Highlights
- Sasuke Uchiha’s character evolved from a revenge-driven youth to a more mature individual who values bonds and redemption.
- Despite his dark path, Sasuke’s journey culminated in recognizing his mistakes, finding belief in Naruto, and working to protect Konoha.
- From being consumed by hatred to embracing redemption, Sasuke has come a long way, showing growth, humility, and a sense of duty.
As the deuteragonist of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto, Sasuke Uchiha was poised as the yin to Naruto Uzumaki’s yang, with many of their traits contrasting one another. While his early appearances depicted him as a typical shonen rival, Sasuke’s development in Part II of the series took a much darker turn, as he grew into the role of an anti-hero.
While Sasuke’s intelligence and fights have received praise, views on his character development are more mixed. Despite this, he remained a fan favorite throughout Naruto’s run on the airwaves, and is an integral part of the franchise’s identity. Considering the degree to which his character evolved over Part I and Part II, how much has Sasuke changed since Season 1?
The Uchiha Clan’s Avenger
Starting out, Sasuke was defined by his prodigious talent, hunger for revenge, and cold demeanor towards his comrades. His curt and derisive tone of speech was also noteworthy, as he did not use honorifics and seldom showed respect to those ranked above him. Never one to back away from a fight, Sasuke held great faith in his own abilities, but they were never enough for him to achieve his final goal.
During his early years, he was a happy and eager child who grew up in the shadow of his beloved elder brother, Itachi Uchiha. Sadly, his world came crashing down when Itachi became an international criminal after massacring the entire Uchiha clan — including their parents — in a single night. From then on, Sasuke’s personality changed drastically, and he grew fixated on revenge, styling himself as an “avenger.”
In the beginning, he displayed very little attachment to his comrades in Team 7, but over time, this changed as they survived life-threatening situations together, and he found some semblance of happiness with them. However, all this took a turn for the worse when he ran into Itachi once again, and was given a cruel reminder of the gulf between their strengths.
Consumed By The Curse Of Hatred
Realizing this, Sasuke willingly sought out Orochimaru and trained with him, after defecting from Konoha and leaving all his ties behind, as he succumbed to the Uchiha’s Curse of Hatred. Naturally, this was met with some resistance, as Naruto refused to let his closest friend sink into darkness. Unfortunately, his efforts ended in failure, as he was defeated by Sasuke in their first battle at the Valley of the End. With this, Sasuke d eparted for the Land of Sound, where he spent two years training with Orochimaru.
Over this period, Sasuke’s abilities grew immensely, as he became an accomplished swordsman and learned how to apply complex shape transformation to his Lightning Release. By the time Naruto and Sakura encountered him at the start of Part II, he appeared leagues ahead of both of them, but still retained some sense of honor, as he never took his opponents’ lives, and developed an unfazed demeanor in battle.
Eventually, Sasuke grew weary of Orochimaru’s inhumane experiments, and felt that he was dishonoring his clan by allowing himself to be used by the Sannin. As a result, Sasuke confronted and absorbed Orochimaru while he was in a weakened state. He then recruited new teammates from the Sannin’s test subjects, forming a new group known as the Hebi, to confront Itachi and finally exact his revenge. At first, it seemed as if he genuinely did care about his new allies, but things changed after his battle against Itachi.
Uncovering Itachi’s Burden
Although Itachi died over the course of their fight at the Uchiha Clan Hideout, Sasuke found no satisfaction in his death, and he was in for a rude awakening. Taken away from the site of the battle by Obito Uchiha, who was masquerading as Madara, Sasuke awoke and learned the truth behind why Itachi was forced to massacre the Uchiha clan by Konoha’s higher ups. He also realizaed that Itachi did it all to spare Sasuke’s life.
No longer able to tell right from wrong, Sasuke fully gave in to his hatred, awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan after to Itachi’s death. He sought to punish those that had destroyed his clan and family, targeting Konoha and Danzo Shimura — the one who issued the order to Itachi — by joining the Akatsuki and attacking the Five Kage Summit. Hearing of all this, all of Sasuke’s allies began to view him as beyond redeeming.
Besides his part in killing Danzo Shimura, Sasuke also grew more unhinged and showed utter disregard for his comrades, as he abandoned Jugo and Suigetsu while nearly killing Karin to eliminate Danzo. He even attacked Sakura and Kakashi, but was too tired to engage in an actual battle, forcing Obito to take him away. On the verge of blindness from reckless overuse of the Mangekyo Sharingan, Sasuke took Itachi’s eyes and awakened the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, growing even more powerful in the process.
A New Dawn For The Shinobi World
While his original goal after Itachi’s death was to destroy the Hidden Leaf for what they did to his clan, Sasuke began to question his motives and sought out advice after speaking with a reanimated Itachi. This led him to revive Orochimaru, who, in turn, reanimated all the previous Hokage. After speaking to them to discern the meaning of being a “True Hokage,” he developed a twisted vision of the role, believing that he could take on the entire world’s hatred to instill peace through fear.
Although he contributed heavily to the Allied Shinobi Forces’ triumph over Madara Uchiha, and later, Kaguya Otsutsuki, Sasuke took the tailed beasts hostage after sealing Kaguya, and declared that he was going to execute all the Kage. Refusing to let this happen, Naruto pursued Sasuke to the Valley of the End, where the duo fought their final battle. After a monumental clash between Sasuke’s Chidori and Naruto’s Rasengan decimated the valley, both ninja lost their dominant arms and were left at death’s door.
Choosing to listen to Naruto after ignoring him for so long, Sasuke finally saw how much his friend cared for him, and realized the value of all the bonds he had created. Seeing the error of his ways, Sasuke decided to believe in Naruto and let go of his Curse of Hatred. Later on, Kakashi used his position as the Sixth Hokage to formally pardon Sasuke, who set out on a journey outside Konoha, to atone for his sins and defend the village from the shadows.
Supporting His Rival From The Shadows
By the time of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Sasuke started to show signs of his former self, as he displayed a warmer, more caring side. Conversely, he still speaks in a condescending tone, although it is more in jest rather than malice. Another dramatic change can be seen in his relationship with Sakura, as the pair came to develop mutual respect for one another, after he apologized and reconciled with her following his battle with Naruto. While he is not always present with his family, Sasuke does care deeply for Sakura, his daughter Sarada, and his new pupil, Boruto. In adulthood, he is far wiser and more mature, adhering to Itachi’s ideals of protecting the village while displaying a new sense of humility with age.
Naruto is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
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