 I think it's time to revisit Itachi Uchiha. Morality in Naruto is interesting. Certain characters seem to be judged more so based on their intention and their loyalty rather than their actions. Nobody embodies this idea better than Itachi. I want to take a look at the arguments for both Itachi the villain and Itachi the hero and apply that to the way morality is treated in Naruto. Itachi born in the hidden leaf, Tufugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, we all know how skilled and advanced Itachi was as a shinobi. Just a step behind Shisui of the body flicker. He became a genine at age 7, took the training exams all by himself at age 10, and by 11 he was an Anbu Black Ops member. Itachi was a prodigy, a genius, a phenom, through and through. But Itachi was selfish. He was a villain. His idea of peace did not consider anyone but his brother and his superiors, his village. The young Uchiha idolized the leaf. He saw the village as something greater, a community with an even greater purpose than his own clan, than his own family, his own flesh and blood. Itachi throughout the series is hailed for his genius, for his wit, his intelligence, and his observational skills. You've seen how far in advance Itachi was able to plan out certain events and situations, but even so Itachi couldn't seem to understand why the Uchiha clan members clung so strongly to their name and to each other. Since Tobirama Senju assumed the title of Hokage, they were never given a chance. The second Hokage gave them ownership of the police force, their only prominent role in the village's lifetime. As Orochimaru says it, those who crack down on crime tend to be easily disliked. With the initial thought that they were a clan possessed by evil, and after the existence of Madara and his burning hatred, as well as wars with the clan, Tobirama was strong with this belief. A sensitive clan whose emotions could be easily triggered, Tobirama needed to keep an eye on them, just in case there were any Madara adherents, as Orochimaru calls them. And to keep his village safe. Even if there were good Uchiha dedicated to the leaf, like Kagami, who worked directly alongside Tobirama, the second Hokage still instead chose Sarutobi to become Hokage after him. The Uchiha were yet again disregarded. The Uchiha had a claim to the village, to power, just as much as the Senju did. Without the Uchiha, without Madara, there is no village hidden in the leaves, but they were never given any positions of authority in their government. There weren't even any Uchiha on the Konoha Council, there were no Uchiha elders. And again, after Herozin, no Uchiha were put in positions in power and instead they elected to go with Minato, as the fourth Hokage. To add on to that, after the Ninetales attacked, the Uchiha were immediately blamed and then relocated to the outskirts of the village. One small corner dedicated to the strongest clan of the hidden leaf, dedicated to its creators. As Senju blood dried out, their power and their influence was still as strong as ever, but the Uchiha were monitored, disrespected, segregated, and not trusted. But Itachi couldn't understand this. He couldn't understand why in spite of 40 years of marginalization, why the Uchiha remained committed to their family. He attended the Uchiha meetings, he saw their frustrations, their anger, the reasons for the coup. He also knew Donzo's intentions. But he never had the thought to conspire with Herozin, to try and stop them. Instead he took Donzo's proposal or threat and chose one person over possibly hundreds of people. Itachi is selfish. He never once thought about all of the people, the individual lives he was about to erase. He killed innocent people, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, children. People with dreams, goals, aspirations, just like his. People just like Sasuke. People with loved ones. It never mattered to him. Itachi might have saved Sasuke's life, but as we see Sasuke grow into this mentally ill, eternally enraged individual, Sasuke was never truly saved. He didn't get to grow up with the community to support him, to guide him, to love him, instead he grew up with unbearable rage. And Itachi's evil didn't stop there. His selfishness didn't stop there, placing his younger brother in again Jutsu to watch his parents' death over and over again, to remind him that he is and he was helpless, that he was a coward. Itachi is not a good person. Sasuke idolized his older brother, adored him. Instead Itachi called him weak and a coward. Piling onto an already intensely traumatic experience, Itachi is responsible for creating the Sasuke who only saw violence as the answer. Itachi is the reason for everything that is wrong in Sasuke's life, and we are supposed to believe that he loved his brother. None of this is love. True love would have saw Itachi use the full range of his mangekyo sharingan. All of his ability, his experience, his power, to instead fight Donzo and the Anbu. True love would have had Itachi protect Sasuke with his life, and not just his physical body, but he would have protected his little brother from a life of trauma, violence, and unbridled anger. From this perspective Itachi is a villain, a monster, selfish. But let's look at Itachi the hero. The Uchiha are a clan that feels great love, a genetic bond that is stronger than anything. Itachi embodies this love when it comes to Sasuke. He knew full and well that his brother adored and looked up to him, and Itachi would do anything to save his life. But he also knew that the best way to save Sasuke's life was for there to be peace. Hirosin states that, at 7 years old, Itachi thought like Ehokage, as stated a genius through and through. Itachi paired this genius with sensitivity. The first sight of war at 4 years old traumatized him. It led him on a path to become strong enough to one day bring peace. In addition to the power he sought, as aforementioned, Itachi thought like Ehokage. Hirosin said that he paid attention to the teachings and the signs of those who came before them. He understood the duties of a village and their shinobi. He knew that the Uchiha's anger was not justified. A prideful clan who believed their power was beyond any, inside or outside the village. They felt indebted to a position of power in the leaf simply because they believed their abilities were so much greater than everyone else's. Itachi believed otherwise. Looking at it plainly, the Uchiha were never under any harm. Here they were relegated to a police force, marginalized and unliked, but they were never killed or harmed in any way because they were Uchiha. Their children attended the academy just like any other. Further from Itachi's perspective, being tasked as police force for the village was an honor, no matter how they got to this position, because it's in line with Itachi's dedication towards peace. So for him, whatever act would save the greatest amount of people, whatever choice led to peace, even if he had to be hated, he was okay with it. For that was the duty of a shinobi. Itachi's prophetic eyes already saw that dedication to an arrogant clan would bring him nowhere closer to what he wanted to achieve. The curse of hatred and the will of fire lived inside Itachi, but they were never truly in combat with each other. The curse of hatred was an ideal that led to the Uchiha's self-righteousness, with their roots being traced back to their ancestors, the Otsutskis. This was reason enough for them to believe that their clan, their blood, was their right to power. Understanding this ideal and its history, understanding Madara's failure, and how his selfishness opposed Hashirama's selflessness, how the will of fire ended up being stronger than the curse of hatred, it's easy to see why Itachi could subscribe to this. Something that could bring peace to a shinobi world filled with violence, Itachi was committed to it. More than that, Itachi was pressured by his clan to uphold the curse of hatred. Fugaku only saw his son as a pipeline between the leaf and the clan. He only supported Itachi's success when it benefited the Uchiha, and the Uchiha members themselves went out to accuse Itachi of killing Shisui. The clan had already distanced themselves from Itachi from the leaf, and yet he was still here dedicated to preserving their reputation. But what they didn't seem to understand is the magnitude that Ikku would have had on the leaf. It would become a bloodbath, and surely evolve into a world war. This could mean thousands and thousands of casualties. The leaf destroyed, Sasuke killed, and Itachi himself killed. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mills' classical utilitarian principles seem to align with Itachi's, but Itachi takes it much further. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism that looks at how consequences of certain actions affect people. In its simplest form, if the consequence of an action benefits a greater amount of people than it harms, then it is the morally acceptable and correct action. However, when we get into murder and innocent people, that's when utilitarianism gets a little murky and complex. As Kant's categorical imperative gets put into play, and a bunch of different factors get involved. But this is all to say that Itachi takes the simple parts of utilitarianism and takes it to another level, when he essentially decides that the ends justifies the means. For Itachi, there really was no choice. He knew that if push came to shove, a civil war would destroy the very piece he sought after. Obito said it himself, it could spark the fourth ninja war, innocent lives would be lost. It would mean the death of Sasuke. Even brushing Danzo aside, there was the looming threat of Obito, who aimed to destroy both the leaf and the Uchiha. Obito nearly succeeded with the Ninetail, so stopping both Danzo and the Anbu as well as Obito and trying to save both the clan and the leaf in one night was impossible. Itachi made the only decision he could. Itachi ended up saving countless lives and future lives. Imagine the leaf village touched by war, and the casualties being some of the young academy shinobi we all know and love, Rock Lee, Neji, Inno, Shikamaru. The Hyuga clan, the Aburame clan, all of these prominent clans and individuals, Itachi saved them all. The Uchiha's death was inevitable and so he put them to rest and maintained their reputation. After the massacre, the Uchiha would be known as a once powerful clan who were only disliked because of their arrogance and their status as police force, not for their attempted coup on the leaf. Itachi bore all of this hatred and trauma and saved hundreds because he was a hero. Itachi's intentions as he tells the truth to Sasuke are what's important, as they are the representation of one's own heart and of one's character. Itachi did all of those things so that Sasuke could be hailed as a hero and maintained their clan's honor, one that was rapidly fading if not already lost. When he was reanimated, he helped his brother find a sense of closure and he owned up to his failures. He saved killer B and Naruto. Itachi ensured that Naruto wouldn't make the same mistakes that he did, falling into the idea of carrying the world's burdens solely on his shoulders. Itachi did what no one else could and he is a hero because he embodies the idea of what a shinobi is. As Hashirama says, a shinobi is someone who endures so that he may reach his goal and if that goal was protecting the village, heroes in Hashirama and Naruto all saw Itachi as a hero. At 14 years old, he had one night to make the hardest decision that any 14 year old could ever have to make, a decision that ended up saving people. The definition of a hero is someone who is admired or idealized for their courage, for doing something that no regular person could do or even think of doing. That is the perfect definition of Itachi Uchiha. The final perspective that is taken when it comes to Itachi is one that looks at him right down the middle. It sees him as an anti-hero or an anti-villain, one whose intentions from the get-go were pure and were honorable, but the way he executed them was not. It looks at Itachi plainly, who was a kid in an unfathomable situation. Donzo's isolation of the young shinobi was genius. Donzo had a file on the young Uchiha. He knew that he was a sensitive kid, one who loved his brother and who had intense loyalties to the leaf. And Donzo knew that with just the right circumstances, he could bait Itachi into doing exactly what he wanted him to do. And so he attacked his surroundings. He attacked Shisui, who later killed himself. He put Itachi in the Anbu, slowly he isolated the shinobi. When Sasuke is remembering his older brother before the massacre, Itachi's world seems to be crumbling before him. And what he is focused on is this very isolation, the loneliness he felt. This was true. Itachi had no one. With Shisui gone, there was no one to tie him to the clan, as his father certainly couldn't. While Shisui was dedicated to the village, he was equally as dedicated to the clan, trying to find a bloodless solution. He was so close, if it wasn't for Donzo. Shisui wasn't as opposed to the clan as Itachi was, but with Shisui gone, the one who taught him about self-sacrifice and who asked him personally to protect the village and the Uchiha name, Itachi was feeling the pressure. Donzo laid seeds of doubt, presented him with the false dilemma, and with Obuto looming over his shoulder and one night to make a decision, only one choice was clear. His clan was beyond saving, and at least with this choice, he would prevent a potential war and save his brother. Itachi alone surely felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Pressures to be a great shinobi, to honor his now fallen best friend's wishes, to save his brother. A pressure to solve the clan's issues and to bring peace, all at 14 years old. For Itachi it was clear, this was the path to do all of these things. I find it interesting that Kishimoto in this scenario can kind of be treated like an unreliable narrator. Even though it's his world and he has authority over it, he spends a large part of his time championing Itachi for his intentions, his loyalty, rather than his actual actions. So it's up to the reader, or the watcher, to stray from the image that Kishimoto has set for Itachi, and to make their own decision on who he is, and to question or accept his status as a hero. He glorifies Itachi, furthermore this series glorifies loyalty, and especially if that loyalty is accompanied by self-sacrifice. Shinobi are ninja dedicated to their villages, people who are required to follow orders by any means necessary. Hashirama's definition of a shinobi again is someone who endures in order to reach their goal. Again, the series champions self-sacrifice, especially for the village. Minato and Kushinas, Jiraiyas, Hiruzans, and now Itachis. No matter what you do, as long as it's in service to your village, that is what makes a shinobi great and even legendary in some cases. When shinobi take alternate routes and align themselves with their own beliefs, they are looked down upon. Sakumo Hatake, the white fang who was pushed to take his own life, simply because he chose his comrades over his duty. Furthermore, the series glorifies the leaf. A sacrifice for the leaf sees Itachi as a hero. After Itachi's truth, this revelation, no one other than the villains of this series, mainly Kabuto, bats an eye that Itachi committed genocide. All of those innocent Uchiha lives are forgotten. In the face of loyalty, Itachi is able to forgive himself and accept what he did because he felt that he did it in the name of peace. Itachi believes in a world that can't separate illusion and reality. Along with eyes with genjutsu that can even further separate the two concepts, good and evil becomes relative to one's own beliefs and to the world that one has created. He doesn't classify himself in either direction. He only talks about what happened, what was necessary, from his perspective. In a world that encourages loyalty and sacrifice for the greater good, it's clear why they see him as a good person. Shinobi have to do hard things, it's part of the job. In Itachi's own world, in his reality, what is correct and true is the village. What is worth fighting for is peace. The reason he protected Sasuke was because in his world that was crumbling before his feet, the lines between reality and illusion being blurred, the only thing that Itachi was absolutely sure of was that Sasuke was innocent. Sasuke represented everything that was good and that his love for his little brother is something that he felt was absolutely real. It was true. He also said that as death comes to embrace you, you will realize what you are. In both instances of Itachi's death, he showed a non-verbal and a verbal confirmation of his love towards Sasuke. Good or evil, Itachi was someone who would sacrifice everything for his little brother. When he realized that he could bear hatred for his brother, I think that's when he fully believed that no person, not the leaf, not the clan, was purely good or evil. If you think of the five villages in their history, they've all done morally corrupt things, whether it be the stone's onoki and his employment of the Akatsuki, the mist and their fights to death, the leaf operating under Donzo's Anbu. The morality of the shinobi world is very different and much darker than our own. Loyalty means more in that world than any other value. Itachi knew that the leaf didn't see the Uchiha as a good clan, but at the very least with this act, he could maintain their reputation and at least see that the last of the remaining Uchiha, Sasuke, was someone who was objectively good, a hero when it came time to him killing Itachi. Because people are bound based on what they believe as correct and true and based on their reality, their Sasuke would be under the limelight. If Kishimoto's goal was to create a character that people always have extreme reactions towards, then he succeeded. To me that's what makes Itachi an interesting character. That's the legacy of Itachi Uchiha.