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Sasuke Uchiha’s eyes have been objects of fascination for the entire Naruto fandom. Starting all the way from his Genin days to his final clash against his rival and titular character, Naruto, in the Valley of the End, his eyes have been subjected to the tests of time. They have endured various ordeals and have evolved throughout the series.
Hailing from the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke’s eyes especially become a target of fancy for individuals like Orochimaru and even Danzo. The former simply wants to gain them in order to learn every jutsu in existence, while the latter wishes to harvest them and add them to the collection of Sharingan embedded in his arm.
Yet, Sasuke has successfully staved off these advances and has emerged from the series with his eyes intact.
Read on to learn more about the eyes of Naruto’s evergreen rival.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the Naruto series.
From Sharingan to Rinnegan: The progressive evolution of Sasuke Uchiha’s eyes in Naruto
1) Sharingan
As mentioned earlier, Sasuke hails from the legendary Uchiha Clan, one of the co-founders of the Hidden Leaf Village. He gained access to the Sharingan during his first C-Rank Genin mission with Team 7 in the Land of Waves.
Popularly referred to as the Copy Wheel Eye in Naruto, owing to which Naruto’s sensei, Kakashi Hatake gains his title of Copy Ninja. The Sharingan is a dōjutsu or ‘Eye Technique’ bestowed upon the members of the Uchiha Clan.
It manifests itself as a pair of crimson eyes with comma-like markings on each one. These marks are known as tomoe and signal the stage of evolution the user has achieved vis-à-vis their Sharingan.
Sasuke properly awakened them during his first C-Rank mission while fighting against Haku, the rogue shinobi who used Ice Release. The latter’s speed and dexterity proved cumbersome for the young Uchiha, and in a fit of desperation, he awakened the dōjutsu.
The Sharingan was shown to be capable of evolving further, with each evolutionary step gaining a tomoe. The full maturity is depicted through three tomoes in each eye. Achieving a matured pair of Sharingan through intense training allows the user to access all its abilities at its maximum potential.
Coming to the abilities themselves, the Sharingan is regarded as one of the three legendary dōjutsu. This is due to the fact that their wielder is granted a diverse set of abilities, with the coordinated use of both eyes simultaneously granting the highest degree of efficiency. The eyes are primarily divided into the ‘Eye of Insight’ and the ‘Eye of Hypnotism.’
The former set of abilities enables Sharingan users to view chakra itself and even distinguish its different forms through color codes.
These also allow the user a certain degree of precognition to the point where can anticipate or predict their opponent’s next move simply by observing the slightest muscular movements. They also allow the host to copy ninjutsu simply by viewing an opponent’s hand signs.
Meanwhile, the ‘Eye of Hypnotism’ is what grants the user in question the ability to cast Genjutsu: Sharingan. This is a special type of genjutsu as it does not require any hand signs and can simply be activated through eye contact. I
It is this aspect that makes it particularly difficult to fight Uchihas, especially those who have mastered this ability, such as Itachi, Obito, and Madara, the Uchiha patriarch.
Complete mastery of this technique will even allow the user the ability to control and manipulate Tailed Beasts, as is evidenced when both Obito and Madara take control over the Nine-Tails.
During the events of Naruto: Shippuden, it was revealed that other than the basic set of techniques, there are two specific jutsus that are also accessible by Sharingan wielders: Izanagi and Izanami.
The former allows the user to re-write reality, thus escaping potentially fatal injuries or even death. Meanwhile, the latter traps the host's consciousness within an endless loop of events. These are classified as Forbidden Jutsus owing to the fact that their user will go completely blind in the eye upon activating them.
2) Mangekyō Sharingan
Literally meaning the ‘Kaleidoscope Copy Wheel Eye,’ owing to the pinwheel-like arrangement of the Sharingan’s tomoes, this is a stage of the Sharingan’s evolution that only a handful of Uchiha within Naruto have achieved over generations.
Awakened only upon witnessing the death of someone precious to them, the Mangekyō Sharingan has generally been conceived as the progenitor of the ‘Curse of Hatred’ within the Uchiha Clan.
Owing to the manipulations of Black Zetsu, most Uchiha misinterpreted the contents of the Uchiha Stone Tablet. They believed that it was necessary to kill their closest person in order to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, which several power-hungry Uchiha proceeded to do throughout Naruto. Sasuke awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan upon learning the truth of Itachi’s sacrifice.
In Naruto, the Mangekyō Sharingan amplifies the existing powers of the Sharingan, in addition to granting the host abilities specific to each eye. Sasuke’s Mangekyō Sharingan, characterized by a red pinwheel-like design and black irises, grants him two incredibly powerful abilities in each of his eyes.
His left eye grants him access to the potent and deadly Fire Style jutsu, Amaterasu. Focusing his sight on his target, jet black flames burst forth at the focal point of his vision. The technique is extremely difficult to dodge or avoid. Yet, shinobi with higher degrees of speed such as the Fourth Raikage were shown to be capable of avoiding the same.
These flames, unlike those produced by other Fire Style jutsus, are immune to water and will continue to burn until the target is completely incinerated. Upon observing this technique during the fight between Itachi and Sasuke, Black Zetsu refered to the technique as the "flames from hell."
Sasuke’s right eye grants him the ability to use Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi, a technique that complements the abilities of his left eye. By using this, Sasuke is capable of shaping the flames created by Amaterasu into weapons or projectiles.
He can also use the flames as a defensive measure. His right eye also grants him the ability to extinguish the flames that he casts.
Upon awakening the abilities of both his Mangekyō Sharingan, Sasuke is granted access to the Susanoo, a powerful chakra-based humanoid construct that the user can freely manipulate.
The Susanoo grants Sasuke incredible offensive and defensive capabilities as a simple swing of its sword is capable of leveling entire mountains. He activated it for the first time when he attacked the Five Kage Summit. Although he can only use the Susanoo in its partial state, it is still regarded as an advanced technique.
In Naruto, while the users of the Mangekyō Sharingan are capable of using extremely powerful techniques, they come with limitations and drawbacks.
The ones used by the Mangekyō Sharingan utilize unprecedented amounts of chakra, leaving the user exhausted shortly after activating them. The extended usage of these techniques has been proven to be harmful, so much so that it may even lead to vision loss or complete blindness.
3) Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan
In Naruto, following the events of the Five Kage Summit and his subsequent battle with Naruto and Kakashi, Sasuke began to realize the debilitating effects of overusing his Mangekyō Sharingan. Realizing that his vision was being compromised, Obito offered to transplant Itachi’s eyes into Sasuke, thus awakening the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
As the name suggests, the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan are called so because they are essentially evergreen in terms of usage. While they do not bestow additional techniques on the user, the eyes do not suffer the drawbacks of the Mangekyō Sharingan in that the host does not become blind upon repeated usage.
They also reduce the chakra cost of using the techniques significantly, thus allowing the user to preserve their chakra for later use. In the entirety of Naruto, other than Sasuke, Madara is the only other Uchiha in history to have awakened the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan by transplanting the eyes of his brother, Izuna Uchiha.
4) Rinnegan
Sasuke’s eyes witnessed their final evolution during the events of the Fourth Shinobi World War. Teaming up with Naruto and Sakura, Sasuke decided to take on Madara himself. Despite the aid of the re-animated Tobirama, he was unable to land a decisive blow on the Uchiha patriarch, who then proceeded to incapacitate Sasuke with several chakra rods.
Upon losing consciousness, Sasuke (along with Naruto elsewhere) was visited by the spirit of the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoroma Otsutsuki, who informed them of the legacy of his two children, Indra and Asura Otsutsuki.
It was revealed shortly thereafter that Sasuke is the former’s reincarnation while Naruto is the latter's. As such, they both have access to the duo's chakra. After he proceeded to awaken this chakra, Sasuke’s left eye further matured into a Rinnegan.
In the Naruto verse, the Rinnegan is rightfully regarded as a legendary dōjutsu, in that it grants the user an unprecedented number of abilities and ocular prowess. Sasuke’s Rinnegan is characterized differently from that of Nagato as it contains a set of six tomoe, thus retaining their Sharingan attributes.
The Rinnegan allows Sasuke to utilize each of the abilities of the Six Paths. Although in Naruto, Sasuke has mostly resorted to using the Deva Path’s gravitational abilities and the Preta Path’s chakra-absorption powers.
In addition to these techniques, the Rinnegan also allows Sasuke to interpret coded information extremely quickly. To top it all off, the Rinnegan grants him access to Amenotejikara, a Space-Time Technique that allows him to swap places with a target in the field of his vision. He is also capable of opening portals to other dimensions using this technique.
In conclusion,
Sasuke’s eyes have evolved proportionately throughout the events of Naruto. Each evolution has granted him a degree of power over the previous. The Mangekyō Sharingan and the Rinnegan have especially boosted Sasuke’s capabilities as a shinobi massively.
