The Naruto franchise faces some criticism for a lot of the most powerful skills being split among two main characters. Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha earned a lot of flak from fans for being too overpowered - even by anime and manga standards. Just because they hold the most powerful jutsu in the shinobi world doesn’t mean they can do everything. In fact, Naruto spent most of his youth training in very specialized skills. As a result, he doesn’t have the tactical know-how of Shikamaru Nara, the ruthlessness of Sasuke Uchiha, or the medical prowess of Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. He also doesn’t have access to those jutsu that only occur in specific bloodlines. The Uchiha, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Nara, Inuzuka, and Hyuga families all have jutsu that Naruto can’t even attempt to access.

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Keeping the Hyuga family in mind, Hinata Hyuga debuted as a meek and mild-mannered little girl who inexplicably wanted to become a powerful shinobi. Her father didn’t think she had it in her - and neither did a lot of fans. Over the course of the franchise, Hinata grew into a formidable opponent as she mastered her family’s inherited abilities, created her own jutsu, and learned to persevere against insurmountable odds, and there are quite a few things she can do that Naruto cannot.

Updated on March 22nd, 2022 by Amanda Bruce: Hinata Hyuga tends to be vastly underrated by Naruto fans as a result of her early shyness in the franchise. She improves by leaps and bounds when she puts her whole heart into her training, and that means she picks up a lot of interesting skills over the series. As a result of her temperament and her choices in life, she acts as a balancing force for Naruto Uzumaki, so it makes perfect sense that there would be things she's capable of that he isn't.

Hinata Vastly Improves Her Hand Signs

Hinata holds a hand in front of her for a fight in Naruto Shippuden

Hand signs are a big part of the Naruto franchise without the audience truly noticing them. Many of the basic jutsu used throughout the series are the result of specific hand movements. Even some of the more complicated jutsu are as well. The databooks associated with the franchise give fans an idea of just who is good at them and who isn't.

Sakura Haruno, for example, maintains a four out of five stat for hand signs for the entire run, demonstrating how good she is with them. Naruto only improves from one to one and a half, which means he doesn't learn them properly. Hinata, for her part, begins the series during her time at the Academy with a two, but she improves to a three by the time she's out in the field, making her much better at them than Naruto. To be fair, Naruto often relies more on raw power than he does hand sign techniques.

She Uses The Eight Trigrams Techniques

Hinata uses an Eight Trigrams technique against Guren in Naruto Shippuden

An offshoot of the Gentle Fist style is the Eight Trigrams series of moves. With names like “Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms,” and “Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms,” you know this particular bit of hand-to-hand combat requires a large number of strikes.

When it’s used, the yin and yang symbol appears on the ground below Hinata just before she prepares to strike. Each strike targets a specific, different, chakra point on the opponent’s body. The Thirty-Two Palms technique involves 32 strikes, and 32 different closed chakra paths, making it difficult for the opponent to fight back. At 64, it’s hard for them to even move.

Hinata Becomes A Chunin

Sakura, Sai, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Hinata stand together ready to depart to rescue Hanabi in The Last: Naruto The Movie

Naruto and Hinata’s generation didn’t have luck with their Chunin Exam schedule. In order for young shinobi to move up in ranks, they have to participate in exams. Starting off as genin after their Ninja Academy graduation, they take exams to become chunin, and later jonin. Their first experience with Chunin Exams saw only Shikamaru Nara promoted after an interruption by the villain Orochimaru.

During the two years Naruto was away from home training, the villages held another Chunin Exam. That one was also interrupted and the final part of exams ended up canceled. Despite that, Hinata snagged a chunin promotion as Lady Tsunade decided to promote all of the Konoha genin who showed promise.

She Can Protect Herself From Crystal Style Jutsu

Guren stands in front of crystal encasing Hinata in Naruto Shippuden

An anime filler arc introduced fans to a new style of jutsu. Crystal Style didn’t use the power of nature-type chakras like Wind, Fire, or Water. Instead, Crystal Style allowed the user to form weapons out of crystals and even trap their enemies in crystalline structures.

There was seemingly no defense for this style as nothing anyone threw at Guren - the only known user - could combat it. When Hinata knew she would be trapped, she saved herself by opening every chakra point in her body and coating herself in a layer of invisible chakra. It kept her alive until the crystalline structure shattered.

Hinata Can Create An Eight Trigrams Technique

Hinata uses one of the Eight Trigrams techniques behind a fence of chakra in Naruto Shippuden

As a teenager, Hinata used her knowledge of the Eight Trigrams techniques in her family to create her own version of one. Called “Protecting Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms,” it’s only used in the anime series and video games.

The technique allows Hinata to be a bit farther away from an opponent than the other Eight Trigrams moves. With her protection move, she can release a constant stream of chakra from her palms instead of short bursts. She also forms that chakra into blades when she does it, making them have pinpoint accuracy. It allows her to use the chakra blades against smaller targets, like insects.

She Can See 20 Kilometers Away

Hinata uses her Byakugan in Boruto

Hinata’s Byakugan isn’t just good for seeing chakra. It enhances her sight in many different ways, making her eyes much more powerful than the average human. One of those ways is seeing details from a long distance.

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Hinata can use her Byakugan to get a full 360༠ view if she wants to. She can also narrow her field of vision to focus on a specific point. That allowed her to search for tiny insects during the anime “Bikochu Search” arc. It also means that by the time she’s in her late teens in The Last: Naruto The Movie, she can use her vision to see 20 kilometers away!

Hinata Can Make A Secret Healing Ointment

Naruto uses the Hyuga family ointment after the Chunin Exams

Naruto has a lot of “secret” skills. The nine-tailed fox trapped inside of him, for example, was initially a secret. It was also a way for him to access immense levels of chakra. What he doesn’t have, however, are secret family recipes.

Hinata’s family plays their cards close to the vest, not sharing a lot of their practices with outsiders. Secrecy helps preserve their legacy. The Hyuga clan developed a special healing ointment. Hinata carried it with her to the Chunin Exams, even offering it to Naruto following his first fight.

She Can See Everyone’s Chakra

Hinata as she appears in The Last Naruto The Movie

Chakra is the life force of all shinobi. It allows them access to their jutsu. Large chakra reserves mean more powerful chakra. While all shinobi have chakra running through their bodies, not all shinobi can actually see the chakra points in another person.

In order to see chakra, a shinobi has to have a special form of sight. In the case of Hinata, that sight is her inherited Byakugan from the Hyuga bloodline. The Byakugan causes Hinata’s eyes to appear almost completely white. With it, not only can Hinata see chakra flowing in a shinobi’s body, but she can also pinpoint chakra points where the energy is used.

Hinata Can Get Advice From Her Sister

Hanabi teases Hinata in The Last Naruto The Movie

This might not fall under the category of skills, but it does demonstrate some growth for Hinata and the rest of her family.

While Naruto has no family left at the start of the series, Hinata has her father and sister. The trouble is, her sister outshines her in combat, and her father wants nothing to do with her. In fact, he left the bulk of her development to her sensei Kurenai and focused his training on Hanabi. As a result, there was a wedge between the sisters for a while. As young adults, Hinata and Hanabi are close again, and Hinata is able to listen to her advice in The Last: Naruto The Movie.

She Uses The Gentle Fist Techniques

Hinata and Hanabi train in front of Hyuga clan members as children in Naruto

The Gentle Fist Technique is specific to the Hyuga clan in the Naruto franchise. In order to use it effectively, the user needs a combination of hand-to-hand skills and mastery of the Byakugan. That’s why when Hinata first faces her cousin Neji in combat his experience gives him the upper hand.

This technique involves the user targeting chakra points on their opponent’s body. By using their own chakra, a Hyuga like Hinata can actually push their chakra into their opponent’s chakra points, blocking them and causing damage. The force is in the chakra, not the hit itself, so it gets the name “Gentle Fist.” It’s modeled after the Chinese martial arts technique Baguazhang.

Hinata Wears Purple

Hinata hides her scarf from Naruto in her bag in The Last Naruto The Movie

Though much of the manga is in black and white, the covers for the graphic novels have always had color. As a result, the anime characters were modeled after those color images. Each character in the Naruto franchise seems to have their signature look, not changing outfits on a regular basis, but instead only after significant time jumps.

In all the time jumps, Naruto stands out by wearing a lot of orange. Hinata, on the other hand, has a signature color that blends in a bit more - purple. The only other main character with the signature color is Ino Yamanaka. Naruto has never attempted to pull off the color.

She Can Play With Her Kids

Hinata walks up to the table where Boruto and Himawari are already sitting in the Boruto anime

In theory, Naruto can play games with his children as well, but he’s not exactly great at managing his time. In the Boruto series, Naruto frequently finds himself pulled away from family due to his obligations as Hokage. He sends shadow clones to Himawari’s birthday and to play hide and seek with his son. While he improves his commitment to the family in the future, his first duty is always to the village.

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Hinata, on the other hand, appears to devote her entire day to her children. She doesn’t have to resort to wearing herself out with shadow clones spread out across the village in order to spend time with her children.

Hinata Uses The Palm Bottom Strike

Hinata uses the palm bottom strike against an opponent in Naruto

Unlike the Eight Trigrams moves, this particular hand-to-hand combat blow involves only a single strike. Hinata uses the Palm Bottom Strike from a young age as she’s not yet adept at the more complicated uses of her family’s inherited jutsu.

This particular blow requires Hinata to hit an opponent with the heel of her hand (or the bottom of the pam, hence the name). When she does, a large stream of her own chakra is released through her hand, entering the body of her opponent, and causing internal damage. It’s an effective move from someone of her small size who doesn’t initially have access to a lot of jutsu.

She Wears Makeup

Hinata wears makeup and has her hair done for her wedding day in Naruto Shippuden

The use of cosmetics isn’t something fans see a lot of in the Naruto franchise. While characters like Kankuro wear ceremonial makeup to accompany their puppets in combat, there isn’t a huge focus on makeup.

Naruto isn’t a character who paints his face for ceremony, and he doesn’t wear cosmetics for fun either. Neither, normally, does Hinata. She does have the chance to wear formal makeup though on one occasion where Naruto doesn’t. When the two marry, not only does Hinata get a new hairstyle, but she also gets a full face of makeup for the day.

Hinata Maintains A Good Relationship With Her Team

Team 8 in Naruto Shippuden

Despite the deep admiration so many people have for Naruto by the close of his series, he really wasn’t the greatest team player. In fact, he spent a lot of time alienating Sasuke, Sakura, and later, Sai with his antics. When he teamed up with others, like Kiba and Shino, he frequently offended them by not listening to their input.

Hinata, on the other hand, never had that problem. Ever the diplomat, she always wanted to keep the peace. She played peacekeeper on a lot of team-ups. Most importantly, she maintained a good working relationship with Shino and Kiba during their entire time training together, never separating herself from them, or pushing them away.

Hinata Can Use Medical Jutsu

Hinata using Mystical Palm to heal an injured shinobi in Naruto Shippuden

Medical ninjutsu includes some of the most specialized forms of jutsu in the Naruto franchise. It involves very precise chakra control in order to use it. Fans see just how difficult it is when Sakura and Ino both begin to study it. Another character trained in some medical jutsu is Hinata.

Hinata doesn’t know how to do quite as much as Sakura or Ino, but she does know a few skills, like the Mystical Palm Technique. This particular technique allows the user to increase someone’s healing process when Hinata spreads a layer of chakra over them through her palms. Hinata likely excels at it because of the chakra control required for Gentle Fist.

She Disciplines Her Kids

The Uzumaki family celebrates Himawari's birthday in Boruto

Naruto became the Hokage and is responsible for keeping the village running smoothly in Boruto. He’s well-liked and respected, even though he has to dole out harsh punishments on occasion. Two people he can’t seem to discipline? His own children.

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This is likely because Himawari and Boruto spend significantly more time with their mother than their father. While Boruto has no problem causing a scene and embarrassing his father for attention, he doesn’t want to disappoint his mother. In fact, he’s always more scared of making her angry than he is his father.

Hinata Can Reset Dislocated Limbs

Hinata places her hand on Narutos cheek during the war in Naruto Shippuden

Many action heroes have a scene that involves them popping a shoulder or knee back into place. That’s not such an easy feat to do if you don’t know how to properly set your bones. While Naruto doesn’t know how, Hinata does. This skill is a result of Hinata being able to use her Byakugan to essentially x-ray someone’s chakra points.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto led the allied forces against Madara Uchiha and his Ten-Tailed Beast. As he fought, one of his arms dislocated from his shoulder. Unable to keep going without the use of that arm, Hinata put it back in place for him.

She Can Tell The Difference Between Insects

Hinata, Shino, Naruto, and Kiba standing side by side in the Naruto anime

The Naruto anime gets a lot of flack from manga fans for its many filler arcs, but some of them give the audience a deeper understanding of the characters. The “Bikochu Search” arc featured Naruto and the members of Team Kurenai looking for a very special variety of beetle that could track the first thing it smelled.

The arc wasn’t particularly thrilling, but it did demonstrate one area Hinata and her team excelled in where Naruto failed: insect identification. With Shino as their teammate, Kiba and Hinata had more experience with bugs than Naruto. While the latter couldn’t tell the difference between the exotic beetle and a cockroach, Hinata could identify them from several feet away.

Hinata Can Use The Gentle Step Techniques

Hinata using her Twin Gentle Lion Fists

More complicated than the Gentle Fist combat techniques is the Gentle Step. An offshoot of the same idea, in this case, someone like Hinata doesn’t have to focus chakra streams through her hands. She can channel the chakra through different points on her body, or even change the shape of the chakra in question.

One of the techniques she developed with her cousin and her little sister’s help was Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists. It allowed her to change the chakra that emerged from her hands into lions that guarded her. One of her most powerful techniques, Hinata used it throughout the war.

She Makes Amends With Her Father

A closeup of Hiashi Hyuga in Boruto

Hinata’s father Hiashi effectively disowned her as a child. He allowed her sensei to focus on her well-being while he spent all his energy training her younger sister Hanabi. As a result, Hinata and her father weren’t particularly close while she grew up.

By the time Hinata was in her late teens, however, she and Hiashi were on speaking terms again as her skills and confidence increased. As an adult, she’s able to take her children to visit him or seek out his advice about bloodline jutsu. Naruto, of course, doesn’t have any living family left, so he’s unable to have a conversation with his father that doesn’t involve time travel or an alternate universe.

She Can Perform The Water Needle

A split image depicts two views of Hinata as she trains in a waterfall in the Naruto anime

One of Hinata’s many skills that acts as an offshoot of the Gentle Fist is the Water Needle. This particular jutsu doesn’t rely on just Hinata’s chakra though. She also needs water for it. Hinata’s chakra types are Fire and Lightning, so she can’t spontaneously create water for the Water Needle. There has to be water around her in order for her to use this skill.

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Hinata uses her chakra and the water around her to create water vortexes. Those vortexes then shoot water formed into needles. By combining this technique with her Byakugan, Hinata doesn’t miss a target. (It’s very similar in practice to her Protecting Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.)

Hinata Knits

Hinata knits a scarf in The Last Naruto The Movie

While knitting has gained popularity over the last few years, it’s not a skill we see many characters in the Naruto franchise practice. As far as we know, it’s not something Naruto himself mastered, but it is something Hinata happens to do in her spare time.

In The Last: Naruto The Movie, Hinata spends her spare time knitting a scarf for Naruto. When she discovers he already has one, she almost gets rid of it, but it winds up destroyed during a battle instead. In just a few days' time, she knits him another one. We have to wonder if she calms her nerves while he’s busy in Boruto by knitting as well.

She Can Share Hamura’s Chakra

Naruto surrounded by orange chakra and Hinata surrounded by purple chakra in The Last Naruto The Movie

The Otsutsuki Clan gave birth to the shinobi nations when they came to Earth. Fans can see shades of the shinobi lineage in the different jutsu that each Otsutsuki member seemed to master compared to which clans inherited what in the modern day.

Hinata learned the Hyuga clan were distant relatives of Hamura during her trip to the moon to stop Toneri from making it crash to Earth. She even was able to share Hamura’s chakra as a result to help her save the day. Hinata was the only one able to share his chakra, though Naruto still got to help her save everyone in the end.

Hinata Replenishes Naruto’s Chakra Reserves Without Exhaustion

Naruto protects Hinata in The Last Naruto The Movie

While she shared Hamura’s chakra, Hinata was much stronger than before. She was able to perform feats even Naruto himself couldn’t do.

Naruto had very large chakra reserves. He was often able to outlast enemies in battle simply because they would wear themselves out first. When he nearly exhausted himself in battle, Hinata, with the help of Hamura’s chakra, was able to replenish Naruto’s chakra reserves without so much as batting an eye. That took Sakura three whole days of medical ninjutsu to do, and she was exhausted after the fact!

Hinata Can Eat 46 Bowls Of Ramen In One Sitting

Hinata As The Legendary Queen Of Gluttony On The Wall Of Ichiraku Ramen

Fans know Naruto has quite the appetite. He’s never met a bowl of ramen he didn’t want to consume. Even he has his limits, and someone else holds the record for ramen eating at his favorite restaurant Ichiraku Ramen.

That someone is actually Hinata. She earned the title Legendary Queen of Gluttony. At some point between the events of the Naruto and Boruto series, as revealed to her son, Hinata managed to eat 46 bowls of ramen in a single visit to the restaurant! Like the audience, Boruto isn't sure how she did it.

NEXT: 10 Longest Arcs In The Naruto Anime, Ranked By Total Episodes