Powerscaling in Naruto: Where being powerful works, and where it doesn’t.
People have made their fair share of beatdowns on the very concept of powerscaling, so I wanted to jump in too but in a different way.
Powerscaling is despicable as a whole because it ruins a show, but it also ruins the characters arc and goals.
Naruto aside from the “effort beats talent” and “breaking generational cycles” also shows the oppressive systems of child soldiers, poverty, capitalism to an extent etc etc which does so masterfully in the Land of waves arc, and it just disappears at the end, enforcing the very same rules, with new people of the same cycle on top. Naruto is an example of how elongating the story can put you back to square one, going for every value you were against.
Power creeping, having the most powerful people ever or something like that is all most of the general audience cares about in Naruto (and “the wanting to be Hokage” thing). It made a once profound piece of media become shallow, colourless, devoid of complexity and just another “kukulla”/doll show (in Albanian). And it’s worse because for a lot of these characters, being powerful is not only not relevant, it beats their actual purpose.
For example, is it relevant for Hinata to be the “Byakugan princess”? The strongest Hyuga? Or “she’d beat Hanabi if she wasn’t so merciful!”. Someone might argue that, “Hey, if Hinata’s goal was to be stronger, then if she is the strongest this arc is completed and that’s the point of her character, right?”
*LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER*
That’s what I assumed too. That her point was to be stronger. I don’t think that was her only goal though. In her fight with Neji, that’s what we get too.
1) she was too weak to become the head of the clan, even Hanabi 5 years younger than her beating her in a fight (I’ll discuss this in a bit below)
2)the Hyuga did not respect her anymore, and nobody would care if she died under any circumstance as a genin.
3) Neji showing contempt for her weakness especially (I also want to discuss this but in another future post)
4) Naruto being outcasted as she was, but also his resolve, inspired Hinata to start training. His goal is to get stronger, so is hers.
That’s what we get at the beginning of the fight. Until the turning point where Neji is shown to have struck all her chakra point in lightning speed.
Thats where we are revealed to whose holding the upper hand, and the victory was on Nejis side all along.Neji vs Hinata up to this point operated on a different wavelength from the traditional fights, mostly because this was between two family members of opposing factions and opposing mentalities, and second because up to that point, we couldn’t tell who had the upper hand. The music like in most fights wasn’t a give, the characters reactions weren’t a give until that very moment, so the fight was SUSPENSEFUL.
Normally a fight goes like this:
antagonist shows as an obstacle
protagonsit and antagonist confront
fight ensues
antagonist shows his upper hand (Neji strikes the chakra points in this context)
Protagonist doesn’t give up
protagonist finds a solution
protagonist beats the antagonist (in some way)
In the Neji vs Hinata fight, shockingly, the structure is still respected. Just not in the way you think.
Hinata doesn’t give up
Hinata doesn’t use her strength to win. She knows she has no chance against him physically. So she uses her perseverance against him. She proves him a point. She could’ve withdrawn mid fight but that would seal the fact that she was too weak to face him. She isn’t. Hinata’s main obstacle has been her fear. She doesn’t fear the outcome anymore, she wants to make her mark.
Up to this point, Neji has probably realised that the fight between them wasn’t about winning. Hinata delivers the final sentence which makes Neji unravel for the rest of his appearance on this arc. Hinata gets herself killed and loses in hindsight. But she was the one who was right. That’s what the Chuunin exam message is about.
So we see a different kind of strength that lies within Hinata. It’s that of perseverance, empathy, and to strike when the time is right. She’s the one who’s been truly waiting for the opportunity to face and confront Neji (him being a representative of the clan mentality and the worst of the clan), so she faces him and their clan (and with Naruto’s help), doesn’t run away or let herself go. In fact, she was the one who made her team join the exams.
Hinata isn’t Neji, she isn’t Gaara, Lee, Sasuke, Temari, Ten ten Sakura, Ino and all the others who have some level of strength associated in their story. In a world of tools and weapons, Hinata displays the humanity within the ninja world, even though she’s supposed to have been part of the pinnacle (a clan heir), she winds up as an average girl but with a huge heart and a threat to the status quo of the heavy militaristic society, one that uses people as shields and weapons if so.
This is awfully similar to Zuko from ATLA as well. He’s dishonoured and kicked out of the FN for being “too kind”, “too bold”, “too human” to teach him respect and suffering. And he suffers trying to find respect only to find out that it isn’t about strength or getting into his father’s good graces at all.
That’s why I dislike how Hinata was developed later on. She was clearly started out as someone whose strength lies in her humanity. Why would she want to punch hard physically, when she does so psychologically? When she does so by not abiding by her clans rules or the laws of the Ninja world? Her being a “Byakugan princess” or getting back to her father, or having no later conflict with the clan…it hollows out her character because it goes against what we’re shown Hinata to be like.
What about Neji? Is it the same case with others? Yes and no.
Strength, physical and mental strength are vital to Nejis character. One is that it immediately puts him in opposite juxtapositions with Hinata. That’s important, that’s essential.
His discipline is a virtue, his strength helps him and makes him different in the clan for mostly good reasons. He immediately gets into Hiashi’s best graces the moment he shows off in the exam. The clan chief doesn’t care about Hinata, but he cares about Neji a lot (as a tool and as family) despite the cruel system that blurs out these lines inside the clan (because the Hyuga clan works as a micro ninja world) . Nejis strength and his aloof yet strong personality affects his character arc, affects the narrative, affects the main characters arc. Just like in Hakus, Zabuzas, Gaaras case, his strength is also a vice. It makes him a compelling and an incredibly memorable antagonist for the four episodes we’re shown him to be one (which is shocking because many people STILL dislike him or hold some “resentment” to this day, after 20 years).
Sasuke calls him, Lee and Gaara “a monster” in a throwaway comment after meeting Gais team in the exams.
Sakura says his strength is against the rules.
Kakashi is terrified, stating that even Sasuke can’t go against him.
Made Hiashi wish his brother was clan head instead.
Naruto had to use Kurama to bring him down. It’s one the strongest appearances of Kurama in the show. And Neji still some-fucking-how tanks the damage. Until he loses.
Him being powerful is important because it adds stakes. It makes losing to him, to be not an option, but also, inevitable. He’s a dreadful person to go up against (as shown by Naruto not having slept all night before the match, in fact it’s one of the only times in the show where we see him completely depressed and deflated). But defeating him is also huge and monumental. He’s a huge obstacle to the message of his arc. And he backs it up in every way possible (strengths, backstory, ideology etc).
In Nejis arc, him being prodigious but yet in a lower caste system makes his story tragic and attractive to the audience. It makes people interested in whether he will overcome the struggle or succumb to it (which is why his death was bs). As was said by his father “Neji should absolutely not die”. He’s just as much as a threat as Hinata is, by being polar opposites. Thats INTERESTING.
At the very same time however, his strength makes him a weapon which turns into the “vice” I mentioned Nejis powers to be.
In episode 306 of Shippuden to be a filler (and one of the best fillers in my opinion), his discipline and endurance pushes Hinata to become temporarily blind. She can’t attend a fireworks show while in recovery, but the doctors accidentally mention a plant which can cure temporary blindness immediately. This pushes out a trait we’ve barely seen Neji to have, impulsivity. He goes to a suicide missing to find the plant somewhere which ends up to not even be there, risking his life with Sakura and Naruto tagging along. Although this probably came out from the guilt of almost having killed her in the canon timeline nearly two months before, it’s fair to also say that he relied too much on his strength. Even if he lost his life, his powerful Byakugan could find that plant. His confidence in his powers can sometimes overtakes his cool (in the chuunin) and his patience (indirectly hurting Hinata, not thinking through the possibilities of the self assigned mission) at the same time.
Bottom line is that anyone and anything that wields him, has a terrifying advantage. The clan had him, the idea of an inevitable fate had him, that’s why he became so dangerous, because he was obsessed with believing in it to the point where he had to enforce it on the people close to him (most notably Hinata and Lee) . Neji was loyal to his clan despite being against the tradition and he believed Hinata to be on the same page with him.
“Just like you and I are on different branches in the clan.” Him pointing out their differences to make them somehow equal. Having different status BUT on the bigger picture, both of the struggles they face respectively being inevitable.
“You shouldn’t suffer anymore” just like he is “not suffering” anymore .
Of course, this is all, manipulation , deception and intimidation from his side, by acting like he empathises with her(which adds an antagonistic layer to Nejis character).
They both know that even though they do struggle, they struggle differently and Neji is looking for her to compromise herself for him and the clan.
It’s you who are torn the most between the fates of the main branch, and the side branch
Hinata saw right through it (also an act of strength on her own) and Neji having realised she doesn’t buy his words anymore snaps and nearly kills her.
There isn’t much to say about the fight with Naruto either, because it proves how important strength is to Nejis character. You could make him have ridiculous power ups, which would still somehow fit into the story because his strength is part of the narrative. Since I brought up Zuko, I can bring Azula in this part. The favorite, a firebending prodigy never seen before, can generate blue fire and lightning, important to Zukos arc, the avatar (since she conquers ba sing se and nearly kills him), her strength and manipulation is important and impossible not to include because it’s her selling point. She unravels after her loyalty to the fire nation makes people leave her (Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee). She’s put to sacrifice herself on the day of the black sun. She’s still used and discarded as lesser by Ozai at the end of the series. It’s a fate which Neji does and does not avoid simultaneously .
This is not to say that Hinata can’t be powerful, or can’t have power ups, or something like that, (just like Zuko who got his firebending back by seeing the dragons and was taught that firebending is life and energy and not destruction) but that should be done with CLINICAL precision and importance to the story, not just as a throwaway line. It doesn’t serve anything to Hinata’s character and if anything it hinders her.
It doesn’t make sense that Hinata “lets” Hanabi be eligible to be clan head because she doesn’t want to hurt her. That means she hurts her younger sister even more by adding a huge amount of burden to her. Theres no way you can go around it.
Hinata was weak, is mentally weak, constantly fails because of it but she trains herself and has a support group and goes through different events that make her stronger, and capable of facing the cruelty of the ninja system.
Neji is the strongest but he is also in a natural disadvantage against a cruel caste system, so has to untangle the ideologies that hinder him from facing with the system and the people in charge of the clan as well as the ninja system as a whole.
This is not limited to just Neji and Hinata.
Lee has to be the strongest as well. He has to do 1000 pushups. He had to be one of the closest to defeat Gaara at the same time.its his selling point. This made him easy to flaunderise however. He’s the only guy who can’t use ninjutsu or genjutsu when it is essential for a ninja to become a ninja. He directly opposes that through sheer physical strength. He could be a beacon to the common folk, or chaos to the upper rings of this world. There could be potential with Lees story, which ultimately goes to nowhere after the classic.
Naruto…does not. His goal “of being Hokage” is to change the system, to break the cycle, to inspire people to be different. Not to be the strongest. Not those bijuu, Kurama mode bs or whatever superman power ups kishimoto invents.
The constant power creep and sidelining and Kishimotos pressure to expand the world, to get more money out of the franchise, more popularity, to constantly change directions of his work, has drained him of the creativity and profoundness as a result.
