The Fourth Great Shinobi War was one of the most devastating battles in Naruto Shippuden. Out of all the people who sacrificed their lives during the war, one was Hinata Hyuga’s older brother Neji Hyuga.
The war was initiated by Obito Uchiha, or Tobi, who was the mastermind behind Akatsuki. With the help of Kobuto, Tobi was able to revive Madara Uchiha to fight against the Five Great Shinobi Countries and the samurai nation of the Land of Iron. All the shinobi from these lands banded together to push back against Tobi’s scheme, but Madara and Tobi were still able to wreak havoc with the help of the Ten-Tails they were controlling.
Some fans think that Sasuke had the power to stop Neji’s death
Neji Hyuga, who was one of the greatest prodigal shinobi fighting in the war sacrificed his life to save that of Naruto. He died on the battlefield after being impaled by the wooden barrages he tried to shield Naruto from. His death was one of the most devastating losses of the war.
In the world of Naruto, there are Three Great Dōjutsu, Sharingan, Byakugan, and Rinnegan. A Rinnegan user can be identified by the concentric circles that cover their eyeball. Sasuke was able to awaken his Rinnegan after receiving half of Hagoromo Otsutsuki’s chakra in his battle against Kaguya. With this technique, he was able to access all the Six Paths Techniques, which technically granted him the power to open the Naraka Path and awaken the King of Hell.
The Naraka Path grants the user the ability to store someone’s soul into the body of the King of Hell after removing it from the original body through the Human Path. Which will technically allow them to transport said person’s soul somewhere else and revive them at a later time. Since Sasuke had awakened his Rinnegan before the battle, some people tend to think that he would have been able to use this power to save the lives of Neji and many others who tragically perished during the war.
It was not possible for Sasuke to save Neji
Despite its immense power, Rinnegan is extremely complicated to fully unravel and master. No other Rinnegan user after Nagato was able to open all of the Six Paths. Since Sasuke only awakened his Rinnegan during the war, it was not possible for him to be able to control and master all of its power without proper training in such as short time. Moreover, as we saw during the Rinne Revival, opening the Naraka Path takes a lot out of the user’s own body to the point where they will lose their own lives trying to awaken someone else.
When Neji died on the battlefield, Sasuke was not even present there as he was busy elsewhere with tactical planning. Sasuke was neither responsible in any way for Neji’s death, nor did he have much personal connection with him which would have inspired him to risk his own life to save the others.
He was understandably upset when he heard about Neji’s death later after the war was over. But it would have been physically impossible to have saved Neji from the fate that befell him. Although Neji’s death was extremely upsetting, especially for his younger sister Hinata and Naruto, it was in no way preventable as he gave up his own life trying to save Naruto.
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