Neji Hyūga


 * Name: Neji Hyuga
 * Birthday: July 3
 * Weight: 101.7 lbs
 * Ninja Rank: Jounin (currently)
 * Height: 159.2 cm
 * Bloodline Limit: Hyuga's Byakugan, Kaiten, Hakke Rokujuuyonshu, Jyuuken

Neji Hyuga is a branch member of the famed Hyuga clan. He has a grudge towards everyone in the main branch (read Hyuga). He is a natural genius, surpassing those of the main branch, but has a cocky attitude and a saying that "A person cannot change themself".

Neji has a large knowledge of his Byakugan (white eyes), a bloodline limit that allows you to have an unobstructed view of the world around you. It can see through any solid object and can see the tenketsu (chakra holes) of a person, and using his Jyuuken (gentle fist), a tecnique that pushes chakra out of ones hand, can effectively control the flow of chakra within an foe. After the Preliminaries of the Chuunin Exams, he learned in the period of one month Kaiten (Heavenly whirl), a tecnique where one ejects chakra out of their fingertips and spins like a top, creating a barrier of unpentrable chakra around ones body.

= Background = Not much is known about Neji's birth. After his cousin, Hinata of the main branch's, 3rd birthday, Neji was taken by Hiashi Hyuga and had the Hyuga Curse Seal applied to his forehead. This disability of the branch family is the cause for Neji's hatred towards the Main branch and towards Hinata.

As a Genin
Neji is part of a three man cell led by Might Guy, a Taijutsu specialist. His teammates are Rock Lee, who follows and idolizes Gai, and Tenten, a weapons user. By then Neji is considered the #1 rookie in Konohagakure, with Guy's rival, Kakashi Hatake, putting forth his Sasuke Uchiha to challenge Neji. Neji's cell has a year of training as genin under their belts, and Gai was confident that all three would pass the exam.

Part 1
In the first part of the exams, there is a written portion in which genin had to secretly gather information (put frankly, cheat) in order to pass. Neji uses his Byakugan in order to see through people's bodies and see the test papers and answers, which he copies down.

Part 2
When the cell went into the Forest of Death, Neji and his cell had to gather either a heaven or an earth scroll and make it to the center tower in a week. At about the second or third day into the second part, the cell decides to split up to search for suitable targets. Lee went off and he found Cell 7, and defended the disabled cell from the Sound genin. When Neji and TenTen meet back to report, Lee has not returned. They quickly went after Lee and found the taijutsu expert wounded. They refrained from entering the fight, since Sasuke was about to enter the first stage of the cursed seal. Once they recovered the wounded Lee, Neji's cell left the scene, and they managed to pass the second part sometime afterwards.

Preliminary Rounds
To decrease the number of genin participating the the exam finals, one-on-one matches were organized to eliminate the weaker genin. Neji was paired up against Hinata. His attitude towards Hinata pisses off Naruto, who cheers for the female ninja. Although Hinata seemed to defeat Neji, Neji reveals to Hinata that he has plugged off Hinata's chakra points, rendering her juken useless. He also hit a chakra point close to one of Hinata's vitals moments before, putting Hinata in critical condition. However, Hinata refuses to back down, and Neji was about to administer a killing blow when the jonin Kakashi Hatake, Hayate, Kurenai, and Might Gai steps in to save the wounded shinobi. After the fight, Naruto swipes up some of Hinata's blood, which was splurting out of her mouth from the damage near her vital, and vows to defeat Neji. Neji also tells Naruto to give up, since there was no way for him to defeat the Hyuga, using "fate" as his reasoning.

Part 3
This fight is where Neji's true power is revealed, his opponent being Naruto himself. He initially had some minor drawbacks, since Naruto's strategy revolves around the use of Shadow Clones. But Neji gains the upper hand with the use of many advanced Juken techniques. He even hit Naruto with the 8 trigrams, 64 Palm Strike. But Naruto responds by using the power of the demon fox to emit enough power that even Neji cannot withstand. Naruto seemed to win the match, when Neji survives the attack. Naruto fooled Neji with a shadow clone of his prone form, while his real self was digging to attack Neji from below. With a surprising blow to the jaw, Neji was defeated by Naruto. This fight highly influenced Neji, as seen in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, and refined his beliefs about fate.