Itachi‘s failure as a brother and a shinobi (not talking about intelligence or abilities)
This whole mess started with Itachi not fully committing to a mission he took upon himself, sure the elders gave him the orders, but it was his decision to obey or not.
To start off I have to say that I disagree with you, but at the very least I can see where you're coming from. Hey to each his own, right? You seem pretty adamant in your position but I'll try to share what I think anyways.
Yeah, it was up to him to do it or not, but in actuality, he was the only one who
could do it. He was one of the most trusted members of the clan in that as he had inside information about the village. There wasn't any who could have gotten the job (for lack of a better word) done so smoothly. But even if you don't agree with his actions you have to understand
why he felt like he had to do it.
Itachi knew what war was. His choice was between his clan, or the village. If he chose his clan then he knew for a fact that they would have taken over, which would undoubtedly have sparked the next Great Ninja War,
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which would have led to thousands to tens of thousands of innocent deaths; even people who had nothing to do with Konoha's internal matters. The point is he had no choice but to do it.
Despite knowing the truth about his clan, killing his parents, his friends, even his lover, and walking away from his home forever with tears dripping down his face, he wished for the Uchiha's name/pride to be restored and that's why he begged Hiruzen to allow him spare Sasuke. He trusted the only person he could to do this and that was his innocent little brother.
He ended up doing a half job which resulted in ruining Sasuke’s life. Sasuke would have found peace if his life ended the night of the massacre, because then he wouldn’t have carried the extreme amount of hate he has now. You might say he couldn’t make himself kill his beloved little brother, which might have had some merit if he didn’t just murder his entire clan, his mother and father included. Itachi was willing to kill for his ideology and leaders, so him not completing the task was selfish and it obviously came back to haunt him and the entire shinobi alliance.
To some extent I agree with you. He
did ruin Sasuke's life by making him go through hell. He left him alone, filled with sadness, and burdened him with more hate than most people will ever have. But that's exactly the point. It's
because Sasuke grew up alone and angry that made him
want to get stronger.
The reason why he didn't "give him peace" and kill Sasuke was because Itachi wanted his little brother to live knowing that the Uchiha clan was something to be proud of. He wanted Sasuke to avenge his clan by killing him, restore the clan and be known as a hero to the village and the world. He did this because he loved him.
Doing the right thing isn't always easy, nor is it always obvious. We've all had to made hard decisions so I think you'll at least understand this in that regard
The remainings of itachi’s life was focused on redeeming himself, by making sure Sasuke was strong enough to not only kill him, but also move on with his life after carrying such a big burden. Itachi’s methods were also questionable here´, because he actually made sasuke more miserable by constantly mocking and humiliate him just so Sasuke’s hate could grow(with powers).Very counterproductive, because this also removed Sasuke from the love and appreciation he received from the village, and more importantly Team 7.
Again, I can't disagree with you completely, but in the end wasn't it Sasuke's own decision to turn his back on everything and everyone? Sasuke isn't the only character we've seen burdened with loneliness, sadness, and hate, right?
I know you're talking about Itachi and Sasuke here, but to support my claim, Naruto grew up with a similar (though not the same) life. Another one is Gaara. Hell, Gaara's history is even sadder if you look at it. As opposed to Sasuke, Gaara HIMSELF killed people who loved him. He killed Yashamaru and his own mother (indirectly) through child birth. In addition, at least Sasuke had people who loved him at one point in life. Gaara had absolutely nobody and was used as a weapon by his village. Yet, both Naruto and Gaara were able to overcome this and make a conscious decision to better themselves.
My point is, it wasn't Itachi's fault that Sasuke chose the path he did. He had no way of knowing Sasuke would succumb to his hatred and let it consume him. He pushed Sasuke so hard because he believed he was strong enough to overcome it. He had faith in him. Unfortunately, in the end he was wrong and Sasuke ended up where he is now. But can you entirely blame Itachi for trying to believe in his brother? Personally for me, I can't blame him, but like I said, everyone's entitled to their own opinion.
The only one who could/would tell Sasuke about the massacre was madara. Itachi knew that, but obviously he couldn’t take down madara, so he decided to keep an eye on him and keep him in check, which at best was a temporarely solution .When he died, his worst nightmare happened and sasuke got picked up by madara, and itachi’s desperate attempt at stopping madara(the strongest uchiha in history)with sasuke’s eyes failed yet again.I don’t think itachi thought this long, but rather put the ameterasu as an extra guarantee otherwise he would’ve thought of something better.
Madara is a master at pulling people's string. By now I think we all know that. But it's just like you said, the fact is Itachi
couldn't take him down because if he could then he obviously would have. So in all fairness, what
could he do? Even though it was only a temporary solution and in the end he failed to keep Madara away, wasn't keeping an eye on him the best he
could do? Besides, look at it this way, if Itachi didn't keep an eye on him then Madara would have executed his plans a LOT sooner. What little Itachi could do to hold Madara back aided the entire shinobi world and bought them a few years time.
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Madara says himself that if he hadn't kept a few secrets from Itachi that he would be dead from the Amaterasu, so based on what Itachi knew, it would have killed him. It didn't work, but it was still a decent plan. Mind you that this was a plan to kill Madara after Itachi gave his life, which is pretty crafty
Finally, the last chance to help/manipulate sasuke into joining the good side failed with shisui’s eye getting exposed used against a zombie version of itachi. This was his last resort, and sasuke’s destiny is for always out of itachi’s hands, hence the failure as not just a shinobi but a brother.He now has to rely on other folks to do what he himself couldn’t. Action speaks louder than words, and itachi’s good intentions doesn’t change the events which occured.
Shishui's eye plan didn't exactly fail. Itachi intentionally revealed his Mangekyou Sharingan to activate Shisui's eye.
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Itachi says, "let's see what happens" and "good, it came out" which means Itachi was most likely testing it out to see if it would work. I don't know what Itachi meant by "it requires 10 years to activate" but assuming it's a chakra supply issue then that shouldn't be a problem for Naruto which likely means he should be able to use it again against Sasuke.
In the end Itachi himself knows he failed, which is why he's entrusted the task of saving his little brother to Naruto. Since Naruto see's Sasuke as his "brother" Itachi trusts that he'll do all he can.
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That is what a brother-brother bond means to Itachi and that's why he trusts Naruto, which in turn explains that everything he did, even though they weren't all the best decisions, were all
for Sasuke. That alone, for me anyways, is enough to say Itachi didn't fail Sasuke. Sasuke failed himself.
Action speaks louder than words, and itachi’s good intentions doesn’t change the events which occured.
If Itachi didn't do the things he did, then the Uchiha would have taken over Konoha, ignited the next Great Ninja War, and result in the deaths of thousands of thousands of shinobi. Madara wouldn't have been kept in check for all the years that Itachi was a member of Akatsuki, the Kyuubi would have been taken, and Madara would have begun his plans years to a decade sooner.
If you look at all the things Itachi "failed" at individually, then yes it seems like he didn't accomplish much. But you have to look at it as a whole and see the bigger picture. Itachi
was a hero.
Itachi may have pushed Sasuke, but it's entirely Sasuke's own choices, decisions, and impulses that brought him where he is now. He chose to deal with it the way he did.