Uchiha Sasuke

[sunshinehistory]

Country/Village: Fire, Konohagakure
Rank: Jounin
Age at Game Start: 15
Birthday: July 23rd

Appearance

Outstanding feature: duckbutt. General: he looks distinctively Uchiha in a way that is pretty immediately identifiable. Dark hair, dark eyes (described hilariously in canon as "sharp" by fangirls), considered attractive. As a chuunin, he goes about town in the chuunin uniform when on duty; on off-duty days, he wears the standard Uchiha collared shirt and nondescript pants. He dresses for practicality. Also for weapons. His clothes are riddled with weapons.

Abilities/Powers

As Obito has added it to his training regimen and he is by nature a nerd, Sasuke is still proficient with weaponry, including trapped and custom-built weapons, and a standard-issue sword.

His preference is for taijutsu and ninjutsu, lacking the patience and interest in the more subtle genjutsu arts, but he has a good grasp of the basics of all three. Since he's been training with the Sharingan and, when Obito can successfully foist him off on Kakashi, with his lightning-natured chakra, his speed has quite dramatically increased. He's a quick learner (a holdover from canon, when Kakashi complained that Sasuke was almost boring to train because of how quickly he picked things up), impatient to improve, and will put in the hours needed to master what he is taught; as such, he is fairly well-rounded as a shinobi. His preference for being in the action keeps him a short- to mid-range combatant, though he is also considerably more capable of following orders in this universe and will employ longer-distance tactics if necessary.

Lacking the sketchy methods used in Sound to accelerate his growth, he is still working on growing his chakra reserves and stamina, particularly when it comes to using the chakra-heavy lightning techniques he picks up from Kakashi. He's been working on Katon jutsu since childhood (having been taught by Fugaku before entering Academy, after approaching him in hopes of following Itachi's early-bloomer footsteps) and is proficient with using it and its variations. He can and will use the Sharingan to copy techniques, but he has exposure to a much narrower variety in the village than he did in canon; by and large he will pick up pieces of techniques or taijutsu to incorporate into his own repertoire rather than lifting things wholesale.

Medical Ninjutsu:
How he curses Obito out of his range of hearing for pushing him into this strain of training, but as time goes by Sasuke has been forced to admit that his chakra control and understanding of chakra and bodies has vastly improved. As a fire- and lightning-natured shinobi, his initial tendency was to overdo and straight-up cauterize rather than heal, so he had a steep uphill battle to refine his control to the point that his chakra nature did not impact his medical ninjutsu. He is now at a point where he can be a support for his team in battle if needed, though Obito will have a rebellion on his hands if he tries to push Sasuke towards actually becoming a medic-nin as a career -- it is absolutely not in his interests to be forced to sit out every battle waiting for people to come by for healing.

Bloodline:
He is working on developing his Sharingan; for lack of emotionally traumatizing experiences, this has been a slower go than in canon. His Sharingan was first activated some time after graduating the Academy during various kidnap scenarios when his teammates were in danger, and he has since then worked assiduously on developing its various levels and abilities. He is unaware of details about the Mangekyou except that it is exists, is forbidden, and isn't common these days in any case. In this universe, he uses the Sharingan much as he does in part one canon: to predict movement to a certain extent, to mirror movement and copy jutsu, and to see through genjutsu. He can and often does badger Obito for Sharingan-specific training, and when Itachi is available will try to ask him as well.

Personality

Sasuke's most defining and stable trait is his willpower. As the younger son of the head of the Uchiha clan, a ninja clan that is not only one of the founding clans of Konohagakure but renowned throughout the shinobi world, he has a lot of expectations to meet with rather limited reward, but he still puts forth immense effort to not only meet but try to exceed these expectations, both in general and more specifically from his immediate family. As a child, Sasuke is good-natured and optimistic. He is expressive and not shy about expressing his love for his family and his immense admiration of his older brother, Itachi.

Although a well-behaved child who seeks to please, he can be wilful and demanding with his older brother, Itachi, and although deeply insecure of his father's affection nonetheless will try to get his attention and approval. He demonstrates stubbornness and a willingness to work himself into the ground in order to achieve goals that he sets for himself -- whether these goals align with the expectations of others or not. This is an important note, as for all that he appears to be aligned with the expectations and wishes of family, clan, and teacher, it is because he has chosen to do so: and it is not impossible that he may choose otherwise given incentive.

He is willing to study and research in order to become a stronger ninja, but learning is not Sasuke's primary driver in life, and he has an impatient nature -- he strongly prefers to take action rather than bog himself down in learning details. He had good grades in the Academy as was expected, but was thoroughly relieved to graduate and have done with classrooms, often clamouring for better missions and more practical application of their skills when on his genin team. As a student, he can learn too quickly for his teacher's tastes and for his classmates and teammates to keep up and must be reminded of the value of teamwork and of skills different from his own. He respects Obito as his Kage and his sensei, but he won't hesitate to speak up if he feels a mission is below their skills or if he finds that his own training is stagnating; he can be a demanding student.

Considered attractive, Sasuke isn't unpopular as a student or a young adult, but lacking the mysterious aura of trauma and avengerly angst, he is far from the fanclub idol he was in canon. He is far from the standoffish boy he is in canon, though his responsibility to clan and drive to excel means that his meaningful relationships are limited to a small circle of study-buddies and sparring partners, just like the nerd he is. Fugaku encourages focus on becoming an excellent ninja, something which is more or less the family party line, though Mikoto occasionally hints at how nice it might be for Sasuke to bring a special friend home one of these days now that he's a chuunin. Fortunately for Sasuke, he's not the oldest son, and the onus to produce heirs falls on Itachi; he will cheerfully and without guilt throw Itachi and his bachelorhood under the bus in order to avoid any hideously embarrassing conversations with mom about his love life.

As a kid, his greatest driver in life was to achieve Itachi's approval; now that he is older, this desire has matured from the childish determination to follow his brother's footsteps to becoming a true equal to his brother. Still, his brother's approval is a huge part of Sasuke's self-esteem and self-worth, and the distance between them forced by Itachi's covert-ops work and the fact that Itachi has yet to okay him for jounin promotion has put a strain on their functioning relationship. That is far from meaning Sasuke admires Itachi any less -- if anything, it makes him more determined to one day equal his brother. He's still a teenager, though, and upset about his brother's absence from home and unwillingness to discuss his work, especially as Sasuke nears jounin level and would benefit from hearing about Itachi's experience.

Sasuke will never be approachable, exactly, but he is worlds away from his canon counterpart, with an established circle, strong family ties, and overall optimistic nature. Only in comparison to Itachi would Sasuke ever be considered extraverted, but he is a less deadpan and more open, and his relationships with his fellow genin class are positive if not necessarily very warm. He is respectful of superiors, loyal to village and clan, and a well-behaved son -- frankly, almost boring in normalcy. He is the sort of chuunin that young Academy students admire on the training fields and would be quite promising a jounin candidate ... if his brother would just recommend him for that damn promotion.

Much of this stability will start to crumble if his teammates and other classmates begin to make jounin without him. Sasuke is a second son and insecurity is an old friend with him; as much as it drives him to train, it can become a negative force as he grows desperate and increasingly willing to cut corners and employ whatever methods are available to him to improve.


History

Sasuke's history is heavily impacted by events in this 'verse. Obviously, the Uchiha Massacre -- the most defining event in his life in canon -- didn't happen here. Thus, his life has been quite standard and uneventful compared to in canon. He has grown up in a demanding but not unloving home with an older brother he has hero-worshipped without reserve his entire life.

Sasuke's relationship with his parents is far from bad; Fugaku is demanding, but Sasuke values it in that it helps him improve his skills. He remains (as can be seen in canon) somewhat dubious of his father's affection and insecure about meeting his standards, but in many ways this insecurity keeps him from being complacent in his natural talents and is one of the factors that pushes him towards hard work and trying to excel. As the second son of the clan head, Sasuke is less in the spotlight than Itachi but nonetheless has the pressure of performing as would be expected of the clan head's child and not shaming the family; when he later goes on to become the first Uchiha Hokage's student, this pressure only intensifies. He remains somewhat in awe of Fugaku and tends to actively approach him only when he has accomplished something he feels particularly proud about.

Sasuke is closer to Mikoto than to Fugaku. With her, he was quite an open child with and easily affectionate. Mikoto has a good read on Sasuke and has an excellent sense of when he may need encouragement here and there; she is a major source of emotional support for him (not to mention she was a jounin and is willing to train with him when she has the time). Although he doesn't go to her for comfort anymore as a teenager, he goes through life with the awareness that he is well-loved and, as he still lives at home, pretty well cared-for. Sasuke is at heart a bit of a mama's boy in the ways that count; he loves his mom unreservedly, though he is of course a teenager and overwhelmingly embarrassed by even the slightest shows of affection in public. He is the kind of child who remembers birthdays and anniversaries and gets excited about planning them because he rather enjoys making his mom happy.

Itachi is easily the biggest influence in Sasuke's life. He has grown up entirely in Itachi's shadow, lacking the cool intellect and patience that makes Itachi an excellent shinobi at a much younger age; Sasuke is more hot-tempered and significantly more emotional. Itachi, understanding this, does his part as older brother by checking Sasuke where necessary and employing his more subtle brand of encouragement where necessary. Itachi is the sun and stars in Sasuke's world, and what he says is ironclad truth even when Sasuke actually disagrees with him. As a child he was openly affectionate and admiring of his brother, chasing after him in a constant bid for attention and approval; as a teenager he is considerably surlier and much too cool to chase around after his brother like a kid anymore!!! Except he still wants that attention and approval more than he even wants Fugaku or the clan's good opinion; this has in prevented him from resenting Itachi as much as he could have for setting the bar incredibly high for him to meet. He is still deeply aware that he is constantly being measured against his brother, and as a teenager he is beginning to rebel against that by attempting to find ways to differentiate himself from Itachi -- whether through techniques, fighting style, or career path (inasmuch as shinobi career paths differ). Still, Itachi's say-so is the mark by which he gauges his success, and the fact that Itachi has thus far refused to be his sponsor for jounin promotion chafes keenly.

Speaking of jounin promotion: Sasuke graduated the Academy at the same age as he did in canon (12/13). He worked hard and was one of the top graduates, whereupon he was taken onto Obito's team along with the previous Hokage's son and the Hyuuga clan's heir apparent. He completed the next chuunin exams conducted after graduation and acquitted himself respectably if with less fanfare than in canon (given that people are used to Uchiha here), whereupon he immediately began to badger Itachi to sponsor him for a jounin promotion -- unfortunately, Itachi has his own very high set of standards for a jounin, and Sasuke has not met them yet. It is a source of deep insecurity and constant frustration, but Sasuke refuses (sometimes to the chagrin of his parents) to consider asking anyone else to recommend him for the promotion.

The Hokage's team is, of course, a high-profile team. Sasuke occasionally feels somewhat out of place as the second son of a clan head, not particularly destined for political strength and groomed to obey the heir, Itachi. As with Fugaku and comparisons against his brother, that insecurity drives him to work harder and excel rather than wallow; Sasuke is action-oriented and will work himself to the bone in order to achieve his goals.

His relationship with Obito can be confusing at times; he remembers Obito as a sometimes-babysitter out of the various cousins that babysat each other over the years, and the transition from "Cousin Obito" to "Hokage-sama"/"sensei" sometimes gets lost out of familiarity. Ensconced in the clan, Sasuke is much less rude than he is in canon and uses the appropriate honourifics, but in times of strong emotion he will still address his sensei as "Cousin" instead of with the appropriate title.

Obito's selection of him for his team plucked Sasuke out of Itachi's shadow for the first time in his life, and it was a somewhat bewildering experience. It has opened venues for him that were unavailable before, and he is grateful for it, but at the same time he was accustomed to following Itachi's footsteps as closely as possible up until then -- in many ways, it is this team selection that has made him first aware and then determined to take the option to excel in ways different from his brother, but he is sometimes at a loss as to how. Obito sometimes facilitates this, as when he throws his students into situations that require political savvy and makes sure to throw Sasuke in the way of training that suits him personally, and sometimes frustrates Sasuke to no end, as when he insists on Sasuke learning medical ninjutsu, something that is not congruent with his nature but is pretty excellent practice for chakra control and perseverence.

His relationship with teammates is healthy, with a competitive edge between himself and Naruto that lacks the virulence in canon, given their vastly different canon histories. Given that all three are similar in age and station in life, they knew each other well before being assigned to a team, and those interactions have matured over time to where they are today. Tentatively: he and Hinata get along in the way that kids who are not particularly similar but grow up close together do, a kind of habitually peaceable relationship. He cares about her as a teammate but doesn't really know how to handle her; still, as in canon, he has respect for those who excel in their field, so he defers to Hinata in areas of her specialty. He absolutely doesn't know what to make of her crush on Naruto beyond occasionally very awkwardly offering to make himself scarce if an opportunity seems to arise for Hinata and Naruto to be alone. Obito used to toss Naruto and Sasuke together on much less structured playdates as children, so their relationship is more informal and involves much of the usual posturing between young boys and teenagers. They have the sort of relationship that longtime pseudo-rivals do where they train together often and are fond of each other without admitting it; they come to a sort of standstill where they've known each other too long and have too much dirt on each other to get into serious disagreements by now.