Who is Sasuke Uchiha 101: Everything You Wanted To Know
By Matteo Drelli. Updated Aug 23, 2023
Sasuke Uchiha, the Character
He is designed to be the best friend of Naruto Uzumaki, the protagonist of the series, possessing numerous physical and psychological characteristics opposite to the latter. Several trade magazines have expressed positive criticism of the character, while others see him as the stereotypical "rival" of the latter, comparable to many other shōnen.
Despite this mixed judgment of critics, Sasuke is an extremely popular character among fans of the series: in the rankings of the Japanese magazine Shōnen Jump, from his first appearance to the present, he has always occupied the top four positions, reaching first place on several occasions.
In the beginning, he is presented as a positive figure. The young ninja is part of Team 7. Still, at the end of the first part of the manga, he abandons his comrades. He becomes an anti-hero, consumed by hatred and a thirst for revenge (these feelings will change him totally, making him unrecognizable in the eyes of the entire Village).
Initially, Kishimoto did not intend to create Sasuke. However, in a discussion with his editor, he was advised to develop a rival for the manga's protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki. Thus, the author decided to read an immense amount of manga to gather insights into how he could create a good rival, so he created Sasuke. Unlike Naruto, who lives by emotions, Kishimoto always tries not to make Sasuke too emotional. So Naruto's ideal rival was this cold, rational boy.
At the stage of character design and development, there were a variety of problems. Sasuke is considered the most difficult character in the Naruto series. The author initially had no specific ideas. Initially, with the first drawings, Sasuke seemed too mature. Recall that Sasuke is the same age as Naruto, so he could not have been that mature. Once he found a suitable face, Kishimoto had to work on the character's overall appearance. Initially, he filled him with ornaments, necklaces, and many other items typical of Kishimoto's characters. However, Kishimoto realized he was overcomplicating the character, so he opted for a simpler design.
In depicting Sasuke, the author often makes mistakes and often loses the youthful appearance he was meant to have. Sasuke's hair remains short, but during the series, it becomes longer and becomes very complicated to depict him. Despite the effort, Kishimoto loves depicting Sasuke and considers him the most beautiful to draw.
In the second series, Sasuke was to be even cooler. The author tried to give him different clothing styles. After several attempts, we notice a shimenawa around his waist, similar to the style of Orochimaru, another character in the Naruto series with whom Sasuke spends time.
Personality of Uchiha Sasuke
When Sasuke is placed on Team 7 along with Naruto, and Sakura Haruno, he immediately demonstrates a remarkable indifference to his teammates. Sasuke appeared to be more autonomous.
He believes that they cannot help him in the murder of Itachi, which is not initially mentioned.
This first impression of his comrades will prove wrong when Sakura proves to be a very useful source of information and Naruto a rival, leading him to improve himself more and more. Although Sasuke is always closed and cold, he begins to open up more and more with his two new companions. He even begins to risk his own life for their sake, unaware that he can no longer avenge Itachi with his death.
Although there is a period of happiness in the Leaf Village, the young ninja always maintains a desire to hone his skills. During the first part of the series, he clashes with increasingly strong opponents, such as Haku and Gaara, gradually discovering his weaknesses and learning how to neutralize them. Initially, he is pleased with his improvements, but he notices that Naruto is improving much faster than his own. This thing leads Sasuke to believe that his rate of improvement is dropping. He begins to treat his friends as enemies to improve his abilities.
He believes that the only one who has a chance to improve his strength is Orochimaru, so he decides to escape from the Leaf Village. Sakura and Naruto tried to stop him. Sakura tries to make him stay in the Village, saying that Sasuke and Sakura should be engaged, but she fails. So Sasuke and Naruto start fighting together, but Naruto loses. Sasuke has a chance to kill him but decides to leave him alive and escape from Orochimaru. He does not want to become like his brother Itachi, so Sasuke leaves the Leaf Village without killing anyone.
Two and a half years pass and Sasuke's only reason for living is to kill Itachi, so much so that he donates his body to Orochimaru (he will get the cursed seal) in order to have a chance to kill him. Sasuke becomes superior to Orochimaru in strength, and he rebels against and defeats him.
By this time, we understand that Sasuke is no longer what we have seen previously. Although he has done everything to achieve his goal, he still maintains his ethics, finding the experiments Orochimaru was doing disgusting.
After killing Itachi and realizing that Itachi has been manipulated by Konoha (the Leaf Village), Sasuke remains cool. Still, beyond that, he unleashes a tremendous hatred toward the Leaf Village.
After taking down his enemies (including Madara Uchiha and Kaguya along with Naruto Uzumaki) and talking with Itachi, Sasuke returns to the Leaf Village and decides to become Hokage (although he will not succeed).
Despite all these adversities, Naruto and Sasuke consider themselves best friends.
Who is Sasuke in Naruto
Sasuke is a member of the Uchiha Clan, the son of Fugaku and Mikoto, and the younger brother of Itachi (his Uchiha family). Even though Sasuke demonstrates great ability, his brother Itachi is far superior to him, but he recognizes his little brother's skill. Sasuke is also a very dedicated boy in study and training, but he doesn't particularly like anything.
As Itachi begins to move away from the Uchiha, Sasuke is able to gain the first accolades of his father, who teaches him the Supreme Fireball Technique.
One night, returning from the academy, Sasuke discovers that his brother Itachi is responsible for the Uchiha Clan massacre. His big brother tells him that he never loved him, leaving Sasuke without speech. From then on, Sasuke Uchiha's only reason for living will be his desire to kill his older brother and avenge the clan ("Itachi killed the Uchiha clan, and I will restore my clan!").
Having completed the ninja academy and been promoted to genin, Sasuke joins Team 7, captained by Kakashi Hatake, along with Naruto and Sakura.
He immediately demonstrates his exceptional skills on his first mission to the Land of Waves. Sasuke is confronted with two Chunin from the Village of Fog sent to kill Tazuna. He is the bridge builder his team was tasked to protect. He fights on an equal footing with Haku by activating the Sharingan for the first time until he sacrifices himself to save Naruto, who is being killed.
Back in the Village, Sasuke participates with his team in the Chunin selection examinations, targeted by Orochimaru, who, eager to take possession of his body and Sharingan, marks him with the Cursed Sign. During subsequent confrontations, Sasuke faces Yoroi Akado and, later, Gaara, but his confrontation with the latter will be interrupted and then continue unofficially; the Sand ninja will later be defeated by Naruto, who rushed to his comrade's aid.
After the attack on the Leaf Village, Sasuke initially discovers that Itachi has returned to the Village and later goes to him to kill him. Despite his improvements, Sasuke is easily defeated and humiliated by his brother, who does not think he is strong enough to kill him because he does not hate him enough.
Sasuke, humbled by the bitter defeat in the confrontation he had been waiting for all his life and by Naruto's continued progress, thus comes to realize that he must make a very specific choice to be able to deal with Itachi at his best and increase his strength: to distance himself from all the people with whom, up to that point, he had formed a bond since those kinds of feelings would hinder the other feeling in his heart, namely hatred for his brother, and risk not becoming strong enough to carry out revenge for his clan.
He later confesses this to Naruto as well, during their confrontation at the Valley of Epilogue, in which he explains to Naruto that it is because of bonds that one suffers, but he, not having had a family or siblings, cannot understand what it means to lose those bonds forever. Naruto admits that he does not know what it might feel like but that Sasuke is like a brother to him, being one of his first bonds, and that is why he has no intention of losing him and letting him go to Orochimaru.
Sasuke tells Naruto that he knows what it is like to be alone and that this leads people to be strong. For this reason, if he were able to break the bond with him, his best friend, as well, he would become even stronger, besides the fact that it was Itachi who told him that to achieve his power, he would have to kill his best friend himself.
Thinking, therefore, that that is the right way to focus on his goal, Sasuke decides to join Orochimaru in order to become powerful enough to defeat Itachi. During his escape from the Village, he is stopped by Sakura, who, having always been in love with him, decides to confess her love for him, hoping to make him stay; however, Sasuke, after thanking her, knocks the girl out so that she cannot follow him, laying her on a bench. He then joins the Sound Quartet, which gives him the gift of the second level of the Cursed Sign, but on the way, he encounters Naruto, who arrives there to stop him. In the confrontation that follows, he manages to prevail over his friend, deciding not to kill him, partly not to act as his brother had told him, choosing to gain power in his way.
Who is Sasuke in Naruto Shippuden
After training with Orochimaru for about three years, Sasuke is found by Team 7, now consisting of Naruto, Sai, Sakura, and Yamato. They confront him to bring him back, but Sasuke refuses and defeats them.
Sasuke also gets rid of Orochimaru (although it will be Itachi during the confrontation with his brother, who kills Sasuke's master, sealing him in an eternal illusion). Sasuke forms a new team consisting of Suigetsu Hozuki, Karin Uzumaki, and Jugo.
While searching for Itachi, Sasuke is forced to confront Deidara, winning him only through the sacrifice of Manda. After this battle, Itachi arranges to meet his brother at the Uchiha's lair to settle a fight, and here the extremely tough fratricidal battle takes place. During the clash, Sasuke is very close to death, but finally, it is Itachi who succumbs, crushed by the disease from which he suffered. At the end of the clash and unconscious, he is taken away by Tobi, who reveals to him the truth about his brother: he was commissioned by advisors Danzo Shimura, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane to kill his entire clan, ready to stage a coup against the Leaf by starting a civil war. Upon learning the truth about his brother's sacrifice and the path of dishonor and loneliness, he had taken to save the Village, Sasuke decided to destroy the Leaf and, after renaming his team to Hawk, joined the Akatsuki.
After he fights with Killer Bee, a carrier force of the Eight-Tailed Ox, Sasuke sets out for the Village. He is blocked by Tobi, who informs him of Pain's destruction of the Leaf and Danzo's appointment as the Sixth Hokage; he then decides to go to the Kage summit in the Iron Country to take revenge against Danzo, one of those responsible for the extermination of his clan. There, accompanied by the rest of Team Taka, he confronts Raikage A, Kazekage Gaara the Mizukage Mei Terumi, and Tsuchikage Onoki, being rescued by Tobi, who plans to talk to the Kage. Despite his escape, Danzo is tracked down by Tobi, who brings Sasuke to the scene. After a very hard fight, Sasuke succeeds in killing Danzo (he thought it was worth killing) but is shortly joined by Team 7, with whom Sasuke engages in a brief fight. Due to the use of his Hypnotic Sharingan, Sasuke's eyesight has greatly deteriorated, and upon arrival at one of Alba's lairs, he asks Tobi to have Itachi's eyes transplanted. After the transplant, Sasuke remains in the lair guarded by the White Zetsu.
At the end of his recovery period, Sasuke kills the original white Zetsu to test his new powers. He then leaves the lair but is soon joined by some copies of Zetsu, from whom he learns of the ongoing war. After killing them, Sasuke is determined to confront Naruto and carry out his revenge. Still, during his approach to the conflict, he encounters his older brother Itachi, who, after being brought back to life by Kabuto and freed from his control, is on his way to the latter. Sasuke then follows his brother, finding himself fighting alongside him against Kabuto Yakushi. The two brothers defeat Kabuto, managing to stop the Resurrection Technique. Before disappearing altogether, Itachi shows Sasuke the truth, namely what led to the extermination of the Uchiha clan; thanks to his brother, Sasuke realizes that he does not have to be manipulated by anyone.
Meanwhile, Suigetsu and Jugo arrive, bringing him the scroll they found. After reading it, Sasuke resurrects Orochimaru since he is the only one who can do what is written on the scroll (break the Devil's Seal) through Kabuto's flesh and Anko's cursed sign chakra. Orochimaru resurrects the four previous Hokage to give Sasuke a chance to decide his future. After learning about the history of Hashirama and Madara, Sasuke decides to help the Village in the Fourth Great Ninja War. Upon arriving on the battlefield, Sasuke then openly declares that he wants to become Hokage so that he can change the Village and thus prevent the situation they all find themselves in from happening again in the future. Immediately, Team 7 prepares to face the Decacoda. Sasuke with Naruto focuses alone on their confrontation with Obito Uchiha, who has now become the Decacoda's leading force. At the moment when Obito is defeated, Sasuke encounters paralyzed Hashirama who gives him a technique that can block Madara's hermit chakra. When he attempts to attack Madara, he is pierced by his sword in Madara's hands. While in a state between life and death, he meets in his mind the Hermit of the Six Paths, Hagoromo (who is talking at the same time as Naruto in his mind). He has a conversation with him in which he explains many things, including the origin of chakra and ninja arts, his sons (Indra and Ashura), and the eternal war between them. Still, most relevantly, he tells him that he is the reincarnation of Indra, the eldest son, while Naruto is the reincarnation of Ashura. After finishing the conversation, Hagoromo gives Sasuke the yin power with the Rinnegan while he gives Naruto the yang power with the six paths hermit mode.
After returning to the world of the living, he fights alongside Naruto against Madara, who has absorbed the power of the Decacoda in the meantime. Later Madara activates the infinite Tsukuyomi, trapping the entire world in illusion, but Team 7 manages to save itself thanks to Sasuke's perfect Susanoo. Obito, controlled by Black Zetsu, then attacks Madara from behind, who reveals that he purposely made him believe that he created him. Still, it is the will of Princess Kaguya Ootsutsuki, the Hermit's mother and the true orchestrator of the plan. Later Black Zetsu tells Naruto and Sasuke his story, revealing that he changed the inscriptions on the Ucicha stele so that he could use them without their knowledge to resurrect his mother. After a tough fight, Naruto and Sasuke defeat and seal Kaguya with the help of Kakashi and Sakura. Immediately after the fight, however, Sasuke reveals that he plans to kill the five Kage and seal the nine seekers, as he is intent on revolutionizing the entire ninja world to wipe out the darkness from the ninja villages. This darkness has led Uchiha and his brother to their deaths.
In the Valley of Epilogue, Sasuke fights Naruto in their final fight, which ends in a draw and the loss of an arm for both of them. Exhausted and now without even the strength to get up, Sasuke eventually admits his defeat and decides to return with Naruto and the others to the Leaf Village, where Kakashi (who has become Hokage), at Naruto's request, absolves him of his previous crimes. He then decides to leave again to follow a path of redemption, despite Sakura informing him that Tsunade is developing a new arm for him and Naruto obtained from Hashirama's cells. However, he promises Sakura to return (he married Sakura). Upon exiting the Village, Sasuke meets Naruto, who hands him the old coverlet, a sign that this time he is not leaving the Village to abandon it but is leaving as a ninja from Konoha. So Sasuke continues his journey alone.
Sasuke's Skills: Better Than Naruto Uzumaki?
Sasuke is capable of using many skills, but these two are his two most important ones.
Sharingan
Sasuke awakens his Sharingan at the age of seven, with one tomoe in each eye, after watching Itachi assassinate the clan; due to the trauma, however, at the beginning of the manga, he cannot activate it or remember doing so.
The first battle in which he uses the Sharingan is against Haku. On this occasion, he has two tomoe in his right eye and one in his left: from then on, Sasuke steadily improves his eye skill, obtaining two tomoe in each eye during the examination to become a Chunin in the Forest of Death and three in both during the clash with Naruto in the Valley of End. His mastery in its use improves greatly through training with Orochimaru, so much so that when he penetrates Naruto's mind to talk to the Fox, the latter asserts that his eyes give off a chakra even more sinister than Madara Uchiha's. However, Sasuke had not yet awakened the hypnotic Sharingan.
After discovering the truth about Itachi, Sasuke awakens the Hypnotic Sharingan, equipped with three powerful techniques: the Amaterasu, the Kagutsuchi, and the Susano'o.
However, the excessive use of the Hypnotic Sharingan reduces Sasuke to near-total blindness. Therefore, after his confrontation with Danzo and brief confrontation with his former Team 7 comrades, the young Uchiha asks Tobi to transplant Itachi's eyes into him to obtain the Eternal Hypnotic Sharingan. The new eye looks like an overlay of the two brothers' Mangekyo and gives Sasuke even greater power and control over his old techniques.
Rinnegan
After obtaining some of the power of the Hermit of the Six Paths, Sasuke acquires Yin power and develops the Rinnegan with six tomoe like the Hermit in his left eye. With it, he gains the ability to be able to touch Madara's chakra receivers without being affected. He also can glimpse targets located in Limbo. His Susano'o becomes impenetrable to the infinite Tsukuyomi. In addition to all the techniques peculiar to this eye, Sasuke also gains one of teleportation called Amenotejikara.
Using this new eye appears to be more strenuous than the Sharingan, and Sasuke needs a few minutes to recharge its power between uses.
Sasuke proved from the start to have exceptional control of this new power by being able to use the Divine World to simultaneously seal the nine seekers with the Chibaku Tensei and the Preta World to absorb Naruto's chakra by simple contact; the Yin power can also generate a genjutsu so powerful that it can control all nine beasts at once, and he also proved that he could channel the chakras of all nine demons within his Susano'o: in this state, in which moreover the Susano'o attains an even different form, he can use his most powerful strike, the Arrow of Indra, with which he can counter two of Naruto's most powerful techniques simultaneously. Again thanks to Hagoromo's power, Sasuke can cast a sealing technique with Naruto powerful enough to relegate Kaguya to it forever.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who Should Sasuke End up With?
Sasuke gets married to Sakura. Although Sakura and Sasuke's relationship does not feature much in the series, they love each other (Sasuke's character is cold and closed)
Is Sasuke Hated?
In the series, maybe some characters hate him, but the fandom loves Sasuke so much. Many fans focus on Sasuke throughout the series.
Can Sasuke Beat Naruto?
It was seen several times in the series that Sasuke could beat Naruto. They are about the same strength.
Sasuke Uchiha Quotes
Here are some of Sasuke Uchiha's most famous quotes.
- No man chooses evil because he is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.
- It's not the future I dream of anymore, only the past.
- The people that are the hardest to love are usually the ones who need it the most.
To see more Sasuke Uchiha quotes, we recommend visiting the Sasuke Uchiha Quote section in Quotes Analysis.
We hope we have been helpful to you in this "Who is Sasuke" article, and we hope you have a better understanding of who this amazing character of the anime world is!
