Neji Hyuga

Not to be confused with Hyuga Neji.

Neji Hyuga
Naruto character
First appearance	Naruto manga chapter 36 Naruto anime episode 21

Neji Hyuga (日向 ネジ, Hyūga Neji) is a fictional character in the manga and anime series, Naruto created by Masashi Kishimoto. He is a ninja of Konohagakure and a member of Team Guy along with Rock Lee, Tenten, and led by Might Guy. At the beginning of the seriers Neji is portrayed as a talented ninja with a superiority complex and a strong belief in fatalism. Outside of the Naruto Anime and Manga, Neji appears in Naruto Shippuden: The Movie, and Naruto Shippuden 3: Those who will Inherit the Will of Fire as well as other media including video games and original video animations.

Character Outline

Background

Neji Hyuga was born to the branch house of the Hyuga Clan. On Hinata's third birthday he had a Cursed Seal placed on his forehead to ensure his complete loyalty and obedience to the Main Branch of the Hyuga Clan. A Kumogakure attemted to abduct Hinata Hyuga to find out the secrets behind the Byakugan, but he was stopped and killed by Hiashi. The Raikage demanded the head of Hiashi Hyuga in retaliation for the death of one of his Shinobi. Hizashi is used as a body double so that Hiashi could survive and continue to lead the Clan and Neji begins to hate the Main House for the death of his father and starts to believe in fatalism.

Personality

After the death of Neji's father Hizashi he becomes a cold individual with a strong belief in elitism. Because of his talent he became arrogant and vain and spent much of his time belittling his teammate Rock Lee. After a while he began to respect Lee for his abilities and power, but continued to disrespect other "failures" including Choji, Ino, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Naruto. After Naruto defeats him and he finds out the truth behind his fathers death he begins to be kinder to others, however he still remains aloof and distant.

Abilities

Neji Hyuga uses his Byakugan (眼) to fight. The Byakugan grants him four major abilities. By using it he achieves 360 vision, the ability to see through things, the ability to see things far away, and to see the Chakra network. The last ability enables him to use the Jyuken style of fighting, of which he is especially proficient. Neji Hyuga fights using the Gentle Fist style of fighting. By simply observing the way the members of the Main Family moved he was able to learn and master two of the most powerful Hyuga Techniques. Neji mastered Eight Triagrams Palm Rotation (八卦掌回天 Hakkesho Kaiten), which allows him to block most attacks by spinning his body and and emmitting chakra from all of his chakra points at once. It was made to compensate for the Byakugan's blind spot. He also learned and master the the Eight Triagrams Sixty-Four Palms (八卦六十四掌 Hakke Rokujuyon Sho) to cut off the chakra network and take away his opponents ability to use chakra and with it their Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. After the time skip he learns Eight Triagrams Empty Palm (八卦空掌 Hakke Kusho) in order to attack his opponents from a distance.

Appearances in other media

Neji makes several appearances outside of the manga and anime. In the fourth movie Neji leads a team consisting of himself, Lee, Naruto, and Sakura on a mission to escort the maiden Shion, who needs to perform a ritual to seal a demonic army. He also appears in the Third Film and fights along side the other Konoha 12 to fight a Chimaera Beast. He also appears in two of the original video animations participating in a tournament and fighting Asuma to test his abilities.

He is a playable character in nearly every Naruto video game including the Clash of Ninja Series and Ultimate Ninja Series, and he frequently uses techniques made purely for the video games. He is a main character in the spin off manga that focuses on Team Guy, Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth, created by Kenji Taira. The character Lechuga Benji from the Spanish Webcomic Raruto is a parody of Neji Hyuga.

Reception

Neji Hyuga has frequently ranked highly in all of the Shonen Character Popularity Polls. While he initially ranked just outside of the Top 10 in the later polls he began to frequent the Top 10, but remained outside Top 5. He's ranked as high as 6th place. In the latest poll he fell outside of the Top 10 again. Numerous pieces of merchandise have been released in Neji's likeness including key-chains, plush dolls, and figurines.

Justin Rich of Mania.com noted Neji fight with Hinata for it's character development. He went on to note that one of the best things in the series was getting to see both sides during Naruto fight with Neji and praised his backstory. Chris Beveridge said that he liked how Neji "changed over the course of the series" and "became a fair bit more interesting". Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network noted the "brutal familial relations of the Hyuga Clan".

Charles White of IGN.com praised his fight with Kidomaru calling it a "must-watch" and noting that the part where the feather landed in Neji's hand was "visually beautiful. However he went on to note that he felt that they were trying to hard to make it look like Neji was dead.