Naruto’s opinion about Hinata isn’t very positive at first, but if we apply context and compare her description to other characters it’s actually quite interesting. He comments on how she looks away when he looks at her. Now this may not seem that special at first but it actually means that he has noticed her enough to know that she looks away and has enough information to know that she’s shy. He also described Sasuke as a guy who acts cool and that he hates, but no one would argue that his bond with Sasuke is likely his strongest bond. His descriptions are obviously quick and superficial and are mostly just comedic relief. Shikamaru’s description was that he was a lazy bum and his description of Shino was that he knew nothing about him. So he atleast has some familiarity with her that sticks out in comparasion to other characters, actually his description is probably the most detailed out of all of them. He seemed to have put more thought into hers.
Naruto is stuck in his own world and fears failing the test so he doesn’t even notice when Hinata sits down next to him. Could also be of course that Hinata is shy and doesn’t want to attract attention to herself so she moves quietly. Besides she overcomes her shyness and initiates words of encouragement to Naruto.
Naruto is suffering with immense stress and panic over the test and Hinata notices and sympathize with him.
Then just after Naruto decided not to cheat, Hinata offers him to look at her test. Naruto, who is not used to acts of kindness because of his childhood, is so shocked over this that he even blushes a little bit. This little act of kindness from this girl touched him so much more than people think (enough to make him refuse to cheat because he didn’t want her to get in trouble because of him).
He questions her offer in his head thinking stuff like ”why would someone do something like that for me?”. Kindness to Naruto is something that is so foreign to him that he denies it and thinks it must be a trap.
But then he immediatly thinks ”nah Hinata wouldn’t do that” and accuses Kiba of forcing her to do it instead. So he does seem to know her somewhat from the academy since he knows she would never do mean tricks. He also switched his suspicion of her onto someone else rather quickly for someone he ”doesn’t know” didn’t he?
He asks her why, and after seeing her struggle with her anxiety he seems to have a sligthly sympathetic look.
Haha Naruto so dense, he not know she likes him hahhaha
No im just joking, lets actually put some context into this.
Yes, Naruto isn’t the smartest, but there are more to him not understanding what she means than that. Think about Naruto’s childhood. He has never experienced parental love, he was constantly treated like the plague and everyone in his village hated him for something he didn’t even know about. Of course, someone showing actual care and kindness towards him confuses him, it doesn’t help that his IQ is probably below average, but still, you get what i mean. Also lets not forget that he is only 12 and picking up signs that a girl likes you is not something you are usually skilled at, at that age. Also Hinata is shy, and it can be hard for someone as extroverted as Naruto to understand her not so direct statement.
After his very confused expression, Hinata panicks and comes up with a (apparently) good excuse, that excuse also seems to make perfect sense to Naruto lol. (We can see here that Hinata is not yet confident enough with her feelings for him though, obviously has to do with her self esteem issues because of her clan).
Naruto then express how lucky he is that he’s next to Hinata, this could also indirectly be viewed as him saying how lucky he is that someone cares for him like Hinata.
He then notices the chunin writing and then it hits him how cheating could risk him (and Hinata) getting caught.
He puts on a little bravado in front of her and says that an incredible ninja like him doesn’t need to cheat.
Then he shows concern for her and says that she could be caught too (He shows concern for her before his own team even). Honestly if someone else offered him to cheat he wouldn’t act this nice at all. He would be rude and act in his usual hotheaded way. It’s because of her shy and calm nature that he even refuses to cheat in the first place or maybe somewhere in his subconsious mind, he thinks that it’s wrong to take advantage of someone who shows kindness towards him even at a huge risk for their own. The truth is that deep down he was very touched by Hinata’s act of kindness.
Hinata then gratiuitously apologizes. And Naruto responds that it’s OK. He then does a funny face and says that he’s an idiot.
For some foreshadowing on Kishimotos part, we see Hinata reacting to Naruto’s fear over the 10th question before anyone else does. Why does this matter? Because it’s Kishimoto building up Hinata’s concern for Naruto, specifically. Acknowledging him.
We see here how Hinata is already willing to risk herself to help him, something that will become a running theme.
Also an interesting detail from earlier.
Haku’s line ”if someone who acknowledged you from the bottom of their heart appeared, wouldn’t that person become the most important person to you?”
This line seems to perfectly describe Hinata and i dont think that it’s a coincidence that the arc right after that introduces Hinata and focuses so much on her feelings for Naruto and her acknowledging him more than anyone else. Of course Naruto doesn’t know this yet, but in The Last he finally realizes who that person is, Hinata.
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