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W R A T H
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"[W]ithout Sasuke, the series just seemed
to have nowhere to go. I was thinking this was bad and I'd get cancelled
after ten weeks. [laugh] The editor then suggested creating a rival.
And what was born was Sasuke." -
Masashi Kishimoto, The
Toriyama World Interview
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Uchiha
Sasuke
Ninja ID #: 012606
Titles: Genin, Avenger.
Age: 13
Height: 153.2cm
Weight: 43.5kg
Bloodtype: AB
Birthday: July 23
Sign: Leo
Current status: missing-nin, Orochimaru's golden boy toy.
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As
the designated rival of Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke is often mislabeled
the bad boy of the series. The second son of the highly venerated
Uchiha clan, he goes about his days with an almost aristocratic
air of sophistication. In the Academy he is studious, the
apple of every teacher's eye, practicing and perfecting all
that he is taught and meeting or breaking all expectations.
Among his peers, Sasuke is idolized as much as he is envied.
Hardly the basis for a rebellious teen-in-the-making, traitor,
or the one to leave it all with barely a glance behind him.
But ahh, there's a reason why Sasuke's worked hard to be on
top. Why every task he's given, he does well. This obsessive
determination to excel in everything is a direct result of
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constant, underlying fear that he will not live up to the Uchiha
name and the role of Avenger he has taken on. That he will fail
himself is not nearly as potent as the fear that he will fail
the legacy left to him.
The poor boy was doomed with ridiculously high expectations
the moment he was born. As if his prestigious shinobi pedigree
wasn't enough pressure, the esteemed reputations that his father
and older brother held within the clan and the village proper
also weighed down on his small shoulders: the head of the police
force and the child prodigy that was always destined to play
a great role in Konoha's future. Sasuke too was a gifted child,
but he would never be Itachi. Long before the night that forever
altered the course of his life, Sasuke lived with the painful
knowledge that he would never quite measure up to the standards
set before him. First by his father, and now, by the older brother
he had once hero-worshipped (and in a way, still does).
Several times we are told that Sasuke possesses eyes similar
to that of Kimimaro, Gaara, and Haku (before Zabuza took him
in). That is, eyes of a boy tragically orphaned at a very young
age, who then endured a difficult and lonely childhood and fought
hard - physically and psychologically - to validate their existence
before others. But for Sasuke, there is only one person and
one way in which this acknowledgement that he's hungered for
all these years can be achieved: the death of Uchiha Itachi.
Wrath. Sasuke has enough to last a lifetime and then
some. Though a good portion of his hatred is alloted to Itachi,
the majority of it is focused on himself. His drive to be an
Avenger is fueled by a self-loathing born from the fateful night
where he - to put it lightly - ran like a pansy begging for
his life. Sasuke could never excuse his actions and fears that
night, justified as they were by his age. For the once proud
clan that was extinguished in one night, he has sworn his life
to surpass and kill the one who took them away.
 Rival.
While Sasuke was born into a large family and great expectation,
Uzumaki Naruto was born into neither - both an orphan and a
castout. While Sasuke graduated at the top of his class, Naruto
was just barely passed. Sasuke is intelligent, calculated in
his actions and reserved. Naruto is loud, brash, and lets his
actions be ruled by emotions. There is nothing these two have
in common. Nothing, that is, until the Uchiha name crumbles
under one fell swoop of a sword. Suddenly, Sasuke finds himself
abandoned and alone. Suddenly, Naruto finds someone that shares
his loneliness. When they are paired up in a 3-man team, Naruto's
rather infectious, stubborn determination somehow gets through
Sasuke's defenses and a kind of awkward friendship/rivalry develops
between them. Having finally caught the eye of the Uchiha, Naruto
further strives to be acknowledged by Sasuke in combat. As the
#1 loud-mouthed ninja grows in strength under the tutelage of
the jounin Kakashi and then the legendary sannin Jiraiya, Sasuke's
initially reluctant (and underlying) respect for the 'clumsy
idiot' transforms into envy. Fear of Naruto's rapid rise in
strength and reputation feeds doubt in his own abilities and
overshadows his accomplishments. The brief return of Itachi
to the village breeds further insecurity when the older Uchiha
shows more interest in Naruto than his own brother. As a result,
Sasuke comes to the conclusion that should the day come that
he is defeated by Naruto before he can get to Itachi, then his
life's dream of surpassing the older Uchiha and avenging his
family would be nothing more than that - a dream. And it would
destroy him.
Curse. So it was that Naruto, in his quest to be acknowledged
as an equal, unknowingly cornered the young Uchiha and forced
his hand. In Sasuke's mind, there was only one way to combat
Naruto's increasing power under the tutelage of Jiraiya. His
brother had shown him the way to unlocking the deadly power
of the Uchiha bloodline, but Orochimaru - arguably the most
powerful of the legendary sannin and the sworn enemy of both
Konoha and the Akatsuki - offered a darker more powerful force.
Both were available to Sasuke; both came at a high price. Which
was worth the cost of vengeance, Naruto's life or his own? In
the end, Sasuke chose to veer away from the path that had, thus
far, been set for him by his brother. By going to Orochimaru,
he was making a powerful statement: From this point on, no one
was going to control his life. He would neither waste away in
the safe company of his peers nor follow through the path set
by Itachi. Sasuke had effectively turned his back on everyone,
making it clear that he would come to power on his own terms.
Whether or not the power gained by the choice he made was worth
the price he's paid is yet to be seen. |
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