Itachi Uchiha is undoubtedly one of the best side charactersin bothNarutoand anime in general. He’s mysterious, cool, and powerful. While he spends most of the series as a villain and the representative of Sasuke’s revenge, he’s later revealed to be a protector of both his village and his younger brother. Every time Itachi was on-screen, the series was better for it. His personality, backstory, and more make him a compelling character more than worthy of a series centered around him.
Itachi has one of the best character arcs in all ofNaruto.He has the most depth in the series, only being surpassed by the titular Naruto himself. He had to make one of the hardest decisions any character could make and dedicated his entire life to being the bad guy he knew his brother needed. Even when he died, he still didn’t reveal the full extent of his actions to Sasuke, trulymaking him one of the wisest characters in anime.
10He Was Konoha’s True Protector
Itachi Did His Best For His Village
When Itachi was first introduced to the series, he was known asthe man who slaughtered the entire Uchiha Clan.His true intentions weren’t revealed until much later inNaruto.While he was initially seen as a villain, that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Itachi slayed his clan because they were planning a civil war that would have brought Konoha to its knees, allowing other villages to come in and finish them off easily.
Naruto: Itachi Uchiha’s Betrayal & Clan Backstory Explained
Itachi’s betrayal and the story of the Uchiha clan is one of Naruto’s biggest plot lines. Here are all the twisting reveals in the character’s past.
Itachi decided to kill the Uchiha to stop the civil war andprotect the rest of Konoha.It wasn’t an easy decision for him, and it even forced him out of his home entirely. While he was away from his village, he still looked over them. He didn’t allow any of the other Akatsuki members to go to Konoha, and even threatened Danzo to make sure he knew that Itachi was never too far from him and his ANBU and Root members.
9One of the Best Genjustu Users in the Series
His Genjutsu Was Second to None
Genjutsu is a complicated technique used by only a few inNaruto.It’s a style of jutsu that allows a user to control reality itself by manipulating the user’s opponent into seeing things that aren’t exactly real. There aren’t many better Genjutsu users in the entire series than Itachi himself. He can counter an opponent’s Genjutsu with ease as well,convincing them they’ve won the battlewhen they couldn’t be further from it.
Itachi’s most powerful Genjutsu ability is his Tsukuyomi jutsu. He can trap his opponent in a nightmarish realm where they spend thousands of years being tortured and dying, only to be revived and die again. In reality, only a few seconds pass, allowing Itachi to break his opponent mentally before they can ever touch him physically.It’s a unique abilitythat would make for an interesting watch in a series based on Itachi alone.
8Itachi Is Inherently Mysterious
Nobody Knew Itachi’s True Motives
Itachi Uchiha isthe most mysterious character inNaruto.For most of the series, he’s hidden in his Akatsuki robes and nobody knows his true intentions, including his fellow Akatsuki members. Even as a child, Itachi kept his thoughts and emotions to himself and really only ever opened up to his friend Shisui. After his truth is revealed, Itachi’s intentions are much easier to understand, but he’s still just as elusive.
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A series about Itachi would be great for this exact reason. There’s so much of his story still left untold. The series could be about his days as the youngest ANBU member, training with Shisui, or even his escapades as an Akatsuki member. It could show more of him watching over Sasuke and even his perspective during their final fight.His mysteriousness would only make a series about him more interestingand keep viewers captivated the entire time.
7His Flaws Made Him Great
Itachi’s Decisions May Have Been Controversial but They Helped Define His Character
Itachi made the decision to destroy his entire clan so thathe could stop a civil war uprising.While he had a plan to manipulate his father into dissuading the rest of the clan using Shisui’s eye, Danzo got in the way before it could come to fruition. By killing his clan, he did in fact stop a civil war and kept Konoha alive, but it might not have been the right decision. Regardless of how correct it was, his flaws only make him a more interesting character in the long run.
A series about a perfect character would be boring. Itachi’s flaws make him who he is, and they would make a series about him much more watchable. He’s constantly trying his best for Konoha and for Sasuke, even if it means killing a ton of innocent people to make it happen. Again, it might not have been the right decision,but it was the decision Itachi decided to make.
6One of the Strongest Akatsuki Members
The Akatsuki Were Even Stronger With Itachi
The Akatsuki are major antagonists for most ofNaruto.They’rean elusive, dangerous groupwho want to steal all the Tailed-Beasts from their Jinchuuriki to subjugate the world. Their members consist of some of the most powerful ninja around, including the immortal Hidan, the nearly unstoppable Kakuzu, and the mysterious Pain. Even among dangerous company like them, Itachi holds his own. His Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu make him an equal against nearly all members of the infamous group.
A series about Itachi would be exciting because of his overwhelming power. He can go toe-to-toe with thestrongest characters inNarutothanks to both his fighting skill and overall intelligence. It would be awesometo see Itachi fight his fellow Akatsuki members, or even show him on missions with his new comrades as they raid villages for their Jinchuurki and leave devastation in their wake.
5He Protected Sasuke From Behind the Scenes
Itachi turning out to be Sasuke’s protector is one of thebest story arcs in the series. He started the series as Sasuke’s target for revenge, and it made a ton of sense. They were close growing up, and Sasuke looked up to his older brother, but that all changed when Itachi slaughtered their clan and killed their parents. Itachi knew Sasuke was too young to understand his actions, sohe became the villainSasuke needed to fight against.
Itachi did everything for his younger brother and his village. When Danzo was thinking of hurting Sasuke, he made sure to threaten him in order to protect his brother, even though he couldn’t stick around in person. Even when Sasuke killed him, Itachi couldn’t help butpoke his forehead lovinglylike he always did before the fall of their clan.
4He Is One of the Smartest Characters in Naruto
He Saw Further Into the Future Than Anyone
To call Itachi wise would be an understatement. Not only did he see ahead of everyone in battle, buthe also saw well into the futurefor his brother, his clan, and his village at large. He was a teen when he found out that his clan would revolt against the village at large, and even then, he understood the implications of such a large-scale battle. He knew Konoha as a whole couldn’t stand the upcoming civil war. Because he was able to see so far into the future, he killed his clan and saved a ton of innocent people in the process.
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Naruto was a dark story cleverly depicted as a ninja story. It always lurked in the background but was sometimes impossible to cover its presence.
There aren’t many more impressive moments inNarutothan when a character thinks they have Itachi’s back against a wall only to see it was their back that was against the wall the entire time. Itachi is so much smarter than his opponents that he doesn’t even have to kill them. Kurenai thinks she has beat Sasuke using Genjutsu only to see she’s been in his Genjutsu the entire time,a staple of Itachi’s move set.
3His Sense of Sacrifice Is Second to None
Itachi Became the Villain Sasuke Needed
Itachi might have madethe hardest choice of any character inNaruto.While Naruto spends his time getting stronger to fight bad guys, redeeming some along the way, Itachi doesn’t have it as easy. He was forced to kill his entire clan as a means to save the much larger Konoha, a decision not many would have the courage to make. By killing his entire clan, he sacrificed his own future to save Sasuke’s and Konoha’s.
Itachi’s sense of sacrifice stands far and above everyone else. While characters like Pain will sacrifice innocent people to fuel their desires, Itachi is willing to kill his own parents to preserve peace within his village. Even his parents are impressed by Itachi’s resolve, commenting that Itachi’s pain will bemuch more than theirssince he has to live with it for the rest of his life.
2Itachi’s Deepness as a Character Is Nearly Unrivaled
Itachi Dedicated His Life to His Loved Ones
Itachi’s story arc isthe deepest out of any character inNaruto.There are plenty of characters with deep story arcs, like Kakashi and Pain, but even they don’t hold a candle to the Uchiha prodigy. Itachi dedicated both his life and his reanimation to protecting Konoha and Sasuke. Even after he died, he created a contingency using Shisui’s eye to ensure he could continue to protect what he held most dear. This was best seen when he went to defeat Kabuto and stop the reanimation before it destroyed everything.
His fight against Kabuto with Sasuke showed just how deep Itachi is. He didn’t care about how hard a task was or how impossible it seemed. To him, it was worth it if it meantsaving his village and his younger brother.There aren’t many characters in anime with that much depth to their character, making a series about Itachi about as captivating as it gets.
1Itachi Was Willing to Become a Villain Despite Being a Hero
Only Itachi Could Slay His Entire Clan
Itachi became the ultimate villain in the short term so that he could becomea savior in the long term.He was willing to do what nobody else would when he killed his own clan to save his village as a whole. It takes an incredibly mature person to realize that sometimes, you need to cut off a branch to save the whole tree, and it takes an even more mature person to pull it off.
The fact that Itachi was not only willing but able to kill his entire clan sets him apart from every other character inNaruto.He’s equally powerful as he is wise to make such a tough decision at a young age. A series about Itachi would be great because of this decision. It couldshow his wisdom in more detail,highlighting what he does behind the scenes to keep protecting Konoha, protecting Sasuke, and convincing the Akatsuki he’s the villain he claims to be.
