Why & How Long Was Sasuke in Prison After the War?

Sasuke Uchiha is one of the most important characters in the whole Naruto franchise. The antihero of the series, Sasuke has been it all – the villain, the hero, and, finally, an antihero that beautifully complements Naruto’s heroic ideals. On top of that, Sasuke is also one of the strongest characters in the whole series. Now, seeing how amazing Sasuke Uchiha is and how great his story actually is, we have to discuss some of the elements that incorporate it. In this article, we will talk about the Sasuke Retsuden Arc, as we will tell you why Sasuke was in prison after the Fourth War and how long it lasted.

Sasuke Uchiha was not imprisoned after the war, at least not officially – an anime filler scene (non-canon) shows him in prison, but the manga never contained any such scene or information. On the other hand, he did voluntarily commit himself to the Astronomy Research Institute (also a prison at the same time) in order to find a clue on how to cure Naruto, but that imprisonment lasted for a couple of days at most.

In this article, we are going to tell you what happened to Sasuke Uchiha and how he ended up imprisoned inside the Astronomy Research Institute. We will go over the whole story involving the Astronomy Research Institute and tell you, in more detail, what happened and what the implications are. If you’re not fully up-to-date with the story of Boruto, we have to warn you that there will be spoilers in this article.

Why was Sasuke in prison?

Now, before we actually proceed to the events of the Sasuke Retsuden: The Uchiha Descendants and the Heavenly Stardust light novel, we have to explain one thing. Namely, if you look up some fandom discussions about Sasuke’s fate after the Fourth Shinobi World War, you’ll notice that fans keep mentioning that he was imprisoned in Konoha for his deeds. Now, while the anime did show Sasuke imprisoned in Konoha, this scene was never seen or referenced in any of the canon works, which is why we can consider it to be a non-canon filler scene.

On top of that, it has never been revealed why Sasuke was imprisoned, what he was charged with, and how long his sentence actually lasted. We know that he left Konoha after a year, which means that his sentence would have been a year at most, but again, this scene was not included or referenced anywhere else, which is why it is non-canon and why Sasuke was never imprisoned in Konoha as far as the canon is concerned. Now that we have cleared this thing up, we can proceed with the events of Sasuke Retsuden: The Uchiha Descendants and the Heavenly Stardust.

The Astronomy Research Institute is located very close to Redaku Country’s boundaries, on the top of a very high mountain. The Institute was established as a haven for study by Janmâru-Tataru, who was an ally of the Sage of the Six Paths. The Institute now houses Redaku criminals after being a prison for centuries. The aging Institute provides little comfort to the prisoners housed there; the cells lack furniture, the clothing is inadequate for the bitter winter, and all prisoners—regardless of their level—must undertake arduous physical labor. Unhealthy condition of being. The convicts are fed food with minimal nutritional value, and their welfare is not given much consideration by the guards at the Institute.

A man who just arrived at the Institute and is currently serving a three-year term for the murder of a family has had enough and has made arrangements to leave. He approaches Sasuke Uchiha, prisoner #487, and requests assistance over breakfast. The man inquires about Sasuke’s status as a shinobi, stating that he had attended a ninja academy when he was younger and still possesses some degree of chakra mastery. The man believes they can scale the prison walls, escape, and forage for food until they reach civilized areas. The man is informed by Sasuke that his prospects of survival are limited, and he declines to accompany him. Sasuke responds that he chose to be here when the man wonders why he doesn’t at least try to flee.

The man is persuaded by Sasuke’s assertion that Sasuke is a fool, and he departs, leaving Sasuke to his fate. He moves toward the prison walls, convinced that the guards are too unconcerned with their duties to pursue the escaping inmates. Men are the only real hindrance, but the guy is hoping that the seasonal fog will hide his movements so that the dragon won’t see them. After starting to scale the wall, he eventually reaches the summit. The man is pleased with himself because he anticipated that this trip would exhaust him much more than it actually did. Men are waiting for him when he descends on the opposite side of the wall. Menō tackles the man as he desperately tries to climb back up the wall.

From this moment, Sasuke’s Retsuden story actually begins. The light novel is divided into eight chapters, a prologue and an epilogue. The story actually saw Sasuke infiltrate the institute, which also served as a prison, to help Naruto. Namely, Naruto had fallen to an unknown illness, and Sasuke heard that Hagoromo once had the same condition and cured himself in that same location. This is why he went to the Institute, but since the only way to get inside was to become a prisoner, Sasuke pretended to be an idiot and committed himself.

Of course, while inside, Sasuke began sneaking around. Zansūru, the director of the institute and the main villain of this story, did not want Sasuke snooping around, and he constantly tried to cause problems for him, including making him fight with a dinosaur, Menō, who was a living and sentient velociraptor whose fossils had been found near the Institute and who has revived thanks to Zansūru’s research.

Sasuke had to go through a lot while in the Institute. Escape plans, getting beaten up, and even seeing Sakura having to flirt with others; in order to help him, Sakura infiltrated the Institute as well, but she did it as a supposed medical team member. While inside, she both helped Sasuke and did her own research, all for the sake of saving Naruto’s life. It is during this mission that Sasuke actually proposes to Sakura, in a way, by placing a ring on her finger that would show that she is married and that she should not be flirted with.

But, while all of this happened, this was not the gist of Sasuke’s stay in the Institute. Namely, as we have said, Sasuke wanted to find out about Hagoromo and his successful fight against the illness that seemingly troubled Naruto as well. The only way to do so was to infiltrate the Astronomy Research Institute and conduct his research from the inside. Sakura infiltrated the Astronomy Research Institute as a medic to be there for Sasuke and help Naruto.

While inside the institute, Sakura told Sasuke that Naruto was sick due to him being the jinchūriki. They continued to investigate and ended up finding a book of strange drawings not native to the Land of Redaku. A code was contained in these drawings, connecting the starts and the constellations, and there was even an illustration with the emblem of Konoha. Sasuke had to return to being a prisoner, while Sakura took the new data to decipher the code, since Sasuke was certain that she was able to do it.

Not much later, Sasuke discovered that the Hoshinarabe game was based on the story of the Sage of Six Paths and the Tailed Beasts, which was relevant to their mission. Sakura would later deduce that the card game was also based on the 12 hand seals in ninjutsu and that its strongest hand was actually a key to deciphering the Map of the Heavens. Sakura would later proceed to decipher the cards, a process during which Sasuke also realized the true plan of the director of the Institute. This happened when he saw a card with the image of a lizard on a rock. And that is Sasuke’s story in the Institute, i.e., the story of how and why he was imprisoned in the Institute in the Land of Redaku.

How long was Sasuke in prison?

As we have said, the events of Sasuke Retsuden: The Uchiha Descendants and the Heavenly Stardust take place during a period of a couple of days, maybe a couple more, but that’s about it. Sasuke wasn’t really that long inside the Astronomy Research Institute as the events unfolded rather quickly since it was necessary to find a solution for Naruto as quickly as possible. On the other hand, the supposed Konoha-based sentence that people are mentioning – but is not canon, as we have explained above – could have lasted for a year at most since it is known that Sasuke left the village after a year. But, as we have said, this is not a canon scene, and as far as the canon in concerned, Sasuke was never imprisoned in Konoha.