Itachi Uchiha (うちはイタチ, Uchiha Itachi) is Sasuke Uchiha's older brother, and a missing-nin from Konohagakure, and a prominent member of Akatsuki, partnered with Kisame Hoshigaki. He and Kisame were the first active Akatsuki members to appear.
Background
Itachi was born into the Uchiha clan and praised by all as the best of his generation. However, not even his family, friends, or teachers could understand him. When he was only 4, Itachi had already witnessed countless lives lost due to war, which emotionally traumatized him and made him into a pacifist. At age 7 he graduated from the Ninja Academy after only one year at the top of his class, mastered the Sharingan at age 8, passing the Chunin Exams at age 10 and becoming ANBU Captain at age 13. According to Madara, Itachi also had a lover, whom he killed during the Uchiha clan massacre.[1]
He was praised highly by his father, who saw the family's future in Itachi and neglected his other son - Itachi's little brother, Sasuke. However, during this time Itachi showed great affection towards his little brother, Sasuke, and even encouraged his father to come to the Academy when Sasuke was enrolled, something their dad had otherwise forgotten, by saying that he would otherwise not come on a mission.
When the Uchiha began planning to overthrow Konoha, Itachi, as an ANBU, was tasked with spying on the village. Knowing that a coup d'etat would only lead to another Ninja War, Itachi began spying on the Uchiha instead, passing on information to the Third Hokage and the other Konoha elders. After this he began to act strangely, not coming to the clan meetings, speaking out against the clan, and becoming the prime suspect for the murder of his best friend, Shisui Uchiha. The clan lost hope in Itachi, and his father began shifting his focus to Sasuke instead. Meanwhile, the Third's attempts to negotiate a bloodless end to hostilities between the two parties were proving ineffective so, against the Third's wishes, Danzo and the Konoha Council ordered Itachi to wipe out the Uchiha.
Before the fateful night arrived, Itachi found Madara Uchiha trying to rekindle the flames of war in Konoha. In return for never again attacking Konoha, Itachi offered to help Madara claim vengeance against the Uchiha for turning their backs on him decades earlier. Madara agreed. Itachi slaughtered his entire clan overnight, sparing only Sasuke. Sasuke's life was worth more than the village to Itachi, and he could not follow through with the orders to kill him as well. Instead, he made himself out as a villain who killed their innocent family only to test his abilities. He tortured Sasuke with his Mangekyo Sharingan and encouraged him to get strong enough to kill him and avenge their family. Hoping that his beloved little brother really would someday kill him, Itachi left in tears.
Knowing that Konoha would still want to eliminate Sasuke, Itachi pleaded to the Third Hokage to keep Sasuke safe. He also threatened Danzo to not harm Sasuke or risk him going public with everything he knew about Konoha. Sasuke's safety secured, Itachi returned to the original plan by becoming infamous for his slaughter of the Uchiha. He joined Akatsuki so that he could keep an eye on it and Madara Uchiha in case either ever acted against Konoha, all the while planning for his death at Sasuke's hands.
Personality
Ever since his first appearance, Itachi had always been mysterious and had acted as though he was hiding his true self. While flashbacks to his past show that he was a compassionate brother and person, his later acts and claims made it seem that this was mostly just an act. But, surprisingly, he actually was the compassionate brother he once claimed to be, but he hid this to protect Sasuke.
As a member of Akatsuki, he possessed incredible self control of his emotions. He constantly displayed an emotionless personality. He only showed surprise when opponents proved more powerful or skilled than he had expected, and even then he didn't lose his composure. He did not possess any arrogance, and fully justified any statements he made about his power, and even complimented his opponents at times on their abilities.
In addition to being an extremely powerful ninja, Itachi had an equally impressive intelligence and was shown to be very wise. He was exceedingly sharp and observant to any situation at hand as he was rarely surprised or caught off guard. He also displayed great intuition, as he is almost never deceived and even then almost instantly realizes the truth. Despite his status as a wanted criminal and having murdered a significant portion of his family, Itachi had no enjoyment of violence or combat, instead preferring to avoid battle or, if this is not possible, end it as quickly as he can.
Itachi's only initial interest was in Akatsuki's goals and his only loyalty appeared to be to the organization and its members, putting the organization's success and secrecy before everything else.[2] As such, Itachi got along with his partner, Kisame, much better than most other Akatsuki members do with their own partners. Kisame appeared to have a deep loyalty to Itachi, immediately doing as he instructed and constantly looking out for his well-being. Itachi treated all of his fellow Akatsuki members to this same, more respectful personality, although his courtesy was rarely returned by the other members.
However, when he was in a genjutsu duel during his fight with Sasuke, he aggressively and violently claimed he only let Sasuke live so he could take Sasuke's eyes and obtain his own Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, and then he claimed the Uchiha clan was nothing but tainted and evil since many members would kill their friends to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan, and take another Uchiha's eyes to make its power permanent. Once the genjutsu was released, he called it his true self, implying his calm, emotionless personality was also a facade. This persona was only an act to ensure he would die by Sasuke's hands, his love for his brother being the fundamental aspect of his personality.
Last edited by David on Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:32 am; edited 2 times in total
