Sasuke Uchiha

Sasuke Uchiha (うちはサスケ, Uchiha Sasuke) 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. 

Source: http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Sasuke_Uchiha

Background

Sasuke as an infant.

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.^[4] 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.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.

Sasuke and Itachi when they were younger.

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.^[7] 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.^[8]
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.

Naruto and Sasuke's rivalry in the Academy.

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.^[9] 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

Sasuke's pleasant disposition as a child.

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.^[10] 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.^[11]
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.^[12] 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.^[13]
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.^[14] 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,^[15] 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.^[16] 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.^[17] 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.^[18] 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.^[19]

Sasuke's hatred overwhelms him as he ruthlessly sacrifices Karin.

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,^[20] and after cornering Danzō, Sasuke turned to sacrificing Karin who got taken hostage to accomplish his goals of vengeance,^[21] 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.^[22] 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.^[23][24] 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.^[25] 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.^[26][27] 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.^[28] 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.^[29] 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.^[30]
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.^[31] 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.^[32] 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's 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. Sasuke also expressed concern for Sai when he was attacked by a Ten-Tails' clone despite the fact they never had a positive encounter in the past. Sasuke also showed concerned for Aoda when it was caught by the Ten-Tails and immediately ordered it to disappear. 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 couldn't be trusted as an ally, and despite attempting to believe otherwise, the fake smile on Sakura's face suggested that she 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.^[33]

Appearance

Sasuke's appearance in the first half of Part II.

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.

Sasuke's outfit after recovering from being transplanted Itachi's eyes.

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

Sasuke displays his proficiency with ninja tools.

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.^[34] Scoring the highest in the performance tests and one of the highest in written tests,^[35] 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. Tobi, Itachi, and Orochimaru have all stated that Sasuke possesses the unique potential to become much stronger than his older brother, who was already considered a genius above all others.^[36] Orochimaru even noted that Sasuke is far stronger than he was at the same age when he was training Sasuke in Part II.^[37] Tobi has also stated that in time, Sasuke could become more powerful than Nagato.^[38]
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.^[39] 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.^[40] 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.^[41]
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.^[42] 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.^[43] 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.^[44][45]

Taijutsu

Sasuke delivers the finishing blow of the Lion Combo.

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.^[46] He was also able to outmanoeuvre two chūnin-level Kirigakure missing-nin.^[47] 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.^[48] 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. In the anime, he was also able to hold his own against Kakashi in a taijutsu fight despite being in a physically debilitated state.^[49]
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.^[50] 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

The Cursed Seal of Heaven.

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 battles. 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 aditional training, Sasuke greatly extended the time he could maintain his cursed seal active. Since Itachi sealed Orochimaru, the seal was removed from Sasuke.

Ninjutsu

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.^[51] 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.^[52] In the manga, during his first battle against Orochimaru, Sasuke displayed the ability to infuse one of his kunai with chakra.^[53] In the anime, he also used a set of chains to ensnare foes.^[54]

Kenjutsu

Sasuke wielding his Sword of Kusanagi.

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.^[14] 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.^[55] He even skilfully blocked an attack from Mifune, a famous master swordsman, who acknowledged Sasuke's ability with this combat form.^[56] During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sasuke was able to fight off one of the Ten-Tails' mini clones with kenjutsu.^[57]
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.^[58]

Shurikenjutsu

Sasuke wielding a fūma shuriken.

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

Sasuke using snakes to restrain Jūgo and Suigetsu.

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, and could use 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 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

Sasuke using the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.

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.

Sasuke using Chidori.

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.^[59]
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 mountain, as well as break through the defences of Itachi Uchiha's Susanoo.

Sasuke employing the use of Blaze Release.

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.^[60] 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,^[28] and create a barrage of Amaterasu magatama to handle multiple enemies.^[61] Sasuke could also use his Kagutsuchi without using Susanoo for more direct usage.^[62][63]

Dōjutsu

Sharingan

Sasuke's 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.^[64] 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,^[65] relaying recorded memories,^[66] 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,^[67] along with his complete control over the actions of a summoned creature as mighty as Manda;^[68] a glimpse of the dōjutsu's infamous potential to subjugate the tailed beasts.^[69]
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.^[70]

Background

Sasuke as an infant.

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.^[4] 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.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.

Sasuke and Itachi when they were younger.

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.^[7] 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.^[8]
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.

Naruto and Sasuke's rivalry in the Academy.

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.^[9] 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

Sasuke's pleasant disposition as a child.

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.^[10] 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.^[11]
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.^[12] 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.^[13]
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.^[14] 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,^[15] 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.^[16] 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.^[17] 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.^[18] 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.^[19]

Sasuke's hatred overwhelms him as he ruthlessly sacrifices Karin.

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,^[20] and after cornering Danzō, Sasuke turned to sacrificing Karin who got taken hostage to accomplish his goals of vengeance,^[21] 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.^[22] 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.^[23][24] 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.^[25] 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.^[26][27] 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.^[28] 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.^[29] 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.^[30]
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.^[31] 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.^[32] 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's 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. Sasuke also expressed concern for Sai when he was attacked by a Ten-Tails' clone despite the fact they never had a positive encounter in the past. Sasuke also showed concerned for Aoda when it was caught by the Ten-Tails and immediately ordered it to disappear. 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 couldn't be trusted as an ally, and despite attempting to believe otherwise, the fake smile on Sakura's face suggested that she 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.^[33]

Appearance

Sasuke's appearance in the first half of Part II.

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.

Sasuke's outfit after recovering from being transplanted Itachi's eyes.

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

Sasuke displays his proficiency with ninja tools.

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.^[34] Scoring the highest in the performance tests and one of the highest in written tests,^[35] 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. Tobi, Itachi, and Orochimaru have all stated that Sasuke possesses the unique potential to become much stronger than his older brother, who was already considered a genius above all others.^[36] Orochimaru even noted that Sasuke is far stronger than he was at the same age when he was training Sasuke in Part II.^[37] Tobi has also stated that in time, Sasuke could become more powerful than Nagato.^[38]
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.^[39] 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.^[40] 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.^[41]
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.^[42] 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.^[43] 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.^[44][45]

Taijutsu

Sasuke delivers the finishing blow of the Lion Combo.

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.^[46] He was also able to outmanoeuvre two chūnin-level Kirigakure missing-nin.^[47] 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.^[48] 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. In the anime, he was also able to hold his own against Kakashi in a taijutsu fight despite being in a physically debilitated state.^[49]
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.^[50] 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

The Cursed Seal of Heaven.

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 battles. 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 aditional training, Sasuke greatly extended the time he could maintain his cursed seal active. Since Itachi sealed Orochimaru, the seal was removed from Sasuke.

Ninjutsu

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.^[51] 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.^[52] In the manga, during his first battle against Orochimaru, Sasuke displayed the ability to infuse one of his kunai with chakra.^[53] In the anime, he also used a set of chains to ensnare foes.^[54]

Kenjutsu

Sasuke wielding his Sword of Kusanagi.

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.^[14] 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.^[55] He even skilfully blocked an attack from Mifune, a famous master swordsman, who acknowledged Sasuke's ability with this combat form.^[56] During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sasuke was able to fight off one of the Ten-Tails' mini clones with kenjutsu.^[57]
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.^[58]

Shurikenjutsu

Sasuke wielding a fūma shuriken.

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

Sasuke using snakes to restrain Jūgo and Suigetsu.

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, and could use 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 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

Sasuke using the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.

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.

Sasuke using Chidori.

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.^[59]
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 mountain, as well as break through the defences of Itachi Uchiha's Susanoo.

Sasuke employing the use of Blaze Release.

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.^[60] 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,^[28] and create a barrage of Amaterasu magatama to handle multiple enemies.^[61] Sasuke could also use his Kagutsuchi without using Susanoo for more direct usage.^[62][63]

Dōjutsu

Sharingan

Sasuke's 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.