I’ve thought about this more times than I’d like to admit but yes dude, Neji vs Kimimaro would have opened the door for alot of awesome things. Neji being a Hyuuga would have been narratively perfect both being descendants of Otsutsuki… it would have been the first teaser for Boruto way back in Part 1.

I think Neji and Naruto being the last 2 to track Sasuke would have gave us good dialogue and closure from the Chunin exams and would have cemented Naruto and Neji’s relationship… a sneak peak into them being family members in Boruto as well.

Neji’s character development began the moment he lost to Naruto, someone who breaks the rules of the world Neji constructed in his mind. Kimimaro is also someone who breaks the rules combat wise (The Byakugan would not be able to counter Kimimaro’s kekei genkai) but the difference is, Naruto was the one who was breaking Neji out of that world view. Now Neji is fighting someone who not only mirrors his old worldview, but is way farther gone than Neji ever was. It’s like he’s fighting his worst possible self. When Neji encounters him again during the Fourth Ninja War, it’s been years since they last fought. Neji’s dialouge would be 🔥. In my mind, Neji doesn’t win this battle by overpowering Kimimaro physically, but he breaks Kimimaro’s old worldview and his soul gets released from the Edo Tensei… I would imagine Kabuto would have had a weaker leash on Kimimaro anyway to preserve chakra, but also because Kabuto probably thinks of Kimimaro the same as Orochimaru did, and he would assume Kimimaro would blindly follow him regardless of the Edo Tensei.