Ninjas would only become strong when they were protecting important people.
The person who said this did not know what was important or what was strong.
Protection was the goal. Becoming strong depended on the means, and being strong was a state.
If unity was strength, then loneliness was also a form of strength.
Ninjutsu and fists were the two most important things for a ninja. Those who argued that the important person was not something that belonged to you, but another independent person.
Even if they were people who were bound by each other, it was impossible for them to have the same ninja path.
Where will you go when the bond and the path of ninja clash?
Ninjutsu and fetters, justice and strength, freedom and sacrifice, love and hatchet, hot blood and ambition.
Everything is in Naruto: Uchiha Shura.