BACKGROUND

Sasuke's early childhood, as told over the course of Naruto manga volume twenty-five, was spent not being able to catch up to his brother, Itachi Uchiha, a natural prodigy of the Uchiha clan whom Sasuke looked up to and admired. In an effort to win some recognition for himself, Sasuke trained diligently to win some of his parents' attention, though he was never able to surpass the milestones set in place by his brother, who would be the only one to acknowledge Sasuke's accomplishments.[16][17] In time, Itachi began to distance himself from the clan and fell out of his family's confidence, which consequently began to look to Sasuke as the new future for the clan.[18]
Soon after Sasuke started to be accepted into his family, he returned home one day to find the streets littered with the corpses of the Uchiha clan. Upon rushing home, Sasuke found Itachi standing over his parents's corpses. As Sasuke tried to flee, Itachi went on to explain that he had never loved his little brother.[19] Claiming that Sasuke was not worth killing, Itachi encouraged him to get stronger by living a life of hate and anger towards him, with his sole purpose being to avenge the clan. Itachi left, and in the absence of a loving family Sasuke agreed to do as instructed, dedicating his life to killing Itachi.[20] After the massacre, Sasuke is brought up pampered and without normal problems, and to believe that he was the best merely because he was an 'Uchiha'. Years later, in Part II of the series, Sasuke is shown to have some doubts about the events of that night. It is not until after Itachi's death that he learns the truth surrounding the massacre of the Uchiha: that it was all done on command by the village, and that Itachi had left him alive because he could not bring himself to kill him.[21]

PERSONALITY

When first introduced during his assignment to Team 7, Sasuke displays a great brooding skepticism to his teammates. Feeling that his abilities are far superior to their own, he is unwilling to cooperate with Naruto Uzumaki or Sakura Haruno, as doing so would apparently do nothing to help him kill Itachi.[22] These perceptions are quickly proven wrong, for despite their failings, Sakura is a useful spout of information; while competition with Naruto acts as an effective way to get stronger.[23] While he retains a conceited arrogance in himself throughout the series, Sasuke increasingly relies on his team over the course of Part I. As he starts to get close to others he also begins to risk his own life to try to save them, even though his death would leave him unable to fulfill his goal of vengeance upon Itachi.[24]
Although Sasuke becomes content with a life of happiness in Konohagakure as well as developing a relationship with Sakura Haruno, he never allows his ambition to gain power to leave his thoughts, always keeping them as a dark muttering. During his Part I battles with characters such as Haku and Gaara, Sasuke arrogantly tests his abilities against those of progressively stronger ninja, in the process discovering the weakpoints he needs to overcome.[25] While initially complacent with his development, Naruto quickly starts to compete to grow stronger at a faster rate. This, coupled with his humiliating and effortless defeat by Itachi during a brief return to Konoha, leads Sasuke to believe that his growth is too slow. In an attempt to reassess his strength, he begins to treat his friends as opponents so as to test his abilities against their own.[26]
Dissatisfied with his progress and growth while in Konoha, he betrays Konoha in order to accept the offer of tutelage from Orochimaru at the end of Part I.[27] Naruto attempts to stop him, but Sasuke, believing the death of Naruto, his closest friend, will give him the power he desires (as he was told by Itachi), tries to kill him instead.[20] He is ultimately unable to follow through with this idea, because he felt he'd be no better than like his brother, Itachi, and instead shamelessly continues on to Orochimaru.[28] In the two-and-a-half years he spends with Orochimaru, Sasuke's goal to kill Itachi takes precedence above all else; he even claims he is willing to give his body and soul to Orochimaru if it means killing Itachi,[29] but later turns on Orochimaru after reaching the conclusion that he can learn nothing else of value.[30] After achieving his goal of bringing about Itachi's death, in the process learning how his brother was ordered by Konoha's higher ups to perform the murder of his clan, Sasuke abandons all of his hate for Itachi and resolves to kill Konoha's higher ups for his revenge,[31] to the point he is willing to kill anybody who may stop him.

ABILITIES

Sasuke has always been able to grasp most ninja abilities with ease. When Naruto begins Sasuke is highly proficient with the Uchiha clan's signature fire-breathing and weapon-based techniques,[32] talents he continues to hone throughout the series. Of the abilities gained through his Uchiha lineage, Sasuke most commonly uses the Sharingan, an ability manifested through the eyes and allows the user to see a small amount into the future. Sasuke's Sharingan develops for the duration of Part I, first only allowing him to track fast-moving objects[33] and steal jutsu, culminating with his ability to predict the movements of others.[34] In Part II he starts to use his Sharingan to cast illusions, allowing him to manipulate and confuse others.[35] Sasuke's Sharingan reaches its peak after Itachi's death; through the death of the person closest to him, Sasuke awakens his own Mangekyo Sharingan,[31] gaining most of Itachi's techniques.[36] However, he quickly pushes his Mangekyo Sharingan to its limits and, almost completely blind, has Madara transplant Itachi's eyes, giving him the perfected Mangekyo Sharingan.
Orochimaru's influence is also a recurring element of Sasuke's abilities. During their first encounter in Part I, Sasuke is branded with a cursed seal, which grants him a brief surge in strength and speed when active.[37] Sasuke's various uses of the seal cause him to crave more of its power as he enters to a second level amplifying the effect and drastically changing his appearance.[38] Itachi removes Orochimaru and the cursed seal from Sasuke's body during their final battle.[21] When Sasuke begins to train under Orochimaru, his physical abilities are greatly enhanced[39] and he learns how to summon snakes and then birds to help him in battle.[40] In addition to the techniques taught to him, Sasuke gains access to some of Orochimaru's more common abilities during the period he absorbs him into his body; Sasuke is able to recover from injuries in short periods of time and can regurgitate new bodies for himself.[41]
Prior to Sasuke's defection, his teacher, Kakashi Hatake teaches him how to use the Chidori, a collection of lightning-based chakra in his hand that serves as a rapid thrusting attack that severely damages any target.[26] While Sasuke is able to use the Chidori twice per day during Part I, his usage of the attack in Part II is unknown.[42] Instead, Sasuke employs variants of the technique, using the fundamentals behind the Chidori to create a number of new abilities. Sasuke's first display of such an ability involves emitting electricity from his body as a shield and then sending it along the blade of his chokutō to increase its cutting potential.[43] He later proves able to mold electricity into more solid forms such as extendable swords,[30] and invents a jutsu where he does not use any of his low chakra store, and using actual lightning in an attack named Kirin (麒麟?, Qilin).[44]