Itachi Uchiha: The Battle: "As Sasuke was defeating Orochimaru, Itachi sensed something odd. Kisame asked him what was wrong, to which Itachi replied, 'No, it's nothing..."
Madara collected Sasuke, tended to his wounds, and tried to befriend him when he awoke. When he removed his mask while doing the latter, Sasuke reflexively used Amaterasu on him. After quelling the flames, Madara explained that the Amaterasu had been inserted in Sasuke by Itachi, intended to protect him from Madara and whatever he might say. Sasuke was perplexed, so Madara went onto detail the history of the Uchiha clan, and the truth behind Itachi's life. Towards the end of his story, he explained that Itachi had been dying of disease, but had kept himself going with medicine so that he could die by Sasuke's hands, stating that if Itachi had battled with all his strength they wouldn't be having that conversation. He also stated that Itachi had pushed Sasuke to his limits during their battle to draw out Orochimaru, so that he could remove the latter's influence from his beloved little brother.
Sasuke was unwilling to believe the story. Madara persisted, saying that Itachi had entrusted the Uchiha name to Sasuke, hoping he would rebuild the clan on a new foundation of honor and nobility. For the sake of Konoha, and for Sasuke, he had been willing to die as a traitor and criminal. He had traded honor for disgrace and Sasuke's love for his hatred, and even then he had died smiling. Finally accepting the truth, Sasuke was crushed to find that the brother he had hated had actually been looking out for him all along. Upon realizing the truth, he awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan and resolved to take vengeance against Konoha for the massacre of his clan and the fate they placed on his brother, regardless of Itachi's attachment to the village. He also agreed to start working with Madara and, as a result, is classified as an international criminal, something Itachi had tried to prevent by sacrificing everything he had, but even that had not been enough to deter Sasuke.
Sasuke initially refused to transplant Itachi's eyes into his own sockets, due to the two of them having completely different visions of the future. However, after his reckless overuse of his own Mangekyō Sharingan from battling Killer Bee, A, Danzō Shimura and Team 7, Sasuke's eyesight had greatly deteriorated. As such, he decided to abandon his refusal, and take Itachi's eyes to use them to destroy Naruto at full power. The transplant was then commenced by Madara, and Sasuke felt Itachi's power flowing through him
As Sasuke was defeating Orochimaru, Itachi sensed something odd. Kisame asked him what was wrong, to which Itachi replied, "No, it's nothing." Following Kisame's capture of the Four-Tailed Monkey, Itachi and Kisame met with the rest of Akatsuki. There, they discovered that Sasuke, after being trained by Orochimaru for two and a half years, had killed his teacher. Sometime after the Four Tails was sealed, Zetsu informed them that Sasuke had been killed by Deidara's C0. Kisame asked Itachi if he was upset that Sasuke's death had left him as the only Uchiha because in the rain he looked as if he were crying. However, Itachi remarked that Sasuke wasn't dead, and alluded to the fact that there was still another Uchiha regardless.
Knowing that his end was near, one of Itachi's shadow clones confronted Naruto, who was looking for Sasuke. Although he claimed he wished only to talk, Itachi was forced to defend himself against Naruto's attacks. After fending off Naruto, Itachi asked why he showed so much interest in Sasuke, a traitor to Konoha. Naruto replied that he was more of a brother to Sasuke than Itachi had ever been, and that he would do whatever it took to bring Sasuke home. This caused Itachi to give a small smile, followed up by asking if he would always feel that way, even if Sasuke attacked Konoha. Naruto replied only that, if that happened, he would stop Sasuke without killing him and protect the village. Content with this answer, Itachi gave some of his power to Naruto, by forcing him to swallow one of his crows, and hoped he would never have to use it.
After his business with Naruto was done, another of Itachi's shadow clones went to meet with Sasuke. Sasuke exhibited a dramatic improvement in his abilities during their confrontation, so Itachi agreed to have their final battle at the Abandoned Uchiha Stronghold. He waited there for Sasuke's arrival, instructing Kisame to not let the other members of Sasuke's team interfere with their combat. Itachi and Sasuke met face-to-face and, while exchanging genjutsu, had a conversation about the Uchiha, Madara, and Itachi's "true" motives of wanting to take Sasuke's eyes. When Sasuke managed to escape Itachi's Tsukuyomi, the genjutsu battle ended and the ninjutsu battle began.
Itachi used Amaterasu, but Sasuke shielded himself by shedding his skin, a technique he was able to use due to Orochimaru being sealed within him. Using the shed skin as a decoy, Sasuke went below and fired a Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique at Itachi's direction above although he only managed to burn away one of Itachi's sleeves. Out of chakra, he told Itachi about his final jutsu that, like Amaterasu, is impossible to avoid. Sasuke then used his trump card, on Itachi, who got his Akatsuki cloak burned off as a result.[13] Itachi faces Orochimaru's Eight Branches Technique.
However, Itachi managed to survive by using Susanoo to defend himself. With Kirin having expended all of Sasuke's chakra, Orochimaru was able to break free and violently appeared through his Eight Branches Technique. However, Itachi was easily able to cut off the seven snake heads, leaving only one behind whose mouth Orochimaru appeared out of and thanked Itachi for pushing Sasuke so far, in the process setting him free and allowing him to take control of Sasuke's body. Itachi, however, stabbed Orochimaru with the Totsuka sword to seal him away with Susanoo, thereby removing the cursed seal from Sasuke's body. Itachi's last smile to his little brother, Sasuke.
As Itachi began to weaken, thus weakening Susanoo, Sasuke saw an opportunity to strike, but in vain, as Susanoo was still able to protect Itachi. His last option gone, Sasuke was pushed against a wall and left helpless as Itachi walked up close to him and seemed to be reaching for Sasuke's eyes. However, he instead poked Sasuke's forehead and smiled before saying, "Forgive me Sasuke... ...It ends with this."; this was a reference to Itachi constantly poking Sasuke on the head when they were younger. With that act, Itachi finally gave in to his fatal illness, which he had been using medication and sheer willpower to fend off, and died.
While Akatsuki was sealing the One-Tailed Shukaku, they discovered that Team 7 and Chiyo were en-route to their location. Itachi volunteered to distract them, so Pain used the Shapeshifting Technique on Yūra to create a body-double for Itachi. The lookalike, under Itachi's control, engaged the Konoha ninja. He was impressed by Naruto and Kakashi's improvements in strength but, because the clone had only a portion of his ordinary strength, it was killed by Naruto's Great Ball Rasengan. Nevertheless, he was able to buy enough time.
After the Invasion of Konoha and the death of the Third Hokage, Itachi and Kisame infiltrated the Konoha to find Naruto Uzumaki, the container of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Before searching for Naruto, the two quickly stopped for tea after a suggestion from Kisame. While there, however, their uncommon clothes drew the attention of Kakashi Hatake, who had Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yūhi follow them. Itachi and Kisame nearly managed to escape the village, before Asuma and Kurenai managed to catch up with them in time.
When the two revealed their identities, Itachi and Kisame were quick to battle Asuma and Kurenai after they refused to leave. Despite their high ranks of jōnin, Asuma and Kurenai stood little chance against the two Akatsuki members. However, the arrival of Kakashi managed to keep Asuma and Kurenai from receiving any major injuries. After a short skirmish with Kakashi, Itachi activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and used Tsukuyomi to attack Kakashi's mind and spirit, which afterwards left the latter confined to bed for several days. After Kakashi revealed he had knowledge of Akatsuki, Itachi ordered Kisame to kidnap Kakashi and to kill Asuma and Kurenai. However, Might Guy then showed up, revealing that he had already told the ANBU about the two Akatsuki members' presence. Itachi and Kisame retreated, saying that they didn't want to start a war.
Itachi and Kisame tracked Naruto to a hotel where he was staying with Jiraiya at the time. Uninterested in provoking a Sannin, Itachi used a genjutsu on a pretty woman to draw Jiraiya away from Naruto. Taking the chance, Itachi and Kisame confronted Naruto, although, at the very same moment, Sasuke arrived to seek vengeance on his brother. Itachi handled his brother with ease while Kisame and Naruto watched, although Jiraiya arrived in time to save the two boys, having not fallen for the hypnotized woman's charm as he knew that pretty women did not usually show interest in him.
Jiraiya immediately asked Itachi and Kisame if their real goal was kidnapping Naruto. They confirmed this and Itachi understood that Jiraiya was the one who had told Kakashi about Akatsuki. Although Jiraiya wished to fight them himself and prevent others from getting hurt, he honoured Sasuke's feelings, and allowed him to fight Itachi instead. Itachi, however, only proved Jiraiya wrong in letting Sasuke fight by using his Mangekyō Sharingan on his younger brother, thus reaffirming his need to get stronger. Jiraiya saved Sasuke in time by using the Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind, which transformed the entire hotel hallway into a toad's œsophagus to trap Itachi and Kisame. Despite Jiraiya's claim that no-one had escaped this technique before, the two Akatsuki partners managed to evade capture and death using Itachi's Amaterasu, which left him exhausted.
Although he was actually supposed to capture Naruto, Itachi's only reason for returning to Konoha after the death of the Third Hokage was to remind Danzō and the other two village elders that he was still alive and not to harm his younger brother.
Itachi possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, which increased his already great power, and enabled him to use his most powerful techniques. With his left eye, he could use Tsukuyomi, a genjutsu that traps an opponent's mind in an illusory world, torturing them for what seems like days in a matter of seconds.[8] With his right eye he could use Amaterasu, a ninjutsu which allowed him to create a black flame, that he could direct by moving his eye, to burn through anything in its path, including fire itself. His final technique was Susanoo, the "Raging God of Battle",[9] a technique that uses both eyes to manifest itself as a spectral being. It wielded the Sword of Totsuka, an ethereal sword with the ability to seal anything it pierces into the gourd that serves as its hilt, and Yata Mirror, a shield that could reflect any attack. Zetsu, a fellow Akatsuki member, stated that Itachi's mastery of the Sharingan, combined with the legendary weapons of Susanoo, made him nearly invincible.
Despite his mastery of the Mangekyō Sharingan, Itachi suffered greatly from its side effects. Each of the techniques bestowed by the Mangekyō Sharingan required vast amounts of chakra to perform, and they left Itachi fatigued afterward, to the point of requiring him to deactivate his Sharingan altogether, something that he did not usually need, three uses of which seem to have been enough to bring him to this in Part I.[10] The other side effect was that his eyesight would worsen as time passed since the awakening of the Mangekyō Sharingan, and the degradation would only increase after every time he used it, which would lead him to eventually go blind from its power, with his Sharingan forever sealed away.[11] By the time Itachi activated his Mangekyō Sharingan during his final fight with Sasuke, Itachi's eyesight was so badly damaged, that Sasuke appeared to be only a messy blur. Itachi was so close to blindness that by the time he activated Susanoo in his final fight, both Sharingan had lost the Mangekyō design in them, with only the red iris remaining.[12] Despite the stress his body was under that was slowly killing him he was still able, in his last moments, to perform his own Fūinjutsu.
Sharingan
Itachi's Sharingan Being of the Uchiha clan, and as noted by Kakashi, Itachi was a true successor of the Sharingan[6] mastering it already when he was eight years old. From a stationary position, he would study an opponent's movements with his Sharingan and respond accordingly, often with a genjutsu. He could cast a genjutsu by merely pointing at or looking at someone, and could similarly turn an opponent's genjutsu against them with Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change.[7] Most of his genjutsu are derived from the Sharingan, but regardless of whether they are or not, all of them cause powerful mental trauma.
Using his Sharingan, he could also perfectly fake the suicide letter of Shisui Uchiha after he had killed him. He had trained so much with his eyes that he had reached the stage where he could have his Sharingan activated all the time, with minimal drain on his chakra levels.
Despite his status as an infamous shinobi, his appearance was not the most intimidating, apart from the intensity of his eyes. While living in Konoha, he would regularly have a gentle and caring look in his eyes, especially directed towards his younger brother. After joining Akatsuki, he would regularly have a stern look to them.
He, like all members of his clan, possessed dark gray eyes, black hair that hung near his cheeks to frame his face and a long ponytail in the back of his hair; later obscured by his Akatsuki cloak after joining the organization. Being brothers, Itachi and Sasuke had a similar appearance, so much so that Naruto nearly mistook Itachi for Sasuke when they first met, but with subtle differences. Itachi's hair color appeared slightly duller and with a softer flow to it; his skin was also slightly darker. Itachi's most distinguishing characteristics were the long pronounced tear troughs under his eyes.
When he lived in Konoha, his casual clothes would consist of a black Uchiha shirt with a large Uchiha clan symbol on the back, and black pants with a weapons pouch strapped to them. When on duty, he would wear the traditional ANBU uniform, although he was never shown wearing a mask. As a member of Akatsuki he wore the traditional Akatsuki cloak and usually kept the center of it buttoned down, as well as a slashed Konoha forehead protector. At other times, he would unbutton the top half of his cloak and rest his left arm there, rather than in the sleeve. After his cloak was incinerated by Sasuke's Kirin during their fight in Part II, it was revealed that he wore similar clothes to that of the rest of the Akatsuki underneath it consisting of a blue V-collar T-shirt (where as most other Akatsuki members wore a sleeveless shirt) and blue pants with a body mesh under the T-shirt, and a white sash around his waist on the outside of the shirt much like a tunic. Like almost all members of Akatsuki, he wore the headband of his home village with a horizontal line gouged through it to symbolize his broken ties with the village. On his right ring finger was his Akatsuki ring, which bears the kanji for Vermilion (朱, shu). He also wore a necklace with three metal circles or rings on it.