My aesthetic: Naruto and Hinata training together for the first time after the war, Hinata knocking him flat on his ass and then repeatedly apologizing, face red in embarrassment
Naruto, spread-eagle on the ground, the wind knocked out of him, staring at the sky dazedly thinking holy shit I’m in love
You know, in context of the canon ‘verse, I can see why people think this. After all, when Hinata thinks about Naruto she tends to think about what he’s done for her (inspiring her, saving her), and about her feelings for him… but to say that’s because she only cares about herself is a gross misinterpretation and due in large part to Kishimoto’s crap writing.
The thing about Hinata is she doesn’t expect anything from Naruto. Her feelings for him are, in fact, about her — because she doesn’t expect him to reciprocate.
She has, at least until recently, always seen their relationship as very one-sided: as her taking inspiration and courage from Naruto’s words and actions, and being unable to give him anything in return. You can see evidence of that in ch559:
“The one person I want to protect no matter the cost… always ends up protecting me instead…”
This scene not only demonstrates her thinking of their relationship as one-sided*, but also proves that Hinata definitely cares about more than just herself. “The… person I want to protect no matter the cost“ is not something you think when you don’t care about anyone but yourself. You also don’t go on a suicide mission to save someone if you care only about yourself.
(* Also in this scene, Naruto makes it a point to tell her that she’s helped him before/saved him before, so perhaps Hinata has gained more from their relationship so far, but Naruto has definitely benefited from it too, whether Hinata realises it or not.)
We see it in her “walking with you” speech in ch573, too:
“Naruto-kun. I’ve always…always chased after you. Even now.. But once this war ends, I’m going to stop once and for all. Next time, I’ll be next to you, holding your hand…Walking with you! Wait for me!”
I’ve always been fond of this speech, even more so than her confession (although I adore her confession too), because this is Hinata making the decision that she wants to be something — be someone — to Naruto. This speech is about wanting to be Naruto’s equal and lend him her strength, to give him strength the way he has always given her strength. This is about wanting their relationship to be more mutual and making the decision that she will be the one who takes that step.
Her confession was selfish in the sense that it was solely about her. It was about her finally voicing her feelings and finally thanking Naruto for everything he’d done for her, even unknowingly, and that is not a bad thing. In fact, I really like that about her confession, because as much as her confession is about romantic feelings, it’s not about a romantic relationship. It’s about Hinata’s development as a character. It shows her coming full circle and finally outgrowing the shy girl who couldn’t reach out to the one she admired, and becoming someone who stands proud and gives voice to her most secret feelings without fear or shame.
The confession was the end of an era and a new beginning in the same way that Sakura’s iconic hair-cutting moment was.
It’s also, in part, because Kishimoto sucks at writing women.
Don’t get me wrong, I adore all the girls in the Naruto ‘verse. There’s a great diversity in their personalities and strengths and weaknesses and even their pasts, and I love that… but, while Kishimoto might be good at creating female characters, he’s pretty shit at writing their stories and letting them grow and flourish into three dimensional people. (I have a lot more to say on this, but there’s another ask in my inbox right now that’s along these lines, so I’m going to save my rant for that response.)
But, the reason that NaruHina seems so skewed in Hinata’s direction is, in part, because Kishimoto has written her character and her story to hinge on his. Her development and her panel time centres on him, while Naruto is allowed to have a much broader range of interests, motivations and in-depth relationships. Of course it seems like his feelings for her aren’t as strong as hers for him (and, well, they’re not, really, but the difference isn’t really as enormous as it seems), because while Naruto is a whole character on his own, Hinata is written so that half her character (or more) depends on Naruto.
And despite being a NaruHina shipper, I hate that. I know that Hinata cares deeply for her team and Neji and more than likely also for her sister and father despite him being a monumentally shitty parent, but we so rarely get to see evidence of that because Kishimoto does her a great disservice with his writing.
That said, Kishi does show — has always shown — Naruto benefiting from his bond with Hinata, and I think he’s been making an effort recently to make things more mutual/balanced between them, with Hinata actively lending her strength to Naruto in the hand-hold scene, etc.
tl;dr
Hinata most certainly does not care only about herself.
In the manga canon, NaruHina definitely comes across as being “all about Hinata” to a degree but it is undeniable that Naruto benefits from their relationship too, and any shipper worth their salt ships it because they see it as mutually loving, supportive and beneficial.
Naruto ballet/gymnastics AU where naruto is a gymnast but Coach Kakashi tells his he has no sense of poise/elegance and is all power, so he sends him to ballet lesson. There he meets the Hyuga cousins who are like top notch and have been a duo since they were little. Neji is really hesitant of Naruto because he thinks Naruto treats ballet as a joke, but Hinata thinks the new kid is really nice, and even offers to help him learn.
*side note: Naruto invites Hinata and Neji to his gymnastics competition later and Neji gets a huge crush on Naruto’s teammate who does the floor routine (@ tenten LOL)
Cheloneuniverse 