Itachi Uchiha from Naruto: Hero or not? 6 facts to help you decide!

Itachi Uchiha is a character with a broad array of personality traits. In the show, we can see that he is intelligent and possesses a deep understanding of the world around him.

From his appearance, we can recognize him by his necklace and even his unique headband, which is a mark of him being a ninja. But then, what makes him kill his own family, leaving only his younger brother behind?

To fully understand that, let's dive into the mind and characteristics of Itachi Uchiha from Naruto.

1. He was down to earth in his youth

As a child, Itachi Uchiha is highly intelligent. As a history student, he understands the world around him in-depth, even though from a distance. Despite his abilities, he remains calm and relaxed instead of boasting about himself. He doesn't look down on others either. He carries on his down-to-earth nature from his childhood into adulthood. 

2. He was naive in the real world

As a child, Itachi Uchiha was a bit aloof from the real world. Not in the sense that he didn't understand it, but rather in the way that he preferred to observe everything from a distance. His nature made him stay away from all types of situations, minimizing his firsthand experience.

As an alternative, he develops the habit of listening to his peers. At this point, he begins to develop the psychology of fitting into a group or listening to others' advice even more than ever.

3. He doesn't like fighting

We can understand from his calm and quiet demeanor that he's not a fan of fighting or picking up on people. But even though that's true, he decides to go ahead with becoming a shinobi.

He trains tirelessly for it. So what is his motive behind becoming a fighter? It's simple - he wants to do something for the people. He wishes to see the world become a better place. 

His training becomes reckless at one point or the other. Even though he doesn't give in to violent methods immediately, it starts taking a toll on him. Ultimately, he ends up with two sides to his personality - the calm and peaceful one up against the more reckless one.

4. Itachi is ready to sacrifice his own family to save the village

The event where Itachi kills his family is undoubtedly the turning point of the show.  The downfall of the Uchiha clan is where we get to see his peace-loving nature come in conflict with his ninja fighter persona.

But we can argue whether or not the killing was justified. It all starts with the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's attack, which places the Uchiha clan under suspicion. The Uchiha family is isolated from the rest of the village to make surveillance activity initiated by the Konoha leadership.

Itachi comes in conflict with his family when they propose to place family members within the Konoha group to act as spies. Itachi disagrees and thus, becomes stuck halfway on the side of his own family, while also providing the Konoha members with all the necessary insider information.

The family also loses trust in Itachi when they see Shisui Uchiha's body. They believe that Itachi has killed him and framed the whole crime as suicide. Therefore, they completely lose their faith in him, even though it was Danzō who had murdered Shisui.

Previously, peace talks were being held with the Uchiha clan, while another view among the Konoha members was to kill the family entirely. Shisui Uchiha was against negotiation and Itachi was in favor of keeping the peace. However, after Shisui's death and the matter of him spying upon Itachi was disclosed, Itachi thought the only way to have as little bloodshed as possible was to murder the whole Uchiha family.

We can see that Itachi is crying as he murders his family. It's clear that he doesn't want to kill his clan, but he has the idea that it's for the better as the rest of the village would be saved. Itachi's parents also surrender themselves to him because they would rather not fight with their son. Only Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother, is left alive that night during the attack.

5. Itachi loses his emotional self

The peace-loving nature that runs in the family is changed after the event when Itachi slowly begins to get emotionless after killing his mother and father. He goes through a lot of trauma, yet doesn't blame the Konoha leadership for setting him up against his own family. 

He knew he had to kill his own family to protect Sasuke. It was a tough choice that left him traumatized. After that, he barely feels any emotions at all and we hardly find him being expressive.

6. Itachi becomes his real self again after reincarnation

At one moment in the show, Itachi dies and he is reincarnated. Before that, Sasuke doesn't know that Itachi has killed their family. However, the truth is revealed to him, after which Sasuke decides to seek revenge on Konoha for making his family (including Itachi) suffer.

But when Sasuke meets the reincarnated Itachi, he steps back from avenging Konoha. If he didn't, his brother's sacrifices would go to waste. We also get to see that seeing Sasuke's understanding, Itachi begins to show his real side even in the most difficult scenarios. Once again, we see him being expressive, showing open concern for his brother.

Conclusion

So it's no doubt that Itachi Uchiha has a tough life. Yet he has conflicting traits throughout the show, simply because he's always thinking of becoming better for the bigger picture. Do you think he deserves to be called a hero?

What traits of Itachi do you find interesting? Let us know in the comments, and don't forget to check out our Naruto merchandise!