In Naruto, many things repeat from one generation to the next. This includes how ninjas fight and how they fall in love. Naruto didn’t just become Hokage like his dad, Minato. He also married someone who shares many of his traits, albeit with an added demure factor cranked to 11 with Hinata Hyuga. After all, his parents both had personalities that were polar opposites. Minato was calm and steady, whereas Kushina was loud and strong. In the same way, Naruto is loud and bold, while Hinata is quiet and introverted on the outside, and strong on the inside.
These relationships show how people with seemingly opposite personalities can love and support each other. Before Kushina died, she told Naruto to find someone like her — someone who’d love him as deeply and be as loyal to him. But that person turned out to be closer to Minato in personality. Even more interestingly, the anime acknowledges this parallel repeatedly. Throughout the show, there are many big moments that connect both love stories, showing how just like dreams and duties, love too is passed down.
Naruto Is All Kushina, Hinata Is Basically Minato With Bangs
From the moment Naruto bursts onto the scene, he’s a mess of energy and emotion. He talks too much, gets into fights, and acts first, thinks later. Think that sounds familiar? That was Kushina back in the day. She had a short fuse, a big heart, and was famous for decking people who annoyed her (or tried to kidnap her). Cut from that same cloth, Naruto is basically The Red-Hot Habanero 2.0, with his official moniker in the family being Konoha’s Orange Spark.
In contrast, Minato was always shown to be calm, cool, and terrifyingly smart. He had that quiet confidence that didn’t need volume. And in Naruto’s relationship, that’s Hinata. Even though Hinata and Minato seem unlike each other at first, they both share the same calm courage. Fans were also quick to point out the tangible visual parallels from the anime on Reddit.
In Episode 350, Minato stands motionless as he teleports a tailed-beast bomb away from the village, and then reappears discreetly to save his wife and son, ultimately sacrificing his life for his family and village. When faced with a threat to one she loves, Hinata does the same. In Episode 166, she walks between Naruto and Pain, in the process declaring her love for the former while fighting the deadly Akatsuki leader, knowing she will die but willing to take that risk if it means saving Naruto.
One Fell First, the Other Took a While to Catch Up
When Kushina first arrived at the ninja academy, she shared a class with her future husband and loudly declared her desire to become the first female Hokage. Minato noted her bright red hair and bold attitude right away. And while other students teased her, Minato just watched and admired her. Despite this, Kushina initially found Minato “weird” and “unreliable”, and even thought he was stalking her. It took Minato saving her from the Hidden Cloud shinobi that had kidnapped her for Kushina to finally see the hero hiding behind his quiet exterior.
Much like Minato, Hinata’s story was just as one-sided at first. She liked Naruto from the beginning, but Naruto thought she was “weird.” He was always kind to her, but didn’t understand her shyness around him. Eventually, however, just like Kushina realized Minato was something special, Naruto caught on. The Last: Naruto the Movie showed him finally connecting the dots and realizing that Hinata was always there, always rooting for him. She may have fallen first, but he fell harder and that rest was history.
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The Visual Parallels Between the Two
Moreover, Naruto’s visual storytelling also shows us parallels between Hinata and Minato. There are many instances where we see panel-to-panel and frame-to-frame parallels of the two’s relationship in the manga and anime. For example, in a scene where Hinata and Naruto go to Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto gets queasy and goes to throw up after being overly full while Hinata reaches out to pats his back. This is a direct parallel to Minato and Kushina, where Kushina got queasy in the same Ramen stall and Minato reached out to her in the exact same way.
Additionally, in a postcard art imagining a teenage Naruto with his parents, Naruto can be seen leaving through the window with his breakfast held between his teeth while Kushina rages. This is eerily similar to an artwork from Boruto where Naruto’s son also leaves through the window with his breakfast. But instead of Boruto’s mother raging, it’s Naruto who shouts at his son. It is also significant that the defining moment that solidified both of these relationships had one partner carrying the other with the full moon shining in the background.
Even Their Kids Are a Throwback
Even the next generation mirrors the last. One of Naruto’s children is calm and collected, while the other is a powerhouse of emotions. In Boruto Episode 18, Himawari got mad after Naruto accidentally ruined her toy. She punched him once and knocked the Hokage who can tank Rasenshurikens out cold. This is a funny moment, but it also shows just how much of Kushina’s fiery blood runs through Himawari.
Meanwhile, Boruto, too, starts off as a hothead in Next Generations, but becomes much much more emotionally reserved in Two Blue Vortex. He’s got Hinata’s cool vibe and Minato’s “I’ll show you how good I am, quietly” energy, not being the type to shout unless he really has to. That just goes to show how deep Minato and Kushina’s DNA runs.
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