Neji Hyuga

Neji Hyuga
Naruto character
File:Neji001.jpg Neji Hyuga by Masashi Kishimoto
First appearance	Manga Chapter 36 Naruto Episode 21
In-universe information
Relatives	Hizashi Hyuga (father, deceased) Hiashi Hyuga (uncle) Hinata Hyuga (cousin) Hanabi Hyuga (cousin)

Neji Hyuga (日向ネジ, Hyūga Neji) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto created by Masashi Kishimoto. He is a member of Might Guy's Team Guy, consisting of himself, Rock Lee, and Tenten. He is also considered part of the Konoha 11.

Neji is the only known Hyuga clan member whose first name does not start with a kana from the Ha-gyō (ha (ハ), hi (ヒ), fu (フ), he (ヘ), or ho (ホ)). His name means "Screw", "Spiral", or "Helix", which probably refers to his Heavenly Spin technique. Neji uses a style similar to Baguazhang and has techniques containing "Eight Trigrams Palm" in their names. His name also bears resemblance to Nèijiā, a Chinese martial arts style that is known for "soft" style and its emphasis on "internal power" rather than "external power", possibly a basis for his Gentle Fist style.

In Shonen Jump's annual character popularity polls, Neji often ranks in the Top 10, usually 6th, 7th or 8th.

Background

Neji's father, Hizashi Hyuga, was born as the younger brother of his twin, Hiashi Hyuga. Because he was born second, Hizashi was put into the Hyuga clan's branch house, causing Neji to years later be born into the same faction. At a young age Neji was branded with the Hyuga branch family seal so that the main house could punish him for insubordination and protect the secret of the Byakugan should he die. Hizashi, believing Neji to be denied his full potential as a branch house member, began to openly resent the main house, and was punished on some occasions because of it. In one instance, Hizashi's curse mark was activated while Neji watched. Due to the punishments his father received as well as his father's influence, Neji also came to resent the main house.

In time, Hizashi would sacrifice himself to save the life of his brother, Hiashi. Neji believed that Hizashi was forced to give up his life because Hiashi's life as a member of the main house was considered more valuable. Neji blamed the main house for this tragedy for years to come, and his belief would not be corrected until after his defeat by Naruto Uzumaki during the final exams. At this point in time, Neji learns that his father willingly gave up his life not to save a member of the main house, but to save the life of his brother and to make a decision about his own destiny. Upon learning this Neji rejects his belief in fate and does what he can to rectify his mistakes.

Personality

While under the belief that his father died because he was a member of the branch house, Neji concludes that fate is something decided at birth and that no matter what one does, people cannot escape their destiny. Neji often applies this to people he views as weaker than he is, particularly his teammate Lee and his cousin Hinata Hyuga. He dismisses Lee's dream of becoming a great ninja despite his inability to mold chakra as hopeless, and suggests that Lee can never defeat him.

During his match in the Chunin Exams, he tells Hinata that she is unfit to be a ninja due to being too kind and not confident enough. While Hinata is brought to tears by this suggestion, she is eventually able to turn his philosophy against him, telling him that she believes that he is suffering from trying to become worthy of the main house despite his being born into the branch family. Neji is enraged by this and attempts to attack Hinata, but is stopped before he can land a blow that would have almost certainly killed her. While Hinata is left near death after the battle, Neji's only concern is that he could not complete his attack. He disregards Hinata's personal growth in the match, concluding that because she was defeated, "a failure will always be a failure."

Neji displays similar efforts to condescend others during his match with Naruto Uzumaki who, despite being repeatedly struck down, continues to try and fight him. While Neji tries to show Naruto that fate cannot be fought and that someone who is weak will always remain weak, Naruto is unwilling to accept this mindset, arguing that Neji, for all his belief in fate, has not accepted his own destiny. Naruto taps into the power of the demon fox sealed within him and fights Neji, regaining his access to his chakra. Using a shadow clone to feign defeat, Naruto surprises Neji and knocks him to the ground with an uppercut. Neji lectures himself for falling for Naruto's signature jutsu, but Naruto tells him that creating even regular clones was once his worst technique, but he was able to master an even higher level of cloning by practicing. Neji was told by Naruto that if a "failure" like him was able to change his destiny, he could do so as well.

File:Team Guy.png

Tenten, Lee, and Neji in Part II

With this example of overcoming "destiny" as well as finding out the truth about his father's death soon afterwards, Neji abandons the concept of inescapable fate. No longer bound by the idea that he is stuck at his current status, Neji resolves to become strong enough to never again lose a battle. To do so he begins putting more emphasis on working well with his team, and starts to value a mission's successful completion and his teammates' safety over his own betterment. In addition, Neji begins trying to remedy the estranged relations between himself and the main house members, most particularly by being kinder to Hinata. His efforts seem to be effective, as he begins training with Hiashi and in Part II even starts to wear traditional Hyuga robes. As another result of his loss against Naruto, Neji no longer thinks of people as failures who can never change, as he suggests that he would not have persevered in Lee's situation, and believes that if Lee works hard enough, he can surpass the gifted. Neji also considers Naruto the strongest opponent he has ever fought, and is grateful that Naruto was able to influence him to change.

Abilities

As a member of the Hyuga clan, Neji possesses the Byakugan, which gives him an almost 360° field of X-ray vision. Throughout the series he attempts to bring this up to a full 360°, though he is never able to completely overcome the Byakugan's blindspot. Because of this, Neji is acutely aware of his blindspot and takes extra efforts in keeping it away from opponents as well as paying more attention to it than he does the rest of his body. While the Byakugan naturally has only a limited field of vision, Neji is able to increase the range of its sight several times over by the start of Part II, to around 800 meters. The Byakugan also allows him to specialize in the Gentle Fist fighting style, which enables him to damage an opponent's chakra circulatory system and inner organs directly with even a slight tap. Neji also uses this technique to attack his opponents heart directly and send them into ventricular fibrillation resulting in the death of the opponent with but a single strike.

Since his time in the Ninja Academy, Neji has been held to be a natural genius, even becoming the top-ranked rookie in his class. As a member of the Hyuga clan's branch house, Neji can never hope to be taught how to use the clan's most secret techniques. Despite this he has learned many of these techniques, such as Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin and Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, independently, a feat that surprises many of the clan's elder members. Since mastering these jutsu, Neji has begun to refine and strengthen them for more specialized needs. In the anime, the fruits of his efforts are first seen during the Sasuke Retrieval arc where he uses Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms (八卦百二十八掌, Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō), essentially a doubled version of the Sixty-Four Palms technique, to strike numerous targets at once. In Part II he also develops the Eight Trigrams Empty Palm (八卦空掌, Hakke Kūshō), a more focused version of the Heavenly Spin, with which he can expel chakra from his palm to attack opponents out of his physical reach. While most of the former Konoha Genin become Chunin over the timeskip, Neji is the only one to become a Jonin.

Sources

• First Official Data Book (秘伝・臨の書キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Hiden: Rin no Sho Character Official Data Book)
• Second Official Data Book (秘伝・闘の書キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Hiden: Tō no Sho Character Official Data Book)
• Jump's 2nd Great Hero Book's Mini Data Book (秘伝・翔の書オフィシャルキャラクターデータBOOK mini, Hiden: Shō no Sho Official Character Data Book mini)
• Naruto anime and manga Guidebook (秘伝・翔の書オフィシャルキャラクターデータBOOK mini, Hiden: Shō no Sho Official Character Data Book mini)
• Taken directly from the Naruto manga chapters and anime episodes.