At her core, Hinata is a shy, kind, and soft-spoken young woman. These are the first traits anyone would notice about her. For a while in her life, she believed these to be traits that hindered her as her family believed these to be traits unfit for a ninja and their heiress. She endured many years hearing such unkind words about how she acted and how soft-hearted she was, yet she could never divorce herself from these traits.

Though, for a while, she did almost go down a dark path and seek power and self-change in unsavory ways. Naruto is the one who kept her from going down those dark paths though he never knew it. Mainly because she was–and still is–a shy person who doesn't have much confidence in herself, even more so when she was younger when she first saw Naruto. He was also someone who was hated, who others looked down upon, and was also seen as a failure. Yet he never ran away from his problems and cried like she did; instead he tried harder and worked even harder to prove them wrong.

It was admiration at first sight for her. Though she wasn't as loud or as bold as him, she still did her best to emulate him. He embodied "potential" and "self-confidence" to her, qualities she wanted for herself. So she trained every day, at first by herself, then with her team, and eventually her father and cousin to reach her goals. Her main goal is, at its core, to be worthy: as a ninja and as an heiress. Also to one day be able to walk side-by-side with Naruto as an equal. If there's another thing Hinata is always shown as being, it's stubborn. She'll keep working at those goals until she's achieved them. She spent years believing herself a failure, but as of the Fourth War, she doesn't anymore. Even her father acknowledges her as an equal to Neji.

As proof of this and of how much she's grown, she's grown strong enough to save both Neji and Naruto. She did so using what many had considered weakness: kindness. While she is still prone to criticism enough that it can stall her from a course of action, it doesn't stop her from doing it anymore as she did still jump to Naruto's aid and finally overcome her hugest hurdle in confessing to him–herself and her own doubt.