Uchiha Sasuke

Sasuke’s childhood, as told over the course of Naruto manga volume twenty-five, was spent living in the shadow of his older brother, Itachi Uchiha. As a natural prodigy of the Uchiha clan, Itachi was the pride of their family. In an effort to win some recognition for himself, Sasuke trained diligently to win some of his parents’ attention, though he was never able to surpass the milestones set in place by his brother. As the years went by only Itachi would acknowledge Sasuke’s accomplishments and treat him as part of the family, filling the role of a loving older brother. In time, Itachi began to distance himself from the clan and fell out of his family’s confidence. Because of this, the Uchiha began to look to Sasuke as the new future for the clan, and he finally began to receive the attention he had craved.

Soon after Sasuke started to be accepted into his family, he returned home one day find the streets littered with the corpses of the Uchiha clan. Upon rushing home to alert his parents to the tragedy, Sasuke found Itachi standing over their bodies. His responsibility for the murders clear, Itachi explained that he had killed their family only to test his abilities. As Sasuke tried to flee, Itachi went on to explain that he had never loved his little brother. Claiming that Sasuke was not worth killing, Itachi encouraged him to get stronger by living a life of hate and anger towards him, with his sole purpose being to avenge the clan. Itachi left, and in the absence of a loving family Sasuke agreed to do as instructed, dedicating his life to killing Itachi. Years later, in Part II of the series, Sasuke is shown to have some doubts out about the events of that night. It is not until after Itachi’s death that he learns the truth surrounding the massacre of the Uchiha: that it was all done for Sasuke’s good.

When first introduced during his assignment to Team 7, Sasuke was seen as different from his teammates. Feeling that his abilities are far superior to their own, he is unwilling to cooperate with Naruto Uzumaki or Sakura Haruno, as doing so would do nothing to help him kill Itachi. These perceptions are quickly proven wrong, for despite their failings, Sakura is an excellent source of information and competition with Naruto acts as an effective way to get stronger. While he retains a confidence in himself throughout the series, Sasuke increasingly relies on his friends over the course of Part I. As he starts to get close to others he also begins to risk his own life to save them, even though his death would leave him unable to gain vengeance on Itachi.

Although Sasuke becomes content with a life of happiness in Konohagakure, he never allows his dreams of power to leave his thoughts. During his Part I battles with characters such as Haku and Gaara, Sasuke tests his abilities against those of progressively stronger ninja, in the process discovering the weakpoints he needs to overcome. While initially complacent with his development, Naruto quickly starts to grow stronger at a faster greater rate. This, coupled with his quick defeat by Itachi during a brief return to Konoha, leads Sasuke to believe that his growth is slowing. In an attempt to reassess his strength, he begins to treat his friends as opponents so as to test his abilities against their own.[26]

Dissatisfied with his progress in Konoha and believing Orochimaru holds the keys to getting strong enough to kill Itachi, Sasuke defects from Konoha at the end of Part I. Naruto attempts to stop him but Sasuke, believing the death of Naruto, his closest friend, will give him the desired power, tries to kill him instead. He is ultimately unable to follow through with this idea, realizing that is what Itachi would want, and instead continues on to Orochimaru. In the two-and-a-half years he spends with Orochimaru, Sasuke’s goal to kill Itachi takes precedence above all else; he is willing to give his body to Orochimaru if it means killing Itachi, and later turns against Orochimaru after reaching the conclusion that he can learn nothing else of value. After finally achieving his goal of bringing about Itachi’s death, in the process learning of his brother’s good intentions, Sasuke abandons all of his hate for Itachi and resolves to restore the Uchiha.

Even though he was never able to be as prodigious as Itachi, Sasuke has always been able to grasp most ninja abilities with ease. When Naruto begins Sasuke is highly proficient with the Uchiha clan’s signature fire and weapon-based techniques talents he continues to hone throughout the series. Of the abilities gained through his Uchiha lineage, Sasuke most commonly uses the Sharingan, a unique eye condition that grants him a variety of advantages. Sasuke’s Sharingan develops for the duration of Part I, first only allowing him to track fast-moving objects and culminating with his ability to predict the movements of others. In Part II he starts to use his Sharingan to cast illusions, allowing him to manipulate and confuse others. Sasuke’s Sharingan reaches its peak after Itachi’s death; through the death of the person closest to him, Sasuke awakens his own Mangekyo Sharingan.

Like the Sharingan, Orochimaru’s influence is a recurring element of Sasuke’s abilities. During their first encounter in Part I, Sasuke is branded with a cursed seal, which grants him a brief surge in strength and speed when active. Though he is left exhausted after its usage, Sasuke’s various uses of the seal cause him to crave more of its power. As such, Sasuke forces his seal to a second level, amplifying the effects of the first level and drastically changing his appearance when active. When Sasuke begins to train under Orochimaru, his physical abilities are greatly enhanced and he learns how to summon snakes so as to help him in battle. In addition to the techniques taught to him, Sasuke gains access to some of Orochimaru more common abilities after absorbing him into his body; Sasuke is able to recover from injuries in short periods of time and can regurgitate new bodies for himself if he is too heavily damaged. Itachi removes Orochimaru and the cursed seal from Sasuke’s body during their final battle, freeing him from Orochimaru’s control.

Prior to Sasuke’s defection his teacher, Kakashi Hatake teaches him how to use the Chidori in an attempt to steer him away from Orochimaru. The Chidori, a collection of lightning-based chakra in the user’s hand, serves as a rapid thrusting attack that severely damages any target. While Sasuke is able to put the Chidori to great use during Part I, his usage of the attack is somewhat limited in Part II. Instead, Sasuke employs variants of the technique, using the fundamentals behind the Chidori to create a number of new abilities. Sasuke’s first display of such an ability involves emitting electricity from his body as a shield and then sending it along the blade of his chokutō to increase its cutting potential. He later proves able to mold electricity into more solid forms such as extendable swords, and even harnesses the power and speed of natural lightning for his personal usage. Because of the amount of energy required to create the Chidori, Sasuke can only use it twice per day under his own power for the duration of Part I.In Part II, a limit on his number of uses for the Chidori or its variants has yet to be seen.