SASUKE UCHIHA

Three forms of a
black-haired fictional
 character showing his teenage self (left), his adult self (middle), and his child self (right)

Sasuke Uchiha (Japanese: うちは サスケ Hepburn: Uchiha Sasuke) is a fictional character in the Naruto manga and animefranchise created by Masashi Kishimoto. Sasuke belongs to the Uchiha clan, a notorious ninja family, and one of the most powerful, allied with Konohagakure (木ノ葉隠れの里, English version: "Hidden Leaf Village"). Most of its members were massacred by Sasuke's older brother, Itachi Uchiha, before the series began, leaving Sasuke one of the few living. Despite becoming empathetic toward his teammates Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno, Sasuke's feelings of powerlessness force him to abandon his friends and his home in his quest to become stronger, and to find Orochimaru. Sasuke appears in several of the series' animated feature filmsand related media, including video games, original video animations (OVAs), and Boruto: Naruto the Movie (2015) and its manga sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations (2016), in which he is depicted as a vigilante supporting his village.

Kishimoto conceived Sasuke as a rival of the series' title character Naruto Uzumaki. Despite Sasuke's dark character developmentlater in the story, Kishimoto avoided portraying him as a villain; he found designing the character challenging and had difficulty creating a suitable look for him. Nonetheless, Kishimoto has grown to enjoy drawing him. In the manga's animated adaptations, Sasuke was voiced by Noriaki Sugiyama in Japanese and Yuri Lowenthal in English.

Sasuke's character has received mixed responses from anime and manga publications. His impressive fighting skills, plot contribution, and rivalry with the title character received some praise, but he was criticized as a stereotypical rival in the mold of similar characters from other shōnen manga and as exhibiting a cold personality. Sasuke has placed highly in Naruto reader popularity polls and has also been the subject of studies by scholars. Character-based merchandise, including action figures and key chains, has been released.

Sasuke is introduced in Part I as a young, spiky-black-haired pre-teen wearing a blue shirt with an image of a fan that represents his clan on its back. He also wears short white pants and a Konohagakure headband Early in the series, Orochimaru brands Sasuke with a Cursed Seal that, when activated, covers his body with black marks and later gives him gray skin, white hair, and claw-like wings. In Part II, he is normally depicted wearing a white kimono and black pants. Although he is skilled in the use of shuriken, in Part II Sasuke uses a chokutō sword that he calls Kusanagi. In addition to using Kusanagi for swordsmanship, Sasuke combines it with lightning-based techniques to increase the power of his attacks In The Last: Naruto the Movie, his adult wardrobe consists of gray pants and a light-brown cloak over a black shirt, while in Boruto: Naruto the Movie, he wears black pants and a black cape over a lilac vest.

Sasuke is a silent character who tries to gain more power and kill his older brother, Itachi, for betraying and murdering their clan. He cares about his teammates and saves them on numerous occasions but he severs all of his bonds later in Part I, believing this will strengthen him. Sasuke is moved when Naruto Uzumaki wants him to make peace with the village; he considers Naruto his only friend. Sasuke becomes more kindhearted by the end of the series, but he decides not to return home, chooses to redeem himself, and searches for an enemy threatening the peace of Konohagakure.