Sasuke Uchiha

is one of the main characters and the deuteragonist of the Naruto series. He was a genin-level shinobi of Konohagakure's Team 7, but later defected from the village becoming a missing-nin, an affiliate of Akatsuki and is now considered an international criminal. He is also one of the two remaining living Uchiha.

Background
Sasuke is the second and youngest son of the Konoha Military Police Force captain and Uchiha clan head: Fugaku Uchiha, and his wife Mikoto. Mikoto named him after the father of the Third Hokage in hopes that he would grow up to be a great ninja like his namesake. As a child, Sasuke grew up in the shadow of his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, who was an acknowledged prodigy viewed by the Uchiha clan as a genius, and whose work would further strengthen the bonds between the village and the clan. Sasuke's father in particular took an active interest in Itachi, thereby neglecting Sasuke. Itachi, on the other hand, was rather ambivalent and full of oddly conflicting undercurrents, acknowledging Sasuke by taking interest in his progress as a ninja and spending time playing with him when even their father did not. Even after Sasuke enrolled in the Academy, he was still unable to escape Itachi's shadow. Despite consistently scoring at the top of every class, Sasuke failed to receive any recognition from his father, who defined Sasuke's success only in terms of his older brother. Itachi acknowledged the rivalry Sasuke felt telling him: "We are brothers. I am the wall you must climb over, so you and I will continue to exist together." Nevertheless, Itachi deeply cared for his younger brother and Sasuke looked up to Itachi, wanting to be more like him.

The relationship between Itachi and his father deteriorated further after Itachi was questioned by other members of the Uchiha clan regarding the apparent suicide of his best friend, Shisui. As Itachi's behaviour became increasingly bizarre, Sasuke's father began spending more time with Sasuke, and began teaching him the Great Fireball Technique, a common family technique seen as a sign of coming of age in the Uchiha clan. When Sasuke first tried to perform the technique, he only produced a small flame and after that, some smoke. His father said that Itachi was able to do it on his first try at Sasuke's age, which disappointed him. Later, with one week of training, Sasuke (age 7 at the time) performed the technique in front of his father, proving himself a prodigy as well in his own right and finally receiving his father's recognition. Sasuke's father told him that he could now proudly wear the clan's emblem on his back. Following this, Sasuke also received a stern warning not to follow in Itachi's footsteps any further, surprising him as before, he was told to be like him; and his father showing he was proud of Sasuke for the first time the same way as he used to with Itachi.

At some point in the past, Sasuke joined Itachi on a mission to catch a wild boar. Sasuke was wielding a bow and was told by Itachi not to hit any vital points. However, Sasuke missed the boar completely. Eventually they defeated the boar and Sasuke apologised for being so off, Itachi responded by telling him that he needed to train more.

On one fateful night, Itachi slew every member of the Uchiha clan, sparing only Sasuke, saying that he was not even worth killing. In addition, Itachi told him, "You've always wanted to surpass me. That's why I'm going to let you live… if you wish to kill me, then hate me, despise me… and by all means flee, cling to your wretched life." Itachi also revealed to Sasuke where the secret meeting place of the Uchiha was hidden, and suggested that Sasuke go there to learn what the true history and purpose of the Sharingan was. He told him that "to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan," he "had to kill the person he was closest to", and that "when we battle, we should have the same eyes". Sasuke thought he had fainted after this, but later remembered that he had managed to stand back up, awaken his Sharingan, and pursued Itachi. Upon reaching Itachi, he used knives to knock off his forehead protector. Itachi was seen shedding a tear as he was picking up the forehead protector. He then proceeded to incapacitate Sasuke, who awoke in the hospital remembering only that which Itachi wanted him to.

When Sasuke first met Naruto Uzumaki in the Academy, they were matched to spar against each other. Naruto was excited at the opportunity to defeat Sasuke and become popular like him, but he was easily beaten. By looking at Sasuke's eyes, Naruto realised that they were so filled with hatred that it seemed that he wasn't even looking at Naruto. When Iruka told them to make the reconciliation seal, they both refused. Up until his graduation from the Academy, Sasuke remained a loner and never acknowledged Naruto's attempts to defeat him, considering him a hopeless dead-last and as such, someone not worth his time or energy.

Personality
When he was a child, Sasuke was very kind, loving towards his parents and older brother and respectful to his fellow clansmen as well as his teachers. He was even very proud of being Itachi's brother and Fugaku's son — famous for being devoted protectors of Konoha, and he desired to emulate them. His original dream was to join the Konoha Military Police Force when he grew up, like his father and as such greatly sought his father's approval and acknowledgement of his abilities. After Itachi massacred the clan, Sasuke's ideals and personality changed drastically due to him suffering his clan's curse and became cold, indifferent, cruel, cynical, somewhat arrogant, unreasonable and devoted the next nine years of his life to kill Itachi.

When first introduced to Team Kakashi, Sasuke displayed great indifference to his team-mates as well as others. Feeling superior to all of them, including his teacher, Sasuke was unwilling to cooperate with any of his team-mates, as he felt they would provide him no aid in furthering his ambition to kill his brother; this attitude affected his grades in the Academy after losing his clan, he had the lowest score in cooperation and second lowest in assertiveness. However over time, as he interacted more with his team mates on a day-to-day basis, he began to see them as somewhat of a family and Sasuke started to lose some of his hatred, caring more about his team than his revenge. Sasuke even admitted to Naruto that he almost thought that he must forget about his revenge and instead focus on Team 7. However, Orochimaru branded Sasuke with the Cursed Seal of Heaven during the Chūnin Exams to help push him back into his desire for vengeance and to give him a taste of power. Although Kakashi Hatake sealed away the cursed seal, and taught him the Chidori in the hopes of deviating him from the path of revenge, Sasuke began to draw more power from the seal in the hopes of getting stronger. This caused his previous ambition to be renewed while causing him to disregard camaraderie once again.

According to Kakashi, Sasuke has both a superiority and an inferiority complex, as he is unwilling to acknowledge when someone is stronger than him, but obsesses when he believes that they are. For example, he was complacent with his rivalry with Naruto when he believed he was the stronger of the two, but upon noticing Naruto's fast growth, showcased in his victory over Sunagakure's jinchūriki, Gaara, who had previously beaten Sasuke, and his own quick defeat by Itachi on his return to Konoha, all culminated in his defection to Otogakure to seek power from Orochimaru. His jealously for Naruto was seen once again after witnessing his mastery of both his Tailed Beast Mode and Sage Mode during the battle against Obito.

In Part II, Sasuke became increasingly confident in his newfound abilities. Constantly, he remained composed and unconcerned with the situation at hand. Even when pressured by enemies like Orochimaru or Deidara, he showed no emotional build up; ironically, acting much like his older brother and only getting worked up when it involved Itachi. Despite getting stronger, Sasuke seemed unwilling to needlessly kill in his quest for revenge displaying that he still had some morals left. Sasuke, however, retained his habit of underestimating his opponents, shown in his overconfidence in his battles. Although, Sasuke is not above admitting his mistakes on such things, as shown after his battles with Deidara and Killer B where he acknowledged that the former was stronger than he thought and that the latter had given Taka a much harder time than he expected.

Sasuke has displayed an overbearing sense of pride in his clan's name and a great sense of loyalty to it and kept wearing his clan's crest on his back proudly while refusing to wear any other symbols such as a forehead protector. Despite claiming earlier that he did not care if he had to sacrifice his own body to Orochimaru as long as it served his quest for revenge, when Sasuke felt he had grown stronger than Orochimaru he thought that to give himself up to someone weaker than himself was insulting to the Uchiha. However, despite his disrespect of Orochimaru as a person, Sasuke does have great respect for his power, going so far as to reprimand Suigetsu when he felt the latter was underestimating Orochimaru's capabilities. He also views anyone outside of the clan wielding its dōjutsu as an insult, as the eye is representative of the Uchiha clan's powers, showing disgust towards Danzō Shimura who had ten Sharingan embedded in his arm, and an eleventh one in his right eye socket and stated that Kakashi should feel grateful to the Uchiha for the power of his Mangekyō Sharingan. According to Tobi, Sasuke alone is shouldering the entire hatred of the Uchiha clan — an ideal which has been passed down for generations within the clan.

After his battle with Itachi, which concluded in the latter's death, the revelation that he had actually been ordered by the Konoha Elders to eradicate the clan coupled with the new knowledge that Itachi had truly loved him, Sasuke vowed to kill the elders for using his brother and ordering him to massacre the Uchiha clan. After he confirmed the truth and became even more induced by his clan's hatred, Sasuke quickly grew to loathe the village that he once called home and vowed to destroy it, thus separating any connection it had to the Uchiha clan and purify the clan's name and pride in the process. He, however, when returning to discover the truth, still felt some connection to his birth place.

As time passed on with this new path of revenge and with further corruption by Tobi and the Uchiha curse, Sasuke had grown much more cruel and ruthless, with the remaining morality he showed during his time with Orochimaru fading rapidly; by the time he launched an attack against the Kage Summit, he killed anyone who stood in his way, not caring about his team, and after cornering Danzō, Sasuke turned to sacrificing Karin who got taken hostage to accomplish his goals of vengeance, and attempted to kill Karin and his former team-mates and teacher whilst experiencing neither shame, guilt, nor remorse for any of his actions.

Initially, Sasuke still held onto the notion of sparing the innocent and cooperation, witnessed in his creation of a new group of shinobi. Though, as he became more consumed by his thirst for vengeance, he showed that he cared for them as no more than tools to achieve his hatred-fueled goals, quickly discarding them when they were no longer necessary. This is seen at the Kage Summit where he leaves Jūgo and Suigetsu behind, taking only Karin with him who could lead him to where Danzō was, as well as killing many samurai who stood in his way. He would later discard Karin as well, unhesitatingly piercing her just to kill Danzō and then attempted to finish her off to prevent her from being a burden in the future. Even when Sakura's childish crush turned into more serious affection, Sasuke still did not return the feelings, though before he left the village, he gave Sakura a genuine thank you. But would later, after that same battle with Danzō, when he had to fight with Team Kakashi, where he attempted to kill Sakura twice despite her showing obvious hesitancy to do the same. Despite his arrogance and brutality, Sasuke is not above giving praise (albeit in a grudging, if not sarcastic, way) to his enemies as he commended Gaara for the strength and speed of his absolute defence and admitted that Kakashi was very skilled at using the Sharingan for someone who wasn't an Uchiha.

After expressing a feeling of exhilaration that he had never before felt upon killing Danzō and even declaring that he sees that killing the members of Konoha as a high priority and satisfaction, Karin, Kakashi, Sakura, and the rest of Konoha 11 completely lost all hope for him. Upon receiving his "Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan", Sasuke's cruelty seemingly reached a new level when he killed White Zetsu simply to test out his new powers. He's also grown to be an impatient individual and reckless in battle. Despite Obito's influence being one of the main sources of Sasuke's corruption and their same path of hatred and revenge, as well as Obito being a fellow Uchiha survivor, Sasuke refused to acknowledge him as his ally, and even speaks rudely to him at times. Due to being further overwhelmed by his clan's curse, he has also grown to show great homicidal rage whenever someone mentions Itachi in a negative way, even if it's indirect and remote as shown when Kakashi tries to make him understand that there's more to his life than just his clan and his love for blood-soaked loathing only to angrily reply by saying that he wants to hear their screams and moans for laughing at Itachi's sacrifice, crushing Danzō with his Susanoo for speaking ill of his brother and ready to murder a team of ignorant Konoha shinobi for doing the same. Sasuke's inherited Uchiha hatred has also twisted any of his potentially happy memories of Konoha into negative ones in order to fuel his vengeance.

During the second day of the Fourth Shinobi World War, upon reuniting with a reincarnated Itachi, Sasuke showed a somewhat more vulnerable side to himself instead of his usual coldness. This showed just how confused and torn up he is over Itachi's decision, telling his brother that he did not understand why he was spared during the massacre and apparently implying that he would have rather died as a child than have had to deal with the grief and suffering that followed. Having to live through many lies Itachi set for him, Sasuke wanted to hear the truth from Itachi himself. While he claimed his reunion with Itachi only intensified his hatred towards Konoha, Sasuke began to question all there is about shinobi, even questioning if revenge is the purpose for his life, becoming very confused on his purpose or goal; his desire to find the answer led him to bring Orochimaru back, a feat that everyone least expected him to do. Orochimaru noted that Sasuke's changed from how he was when being manipulated by Itachi, himself and Tobi, but did not elaborate any further; he did, however, approve of his current mindset.

Later, after inquiring the four previous Hokage about what it means to be a shinobi and learning more about Konoha's foundation, Sasuke came to his own decision: to carry on Itachi's will by protecting the village that his brother fought so hard to protect, thereby finally overcoming the Uchiha's curse of hatred. To this end, Sasuke has realised Itachi's sacrifices were truly his own choice, seemingly reverting to his former personality and going so far as to apologise to Karin for what he did to her. Believing that it was the former Hokage's fault that the world was in the state it's in, Sasuke boasted a newly formed ambition to take up their mantle and lead the village, something that he never would have done in the past. Although his former comrades were completely against this, Sasuke simply stated that he didn't care what anyone thought. Despite this, however, Sasuke proved to be uncooperative during an instance of the battle when Naruto asked him to put out his black flames in order to save the tailed beasts inside the Ten-Tails, to which Sasuke refused and opted to let it burn instead, which earned Sasuke disapproving looks from both Naruto and Hashirama himself. Sai voiced his concern to Sakura that Sasuke probably had ulterior motives by aiding them, despite saying that she's happy he was back and that she trusted him which Sai accepted her words as being truthful, the fake smile on Sakura's face suggested that part of her believed this as well. He also seems to maintain his desire to battle Naruto, as he protected Naruto from attack declaring only he was going to defeat him, further exemplified by his intent to use summoned snakes to rescue Naruto from Obito's Tailed Beast Balls. After Naruto had proven to easily master and control Kurama's chakra and his own senjutsu chakra, Sasuke shook in anger, wondering how far Naruto had advanced, similar to his personality at the end of Part I, although this time he was able to resist falling victim to the Curse of Hatred as he did last time, but instead used this experience to push himself further by developing a new Susanoo. Despite Sasuke's questionable actions against the Ten-Tails upon his arrival, he was one of the few shinobi to not lose his resolve to stop the Shinju while chastising Naruto for crying, as a result this motivated Naruto to keep on fighting who then conveyed his emotions and personal memories to everyone, leading the young Uchiha to sympathise with the loss of Itachi.

Appearance
Sasuke is a fair-skinned ninja who has onyx eyes and black chin-length hair. His hair is spiky in the back with bangs that lengthen as the story progresses. As a young child, his bangs hung above his eyes. Later, they would hang on both sides of his face to roughly frame his cheeks and later again return to their original style. Sasuke is considered quite handsome as most girls near his age become very infatuated with him. At the beginning of Part I, Sasuke's clothing consisted of the traditional Uchiha clothing: a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and the Uchiha crest on the back and white arm warmers, which he stopped wearing after the Chūnin Exams, along with white shorts. In the last stage of the Chūnin Exams, he wore a black, one-pieced version of this outfit with many small arm-belts adorning his left arm and similar bands around both legs. As the story progressed, the Uchiha symbol became smaller and smaller until after he defeats his brother.

Initially, Sasuke wore a short blue-clothed forehead protector with the Konoha symbol on the metallic plate. After suffering a second defeat from Itachi, Sasuke stopped wearing it for some time. He put it back on during the latter half of his battle with Naruto at the Valley of the End, only to let it drop off at the end. Since then, Sasuke hasn't worn a forehead protector.

In Part II, Sasuke has grown noticeably taller over the two and a half years and more muscular. He was first shown wearing a white long-sleeved shirt, similar in appearance to the lavender long-sleeved shirt worn by Kimimaro and which was open at the torso, with a smaller version of the Uchiha crest on his collar. He wore dark blue pants with a blue cloth hanging from halfway up his stomach to his knees. He also wore black arm guards that covered his forearms and stretched up to reach his upper biceps. He also wore a purple rope belt around his waist, tied in a bow, in which he carries his sword.

After battling Deidara, he switched to a sleeveless dark grey shirt. His arm guards were also removed, and he started wearing bandages on his wrists, under which he wore special armbands with seals where he stores various shuriken. He also wore a black cloak with this.

After he encountered and battled Itachi, he reverted to a grey high-collared short-sleeved shirt similar in appearance to the blue shirt he commonly wore in Part I but with a zipper. He also wears blue wrist warmers with his shuriken armbands hidden underneath. He briefly wore an Akatsuki cloak along with this. Another noticeable trait is that along with this new outfit, Sasuke began letting his hair hang over his forehead. The Uchiha crest on the back of his outfit has returned to its original size since his battle with Itachi. While adjusting to Itachi's eyes at the Mountains' Graveyard, he is seen wearing black Uchiha robes similar to those worn by Madara in his youth with a belt sash around his waist, though he would revert back to his previous clothing.

During his early childhood, Sasuke wore a simple long-sleeved black shirt with a raised collar and the Uchiha crest on the back, and black shorts (white in the anime). When Sasuke joined Itachi on his mission to capture the wild boar, Sasuke was wearing the ANBU uniform.

Abilities
While still officially being ranked as a genin, Sasuke is hailed as a brilliant ninja, even by the battle-adept Uchiha clan's standards, showing an undeniable prodigious talent and keen intellect to excel at all that he does from early childhood. From this, he finds little difficulty in more challenging tasks as seen during his time in the Academy. Scoring the highest in the performance tests and one of the highest in written tests, he easily graduated at the top of his Academy class. Sasuke has great knowledge if not proficiency in many of his clan's techniques, despite his lack of formal training by relying solely on his innate talent and determination. His abilities have been compared to various remarkable individuals like Kakashi Hatake, who was also hailed as a genius since childhood. Various powerful shinobi have commented on Sasuke's potential, stating that he can with time surpass the likes of Itachi Uchiha, Nagato, and even Madara Uchiha. Orochimaru also noted that Sasuke is far stronger than he was at the same age when he was training Sasuke in Part II.

Throughout Part I, he steadily develops his abilities under Kakashi's tutelage, becoming capable of holding his own against skilled shinobi such as Haku, Gaara and even Orochimaru for a short time. After his acquisition and development of the Cursed Seal of Heaven, Sasuke's growth was heightened, allowing him to fight the entire Sound Four for a while and eventually defeat his Team 7 comrade Naruto, who had shown a similar development throughout Part I and was empowered by Kurama's chakra in a very difficult battle. By Part II, he develops much of his potential, becoming strong enough to fight on even terms with several highly skilled and extremely powerful shinobi. He was able to defeat Orochimaru, though he downplays his victory and attributes it to the Sannin's weakened state. Sasuke was able to clash with Deidara — a powerful and dangerous S-rank Akatsuki member, decipher the mechanisms behind his abilities, and survive their battle without any handicaps. As Tobi noted, Itachi had already determined the outcome of their fight, as he was plagued with an unknown illness and was using medicine to prolong his life. This didn't prevent Itachi from praising Sasuke during their battle, displaying surprise on a few occasions over Sasuke's improved skills and tactics and ultimately noting that if he didn't use Susanoo he would have been killed by Kirin.

After awakening his Mangekyō Sharingan (despite not being fully healed from the battle against Itachi), Sasuke proved able to stand against Killer B, Gyūki's jinchūriki and an extremely powerful ninja, who praised Sasuke as one of the strongest ninja he has ever faced, despite Sasuke's inability to defeat him. After fully healing and further adjusting to his Mangekyō Sharingan, Sasuke proved able to hold his own against at least two Kage, their respective bodyguards and various samurai warriors. He also fought on even grounds with Danzō, another Kage-level opponent, while generally controlling the pace of the fight, and ultimately defeated him, even surviving against the elder's repeated use of Izanagi — a feat that later earned him praise from Itachi. After adapting to Itachi's eyes, Sasuke was able to match his older brother in various fields of combat when working together with him against the extremely dangerous Kabuto, who had greatly modified his body and gained numerous abilities.

Taijutsu
Although not his most used combat tactic, Sasuke's taijutsu was at a very high level since the start of the series. During Team 7's first bell test with Kakashi, the elite ninja was shocked that he couldn't read Icha-Icha while fighting him as he needed both hands. He was also able to outmanoeuvre two chūnin-level Kirigakure missing-nin. His skills improved drastically after his encounter with Rock Lee. With his Sharingan, he was able to copy some of Lee's moves and from it create the Lion Combo. Under Kakashi's tutelage, he improved his taijutsu further by copying more of Lee's Strong Fist-style, roughly matching Lee's basic combat skills and speed in one month. With this, he overwhelmed Gaara during their initial fight. He was also able to hold his own against the entire Sound Four for a brief period of time. During his battle against Naruto, he managed to dominate his Team 7 comrade in hand-to-hand combat for most of the fight, even when Naruto started using Kurama's chakra. In Part II, Sasuke further improved his taijutsu under Orochimaru's guidance. During his battle with Itachi, Sasuke managed to hold his own in a taijustu fight against his older brother. In the anime, Sasuke managed to use taijutsu to fight off Deidara's Explosive Clay Minions, who appeared to be surprisingly proficient in taijustu. Also in the anime, he was also able to hold his own against Kakashi in a taijutsu fight despite being in a physically debilitated state.

Since the start of the series, Sasuke showed a high level of speed and reflexes as he was the first of his fellow genin to react to the Demon Brothers' ambush and effectively counter them. After training in chakra control, his speed was on a near-equal level to that of Haku. He later increased his speed further to outrun Gaara's sand and move faster than unaided eyes could follow in Part I. After his Sharingan fully develops, he was also able to follow the speed of both Naruto's initial jinchūriki form and one-tailed form during their fight, though couldn't completely dodge the latter's demon shroud. In Part II, due to Orochimaru's training, Sasuke's already impressive speed saw a huge leap, able to evade both Deidara's clay explosions at point-blank range on multiple occasions, and attacks from the extremely fast Killer B and A, though he credited the last to his Sharingan's ability to read their linear moves. He also greatly increased his hand speed, able to do many hand seals in a blur and launch an enormous amount of weapons just as quickly, as seen during his fight with Itachi. His speed and proficiency with the Body Flicker Technique have also grown considerably, able to easily cut his opponents down without them noticing. When first facing Team Kakashi in Part II, he showed himself able to cover wide gaps in the blink of an eye, giving his former allies no time to react.

Sasuke has shown a high level of stamina and endurance; at the Five Kage Summit, he was able to endure a consistent string of battles against the samurai, two Kage and their bodyguards before finally collapsing from exhaustion. In a near-blind, battered, and visibly exhausted state from his latter fight with Danzō and overusing the Mangekyō Sharingan, he still had enough stamina to fight against Kakashi, restrain and disarm Sakura and later match Naruto's Rasengan with his Chidori. His raw strength has also become noticeably greater, being able to lift Sakura by her throat into the air with a single hand even while exhausted. His overall improvements were so great that Sakura even suspected that he had been given drugs to improve his physical capabilities.

Cursed Seal
An important aspect of Sasuke's growth as a shinobi in Part I was his acquisition of the Cursed Seal of Heaven. Orochimaru, recognising his potential, bestowed the seal on him as a gift in order to grant him greater strength, and to entice him to seek Orochimaru for further power. Initially, the seal would activate and overwhelm Sasuke if he used his chakra or became too excited, and he was only able to control it with extreme focus. As a result, Kakashi suppressed the seal and advised Sasuke to not rely on it, however, Sasuke's frustration with what he believed to be his inadequate strength caused him to use it in battle. When activated, the cursed seal forcefully absorbed Sasuke's chakra, while replacing it with Orochimaru's senjutsu chakra which covered his body with a flame-like pattern and granted him a number of benefits such as an enhanced chakra capacity, as well as increased strength, speed, and endurance.

After defecting from Konoha, with the help of the Sound Four, Sasuke advanced his Cursed Seal to Level Two, allowing it to cover his entire body at will. When fully transformed, the second level of the cursed seal turned Sasuke's skin dark grey with a black four-point star-mark between his eyes and across the bridge of his nose, his sclerae turn black, his irides turn yellow (except when using his Sharingan), and his lips turn blue. He also grows claw-like nails and his hair grows to waist-length without losing its style. At any time, he is able to grow large webbed hand-shaped wings on his back that gave him the ability to fly and hover. In this form, not only were his physical attributes further increased, but his techniques were also enhanced by the cursed seal's chakra. This granted him power comparable to Naruto's one-tailed form. In Part II, Sasuke gained complete control and mastery over the cursed seal, and could even access its power without fully activating it and even perform partial transformations at will.

However, the seal carried some disadvantages. The most notable one was that using the seal for longer periods of time, corroded Sasuke's body and caused him some pain. The other disadvantage was that the presence of Orochimaru's chakra twisted and darkened Sasuke's personality somewhat and made him susceptible to the Sannin's influence. However with additional training, Sasuke greatly extended the time he could maintain his cursed seal active.

Since Itachi sealed Orochimaru, the seal was removed from Sasuke. Despite this, Sasuke's being still proved compatible with the cursed seal's source, Jūgo. Since allying himself with Jūgo, Sasuke has benefited from Jūgo's power via taking advantage of the senjutsu imbued healing by infusing some of Jūgo's flesh into his own. Alternatively, Sasuke himself can be imbued with some of Jūgo's chakra to augment the Uchiha's various techniques, like his Susanoo, producing a "Senjutsu Susanoo".

Bukijutsu
Since early childhood, Sasuke has displayed great skill and use of various ninja tools which has grown and diversified over time. Sasuke was trained in archery during his childhood. He is also skilled in the use of wire strings, using them for a variety of purposes ranging from rappelling, to manipulating the path of his shurikens, to ensnaring an opponent and setting them on fire. His level with both trap and weapon-based tactics even surprised Kakashi during their first bell test. In the manga, during his first battle against Orochimaru, Sasuke displayed the ability to infuse one of his kunai with chakra. In the anime, he also used a set of chains to ensnare foes.

Kenjutsu
During his time with Orochimaru, Sasuke was trained in kenjutsu, and became a skilled swordsman. He also acquired a chokutō, and the use of kenjutsu has become a major part of his fighting style. With these skills in swordplay, he was able to incapacitate hundreds of Oto-nin during his training without killing them. His skills with a sword were better shown during the Kage Summit, where he was able to effortlessly outfight and kill multiple samurai, and even deflect their barrage of chakra blasts. He even skilfully blocked an attack from Mifune, a famous master swordsman, who acknowledged Sasuke's ability with this combat form. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sasuke was able to fight off one of the Ten-Tails' mini clones with kenjutsu.

Sasuke's lethal swordsmanship is shown to be very versatile, using impressive speed and precision behind his attacks, leaving little time for enemies to dodge or counter. He can effectively use it in either a normal or reverse grip, giving him various attack styles and the ability to attack or defend from various angles, allowing him to easily change his attack type to suit the situation. He can use his blade as a mid-range projectile with great precision as seen during the battle against Kabuto. Sasuke is also able to adapt his swordsmanship with equal proficiency to his makeshift Chidori blade. As part of his Kagutsuchi technique, Sasuke can also produce a flexible sword that can fire spikes of black flames in an arc.

Shurikenjutsu
Sasuke is also well-versed in weapons use such as kunai and shuriken. At the start of the series, he could use techniques like Shadow Shuriken Technique in which he could hide one shuriken in the shadow of another and the Manipulated Shuriken Technique, which allows him to control the path of giant shuriken using wire strings. Due to his Sharingan, he can use an advanced version of the latter technique, the Manipulating Windmill Triple Blades which allows him to control a larger number of shuriken and even use them to ensnare an opponent with the strings.

Since his battle with Itachi, Sasuke started using a pair of bracelets with a special seal that allowed him to instantly summon shuriken, thus increasing the amount he carries at any one time and launch speed. He has also demonstrated the ability to increase the lethal properties of the Fūma Shuriken by rigging it to disconnect its four blades and launch them into separate directions. Sasuke has also shown the ability to match his shuriken and Fire Release skills for techniques like Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique or he can infuse a fūma shuriken with lightning chakra for increased cutting power.

Summoning Techniques
During his training under Orochimaru, Sasuke learned many of the Sannin's snake-oriented techniques. He became able to summon various-sized snakes to aid him in battle, even hidden from his sleeves to strike or bind his opponents with little time to react. He was also able to summon snakes from any part of his body. He was not seen using snakes again until the Fourth Shinobi World War, when he summons a giant snake to aid him in his fight against the Ten-Tails.

Some time later, Sasuke also made an additional summoning contract which allows him to summon hawks. He summoned one during his battle against Danzō Shimura and used it to help him outmanoeuvre his opponent's attacks. In the anime, the hawk was also of capable of performing coordinated attacks with Sasuke.

Nature Transformation
As a true genius ninja and member of the Uchiha, Sasuke has great proficiency in Fire Release nature manipulation. By age 7, he had already mastered his clan's rite of passage technique, the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique. Even Kakashi was amazed at such a feat as, according to him, genin usually require much more experience and developed chakra to perform elemental techniques. He can also use his fire techniques in conjunction with his weapon skills. He can also produce a barrage giant dragon-shaped fireballs that can quickly burn an enemy, even with minimal contact.

After learning that Sasuke can also manipulate Lightning Release nature manipulation, and hoping to deter Sasuke from using the Cursed Seal, Kakashi taught him the Chidori, made more effective when combined with his Sharingan. With this combination, Sasuke can punch through most obstacles with relative ease, as well as severely damaging any opponent during most uses. In Part I, Sasuke was limited to using the attack only twice a day, with a third usage after the initial activation of his cursed seal. In Part II, Sasuke was shown to be able to use the Chidori several times in one day. During their battle, A commended Sasuke's Chidori for being able to break through his Lightning Release Armour despite inflicting only minor damage.

Over the timeskip, Sasuke put a great deal of time developing his lightning-based chakra, having mastered it to create many new techniques of said type, most of these revolving around his Chidori, which he has refined. When first seen in Part II, he was able to channel his Chidori to emit electricity from all over his body as a shield that stuns those it comes into contact with. He can also channel the Chidori through his sword through "chakra flow", giving the blade extreme cutting power and allowing it to numb anyone it cuts. This is powerful enough to slice through a chakra wave created by a similar sword technique. He can also concentrate it into a extendable sword and solid senbon in order to make more precise attacks. He is also able to infuse shuriken with lightning chakra. Sasuke's most powerful elemental technique is Kirin, a lightning technique that uses natural lightning as opposed to chakra, allowing Sasuke to perform it even when visibly exhausted. If there are no thunder clouds available, Sasuke can use a powerful Fire Release technique to create thunder clouds. Sasuke then takes control of the lightning, shapes it into a kirin, and then brings the lightning down on his target. The technique is so powerful that it has the ability to destroy a small mountain, as well as break through the defences of Itachi Uchiha's Susanoo which include the legendary Yata Mirror.

When Sasuke gained the Mangekyō Sharingan, he manifested Amaterasu during his battle with Killer B. During the Kage Summit, he developed an advanced Fire Release known as the Blaze Release; an element that draws its power from Amaterasu. Aside from unleashing a wave of unquenchable black flames that incinerates everything that reflects in his eyesight, Sasuke can control the movement of the flames into surrounding him and creating spikes to protect himself. As such, he was regarded as more skilled with it than Itachi was by C. When he gained his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, his Blaze Release greatly improved. He could combine Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi with Susanoo to create Amaterasu swords and arrows that can pierce through heavy defences and ignite them, and create a barrage of Amaterasu magatama to handle multiple enemies. Sasuke could also use his Kagutsuchi without using Susanoo for more direct usage.

Sharingan
Sasuke is one of select members of the Uchiha clan to possess its famous kekkei genkai, the Sharingan. This dōjutsu allows Sasuke to analyse and predict movements, observe the flow of chakra, copy the techniques of others, and cast powerful illusions through eye-contact. Sasuke first awakened his Sharingan at the age of 7, with one tomoe in each eye, after seeing Itachi murder their clan. However, due to the severity of the trauma induced from the incident, Sasuke was unable to recall this development and could not use it. It wasn't until years later, soon after refining his chakra control and during his battle with Haku, that he was able to reactivate the dōjutsu with an additional tomoe in his right eye. Shortly before the start of the Chūnin Exams, Sasuke demonstrated the ability to use his Sharingan of his own volition after further practice. It was at this point that both of his eyes came to possess two tomoe, until their eventual maturation with three tomoe during his battle against Naruto at the Valley of the End. Through his development as a shinobi and experience with the dōjutsu, Sasuke drastically increased his time periods to which he can maintain his Sharingan with little effect to his chakra levels, even in prolonged fights against several high-level opponents.

While only making liberal use of it during Part I, Orochimaru stated that power and clarity even greater than Itachi's could be sensed from Sasuke's Sharingan, despite its incomplete state. Throughout Part II, Sasuke has demonstrated formidable use of the dōjutsu, most notably acquiring a strong grasp of its genjutsu casting capabilities. With this newfound power he has been able to easily hypnotise his adversaries — restricting movements, relaying recorded memories, applying deceptive imagery to create defensive and offensive opportunities, inducing hallucinations shocking enough to stir the emotions of even someone like Sai, and even easily quelling Jūgo's violent impulses. More prominent examples of his aptitude for Sharingan genjutsu, and a testament to his latent potential, include entering Naruto's subconscious to effectively suppress the Nine-Tails' leaking chakra, along with his complete control over the actions of a summoned creature as mighty as Manda; a glimpse of the dōjutsu's infamous potential to subjugate the tailed beasts.

When Orochimaru finally made his attempt to possess Sasuke's body, the young Uchiha was able to utilise his Sharingan in conjunction with the strength of his overbearing will to erode the dimensional space used for the technique, and ultimately turn it against the Sannin. Despite wielding a lesser dōjutsu, Sasuke's substantial ocular prowess would prove strong enough to dispel a genjutsu as powerful as Itachi's Tsukuyomi, much to his brother's shock.

Mangekyō Sharingan
Sasuke awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan after the death of his older brother, Itachi. The tomoe of Sasuke's Mangekyō spread and converge along the edge of its iris, taking on the appearance of three intersecting ellipses. After exchanging his eyes with Itachi's for the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, an inverted, more aligned rendition of Itachi's Mangekyō tomoe is centred within Sasuke's own.

Customary of the Mangekyō Sharingan, prolonged reliance upon its ocular powers places a great burden on his eyes and body, deteriorating his vision after each use. While resting after his fight with Killer B, Sasuke began to find his vision sporadically fading. It was during his confrontation with Kakashi, that was preceded by excessive usage of his Mangekyō Sharingan throughout a number of difficult battles, that the repercussions became more prominent. The final form of his Susanoo that he had just materialised was almost immediately dispersed upon Sasuke reeling from overexertion of his ocular powers, resulting in his eyesight being reduced to a heavy blur. Out of respect for his older brother's views, Sasuke initially refused to take Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan as his own to avoid this outcome, but faced with his rapidly diminishing vision and Naruto's unyielding convictions, he finally requested that Tobi transplant them. This resulted in Sasuke's acquisition of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan; inheriting Itachi's ocular power. Following this, usage of his techniques through the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan do not appear to place any significant burden on his physical constitution; showing none of the earlier signs of strain or fatigue that plagued him from sustained use of this dōjutsu.

With his right Mangekyō, Sasuke has demonstrated the ability to cast what is presumed to be Tsukuyomi, allowing him to break a target's will and paralyse them. While commending Sasuke for successfully ensnaring him with it, Danzō denounced Sasuke's might with the technique as he was incapable of using it to alter a victim's perception of time, like his older brother. Despite this, Tobi noted that Sasuke's resourcefulness and precise timing in its use was able to somewhat compensate for the illusion's lack of power. With his left Mangekyō, he is able to cast Amaterasu, which ignites unquenchable black flames at the focal point of his sight that continue to burn for an entire week, or until they have completely consumed whatever they come into contact with. Sasuke's use of these black flames are said to surpass Itachi's, as he's also able to cast Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi with his right Mangekyō to extinguish and manipulate them at will, a control that was further perfected after gaining Itachi's eyes.

After awakening the powers of both Mangekyō Sharingan, Sasuke became one of the rare few Uchiha capable of invoking Susanoo; the materialisation of an immense humanoid construct of chakra. Sasuke has not been hesitant in testing his limits with the technique, with his extreme emotions lying at the root of the development of its higher stages. While initially relying upon partial manifestations of its ribcage for defence, and its larger skeletal stages for mighty displays of offensive power with its fists and sword, Sasuke was soon able to complete his Susanoo's body during his fight with Danzō — armed with a bow that doubles as a shield, and an orb of chakra that conjures the arrows for it. Defensively it, in its incomplete stage it was able to take a barrage from the Fifth Kazekage, Temari, Kankurō, and Darui without any damage, and in its complete stage it was able to take Danzō's powerful Wind Release attacks without damage. Offensively, his Susanoo is strong enough to destroy many large stone pillars with a single swipe of its sword and with its arrows it can even pierce Wood Release constructs at a speed only Sage Mode users such as Kabuto Yakushi are able to avoid. Soon after, Sasuke perfected his Susanoo during his short skirmish with Kakashi, with its outer cloak assuming a similar, if more sinister version of Itachi's own final Susanoo and changing the composition of it's orb of chakra to that of Amaterasu's black flames from which he is able to fashion a number of weapons.

Immediately following the recovery of his transplant, the final stage of his Susanoo's final form underwent a drastic change, with scaled hands, a beak-like hood and a larger bow, with a more shield-like appearance, giving it an overall more intimidating appearance. By the time of the Fourth Shinobi World War, after Naruto had transferred his chakra to him, Sasuke was able to conjure his Susanoo complete with a lower body and legs, similar to the Susanoo of Madara Uchiha. Using Jūgo's Sage Transformation, Sasuke is able to infuse his Susanoo with senjutsu chakra, which appears as the flame pattern of the Cursed Seal of Heaven covering it. Upon further syncing with Naruto as well as more experience with his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, Sasuke is able to achieve Susanoo's Perfect form and equip it onto Naruto's Sage Tailed Beast Mode, enabling him to cut through Obito Uchiha's Sword of Nunoboko and Obito himself with the senjutsu enhancement.

Chakra Prowess and Control
Even by Uchiha standards, Sasuke has exceptionally strong chakra. At age 7, he was already able to use his clan's signature fire release technique. This later surprised even Kakashi, as such techniques usually require more developed chakra. In Part II, his reserves grew considerably greater. Even in an extremely weakened state from his battle against Deidara, he could summon Manda, a high level summon (though he may have used Orochimaru's chakra for this). After developing his Mangekyō Sharingan, Sasuke recklessly used it multiple times in a single day among other chakra-consuming techniques such as his Chidori. Inspite of this he was able to fight effectively in multiple consecutive battles against the Five Kage, Danzō and later Team 7 before finally succumbing to exhaustion. After gaining Itachi's eyes, Sasuke's reserves appear to have grown even further, as during the battles against Kabuto and later against the Ten-Tails, where he was visibly unaffected from using several of his Mangekyō Sharingan techniques as well as his Chidori multiple times.

Quality-wise, Sasuke's chakra is very powerful; its strength is compared to that of Madara Uchiha's, whose chakra was particularly strong even amongst the Uchiha. When Sasuke first arrived at the Land of Sound and gave Kabuto a frightening glare, both he and Orochimaru noted Sasuke's exceptional chakra. His chakra's strength was even great enough to break free from Danzō's restraining seal by releasing it from his entire body. Likewise, his chakra control has also grown considerably. With many high-level techniques, usually lightning and fire-based, he can perform them with few to no hand seals, giving his opponents little time to react.

Due to the curse of his clan, Sasuke continued to sink deeper into darkness, which caused his chakra to become noticeably darker. Even Kurama noted that Sasuke's chakra has become even darker than his own, and even similar to that of Madara. Karin has also mentioned that Sasuke's chakra, as he approached the point of manifesting Susanoo, had become even darker, and colder than the corrupting influence of the second stage Cursed Seal of Heaven, and has since continued to grow even more potent along with the development of Susanoo.

Intelligence
From a young age, Sasuke has repeatedly shown keen instincts and quick decision-making, causing many to consider him a genius. Able to easily learn various advanced techniques or utilise basic ones for crafty manoeuvres, Sasuke already became a stand-out before graduating the Academy. He is a proficient strategist, observing his opponent's skills and deducing their workings with ease and accuracy while remaining calm and composed. He then chooses the most effective means and ninjutsu to counter them. His resolution enables him to pick strategies in which he requires getting injured in order to defeat the enemy, showing tremendous endurance and willpower. Even Minato noted Sasuke's ability to calmly assess and analyse the given situation.

Sasuke is also a very capable leader, able to form a team from specific ninja after scouting them out and quickly command their respect and cooperation. Furthermore, he can effectively instruct his team to engage an enemy. He also showed the ability to perform a series of precise and coordinated attacks with his brother Itachi with minimal planning despite their previous volatile relationship.

His intelligence also allowed him to develop many powerful techniques on his own, all based on the one technique his teacher taught him. From the Chidori, Sasuke mastered the principles of Lightning Release, and created many innovative techniques that are derived from it. He was also able to combine techniques together to create the right atmosphere for the Kirin, utilising weather manipulation to create a powerful thunderstorm. In order to defeat his former mentor Orochimaru, Sasuke did extensive research of his various abilities, such as the nature of his snake summons and techniques as well as his unique cursed seals. With this knowledge, he was able to resurrect the Sannin using a combination of Anko's cursed seal, a piece of Kabuto's altered body and a special fūinjutsu. Sasuke was also able to use his Sharingan to perfectly sync his chakra with Naruto to perform the Scorch Release: Halo Gale Jet Black Arrow Style Zero, something Tobirama claimed even the most experience duo have difficulty with. Sasuke was also able to track Itachi even though the latter used a flock of crows to block his vision.

Other Skills
Under Orochimaru's training, Sasuke was subjected to the Sannin's experiments and as a result developed physical enhancements including an immunity towards most forms of poisons, to a level that the one Sakura learned from Shizune would not affect him. However, he was not immune to the effects of Orochimaru's true form's poisonous blood.

After absorbing Orochimaru, Sasuke gained access to Sannin's regenerative powers that allowed him to heal at a much faster rate than usual, and access Orochimaru's chakra as extra reserves, although he preferred not to. He could also use the Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique to shed his skin and produce a new body, thus repairing any damage he sustained, though it drained him of most of his chakra. He would lose these extra powers after Orochimaru was sealed by Itachi.

His training has also given him great skill in fūinjutsu and is also otherwise quite knowledgeable in other seals, such as Orochimaru's cursed seals. As an Uchiha, he is also one of the few who can access the Naka Shrine. During the Fourth Shinobi World War and the battle against the Ten-Tails, Sasuke displayed a high-level of skill in collaboration techniques, by using the Scorch Release: Halo Gale Jet Black Arrow Style Zero, a collaboration technique with Naruto, which according to Tobirama Senju, requires a perfect unison that is hard to achieve.

Introduction Arc
Upon the formation of Team 7, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were forced to mingle. Sasuke tried to avoid both of them, but he kept getting drawn into Sakura and Naruto's antics. Accordingly, Kakashi gave them a bell test, the three of them being tasked with taking the two bells he kept on his person. Sasuke tried to take a bell by himself, ignoring his team-mates in the process, failing regardless of having a better success rate. Regrouping with his team, they all realised that the true goal of the test was to learn to place teamwork above the single-handed completion of the mission, and, in doing so, were allowed to pass.

Land of Waves Arc
Sasuke's first major mission was escorting the bridge builder, Tazuna, to his home in the poverty-stricken Land of Waves. Soon after setting out, Sasuke showed exceptional skill when attacked by the Demon Brothers, even taunting Naruto for being shocked and useless during this encounter. When they later had a tree-climbing exercise to improve chakra control, he managed to stay ahead of Naruto for a good length of time, but as Naruto began to catch up, they started to push each other's limits. His skills improved, Sasuke was almost able to compete with Haku, who was extremely dangerous because of his extreme speed and dexterity. It was during this battle that Sasuke reawakened the legacy of his clan, the Sharingan, and even selflessly put himself in the way of Haku's attack on Naruto to protect him. Although he claimed his body had moved on its own, his actions showed that he was willing to put himself in mortal danger for Naruto's sake. Although it appeared that Sasuke had died in the process, it was later revealed that he was merely put in a temporary death state.

Chūnin Exam Arc
Before the Chūnin Exams started, Sasuke fought Rock Lee, who uses his speed to defeat him with his taijutsu prowess. However, before the finishing blow could be given, Might Guy interrupted the match and punished his beloved student for using a forbidden technique in a normal fight. In the first part of the exam, Sasuke realised that, to succeed in the written test, it is required to cheat without getting caught, using his Sharingan to copy the pencil movements of a student in front of him, effectively copying the answers.

In the second test of the Chūnin Exams in the Forest of Death, Sasuke was attacked by who he thought was Kusagakure genin Shiore. However, with Naruto urging him not to surrender to the stronger ninja, Sasuke defeats who he learns is actually the missing-nin Orochimaru who implants his cursed seal on Sasuke's neck as a reward. Losing conscious from the immense pain of the seal as it attunes to his body, Sasuke suffers horrific nightmares before awakening under its influence as he mercilessly defeats Otogakure genin and breaks Zaku's arms. It took Sakura's hug and pleas to snap him back to normal. In a flashback detailed Part II, Sasuke is revealed to have met Karin while saving her from a bear, letting her be as he didn't need her scroll.

Sasuke's match up in the preliminaries was against Yoroi Akadō. Before the fight started, Kakashi warned Sasuke that, if his cursed seal got out of control, which would happen if he used any chakra, he would need to be removed from the competition. The match started with Yoroi absorbing what little chakra Sasuke had left through his hands, and with Sasuke being in constant pain from his cursed seal. Having only one option, and remembering his previous encounter with Rock Lee, Sasuke used the Lion Combo. Yoroi was knocked out, and Sasuke advanced to the next round.

Following his win, Kakashi took Sasuke away to seal the cursed seal, but made it a point to tell him that the seal would only remain active as long as Sasuke wanted it to. Not convinced that his words would deter Sasuke from using the cursed seal, and turning to Orochimaru, Kakashi used the month leading up to the final rounds to teach him the Chidori. At the same time, knowing Sasuke would be facing Gaara, he helped Sasuke to emulate some of Lee's speed. After showing up late for his match with Gaara, Sasuke demonstrated the fruits of his training, even managing to break through Gaara's defences and injure him. Before the match could finish, however, it was interrupted by the start of Orochimaru's attack on Konoha.

Invasion of Konoha Arc
With the start of the invasion, Gaara fled the village with his siblings, and Sasuke was sent after them by Genma. Sasuke chased them and, after short battles with Kankurō and Temari, caught up with Gaara before fighting him again. However, Gaara utilises his jinchūriki powers to overpower Sasuke before Naruto arrives and takes the fight in Sasuke's place and defeats Gaara. Later attending the Third Hokage's funeral, witnessing Naruto's strength injured Sasuke's pride as he becomes envious of him.

Search for Tsunade Arc
After the failed invasion, Sasuke went to see Kakashi, and later was seen reading the stone tablet in the Naka Shrine. When he arrived at Kakashi's house to see him again, he found his teacher in a coma. Although nobody in the room was willing to tell Sasuke of what had happened, Aoba Yamashiro soon arrived and let slip that Itachi had returned to the village in search of Naruto. Determined to find Itachi, Sasuke tracks Naruto down and finds his brother there. Despite his best efforts, including the use of Chidori, none of his attacks were able to hit Itachi. Itachi tormented Sasuke physically and mentally, belittling him for still being too weak, eventually leaving Sasuke with a broken wrist and mind. Sasuke then fell into the same Tsukuyomi-induced coma as Kakashi. Guy appeared to take Sasuke back to Konoha, however, it was not until Tsunade returned to Konoha that he recovered.

Sasuke Retrieval Arc
Motivated by anger over Itachi still being stronger, and his jealously to his team-mate for becoming stronger in a short period of time, Sasuke forces Naruto into fighting him before Kakashi stops the two as they use their strongest attacks on each other. Although thinking his Chidori did the most damage to a nearby water tower, Sasuke is shocked to find Naruto's Rasengan obliterated one whole side of it without the structure being compromised. After being lectured by Kakashi over not using Chidori on his own friends, Sasuke was confronted by Orochimaru's Sound Four, who have been sent to bring to him to Otogakure. Revealing himself and his comrades being branded with cursed seals with full mastery over them, Sakon leaves Sasuke with the offer to come with them if he wishes to use his cursed seal's true potential. Deciding to take Orochimaru up on his offer, Sasuke is confronted by a shocked Sakura as he sneaks out of Konoha. Despite Sakura's desperate pleas, Sasuke thanks her before knocking her out and joining up with the Sound Four, who soon afterwards advanced his cursed seal to its second level, a process that left him unconscious for most of their battle with the Sasuke Retrieval Team.

Soon after Sasuke woke up, he ran his way towards the Valley of the End where he is found by Naruto, who had learned Orochimaru's intent to turn Sasuke into his next host. Seeing Naruto, Sasuke reveals his intents to kill him to obtain the Mangekyō Sharingan. Naruto refused to accept that Sasuke would do this or his other reasons for pursuing Orochimaru, choosing instead to drag Sasuke back to the village by force if needed. With Sasuke gloating that Naruto can not even make a scratch on his forehead protector, he initially having the upper hand thanks to his cursed seal and Sharingan. When he managed to pierce Naruto's right shoulder with his Chidori, however, the Nine-Tails' chakra surfaces to protect Naruto, giving him a massive power increase as he attempts to knock some sense into him. Sasuke merely retorted that Naruto could never understand losing a family as he had never had one to begin with, despite Naruto feeling that Sasuke is like a brother to him and refuses to let him sever that bond. Sasuke's Sharingan evolved to its final stage at that point, tipping the battle in Sasuke's favour with Sasuke now being able to predict Naruto's movements. However, Naruto's Nine-Tails' chakra envelops him in a fox-shaped shield of chakra.

In response, Sasuke activated the second stage of his cursed seal as both he and Naruto clash with their respective empowered attacks. Clashing with the dome produced from the conflicting energies, Sasuke defeats Naruto with a punch to the chest rather than what remained of Chidori. But before the dome dissipates while losing consciousness, Naruto managed to scratch Sasuke's forehead protector as it falls off of him. Though considering to kill Naruto then and now, Sasuke begins to have second thoughts and resolves to find his own way to surpass Itachi. Leaving behind his scratched forehead protector, which had fallen off after Naruto's last attack, Sasuke made his way to Orochimaru, who decides to train Sasuke until the time to make the youth his new host comes.

Sasuke and Sai Arc
Almost three years after leaving Konoha, Sasuke meets his replacement in the renamed Team Kakashi, Sai. Despite a lack of interest in Sai, Sasuke is inadvertently provoked and subjects Sai to a genjutsu exuding a large amount of killing intent. Sai is amazed that even an emotionless person such as himself was affected by Sasuke's gaze, channelling through his Sharingan. When Sai comments on how Naruto and Sakura have been searching for him, Sasuke once again regards him with indifference in attitude. Later, when Team Kakashi infiltrates one of Orochimaru's hideouts successfully under the leadership of Yamato, Sai, acting on his own, locates and enters Sasuke's room while he was resting in a bid to assassinate him as ordered by his superior in Konoha's Root faction, Danzō Shimura.

However, after spending quality time in Team Kakashi, especially with Naruto, Sai comes to understand the meaning of bonds of friendship, and decides to help Naruto save him. However, enraged on being disturbed, Sasuke destroys the room, drawing Naruto, Sakura and Yamato to their location. Despite this being the first time in nearly three years that they had seen each other, Sasuke expresses his usual indifference towards his former team. Unperturbed of Orochimaru's intentions for him and the prospect going home to Konoha with his former friends, Sasuke engages them in battle, showing off his increase in speed and improved abilities.

Team Kakashi are ultimately outmatched against Sasuke, mostly due to the team's exhaustion with Naruto's four-tailed form (that he had previously used to battle Orochimaru), causing Naruto to begin struggling with Kurama in his mind. To the surprise of both Naruto and Kurama, Sasuke uses his heightened prowess of his Sharingan to enter Naruto's subconscious to meet the Nine-Tails itself, finally discovering the true source of Naruto's strength. Kurama appears to be impressed with Sasuke's growth and ability as it states his chakra being as "sinister" as Madara Uchiha's. Sasuke coldly dismisses knowing such a person and uses his Sharingan to suppress Kurama back into its sealed cage. Kurama concludes that this would probably be its last meeting with Sasuke, so it warns him not to kill Naruto, for he would only end up regretting it. Back outside, Sasuke decides to finish off his former team-mates, starting with Naruto, only to be stopped by Orochimaru as the prospect of them and other Konoha shinobi thinning out the Akatsuki would make his revenge easier. Accepting the notion, Sasuke leaves with Orochimaru and Kabuto.

Itachi Pursuit Arc
Some time later, Orochimaru tests Sasuke's abilities by having him battle hundreds of Otogakure ninja with no compassion or mercy, a task he completes without taking a scratch and without killing any of them. When inquired about the latter part of the scenario, Sasuke remarks that the only person he wants to kill is his brother, Itachi, and leaves to his training room. Soon afterwards, as Orochimaru reaches the limit of his present "vessel" containing his soul, which starts degrading his health, he is notified by Kabuto that the time for his ritual to take over Sasuke's body is near. As Kabuto leaves to get some medicine, a vulnerable Orochimaru is unexpectedly attacked by Sasuke, who deems Orochimaru too weak to be worthy of having his body or the Sharingan. Although Sasuke appears victorious after a brief scuffle with Orochimaru's true snake-form, he is nevertheless brought to Orochimaru's subconscious for his Living Corpse Reincarnation. Having severely underestimated Sasuke, it is Orochimaru, in turn, who is absorbed to a dormant state within Sasuke, who is able to reverse the process using his Sharingan and hence, gains access to all of Orochimaru's abilities.

With Orochimaru gone, Sasuke goes ahead with his plan to locate and kill Itachi, by first recruiting some of Orochimaru's former test subjects — Suigetsu Hōzuki, Karin, and Jūgo — on the pretext of granting them virtues for their themselves after the success of their mission (Suigetsu wants to obtain Samehada by killing Itachi's Akatsuki partner, Kisame Hoshigaki; Karin wants to be with Sasuke due to her massive crush on him since their meeting; and, Jūgo wants to see if Sasuke was indeed worth of his dear friend, Kimimaro's sacrifice), and dubs their team Hebi. And immediately afterwards, Sasuke had his team split up and learn of Itachi's potential whereabouts. While searching alone, Sasuke is found by Akatsuki members, Deidara and Tobi, with the former wanting to kill him for defeating Orochimaru himself. Using his Sharingan and lightning-based techniques, Sasuke manages to counter most of Deidara's attacks, fueling his pre-existing hatred for the Sharingan, stemming from his past encounter with Itachi, even further, which to him could not see or admire his "art". As a last ditch effort, Deidara uses C0 to try blowing himself up along with Sasuke in a titanic explosion, which obliterates everything in the nearby vicinity. Sasuke, however, summons Manda in time and uses his Sharingan to have the great serpent shield him from the explosion, at the cost of his life, later admitting to Karin that he only defeated Orochimaru because he was already weakened after the latter shows disbelief that he could have. After recovering from his wounds, Hebi continues onto one of Akatsuki's lairs, where Sasuke finds a crow clone of Itachi which expresses admiration over Sasuke's growth in power and tells him they will have their battle at the Uchiha Hideout, leaving the rest of Hebi behind to deal with Kisame.

Once inside the Hideout, Itachi tells Sasuke the cursed history of their clan, of "Madara Uchiha" being still alive as another Uchiha besides themselves, and his desire to obtain the flawless Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan by taking Sasuke's eyes. Once he finishes, the brothers first fight in a battle of genjutsu, where Sasuke demands the location of Madara so that he can kill him too, but after Itachi declares him to be "immortal", he ensnares Sasuke in a Tsukuyomi, from which Sasuke breaks free, much to Itachi's surprise, due to his immense mastery of the Sharingan. With Zetsu witnessing (and "recording") the battle, Itachi appears somewhat weaker to dodge some of the simplest attacks from Sasuke and even coughs blood. Notwithstanding Itachi's condition, Sasuke unleashes a fireball, provoking Itachi to do the same. As Sasuke's fire gains on Itachi's, the latter resorts to using his Mangekyō Sharingan technique, Amaterasu, which ignites the area in the undying black flames, and almost burns Sasuke. But Sasuke survives using one of Orochimaru's techniques, and in his cursed seal second state, launches Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique, which creates an artificial weather condition around them, perfectly suitable for Sasuke to attack Itachi with his final lightning technique that uses the power of natural lightning itself: Kirin. But Itachi barely survives, only by his use of the third and final Mangekyō technique, Susanoo.

Having used the last of chakra on Kirin, Orochimaru, who has been absorbed and suppressed by Sasuke's chakra, uses this opportunity to reappear in the outer world through one of his eight giant snakes in a last attempt to take Sasuke's body for his own. However, before this could happen, Itachi has Susanoo use the Sword of Totsuka to seal him permanently in a genjutsu realm, thereby removing every tint of Orochimaru's being from Sasuke, including the Cursed Seal of Heaven. Cornered by an incoming Itachi, Sasuke watches in horror his brother inevitably aiming for his eyes, but is flabbergasted when, instead, Itachi says a few words and collapses to his death, after poking him in the forehead- something Itachi would regularly do to Sasuke when they were younger. Shocked and exhausted, Sasuke too passes out, albeit with a smile due to the accomplishment of his lifelong mission.

Sasuke wakes up in a cave in the care of Tobi, who quickly reveals himself to be Madara Uchiha. As Tobi tries to befriend Sasuke by removing his mask and revealing his Sharingan, Sasuke's left eye reacts to Tobi's Sharingan and triggers Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan which castes Amaterasu, setting the masked man on fire, causing him to retreat into the darkness of the cave. After dispelling the black flames with ease, an unscathed and masked Tobi appears again and begins to muse about how Itachi never ceased to amaze him. As Sasuke asks what he was talking about, Tobi reveals that Itachi had most likely implanted a one-shot Amaterasu in Sasuke's eye to attack if and when he saw Tobi's Sharingan. As Sasuke complains that he is making no sense, Tobi makes startling revelations that it had been to protect him, and, when Sasuke still didn't believe him, Tobi said how it must all sound crazy, but assured him that he was telling the truth, and introduced himself as the man who had helped Itachi to slaughter the entire Uchiha clan.

Tobi reveals to Sasuke the "truth" of Itachi: that he killed his clan by orders from Konoha, how he joined Akatsuki to keep an eye on the organisation from the inside to keep his village and his brother safe, and that everything he had done was to make sure Sasuke grew strong. Remembering his childhood of how Itachi really was a kind, good brother, Sasuke developed his own Mangekyō Sharingan. He renamed Hebi to Taka and vowed he would destroy Konoha after crying over the memories of his beloved older brother.

Invasion of Pain Arc
Before Hebi, now renamed Taka, could attack Konoha, Tobi convinced them to start working with Akatsuki. He sent them to the Land of Lightning to capture the Eight-Tails, where they found its host, Killer B. The capture attempt got off to a bad start, as Killer B swiftly overpowered both Suigetsu and Jūgo, prompting Sasuke to face B one on one. Sasuke was unable to read Killer B's unique kenjutsu and B ultimately stabbed Sasuke with six swords. Sasuke was rescued and healed by Karin, and the team decided to all attack at once. While they had more success, Killer B released a great deal of the Eight-Tails' chakra and created a chakra cloak. When Sasuke attempted to use a genjutsu to knock B out, the Eight-Tails broke him out of it and B retaliated on the unaware Sasuke with great force, using the Eight-Tails' power to blow Sasuke's neck and chest open.

While Sasuke was down, Killer B fully transformed into the beast sealed within him, leaving Taka outclassed. Jūgo healed Sasuke by fusing some of his own flesh with Sasuke's body and Suigetsu allowed the team to flee and protected them from Killer B's Tailed Beast Ball. Fearing the deaths of he and his team-mates, Sasuke unleashed his new Mangekyō Sharingan and Amaterasu to capture Killer B.

Sasuke delivered Killer B to Tobi before regrouping with Taka. While resting, they dealt with J, who had been following them. However, when Sasuke tipped over a glass of water, he learned that his eyesight was already starting to deteriorate. He opted to keep this revelation from the team. Sasuke and Jūgo later caught J spying on their hideout and presumably killed him before abandoning the hideout.

Five Kage Summit Arc
Once Taka recovered from their battle with Killer B, they headed for Konoha, but are intercepted by Tobi. He informed Taka about the destruction of Konoha and their failure in capturing the Eight-Tails which had been revealed to be nothing more than a transformed tentacle. He also told them about Danzō Shimura becoming Hokage and the Kage Summit. Taka was led to the Land of Iron, where the summit was held, by White Zetsu.

Taka managed to infiltrate the summit without being detected, but their cover was blown by Zetsu, on orders from Tobi. Forced out of hiding, Sasuke engaged the samurai guards and slaughtered them despite his previous strict no-kill policy, due to having fallen into the Curse of Hatred. The Fourth Raikage, still under the impression that Sasuke has killed his younger brother Killer B, confronted Taka together with his escorts. The ensuing fight was interrupted by the Fifth Kazekage and his escorts, but not before the Raikage had lost an arm and Sasuke was near exhaustion. After seeing how dark Sasuke had become, the Kazekage continued the fight, but Sasuke used his Susanoo to create a distraction and escaped with Karin, leaving Suigetsu and Jūgo to fend for themselves.

Karin guided Sasuke to the room where the summit was held, but before he could engage Danzō, Sasuke was confronted by Mifune. In the meanwhile, Danzō managed to escape, but the Fifth Mizukage prevented Sasuke from pursuing him. Sasuke was ready to pass out, but was reinvigorated by Zetsu's Spore Technique. He escaped from the Mizukage, only to be confronted by the Third Tsuchikage. He was just barely saved by Tobi, who pulled him and Karin into another dimension using his Sharingan, where Karin nursed Sasuke back to health.

Tobi brought Sasuke out in front of Danzō. Sasuke, overtaken by his lust for revenge, advances his Susanoo to a form able to fire arrows. Danzō, using Izanagi, avoids fatal injury and goads Sasuke about Itachi all the while. Each determined to kill the other, they clash again, Danzō relying on Izanagi to save him. Sasuke, however, had used a genjutsu to only create the illusion that Izanagi was still active, allowing him to mortally wound Danzō. Danzō takes Karin hostage in an attempt to buy time, but Sasuke had no hesitations in fatally wounding Karin in order to finish off Danzō.

With his revenge against Danzō fulfilled, Sasuke declared his plans to go to Konoha. However, Tobi pointed out that Sasuke was exhausted and near blindness. He also told Sasuke to kill Karin if she was no longer of any use, before leaving himself. As Sasuke was about to kill Karin, Sakura suddenly appeared and interrupted him. She told him that she was willing to follow him, even if it meant abandoning and even destroying Konoha. Sasuke was sceptical and told Sakura to kill Karin to prove she was sincere. However, as Sakura hesitated, Sasuke attempted to kill her with his Chidori, only to be stopped by Kakashi. Sasuke laughs at their continued attempts to convince him to return to Konoha and attacks Kakashi, with the intention of killing him. Taking Kakashi's attempt to remind him about his former comrades in Konoha as an insult to Itachi, Sasuke's Susanoo gained a layer of armour. However, this form was short-lived, as much to Sasuke's horror, his eyesight deteriorates instantly, to the point of seeing a blurred haze at most, and Sakura uses the opportunity to try and strike him down.

Sakura ultimately cannot bring herself to kill Sasuke. Though near-blind, Sasuke senses her and nearly killed her, but she is saved by Naruto. Naruto sympathises with Sasuke's motives, to which Sasuke cynically counters with his pleasure of revenge, as well as revealing his crime of murdering Danzō. When Naruto restrains Kakashi to keep him from killing Sasuke, Sasuke uses this opportunity to try once more to kill Kakashi with Chidori, but Naruto counters with Rasengan. As the two collide, he tells Naruto that his only options are to kill him or die. Naruto rejects both, stating he has a third option. As their clash sends two flying back, one of White Zetsu's clones appears and cushions Sasuke's fall. Tobi then appears and prepares to take Sasuke away, but he tells him to wait so he can hear what Naruto has to say, which is that if they fight again, they will both die together. Sasuke then becomes angry and demands Naruto to answer why he cares about him so much, to which Naruto replies he is doing it because he is his friend, leaving Sasuke shocked. Despite this unperceived event, Sasuke firmly states he refuses to go back on the path he walks. So, before leaving away with Tobi, Sasuke says that they must have a talk.

At their hideout, Sasuke asks Tobi to replace his eyes with Itachi's eyes, as his vision is almost faded due to his reckless overuse of his Mangekyō Sharingan from battling Killer B, A, Danzō Shimura and Team 7 as he wants to defeat Naruto with his full power. After transplanting Itachi's eyes, Tobi claimed that Sasuke would need time to recuperate from the operation and adjust to the new Mangekyō. Sasuke however remarked that it felt perfect and that he could feel Itachi's power flowing into him.

Shinobi World War Arc
Sasuke recovers from his surgery, and asks Zetsu if he could take off the bandages. Zetsu tells him not yet, but when he does, he'll be looking at a whole new world. After some time passes, Sasuke attacks White Zetsu with his Susanoo and sets him ablaze with Blaze Release: Susanoo Kagutsuchi, saying that his eyes could see just fine in the dark so he should try it outside. He then removes his bandages, revealing his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Back at the Mountains' Graveyard, Sasuke carves an opening through the roof with his sword — and dressed in his old garbs — mobilises. Later, as Sasuke walks to the battlefield in the middle of a thunderstorm, he looks behind him and grins ominously.

Sasuke meets up with some of Zetsu's clones, who demand to know why he left the hideout. When the clones realise that Sasuke killed the original White Zetsu, they attack him. Choosing this time to test his new powers further, he slaughters most of the clones using a combination of Susanoo and Amaterasu. He uses genjutsu on a surviving clone to discover that Tobi has waged war and that the Allied Shinobi Forces were moving to aid Naruto in his battle. Sasuke wonders if Naruto has forgotten what true strength is. He decapitates the hypnotised clone and destroys the last Zetsu clone with Amaterasu before heading towards the battlefield to kill Naruto himself. He then reminisces about his brother and resumes his way to the battlefield. As he notices something coming by the forest, he takes his sword and goes to investigate, only to find his brother, much to his surprise. Sasuke chases after him and tries to catch him with an arm of Susanoo after he calls out to Itachi, but Itachi counters with his own. Positively identifying Itachi, Sasuke asks what he is doing there since he was supposed to be dead, to which Itachi reveals Kabuto had reincarnated him with Impure World Reincarnation. Sasuke bombards Itachi with a slew of questions and retorts his brother's later statement that since he was dead, he would not talk any more by saying that even in death he was running away from him. Itachi then tells Sasuke that he wasn't running away but rather was focusing on doing important tasks like ending the Impure World Reincarnation.

Still pursuing his brother — who even goes as far as to summon a flock of crows in order to blind him — he manages not to lose sight of him and follows him right to Kabuto's location. After seeing him, Kabuto lets out a maniacal laugh and states that his luck was finally changing. After seeing Kabuto's form, Sasuke mistakes him for Orochimaru, but after hearing Kabuto's voice, he realises it's not Orochimaru. Kabuto then tries to take advantage of Sasuke's hatred to help him defeat Itachi. Sasuke, however, having learned the truth about Itachi, sided with his brother over Kabuto, stating that anything left of Orochimaru was his enemy as well and then told Itachi that when this was over he was supposed to keep his promise and talk to him about everything afterwards.

As Kabuto covers his face up entirely claiming that introverts weren't used to so much attention, Sasuke surmises that it's because he wanted to protect himself from the brothers' ocular-based genjutsu. Informing his brother of some of the abilities of the snake, he watches on vigilantly as Kabuto's snakes grow in size and attack them. Activating his Susanoo alongside Itachi, he beheads the snakes that attacked him. As Itachi cautions him to not be so rough, Sasuke tells his brother that with Orochimaru's powers it'd take more than that to kill him. Sasuke manages to get close to Kabuto and rip his hood off with the Susanoo, though much to the brothers' surprise, Kabuto was nowhere insight, hiding inside one of the fleeing snakes. Sasuke quickly reacts by drawing his sword and throwing it at one of the snakes, pinning it to the wall. However, as Kabuto manages to elude them, Sasuke listens as Kabuto tells him that the experiments on his former team-mates had allowed Kabuto to acquire new abilities. Forming his Susanoo, Sasuke fires an arrow at Kabuto which the latter narrowly dodges, Sasuke watches on as Kabuto emerges from the mouth of one of the snakes and declares that after finding the Ryūchi Cave and learning the way of the sage from the White Snake Sage, that he had transcended to a dragon.

As Kabuto's technique is initiated, Sasuke covers his ears and closes his eyes in pain, realising that he can't maintain his Susanoo. As the technique ends, Sasuke opens his eyes to see Itachi's Susanoo protecting him. Kabuto tries to implant doubt and mistrust amongst the two brothers, but Sasuke doesn't fall for them and attempts to hit him with his Chidori Sharp Spear, but fails. As Kabuto tells them that a mismatched pair like them could never defeat him, Itachi tells him that they'd be going with an attack pattern they had used in their youth against a wild boar. Forming his Susanoo arrows, Sasuke is able to hit Kabuto's snake-tail with his arrow, effectively pinning Kabuto to the ceiling of the cave. He later realises that Kabuto was moving to use his discarded sword to seemingly sever his snake-tail. Itachi intercepts the swing however. As Itachi returns to Sasuke, he tells him that beating a giant pig like that was probably no problem for him now, to which Sasuke replies that dealing with the snake before them was the more pressing issue.

Noticing the strong teamwork between the two brothers, Kabuto admits that he is surprised by it. Sasuke explains that he merely wants to know the truth from Itachi's own mouth. Realising that Sasuke is now aware of Itachi's secret past, Kabuto mocks Sasuke for trying to get the truth from Itachi when he has been lying to his younger brother all his life. Kabuto goes on to say it is foolish that Sasuke is helping Itachi when their personal goals are so different; Itachi's being to protect Konoha while Sasuke wants to destroy it. Pointing out that he and Sasuke share similar goals of destroying Konoha, Kabuto again tries to persuade Sasuke to join him. Ultimately, Itachi tells Sasuke not to listen as Kabuto is an even better liar than him. Itachi then admits to Konoha's dark side, but still firmly considers himself a Konoha ninja, greatly shocking Sasuke. Admitting to his own faults for how Sasuke turned out, Itachi promises to tell him something important after the battle, which he intends to finish with "Izanami", the partner technique to "Izanagi". As Kabuto attacks, Itachi blocks it, telling Sasuke the technique has begun and to stay near him.

As Kabuto attacks once again, this time incapacitating Itachi, Sasuke creates a ring of Amaterasu flames around himself and his brother in order to prevent Kabuto from getting any closer. As Kabuto begins chastising the Uchiha, Sasuke lashes out at him but is stopped by a now-regenerated Itachi. Growing impatient, Sasuke questioned Itachi about whether or not they really had to keep him alive as it was hampering them. Seeing that Kabuto was prepared to attack once more, he asks Itachi again if Izanami was ready yet. The siblings come under attack once more as a copy of Sakon — which emerged from the base of Kabuto's naval snake — transformed into Jirōbō and breached their Amaterasu barricade. Without time to retaliate, the two brothers incinerated the onslaught on web produced by the copy of Kidōmaru which appeared next. Kabuto then produced a copy of Kimimaro to barricade their exit with bones after covering their fore with more web. Realising that they were boxed in the brothers activate their Susanoo with Sasuke using his Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi to destroy the web that was in front of them whilst leaving the field of bones to Itachi. Retreating further into the cave, the brothers are afflicted by Tayuya's auditory genjutsu. Using their own genjutsu to break each other free from the technique, the brothers are able to stop the white snake form of Orochimaru from attacking them. However, Kabuto uses this opportunity to emerge from the mouth of the snake and bisect Itachi, much to Sasuke's horror.

As Kabuto attempts to reassert his control on Itachi again with his seal, Sasuke intervenes, launching his sword at Kabuto and then using his Susanoo in an attempt to capture him, forcing Kabuto to retreat. Sasuke then launches a fireball at Kabuto, only for Kabuto to easily counter it with a powerful water stream. As Kabuto then redirects his attention to Itachi, Sasuke rushes to his brother's side, where Itachi tells him once again to stay close to him. Sasuke then watches as Kabuto and Itachi seem to repeatedly clash in the same manner. It is then realised that Itachi's Izanami has finally taken effect, forcing Kabuto to repeat the same series of events with the same outcome every time. Taking the opportunity to question his brother about the technique, Itachi explained the mechanism behind Izanami and when he used it. Seemingly angered when Itachi told him why he used a technique that could be cancelled by the victim, Sasuke listens as Itachi explained his reasons for doing so, before Itachi tells him that he would be stopping the Impure World Reincarnation. Voicing his apprehension at first when he hears this, as it meant that Itachi would also be stopped once the technique was cancelled, Sasuke reacts angrily to Itachi's statement that he was proud to be able to protect his village and claiming that after all the village had done to Itachi, there was no way he could forgive them. Sasuke is later both shocked and confused following Itachi's response that he was stopping the technique in order to help Naruto's desire to change Sasuke.

Resigned to the fact that he could not change his brother's mind, Sasuke told Itachi that it was because he remembered his time with Itachi that he would not give up his vendetta against Konoha and in the same manner that Itachi strived to protect it, he would destroy it. With that, he wished his brother farewell before he noticed Itachi walking towards him with his hand outstretched. Itachi then explains to Sasuke that what Danzō and Tobi had told him had been the truth: he had been given the choice to either die along with his clan or to kill the Uchiha, protecting the village and Sasuke. Itachi reaches Sasuke and puts his hand on the back of Sasuke's head and his forehead on his, telling him that he knows that he can't change Sasuke's mind, but no matter what path he chose, he would love Sasuke forever. Sasuke then watches as his brother's soul is released from the Impure World Reincarnation, leaving him with Kabuto.

Ten-Tails Revival Arc
With his brother removed to the afterlife, Sasuke started to question what a village was, and what shinobi truly were. While still in thought, Suigetsu and Jūgo found Sasuke, and give him the scroll they had found at Orochimaru's hideout. From what he reads in the scroll, he declared that he will find the human who knows everything, even if it means reviving Orochimaru. To this end, he used Anko's Cursed Seal of Heaven along with a piece of Kabuto's altered flesh to revive Orochimaru, ignoring Suigetsu's vehement protests. After catching each other up with what has happened, Sasuke shows Orochimaru the scroll, making him wonder what Sasuke wanted from "them". Tired of being treated as a child by everyone, Sasuke was determined to find the truth of the past in order to find his own path.

While insisting that he still desired revenge, Sasuke explained that he must know what the idea of revenge really meant for him to know if it was truly his decision. Intrigued by how much Sasuke has changed, Orochimaru decided to take him to where his questions could be answered. Following the Sannin, their travels took them to Konoha where they briefly sense the volume of Naruto Uzumaki's chakra on the battlefield. Reacting to this as little more than a nuisance, Sasuke tells the group to continue on their journey, which took them to a temple which had fallen into ruin on the outskirts of the village. Retrieving a mask from there, Sasuke followed Orochimaru through the village where he stopped, moved to a high vantage point and surveyed the village, noting that it had changed somewhat. Not one to linger on sentimental feelings, Sasuke pressed on to the destroyed Naka Shrine where he unsealed the hidden meeting hall below the temple. Once there, Orochimaru initiated the ritual to unseal the contents of the Shinigami using the spore clones that had been attached to Sasuke as sacrifices to reincarnate the ones who knew everything: the previous four Hokage. After introducing himself to the Hokage, Sasuke asks Hiruzen why he had ordered Itachi to massacre the Uchiha clan to have him confirm everything he had been told before. Tobirama then tells Sasuke that he was from a clan possessed by evil, revealing how the Sharingan was awaken, and how an Uchiha who experienced loss would spiral deeper into darkness and become unwieldy, and that he, in his attempt to help the Uchiha channel that force, gave them the Konoha Military Police Force, which ultimately destroyed them as well. Though admonished for this by his brother Hashirama, Sasuke told them that he was not pure nor a child and asked the latter what is a village and what is a shinobi.

After Hashirama concluded his story, Sasuke mused that it was nothing if not ironic that the person who had inherited Hashirama's will was an Uchiha. Tobirama, however, corrected the young Uchiha, noting that not only did he himself not hate the Uchiha, but that there were many who had transcended the limitations of thinking only of the Uchiha, presenting his subordinate Kagami as a prime example of this. Having heard all he needed to from the Hokage including the Third and Fourth, Sasuke seemingly broke free of the Curse of Hatred and resolved to protect the sacrifice his brother had made and heads to the battlefield. Upon exiting the Naka Shrine, they were confronted by Karin whom Sasuke simply apologised to. With this, they all prepared to make their way to the battlefield.

Arriving on the battlefield, Sasuke's presence shocked Sakura and Shikamaru, angers Kiba and surprises the rest of the Rookie Nine. After noting that his former comrades were as boisterous as ever, Sasuke earned nothing but scorn from them for his past actions. After declaring to them that he would change the village and become Hokage so that incidents such as these would never repeat themselves, everyone became noticeably shocked. Shikamaru noted that this would be an impossible feat, given what he's done, but Sasuke brushed the comment away, noting that he couldn't care less what they thought. Naruto, recalling Itachi's last words to him about how the village needs to acknowledge you before you can be the Hokage, intervened and corrected Sasuke, noting that he, Naruto, would in fact become Hokage. Sasuke and Naruto then prepared to face off against the Ten-Tails, before being followed closely by Sakura. With that, the three ninja then prepared to enter the fray with Naruto noting that Team 7 had been reborn.

As Hashirama managed to make small openings in the barrier containing the Ten-Tails, Sasuke charged in along with his former team-mates to face the beast. He initially fought several of the Ten-Tails clones using his Kenjutsu skills. Sasuke later saved Sakura from the Ten-Tails' clones that had managed to sneak up on her and warned Naruto not to get in his way. After Sai informed Naruto of how to reach the Ten-Tails' real body, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto simultaneously used the Summoning Technique with which Sasuke summoned a snake summon named Aoda alongside Katsuyu and Gamakichi respectively. He then used Aoda to slide past the clones of the Ten-Tails, while also fending off their attacks using a more enhanced version of his Chidori-infused sword. After two clones managed to put up a barrier in his way, Sasuke manifested his Susanoo and broke through it with his Susanoo Sword. He then used the Susanoo to fire an Amaterasu flame-enhanced arrow towards the Ten-Tails, which was combined with Naruto's Wind Release: Ultra-Big Ball Rasenshuriken, to do even more damage to the beast. Afterwards, he commanded the Amaterasu flames to burn the Ten-Tails as Sai asked Jūgo if Sasuke was serious in his vow to become Hokage.

Naruto then told Sasuke to extinguish the flames when the Ten-Tails was weak enough to rip the tailed beasts out of its body only for Sasuke to refuse, fanatical on his path to end the "twisted system" and create a new one. Later, as Madara began to use Obito to revive himself, Sasuke and Aoda made their way towards Obito in order to stop the process. After Aoda was captured by the Ten-Tails, Sasuke lunged at Obito, manifested Susanoo, and fired another flame-enhanced arrow at Obito. However, Obito managed to deflect the attack. Just as Sasuke was about to take out Obito with Chidori, Minato teleported to Obito and cut him down. However, he survived the attack and surprised everyone by becoming the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki. Sasuke was shocked to witness Obito cut through the First and Second Hokage so easily. When Naruto questioned his father about whether or not he couldn't prevent teleport the Third to safety, Sasuke told him to stop worrying because it was part of the Hokage's plan to determine Obito's new skills since they couldn't die because they were reincarnated. Sasuke later intercepted Obito's attack on Naruto with his Susanoo and declared that he would be the one to erase the past. However, Obito managed to break through the Susanoo and attack both Sasuke and Naruto.

With Minato unable to teleport to their aid as the marking for the Flying Thunder God Technique had seemingly vanished, Naruto's quick-thinking is able to save them from Obito's attack. Remembering what Minato had said about how the Flying Thunder God Technique worked, Sasuke realised that Naruto had connected them to Minato through the use of chakra arms allowing him to teleport them to safety. Sasuke later watched on as the event unfolded on the battlefield, and on Minato's orders prepared to launch a consecutive collaborative attack with Naruto after Minato had attacked Obito. During this time, when Minato was attacked by Obito, Sasuke reprimanded Naruto, reminding him that they needed to stay focus. He later looked on in shock as the ball Obito had attached to an unaware Minato prepared to expand, threatening to eradicate them all. Manifesting his Susanoo and grabbing Naruto as well, they are saved by Tobirama who teleported the orb away from them. While Tobirama and Minato came up with a new plan of attack, Sasuke rushed forth and launched Amaterasu at Obito, much to Minato's protests. However, Obito managed to deflect Sasuke's attack, stating he could see the build up of chakra in Sasuke's left eye. He and Naruto then launched their counter-attack against Obito forming another Kagutsuchi-infused Rasenshuriken. As they charged, Minato teleported in front of them taking the blow of the technique, Minato then used the Mutually Instantaneous Revolving Technique to land a surprise attack on the new jinchūriki.

Though they believed the attack to have worked initially, they are all shocked to see Obito emerge from the attack unscathed. As they rushed forward, Sasuke noted that Obito would not be an easy one to defeat. As the readjusted their strategy, Naruto informed Sasuke that he was going to go all out again and asked if he would be able to keep up, to which Sasuke noted that he should not look down on the Uchiha. Watching as Obito attempted to deflect Gamakichi's Starch Syrup Gun technique, Sasuke later watched on in shock as Naruto was able to land an attack on Obito, wondering how he had accomplished this. Upon hearing Naruto's explanation of the situation, Sasuke came to realise that he meant that only senjutsu could counter the Ten-Tails and its jinchūriki and the young Uchiha later watched on as Obito trapped them in a barrier and prepared to launch several Tailed Beast Balls at them.

With the situation getting even more dire, Sasuke agreed with Jūgo and noted that he was going to get them both, and Naruto out of dodge. However, when Naruto dismissed their idea and insisted them come before him, Sasuke and the others soon found themselves on the outside of the barrier where the attack had been launched. As Sasuke looked on dumbfounded, Naruto explained what had happened and the Uchiha realised that they had once again used the basic principle of the Flying Thunder God technique to teleport them all outside of the barrier. Watching on as the battle progressed with Naruto and Minato on the front-lines, Sasuke silently wondered how Naruto could so effortlessly control such a large volume of chakra, and contemplated just how far his childhood team-mate had come. Sasuke later watched on as Obito manifested the Ten-Tails and had it assume its final form: that of the God Tree and Obito continued with the Eye of the Moon Plan.

As countless shinobi began being drained of their chakra, leaving everyone else filled with despair, Hashirama had Ino Yamanaka link everyone telepathically so that he could pass on the info that his original had heard about the Shinju and the Eye of the Moon Plan and to try and rally them to continue fighting. While Hashirama's words fail to inspire anyone, Sasuke continued to battle without fear or doubt, donning his Susanoo and cutting down a limb of the enormous tree shocking everyone. Calling out to Naruto, Sasuke asked the young man if he was done, as he himself had just begun. Through Ino's telepathc link, Naruto's emotions and memories were conveyed to everyone, leading the young Uchiha to sympathise with the loss of Itachi. Sasuke, in his complete Susanoo, joins Naruto in an assault. After Naruto informs Sasuke not to forget that only senjutsu will work against Obito, Sasuke tells him that he is not quick to forget, unlike Naruto. With this statement, Sasuke has Jūgo use the senjutsu chakra from his Sage Transformation on his Susanoo, which covers Sasuke's Susanoo with the Cursed Seal of Heaven markings.

Sasuke and Naruto then proceed to attack Obito, who once again used the Ten-Tails Malleable Chakra to aid in protecting himself from their assault. In unison with Naruto's senjustsu-enhanced Tailed Beast Ball, Sasuke fires a senjutsu-enhanced arrow at Obito. Sasuke and Naruto were unhappy to see that their combined technique did not harm Obito, due to him surrounding himself in a sphere formed from the Ten-Tails' malleable chakra. The battle continued resulting in Sasuke's Susanoo and Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode form being destroyed. However, Sasuke and Naruto got up on their feet again, their resolves untouched. Standing alongside his comrade, he noted that they would end the battle with their next attack, to which Naruto agrees. With this, Sasuke manifests his final Susanoo which begins to encase Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode mantle.

After Sasuke's Susanoo fully encased Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode mantle, Sasuke then manifested his Susanoo sword. Noticing their powerful combination, Obito manifested a huge shield and the Sword of Nunoboko, preparing to engage the two young shinobi. After agreeing that they had one opportunity to take down Obito, Sasuke and Naruto charged into battle. While the Konoha 11 destroyed the shield, Sasuke's Susanoo sword managed to shatter Obito's legendary weapon. With his sword destroyed, Sasuke and Naruto managed to slash through Obito with the Susanoo's senjutsu-enhanced sword. Due to the success of Sasuke and Naruto's attack, Obito began losing control of the tailed beasts and Naruto began pulling the chakra of the tailed beasts out of Obito. Sasuke and the rest of the Allied Shinobi Forces later assisted Naruto in the great chakra tug-of-war against Obito, eventually succeeding in extracting the tailed beasts from him.

As Obito lies exhausted and defenceless, Sasuke drew his sword and quickly went in for the kill, only for Kakashi to teleport in front of Sasuke and prepare to do it himself. As Kakashi himself was stopped himself by Minato, the Fourth Hokage told Naruto to help Hashirama against Madara, to which Naruto told Sasuke to join him.

Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
Sasuke joined his fellow members of Team 7 on a mission to protect the actress, Yukie Fujikaze, as she travelled to the Land of Snow. Later, Sasuke encountered Fubuki Kakuyoku, and defeated her with the Lion Combo. Sasuke used Chidori to damage Dotō Kazahana's armour, which led to him being knocked out. He was seen looking out at the newly created Land of the Spring, with Sakura holding his head, in the ending credits. In a post-credits scene, he was the one who got Koyuki Kazahana's autograph for Naruto.

Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel
Sasuke made a very short cameo when Naruto was unconscious, he had a dream of him and Sasuke walking towards each other. However, they passed by each other without a word; with this, Naruto woke up into the battle. The point of the dream, however, emphasised Naruto's regret over losing Sasuke, and strengthened his resolve not to lose any more friends.

Naruto Shippūden: The Movie
Sasuke was mentioned by Tsunade when Lee became his replacement.

Naruto Shippūden 2: Bonds
Sasuke was summoned by Orochimaru, and was told by him about the recent Sky ninja's attack on Konoha, to which Sasuke made clear that he didn't care. Orochimaru then gave him an assignment, telling him to go retrieve a scroll from a man named Shinnō. Near the end of the movie, he made his appearance just as Naruto was about to finish off Shinnō, stopping Naruto and cutting off Shinnō's flow of chakra by hitting his chakra points with Chidori Senbon, something only the Byakugan can usually see. He and Naruto quickly chased after a fleeing Shinnō, only to find themselves in a deep chamber with a strange large cocoon that seemed to absorb any chakra in the area. It was revealed to be a seed of the Zero-Tails that Shinnō had planted. He taunts both of them and an angry Naruto jumps down to fight him. Sasuke soon follows suit. The cocoon then attacked Sasuke and Naruto, and was able to restrain them until they both released their chakra from the cursed seal and the Nine-Tails respectively.

Together, Naruto defeated the cocoon with the Tornado Rasengan, while Sasuke used his Flapping Chidori. Amaru released Hinata Hyūga and the rest of the villagers who had been taken prisoner as Sasuke and Naruto exited the building. Hinata and the villagers all boarded a flying lifeboat which they found outside the temple. Amaru scrambled to reach a launching lever away from the boat, but Naruto appeared again and ordered Amaru to get in the boat, assuring her that he would take care of the launch. She refused, but Sasuke appeared behind her and threw her in by force.

As the lifeboat left, a tentacle appeared and tried to stop the boat leaving, but Sasuke cut it away. Naruto then forced Sasuke off the flying fortress onto the ship with a Rasengan, leaving him alone to destroy the flying ruins. Sasuke then uses the full cursed seal to fly away. He is next seen watching Naruto being saved by Jiraiya from a distance. Sasuke turns around and goes back to Orochimaru's hideout. He gave him the scroll Orochimaru had asked for, though Kabuto pointed out that he didn't bring Shinnō and it's not like him to fail a mission. Orochimaru notices that Sasuke seemed different, and asks him if a "good thing" happened to him. He pauses into the doorway, but doesn't say anything and walks out. Once outside, he thinks about what Naruto had said to him as he blew Sasuke onto the lifeboat that he would bring him back home one day. He then resumed his training.

Naruto Shippūden 3: Inheritors of the Will of Fire
Sasuke appeared in a few flashbacks when Sai asked Naruto about what Kakashi had taught him.

Naruto 6: Road to Ninja
The alternate world's Sasuke didn't became a missing-nin and thus is still a resident of Konoha. Furthermore, while still cocky and assertive, this Sasuke is more carefree compared to the brooding loner that Naruto and Sakura know and dresses more casually and fashionably.

The alternate Sasuke seems to return Sakura's feelings by giving her a rose to show how he cares for her that makes her happy. However, it is later revealed this Sasuke takes full advantage of girls being naturally attracted to him, becoming a flirt who gives roses to a lot of other girls, much to Sakura's dismay.

Creation and Conception
When developing the original Naruto manga, Masashi Kishimoto had not initially intended to create Sasuke. After speaking with his editor about the future of the series, he was advised to create a rival character for the series' protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki, which resulted in Sasuke's creation. To learn more about creating an effective rivalry, Kishimoto read a variety of manga to gather ideas on what constituted such a rivalry, and he coalesced these ideal elements into one relationship. By the time of Shinobi World War Arc, the rivalry between Sasuke and Naruto was similar to that of Vegeta and Son Goku in Dragon Ball series. Because Sasuke is intended to be Naruto's opposite, Kishimoto is always careful to make sure Sasuke is never too emotional. With Sasuke's character being that of a "cool genius", Kishimoto feels he has created the ideal rivalry.

Sasuke's design gave Kishimoto a number of problems, making him the most difficult character he has had to create. Because he lacked a proper idea of what Sasuke's face should look like, initial drafts of Sasuke appeared too old or mature for a character the same age as Naruto. Once settling on a proper face, Kishimoto began to work on Sasuke's attire. Original designs of Sasuke had a number of necklaces and ties around his arms and legs, a result of Kishimoto's habit of giving characters as much ornamentation as possible. Realising he could not draw such a complex character on a weekly basis, Kishimoto simplified the design to a basic contrast of Naruto's costume.

For Kishimoto, Sasuke remains the most difficult character for him to draw. While drawing, errors and mishaps commonly result in Sasuke's youthful appearance being lost, a result of Kishimoto's inexperience in drawing characters mature beyond their years. Sasuke's hair, originally kept short to save Kishimoto time, has slowly got longer as the series has progressed, resulting in the amount of time needed to draw Sasuke increasing as well. Sasuke received a new costume during the final portion of the Chūnin Exam Arc, which featured a number of belts strapped around his arms and legs. Due to the time needed to draw a costume of this design, Kishimoto returned Sasuke to his original costume in the following arc. Despite the time and energy Kishimoto spends drawing Sasuke, Sasuke has become his favourite character to draw.

Trivia

 * Sasuke was named after Sasuke Sarutobi, the Third Hokage's father, though their names in turn were likely inspired by the fictional ninja Sarutobi Sasuke. Sasuke's surname, "Uchiha", is another way of pronouncing, which is actually the Uchiha clan symbol. Uchiwa can be used to fan flames, making the flame hotter — referring to the fact that the Uchiha is a clan of fire techniques users.
 * Unlike most characters in Naruto, Sasuke doesn't address anyone with honorifics at the end of their names (except to his parents, clan members, and Itachi when he was a child and after discovering Itachi's true nature), like "Kakashi-sensei" or "Orochimaru-sama", something the Japanese would consider very insulting or rude.
 * In the June 2006 edition of Shōnen Jump, Kakashi remarked that, while Sasuke is a genius, he is dull to teach because he learns everything easily, compared to the less predictable Naruto.
 * Although Sasuke's first appearance is generally thought to be chapter 3, he can actually be seen sitting behind Naruto in chapter 1, page 13.
 * On the cover page of chapter 1, Sasuke is seen riding a hawk, which he later learns to summon. In most subsequent cover pages he is only depicted with snakes, another species he learns to summon.
 * In the Naruto character popularity polls, Sasuke was placed in 3rd in the first, 4th in the second and third, and 3rd in the fourth. He finished 1st in the fifth and sixth popularity polls, and in the third databook, which added results from the previous six polls, has Sasuke as the third most popular character overall with 33,632 votes. In the most recent poll, Sasuke ranked second.
 * Sasuke is one of four characters to have always stayed in the Top Ten of every Character Popularity Poll.
 * Sasuke's Mangekyō Sharingan which consists of three overlapping pointed ellipses, giving it six points is the only one shown to have inverse colours; while most are red with black designs, Sasuke's is black with red designs.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Sasuke's hobbies are training and taking walks.
 * Sasuke wishes to fight against Itachi Uchiha (first and second databooks) and the upper ninja of Konoha (third databook).
 * Sasuke's favourite foods are omusubi with okaka and tomatoes, while his least favourites are nattō and anything sweet.
 * Sasuke has completed 16 official missions in total: 7 D-rank, 1 C-rank, 2 B-rank, 6 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * Sasuke's favourite word is.
 * According to the first Naruto fanbook, while in the Academy Sasuke had the highest grade in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, the lowest grade in cooperation and the second-lowest grade in assertiveness, which was bringing down his average. His overall grade was second place to Ino's.

Quotes

 * (To Itachi) "That's okay… Just as long as we can be together sometimes."
 * (To Team 7) "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone."
 * (To Sakura about Team 7) "I know the four of us have worked together. And for a while, I thought I could choose that path instead… but in the end… I've decided on revenge. That's always been my purpose of living."
 * (To Naruto) "I don't look to the future any more. Only the past."
 * (To Naruto) "Just shut up for once! What the hell do you know about it?! It's not like you ever had a family in the first place! You were on your own right from the beginning, what makes you think you know anything about it?! Huh?! I'm suffering now because I had those ties, how on earth could you possibly understand, what it feels like to lose all that!"
 * (To Tobi) "If you think I'm just a foolish kid ruled by his emotions, that's fine. Following Itachi's path would be childish, the whispering of fools who don't know hatred. If anyone else tries to ridicule the way I live, I'll slaughter everyone they ever cared about. And then maybe they'll understand what it's like to taste… a little of my hatred."
 * (To Team Kakashi) "I finally… I finally got my first bit of revenge for Itachi... it's like the disgrace of the Uchiha clan is being cleansed. Like I'm separating the Uchiha clan from the rotten ninja world. You might even say it's what Konoha always wanted. You always repudiated the Uchiha clan, so now we will disappear from your memories just like you always wanted. When I kill everyone in Konoha! By severing the bond, we will be purified! That will be the true revival of the Uchiha clan!"
 * (To Itachi) "I can forgive you… But I can never forgive Konoha!!"
 * (To Itachi) "I guess anything I say now would be pointless… When I saw you… I decided to follow you here to confirm whether or not what Danzō and Tobi told me was true or not. But that wasn't the only reason… When I'm with you I remember the way it used to be. I remember time spent with the brother that I looked up to… that I loved. That's why… The closer I get to you… The more I'm able to recall what those days felt like… And the more I'm able to understand you. The more I'm able to hate Konoha for the suffering they put you through. In fact, it's becoming even stronger than before. I do understand what you want me to do. It's probably because you're my older brother that you feel the need to put me on the right path. But it's probably because I'm your younger brother that I'll never stop, no matter what you say. As you'll always exist to protect the village… so will I to destroy it. Goodbye… brother."
 * (To Orochimaru) "I'm going to the battlefield… I won't let this village… and my brother… be wasted!"
 * (To Sakura after arriving on the battlefield) "Many things happened… but I decided to protect the village, and I… will become Hokage."
 * (To his former team-mates) "The Hokage created this situation. I'll become Hokage and change the village."