Itachi's loyalties were never with the Akatsuki. Out of all of them, he's the only one that saw it for it was, and Nagato at a later time I guessguess. But for the most part, he used it as a device to protect Konoha while keeping watch on Sasuke and so on.Yawn, nice fan fic.
Itachi was fooled into believing Obito was Madara. Itachi also died as a pawn of the Akatsuki in the end. Itachi also failed to stop Madara’s Edo Tensei. Madara literally taught Itachi everything the latter knew about the Uchiha and the their techniques. Therefore Madara>Obito>Sasuke > Itachi.
You could call Itachi many things, but a pawn, that was never a term that could be associated with him. He did as he saw fit, and if there was anyone with SIGNIFICANT influence on him, that would have been Shisui, but he passed on anyway, so there couldn't be anyone else.
About Madara teaching Itachi everything he knew, I don't recall Madara doing any such thing, and I doubt he learned Izanami from him. Madara (fake version) was already afraid of Itachi for what he could do when he when he wasn't looking.
Thus, it would have been stupid of him to dispense him with more power, when he saw an potential threat in him that could hinder his plans.
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