This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Naruto anime, making it the perfect time to look back on the franchise. Following the story of the titular character, Naruto Uzumaki, fans were taken on a wild adventure that ultimately ended up revolving around one friend trying to save the other from themselves. This friend who needed saving was obviously the infamous Sasuke Uchiha.
Sasuke Uchiha, while ultimately redeemed at the end of the story, is easily one of the most divisive characters throughout Naruto. As strong as he is, his behavior, especially towards Naruto, has led to the character's derision by fans. What's strange though, is that in many ways, the revelations that happen throughout the series pretty much prove that most of his actions were justifiable.
The Hidden Leaf Framed Itachi For the Death of the Uchiha Clan
Starting off with probably the most notable reason, Sasuke had every right to seek revenge against the Hidden Leaf Village for what it had done to his family. When he was just a child, Sasuke witnessed the massacre of his entire clan at the hands of Itachi, an event that set the stage for his character arc and acted as his main motivation throughout the series.
What makes this event so cruel isn't that the atrocities of that night were committed by his brother, but that the Hidden Leaf Village forced Itachi to do so. After receiving word that the Uchiha were planning a coup d'etat, Danzo went out of his way to eliminate the entirety of the clan, even though there were other methods available, such as Shisui Uchiha's powerful genjutsu. This is also ignoring the fact that the Hidden Leaf could have negotiated and tried to resolve things peacefully as well.
Instead of a peaceful resolution, Danzo manipulated Itachi into killing his family, stating that it would save the most lives, but also threatening to have Sasuke killed if he didn't do it. Feeling trapped, Itachi killed his clan, traumatizing his younger brother in the process, all in an effort to save him. To top it all off, not only was Sasuke not allowed to know any of this, but those responsible, mainly Danzo, weren't punished for their actions, even though the Third Hokage ordered him not to follow through with his plan. In the process of covering up the incident, the Hidden Leaf Village framed Itachi and made him out to be this evil villain that revels in cruelty, tarnishing his name forever.
No one loved Sasuke more than his brother, and the same was true for Itachi. Sasuke idolized Itachi and trusted him more than anyone else, which is why the betrayal hurt him so much. To make matters worse, Itachi went out of his way to torment Sasuke in order to push him to become as strong as possible. Itachi knew from experience just how dangerous it was to be an Uchiha in the Hidden Leaf, and wanted to make sure that Sasuke would be strong enough to protect himself without him there. It broke Itachi's heart doing so, something Sasuke only learned after it was too late.
He'd already killed his brother, only to find out that Itachi had spent his entire life trying save Sasuke from a similar and worse fate. He became the villain in Sasuke's life, hoping that his death would ultimately bring his brother happiness. If Sasuke killed him, he would become known as a hero of the Hidden Leaf Village, ultimately guiding Sasuke away from destroying their home. Even knowing that Itachi wanted Sasuke to be a protector of the Hidden Leaf Village, he couldn't shake away his anger towards it, and rightfully so.
The Hidden Leaf Had a Long History of Mistreating the Uchiha Clan
The issue that pretty much led to the vast majority of the events as far as Sasuke's journey was concerned was the Uchiha Clan Massacre. For a long time, the Uchiha had felt like the Hidden Leaf Village was treating them unfairly, as though they weren't really a part of the village, a sentiment that wasn't completely without merit.
By the time the coup was being planned, the Uchiha had already been pushed to the outskirts of the village, segregating them from everyone else. While this definitely had an "othering" effect, it wasn't the worst part of their mistreatment. This was all done alongside making them into the Konoha Military Police Force, a group designed to keep other shinobi in check and make sure they follow the law. While it was presented as a sign of good faith and trust by Tobirama Senju, it is also what led to the clans move, as it was decided that they along with the station need to be closer to the prison. This is also led to the Uchiha losing governing influence within the village.
In many ways, all of this was predicted by Madara Uchiha. While the main motivations of his belief were mainly selfish and derived from jealousy, Madara was still able to see the signs of where things were ultimately heading. He saw how the other clans in the village feared him and the Uchiha's power, and could see how this prejudice could lead to his clan's downfall. In a case of dark irony, the reason he and Hashirama Senju founded the Hidden Leaf Village was in order to avoid this exact situation. They both felt that if different clans could come together and create a shared home, leading to peace among all clans in all nations. Unfortunately, after Hashirama died, and even during his life, the Uchiha were still treated as a dangerous entity in the village.
This became more prevalent when Obito had the Nine-Tailed Fox attack Konoha. The Uchiha's Sharingan has the ability to control others, even the Tailed Beasts, through the use of Genjutsu.This meant that theoretically, any member of the Uchiha with a high degree of mastery over their Sharingan could have taken control of Kurama and stopped the attack, just like Obito did in order to start it. However, the village leaders in charge at the time forbade them entering the conflict, knowing full well the Uchiha were their best bet at quickly stopping the attack. It highlighted just how deep the mistrust ran, showing that to some, the Uchiha weren't really considered part of the village, because if they were, they would have been trusted to save their fellow Hidden Leaf citizens.
Quite frankly, the Uchiha Clan Massacre was entirely the fault of the Hidden Leaf Village, including the planned coup d'etat. The Uchiha were one of the founding clans that started the entire village system along with the Senju, yet were constantly treated as though they were dangerous and untrustworthy. There were many ways that their issues could have been resolved, but were all seemingly ignored because it would force the higher-ups in the village to view them as real citizens of Konoha. To make matters worse, most of the village's history seems to imply that Konoha went out of its way to blame their mistreatment on the Uchiha themselves, using them as a frequent scapegoat and justification to treat them unjustly.
Sasuke made a personal vow after the massacre to become an avenger. In that sense, the Hidden Leaf Village was always his true target. It was responsible for his family's death as well as framed his brother as some kind of sociopathic mass murderer. The franchise consistently went out of its way to show off the "good side of Konoha," but that was really all a lie. Regardless of what Naruto said or felt, Sasuke had every right to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village, and he honestly should have if he ever found the chance. In actuality, for all the characters trying to get Sasuke to see how they felt in order to convince him to stop, they hypocritically never once really tried to do the same for him. Hopefully, if fans watch it again, maybe to celebrate the anniversary of the anime, they will see Sasuke in a different light.