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)

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. Neji normally appears in the 6th and 7th spot in the Shonen Jump Popularity poll.

Creation and conception

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 a technique he uses in the series, Heavenly Spin. Neji uses a style similar to Baguazhang and has techniques containing "Eight Trigrams Palm" in their names. His name also bears resemblance to Nèijiā, the word for soft when applied to Chinese martial arts techniques. Soft styles such as Taijiquan and Xingyiquan put their emphasis on "internal power" rather than "external power," and tend to stress circular redirection and controlling the force of an opponent rather than attempting to use force against force. These martial arts are a possible basis for Neji's Gentle Fist style.

Character attributes

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 changed until after his defeat by Naruto Uzumaki during the finals of the Chunin exam. 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 as hopeless, and says 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 almost 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 by the Konoha Jounin observing the match before he can land a blow that would have certainly killed her. Neji sees this as yet another example of how the main house receives preferential treatment at his expense. 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." When Hinata's teacher Kurenai Yuuhi shows her anger at Neji's actions he simply dismisses her in spite of her superior rank.

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 changed 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 he 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.

Abilities

As a member of the Hyuga clan, Neji possesses the Byakugan, which gives him an almost 360-degree field of vision. Neji is acutely aware of his blind spot and takes extra caution in keeping it away from opponents as well as paying close attention to it. While the Byakugan naturally has only a 50 meter field of vision, Neji is able to increase the range of its sight several times over by the start of Part II to at least 800 meters. He is noted to have a particularly strong Byakugan in comparison to other members of the clan.

The Byakugan also allows him to specialize in the Gentle Fist fighting style, a unique form of taijutsu which enables him to damage an opponent's chakra circulatory system and inner organs directly with a slight tap. Neji also uses this technique to attack his opponents' heart directly and send them into cardiac arrest, resulting in the death of the opponent with 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 is forbidden to learn the clan's secret techniques. However, he has managed to deduce their workings simply through observation. Since mastering these jutsu, Neji has begun to refine and strengthen them for more specialized needs. He has learned many of these techniques, such as Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin. 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. In the Rescue Gaara arc, Neji also displays his ability when he uses Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher (八卦破山撃, Hakke Hazangeki) which is essentially a version of the Eight Trigrams Empty Palm that is used at point blank range. While most of the former Konoha Genin become Chunin over the timeskip, Neji becomes the only Jonin.

Plot Overview

In Part I, Neji plays a large key role in the Chunin Exams, being opponents to both Hinata and Naruto. After almost killing Hinata, Naruto swears revenge and proves destiny can be changed. In their fight, Neji is seen to have the upper hand after shutting down all of Naruto's chakra points. When Naruto taps into the power of the Demon Fox's chakra, Neji is defeated, and learns the truth of his father's death. He is then seen as part of the squad organized by Shikamaru to retrieve Sasuke. Neji ends up fighting against Kidomaru of the Sound Four. Neji defeats and kills Kidomaru in a gruelling battle in which he himself is gravely wounded. The extent to which Neji is injured is illustrated when we see that the treatment performed by Shizune requires 3 other medical ninja to supply a constant flow of chakra to Neji's body.

In Part II, Neji has reached the rank of Jonin, and is still part of Team Guy. He, along with the rest of Team Guy, assists Team Kakashi during the Rescue Gaara Arc.

Other media

Neji stars in the Shippūden movie, where he makes a team with Naruto, Sakura and Rock Lee. He fights against Asuma Sarutobi although Asuma tell him he hid the crystal.

Neji appears in most of the video games, often as a playable character or boss. To reflect his ability to seal pressure points, his attacks are sometimes able to drain the player's chakra, although in some instances, he can put the player character in a state in which he or she cannot use jutsu. He has some new techniques, being most of them enhanced versions of taijutsu of the Gentle Fist style.

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.