Akasuna
Jōnin Strategist 🧠
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Neji's initial principles and scales used in judging a Shinobi's destiny, something he attributed or at least considered to be equivalent or based upon said Shinobi's worth are generally accepted to be flawed.
As I found myself reviewing certain chapters in the Chuunin Exams arc of the manga (most specifically Neji's duels with Hinata and Naruto respectively), my interest has once again been piqued by this character's dialogue. So allow us to begin, how exactly does he classify 'destiny?'
As I found myself reviewing certain chapters in the Chuunin Exams arc of the manga (most specifically Neji's duels with Hinata and Naruto respectively), my interest has once again been piqued by this character's dialogue. So allow us to begin, how exactly does he classify 'destiny?'
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"People cannot change, differences are born." "You could say that everything is decided when a person is born." "Those that become Hokage are decided by destiny." "You don't become it [Hokage] by trying, you become it by destiny." "Your destiny is to lose to me. There's no doubt."
Neji believed in Destiny to the extreme; hence his disdain towards Lee - his own teammate - and on a lesser extent his own sensei, Gai: they were failures. The Main House and its relationship with its Branch House counterpart had mislead him, so we were told, to believe that there was no changing Destiny; as his father had been unfairly chosen to sacrifice himself for his brother. That in the end, it was going to be his destiny to sacrifice himself to the Main House. And even more so, it was Naruto's destiny to lose to him.
As we all know, that was not the case; with the help of the Kyuubi, Naruto was able to defeat Neji.
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"Since you're not a loser like me."
With this simple sentence, Naruto had 'elucidated the error in Neji's ways.' He had proven that a 'loser like him' could defeat a 'genius' such as Neji. In other words, and pardon my French, Neji's destiny theory had been proven bullshit. All of Naruto's 'hard work' had paid off, and he had been able to defeat Neji because of his 'hard work'.
Or had it been?
With this simple sentence, Naruto had 'elucidated the error in Neji's ways.' He had proven that a 'loser like him' could defeat a 'genius' such as Neji. In other words, and pardon my French, Neji's destiny theory had been proven bullshit. All of Naruto's 'hard work' had paid off, and he had been able to defeat Neji because of his 'hard work'.
Or had it been?
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Suddenly, everything Neji spoke about, everything he lived for was resuscitated. This chapter was a breakthrough for me: was Neji truly correct in his beliefs? Of course, Naruto's destiny wasn't to lose to him; Naruto's destiny was to become the fabled Child of the Prophecy, and save the world! Neji believed that one's Destiny is decided from birth, and it's unchangeable. That can very well be true.
Well for starters, allow us to see the role that Destiny represents in modern and ancient Philosophy.
This is the generally accepted modern term representing Destiny, what with the earliest known representations of said theory being observed in Hellenistic Civilization some few centuries back (the timeframe considered to be accurate for the Hellenistic Period is 323 BC - 3 BC in Greece) with Fortune. Fortune is considered to directly parallel Destiny in the fact that they're both horribly ironic.
This information was utilized even further in following Greek Mythology and otherwise Fiction. Many Greek tales teach the futility of trying to outmaneuver and inexorable fate that has been correctly predicted; the same Destiny that Neji believes in.
An example of Destiny would be this: A person is born and believes that their Destiny is to die by a certain person's hand. But in fact, their Destiny is to die by another person's hand. Just because what they believed to be their Destiny is not their Destiny does not mean their Destiny was changed; a perfect example of which would be Naruto and Neji. We're left with some vital questions: was Neji on the right track, even if some of his beliefs were wrong? Is Destiny truly something that is inescapable?
These theories correlate to some extent with Taoism, a belief that two beings can collaborate to create something greater. As we've seen multiple times throughout the Narutoverse, Kishi loves to incorporate both Mythology and Taoism in his works.
This is just something I found interesting while reading through the older chapters. Thanks for reading, once again.
