If Neji was the third member of Team 7

[Reviewing Logic]

Neji would still be that dark character and maybe push Sasuke to go and seek out Itachi or that Sasuke is a coward and can't change his destiny

this could've pushed Sasuke over the age with the added Naruto power gains

Neji would later change due to Naruto and regret what he said hence giving him a reason to go on that Sasuke retrieval mission