When a group of people plan to take over something which would then lead to the death of countless innocents (true innocents), then these people are not to be claimed as innocent.
We dont even know if there was any other young Uchiha in the clan other than Sasuke, the clan was small at that point, and we even saw how other childrens were reacting to seeing Sasuke in their class. An uchiha was at this point rare.
Either way, what i truly wanted to point out is how wrong you are in considering the uchiha innocent.
The descision of doing a coup detat was likely a descision the whole clan voted on. If some of the members didnt approve of the coup then they should have done something to prevent.
Them watching as the rest of the clan causes chaos and put people into danger then they are as guilty as the ones committing the crime.
The clan as well as the members who didnt vote for all doomed themselves one way or another by doing or not doing anything in the end.
To me Itachi is a hero.
Like you, many people see this situation as a quite ambiguous one. Itachi killing people for the greater good that is.
While i understand the point, i dont agree with it in the end as the clan wasnt all innocent.
Also because Itachi sacrificed himself in the process, to an extent that no one has ever possibly reached before.
Kishi himself through fugaku said that Itachi was too gentle to be a shinobi yet that gentleness turned out to be the reason why he had to live as a ninja.
He himself considered what he did to be 'not good', to the point where he wanted to die and be punished for it. This is where his heroism shines more than ever.
He was completly selfless, All he did was for the greater good, he never did anything for himself, never.
Putting Itachi and danzo in the same sentence is truly an insult. Because while danzo did want what was best for Konoha, he above all wanted konoha's best interest because he wanted to be at the head, thus sitting at the highest possible ground.
And when i see peole quoting Itachi's statement in being a failure to back up whatever statement they are trying to proove makes giggle a little inside?
What does having failed to SOME EXTENT have anything to do with him being a hero or not? The ending doesnt justify the actions.
No matter the result, Itachi did a hell of a lot to protect the shinobi world, and even in death.
And i did use FAIL TO AN EXTENT because in the end, Sasuke is on the way to the good side, and dont say this is only because of edo tensei as it was going to happen either way via Kotoamatsukami.
It didnt fail because his plan left no room for failure.
Itachi is a hero when it comes to the manga perspective, that is impossible to deny. As far as our own definition goes, i still feel he fits the profile but thats me.
Cheerio! 
