Neji

[[File:300px-Neji_Part_1.png]]Personality
Outside of his initial feelings towards his clan, Neji has been shown to be extremely serious and mature for his age, and to have great self-control. In battle, he is able to stay relatively calm in most situations and carefully look at the situation at hand. As stated by Tsunade, Neji has excellent instincts, both on the battlefield and as a leader. When forced to make difficult decisions on missions, he shows himself able to make a decision through keen observation and analysis.

While under the belief that his father had died because he was a member of the branch house, Neji concluded that fate is something decided at birth and that no matter what one does, people cannot escape their destiny. Neji often applied this to people he viewed as weaker than himself, such as his cousin, Hinata. During his match in the Chūnin Exams, he told Hinata that she was unfit to be a ninja, due to being too kind and not confident enough. When she was eventually able to turn his philosophy against him, telling him that she believed that he was suffering from trying to become worthy of the main house, despite him being born into the branch family, Neji became enraged, and attempted to kill Hinata. He was stopped by multiple Jōnin, but Hinata nevertheless was left in critical conditions from his earlier attacks. In this instance, Neji's only concern was that he could not complete his attack, and he accused the Jōnin of giving special treatment to the head family members. He disregarded Hinata's personal growth in the match, concluding that, because she was defeated, "a failure will always be a failure".

Neji displayed similar efforts to condescend others during his match with Naruto Uzumaki who, despite being repeatedly struck down, continued to try and fight him. While Neji tried to show Naruto that fate cannot be fought, and that someone who is weak will always remain weak, Naruto was unwilling to accept this mindset, arguing that Neji, for all his belief in fate, had not accepted his own destiny. Naruto went on to defeat Neji, suggesting that, if a "failure" like himself could change his destiny, a "genius" like Neji could, too.

With this example of overcoming "destiny", as well as finding out the truth about his father's death soon afterwards, Neji abandoned the concept of inescapable fate. No longer bound by the idea that he was stuck at his current status, Neji resolved to become strong enough to never again lose a battle. To do so, he began putting more emphasis on working well with his team, and started to value a mission's successful completion and his teammates' safety over his own betterment, even encouraging Rock Lee to continue pursuing his own dream. In addition, Neji began 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 Hyūga robes. He similarly has great confidence in Naruto's capacity to change others, as he stated that the latter could redeem Sasuke and bring him back to Konoha. However, it seems that he given up hope for Sasuke, and given up his thoughts that Naruto could bring him back.

When Team Guy was first formed, Neji dismissed Lee's dream of becoming a great ninja, due to his inability to mold chakra, as hopeless, and suggested that Lee could never defeat him. Because of this, Lee accepted Neji as his rival, though Neji never replied or agreed with it. After abandoning his fatalistic philosophy, he suggested that he would not have persevered in Lee's situation, and believed that, if Lee worked hard enough, he could surpass the gifted. They became good friends because of this, though Neji tends to spend most of his time with Tenten, as neither of them can compete with Lee or Guy's antics. He also is shown to be training with her most of the time.

[edit] Appearance
Neji has noticeably long dark brown hair, typical of males in the Hyūga clan. In Part I, his hair reached the middle of his back and was tied back a few inches above the end, while two straps (perhaps from his forehead protector) framed the sides of his face. In Part II, he got rid of these straps, and allowed his hair, which is now longer, to frame his face instead. Like the rest of his clan, he has very fair skin and possesses the renowned Byakugan, which when activated, stimulates the veins and arteries immediately around his eyes to protrude more prominently. His eyes have a gray tint to them.

In Part I, Neji was seen with a black headband that he wore snugly over his forehead. He wore a khaki shirt and dark brown shorts. He also had bandages wrapped around his right arm, chest, and right leg. In Part II, Neji abandoned the bandages and is clad in traditional white and black Hyūga robes. This may or may not have been to facilitate easier execution of his techniques, or to symbolize his warming relations with his clan. Neji is usually seen with a large tan and black drawstring bag, which he carries over his shoulder.

Before his fight with Naruto during the Chūnin exams in Part I, Neji's facial expression was composed, but stern, hard, and cold. As the series progressed, however, his expression relaxes. While still composed, Neji looks to be more calm, confident and poised, rather than challenging and haughty.

[edit] Abilities
From a young age, Neji has been hailed a natural genius. In Part I, he was labeled the top-ranked rookie in his class. His father even stated that with his talent, he could potentially surpass all other members of their clan. Over the time-skip, when most of the former Konoha 11 Genin reached Chūnin rank, Neji was the only one advance to Jōnin.