User blog comment:Omega natsu2/Chapter 352: The Flame's Voice, Predictions./@comment-3290324-20130917180844/@comment-3987368-20130917200653

I can't really agree with that. I think her personality is the strongest in her team. The fact that she went from a shy, incapable girl to one of the main drivers is impressive to me. Even while shy, she still stood up well against Neji for a period of time, who was supposedly the most gifted in their clan. As of the timeskip, she's the one who can exert the right influence on Naruto like when Neji died and Naruto was down but she brought him back up. Even in the past, she admired Naruto's determination and looked up to him as a model for her own self-improvement. A character who can take inspiration and give it as well is great by my book.

For the combat matter, Ino wasn't fighting Asuma alone. Yeah, Choji was no help but the fight clearly wasn't going as it normally would seeing as Asuma still had his personality to an extent. Compare this to Hinata, who went to fight against Pain while Naruto was down temporarily even though she knew she wouldn't be able to kill him. True, he took her down without much effort but Pain is miles stronger than Asuma. I'll just add that I love the jokes about how Naruto reached 6 tails for her but only 4 for Sasuke =P

In direct combat, I still think Hinata has the edge. Her knowledge of the chakra network is impressive and even while a newbie genin, still matched blows with Neji for a while, who blows Ino's hand-to-hand out of the water and is also able to attack Chakra points like she is. Ino's recent improvements are noteworthy for sure, but they still rely too much on a weakness of the enemy to be effective enough against an aware Hinata, who, with her Byakugan, would not likely be taken down in a 1-on-1 from where I stand. Ino only really got into Obito's body because of the chaotic nature of the surroundings. I really don't see Hinata as having the weakest abilities or personality of the Konoha 9 or even 11.