Highlights
- Neji’s death in Naruto was a painful experience for fans, but it’s important to revisit his sacrifice and character growth.
- Neji’s evolution from a frustrated boy to a man who learned to control his destiny is a key aspect of his arc that fans cherished.
- Neji’s sacrifice during the Fourth Great Ninja War was a powerful moment, showcasing his choice to protect Naruto and Hinata.
When Neji Hyūga died in Naruto, it was cumulatively one of the most painful deaths for the fan base to deal with. It still might be too soon for some, but it’s time to revisit Neji’s sacrifice.
Neji was one of those characters in Naruto that everyone grew to love throughout his arc. He was first introduced in the Chūnin Exams arc, and between then and his death during the climax of the Fourth Great Ninja War, the fandom saw him blossom into a character who was more than the destiny he had laid out for him. Neji started as a frustrated boy who hated the main branch of his clan for what happened to his father and for locking him into a destiny he didn’t desire, into a man who came to understand that his fate was in his own hands.
Neji’s Character Arc
Neji was around for plenty of arcs in the series, as he was introduced in the Chūnin Exams arc. This gave him plenty of time to evolve into the character we loved dearly when he died.
Childhood
Neji was a happy child until his father’s death. Before his father died, Neji could usually be seen with a smile on his faith, and he even took a liking to Hinata when they first met when he was three years old. All that changed when his father died.
After his father was killed, Neji’s personality completely changed. He became colder and more serious. He was also forced to grow up quite fast, as he would soon receive his curse mark as part of belonging to the Hyūga clan cadet branch. As a result of his clan’s culture combined with his father’s death, which he believed to be at the hands of the main clan, Neji grew up believing that one’s destiny is not in their control. Neji grew up believing that a person’s fate was determined at birth and that there was no escaping it.
Chūnin Exams
Neji breezed through the first two tests of the Chūnin Exams. Neji was a genius ninja. He used his gifts to his advantage while remaining hidden from the spotlight to not create a target on his back. Proving himself to be an incredibly skilled ninja and blessed with the byakugan, the Chūnin exams looked like they would be smooth sailing for the young prodigy.
However, he faced a real challenge from an unexpected source during the preliminaries before the Finals. Neji squared off with Hinata one-on-one as part of the preliminaries before the final part of the exams. Neji always looked down on Hinata as weak, even though he bore the cadet branch curse mark and was her sworn protector. Neji seals Hinata’s tenketsu during their fight, making her attacks useless. Hinata kept pushing on and getting up despite the fact that the match was already lost.
Hinata refused to back down and kept going at Neji. After she spewed his hurtful words about her not being worthy of being a ninja back at him, Neji moved to kill her. Neji was stopped by Might Guy, though, and Hinata’s body gave out from the damage to her internal organs shortly after. Hinata’s tenacity inspired Naruto, and he was determined to beat Neji in the finals.
A month passes, and the match between Naruto and Neji begins. To Neji’s surprise, the battle is hard fought. Neji finds that his byakugan can’t decipher the real Naruto from his shadow clones. However, Neji still perseveres and manages to seal Naruto’s chakra using the sixty-four palms technique. Naruto then brings out the nine-tails chakra and stuns Neji with his ferocity. Neji eventually uses revolving heaven, and it appears he has defeated Naruto and won the battle. As Neji drops his guard, Naruto pops out from underground and delivers an incredible uppercut to knock out Neji, winning the fight.
Following the fight, Neji scolds himself for not seeing through Naruto’s tricks. Naruto then encourages Neji to stop getting in the way of his own genius with his philosophy about destiny being set in stone. When Neji is recovering in the hospital, Hiashi Hyūga, his uncle, comes to his room and tells him the real story of how his father died to protect Hiashi and not in service to the clan’s main branch. Hiashi then bows and asks forgiveness, and Neji is moved to tears, letting go of his grudge against the main branch.
Neji then decides that he wants to control his destiny, and from there, he steadily keeps and reaffirms that promise he made to himself throughout the entire series.
Neji’s Sacrifice
After fighting alongside Hinata and the second division, Neji is sent to assist Naruto in his fight against the ten-tails. The Hyūga’s do their part by joining together to aid Naruto. They play defense, trying to defend Naruto by blocking the ten-tails’ direct attacks on him.
Eventually, the attacks become too many for them to stop, and the ten-tails sends a volley of wood spears at Naruto. Hinata uses her body to shield Naruto, and Neji, in turn, uses his body to shield them both.
Neji’s sacrifice may seem like a cruel twist of fate, as he died defending Hinata just like his curse seal designated him to do. However, Neji chose his own fate. Nobody forced him to defend Naruto and Hinata. He chose to protect them, and in doing so, he chose his own fate, even though it was similar to the fate he seemed destined for.
The distinction between the fact that Neji chose to die the way he did is crucial to understanding Neji’s character. Neji once thought that he was fated to die for the main branch and that he could do nothing about it. While he did end up dying for the main branch (and Naruto), he sacrificed himself because he chose to do so. Nobody forced him to do it. Neji’s sacrifice was his choice, and no one could take that away from him.
Naruto is available to stream on Crunchyroll.