Thread: Neji vs Sasuke pre-skip(chunnin exam)

Neji vs Sasuke. . . . (I should be working right now. . . )

Sasuke doesn't have it in him to kill Neji. I believe he is capable of it but unless Neji would/could in some way prevent him from fulfilling his goal, I dn't see it happening.
Neji as of right now in the anime (to avoid potential spoilers) has a lready decided to put his life on the line for the sake of the village and would not hesitate to kill Sasuke (as opposed to naruto who would hesitate).

Moving on to the more important aspects. . . .
Sasuke's Sharingan and Neji's Byakugan.
During the chunnin exam and up until now Neji's only showed to us his bloodline trait. Are there any jutsu he's particularly good at? Is he susceptible to genjutsu? If Neji did take on Sasuke alone he'd need more than just his Byakugan, I'm almost certain.
Sasuke pre chunnin exam had an under developed Sharingan. it was just tapping into its potential. He copied Lee's taijutsu, and now he's pretty darn fast (but I would not say as fast as Lee or Gai). In addition to this he developed the Chidori. Veyr nifty, but also very draining in terms of chakra. It was also during the chunnin exams that he recieved the curse mark from Orochimaru which allows him to tap into a reserve of power and also makes his fighting style a little more chaotic but effective (in terms of what we were used to seeing from him pre chunnin exams).
So pre chunnin exams I'd like to think Sasuke had the advantage.

Post chunnin exams. . . . . I think I'm leaning towards Neji.
Ignoring the characters and focusing on the bloodline traits, the level of Neji's Byakugan has surpassed Sasuke's Sharingan. Howeverm both are very good techniques to have depending on your situation.
The Byakugan is great for long range attacks.
The Sharingan (as Sasuke uses it) is only good for close range encounters. What good is it if you can't get close enough to your coponent.
Even with his chidori which Sasuke relies heavily on from time to time, if your opponent can see you before you get close, and can counter it, it's not gonna do much good.
But . . . . given Neji's abilities. . . . he has shown no elemental techniques. So we have no diea if he could effectively counter Sasuke's chidori without using his Byakugan (which is a chakra drainer). In addition to this, Sasuke's bloodline trait lies in his eyes. Following the parameters of the story, the only way Neji would be able to take Sasuke's Sharingan out of the picture is if he used his Gentle Fist on Sasuke's eyes. Since I don't see that happening quite that easily. . . you're gonna be in for a long uphill battle.

And I only give the win to Neji because he has a great deal of stamina. And because while he's not as fast as Sasuke, he's pretty darn fast. Sasuke has the speed but lacks the discipline.

Gosh darnit. . . I was supposed to be working. . . .