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A Genin-rank ninja, Sasuke is the natural genius offspring of the once powerful Uchiha clan. One of the more outstanding clans in Konohagakure, the Uchiha clan was known for its kekkei genkai, the Sharingan, as well as their use of fire element jutsu after their country's namesake. The clan also formed much of Konohagakure's village police force. Sasuke is one of two known remaining survivors.
Like most of the Uchiha clan members, Sasuke's chakra seems to have an affinity for fire-based jutsu. His chakra also seems to have an affinity for lightning as well, shown in his progress with the One Thousand Birds.
[edit] Early childhood
Sasuke, age 8.The second son of a Konohagakure police captain, Sasuke grew up in the shadow of his older brother, Itachi. Itachi was an acknowledged prodigy who graduated at the top of his Academy class at age 7, mastered the Sharingan by age 8, became a Chunin at age 10, and an ANBU squad leader at the age of 13. As a result, the Uchiha clan took great pride and interest in Itachi and viewed him as a genius whose work would further strengthen the bonds between the village and the clan. In particular, Sasuke's father took an active interest in Itachi. 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 when even their father did not, but spending little quality time with Sasuke. Even after Sasuke enrolled in the Ninja Academy, he still was unable to escape Itachi's shadow. Despite consistently scoring at the head 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 unique siblings. I am the barrier you must overcome, so you and I will continue to exist together."
After an incident between Itachi and a few other Uchiha clan members, relations between Itachi and Sasuke's father began to deteriorate. Itachi's behavior became increasingly bizarre, estranging him further from other members of the Uchiha clan. During this time, Sasuke's father, on a whim, decided to spend time with Sasuke, teaching him the Great Fireball Technique. Sasuke (age 8 at the time) eventually succeeded in performing the jutsu in front of his father, surprising him. At that moment, Sasuke finally received his father's recognition; the Uchiha clan considered the ability to perform fire jutsu as proof that one had become an adult. Sasuke's father told him that he could now proudly wear the clan's emblem on his back. Sasuke also received a stern warning not to follow in Itachi's footsteps. Shortly thereafter, Itachi killed every Uchiha member with the exception of Sasuke. Itachi said that Sasuke 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." 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 is.
Sasuke collapses, and awakes in the Konoha hospital to find the village gossiping about the destruction of his clan. He escapes the hospital and wanders the village, remembering happy times with his murdered family and finally collapsing into tears as he reaches the spot where his parents were killed. He then travels to the Nakano shrine and finds the secret of the Sharingan that Itachi promised him. Whatever he read there only seemed to harden his heart, and from that point forward, Sasuke's life is dedicated to vengeance against his brother.
[edit] Part I
[edit] Team 7
Sasuke in Team 7.Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke are forced to cooperate against their will when they become the members of the newly founded Team 7 of academy graduates. Naruto initially has a one-sided rivalry with Sasuke, because Naruto spent his whole life shunned, scorned, and desperately seeking to attain the very same recognition and popularity Sasuke has been getting; this is only made worse by the fact that Naruto has a crush on Sakura who, in turn, is head over heels for Sasuke. Sasuke initially looks upon Naruto and his admirer, Sakura, with an equal smug distaste, viewing them as annoyances that would only get in the way. His loner attitude is one of the negative factors responsible for Team 7's initial state of borderline non-existent teamwork, which Kakashi Hatake, the team's sensei notes and berates him for. However, Naruto and Sasuke's relationship slowly shifts from an incompatible mix of frustration and dislike into a mutually positive rivalry - while Sasuke appears to always be one step ahead of Naruto, Sasuke sees Naruto as constantly gaining ground each moment, which results in a state where they push and motivate each other to improve. Similarly, Sasuke's relationship with Sakura slowly changes for the better as a friend and teammate, while she slowly comes to understand the troubled person behind the "popular, brooding, pretty boy" image she initially crushed on.
Sasuke makes a point out of taunting Naruto on occasion, goading and egging him on with his air of superiority. He also continually disappoints Sakura by repeatedly informing her that he is not interested in going out with her. However, a bond between the three forms and Sasuke gradually learns the value of teamwork. As he does, he eventually begins to learn to trust and pushes his thoughts of revenge into the recesses of his mind.
[edit] Land of Waves
Sasuke's first major mission was escorting an architect and bridge expert to his home in the poverty-stricken Wave Country. Sasuke showed exceptional skill when attacked by two missing-nin, The Demon Brothers, from the Hidden Mist village. Later on in the same mission, during the tree climbing exercise to improve chakra control, he managed to stay ahead of Naruto for a good length of time. He also stood toe to toe for a while with Haku, an exceptionally dangerous ninja with extreme speed and dexterity. It was during this battle that Sasuke awakened the legacy of his clan, the Sharingan, and in which he first demonstrated a willingness to put others before himself, selflessly putting himself in the way of Haku's attack on Naruto in a move that would have resulted in his death if Haku had meant to kill him rather than induce a temporary death-state. Although he claimed his body moved on its own, his actions show that, even at that early stage, he was willing to put himself in mortal danger for Naruto's sake.
[edit] Chunin Exam
Before the exams even started Sasuke fought against Rock Lee, who easily defeated him through the weakness of the Sharingan: if the user can't keep up with the target then the Sharingan is useless. Before the finishing blow could be given, Might Guy, Lee's sensei, ends the match. Later in the preliminary matches this fight gives Sasuke an idea to help him win the match.
Naruto's positive influence on Sasuke does not please Orochimaru, who is interested in Sasuke as his next potential body, thanks to the Sharingan's technique copying ability, which would help greatly in Orochimaru's ambition to master all jutsu in the world. Orochimaru decides that it is imperative to somehow counter Naruto's positive influence on Sasuke and "dye him to his own color". To advance this cause he puts his cursed seal on Sasuke's neck during their fight in the Forest of Death. As Sasuke lies unconscious, he is haunted with hallucinations of his parents dying and Orochimaru blaming him and his weakness for their death, exploiting his trauma to subvert the bond he has with his comrades with promises of power.
Sasuke, engulfed by Orochimaru's cursed seal.Sasuke turns out to be strong enough to survive the one in ten chance of withstanding the seal and regains consciousness. Sasuke wakes up in a psychologically twisted state, colored by the seal in a sinister black flame-pattern and influenced by Orochimaru's suggestion, but this is still far from enough to destroy his bond with his teammates – the first thing he sees is a very wounded Sakura, and he consequently almost kills the Sound ninja who injured her. At the last minute, he is stopped by Sakura who hugs him and pleads for him to stop, who knows that the maniacally grinning Sasuke she sees before her "couldn't possibly be the Sasuke [she] know."
Sasuke's match up in the preliminaries is against a member of Kabuto's team, Yoroi Akado. Before the fight starts, Kakashi warns Sasuke that if his curse mark gets out of control, he'll have to intervene and stop the match to control the mark, which bars Sasuke from using any jutsu at all just so he cannot fight. The match starts with Yoroi stealing Sasuke's chakra through his hands. The match seems hopeless for Sasuke, until he hears Naruto's nagging. Next to him is Rock Lee, which makes Sasuke get an idea. He creates a new move based on one of Lee's that he copied during their battle. Yoroi is knocked out, and Sasuke advances to the next round. After the fight, Kakashi takes him to seal the curse mark.
During the main matches, Sasuke is matched up against Gaara. Sasuke arrives late (because of some last-minute training by Kakashi), but his time was extended because of the importance of the match. Sasuke demonstrates that his speed has vastly increased, to the point where he moves as fast as Lee. Sasuke also unveils his One Thousand Birds, which Kakashi taught him, to injure Gaara. Before the match could finish, it is interrupted by the start of Orochimaru's attack.
[edit] Destruction of Konoha
Sasuke chases after Gaara to resume their match. After some minor fights, Sasuke fights Gaara. Gaara begins to transform into his Shukaku state, overpowering and defeating Sasuke even though Sasuke uses his cursed seal. When Sasuke was about to be killed, Naruto and Sakura arrive. Sasuke then watches as Naruto defeats Gaara where he could not, jealous of Naruto's increasing power.
[edit] Defection from Konoha
Sasuke's willpower is surprisingly strong enough to hold back the cursed seal, and after Kakashi performs his Evil Sealing Method technique on him, the cursed seal enters a dormant state that remains as long as the Evil Sealing Method is fueled by Sasuke's will. However, a series of events unfolds that changes Sasuke's outlook on life, causing a regression back into his former absolute fixation on revenge. With Sasuke already pressured by a growing jealousy over witnessing Naruto's leaps of improvement – culminating when Naruto defeated Gaara and saving Sakura, which Sasuke failed to do even when using the cursed seal – Itachi visits Konoha in search of Naruto and the demon fox, and upon challenging him, Sasuke is subjected to the Mangekyo Sharingan by Itachi, and the beating he receives drives him over the edge, returning him to his original goal: gaining enough power to kill his brother.
When Naruto returns from his search for Tsunade, Sasuke immediately challenges him to a fight, enraged that Itachi was more interested in Naruto's power than he was in Sasuke's. The two go to the roof of the hospital, where Sasuke reiterates that he is the superior of the two. Naruto retorts that he never considered himself to be inferior to Sasuke, and that their headbands indicated they were equals, but Sasuke refuses to wear his. With that, Sasuke and Naruto spar with such intensity that Kakashi has to stop them from using One Thousand Birds and Spiraling Sphere on each other. Kakashi deflects their attacks into adjacent water towers, and Sasuke momentarily revels in the sight of his tower being more damaged, taking this as proof his One Thousand Birds was stronger than Naruto's Spiraling Sphere. However, upon closer inspection, Sasuke is shocked to find that the back of Naruto's tower had completely been blown out by the power of the Spiraling Sphere.
Frustrated by Naruto's increasing power, Sasuke is lectured by Kakashi, who tells Sasuke that his comrades are the most important thing about being a Konoha ninja, and that One Thousand Birds should never be used on a fellow team member. Sasuke seems slightly receptive of Kakashi's message, but he has no time to contemplate any of it. As soon as Kakashi leaves, Orochimaru's Sound Four attack. Sasuke tries his best, but his every attempt is rendered useless. Sakon proceeds to goad Sasuke by telling him that if the Sound Four can beat him so easily, he has no chance of ever exacting revenge on Itachi. The Sound Four then extend an invitation to Sasuke: Follow them to the village of Sound and align himself with Orochimaru, who in turn will grant him the power he so desperately wants.
For this cause, Sasuke decides to take Orochimaru up on his offer, advancing his Cursed Seal into Stage Two instead of attempting to contain it, and turning his back on Konoha in the process. As he sneaks out of the village, Sakura finds him, and soon understands the magnitude of what he is about to do. Desperate not to lose Sasuke, Sakura does anything she can think of, confessing her love for him and even offering to join his twisted journey so they at least can be together. Sasuke's cryptic last words before swiftly knocking her out and departing are "Sakura... Thank you".
A genin team consisting of Naruto, Kiba Inuzuka, Neji Hyuga and Choji Akimichi and led by Chunin Shikamaru Nara is sent to retrieve Sasuke, but encounters opposition from Orochimaru's Sound Four, who, by activating their cursed seals, can overpower Jonin-level ninjas. Naruto manages to reach Sasuke with tremendous aid from his teammates, several of whom are critically wounded. It is revealed that in his famous speech after slaughtering the Uchiha clan, Itachi did not only tell Sasuke to "run, run and cling desperately to life", but also that he will only be able to match him in battle when he has the Mangekyo Sharingan - which can only be attained by killing one's best friend.
Naruto refuses to accept Sasuke's decision, as by his own admission Sasuke is like a brother to him and he can't bear to lose him to the twisted path of self-destruction he has chosen. They therefore engage in battle, and Sasuke's Sharingan develops into the final stage prior to the Mangekyo Sharingan, with three of the tomoe in each eye. The battle from this point onward tips drastically into Sasuke's favor with Naruto barely managing to keep up, as the two shoot ambivalent statements back and forth attempting to persuade one another to stop the fight and accept the other's worldview. Though Sasuke maintains a show of indifference to the obvious moral conflict at first, this pretense deteriorates gradually throughout the fight, as Sasuke slowly starts acknowledging that whether his avenger self wishes it or not, Naruto - while his greatest rival - is also his best friend: thus killing Naruto could bring him the power he desires. As Naruto is repeatedly injured by Sasuke, he draws upon more and more of the demon fox's chakra, reducing his personality to a semi-animalistic state and surrounding him in a fox-shaped shield of chakra. To counter the release of the fox's chakra, Sasuke activates the second stage of his cursed seal, becoming a demonic figure with a pair of huge, hand-like wings sprouting from his back. Before Sasuke does this, he puts on his Hidden Leaf forehead protector, indicating that he was finally acknowledging Naruto as strong and as an equal, which Sasuke was not willing to do during their first fight on the hospital roof. He still, however, scoffs at the idea that Naruto would even be able to scratch his headband.
Sasuke unleashing his Flapping One Thousand Birds.At this point, the two rivals clash in a final display of power, Naruto attacking with a one-tailed demon fox-powered Spiraling Sphere, and Sasuke with a level two Cursed Seal of Heaven-powered One Thousand Birds. Upon impact, a massive black dome of energy forms around the two. Sasuke hesitates, striking Naruto with the back of his hand instead of the One Thousand Birds, and sparing his life, as he realizes that killing Naruto to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan would be exactly what Itachi wanted. He chooses to leave Naruto unconscious but alive on the ground, thus giving up his chance to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan and proving that he is indeed not like his brother and that Naruto is, ultimately, the person most important to him. In the aftermath Kakashi finds Naruto - hanging on to Sasuke's old headband (which Naruto has managed to scratch as his final act before losing consciousness) and returns him to Konoha for medical treatment. Sasuke descends to the darkness, still headed for Orochimaru, and in his mind resolving (to Itachi): "I will not be your puppet! I will gain power in my own way! I will surpass you in my own way!"
[edit] Filler saga
[edit] Naruto the Movie
Sasuke played a small role in the first movie. Sasuke was the one who had the tickets to a Princess Fuu'un movie and encountered Fubuki through out the movie and defeated her with the Lion Combo. Sasuke used One Thousand Birds to damage Doto's armor, which led to him getting knocked out. He was seen looking out at the newly created Spring country with Sakura and presented Naruto the autograph that he got him from Fuu'un in the ending credits.
[edit] Filler episodes
Sasuke is briefly seen in episode 170 of the anime with Orochimaru. He shows off his Sharingan on one of Orochimaru's acquaintances and says to Orochimaru that it is unnecessary to refer to him as Itachi Uchiha's little brother. He also later appears in a special episode as a "special guest" and he was seen wearing a bluish-gray robe, but his bottom wear was unseen.
[edit] Part II
A 15-year-old Sasuke's new look in Part II, after two and a half years with Orochimaru.
[edit] New personality
For the most part, Sasuke has stayed true to his original personality. When first meeting Sai, he did not care the slightest and was interested more in Orochimaru's presence. When Sai states that he might be able to get along better with Sasuke than he did with Naruto, Sasuke freezes him with a stare, exuding a large amount of killing intent. Sai is amazed that even an emotionless person such as himself was affected by Sasuke's gaze, showing the power of his Sharingan. When Sai comments on how Naruto and Sakura have been searching for him, Sasuke once again regarded him with indifference.
It would appear that during his time with Orochimaru, he came to the conclusion that if he ever wished to stand a chance against Itachi, he would need to push away all of his past bonds with his friends and make revenge a priority even above his life. Because of this, he shows that he no longer cares about Konoha or anyone from the village, despite the fact that when Sasuke encounters Naruto for the first time after the time skip, he makes remarks about Team Kakashi and also scolds Naruto, saying that his quest to recover Sasuke could threaten his chances of becoming Hokage. He also states that unlike their last encounter at the waterfall, Sasuke has no more reservations about killing Naruto, and attempts to do so. He's also aware of the fact he is intended to be the container for Orochimaru's soul, showing that he doesn't care what happens to himself as long as it results in Itachi's death.
Unlike Kabuto or any of Orochimaru's subordinates, who address him as "Orochimaru-sama" (which shows that they highly respect him), he simply refers to him as Orochimaru. Sasuke also never called Kakashi "Kakashi-sensei" (teacher) like the others did, something the Japanese would consider as very insulting or rude. Despite his association with the Sound Village, Sasuke does not wear a Sound headband, unlike most other subordinates of Orochimaru.
[edit] New abilities
Sasuke's fighting skills have improved greatly over the timeskip, which is exemplified by his new jutsu, One Thousand Birds Current. One Thousand Birds Current allows Sasuke to project electricity from his entire body for both defensive and offensive purposes. Sasuke now wields a Kusanagi sword like Orochimaru's, though his doesn't seem to carry the special abilities that Orochimaru's does. His version is also depicted as katana-like, whereas Orochimaru's looks more like a Chinese Jian or Roman Spatha. Sasuke uses the One Thousand Birds Current in conjunction with his sword to increase its cutting power, as well as paralyze his opponents when he strikes them.
He has also become much more skilled with his Sharingan, to the point where he can perform genjutsu through simple eye contact. When Sasuke looks down to see Naruto crawling over to him in a sub-demon fox state, Sasuke is able to get into Naruto's mind and make contact with the demon fox, much to the surprise of Naruto and the fox. Unexpectedly, the demon fox itself knew about the Uchiha clan. The demon fox mentions a Madara Uchiha, saying that Sasuke's eyes and chakra are even more sinister than its own. Furthermore, it appears that Sasuke can suppress the demon fox's chakra. The demon fox warns Sasuke not to kill Naruto, as he would regret it.
Just before his departure, Sasuke attempts to use another jutsu to end the battle, only to be stopped by Orochimaru. Orochimaru says that leaving them alive would help Sasuke against his brother because they are also opposing Akatsuki.
 wolf of the dark moon · Tue Nov 28, 2006 @ 10:02pm · 0 Comments |
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