The Hyuga Clan: Part of the Naruto TCG

The Hyuga clan in the Naruto anime and manga are known for their innate Kekki Genkai bloodline trait the Byakugan. This ability makes them some of the fiercest and most formidable ninja around and in the Naruto trading card game, the story is much the same. The Byakugan is only half of the Hyuga's power, extreme taijutsu is their other key attribute that can easily overwhelm a foe, and now with the expansion Revenge and Rebirth hitting the tournament scene the Hyugas just got a lot more competitive.

The main players in the Hyuga lineage up until now were of course Hinata and Neji. They are just Genin level ninja, although Neji is one of the toughest turn 2 ninja in the game, and have not really shown too much promise aside from just being a couple of decent ninja. They have the ability to use the Byakugan in its two forms, neither of which are all that strong. One reason is because of its high cost, the second reason; there are just not enough Hyuga in the game, until now

With the set Curse of the Sand we were introduced to Hanabi Hyuga and Hiashi Hyuga. Both of which can use the Byakugan ability, and Hanabi is a turn 0 ninja with growth, while Hiashi is the Earth elements first turn 5 ninja. Hanabi is great, because she lowers the cost of every other Hyuga ninja in your deck, meaning Neji can come out on turn 1 and Hiashi can come into play on turn 4. This can give you a massive advantage during play.

Like I said, with Revenge and Rebirth hitting the scene we are introduced to a few new cards that will really help out the Hyuga family, like a turn 4 ninja! Hiashi's brother Hizashi makes an appearance with a nice ability. He's a 5 on attack, has the taijutsu attribute, Byakugan ability, and his effect allows you to discard him to stop your opponent from winning any battle rewards in that turn. Not the best, but it's decent.

Now for support cards, because a team of ninja cannot stand on their own power alone. Byakugan is a good jutsu card but the problem is the way the effect resolves during play. This makes it far less effective, still it can put a real kink in an opponents plan. Curse mark jutsu is good, but only Hiashi can use it, making it far from a playable card, and thus making Secret Mark of the Main Branch useless as well. The real power as in terms of jutsu lies in the few cards that add to your attack or up your defensive abilities.

8 Trigrams Palm Rotation is a signature move of Neji's and can also be used by members of the Hyuga clan that have a higher entrance cost. This card can really throw an opponent for a loop, especially when they expel a lot of time, charka and energy into taking out Hiashi or Neji, only to be thwarted by this card. Also the Super rare card Gentle Fist Style: 8 Trigrams 64 palms will devastate an opponent by possibly injuring all their in play ninja!

Other useful jutsu that are essential to the Hyuga's survival are Gentle Fist, a great addition plus hand destruction, and the two common taijutsu cards Leaf Hurricane and Leaf Whirlwind. Both cards are preformed by a character known as Rock Lee, but all they require is the Taijutsu combat attribute. Leaf Whirlwind adds 3 support and Leaf Hurricane adds 3 attack, both only costing 1 chakra! These cards in a taijutsu deck are a must and will always have your foe on edge because of their high power, and low cost.

Mission cards are something that the Hyuga clan lack. They have a few, but nothing like the ninja with the Sharigan Eye ability. Hyuga Lineage will grab you your Neji early on, and Insightful Eye will up the ability of the Byakugan, but that's really all the Hyugas have, of course they really don't need much considering the abilities they have in the jutsu department.

The Hyuga clan is now indeed a clan. In the first two sets of the game they were scattered, in the third set they were put back together loosely, and now with the fourth set, they are nearly complete. They have ninja to cover each turn except 3 and possibly that will come with time. They are a group of powerful ninja and an arsenal of powerful techniques to keep an opponent guessing, and it really does mess with their heads. I don't think a full blown Hyuga deck is possible at this point in time, because of the lacking amount of mission cards, but when they are teamed up with other good support teams, like Fire or water decks, the Hyugas can be devastating. They are a fun group of ninja to mess around with and will only get better as the sets in the game march onward!