Naruto is a character who makes a lot of promises and he tends to stick the landing -- I think it's interesting how Neji goes from a traditional victim of this to something more nuanced. When your fatalistic foil doesn't give you the traditional hero's narrative you may desire ...
When Naruto wins their fight he also wins their philosophical debate. Neji doesn't dwell on this promise of changing the Hyūga -- he's more concerned with Naruto's valuing of his genius. 'You are too good to restrain yourself to an expected fate.'
Neji's genius is core to his story. His father tells him he must live because he's a Hyūga so blessed with talent. He taught himself techniques of the main line he wasn't supposed to know; Hiashi states that the blood of the Hyūga is strongest in someone who can never be heir. At the end of Part I we see Hiashi training Neji, implying he's bending family rules. In this way changing the Hyūga was down to Neji, for being so exceptional, and for his capacity for forgiveness and love for his family. This is why Hiashi says that Hinata and Neji fighting side-by-side in the war is evidence that their family has changed.
(Now, Naruto's words do suggest further more actionable change was desired, and that does remain frustratingly ambiguous.)
This is all very interesting, but it is, of course, not what Naruto promised. However, the exchange was more complicated than that. He prefaces his promise by saying, "Look, I may not understand the tragic destiny of the Hyūga clan or whatever, but ... if you think it's inescapable, fine! Then stop fighting it already!!" This is a conditional that draws attention to the fact Neji hasn't been as passive as he claims fate demands of him; it's Naruto saying 'If you deny you can, I will, but --' and this is bookmarked by his words to Neji after the KO blow:
"Even a caged bird, when it smartens up, will try to open the cage door with its beak."
This is the root of their relationship, what we can gather from Naruto's last words was implicitly understood by them both, and why Neji works so well as a foil of Naruto's. It's why Naruto beating Neji here means so much to him even years and years later. Naruto thinks very highly of Neji. He thinks so highly of him that it's as important to him as anything that his philosophy won: he can't see Neji as passive, because Neji needs to decide his own fate in order to keep proving Naruto right. It's a well-earned victory.
Of course, Naruto's strongest foils tend to have the independent streak to challenge him in ways he might not like. Sasuke spent most of the series doing this, and I like how Boruto recently gave us Shikamaru on his #SIGMAMALE grind with his "Naruto probably wouldn't take this route [befriend then betray our enemies] ... but I'm not him." This gets us to Neji's death.
Naruto vows to never let a comrade die; Naruto has seen comrades come dangerously close to death for him. It's a very sensitive subject for him.
He's always been able to pull through -- although there's also often outside factors (Iruka can tank a giant shuriken, Haku didn't really want to kill, Sakura is there to help Hinata) ... then with Neji, we get him interjecting himself into the narrative back-and-forth that's building between Naruto and Obito, by pulling an Obito.
Naruto carries forth Neji's legacy as Kakashi carried forth Obito's. Obito says you can't save your friend, and really says, 'You can't save me.' And so on and so forth. However, Obito "died" with regrets, wishing he'd told Rin how he felt, wishing to go on with his team, while Neji comes across much more at peace. His sacrifice feels both more intentional and more evolved; it is a freedom for him.
People want to sacrifice themselves for Naruto. Naruto has never really had to face it head-on in this way before, however. Either they survive, or it was outside of his sphere of influence. Here, It is theoretically within his power to save Neji, but he doesn't; he has to let Neji follow his own philosophy instead of submitting to this narrative of 'Hero Naruto' that been building through the series, and especially through the war.
Naruto will save the day! ... But Itachi warns him that there's also an arrogance to presuming you have to do everything yourself; of forgetting the comrades who got you this far.
Neji is the one to prove that Naruto isn't infallible. Neji is someone Naruto admires; Neji is someone who says, 'We can decide our own fates? Then I decide one that upsets you.' 'You don't see me as a victim -- then you can't see this as a failure.' Neji's last words are just, "Hinata loves you, and so you hold her life [she will die for you] -- just as you hold my life [I of course will die for you too.]"
If you want to be beloved, accept the consequence of it: your fate, being decided by others. Bonds are what you have fought for your whole life, and they are the greatest thing you can ever have, but they will also cost you. Naruto goes #BEASTMODE when people he loves 'die' because it represents a fundamental loss of control that he has to accept and overcome. 'Love and its costs.'
In this way Neji is answering Naruto's philosophy and not giving him an easy out for it. Naruto's promises can never really be simple promises with him because Neji is too persistent, and Naruto has too high an opinion of Neji to ignore what Neji says, believes, does. This is to the strength of Neji's character -- used in both senses -- and it is the strongest argument for his death working. This is Naruto's story, and in Naruto's story there has to be some kind of sacrifice: but since he insisted he'd never let it happen, Neji takes the choice from him, because only Neji could.
annaxmalina
titsay
