While there are plenty of incredible fight scenes in Boruto, the sequel series missed a major opportunity by not showing Hinata’s fight to save Naruto.
Even with the advent of Boruto, Hinata remains a fan-favorite ninja for a reason. Her kindness and determination to defy her family’s expectations make her incredibly likable. Easily the character’s crowning achievement in the original series is when she stepped up to defend Naruto after he had been pinned during his big fight with Pain. Though Pain easily defeated her and almost killed her, the courage to take on someone as powerful as Pain for even an attempt to save someone she cared about was a fitting payoff to Hinata overcoming her passivity. Eventually, Naruto and Hinata share their first kiss and begin dating in The Last: Naruto The Movie. By the time of Boruto, Hinata appears to have largely given up being a ninja in favor of being a stay-at-home mom. Though fans have been disappointed to see her take a less active role in the sequel series, the biggest disappointment was not getting to see the one time she did take action.
The first few chapters of Boruto are dedicated to the title character and his friends participating in the Chunin Exams. Just as Naruto disqualifies Boruto for cheating in Chapter 5 though, the exam is attacked by Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki. The Ōtsutsuki unleashes a vicious attack to try and capture Naruto, culminating in a massive energy ball. Naruto unleashes the full might of Kurama to hold the attack off, but can only do so much, resulting in the ball exploding and knocking Boruto out. When the young ninja comes to in chapter 6, he finds Hinata in a hospital bed nearby. Sakura then tells a shocked Boruto that his mom tried to fight Momoshiki and save Naruto, but that she was ultimately beaten. Unfortunately, that fight between Hinata and Momoshiki is one that fans don’t get to see.
It’s no secret that Naruto’s female ninjas are often where the series stumbles, and that’s true of Boruto too. What makes the moment frustrating is that, since became Hinata is a full-time mom, Boruto doesn’t often give her moments to show how she’s developed or grown as a ninja since the end of Naruto. Obviously, the focus of Boruto should be on the title character and his new generation of ninjas, but the series still finds time to give older characters like Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru fights, so it’s disappointing that the one time the series has a legitimately good reason for Hinata to throw down, readers don’t get to see it.
There is not an inherent problem with Boruto making Hinata a stay-at-home mom, as that seems to fit well with what fans of the series know about her. However, just because she spends most of her time caring for Boruto and Himawari doesn’t mean the series can’t give her an action scene or two. Despite the fact that Naruto and Hinata’s relationship isn’t the best in Boruto, it still could have been a touching callback to Naruto’s fight with Pain to see Hinata once again take on a much greater threat for the sake of her beloved. Unfortunately, fans never got to see that fight. Still, one can always hope that later chapters of Boruto will give Hinata her chance to shine.
