#.i have to reread neji's death like once a month for this blog

[everyneji]

Reading your last reply makes me want to add my take on Neji's battle mindset (mini?Meta in the ask box!)

Referencing the panel of pyrrhic victory, I think Neji was the type who would give up when the opponent is clearly stronger than him. If he were to battle Gaara who (most probably) would use Shukaku (like he did against Sauce), Neji would raise his hand to withdraw. It wasn't an empty taunt when he suggested Hinata or Naruto to give up. He would've done the same in their position. He's proud, but to him, resistance against an obvious outcome is pointless and foolish.

Naruto raised after being beaten by Neji countless times. But when Naruto punched Neji and Neji fell, he instantly admitted his loss because he realized Naruto was clearly stronger. Still, Naruto gave Neji hope to believe in his innate strength so he's indebted to him. He later processed the lesson and vocalized his goal for the first time (to be stronger than anyone).

Against Kidomaru, if it were pre-TnJ Neji, he would've thought "this is the end" and the battle outcome would've been set. But Neji kept thinking of a way to WIN even when the opponent is clearly stronger (inspired by Naruto), that's how he got the idea to take the arrow head on.

Him saying "I'm not dying so easily" is an extension to this mindset. Finding a reason to take risk against odds doesn't mean he'd want to throw his life away. I think he preferred stubbornly clinging to life rather than dying a heroic death.

But the situation where he died was... Well...

I have my own headcanon to cope bc It feels absurd to think he had no other ways to... hell, carry them, use a replacement jutsu and escape (screw Kishimoto's forced scenario and reasoning. If Neji's Kaiten can't deflect fast projectiles then it can't do crap!)

Whenever I see the panel my immediate thought is that he plainly body-shielded because Hinata did it. He paid respect to Hinata's preparedness to give her life away by showing that he has the same resolve. It could be a mix of his gratefulness, guilt, gentlemanliness, a still-hammered-into-brain formal respect towards "Hinata-sama", a subconscious action that is culmination of it all.

Just my headcanon though.

(Uuf it's a pretty long ask excuse me for this 😩)

Yes, I definitely agree with what you're laying out! Don't feel bad for the long ask, I enjoyed reading it. 😊

I think it's difficult to tell where the line blurs, that is, what is Naruto-induced inspiration and what was the result of logical deduction. The fight with Kidōmaru is about two smart people trying to outthink each other. His victory is clearly meant to echo Naruto's against his, tactics winning against a stronger opponent, but at the same time, his brains did not come from Naruto, and perhaps not (wholly) his desire to survive.

When we skip forward a few years, I think the sad truth (or at least, what Kishimoto intended) was that Neji was not operating at peak capacity. He was exhausted. It wasn't that long before his death that he was laid up, unable to move and apparently legally blind. Though I'll cape for his stamina + chakra stores + fact he can normally spin up when a projectile is an inch from his face, he was at the end of his rope. It's stated twice their techniques can't keep up. His injuries also evoke the ones he receives in the fight against Kidōmaru: his back is struck, his most vulnerable area. In other words, he thematically left himself open.

(My personal headcanon is a great deal more, um, complex and tragic and explores the lasting effects of suicidal ideation, but I save that for my sandbox.)

What I think is funny is imagining it going something like this: Neji sees the projectiles headed for Naruto, goes, "Well, he's a tank with an OP self-heal so this is fine," and then Hinata jumped in front of Naruto and he just went, "Oh, fuck it, fine ...." and by that point he really didn't have enough time to work.

Jokes aside, wrt his motivation I think Hinata being involved no doubt reinforced his decision, but notably his last words are entirely about and for Naruto. Effectively, he would have done the same thing if only Naruto was in danger (as I wish it had been written, because his history with Hinata is so complicated it muddies things.) Think of it this way: all our talk about Neji being practical and knowing when to sit back, and Neji going from this:

to:

So yes, he is showing the same resolve as Hinata, and I think it's a broader culmination of him coming to understand why Hinata would make the choices she did. Notably Naruto was a linchpin to saving the day in both scenarios, so the decision to prioritize Naruto's life is never really the question, which, hmm. Anyway, It's an interesting evolution to a character that was otherwise quite settled by the end of Part I.