Disclaimer: All characters belong to Square Enix.
Materia. So shiny and colorful, those little round spheres brimming with magical powers. As a treasure hunter, Yuffie specifically sought out those spheres. On the surface, anyone would think that her obsession with material is just because they are precious and pretty to look at. Any treasure hunter would be pleased with anything like that, but to Yuffie, only materia hold her interest. They are a symbol, a symbol of her beloved hometown's glory. After Wutai had lost to Shinra in the Wutaian War, her father had banned the use of material to show Shinra that he would not resist them again. Then her father had abandoned her and sent her on a wild goose chase to hunt for material in hopes of restoring her hometown's former glory. Without a second thought, she went out into the world in search of the colorful spheres. She was a tough girl. No beast or monster stood in her way, always falling prey to her deadly four-point shuriken and skills as a highly trained ninja.
To her, Wutai's glory and honor meant more than anything. She loved her homeland so much that she was willing to risk her life to obtain the precious material she believed would restore its glory. She didn't care that her father had sent her on a useless mission or that he did so to keep her busy and out of his way. All that mattered was materia and Wutai's honor and glory. Soon it became an obsession. Materia, materia, materia. That was all she cared about and all she wanted. She even went as far as to steal them from other people. That's how desperately she wanted to help Wutai. She had no qualms about being a thief or being hunted herself for being such. She was the fearless Great Ninja Yuffie after all, the Single White Rose of Wutai. It was her duty to bring glory back to Wutai.