Uchiha Sasuke
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Uchiha Sasuke (うちはサスケ Uchiha Sasuke) is a fictional character in the manga and anime Naruto.
A Genin level Ninja, Sasuke is the natural genius offspring of the once powerful Uchiha Clan. One of the most outstanding clans in Konohagakure, the Uchiha Family was known for its Bloodline Limit ability, the Sharingan, and formed much of the Konohagakure's village police force. Sasuke is one of two known remaining survivors.
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Early Childhood
The second son of a Konohagakure police captain, Sasuke grew up in the shadow of his older brother, Itachi, who was acknowledged as a prodigy, mastering the Sharingan by the age of 8, attaining chunin rank at the age of 10, and becoming an ANBU at the age of 13. As a result, the Uchiha clan takes great pride and interest in Itachi and views him as a prodigy whose work will further strengthen the bonds between the village and the clan. In particular, Sasuke's father takes an active interest in Itachi's career and his entry into ANBU, largely neglecting Sasuke, the younger son, aside from cursory inquiries into Sasuke's school life. While Sasuke looked up to his brother, aspiring to become a prodigy ninja also acknowledged by the clan and his father, Itachi seemed friendly yet distant. Despite his promises to Sasuke to spend quality time, his work seemed to cause him to break his promises.
After an incident between Itachi and other Uchiha clan members, relations between Itachi and Sasuke's father deteriorate. Itachi's behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, estranging him further from other members of the Uchiha clan. During this time, Sasuke's father, on a whim, decides to spend time with Sasuke, teaching him Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique). Sasuke eventually succeeds in performing the jutsu in front of his father, surprising him. At that moment, Sasuke finally receives his father's recognition and the right to wear the clan's emblem on his back, a sign of adulthood. He also receives a stern warning not to follow in Itachi's footsteps.
One day, on the way home from school, Sasuke finds that his entire clan killed by Itachi, who wanted to test his "capacity". Confronting Itachi in their home, he is easily defeated and subjected to the Mangekyō Sharingan. Itachi tells him to use his hatred of him to grow stronger: "If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life. And one day, when you have the same eyes as me, come before me."
At the Ninja Academy
Driven to match Itachi and later to kill him, he excelled in every field of study at the Ninja academy, becoming the #1 Academy ninja and the #1 Rookie Genin of that year. Handsome, extremely talented and from a pedigree background, Sasuke is the most popular student in his class, especially among the girls. However, he is admired from afar and he seems not to have had any personal relationships or any close friends in his Academy years. Nor was he interested in these relationships, to begin with.
His ambitions
The two things he is interested as explained in his introduction to his Genin team, are the resurrection of his clan and the killing of "a certain man", his brother, Itachi, who inexplicably slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan, leaving Sasuke as the sole survivor. This traumatic event and the endless admiration showered upon him had largely forged his character: arrogant, even-minded, apathetic to human inquiry and fixated on revenge at all costs until Naruto comes into the equation.
Sasuke and Naruto
Naruto and Sasuke were forced to cooperate against their will when they were both put in Team 7 together with Haruno Sakura, who has a huge crush on Sasuke. Naruto initially had a one-sided rivalry with Sasuke, because Naruto aspired to be what Sasuke appeared to be, but Naruto was unable to obtain during his time at the Ninja Academy. Unlike Naruto, Sasuke received recognition for his talent, popularity and admiration while Naruto received ridicule for his apparent lack of ninja talent and shunned or scorned otherwise. Sasuke initially looked upon Naruto and his admirer, Sakura, with an equal smug distaste, viewing them as annoyances who would only get in the way. Sasuke's loner attitude contributes to Team 7's initial failure of Kakashi's Survival Training Exam, where the key to success was teamwork. With Naruto's sudden growth in ninja abilities under Kakashi, as demonstrated in the tree-walking exercise, Naruto's one-sided rivalry becomes two-sided. The exercise summarizes the nature of their rivalry: Sasuke appears to always be one step ahead in Naruto's opinion, while Naruto is always one step behind but gaining ground each moment according to Sasuke.
Sasuke makes it a point to taunt Naruto on occasion, goading and taunting Naruto with his air of superiority. However, a bond between the two and Sakura forms and Sasuke gradually learns the value of teamwork. As he learns the value of teamwork, he eventually begins to learn to trust and pushes his thoughts of revenge into the recesses of his mind.
This does not please Orochimaru, who is interested in Sasuke as his potential next body, or more specifically the Sharingan Sasuke has. He decides that it is imperative to somehow counter Naruto's influence on Sasuke and "dye him his own color". To advance this cause he puts his curse seal on Sasuke during the second stage of the Chū nin exam; Sasuke turns out to be strong enough to survive the nine out of ten chance of immediate death and regains consciousness, but the influence of the curse seal is far from over. Just by releasing Chakra the curse becomes active and forcibly pulls out more Chakra, corroding his body and his free will. At this point the small mark on the neck grows to wrap around Sasuke's whole body, like a strange black rash.
Sasuke's willpower is surprisingly strong enough to hold back this curse and after Hatake Kakashi, the ninja who is assigned to train him, performs his Evil Sealing Method on him, it becomes even easier for him to control it and use his Chakra normally. However, a series of events unfolds that change his attitude towards Orochimaru- and everybody else, for that matter. His brother arrives in Konoha, searching for Naruto- and when Sasuke challenges him, he gets such a horrid beating that his already manifesting inferiority complex seizes his whole mind and he sets his mind on only one thing, finding more power. For this cause he decides to take the curse seal into the next level instead of attempting to contain it, and leave his village without permission to train with Orochimaru- essentially betraying his village. A genin team consisting of Naruto, Kiba, Neji and Choji and led by Shikamaru is sent to retrieve Sasuke, but encounter opposition from Orochimaru's "Sound Four".
Naruto manages to reach Sasuke alone. It is then 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 same eyes as him, the Mangekyō Sharingan- the requirements for getting which are killing one's best friend. Sasuke and Naruto then engage in an epic battle, Sasuke successfully bringing Naruto to inches from death on several occasions, but ultimately Sasuke has a revelation that he does not want to be Itachi's puppet but rather get power his own way, and in the final clash between Naruto's Rasengan powered by Kyūbi and Sasuke's Chidori powered by the level 2 curse seal, Sasuke chooses to fold his hand back and leave Naruto alive. He then descends into the darkness in search for Orochimaru.
The whole Naruto and Sasuke relationship has spawned thousands of fan made art and stories (called fanart and fanfic), many of whom are centered on these two characters being made for each other, mostly relating to some sort of sexual attraction. When asked by Shonen Jump about the significance of the kiss in the beginning of the manga, and if it added a special dimension to their - Sasuke and Naruto's - rivalry, Masashi Kishimoto-san replyed "I didn’t have any particular reason for it, other then to surprise readers. I mainly did it because I don’t think there has ever been a manga where two rivals kissed. Also, by having this encounter, it was easier to set up the love triangle: Sakura, who had intended to be the first one to kiss Sasuke, has it stolen by her rival Naruto, Sasuke and Naruto are rivals, so there’s and added tension there. And so on and so forth.
Trivia
- Sasuke is named after the legendary ninja Sarutobi Sasuke.
- "Uchiha" is another way of pronouncing "uchiwa", or a paper fan, which is actually the Uchiha clan logo. In ancient Japan, uchiwa were used in court ceremonies, as souvenirs, and to protect soldiers from arrows.
- At one time, Sasuke and Naruto literally kissed each other, accidentaly.