Naruto: Why Did Itachi Kill The Uchihas? - CBR

Early on in the Naruto anime, Sasuke Uchiha made one thing clear: He needed to grow as strong as possible, so he could destroy his own older brother, Itachi. Sasuke's relationship with Itachi had been one of deep brotherly love and admiration, with little Sasuke pining for more time to spend with his hero. But then Itachi committed an unforgivable act when he massacred the Hidden Leaf Village's entire Uchiha clan. He spared only Sasuke, sparking an enmity that would drive the youngest Uchiha brother to the ends of the earth in search of vengeance.

Both the anime and manga took their time revealing the truth about why Itachi wiped out his own clan. Upon first meeting the character, the way he treated Sasuke was despicable, and a lot of fans made their loathing for him obvious. As the story developed across the series, the purpose for his deeds was inevitably brought to light, inspiring a whole new target for Sasuke's vengeance. The events that led to the Uchiha massacre and why Itachi killed his clan in the Naruto anime's backstory culminate into one of the darkest stories, completely turning fan opinion about Itachi from hatred into deep empathy and love.

Updated on December 7, 2024 by Jenny Melzer: Naruto's rival, Sasuke Uchiha, was driven by an unhinged need to destroy his older brother, Itachi, who was responsible for the destruction of the entire Uchiha clan. Itachi's actions created the ultimate edgelord in Sasuke, but underneath the surface Itachi buried a deep secret. Fans came to understand after hundreds of episodes between Naruto and Shippuden that Itachi's reasons for killing the Uchiha were far more complicated than Sasuke could imagine, especially under the layers of hatred and vengeance that drove his every action. This deep dive into Itachi's reasons for killing the Uchiha clan has been updated to further expand on the analysis, as well as to bring it up to date with CBR's most current standards for formatting.

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Itachi Had Great Promise as a Ninja

As a Child Prodigy, Uchiha Expectations for Itachi Were Daunting

Before fans can understand the Uchiha massacre, they need to first take a hard look at who Itachi was as a person. As the firstborn child of the Uchiha clan leader, Itachi was born a powerful ninja, a prodigy even, and many praised him as the best of his generation. Unfortunately, Itachi witnessed many atrocities from an early age. One of the most significant events to impress upon him was the Third Shinobi World War, followed soon after by the attack of the Nine Tailed Fox on the Hidden Leaf Village. As Kurama raged through the village, a young Itachi held his baby brother, Sasuke, close, promising that he would always protect him. The extent he would go to execute that promise takes the long way around to understanding, but the truth eventually becomes clear that above all others, Sasuke meant everything to Itachi.

The horrors of war led him to become a pacifist. He set out to become the best ninja possible, hoping that he could erase all fighting and conflict from the world, but even so, he was just one ninja. Contempt for war is a key concept in the Naruto manga and anime, and throughout the series the majority of its greatest antagonists are in pursuit of a world without the horrors of war and pain. Considering the world Itachi was born into, and taking his peaceful nature into account, it becomes clear across the series just how easy it was to manipulate him in the name of peace.

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Itachi Had a Lot In Common With Another Fan-Favorite Ninja

Across the story, Kakashi Hatake gets a lot of praise for being something of a ninja prodigy, and Itachi Uchiha was right up there with him. Both graduated early from the Academy, Kakashi at 5 and Itachi at 7. Both went on to serve in the Anbu Black Ops, with Itachi becoming an Anbu captain at age 11. Both of these characters endured their share of suffering, and both their personality and character design display this beautifully. Kakashi becomes aloof, carefree, despite harboring a deep sense of guilt, depression and regret, while Itachi embodies the darkest aspects of his own guilt. Both of them used this to empower themselves and become stronger.

Itachi went on to become a mentor, while Itachi became a rogue ninja after murdering his entire clan, sparing only his younger brother. Because Itachi takes on a villainous role in the story, his achievements are often overlooked, but the promise he showed made him an easy target for manipulation. Kakashi could have also fallen easily into this trap, but support from his surviving friends, particularly Might Guy, held him aloft and on the path. The one person who believed in and supported Itachi, committed suicide in front of him, an act that awakened Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan and affirmed that something had to be done. So, what actually led Itachi to kill his own clan, and could it have been avoided?

Itachi Killed the Uchiha Because He Was Manipulated

From Danzo Shimura to Fugaku Uchiha, Everyone Used Itachi to Their Own Ends

Since the Hidden Leaf Village's founding days, many were suspicious of the Uchiha clan, most of all Tobirama Senju, the second Hokage. Tobirama wasn't nearly as trusting or idealistic as his brother Hashirama, and when Madara Uchiha revolted against the village, the Second Hokage's suspicions were largely justified. Madara's actions continued to spark fear and mistrust in the hearts of many, and when the nine-tailed fox attacked, it only served to further cemented people's fears of the Uchiha clan. This made the village advisors wary, and with fears and tensions mounting, they decided to restrict the Uchiha clan to the village's outskirts.

This exclusion infuriated the Uchiha. Uchiha clan leader and Itachi's father, Fugaku, entered his son into the Anbu black ops, ordering him to spy on the village leaders and the other clans to open an opportunity for them to attempt a coup. At this point, however, Itachi was already working as a spy for the village advisor, Danzo Shimura. With his double-agent status, Itachi believed that he was aiding the cause of peace. Danzo believed that, if left unchecked, the Uchiha would incite another war, and his whisperings in Itachi's ear stirred great conflict in the young ninja.

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Itachi informed Danzo of his family's coup plans, and Danzo manipulated Itachi into believing that the coup could not be stopped without bloodshed. Danzo also stole Shisui Uchiha's eye, which led Itachi to become conflicted about whom he could trust. Ultimately, Danzo played on Itachi's trauma and naïveté to manipulate him into killing his own clan. Itachi followed through in the hopes that eliminating those few causing tension in the village would potentially help them to avoid another Shinobi war and the loss of more innocent lives.

The Uchiha Massacre Both Destroyed and Shaped Sasuke

Without This Key Plot Point, Sasuke Would Have Been a Different Character Entirely

Itachi led Sasuke, the brother he spared, on a course for revenge and brutal closure. He believed only Sasuke could pass judgment on him for the massacre that he had committed, and wanted his brother to eventually become strong enough to slay him. Itachi knew that this would come at the cost of Sasuke's happiness, but in a world constantly on the verge of war and conflict, it would also serve to make Sasuke stronger. Sasuke left the village and began his quest to become more powerful than Itachi to avenge his clan's deaths. This, in turn, led Naruto to go on his own quest to become more powerful and bring Sasuke back into the village.

The Uchiha massacre helped mold Sasuke, and in turn, Naruto, into two of the most powerful Shinobi Konoha had ever seen. Sasuke went on to try and kill Itachi numerous times but continued to fail. The day came when Sasuke was finally strong enough to challenge Itachi in mortal combat, and the brothers finally had their long-awaited showdown. Unfortunately, even with his revenge, Sasuke found no closure. As he learned the twisted truth about Itachi's deeds, it only served to make him that much more distraught, and all in the wake of losing the older brother who sacrificed everything to save him.

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Following Itachi's death, Sasuke and Naruto overcame Madara and Obito after Sasuke gained all Itachi's powers. In defeating Madara and Obito, Naruto and Sasuke saved the Shinobi world from the infinite Tsukuyomi, which could have enslaved the world as a whole in a dream-like illusion. While it's hard to imagine Itachi having such depth of foresight, his choice to spare Sasuke was an insightful one. Had Itachi not massacred the Uchiha and spared his brother, Sasuke never would have trained so hard or gained the powers he needed to aid Naruto in defeating Madara and Obito.

Itachi's Guilt Slowly Killed Him

Carrying the Weight of All He'd Done Was Enough to Destroy Itachi's Body, Mind and Soul

Who killed Itachi Uchiha in the end? It wasn't his brother Sasuke, despite the immense power he had achieved by the time they faced off against one another. It was Itachi's own guilt and stress that did him in. For his entire life, Itachi Uchiha carried heavy burdens, far more than his parents and brother ever realized. A lot was expected of him as Fugaku and Mikoto's prodigy son and as an Anbu member, but that wasn't all. Itachi pretended to be a spy for his family while actually spying on the Uchiha clan on behalf of the Leaf Village's elders, making him a highly stressed double agent.

Itachi's burdens were also deeply emotional, since he sincerely loved his entire family but knew that he had to put his duty first as a loyal Leaf ninja. Itachi broke his own heart when he slaughtered his family, and when it came to Sasuke, Itachi's broken heart stayed his hand. Despite his orders, Itachi couldn't bear to kill his innocent little brother. The immense stress and guilt became a psychosomatic illness that ate away at his physical and mental health over time. That didn't slow him down in combat, however, with Itachi being the same prodigious powerhouse he had always been, but it cost him dearly.

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Itachi didn't just die of some illness for plot reasons or to write out a seemingly unkillable character. He had ambiguous but valid reasons. As for why Itachi's illness was presented this way, perhaps it was done so no one would ever know the real, heartbreaking reason he was slowly falling apart. He'd rather have Sasuke think it was a mundane disease than reveal his immense personal anguish. It was easier for Sasuke to think his older brother was a heartless, twisted murderer than to have Sasuke see the depth of his struggle through all of it.

Had Sasuke known the truth beforehand, he would never have killed Itachi, nor awoken his mangekyou sharingan. Itachi handed his little brother the tools he needed to not just survive, but overcome and be the hero Itachi himself never could. That alone made his death and personal sacrifice all the more bittersweet in Naruto Shippuden.

Naruto: Shippuden

Like Follow Followed TV-PG Action Adventure Fantasy Animation Release Date 2007 - 2017-00-00 Network TV Tokyo Directors Masaaki Kumagai, Naoki Horiuchi, Kazunori Mizuno, Yuki Kinoshita, Kazuya Iwata, Hiroyoshi Kishikawa, Yusuke Onoda, Hisashi Ishii, Yoshihiro Sugai, Shu Watanabe, Akitaro Daichi, Takuma Suzuki, Kiyoshi Murayama, Tsuneo Tominaga, Kunitoshi Okajima, Kenichi Nishida, Hideki Takayama, Masaharu Watanabe, Akira Shimizu, Ayataka Tanemura, Hiroaki Nishimura, Atsushi Nakagawa, Kentaro Fujita, Masayuki Matsumoto Writers Yasuyuki Suzuki, Shin Yoshida, Junki Takegami, Katsuhiko Chiba, Yuka Miyata, Satoru Nishizono, Kento Shimoyama, Daisuke Watanabe, Hideto Tanaka, Masaya Honda Franchise(s) Naruto

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• Junko Takeuchi Naruto Uzumaki (voice)
• Noriaki Sugiyama Sasuke Uchiha (voice)

Naruto Uzumaki, is a loud, hyperactive, adolescent ninja who constantly searches for approval and recognition, as well as to become Hokage, who is acknowledged as the leader and strongest of all ninja in the village.

Genres Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Animation Seasons 19 Creator Masashi Kishimoto Number of Episodes 500 Creator(s) Masashi Kishimoto Streaming Service(s) Crunchyroll, Hulu Powered by

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