Neji Hyuga

Neji had long, black hair, which was normally described as dark brown. Before, his hair reached the middle of his back and was tied back a few inches above the end in a loose ponytail, with two strands attached to a smaller band under his forehead protector, framing the sides of his face. Later, he got rid of those strands and allowed his hair, which is now longer, to frame his face instead.

Neji demonstrated great confidence in Naruto's ability to change others, as he stated that the latter could rescue Sasuke and bring him back to Konoha. However, it seems he lost hope in Sasuke and gave up on the idea that even Naruto could bring him back, as Sasuke became an international criminal who could drag Konoha into a devastating international war. Furthermore, Neji began trying to mend his strained relationships with himself and the members of the main family, particularly by becoming kinder to Hinata and his uncle Hiashi. It was also shown that, since then, he has been training with Hinata, challenging each other in order to improve their skills.

Neji displayed similar efforts to express his philosophy during his fight with Naruto Uzumaki, who, despite being repeatedly struck by him, continued to try and fight with him. Although Neji tried to show Naruto that destiny cannot be fought, and that someone who is weak will always remain weak, Naruto was unwilling to accept this mentality, arguing that Neji, for all his belief in destiny, does not accept his own destiny. After Naruto defeated Neji, he suggested that if a "failure" like him could change his destiny, he thought a "genius" like Neji could do the same. From this experience, Neji came to see Naruto's ability to save people from "darkness" and believed that he could save anyone, since Naruto saved him from his "darkness". With this example of overcoming "fate," as well as discovering the truth about his father's death soon after, Neji abandoned the concept of inescapable destiny. No longer limited by the idea that he was trapped in his current state, Neji resolved to become strong enough to never lose a battle again. To do this, he began to place more emphasis on working well with his team and began to value the successful completion of a mission and the safety of his teammates in his own self-improvement, even encouraging Rock Lee to continue pursuing his own dream. His abandonment of the concept of inescapable destiny was most prominent during his fight with Kidoumaru, where, despite the Oto ninja knowing the Byakugan's weak point and Neji being severely injured, he was still able to fight and eventually defeat Kidoumaru because he remembered what Naruto had told him.

Neji was extremely serious and mature for his age, and had great control over his emotions. Before and during the Chunin Exams and his fight with Naruto, he was cold and somewhat arrogant. In his younger years, Neji was a kind, more optimistic child who smiled more often. He even told his father that he thought Hinata was "pretty" when the two branches of the Hyuga clan gathered for her third birthday. While under the belief that his father had died because he was a member of the branch family, Neji concluded that destiny is something decided at the moment of birth and that no matter what one does, people cannot escape their fate. Neji applied this many times to people he considered weaker than himself, such as his cousin, Hinata. During their fight in the Chunin Exams preliminaries, Neji told Hinata that she was unfit to be a ninja because she was too kind and lacked confidence. When she was finally able to turn his philosophy against him, telling him that she believed he was suffering trying to become worthy of the main family despite being born into the branch family, Neji became enraged and attempted to attack Hinata. He was stopped by the jounin present, but Hinata was nevertheless left in critical condition due to his earlier attacks.