That was Part I pal. Naruto quickly stopped being about hard work and determination (around the time when Minato was revealed as Naruto's dad) to lineage/teachers/associates and overpowering jutsu.
The OP is asking about Neji's logic, which was being branded for life and not being able to escape that destiny.
By the way, Naruto earns what he gets.
Jiraiya recognized Naruto's will to never give up, and Naruto lives up to that.
Kurama never cooperated with his host like he did Naruto, because Naruto was the only one to reach out so such "monsters" for their sake instead of his. Naruto accomplished this since he learned true pain after Jiraiya died and after his confrontation with Nagato. Naruto was able to find the loop hole in adding an element to Futon: Rasenshuriken and learning the Rasengan in such a low amount of time. Naruto mastered Sage Mode while there have been several before him who have failed. Naruto was near the bottom of his class, but accomplished all of this.
How could he accomplish such tasks? Motivation. Being Hokage was his goal, and never failed to mention it to others when the occasion arose. How did he master Rasengan and Futon: Rasenshuriken? He wanted to live up to the legendary Fourth Hokage, and worked to do so. Sage Mode? The mental pain given to him by the death of Jiraiya was enough to
motivate him to do so. He actually DID work for most of his stuff.. using his own ninja way too.
It's not all about lifting weights 24/7. What Naruto went through is much greater than that.