Naruto is considered one of the best shonen anime of all time. With its interesting cast of characters and a gripping story, the series gained a lot of popularity. The characters from Naruto are very famous because of their bewitching personality and unique set of abilities.
One such character is the famed Itachi Uchiha. After his very first appearance, Itachi became a hit with Naruto fans as he was mysterious and had an air of cool about him. With every passing appearance, Itachi's fan following continued to increase to the point where he became more popular than some main characters. He is often considered to be a hero, but is he really one?
Itachi's Past
Itachi was identified as a prodigy when he was just a kid. His father, Fugaku had high hopes for him and Itachi managed to fulfill his potential. When he grew up, Itachi joined the ANBU and became one of its most well-known members. Itachi's talent was there for everyone to see, and it was clear that he was destined for greatness. However, at this time Fugaku and the rest of the Uchiha Clan members grew restless because of the Hidden Leaf's behavior towards them. Only Itachi and Shisui were the ones who opposed the Uchiha's idea of a coup d'etat.
Shisui planned to use Kotoamatsukami on Fugaku and make him call off the coup. Everything would have transpired smoothly, but Danzo decided to attack and steal Shisui's eyes because he was a "threat." He managed to steal one of Shisui's eyes, but the Uchiha escaped before Danzo could take the other one as well. Before his death, Shisui entrusted his other eye to Itachi.
Itachi's Plan
As the only Uchiha who was more loyal to his village than to his own clan, Itachi had a big decision to make. Danzo gave Itachi an ultimatum to either kill his entire or to die alongside them. Of course, Itachi decided to kill his entire clan including his parents, but he spared his younger brother, Sasuke. At no point did it cross Itachi's mind that it would be a wise decision to inform Hiruzen about Danzo's actions.
Danzo always had ulterior motives, and he was always looking to gain more abilities and in his mind, he justified his wrongdoings by simply saying that it was for the benefit of the Hidden Leaf. It is plausible to assume that Hiruzen was aware of Danzo's evil ways, and he would have believed Itachi. However, Itachi never told Hiruzen about Danzo. So, he carried out the extermination of the Uchiha Clan. Itachi was crying when he killed his parents, but it is easy to forget that he simply made the wrong decision. With the Uchiha clan dead, Itachi had successfully carried out his mission, however, he had spared his little brother, whom he claimed to have loved very much.
This does not make any sense as when Sasuke returned to his home and found his parents to be dead, instead of comforting him, Itachi decided to use a high-level genjutsu on him. Itachi willingly put Sasuke through all that pain because he wanted Sasuke to hate him. So, he otraumatized a kid as it somehow made sense in his head. There have many claims that Itachi was an excellent brother, but that is arguably one of the worst claims.
In comparison to Itachi, another popular Shonen older brother, Portgas D. Ace, never did anything to hurt his brother; Luffy. When he found out that Blackbeard was going to capture Luffy, Ace fought against him to save his younger brother. During the Marineford arc, Ace threw his own body between Akainu's attack and Luffy's body, sacrificing himself for his younger brother's sake. The difference between the two is mind-boggling. Never did it cross Itachi's mind that he could simply talk to Sasuke instead of ruining his mind with genjutsu. Itachi's lack of communication caused Sasuke a lot of grief and mental damage. Sasuke idolized Itachi very much and when he found out that his big brother was responsible for killing their parents, his entire world came crashing down. For some reason, Itachi believed that making Sasuke hate him was the right thing to do. After causing mental damage to Sasuke, Itachi left the Hidden Leaf to join the Akatsuki, however, before leaving the village, Itachi threatened Danzo that should he forget his end of the bargain, there would be consequences.
Not Learning From Mistakes
Even after Sasuke had grown up, Itachi decided to continue with his charade. When Sasuke and Itachi were fighting, the latter remained silent and did not inform Sasuke why he made the choices that he did. Before dying, Itachi poked Sasuke's forehead, something that he used to do when Sasuke was still a kid. This confused Sasuke even more and made it easy for Obito to manipulate him. Sasuke's suffered another breakdown when he came to know the truth about Itachi.
Sasuke had no way of comprehending the information that he received from Obito. He decided that destroying the Hidden Leaf was the only way to avenge Itachi's death. This turned Sasuke into a wanted criminal. He killed Danzo and attacked the other Kage at the Five Kage Summit. So, Itachi only made Sasuke's life worse, and this clearly shows that he is not deserving of his hero title. When all is said and done, it would be much better if Kishimoto had kept Itachi as an evil villain instead of trying to redeem him as a hero.