Itachi's Character Makes No Sense, and Nobody Wants To Admit It
Not many Naruto characters are as beloved by the fandom as Itachi Uchiha. Seemingly, what’s not to love? He’s an edgy anti-hero who is leagues ahead of his peers. Many fans are drawn to this character, and not just because of his appearance, but because of his willingness to make the “ultimate sacrifice.” However, there is much more to this supposed sacrifice than meets the eye. Beyond Itachi’s cool exterior, down to his bare self, this character simply makes no sense.
Itachi is a man who was confronted with a complicated decision, and instead of finding a way out, he decided to murder his entire clan. Many people look past this horrific decision because he had a soft spot for his younger brother and excluded him from the slaughter. But considering that Itachi ruined his younger brother’s life and paved his way to becoming a criminal, it makes some fans skeptical of Itachi’s role in the series. When one take a step back and truly looks at Itachi Uchiha, many will see someone who is far from a genius and realize that he’s more confusing than most want to admit.
The Uchiha Massacre Was Just the Start
Itachi Chose Genocide For No Reason
Itachi Uchiha is known as the Uchiha Slayer because of the heinous deeds he committed against the Uchiha Clan. But to truly understand the story of this tragic day, there first needs to be a bit more context behind this reckless decision. Itachi hit the ground running in the ninja world, rising through the ranks at a young age and solidifying himself as a true prodigy. By the age of 12, Itachi was an Anbu Captain, leading a three-man squad, and hailed as the future of the village.
However, after learning of the impending coup on the Leaf Village from his father, Itachi would turn to the Konoha Council and rat his clan out. Of course, fans can say this was all to protect more people from dying in a potential war — but turning your back on your father and clan without trying to find a way out of this predicament is completely shortsighted.
Being the genius that people claim Itachi to be, he shouldn’t have had to murder his entire clan with the help of Obito. Instead of finding some sort of loophole, he would go through with the plan and even kill his own girlfriend in the process. What all of this says when dissecting these events is that Itachi is far from a genius mastermind, and there are many more reasons why this is the case.
Itachi Is Far From a Genius Mastermind
Itachi Merely Played the Role of a Puppet
Deciding to kill your entire clan or to die alongside your clan in war is a difficult choice to make, to say the least. Do you ride with your clan and go out swinging in a noble but doomed stand, or save many innocent lives by sacrificing your own blood? For a normal person, these are the only routes to take, but for the supposed genius, Itachi Uchiha, there is always another route to take. By pure happenstance, he lucked into the perfect way out and didn’t even realize it.
The entire reason why the Leaf Village and the Uchiha Clan were on the brink of war to begin with was because of the Nine Tails attack. With the Uchihas being able to control the Nine Tails with their Sharingan, they were suspect number one when trying to uncover who was behind such a devastating attack. Ultimately, the Uchiha Clan were innocent bystanders in the matter, but wouldn’t be treated as such. They would be ostracized because of this false belief, and as time went by, tension between this clan and the Leaf Village would rise.
All in all, if Itachi had been such a smart tactician, he should’ve realized that something was afoot. He should’ve known that the members of his clan wouldn’t do something so reckless and then properly investigate this whole ordeal. Instead, he followed through with the massacre, killing off clan members one by one alongside the actual person behind the Nine-Tails attack that started this mess. This entire time, Obito was the true culprit of the attack on the Leaf Village, and at this point, he would aid in the massacre of the Uchiha Clan.
Itachi also thought that Obito was Madara, looking like even more of a fool. With nowhere to go after the Uchiha massacre, Itachi would accept their request to join the Akatsuki. All of this shows that, in hindsight, Itachi isn’t the strategic genius he was built up to be. He happened to stumble upon the perfect way out of such an awful scenario, but he didn’t have the perception to realize the real story at play. Itachi could’ve taken out Obito and turned him in had he deduced that he was the true culprit, which is another reason why his character doesn’t make sense.
Beyond the whole Uchiha Clan massacre, Itachi simply didn’t know what he was doing. Itachi didn’t have a plan, and he didn’t lead; Itachi simply went with the flow of things and allowed others to dictate his every move. A key puppet master who manipulated Itachi was Danzo, presenting Itachi with such a grave ultimatum and orchestrating the Uchiha massacre to begin with. Itachi would then leave the Leaf Village behind and work as a spy under the Akatsuki, not knowing Obito’s true identity. Then, to make matters worse, the one detail he could’ve at the very least steered in the right direction — his brother — he decided to traumatize and completely ruin.
Sasuke Was Headed Down a Horrible Path
After wiping out the entire Uchiha Clan, Itachi would spare his brother’s life. No, this isn’t a moment of compassion to give him sympathy like most fans have done over the years. This is Itachi trying to hold the last bit of humanity in his heart that he hoped to have, but ultimately didn’t. The reason this falls apart is that he would immediately torture his dear brother by making him relive the deaths of his parents over and over with the Tsukuyomi.
It’s already traumatizing enough to have your entire clan wiped out and be the sole survivor with no one to turn to. But to experience something so horrific on replay until you’re ready to scream your head off will undoubtedly create the worst trauma imaginable. After gifting his brother this trauma, Sasuke would have every bit of innocence taken from him, becoming a complete jerk. He didn’t know how to make friends, and probably didn’t want any to begin with. Due to that, he would have such a strained relationship with Sakura and Naruto.
But even with Sasuke trying to keep his distance, Naruto, for some reason, was dead set on Sasuke being his friend, despite all he did. Naruto would seek to bring Sasuke back to the Leaf Village until the finale of the series. Between that time, Sasuke would become a notorious criminal, committing multiple murders, kidnapping jinchurikis, and becoming a rogue ninja. What set these moments into play wasn’t just the initial massacre of Sasuke’s clan. It was also the times he met his brother in passing for some good old-fashioned bullying.
Itachi would get his arm broken, be beaten, and set on the path of vengeance, which is not what an older brother should do. By the time Itachi was ready to tell Sasuke the truth, it was too late. Itachi had already tricked his brother into killing him, something Sasuke would immediately regret. Itachi would admit that he went about a lot of things the wrong way, but in actuality, he went about things in the worst possible way he could.
The only reason why Sasuke was able to escape the horrible ending he had coming was because of Naruto, someone kind enough to look past all of Sasuke’s past transgressions. If that hadn’t happened, Sasuke would either have gotten the death penalty or would be rotting in some jail cell. And all of this would be because of Itachi and his confusing false genius.
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