Hinata stans flex so damn much on Hinata's attempt to 'save' Naruto in Pein arc.
In the entire chapter (437) called 'Hinata's confession', Kishi builds the narrative up as if he is going to show Hinata contribute to the battle against Pein and help Naruto out like the other Konohabitants are trying to do. Planning, strategising, using all the tricks in their arsenal, from reconnaissance to tracking to gather more information about Pein and how to defeat him. Kishi makes it look like Hinata is going to be one of those chakra sensing shinobis who would finally come to aid Naruto, and would do her best given her feelings for him.
All for nothing. Kishi does all this just to make Hinata look like a ridiculous fool.
To begin with, he shows Hinata sitting on her ass guarded by her slave from the branch Hyuuga family, frittering and twiddling her thumbs thinking about Naruto who is fighting Pein, while other shinobis are actually doing their job. Even Sakura is helping the villagers with her medical skills.
Even though she has categorically been told that she should not interfere as per Naruto's own instructions, she just couldn't help herself. Because what if Naruto dies and she is never able to tell him how much she 'loves' him. Gag.
So what does she do? She confesses to Naruto and then charges mindlessly at Pein. Harhar, I think Kishi gets some kind of sadistic pleasure out of deliberately showing Hinata and Sakura charging at superstrong villians (that EVERYONE else is super careful around) like Pein and Madara just to be one paneled as they hit the ground pathetically with a single strike. Kishi is into cringe humor, I can tell. I wonder if he watches The Office. Heh.
Kishi makes several characters talk about how crucial it is to leave Naruto to deal with Pein his own way.
Even after Naruto comes back from Kyuubi transformation, Kishi still keeps on about how other shinobis must not interfere in Naruto's business and literally everyone listens. And it actually turns out to be the right decision on their part. Inoichi is agitated and even angry at Naruto's decision to see Nagato alone but Shikaku calms him down, being a smart man, he knows it's the right decision. And Inoichi listens.
The only person who didn't listen was Hinata.
"You will only get in Naruto kun's way".
So, so much emphasis on this. By so many people. What does it say to the audience? That Naruto doesn't want other people to get hurt and he is confident about dealing with Pein on his own. Others are talking about how they must put their faith in Naruto's capabilities. But Hinata can't really think beyond her own hormonal urges.
For her own selfish reasons, as she admits Herself.
If she were actually able to help Naruto in some way, it would have still justified her action a little bit, just a little. But nope. Kishi doesn't work that way. It's like he relentlessly bears some kind of grudge against Sakura and Hinata's characters and he would go a long distance to show it. Consistently. Even after Shippuden.
Anyway. And from that chapter on, Kishi really leaves no stone unturned to impress upon the reader without saying anything explicitly as to how much Hinata's action was about herself and not Naruto.
In just a couple of chapters, he makes multiple people remark on Hinata's unsanctioned actions in a disapproving manner. And not only that, Kishi also relays to the audience non-stop, as to how dangerous her actions were, going against the safety of the villagers and Naruto himself.
Look at how scared Naruto was by the mere prospect of hurting the villagers or anyone who wasn't Pein. How worried Everyone was. All thanks to Hinata.
Hinata is a shinobi, someone who is supposed to think of all possible angles before they execute a plan. This is a grave situation to be in where your entire village is being threatened, several people have perished already, people she knows intimately.
Either be as battle ready and unpredictably creative like Naruto or be strategic and smart like Kakashi or Sasuke. But Hinata is neither. What she definitely is, is a pathetic woman who couldn't be a good warrior, citizen, lover or friend. She put everyone at risk, including her own friends and family, with what? No planning, no thinking, no weighing options, nothing. Such a huge risk. And for what? Just a selfish desire to confess to a boy who never pays attention to her unless she makes herself a bullseye for her opponents. Truly pathetic.
It amazes me how so many girls and women actually like and idolize her character.
And truth is, it was Minato who actually saved Naruto.
He is the one who managed to save Naruto from getting consumed by the the kyuubi. As he admits himself. No thought of Hinata even though she also tried to 'protect' him AND confessed to him. Not a single word, no thought, no dialogue, no flashback, nothing. And it's funny as fuck. Because Hinata just tried to sacrifice herself, it's a big deal, like even Neji wonders what could have made her do such a thing, and even Sakura admonishes Hinata for her crazy attempt that almost killed her (not really having helped Naruto at all, lol). But what's important to notice is that all this is actually narrative buildup.
So accordingly, one would have expected, and rightly so, for Naruto to say something to her after he defeats Pein and comes back to Konoha. Some interaction, anything. But nope.
Not a word. Not a smile, No acknowledgement whatsoever. This was a very deliberate action by Kish. It's quite customary for a writer to give a satisfying conclusion to an arc, especially where all the action culminates into someone sacrificing themselves as a consequence of the action, which in return influences the character for whom the sacrifice was meant and makes them do something even larger than life.
So in Pein arc, the peak action would be where Pein, the villain, is destroying the protagonist's village and killing his loved ones, which then segues into the hero fighting him with all his might, but getting beaten up in return, the anticipation of the fight builds up, which then escalates into someone (someone who feels a lot for the hero, usually a family member, a very close friend or a love interest) trying to rescue or save them. Two things usually happen here : Either they are able to save the hero and survive themselves. Or they are able to save the hero while they die themselves ( Like Sasuke almost did when he fought Haku).
But in Hinata's case. Neither. It's interesting to see how Kishi subverted the generic sacrifice trope. Usually, when someone, especially a love interest, sacrifices their life for the hero, it's shown to be out of love and care, and it comes off as romantic, as a romantic gesture, but assign those feelings to the wrong kind of character, with the wrong kind of character traits, and the situation can become very unromantic. In Hinata's case, who is infatuated with Naruto, it clearly works as subversion. Kishi makes it seem like she is doing it out of the force of her romantic feelings for Naruto but if you pay attention, it clear that things are not how they seem to be. This is facilitated by how Kishi writes this whole part. Kishi uses this literary tool of subversion over and over again throughout the manga. This way, he was able to keep the generic tropes of shounen manga, so the usual target audience can gel with it, but the more mature audience can still understand what he really did, as he beckons the more keen reader to read between the lines he so deftly draws for us, by showing, not telling. Hinata is specifically told that her involvement in the battle will only make things harder for Naruto. But Hinata is only motivated by her desire to confess, not to help Naruto really. So her motivation, that is supposed to be out of love, is cleverly shown by the author to be out of selfishness and self absorption, not love.
Naruto thinks Hinata did die. And that triggers him in a big way. And he becomes the agent of chaos. Everything is torn apart. So. Much. Buildup. All triggered by the sacrifice.
So it's only natural to expect a rightful conclusion of the narrative where there is some interaction between the hero and his saviour, which is characteristically positive and emotional.
But what did we get at the end of Pein arc after Naruto finally defeats Pein?
Kishi, being the troll that he is, makes Sakura think that Hinata must really be in love with Naruto. And then makes her hug Naruto right in front of her as Hinata looks on dumbly like ....
And who was the one that actually got that positive and emotional moment after actually protecting Naruto? Minato. Naruto's savior.
Naruto doesn't think of Hinata once even after the fight is over.
And what does Naruto actually think about? Sasuke. Kishi devilishly manages to hijack Hinata's big moment and makes Naruto think about Sasuke when it was Hinata whose character just saw a huge event influencing her own arc. Lol. The whole Kage arc is basically just Naruto spending his time worrying and daydreaming about Sasuke. Threatening kages who are hunting him, or begging them and then actually going to Sasuke, to tell him how much he is prepared to die with him. Fuck the hokage dream. Lol. Everything that Hinata says in her confession to Naruto is broadly repeated by Naruto to Sasuke in kage arc at the cost of the conclusion of Hinata's own narrative in Pein arc. Lmao. Like Kishi couldn't have been more deliberate as to his sentiments about NH and Hinata.
NH interaction in the war arc is just ridiculous and cheap, founded on Neji's pointless death. As Hinata thinks lustfully about Naruto's warm hands right in front of Neji's warm corpse. Like NO. This is not a positive ship moment. It's a travesty. And Kishi meant it to be so. He went like - Ah so you want NH to be canon. I see, I see. That's what you are gonna make me do? Well alright, why don't I take away one of your most favourite and decently well developed characters (whose arc is glaringly incomplete btw and I know you really want to see him triumphant, don't you?) in the most absurd fashion? That will teach you a lesson.
Hard lesson man. Trading someone like Neji for someone like Hinata has to be one of the worst character tradeoffs in the history of manga tradeoffs.
Neither Pein arc nor war arc has any positive NH ship moments. And not like we have much NH interaction to begin with. But well, Hinata stans are quite like Hinata herself. No thoughts, no logic, only shipping and thinking how to snag Naruto, no matter how negatively Kishi portrays NH, emphasizing Naruto's lack of feelings for Hinata with all his creative writing tools.
NH might not be as on the nose as SS is when it comes to Kishi's contempt and ridicule, it's certainly more subtle but it's there alright. In droves.
In conclusion : NH sucks, and so does Hinata. Fart sound.
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