Sasuke Uchiha is one of the strongest characters in Naruto, and many of his best jutsu show that in the most striking ways possible. Not only is he proficient in Fire and Lightning Style, as expected of his clan, Sasuke is very good at developing new techniques and making older ones all his own. As often as he gets knocked down, he almost always comes back up swinging.
He’s had some very unconventional training and improvement methods, from striving hard on his own as a child to match his older, stronger relatives to dipping into forbidden techniques under Orochimaru. For much of the series, he’s been willing to do anything to become stronger, including sacrificing his own home, body, and loved ones. Even though he’s mellowed out considerably once Boruto rolls around, he’s still the Leaf Village’s most powerful protector.
10
Fireball Jutsu Is Sasuke’s First Powerful Technique
“You Failed! Kakashi’s Final Decision” (Part One, Episode 5)
Like Naruto, Sasuke has mastered techniques of all the elemental styles of jutsu by adulthood. However, true to their names, Uchiha are particularly strong in Fire Style jutsu, and it’s Sasuke’s natural affinity as well. He wore arm protectors in his first outfit for a reason: since he was a young child trying to impress his dad, he’s been able to pull off this signature technique of his clan, which creates a massive fireball that can burn craters into the earth.
Good luck to anyone who gets hit with it point-blank. The fireball may be short-range but it’s big enough to pack a serious punch. Its only drawbacks are its aforementioned range and relative lack of flexibility making it simple to dodge, but Sasuke makes good enough use of it for it to stay a staple jutsu for him even as he gets stronger. For instance, it’s even enough to hold off an enraged Naruto in their fight at Final Valley.
9
Summoning Jutsu Is How Sasuke Calls in Backup
“White Past: Hidden Ambition” (Part One, Episode 17)
The ability to summon some of the best animal companions in Naruto is a key part of many a shinobi’s arsenal. Like the Legendary Sannin before them, Team 7 prove their abilities by contracting with the same enormous and powerful beasts their respective mentors did. In keeping with Orochimaru’s affinity for serpents, Sasuke is able to summon the great snake, Manda.
Being the largest snake in the world, Manda is intensely proud and volatile, and controlling him could be tricky. Sasuke skipped all that hard stuff by only summoning Manda as a last resort, using the poor guy as an ophidian shield against Deidara’s final attack. Later, he contracts with the hawk Garuda, who provides him transport and is even loyal enough to protect him in battle willingly, attacking Danzo with his talons.
8
Amenotejikara Helps Sasuke Dodge and Attack Perfectly
Boruto: Naruto the Movie
Substitution Jutsu is also a basic trick that every ninja needs to know, and is often used to fool an opponent or escape a sticky situation. Gaining the Rinnegan granted Sasuke many game-breaking powers, including this jutsu, which opens up several more possibilities for him than a simple Substitution. Amenotejikara allows him to instantly swap places with anything by shifting between spaces, whether he’s looking at it or not.
Sasuke uses this technique for a lot more than just dodging enemy attacks. With it, he can instantly summon a weapon into his hand or infinitely increase the range of a normally short-range attack, such as Chidori or Susanoo, by teleporting the attack itself to the opponent or ensuring it hits its mark by teleporting the opponent directly into its way. The only downside is that he has to be careful how he uses it, because it needs time to charge and overuse strains his eye.
7
Chidori Is Still Sasuke’s Favorite Jutsu
“Late for the Show, but Ready to Go! The Ultimate Secret Technique is Born!” (Part One, Episode 67)
Sasuke’s signature jutsu is what Kakashi got when he applied Lightning chakra to the principle behind his sensei’s Rasengan: a mass of very noisy electricity focused sharply in the user’s hand and rushed at blinding speed to pierce an opponent. Once he masters it, Sasuke evolves it into several more effective variants, such as the Chidori Stream, which broadly increases the technique’s range and gives it a defensive quality by expanding it from the user’s hand to stream the electricity all around their body.
Like the Fireball Jutsu, the Chidori’s weakness is its short range and straightforward trajectory. Ordinarily, a successfully executed Chidori would be too fast for the user to handle or aim properly. For Kakashi and Sasuke both, that’s where the Sharingan comes in: with the proper physical training to keep up with it, their eyes are more than capable of tracking and controlling it enough to use it effectively, as many of their opponents throughout the series find out the hard way.
6
Chibaku Tensei Lets Sasuke Control The Battlefield
“Chibaku Tensei” (Shippuden, Episode 167)
Viewers were first introduced to this technique by Nagato, who primarily used it to seal the Tailed Beasts for his use. When Sasuke gains the powers of the Deva Path along with his Rinnegan, he forges it into a weapon. During the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, Sasuke’s use of Rinnegan is fundamental for the outcome, and he’s almost on par with Madara’s own use of the technique.
Much like Susanoo, Sasuke quickly sets about putting his own spin on the technique once he starts using it in battle. When he utilizes Chibaku Tensei, he uses wild amounts of chakra to build multiple spheres of solid material that he can move around at will. It comes in particularly handy if he’s outnumbered: busting this jutsu out will enable him to trap and control several powerful opponents at once.
5
Kirin Is Sasuke’s Best Original Technique
“The End” (Shippuden, Episode 138)
Shinobi powerful and creative enough to develop their own jutsu are among the most intimidating opponents one could find. Up until his final fight with Itachi, Sasuke did everything he could to become strong enough to kill his infamous brother. As he reveals in the fight’s final act, this included honing his skills in Lightning Style jutsu to create an attack that couldn’t possibly fail to land a fatal blow.
Kirin has a deeper meaning that connects to Sasuke’s path in the story. It is also unique in that it doesn’t rely on electricity generated by the user’s chakra. It harnesses real lightning from naturally occurring storms or ones created by Sasuke’s Fire Style, and launches it full-force at the target in less than the blink of an eye, too fast to dodge. It’s strong enough to completely destroy their surroundings, and likely would have ended one of the best sibling rivalries in anime instantly if not for Itachi revealing his Susanoo.
4
Amaterasu Is an Eternally Burning Flame
“Hate Among the Uchihas: The Last of the Clan” (Part One, Episode 85)
Unlocking the Mangekyo Sharingan is a vital stage in the most ambitious Uchiha’s development as a shinobi. Because their clan loves so deeply and hurts so fiercely when their loved ones are lost, the only way to evolve the Sharingan to its next stages and begin to use its strongest techniques is to suffer the loss of the person the user is closest to. While Itachi favored Tsukuyomi, Sasuke comes to prefer its opposite: Amaterasu, the ultimate Fire Style jutsu.
Named for the Japanese goddess of the sun, Amaterasu’s black fire burns eternally if the user wills it. It can be used for attack and defense in equal measure; in addition to launching devastating flames, who is going to risk attacking an opponent wreathed in a shield of those same flames? As Sasuke becomes stronger in his use of the Mangekyo Sharingan, his control of Amaterasu is much more refined.
3
Susanoo Is Sasuke’s Trump Card
“The End” (Shippuden, Episode 138)
As handy as Amaterasu is, Sasuke’s real favorite of the Mangekyo Sharingan’s techniques is Susanoo (which, being named for a younger brother with an affinity for storms, tracks for Sasuke after all). A gigantic avatar of its user formed entirely from potent chakra, Susanoo shields the user and moves under their control to attack. Its offensive techniques are much more varied than many of the other jutsu in Sasuke’s arsenal.
Susanoo’s many forms are not only influenced by the god it is named after, as befits one of the best anime based on Japanese mythology, but by their specific user as well. Sasuke’s differs considerably from Itachi’s and Madara’s, with a more bestial appearance and often a sword. He can even siphon others’ power to evolve it, such as Juugo’s Sage abilities and even the Tailed Beasts’ chakra, using the latter to equip his Susanoo with the lightning he’s so fond of.
2
Indra’s Arrow
“Naruto and Sasuke” (Shippuden, Episode 477)
Much as Sasuke loves swords, he takes a leaf out of his distant ancestor’s book and arms Susanoo with the shinobi world’s biggest and baddest bow and arrow. To launch Indra’s Arrow, he draws on the powerful chakra of all ten Tailed Beasts to form its weapon and places it in the hands of his fully completed Susanoo to light it up with Lightning chakra. Finally, Sasuke fires an enormous two-pronged arrow of pure lightning to devastate everything in its path.
Indra’s Arrow is made particularly notable by the technique it’s shown to be equal to: Naruto’s Six Paths: Massive Rasenshuriken. In one of the best fights in Naruto, Naruto must enter Sage Mode, assume his full Nine-Tails transformation, create two shadow clones and fuse with them, and finally form two different giant Rasengan in each trio of hands, all brimming with his strongest chakra. Indra’s Arrow is enough to negate all of that in a single attack.
1
Space-Time Dojutsu Lets Sasuke Travel Dimensions
“Boruto: Naruto the Movie”
This is not only the greatest gift given to the users of the Rinnegan, it’s Sasuke’s single strongest jutsu, offensive and defensive. It shouldn’t be surprising: mastery over the very fabric of space and time is something that only a select few shinobi in the history of Naruto’s world can claim. During his many years working outside the village, Sasuke has had plenty of time to practice this jutsu.
The technique is similar to the Kamui that Obito used to trap people in a single pocket dimension, but with a considerably wider range. When Sasuke opens his portal, he has access to all the multiple dimensions used by the Otsutsuki clan, and with no one else’s chakra needed or any strain on his eyes and body like other high-level jutsu. Though it costs him a lot of chakra of his own to use, its overall limits seem to only be defined by Sasuke’s strength and willingness to develop the technique in his spare time.
