I wouldnt of guessed that Itachi would of tried to protect Sasuke, well since he was trying to get his eyes but then again he might of know that
he couldnt accomplish his goals and would of died.
Itachi probally wanted to take down tobi/madara after he got his "new" power or whatever by taking sasukes eyes but since he failed he wanted to prevent tobi/madara to ghet any stronger, so he gave sasuke his MS skills. So that tobi couldnt do anything to him and so that one day Sasuke might be able to kill tobi/madara