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Like Sasuke? Join his fan club !! The early years of Sasuke's childhood were spent living in the shadow of his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, who had proven time and again that he was an extremely talented ninja. Because of Itachi's successes, most of the members of the Uchiha clan looked to Itachi as the clan's future, the biggest proponent of this idea being Sasuke's father, Fugaku Uchiha. Due to this focusing on Itachi, Sasuke did what he could to prove himself to his family, though no amount of training could help him in surpassing the milestones set in place by his brother. Itachi, aware of Sasuke's struggle for recognition, tried to shift some of their father's attention to Sasuke, even offering to train Sasuke in various fields of ninja abilities. Although Itachi succeeded in getting Fugaku to spend more time with Sasuke, much of that time was still dedicated to Itachi, and all the while Itachi never lived up to his promises of training Sasuke. As time went by, Itachi's standing in the clan began to falter as his trustworthiness was constantly called into question. At this time, Itachi also began to create a more competitive relationship with Sasuke, challenging Sasuke to surpass him. Because of Itachi's changing personality, Fugaku began to take a more active interest in Sasuke's development, teaching him the Great Fireball Technique in less time than Itachi had taken to learn it, which also gave Sasuke proper membership into the clan. Most prominently, Fugaku encouraged Sasuke to not follow in Itachi's footsteps, the former prodigy of the clan having lost his father's confidence. Soon after receiving the attention from his father that he had so yearned for, Sasuke returned home late one evening to find all the members of his clan dead. After finding Itachi standing over the bodies of their parents, indicating he was the one responsible for the clans' murders, Itachi informed Sasuke that he wasn't worth killing. As he left, Itachi repeated his encouragement to Sasuke to get strong enough to surpass him, and disappeared into the night. From that day forth, Sasuke lived as an orphan, longing for the parents that had been taken from him and allowing his brother's words to fester. Soon after the clan's annihilation, Sasuke's only goal in life became to gain power through any means necessary in order to kill Itachi and avenge the clan. At the start of the series, Sasuke's desire to get stronger is the dominating factor in his interactions with others and takes precedence over all else. As such he is initially unconcerned with the concepts of socializing, be it with his teammates or the many girls in his age group vying for his affection. Likewise, Sasuke is uninterested in working with Naruto or Sakura for the good of the mission, believing himself to be much more talented and that working with them will only make him weaker. Soon after the three set out on missions together, however, Sasuke begins to discover that these perceptions are inaccurate; Sakura is a valuable source of information, and Naruto is an effective ally and incentive to get stronger. As a result of these revelations, Sasuke begins to value his teammates more than he did during their first meeting. While he tries to deny this, his willingness to risk his life to help them even if it could mean never getting a chance to kill Itachi slowly begins to manifest, although this is partly influenced by Sasuke's belief that if he cannot fight in [this] battle, he will never be strong enough to face Itachi. In Shonen Jump's June 2006 edition, Masashi Kishimoto (in Kakashi's voice) remarks that while Sasuke is a genius, he is a little dull to teach because he learns techniques easily compared to the less predictable Naruto. During the second phase of the Chunin Exams, Orochimaru notices this change in Sasuke's ideals, witnessing first hand Sasuke's valuing of his teammates' safety over his own. Having need for Sasuke's craving for revenge, Orochimaru brands Sasuke with the Cursed Seal of Heaven to give him a taste of the power he can have and steer him back towards the more "favorable" path of vengeance. Although Kakashi does what he can to weaken the cursed seal, discourage its usage, and give Sasuke other means of getting stronger, Sasuke comes to realize the potential the seal allows him. To test his newfound power, Sasuke begins to seek out strong opponents that he can fight, believing each victory he obtains to be an indicator of his growth. As time goes by, however, Sasuke becomes dissatisfied with the progress he is making in getting stronger, largely a result of his quick defeat by Itachi during their brief encounter. All the while, Naruto, someone he finds to be of lesser skill, continues to surpass him in ability, creating a sense of envy within Sasuke. Sasuke in Part IIUltimately, Sasuke decides to abandon Konoha in order to seek out Orochimaru and gain power. Naruto, sent to stop Sasuke from escaping the country, eventually catches up with him and pleads for him to return. Sasuke, believing Naruto to be his closest friend, decides instead to use the last bit of advice Itachi ever gave him: in order to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan, the highest power of the Uchiha clan, one's best friend must be killed. No longer valuing his teammates over his own self-betterment, Sasuke tries to kill Naruto and meets him in battle. Naruto, unwilling to let Sasuke go, fights with equal earnest, now willing to break Sasuke's body to bring him home. As the battle concludes, Sasuke attacks Naruto with his Chidori first while Naruto cannot make full contact with his Rasengan and merely scratches Sasuke's headband (in reference to Sasuke's claim that he couldn't scratch his forehead). As Naruto lies unconscious, Sasuke considers killing him, though upon realizing that that is what Itachi would want, decides to spare Naruto to find power in his own way. He goes to Orochimaru, ready to do whatever is necessary to gain the power he desires. In Part II, Sasuke sees little change from his personality and mindset at the end of Part I, still craving power above all else. His lust for strength is such that, during his reunion with Naruto and Sakura, he claims to be willing to give his body to Orochimaru if it means killing Itachi. Sasuke has at least changed to a point that he no longer cares for his former teammates' well-beings, being more than willing to kill them since neither is of any use to him. His relationship with Orochimaru shows a similar lack of loyalty, as during their time together he applies no honorifics to Orochimaru's name, is somewhat rude to him, and does not express his allegiance with Otogakure by wearing a Sound headband. Of the loyalties Sasuke has, the only one he displays is that of the Uchiha clan, the symbol of which he wears on his back collar. Despite this lack of allegiances to those close to him, Sasuke seems to be unable to bring himself to needlessly harm those he has never met before, and makes it a point to prevent their deaths when possible