Neji vs gaara (chunin exams)

For ****s sake. 🙄

In order to use the heavenly palms spin only works when Neji's stationary; the moment he tries to move it'll stop working.

Gaara's sand can hover nigh on indefinitely. Once Gaara surrounds Neji with the sand Neji's surrounded and he has no way of pushing it away for good. It would be like him trying to use the spin while underwater. As long as he's spinning he can keep the water away sure, but as soon as he stops the ocean will just rush right in.

Neji can never beat current Gaara. He wouldn't even be able to reach Chuunin Exam Gaara, since he can apparently teleport at will.

Yeah...changing this to current versions would put Neji at an even bigger disadvantage. Gaara is able to make Kage look pathetic.

And I'd imagine Gaara's sand armor would work in the way that Kidomaru's gold armor did.

The webs were used to slow the spin, sand could do similar.

Also, simply wearing Neji out by making his Rotation a lot is probably a winning strategy. As long as Gaara keeps his distance and makes Neji do it, the Hyuga will run out of steam.

I disagree since he injected it through Hinata's jacket, clothes, and skin. Those chakra points are several inches deep.

Those also aren't solid. Thin gold greatly reduced it, remember, and silica is harder than gold.

It's not just thickness that matters. The harder the defense, the more it'll take to get through.

If Gaara bunkers down he's spending his chakra holding the ball.

Gaara's jinchuuriki status means he can use chakra like water and still beat plenty of foes. Chunin exam Neji only had a stamina of 2.

Edit - Wait. Forgot this is Neji from chunin exams, as well. Maybe Neji doesn't have a chance. Neji needs his speed and seals to do well.

I thought it was current Neji versus Chunin exam Gaara.

Ah, yea, I could definitely see current Neji beating Chunin Gaara. His rotation can probably fling the sand away a lot further, giving him more room to counterattack, and he has more attack power (Ninjutsu rating 2.5 vs 4 means he's outputting a lot more chakra in his strikes, speed's at 4 which is now enough to be a serious issue for Gaara like you note, etc.) and wider range of attacks as well.

gaara didn't have that much sand though, not enough sand to warrant him defending say neji opening up with keiten and then going straight into 8-trigrams: 64 palms while gaara's sand is still "recovering"

Gaara can make sand. 64 palms has been beaten in two ways, both of them options for Gaara here.

during the chuunin exam days he didn't seem to be that resourceful

He was. Using clones, 3rd eye, etc. Sasuke Retrieval arc was not that far away from Chunin exams.

doesn't count

also, kidomaru's armour thing specifically blocks chackra as kidomaru was obviously kishi's anti-neji "coming of age" obstacle.

Neither of those statements are arguments.

how?

1) "gaara can make sand". true, but he was minus the shukaku's evil intent clouding his actions

2) "gaara's sand shell will protect him from gentle fist". not exactly since kidomaru's armour specifically stops chackra passage as well as blunt trauma. gaara's shell isn't known to have the chackra blocking property and it was damaged by a peer of neji's.

iirc kidomaru was oneshotted (the one attack that landed) right? hard to remember

1. Shukaku was still around when he was making sand later on. Chunin Exam Gaara is still shown to be intelligent so it's illogical to assume he wouldn't gather sand to use against a strong opponent.

2. Sand Armor might work in the same way Kidomaru's gold armor worked. It was strong enough to stand up to Lee's punches, which are pretty strong. Kido was oneshotted without armor on.

iirc neji did some sort of chackra thing through the thread in his shoulder that heavily damaged kidomaru.

anyway, kidomaru's armour stops chackra attacks on-panel, the only thing that saved him from getting completely destroyed by neji within like 2 minutes. blocking neji's finger chackra was the x-element i don't think gaara's has unless specifically stated.

Yes. Through the mouth. He then pummels him unarmored.

Kidomaru blocked his attacks with armor. Gaara has armor than also blocks attacks from strong fighters like Lee. Neji's attack requires him to get close to the actual chakra points. Armor makes this hard.

you can't avoid the fact that kidomaru's armour has a special property to it, yes both armours require close combat but that's not what we're discussing atm

iirc neji explained that he releases chackra from his tenketsu and when he strikes his chackra is what does the damage, not his actual blows.

The special property it had was it's gold, that's all. That, and chakra. Armor is harder for stuff to pierce.

And I'll note Gaara's sand has an 'x-element'/special property too- it's full of chakra as well.

I didn't recall it specifying that it blocks chakra. It does though, apparently. Though considering the things Gaara's armor has actually taken to the face, I think it's dense enough to protect his chakra points.

Originally posted by Q99
The special property it had was it's gold, that's all. That, and chakra. Armor is harder for stuff to pierce.

And I'll note Gaara's sand has an 'x-element'/special property too- it's full of chakra as well.

yeah no, it wasn't gold, it was gold-like and kidomaru knew he had to use it when facing a hyuuga for the specific benefit to defend against their gentle fist. oro instructed him at some point

let me find the scan

here we go

in the next page kidomaru still makes it clear he needs to stay the hell away from neji even with a trump card in his armour.

that pretty much settles that

Granted. Still, a layer of chakra-filled sand is thicker than that and is still going to provide protection.

That was one of the best fights in the manga. sighs. I miss old Naruto.