't dismiss the possibility of NaruHina happening. As a side consequence to SasuSaku. >=\
IV.1. Possibility #1: Kishimoto goes "out of his way" to stick Hinata into the story. I really doubt it's happening though. Hello, Naruto has bigger priorities
Based on everything I've said above... Kishimoto has so far Far from shown the will to further include Hinata and thus make her more relevant to Naruto's character development and relevant to helping him solve his problems.
Of course, he could ignore all rules of foreshadowing and development, and just have her appear to hug Kyuubified Naruto out of nowhere or have her suddenly confess in such a way that Naruto suddenly realizes that Sasuke can go kill himself because he's more interested in getting a girlfriend (even if he's barely interacted with said girlfriend before).
Yes, right.
IV.2. Possibility #2: "Chichi/Goku". A relationship "out of nowhere." And worse: a consolation relationship. No thanks
If there isn't a "direct" reason for Naruto to chose Hinata, then what? Even the NaruHina fans keep shouting "Chichi/Goku Chichi/Goku" to me. Well then yes, it Is a possibility: a relationship "out of nowhere" at the end of the series. But why'd it happen? Basically, it'd happen because Sakura hooked up with someone else. So Hinata would be the handy-dandy consolation girlfriend! =)
Sorry, I hate that idea. =\ I'm also not thrilled at the idea of a relationship where basically Hinata would have missed out on everything that's defined Naruto. She'd be relatively marginalized in her role in his life. Now I find this Especially irksome when Naruto would on the contrary represent a disproportionately big part of Her life. Oy. I'll just throw this old comic in now:
IV.3. So you're saying that Naruto can only end up with Sakura?
No, I'm saying that nothing really favours Hinata and I really think she can do better than that. I don't like the idea of Hinata just representing an idolizing housewife to a marginal aspect of Naruto's life of which she's only one of many to have helped him resolve, while she has no hold on the defining moments of Naruto's life. It's a personal symetry preference. Again, this:
irks me. A LOT. With someone else, at least that someone else would most likely not consider Naruto a superior idol. Even Gaara's fangirls want to Protect Gaara instead of just chasing after his back. =\ This:
I can get, but the way Hinata idolizes one single aspect of Naruto (I can't stand fangirl scenarios), it doesn't seem like the case. Of course, for me, the ideal scenario would be closer to equality, with the other person being a full equal but on Other aspects, thus making the relationship mutual admiration and the likes. That's not happening with NaruHina.
But wait! If Hinata becomes clan leader, wouldn't she Get something "more"? Hell no, her "something more" would still be completely overshadowed by Naruto's own similar background resolution of him becoming Hokage. =\ Paths too similar. And Hinata would also look like just a watered-down Naruto on all the other aspects as well: strength, inspirational values, etc...
On her own and without Naruto in sight so to say, she'd be able to stand out for herself. But if there's Naruto always right next to her, people would be more prompt to label her "the Hokage's wife" than seeing her for herself. I actually also view it as an acknowledgement problem as well in the end. People would not see her for HER, but as being paired up with Naruto. A view that many NaruHina fans seem to unwittingly share as well. "I like Hinata! NaruHina is so cute!" Well great.
There was a poll once, on Hinata's highest possible rank. The poll starter added a "Hokage's wife" rank. Guess what people chose to vote for instead of jounin or the likes? =_=
- Part 3. Why the fandom really doesn't help. -
Honestly, I quickly got fed-up of it even back when it was my favourite pairing. >_< I used to be a Hinata x Everyone fanfic reader (until I realized it was stupid and only started for the pairings I thought made some sort of sense). When I started out, NaruHina was my favourite Hinata pairing.
Even back then, I had given up on reading NaruHina fics first. Because they were That cheesy. The near majority of them. I gave up on ever finding one that properly bothered with character development. Well, I once came accross a story called Hinata's Story that started out pretty well compared to others, and ironically, the writer starts off by saying "I got tired of fics where Naruto went from ignoring Hinata to checking out her tonsils in 2 paragraphs or 10 seconds flat, so I thought I'd see if I could do better." Hear hear.
I. The thing is, the manga has already provided a situation in which she had near-exclusive acknowledgement of Naruto (not counting Iruka). It shows what she did: nothing
Fanfics keep making Hinata the person who "notices Naruto's pain" and reaches out to him when nobody else would. But she never did that in the manga. And as I said, I don't even think that she held back in reaching to his Pain because of shyness. By the time she truly started noticing him, it was because he was "victorious" in his attitude: he did not give up. So I think she probably didn't even think she needed to reach out to him. Trying to approach "her idol" is another matter.
So basically, she didn't do much in the manga even though she had the closest thing to exclusivity, so in fanfics...
II. How NaruHina would then require the continuing near-exclusivity of Hinata accepting Naruto.
In short: dropping the character development of everybody else: "Sakura's a bitch" and so's the rest of the village. Hmm. Sorry, this is way too easy.
Maybe it wouldn't require this. Maybe Naruto could notice Hinata just fine when he's already got people who acknowledge him or even understand him even better than Hinata, like Sakura did in the Manga. Well I'd be more convinced if I ever read such fics. =\ The Great majority of NaruHina fics I've read gave Hinata the "exclusivity" on reaching out to Naruto: "When nobody reached out to him, only she did" blablabla.
Okay, not counting the fact that she failed to do that in the manga... indeed, in the Manga, LOTS of people acknowledge Naruto now. Hinata's just one more in that sea of people. Even Ebisu is among those who've acknowledged him.
And in the manga, Sakura is far from that shallow: she's acknowledged Naruto since part 1 of the chuunin exams (when she said that she didn't want to see his dreams crushed. Then in the Forest of Death, she lists him as one of those who have shown her how to be stronger, then she thanked him after he cheered her for the Ino match. She also cheered him on in the Kiba match, and when Naruto won against Neji, she sighed and thought that watching him, she'd have to do her best as well. Then she vowed to go with him. Then she vowed to save him)!
Then there's all the other characters as well.
So basically these fics have been nicely ignoring the character development of everybody else while making Hinata more than she was in the manga. Oh Geez. Is it Really necessary to completely Throw away the character development of Everybody Else just to make Hinata stand out? I'd be a Lot less annoyed if they managed to not Degrade everybody else just to make her stand out. I mean geez.
III. Or it'd require situations such as "Hinata gets sent to train alone with Naruto."
Sorry, I don't buy such excuses. This is way too easy again.
So Tsunade decides that since Hinata has a crush on Naruto and that since she's the nice person she is, she'll have to play matchmaker among these two 13 years-olds by sending them off on an exclusive training session with Jiraiya or some other legendary figure out of nowhere, at which point the two will discover their Love for each other and make plans for babies.
Either that, or Naruto comes back, and Hinata gets magically placed on his team (they don't even bother to kill off Kiba and Shino, they just stop existing. *shakes head*), and well, repeat the above.
Okay people, am I the only one who thinks that you can get just about Any two people together under such scenarios? It usually isn't even done right! Two Halves for example had the most amazing underlying concept, but the chapter where Naruto and Hinata "got together" made me want to bump my head on the table. Basically, another of your...
IV. Or "Hinata yells at Naruto and Naruto suddenly realizes that he's been in love with her all along, nevermind that they've interacted less than 2 hours in their lives." wtf?
When combined with III of course, it's more than 2 hours.
But somehow they always manage to make the final moment a "What? You love me? Wait! I love you too!" since Naruto remains the Exact Same blockhead until that moment (not even some gradual development in sight, Naruto's just static). Pick one of the following basically:
- "Damn you Naruto how can you be so blind! I LOVE YOU DAMMIT!!!" "Wait, you do? Wait, I've just realized that I love you too!"
- Hinata throws ramen at Naruto and Naruto suddenly starts dating her (variation of the above).
- Naruto while off on mission suddenly goes "hey Sakura actually sucks but I've just realized that Hinata likes me!" (yes, it has point I. thrown in)
- or the writer skips this phase entirely and just assumes that they got together. Might as well. I'll go assume that somewhere along the lines, Naruto and Moegi got together. Say that'd actually make an interesting pairing. *ponders*
V. Where's Sasuke by the way? Watering-down Naruto's character by making him forget the goals he's established in the manga. Come on, you can do better than that
Hello? There's Uchiha Sasuke remember? You know, the one Naruto considers his brother? The one for whom he's dedicated 2.5 years of training to save him? One of his most precious bonds? The one that made him go Kyuubi against Haku, and at the Valley of the end? Helloooo?
Taking away one of his biggest goals in the manga huh. Nevermind that we get a much watered-down Naruto this way. Oh wait, no we won't, because apparently, Naruto suddenly shares that exclusive bond with Hinata instead. So Sasuke can go hang himself. And when he does appear in NaruHina fics, he turns out to be nothing but the ultimate evil character anyway, whom Naruto happily smites when said ultimate villain threatens Hinata for some reason.
And the world rejoiced. Actually, no it didn't. If you want to bash Sasuke, do it right, and without watering down Naruto's character. Yeesh!
VI. The fact that there isn't really anything in Hinata's character that would have made Naruto naturally attracted to her also doesn't help
The fic writers seem to have at least realized this much, given how they usually resort to (bad) plots to make Naruto notice instead. That, or skip the relationship development phase entirely. =\ I've yet to notice many fics where Naruto falls for Hinata for her character alone. This makes sense: NaruHina is "pure" circumstances, and zero predisposition really. But as a result, the writer usually resorts to I., II., III., IV. or V., or better yet, a combination of all of them. Yeh-hey.
So that concludes this view. Why I dislike this pairing both in canon, in fanon, and as a Hinata fan. In the meantime, yes, Hinata's still my favourite character.
( Hinata, a doormat who grew a spine )
Now I'm off to work on more pleasant things. Those on my friends list know what I'm talking about. I hope I won't get a "post too large" error message with That one. T_T
Have a nice day. ^__^
- Part 2. Why NaruHina irks me "in canon" -
I. The lack of NaruHina in the current manga
Basically, people think Hinata has this Huge role in Naruto's life. She doesn't.
I.1. Reminder: they've interacted for less than 2 hours in their lives...
Yes yes, I'm fairly certain of that one.
- up till Chuunin exams, Naruto called Hinata a dark weirdo girl who can't look him in the eyes. In short, she most probably never talked to him.
- they talked Once between the prelims and the match against Neji, and that's it.
- then Naruto went to train with Jiraiya.
- then there was the rescue arc.
- between the end of the rescue arc and Naruto leaving, Hinata did not speak to Naruto Once: when she went to see him at the hospital, she fainted and had since not gathered the courage to speak to him again.
- weirdly enough, she hasn't spoken to him post-timeskip either...
Add to that how much trouble she has to approach and talk to him the few times she did manage, and the fact that she actually Fainted when trying to approach him at other times, and I'm fairly certain she rarely managed to approach him outside of the scenes where we did see them talk, if at all.
Wait, what's this part for? Maybe for all those who think that Naruto will suddenly realize that he's been in love with Hinata all along. There Is no "all along." Maybe I'm biased, but I think a relationship should be based on more than 2 hours of interaction. If the "relationship" were to happen, it'd have to be developed more First. Next.
And as someone else said: whatever she made of Naruto's state, it's pretty obvious that she didn't focus on it to help Naruto, but to help Herself.
I.2. Hinata didn't see Naruto's pain just for what it is, but by relating to him through the underdog aspect.
Nobody else (save Iruka and Sandaime) saw his actual pain either. But neither did Hinata, as people like to claim.
Hinata perceived the difficulty of the situation through analogy to her own situation. But what she saw was Naruto remaining strong and confident despite that, not his actual sufferings. I think this is why she wasn't even shown Thinking of reaching out to him: because in her opinion, Naruto got back on his own feet just fine. Which is why she admired him. Really, this makes sense: it wouldn't have made sense to write a (non teacher-like?) character who perceives his sufferings "just for the sake of" perceiving his sufferings. Kishimoto worked by empathy on things she could relate to instead.
I also think it had nothing to do with just being too shy. If you don't help someone who's suffering just because you're too shy, that's... rather pathetic. Besides that, we haven't seen her even Trying to reach to his pain while being unable to because of her own shyness. The chronology is off, really. First she noticed his strength, Then she developed a crush on him, so by the time the "shy" aspect gained significance, she didn't have a reason to try to "save" him anymore (since she saw Naruto as strong on his own). Moving on.
I.3. But as such: how Hinata's impact on Naruto's life is pretty much overblow. She cheered him on the point that she related too, but missed Naruto's much greater pain of loneliness.
Insulting hardworkers has generated outrage from Naruto, yes. He worked for recognition of his skills too. But Naruto's most fundamental pain (thus need for acknowledgement) is actually somewhat different from Hinata. Loneliness. He told this pain to Gaara while tears gathered in his eyes, as he crawled on his chin towards Gaara to ensure that this opponent would not kill those precious people who saved him. And during that time, he showed who in his mind saved him from this pain: Iruka, and team 7.
Just being called a loser isn't what gnawed at him. The loser aspect just meant an additional reason why people would not look at him. The entirety of team 7 had not acknowledged his skills yet, but they accepted his existence, his being, and that was what truly mattered to him. Now by the time Hinata joined the list of people he considered to have acknowledged him (in any way), it was just about at the same time as everyone else:
She's just one in the sea of people who Naruto knows have accepted him. Not "the only one who's ever reached to him" (she never did "reach to him" until the chuunin exams).
I.4. In fact, the motivational speech itself barely had an impact on Naruto's life, or even on the Naruto vs Neji match: how Naruto was then motivated by other reasons.
As I see, that motivational scene was in the end was only part of one of the three big reasons he's thought of to win the fight. He fought that fight with actually Three people in mind:
- Hinata: "Insulting Hinata! Automatically deciding that she's a loser! Pieces of shit like you [...], I will never forgive!"
- Neji: "Yeah! I'm definitely going to defeat you, and prove that!" (after Neji's rants on the Hyuuga past) "Stop whining about stupid crap like that, since... you're not a loser like me."
- Naruto himself: "Because I was called... a loser." Actually, I think he was also thinking of losers in general, and here's where that motivational speech of Hinata's came in:
So it had just about as much impact as -Lee's- speech. =\
In the meantime, Naruto's biggest source of influence by far is actually team 7. They're among the first bonds he's forged. He's risked his life for them, beat up Gaara for them, practically sold his soul to Kyuubi for them (well, for Sasuke), trained 2.5 years with his teammate in mind, and compared that, the Neji match and everything involving Hinata really wasn't the biggest event in his life. Point is, while Naruto may represent nearly everything to Hinata, the reverse is far from true. Naruto is much more than just the proud loser aspect. As I've said, he's also:
- the pain of loneliness
- the pain of being a jinchuuriki
- the pain of losing one of his first bonds
- the will to fight to the death for those precious to him
But I'm disgressing.
That said, NaruHina in part 1 could still have been considered one of the "deepest" relationships in the manga because out of all the genins back then, Hinata acknowledged and admired Naruto the first and the most, and related to him the most (through the underdog aspect), at least among the girls. Because she related to at least part of his sufferings back then, she had the best shot of somehow reciprocating the favour Naruto's done for her, thus taking the relationship out from mere one-sided idolization. Her cheering Naruto up could have been interpreted as that first step. That was part 1.
I.5. A broader look on the usage of themes and plotlines in Naruto
At this point I'll just point to a more objective view of how Kishimoto seems to work. Basically, Kishimoto follows the following pattern Very systematically whenever a character exerts or gains influence from Naruto:
- common background aspect (usually common pain)
- common theme (or opposing theme, right until Naruto bitch-slaps the person into accepting his own point of view)
It really makes sense really: the first part is to maximize empathy and/or basically not make the person talk "out of his ass." Iruka was also an orphan, Haku was also not acknowledged, Neji had an unerasable mark, Gaara was also a jinchuuriki, and Tsunade also had the "background" element. Sakura? Sakura's case is interesting. Basically, her "common background" is team 7 as a whole. Sai has the "brother" background. And Yamato? While he doesn't share a common background, he basically shares the "jinchuuriki" relevence: he's the new teacher of the group so to say, fulfilling a guidance role with Naruto much like Kakashi attempted with Sasuke. And because of his Own background (jinchuuriki half-expert so to say), he speaks as someone who knows what he's talking about.
The second one is also pretty obvious: basically, if Naruto influences the characters, it has to be on Something right? For Neji, it's about fighting against destiny. Gaara, it's about protecting precious people (instead of killing people). For Tsunade, it was about the belief in being Hokage. There are also lesser characters: "hero" with Inari, "no shortcut to becoming Hokage" with Konohamaru.
And here's something significant I've noticed out of all this: when the characters manifest a "return", meaning a resolution on theme, it's through the very themes they are influenced on. Gaara fought to protect his village, Neji told Kidoumaru that "nobody can determine another person's destiny," Tsunade fought in the Hokage name, etc. Maybe it seems rather limiting, but it does the great job of enhancing current manga emotional impact and relevence (it's -Naruto's- power of inspiration that they're showcasing after all), and the backgrounds of the characters enable them to also be able to be stand-alone characters.
After this "theme" resolution, the characters can get a full "background" resolution as well by taking care of the problem that started it all in the first place. Gaara for example became fully accepted as Kazekage, thus completing the circle, and Naruto will become Hokage (yes he will folks). My hopes for Hinata is that she'll also get a background resolution on top of the "themes" resolution that she's had after her confrontation against Neji, then her talk with Naruto (where she showed that she did gain confidence: she didn't even let her loss get to her). Basically, the background resolution will be her becoming fully acknowledged, probably as clan head, of the Hyuuga clan. But well, refer to part 1 for all this again.
Still, you might see where I'm going. That's right. Part 2 of the manga.
II. How it's unlike to improve in the future: Hinata's total lack of connection to Naruto's current pains. Which don't represent any plotlines, they're the Main plotlines
II.1. The pains Hinata related to Naruto on are no longer his current pains
As said, in part 1, Hinata related to Naruto the most among the genin girls (just the girls, Gaara and perhaps Neji otherwise related to Naruto more). She shared the two follow following pains with Naruto:
- the pain of not being acknowledged
- the pain of being a loser (tied together actually, especially for Hinata, but whetever).
And could thus call on him on those (which she did to a point right before Naruto's match against Neji).
But for those who haven't been paying attention to the manga, those are no longer Naruto's current pains.
- acknowledgement: In his genjutsu nightmare then flashback, Naruto actually felt Guilty to have so many people around him now when Gaara didn't. So Hinata's lost the "exclusivity" of acknowledging Naruto (not that she had it in the first place), she's just one of the many people that Naruto knows accept him, minus the closeness Naruto feels for some of them (Iruka, Sasuke, Sakura, probably Jiraiya and Gaara too).
- as for "loser": what about it? =\ Naruto's even bragging about being stronger than Iruka and Kakashi now. He's no longer a "proud loser", he's a strong shinobi who absolutely needs to go for the win this time. Try telling him "Don't worry about failing to bring back Sasuke! You're a proud loser, so you'll get right back up!" and I'm not even sure if he'll take that well. Still, if you want to argue about her getting Naruto more confidence, see point II.3.
Basically, she's lost her theme relevency.
II.2. The current plotlines, involving the "jinchuuriki" and the "Sasuke" plotlines, have been main guiding forces since the Start
Right now, the pains Naruto feel are:
1. that of being a (persecuted) jinchuuriki (that he shares with Gaara, a pain that made him go 2-tails mode) and
2. his by far biggest pain: the pain of losing Sasuke (that he shares with Sakura, and that made him go 4-tails upon meeting Orochimaru)
Naruto was Obviously a jinchuuriki from the start, and it was the reason of his original suffering. Sasuke was introduced right after that, with his own foreshadowing of problems since it was revealed that he lived for revenge right at the beginning.
All the other major plotlines basically somehow tied to one of these two aspects:
- Orochimaru: Sasuke's revenge.
- Akatsuki: both the jinchuuriki aspect, and revenge through having Itachi in it. Gaara's kidnapping directly involved the jinchuuriki aspect.
- Danzou's possible schemes: through wanting a role with Orochimaru, probably influences Sasuke as well.
I made this (slightly outdated) graph once, for my plotlines essay:
In short, I really doubt you can dismiss them as any random sub-plotlines that'd quickly be taken care of so a brand new plotline where Hinata would actually have a role could be ushered in. These aren't any plotlines, they're much more of the main guiding forces of the manga. By the time they're taken care of, the manga will probably be over.
II.3. How Hinata doesn't tie into them in any way (isn't it obvious?), while someone else Does.
It's pretty obvious, she's lost that "background" relevence, which might not have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that someone Else did get it.
So anything she says to Naruto now would hold no ground. What's she going to say: "I believe in you, based on everything I've seen of you in part 1, which didn't include just about everything that's the source of your current problems"? Basically she's lost the background to Understand any of Naruto's problems.
Wait, am I saying Sakura does fit in? Yes, because Sakura Does have those background elements. For the Sasuke aspect, basically, the Entire part 1 was her "background," while she further gained on the "jinchuuriki" background through being the prime witness.
Hey hey! What if Hinata gains that background later on, like Sakura did in part 1 then part 2? How about I put it this way: she's off to a veeeeerry bad start. Sakura specifically trained 2.5 years with the goal of helping Naruto as well. Hinata did not train in this goal, she trained "for herself" so to say ("I must do my best too", not "I must do my best for Naruto"). And she'd thus have to catch up to Sakura's 2.5 years + of development into this aspect.
Basically, this handy-dandy comparison chart.
Kishimoto's actually specifically did Not develop her character towards those aspects, while he specifically did with Sakura, so Hinata will most probably have no role in helping Naruto deal with his current sufferings.
Even then, Sakura is barely hanging on in there as is, nevermind trying to have Hinata interfere.
Oh by the way, on Hinata's side: Naruto already knows everything he needs to know about Hinata, I remember some fics where he simply isn't aware that she is suffering as well. In the manga again, Neji match: "Hinata too has suffered. [blablabla] In truth, you're both alike!" (notice that he identified Hinata's situation with Neji's, not with his own) So it's not through this "common" suffering that he'll hook up with Hinata.
II.4. Maybe other themes? Bringing back the acknowledgement and confidence themes? Cheering up? Politics? Just romance?
For those who don't trust the "background" thing...
Maybe if Kishimoto brings back the theme of acknowledgement again, now that Naruto is truly turning into a monster? Except I really doubt that Kishimoto would put down the character development of:
- Sakura
- Tsunade "he's the future Hokage"
- Jiraiya who well... knows the Kyuubi part of Naruto quite well already
- Kakashi who also knows about Kyuubi
- Iruka who has always accepted Naruto
- Gaara who was also a jinchuuriki
- Neji who also regards Naruto as a saviour
- Kiba ie someone who looks up to him
- "we're friends" ultimate friendly guy Chouji
- "we're friends" perhaps not so friendly guy Shino
- "we're fellow shinobi of Konoha" Shikamaru
- Lee who is plain Nice
- or any of the other ex-genins
- or "Naruto's our boss" team Konohamaru
- or even Ebisu who knows about Kyuubi but has come to consider Naruto as a better teacher than himself
- or all the adults that cheered for Naruto in the chuunin exams
... just to have Hinata stand out, especially if she can't relate any more than the rest. Many of the adults have accepted Naruto already. Even if they see the new Naruto/Kyuubi, some like Ebisu have Specifically changed their mind about Naruto already so are unlikely to turn on him again. And if even many of the adults can accept Naruto for who he is, I doubt the other ex-genins would start rejecting Naruto instead.
Naruto considers them people who have accepted him and he probably knows that they won't change their minds Too easily. ALL the ex-genins in particular, not just Hinata would probably react the same way upon learning as Temari did: feel sorry, but still support Naruto. Even Gaara has a whole village now. They're not making our friendly ex-genins and co. more shallow than the Suna folks. And all of these people believe in Naruto (well, as much as relevant).
How about just the "cheering him up" then? She's already cheered him up once after all.
The problem is that it's already been USED. And more importantly than that, Hinata "knew" what she was talking about back then. But things have since moved on but Hinata really doesn't seem up to date with the events. Basically if she were to offer him the Exact same speech Now, it'd no longer hold weight. Back then she could speak thanks to all her observation, and because she could tell from her own background. Now though, she'd be shooting into the blind.
Besides, as I said, the speech didn't have the biggest impact on Naruto's life anyway.
A possibility might be by bending a bit and having her tell him that Sasuke is not a hopeless case since he did manage to save Her "brother" Neji after all (not that a "brother" bond Ever developed between Hinata and Neji before). Except the Neji case doesn't come anywhere Near the depth and complexity of the Sasuke case. Neji also believed in Naruto to save Sasuke. Did he count on the situation being so grave that Naruto nearly losing his soul in order to do so? Besides, Kishimoto doesn't seem intent on having Her portray this brother theme. Instead he created a brand-new character, with a custom-made background that Does fit Right into the theme without having to twist, and who possibly adds to the plot on top of that. Yes, I'm talking about Sai.
Just romance perhaps? Wait, pure Romance? This is a shounen manga. There have been threads asking what people would think if this turned into a shoujo manga. And basically, the majority thought it a bad thing. How should I put it...
How about Politics? If Naruto becomes Hokage while Hinata is head of clan? Eeeeh... sorry, I don't see it, do you? =\ Maybe it's because Hinata and Naruto are nowhere near leading right Now and in the foreseable future, busy as they are with missions. Besides if you bring politics into it, I'd personally find it irky for the head of a village to be married to the head of one clan. Conflict of interest. I don't see it as the best thing for Hinata either, as Naruto's role as village leader would overshadow her own role as clan leader whether she likes it or not. >__<
II.5. Things that don't help #1: how Kishimoto missed all these "opportunities" to develop NaruHina
Hinata being the last people to "see" Naruto off might have been foreshadowing to bigger roles... (like Sakura with the jinchuuriki aspect). Yes well:
- Hinata wasn't the first to greet back Naruto post-timeskip
- she wasn't the first to learn that Naruto can't get rid of Kyuubi without dying. Sakura did, and did feel for Naruto, so Hinata won't be getting any exclusivity here.
- diddo with (not) seeing Naruto going KN4.
- when Naruto came back a second time, she wasn't the first to greet him either. Instead she got just about as much screentime and dialogue as well... Shino, and her feelings were lopped together with the rest of team 8 as a static "everyone seems the same as always." Oh yeah, and the characters themselves took her display of affection so seriously that Shino was more interested in moping about the fact that Naruto didn't notice Him, but that's another story.
- she didn't even get some alone time with Naruto. Sakura did.
- um, etc.
Really, Sakura is the one with the firm claim on "saving" Naruto (and Sasuke) now, and she's actually relevent because of her "background" in the form of the entire part 1 of the manga. Hinata would not be able to look at KN 4 and feel Extra bad because of remembering the depth of the bond between Naruto and Sasuke, thinking of Naruto's promises to bring back Sasuke, etc, so it does make sense that she'd not be getting this role if Kishimoto wants to maximize the emotional impact. =\
II.6. Things that don't help #2: Kishimoto preferred to introduce two brand-new characters to deal with these aspects of Naruto rather than force Hinata into dealing with them
Yamato and Sai. I think I've already explained in I.3. Just saying. To repeat: Yamato is to help on the jinchuuriki aspect, while Sai is supposedly supposed to bring out the brother aspect, though it's been so rushed so far that I don't find it funny. There's still hope but this has nothing to do with the essay anymore. >__<
II.7. In short: how she's really, Really unlikely to help Naruto deal with his problems, thus take this relation out of shallow one-sided admiration into two-sided Mutual admiration and respect
Well yes.
Shallow? Yes. With Naruto being her idol, this simply keeps the relationship really unbalanced, she won't ever be able to do something to restore the balance (by returning the favour). So it'd remain one-sided idolatry, not two-sided respect/admiration and gratitude.
And with the tone of the manga so dark right now, I think it's rather superficial for Hinata to be going "My idol! *sparkly eyes* I want to be just like you! *faint*". She is not the only one to admire Naruto, but Tsunade, Sakura etc, perceive his pain as well, and I really doubt they envy him at this point. So yes, now that the manga has darkened so much and that the focus of Naruto's suffering has completely shifted, Hinata's crush born out of idolization does come off as rather shallow to me, especially now that they don't Share the same pains anymore, and she can't help him any either.
For crying out loud, the guy is drowning in his sufferings and she's stuck at "Omg it's HIM!!! *sparkly eyes* *blush* *faint*". The image just seems wrong to me. It's not her fault, she can't be blamed to not be the one to be right by his side when the main sources of his current sufferings were revealed, but it certainly doesn't work in favour of NaruHina either. They don't share a same pain anymore, and Hinata is completely out of touch with Naruto's current pains (unless she becomes a jinchuuriki but that'd just suck).
III. Why I'd think it off character-wise as well
III.1. Reminder #1: Naruto has never been romantically attracted to Hinata. "I like people LIKE you." Not "I like you."
Naruto's never taken an interest in her character before the fight, and he didn't seek her out afterwards (during normal circumstances) either. He was always more interested in Sakura. =\
But he already said that he likes her! He said that he likes people Like her, not that he Liked Her romantically. It was an acknowledgement of her character (most likely of her determination and also of her views on things), but not a declaration of love (not from His point of view anyway). As far as I can tell, she might as well be a female Rock Lee.
III.2. Reminder #2: Hinata's attitude towards Naruto is more positive idolization (with a resulting crush) than tragic unrequited love
Basically, I've addressed this in part 1, Hinata really doesn't understand him much at this point.
III.3. Unless something happens, Naruto has no real reason to prefer Hinata over Sakura. No, Hinata hasn't "always been there" for him. Naruto's actually grown fonder of Sakura's personality
For helping Naruto, Sakura already has the upper hand, as shown above.
For common history, Sakura also has the upper hand, through being so long with Naruto, and now through being by his side as he goes through the most difficult moment of his life.
I just don't see Naruto -> Hinata chemistry, especially since the only thing Hinata has to offer is admiration and acknowledgement that lots of others offer him as well (ie she'd suck up to him). The only way I see NaruHina happening is not because Naruto would have seen something in Hinata over Sakura, but because Sakura dumped him, which would make Hinata second-choice by Far (no, this wouldn't be the case for NaruSaku: the reason Sakura rejected Naruto before is because she didn't understand him, but now that she does and has been growing closer to Naruto, she might actually Chose Naruto over Sasuke). Honestly, what can Hinata offer that Sakura can't?
- Acceptance? Sakura has unconditional acceptance of Naruto at this point. The fact that Hinata started a little earlier doesn't make a difference Now.
- someone to admire? Naruto admires Sakura for her improvement And for her medical skills. That's the strong point Sakura has over Hinata: her strength lies in medic and supports, domains in which Naruto does not compete, so he can "look up" to her in those areas. But Hinata is pure offensive, unless she matches up to Naruto's skill Naruto isn't about to be more impressed with her than he is with Sakura.
- company? Last I checked, Naruto and Sakura got along fine, while Hinata barely participates in any of Naruto's activities.
- remember, Naruto had a crush on Sakura first, while he never did notice Hinata. And no, it wasn't a superficial crush based on looks: way back in chapter 3, in the henge scene, Naruto said that he finally understood why he likes Sakura when Sakura said that she'd do anything to get acknowledged by the one she cares about. So it's a matter of kindred spirit. Still, it wasn't the deepest relationship at that point, but his relationship with her then grew throughout all the missions and difficulties they've had to face as a team, if only in a platonic way. You can check out my team 7 essay. Though all this is another matter. In the meantime, Naruto and Hinata have Still interacted less than 2 hours in their entire lives. Unless Hinata's team suddenly dies off, forcing her onto Naruto's team for some reason, it's not getting better very quickly.
- post-timeskip, he seems to enjoy Sakura's company just as much, if not more now. And look at that happy smile on his face the first time Sakura blew up the ground below Kakashi. =\
And Sakura can now offer Naruto something that Hinata can't: even while she admires Naruto, does not view him as a superior, but as an equal that she can and must help. Hinata just follows after Naruto's back and hopes to closer to him, while Sakura marches by his side and can catch him when he falters. And Hinata as I've said, will most probably not be the one to help Naruto out of his current sufferings, so will Never "reach his side" like Sakura more or less has. If Hinata were given the opportunity to be THE firsthand witness to Naruto's sufferings then she might have had those opportunities and development, but if you've read everything up till now: she wasn't. And circumstances shape a relationship as much as everything else. Sakura's the one to get that role.
IV. Wait, but since I don't dismiss the possibility of NaruHina happening Anyway, then... how?
No, I don't dismiss the possibility of NaruHina happening. As a side consequence to SasuSaku. >=\
IV.1. Possibility #1: Kishimoto goes "out of his way" to stick Hinata into the story. I really doubt it's happening though. Hello, Naruto has bigger priorities
Based on everything I've said above... Kishimoto has so far Far from shown the will to further include Hinata and thus make her more relevant to Naruto's character development and relevant to helping him solve his problems.
Of course, he could ignore all rules of foreshadowing and development, and just have her appear to hug Kyuubified Naruto out of nowhere or have her suddenly confess in such a way that Naruto suddenly realizes that Sasuke can go kill himself because he's more interested in getting a girlfriend (even if he's barely interacted with said girlfriend before).
Yes, right.
IV.2. Possibility #2: "Chichi/Goku". A relationship "out of nowhere." And worse: a consolation relationship. No thanks
If there isn't a "direct" reason for Naruto to chose Hinata, then what? Even the NaruHina fans keep shouting "Chichi/Goku Chichi/Goku" to me. Well then yes, it Is a possibility: a relationship "out of nowhere" at the end of the series. But why'd it happen? Basically, it'd happen because Sakura hooked up with someone else. So Hinata would be the handy-dandy consolation girlfriend! =)
Sorry, I hate that idea. =\ I'm also not thrilled at the idea of a relationship where basically Hinata would have missed out on everything that's defined Naruto. She'd be relatively marginalized in her role in his life. Now I find this Especially irksome when Naruto would on the contrary represent a disproportionately big part of Her life. Oy. I'll just throw this old comic in now:
IV.3. So you're saying that Naruto can only end up with Sakura?
No, I'm saying that nothing really favours Hinata and I really think she can do better than that. I don't like the idea of Hinata just representing an idolizing housewife to a marginal aspect of Naruto's life of which she's only one of many to have helped him resolve, while she has no hold on the defining moments of Naruto's life. It's a personal symetry preference. Again, this:
irks me. A LOT. With someone else, at least that someone else would most likely not consider Naruto a superior idol. Even Gaara's fangirls want to Protect Gaara instead of just chasing after his back. =\ This:
I can get, but the way Hinata idolizes one single aspect of Naruto (I can't stand fangirl scenarios), it doesn't seem like the case. Of course, for me, the ideal scenario would be closer to equality, with the other person being a full equal but on Other aspects, thus making the relationship mutual admiration and the likes. That's not happening with NaruHina.
But wait! If Hinata becomes clan leader, wouldn't she Get something "more"? Hell no, her "something more" would still be completely overshadowed by Naruto's own similar background resolution of him becoming Hokage. =\ Paths too similar. And Hinata would also look like just a watered-down Naruto on all the other aspects as well: strength, inspirational values, etc...
On her own and without Naruto in sight so to say, she'd be able to stand out for herself. But if there's Naruto always right next to her, people would be more prompt to label her "the Hokage's wife" than seeing her for herself. I actually also view it as an acknowledgement problem as well in the end. People would not see her for HER, but as being paired up with Naruto. A view that many NaruHina fans seem to unwittingly share as well. "I like Hinata! NaruHina is so cute!" Well great.
There was a poll once, on Hinata's highest possible rank. The poll starter added a "Hokage's wife" rank. Guess what people chose to vote for instead of jounin or the likes? =_=
- Part 3. Why the fandom really doesn't help. -
Honestly, I quickly got fed-up of it even back when it was my favourite pairing. >_< I used to be a Hinata x Everyone fanfic reader (until I realized it was stupid and only started for the pairings I thought made some sort of sense). When I started out, NaruHina was my favourite Hinata pairing.
Even back then, I had given up on reading NaruHina fics first. Because they were That cheesy. The near majority of them. I gave up on ever finding one that properly bothered with character development. Well, I once came accross a story called Hinata's Story that started out pretty well compared to others, and ironically, the writer starts off by saying "I got tired of fics where Naruto went from ignoring Hinata to checking out her tonsils in 2 paragraphs or 10 seconds flat, so I thought I'd see if I could do better." Hear hear.
I. The thing is, the manga has already provided a situation in which she had near-exclusive acknowledgement of Naruto (not counting Iruka). It shows what she did: nothing
Fanfics keep making Hinata the person who "notices Naruto's pain" and reaches out to him when nobody else would. But she never did that in the manga. And as I said, I don't even think that she held back in reaching to his Pain because of shyness. By the time she truly started noticing him, it was because he was "victorious" in his attitude: he did not give up. So I think she probably didn't even think she needed to reach out to him. Trying to approach "her idol" is another matter.
So basically, she didn't do much in the manga even though she had the closest thing to exclusivity, so in fanfics...
II. How NaruHina would then require the continuing near-exclusivity of Hinata accepting Naruto.
In short: dropping the character development of everybody else: "Sakura's a bitch" and so's the rest of the village. Hmm. Sorry, this is way too easy.
Maybe it wouldn't require this. Maybe Naruto could notice Hinata just fine when he's already got people who acknowledge him or even understand him even better than Hinata, like Sakura did in the Manga. Well I'd be more convinced if I ever read such fics. =\ The Great majority of NaruHina fics I've read gave Hinata the "exclusivity" on reaching out to Naruto: "When nobody reached out to him, only she did" blablabla.
Okay, not counting the fact that she failed to do that in the manga... indeed, in the Manga, LOTS of people acknowledge Naruto now. Hinata's just one more in that sea of people. Even Ebisu is among those who've acknowledged him.
And in the manga, Sakura is far from that shallow: she's acknowledged Naruto since part 1 of the chuunin exams (when she said that she didn't want to see his dreams crushed. Then in the Forest of Death, she lists him as one of those who have shown her how to be stronger, then she thanked him after he cheered her for the Ino match. She also cheered him on in the Kiba match, and when Naruto won against Neji, she sighed and thought that watching him, she'd have to do her best as well. Then she vowed to go with him. Then she vowed to save him)!
Then there's all the other characters as well.
So basically these fics have been nicely ignoring the character development of everybody else while making Hinata more than she was in the manga. Oh Geez. Is it Really necessary to completely Throw away the character development of Everybody Else just to make Hinata stand out? I'd be a Lot less annoyed if they managed to not Degrade everybody else just to make her stand out. I mean geez.
III. Or it'd require situations such as "Hinata gets sent to train alone with Naruto."
Sorry, I don't buy such excuses. This is way too easy again.
So Tsunade decides that since Hinata has a crush on Naruto and that since she's the nice person she is, she'll have to play matchmaker among these two 13 years-olds by sending them off on an exclusive training session with Jiraiya or some other legendary figure out of nowhere, at which point the two will discover their Love for each other and make plans for babies.
Either that, or Naruto comes back, and Hinata gets magically placed on his team (they don't even bother to kill off Kiba and Shino, they just stop existing. *shakes head*), and well, repeat the above.
Okay people, am I the only one who thinks that you can get just about Any two people together under such scenarios? It usually isn't even done right! Two Halves for example had the most amazing underlying concept, but the chapter where Naruto and Hinata "got together" made me want to bump my head on the table. Basically, another of your...
IV. Or "Hinata yells at Naruto and Naruto suddenly realizes that he's been in love with her all along, nevermind that they've interacted less than 2 hours in their lives." wtf?
When combined with III of course, it's more than 2 hours.
But somehow they always manage to make the final moment a "What? You love me? Wait! I love you too!" since Naruto remains the Exact Same blockhead until that moment (not even some gradual development in sight, Naruto's just static). Pick one of the following basically:
- "Damn you Naruto how can you be so blind! I LOVE YOU DAMMIT!!!" "Wait, you do? Wait, I've just realized that I love you too!"
- Hinata throws ramen at Naruto and Naruto suddenly starts dating her (variation of the above).
- Naruto while off on mission suddenly goes "hey Sakura actually sucks but I've just realized that Hinata likes me!" (yes, it has point I. thrown in)
- or the writer skips this phase entirely and just assumes that they got together. Might as well. I'll go assume that somewhere along the lines, Naruto and Moegi got together. Say that'd actually make an interesting pairing. *ponders*
V. Where's Sasuke by the way? Watering-down Naruto's character by making him forget the goals he's established in the manga. Come on, you can do better than that
Hello? There's Uchiha Sasuke remember? You know, the one Naruto considers his brother? The one for whom he's dedicated 2.5 years of training to save him? One of his most precious bonds? The one that made him go Kyuubi against Haku, and at the Valley of the end? Helloooo?
Taking away one of his biggest goals in the manga huh. Nevermind that we get a much watered-down Naruto this way. Oh wait, no we won't, because apparently, Naruto suddenly shares that exclusive bond with Hinata instead. So Sasuke can go hang himself. And when he does appear in NaruHina fics, he turns out to be nothing but the ultimate evil character anyway, whom Naruto happily smites when said ultimate villain threatens Hinata for some reason.
And the world rejoiced. Actually, no it didn't. If you want to bash Sasuke, do it right, and without watering down Naruto's character. Yeesh!
VI. The fact that there isn't really anything in Hinata's character that would have made Naruto naturally attracted to her also doesn't help
The fic writers seem to have at least realized this much, given how they usually resort to (bad) plots to make Naruto notice instead. That, or skip the relationship development phase entirely. =\ I've yet to notice many fics where Naruto falls for Hinata for her character alone. This makes sense: NaruHina is "pure" circumstances, and zero predisposition really. But as a result, the writer usually resorts to I., II., III., IV. or V., or better yet, a combination of all of them. Yeh-hey.
So that concludes this view. Why I dislike this pairing both in canon, in fanon, and as a Hinata fan. In the meantime, yes, Hinata's still my favourite character.
( Hinata, a doormat who grew a spine )
Now I'm off to work on more pleasant things. Those on my friends list know what I'm talking about. I hope I won't get a "post too large" error message with That one. T_T
Have a nice day. ^__^