Summary
- Sasuke's failures as an intelligence gatherer outweigh his successes, putting Konoha at risk multiple times.
- Despite his skills as a shinobi, Sasuke has been clumsy and lacking in important information regarding threats to the village.
- Sasuke's lack of awareness about Kara, Isshiki, and other important intel has jeopardized the safety of Konoha.
While Sasuke Uchiha may be considered a generational talent and one of the greatest shinobi in Naruto, when it comes to the basic ninja skill of intelligence gathering – he's a complete failure. After being pardoned by Kakashi in Naruto chapter 699, Sasuke decided to travel the world to atone for his crimes. His hope was that while away, he'd be able to achieve some level of redemption.
However, after some time on the road, it became clear to Sasuke, Kakashi, and Naruto that the best way he could help heal the damage he caused the village would be to serve as its chief foreign intelligence officer. On one hand, the position would allow him to protect and serve the people and interests of the village abroad. On the other hand, he could update the village leadership on any threats, dangers, or useful information he came across during his travels.
Boruto Proves Sasuke Needs To Improve His Spycraft
In Naruto: Sasuke's Story, fans are shown Sasuke's potential as an informant.
As illustrated in Shin Towada and Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto: Sasuke's Story - Sunrise, the arrangement turned out to be quite effective in protecting Konoha residents traveling outside the city. Unfortunately, in regard to acquiring information and intelligence that helps ensure the safety and security of Konoha, Sasuke's failures have far outweighed his successes. Moreover, his failures are made even more significant by the fact that in almost every other aspect of being a shinobi, Sasuke is second to none.
During the early years of his travels, Sasuke spent a considerable amount of time investigating Kaguya Otsutsuki. This included traveling to other dimensions to trace her existence and what else she might have affected. As revealed in the first season of the Naruto anime, his investigation was able to collect a fair amount of intelligence on Kaguya. But, based on Part 1 of the Baruto manga, whatever intelligence Sasuke collected didn't contribute to the discovery of other Otsutsuki on Earth. Not only did he rather clumsily stumble onto the existence and presence of Momoshiki and Kinshiki, but also failed to discover that Kaguya had a partner. Perhaps most importantly, he failed to discover that Kaguya's partner was still present on Earth, and scheming against Konoha.
Sasuke's Intelligence Failures Have Put Konoha In Jeopardy More Than Once
Boruto owes Sasuke a real second chance
Sasuke's mistakes don't end there. There's also his failure to identify and better understand Kara and its links to Isshiki – including intel on its , an analysis of their power potential, and the fact that it had a platoon of super-powered cyborgs. There's also his failure to comprehend the connection between Momoshiki and Boruto and the risk that posed to Konoha. He missed this intelligence even though, in the Boruto anime, he was able to hear parts of the conversation that Momshiki has with Boruto before he dies and subsequently engraves his kama on Boruto's hand. Additionally, despite knowing the threat the Code posed, he wasn't able to provide Naruto and Shikamaru with intelligence of his whereabouts, even though he had access to all the information Amado provided after he defected to Konoha.
