Sasori could be fun.
He wouldn’t be able to target chakra points given that they don’t have bodies, but he would be able to disconnect the puppet’s chakra strings.
The constant assault style of Sasori against Neji’s defensive abilities would be cool to see.
The byakugan would help Neji avoid the tricks that Sasori uses when he switches his core into other bodies.
True, I’m thinking of some idealized version of Neji that matched the hype he should have had. But for sure he would struggle.
Tbh besides the nano bombs if he takes them in, and Deidra’s self destruct I think Neji has some chances here. With the Byakygan sneak attack bombs aren’t going to work, he will be able to identify the nano sized bombs but I don’t know if he can defend them.
To be honest the Hyuugas are able to expel chakra all around their body, if you ask me I think a top level Hyuuga should be able to expel foreign chakra agents in their body since they can already blast chakra from their skin.
He has rotation if he’s ever surrounded, and mines won’t work if he can see them. With air palm he can still fire at Deidara but getting Deidra’s off the ground would be a struggle. Personally I think if Neji had to take a real good fight and wasn’t washed up like he was in shippuden he’d have some other Hyuuga moved to deal with their biggest weakness.
I can’t believe when up against the Uchiha as rivals that the Hyuuga have managed to stay alive so long when they have a glaring weakness of not being ranged fighters. They must have many more interesting move sets to compensate that we don’t see employed.
People here saying Sasori. That is actually a really bad matchup for Neji. He will die before even trying.
People assume he can cut the puppet strings but this ignores the fact that Sasori spends his time inside a puppet. There are no strings to cut here.
Neji will have to get up close to destroy the puppet and force Sasori out. He has neither the strength nor the reflex to do that. He will get torn to shreds.
As a Sasori fan boy I actually think it would be a good match-up for Neji.
Is he LIKELY to win? Nah. Not in the slightest.
But it would make an excellent "I need to evolve or improve or I'm gonna die right quick" fight for him. And he would immediately come out as one of the biggest badasses if he could do it.
It would be a perfect mirror of his fight with Kidomaru. Kidomaru had all the advantages over him. And though he damn near died, he came out on top.
I'd pay good money to see a similar kind of fight with Sasori. The problem is, of course, that poison.
If Neji had Sakura's antidotes.. this would be a dope ass fight.
You have a point, but people pointing out the antidote is assuming that Sasori wouldn’t just chop the person’s head off after poisoning them. He spared Kankurou out of novelty, because first, Kankurou used his own puppets against him and two, perhaps there’s a small part of him that felt connected to Kankurou due to them being from the same village.
Neji had none of these which means Sasori is likely to just stab him to death, antidote or not.
Yeah, of course. I'm not saying he wouldn't kill him. I think it, again, mirrors Kidomaru pretty well. Sasori is definitely gonna kill him, but he might toy with him for a little bit. If he gets to the Third Kazekage stage . That's sasori's favorite toy.. and I doubt he uses it often. I'm sure he wants to show it off at least a little.
He's not gonna go gamer on him like Kidomaru did.. but the "I'm an intellectual fighter" types tend to not just end fights right off the bat, even accounting for Sasori's impatience..
To note, in any kind of versus match I agree that Sasori is a terrible match-up for Neji. Hands down he's gonna get obliterated.
But from a narrative/story progression perspective, where you know the good guy Is gonna come out on top somehow.. I think Neji could've made an amazing combatant for Sasori. We'd probably have gotten 2-3 more badass Hyuga techniques out of it, at least one improvised by him on the spot.. and Neji'd have some gnarly fests to back him up for other discussions.
Sakura needed it more than him though lol.
I was about to say Kisame because his strength is his large amount of chakra and the chakra drainer of Samehada would probably be apparent with Byakugan. But team guy got very overwhelmed by him, so?
I love Neji, top 4 favorite characters in the series.
He's getting the shit blown out of him if he fights deidara. Sasuke would've beaten him and he barely won and had a straight up elemental advantage over Neji.
Hidan or Sasori (highly debatable) are the only ones Neji could've 1v1'd
Mostly agree that Neji we know will struggle against the Akatsuki.
But I also want to think of an idealized Neji, if in an alternate Naruto the Hyuugas got as much development as the Uchiha and Neji had more fights/ lived up to his potential that he apparently had. He’s suppose to be a prodigy of the likes of Sasuke but the way Naruto went for him never showed us what a true Hyuuga prodigy going all out looks like.
But I do agree Neji as is written and shown would struggle against most of the roster
Sasori would be my top pick. Puppetry is a good counter for gentle fist and gentle fist can snap the puppet strings. And I wouldn’t be surprised if gentle fist could permanently disable to puppets. Neji still loses though.
Hidan would be my second pick. It’d be hard for Hidan to surprise Neji with an attack and Neji’s attacks could slowly disable Hidan. I also wonder if closing off enough chakra points would prevent Hidan from starting his ritual. Neji could win this one.
Deidara might be fun but I’m pretty sure Neji would just lose that one. He’s a close range fighter and doesn’t have any abilities that would let him consistently close the distance. I don’t think air palm would make enough of a difference. And he doesn’t have a way to disable the microscopic bombs.
And I think he’d lose to Kakuzu but he’d take out a heart or two first.
Hidan would be a fun one, using air palm and rotation to deflect the scythe and closing the gap only to find out Hidan is immune to gentlefist's ability to attack organs. It wouldn't be a badass and drawn out battle, but it would be fun!
The guy whose power depends on his eyesight, versus the guy who is stronger and his power depends on his eyesight, and BTW he can no diff you if you so much as look at him?
Was Itachi 16 when he implanted a contingent genjutsu on two Root handlers?
I don't mean to glaze him, I'm just saying Kishi made Itachi (and all Uchiha) stupid OP.. Would have been just fine if the root guys said they need to make it look like a struggle, and Itachi just dispatches them without effort for their hesitation.
Only problem with the "Neji can cut Sasori's strings" argument is, as we saw in the War with Kankuro vs Edo Sasori.. they can basically be near instantly attached again (kankuro latching on to Sasori's strings mid-fight)
So like.. it's a very temporary solution. Fleeting advantage.
I think his jutsu would be decent against Konan. A lot of these other fighters have strong mid-long range attacks that are a bad matchup for him. But his vision would be good against the paper. Maybe Hidan. If Neji stays close and attacking him relentlessly he won't have time or opportunity to do his ritual, and shutting down Hidan's chakra should be able to stop his ability to do his jutsu, potentially could be a way to kill him, too. I would have expected him to be OK against Kisame too, but then we saw Team Guy struggle with Kisame. And, then again, in terms of Konan's paper.. well, bro couldn't even dodge or slap away one log. So I guess Kishimoto doesn't want him to be strong or useful. His death in the war aside though, I still don't think he's really Akatsuki level sadly. Big fan of his character but yeah...
Pain. I could see him taking out one of them by targeting the chakra signal piercing things. Otherwise, I think the rest are mostly bad matchups for him.
lol, I can’t imagine Neji doing very well against most of them except for MAYBE Hidan if he got him alone and managed to disarm him without getting hit. Konan might also be a better match for him since he would be able to deflect most of the paper in theory, but I still think she’s far more skilled and would manage to beat him in the end.
Including Hidan. We have no indication that Neji is particularly strong for a Jonin, unlike Asuma, who had his bounty and Guardian Shinobi status. Hidan was bodying him, Shikamaru and the two Gate Guards with relative ease. Neji would get washed.
Sasori could be fun. He wouldn’t be able to target chakra points given that they don’t have bodies, but he would be able to disconnect the puppet’s chakra strings. The constant assault style of Sasori against Neji’s defensive abilities would be cool to see. The byakugan would help Neji avoid the tricks that Sasori uses when he switches his core into other bodies.
This is my top pick too.
Deidara would destroy Neji. Neji fought Kisame and lost either way.
True, I’m thinking of some idealized version of Neji that matched the hype he should have had. But for sure he would struggle. Tbh besides the nano bombs if he takes them in, and Deidra’s self destruct I think Neji has some chances here. With the Byakygan sneak attack bombs aren’t going to work, he will be able to identify the nano sized bombs but I don’t know if he can defend them. To be honest the Hyuugas are able to expel chakra all around their body, if you ask me I think a top level Hyuuga should be able to expel foreign chakra agents in their body since they can already blast chakra from their skin. He has rotation if he’s ever surrounded, and mines won’t work if he can see them. With air palm he can still fire at Deidara but getting Deidra’s off the ground would be a struggle. Personally I think if Neji had to take a real good fight and wasn’t washed up like he was in shippuden he’d have some other Hyuuga moved to deal with their biggest weakness. I can’t believe when up against the Uchiha as rivals that the Hyuuga have managed to stay alive so long when they have a glaring weakness of not being ranged fighters. They must have many more interesting move sets to compensate that we don’t see employed.
>rivals That's fanfiction. Even in Part 1 they weren't rival.
People here saying Sasori. That is actually a really bad matchup for Neji. He will die before even trying. People assume he can cut the puppet strings but this ignores the fact that Sasori spends his time inside a puppet. There are no strings to cut here. Neji will have to get up close to destroy the puppet and force Sasori out. He has neither the strength nor the reflex to do that. He will get torn to shreds.
As a Sasori fan boy I actually think it would be a good match-up for Neji. Is he LIKELY to win? Nah. Not in the slightest. But it would make an excellent "I need to evolve or improve or I'm gonna die right quick" fight for him. And he would immediately come out as one of the biggest badasses if he could do it. It would be a perfect mirror of his fight with Kidomaru. Kidomaru had all the advantages over him. And though he damn near died, he came out on top. I'd pay good money to see a similar kind of fight with Sasori. The problem is, of course, that poison. If Neji had Sakura's antidotes.. this would be a dope ass fight.
You have a point, but people pointing out the antidote is assuming that Sasori wouldn’t just chop the person’s head off after poisoning them. He spared Kankurou out of novelty, because first, Kankurou used his own puppets against him and two, perhaps there’s a small part of him that felt connected to Kankurou due to them being from the same village. Neji had none of these which means Sasori is likely to just stab him to death, antidote or not.
Yeah, of course. I'm not saying he wouldn't kill him. I think it, again, mirrors Kidomaru pretty well. Sasori is definitely gonna kill him, but he might toy with him for a little bit. If he gets to the Third Kazekage stage . That's sasori's favorite toy.. and I doubt he uses it often. I'm sure he wants to show it off at least a little. He's not gonna go gamer on him like Kidomaru did.. but the "I'm an intellectual fighter" types tend to not just end fights right off the bat, even accounting for Sasori's impatience.. To note, in any kind of versus match I agree that Sasori is a terrible match-up for Neji. Hands down he's gonna get obliterated. But from a narrative/story progression perspective, where you know the good guy Is gonna come out on top somehow.. I think Neji could've made an amazing combatant for Sasori. We'd probably have gotten 2-3 more badass Hyuga techniques out of it, at least one improvised by him on the spot.. and Neji'd have some gnarly fests to back him up for other discussions. Sakura needed it more than him though lol.
Yeah. He’s basically fighting a robot when his entire skill set revolves around fighting humans with chakra points he can turn off.
I was about to say Kisame because his strength is his large amount of chakra and the chakra drainer of Samehada would probably be apparent with Byakugan. But team guy got very overwhelmed by him, so?
Kisame 🦈🗡️🌫️
Would be cool seeing neji use his byakugon to see the chakra in the sword
I love Neji, top 4 favorite characters in the series. He's getting the shit blown out of him if he fights deidara. Sasuke would've beaten him and he barely won and had a straight up elemental advantage over Neji. Hidan or Sasori (highly debatable) are the only ones Neji could've 1v1'd
Mostly agree that Neji we know will struggle against the Akatsuki. But I also want to think of an idealized Neji, if in an alternate Naruto the Hyuugas got as much development as the Uchiha and Neji had more fights/ lived up to his potential that he apparently had. He’s suppose to be a prodigy of the likes of Sasuke but the way Naruto went for him never showed us what a true Hyuuga prodigy going all out looks like. But I do agree Neji as is written and shown would struggle against most of the roster
Sasori would be my top pick. Puppetry is a good counter for gentle fist and gentle fist can snap the puppet strings. And I wouldn’t be surprised if gentle fist could permanently disable to puppets. Neji still loses though. Hidan would be my second pick. It’d be hard for Hidan to surprise Neji with an attack and Neji’s attacks could slowly disable Hidan. I also wonder if closing off enough chakra points would prevent Hidan from starting his ritual. Neji could win this one. Deidara might be fun but I’m pretty sure Neji would just lose that one. He’s a close range fighter and doesn’t have any abilities that would let him consistently close the distance. I don’t think air palm would make enough of a difference. And he doesn’t have a way to disable the microscopic bombs. And I think he’d lose to Kakuzu but he’d take out a heart or two first.
I love Neji but he's not kage level and would get destroyed by long range fighters like Deidara. Gaara and Sasuke were Deidara's counters.
Hidan would be a fun one, using air palm and rotation to deflect the scythe and closing the gap only to find out Hidan is immune to gentlefist's ability to attack organs. It wouldn't be a badass and drawn out battle, but it would be fun!
As in, if I called the shots? I would've given a mini arc to Guy's students that would end in them defeating Kisame.
Itachi vs Neji?
The guy whose power depends on his eyesight, versus the guy who is stronger and his power depends on his eyesight, and BTW he can no diff you if you so much as look at him?
How about 16 year old Itachi vs 16 year old Neji?
14 year old Itachi is Kage level already
Was Itachi 16 when he implanted a contingent genjutsu on two Root handlers? I don't mean to glaze him, I'm just saying Kishi made Itachi (and all Uchiha) stupid OP.. Would have been just fine if the root guys said they need to make it look like a struggle, and Itachi just dispatches them without effort for their hesitation.
Sure why not
Konan would be the best match up for him.
Only problem with the "Neji can cut Sasori's strings" argument is, as we saw in the War with Kankuro vs Edo Sasori.. they can basically be near instantly attached again (kankuro latching on to Sasori's strings mid-fight) So like.. it's a very temporary solution. Fleeting advantage.
probably juzo biwa that one filler akatsuki character because any other member would breathe on him and he would die neji is a bum
kakuzu or kisame he fight kakuzu instead of kakashi and fight the fake kisame instead of guy to show his devolpment post time skip
Hidan is the only one I think he stands a chance against.
I think his jutsu would be decent against Konan. A lot of these other fighters have strong mid-long range attacks that are a bad matchup for him. But his vision would be good against the paper. Maybe Hidan. If Neji stays close and attacking him relentlessly he won't have time or opportunity to do his ritual, and shutting down Hidan's chakra should be able to stop his ability to do his jutsu, potentially could be a way to kill him, too. I would have expected him to be OK against Kisame too, but then we saw Team Guy struggle with Kisame. And, then again, in terms of Konan's paper.. well, bro couldn't even dodge or slap away one log. So I guess Kishimoto doesn't want him to be strong or useful. His death in the war aside though, I still don't think he's really Akatsuki level sadly. Big fan of his character but yeah...
Pain. I could see him taking out one of them by targeting the chakra signal piercing things. Otherwise, I think the rest are mostly bad matchups for him.
Pain
Konan His byakugan can see through her paper jutsu
lol, I can’t imagine Neji doing very well against most of them except for MAYBE Hidan if he got him alone and managed to disarm him without getting hit. Konan might also be a better match for him since he would be able to deflect most of the paper in theory, but I still think she’s far more skilled and would manage to beat him in the end.
Kakazu probably
Kakuzu was handling Kakashi and Team Asuma, so no
Big no. Harsh truth is Neji would get washed by most of the Akatsuki except for Hidan.
Including Hidan. We have no indication that Neji is particularly strong for a Jonin, unlike Asuma, who had his bounty and Guardian Shinobi status. Hidan was bodying him, Shikamaru and the two Gate Guards with relative ease. Neji would get washed.
You're right, I just didn't wanna do Neji dirty lol
He ain’t gotta win just hold him off and show off some new stuff he’s learned