Uchiha Itachi: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
By Vidhi Gupta
Read only if you have read/watched Naruto Shippuden, SPOILER HEAVY!!
Uchiha Itachi is by far, the most controversial and conflicted character in the whole Naruto series. He is also probably the most popular and sympathized character of the Naruto series, surpassing even Namikaze Minato, Naruto and Kakashi. The Uchihas are feared by nations for the possession of the Sharingan, a Kekkei Genkai (Bloodline Limit), which later becomes the Mangekyou Sharingan and Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. Only three people in the whole series are able to awaken their Rinnegan, that is, Madara, Obito and Sasuke. At a young age Itachi witnessed the Third Great Ninja War, thus making him a pacifist. It was a tragedy that in his life, he was never able to act as one. He started contemplating between life and death at the age of 5 and kept wondering about the meaning of life. It was when his younger brother, Sasuke was born, that he understood what significance and meaning there is in the life of a shinobi. There is dignity in human life and nothing else can take precedence.
Itachi was considered a genius and graduated the Academy at the age of six. He was the youngest shinobi to be made ANBU Captain and was the pride of the Uchiha. That can be attributed to the reason as to why he was asked to act as a spy for the Uchihas and later, a double spy for Konoha. Itachi made the ultimate sacrifice when he had to kill his own clan by the orders of Danzo Shimura. He knew that the coup of the Uchihas would result in a civil war, allowing other countries to take advantage of the situation to start the Fourth Great Ninja War. However, what did not make sense to me was, when Minato, the 4th Hokage, had pacified the arguments with the Uchiha clan, upon his death, how was the Third not left with any alternatives? It was his silence that allowed the isolation of the Uchihas, increasing Danzo’s suspicions and the Uchihas frustration. In reality, it was not as if the coup resulted from greed for endless power. Isolation and surveillance was clearly not tolerated by the strongest clan of Konoha. As a result, Itachi, along with Obito, chose to kill his clan, to save his younger brother. Itachi did love Sasuke to the extent that he would choose his brother and the village over the rest of his Clan.
His profound sense of love and loyalty was probably the reason why he chose to murder his parents himself. Even when he was standing behind them, they did not curse him out for his betrayal, but only asked for him to take care of Sasuke. However, the most problematic part of the narrative actually begins when Sasuke goes rogue as well, in search of power to kill Itachi. It seems as if throughout the show, Itachi never once considered the fact that Sasuke would desert the village. He deliberately filled him with hate for himself and the idea to avenge his clan. I guess the point where Sasuke snapped and took this decision was when Itachi purposely focused more on Naruto to show Sasuke how weak he is. This neglect is very ironic since Itachi, the genius, had taken several measures to ensure that Sasuke never finds out the truth behind his actions and several countermeasures for that as well. It was also very surprising that Itachi was killed as easily as he was in his battle with Sasuke. It is, however, later revealed that Itachi was suffering from a terminal illness and was fighting Sasuke practically blind. So, he was living his life on sheer willpower, waiting for Sasuke to come and end his misery.
Itachi’s main role and influence on Sasuke, very weirdly, only begins after his death. Itachi had apparently left Sasuke to Naruto, knowing that he would be the only one to bring his lost brother back. Immediately after killing the eldest of the Uchiha Head, Sasuke learns the truth about Itachi and his life. It was no wonder that Sasuke went up and joined The Akatsuki himself, hell bent on destroying the village or even deciding to become Hokage. How could he bear to see the shinobi world end up in the darkness his brother was thrown into? While Itachi did transfer his doujutsu to Sasuke, planning to put him in a genjutsu using the crow with Shisui’s eye? Well, that was extreme and completely deceitful, even for Itachi. However, Sasuke was so confused and lost that he could not even understand the reason why someone would want to protect their own village. It seems as if Itachi manipulated Sasuke throughout the show, whether dead or alive. His actions, including attacking the Five Kage Summit for Danzo, were all stemmed from what Itachi had done and said to Sasuke. He made Itachi his enemy first and his hero later.
I guess both Sasuke and Itachi found peace when they finally fought side by side as brothers, when the Reanimation Jutsu (Edo Tensei) had been used to bring back the dead. It is then that Itachi finally decides to come clean to Sasuke and explains his actions, words, life and choices to him. It was no less than a tragedy that in order to save the village, he had to kill his clan, join a terrorist organization and wait to die at the hands of his brother for atonement. For Sasuke, on the other hand, the only act of redemption for him would have been killing Danzo. What I am really looking forward to is seeing how the Boruto series would incorporate and use Itachi’s will and Sasuke’s decisions. In essence, Itachi was a good and loyal shinobi, with a bad reputation and an extremely ugly truth.
