Monday, July 19, 2010

Hinata Hyūga in Naruto




















Hinata Hyūga (日向ヒナタ, Hyūga Hinata) is one of the main supporting characters of the series. She is a chūnin-level kunoichi of Konohagakure, and is the heir to the main branch in the Hyūga clan. She is a member of Team Kurenai, with Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka as her teammates.

Background



Hinata's family.
Hinata is the eldest child of the Hyūga clan's leader, Hiashi Hyūga, and as the first-born, she is also the heir to the clan's main house. Perhaps because of this future responsibility, Hiashi had high expectations for his daughter and subjected her to grueling training. However, Hinata's slow progress and frailty disheartened her father until eventually, he deemed her a lost cause. Instead Hiashi chose to focus and develop Hinata's younger sister, Hanabi Hyūga, who proved much more promising than Hinata.
As Hiashi continued to lose more faith in Hinata, Hinata herself continued to lose more self-worth, even running away to cry alone. It wasn't until she met Naruto Uzumaki that her perception changed drastically. Like the rest of Konoha's youth, she did not know why Naruto was treated as an outcast, however unlike the others, she heard he harbored the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox but she was too young to understand. Hinata found herself able to relate with the desire to be acknowledged and praised. She was amazed that despite Naruto having nothing and no one to rely on, he never gave up in believing he could become something great like Hokage.
In the anime, it showed how this admiration grew even more one day when Hinata was getting bullied by some kids. Despite Naruto not knowing her, Naruto refused to let the kids insult and degrade her. This prompted him to attack them despite being outnumbered and ultimately knocked out. Shocked at how strongly Naruto wanted to help and believing that Hinata too deserved to be acknowledged, Hinata was inspired by him. She ultimately decided to, like Naruto, try her best to become strong and never give up so she could as well become acknowledged. This admiration of him later grew even stronger despite warnings from her elders to stay away from Naruto.


Hinata as a child.
At one point during Hinata's childhood, she was kidnapped by a head ninja from Kumogakure. Her father killed the kidnapper to save her, but Kumo demanded compensation in the form of Hiashi's life. This ultimately resulted in the death of Hinata's uncle, Hizashi Hyūga, who sacrificed himself in his twin brother's stead. This incident was particularly significant in shaping Hinata's early relationship with her cousin, Neji Hyūga.
When Hinata was assigned to Team 8, Hiashi expressed to Kurenai Yūhi his distaste for his daughter, remarking that he did not care that his daughter might die on a mission, and that he had no use for a weak heir. Hiashi then left Hinata in Kurenai's care.

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