The Naruto franchise is full of compelling characters, but few are as interesting or important to the story as Sasuke Uchiha. The character is introduced during the third episode of the original Naruto series and is set up as Naruto’s rival going forward.
Their relationship, rocky as it is, comes to a climactic halt during season three of Naruto, where the pair battle it out as Naruto attempts to convince Sasuke to return to the Leaf Village and not seek out power from the evil Orochimaru.
Despite his best attempts, Sasuke leaves the Leaf Village and it isn’t for a very, very long time that he finally returns to the village where he grew up. For those who aren’t paying keen attention to the show or simply aren’t sure, you may be wondering when was the first time that Sasuke did return to the Leaf Village.
When does Sasuke come back in Naruto?
Sasuke doesn’t return to the Leaf Village until Naruto Shippuden episode 478 after the battle between himself and Naruto concludes to end the series. At its conclusion, Sasuke finds some common ground with Naruto, accepting his ninja way and deciding to finally return to the Leaf Village.
While it took this long for Sasuke to return to the Leaf Village after leaving late into the original Naruto series, we did see Sasuke appear much earlier in Naruto Shippuden. The last time we see Sasuke in Naruto is during episode 135, “The Promise That Could Not Be Kept,” and he doesn’t appear again until episode 51 of Naruto Shippuden, “Reunion.”
From this point forward, we see Sasuke sporadically in the series until the latter part, where his character takes a main focus in the story.