#no but really. seeing things from sasuke's pov is heartbreaking. his tragedy is so huge and personal and terrible

[avenger-hawk]

I've seen people call Itachi a ''mindrapist'' countless times now and I'm so confused by the term?? What do they mean? That's a tad too extreme a word for something like his lies to Sasuke isn't it? And he's never done anything like that with genjutsu either.. Do you have any ideas what they might be referring to?

Actually Itachi didn’t just lie to Sasuke, he full-on manipulated him over and over, and he did use genjutsu on him. A lot.

Before I reply I’ll point out something for those who only think in black/white terms. As much as I loathe anti-Itachi arguments (especially the blind Konoha dog Itachi one), I also don’t like the martyr-only Itachi ones. I don’t overlook his dark side. I like his dark side, it’s what makes him complex and fascinating. It’s what sets the lenghts he’d go to keep Sasuke alive and safe, even if it means hurting him, the very person he wants to protect. It’s part of the confidence, the arrogance even, of a genius who’s so many steps ahead of everyone that (after Shisui’s death) he thinks that no one knows better than him, it’s what despite he knew how evil Danzo was, made him fall for his blackmail and manipulation, since he couldn’t allow him to harm Sasuke in any way, since his only weakness was his love for Sasuke, a love so strong that made him sacrifice his whole clan to spare him from death, even though his love hurt his little brother more than anyone else’s.

(in case it’s not clear, this is not an antiitachi post although it’s not a pro-martyr Itachi thing either. Also some anti-ending, anti-naruto, anti-kakashi, anti-s*kura under the cut. Can’t help it.)

Compared to part 1, especially ep. 84, Shippuuden episodes/chapters toned Itachi’s actions down, especially after the truth was revealed, highlighting the real reason behind them and not showing the most extreme details anymore.

Itachi used tsukuyomi on child Sasuke right after the massacre, to show him a fake version of him killing his parents. In retrospective, he sure didn’t use a full tsukuyomi since Sasuke woke up too soon from it and was able to move and even try to attack him/go after him, but the scene itself shows him barely conscious, weak and drooling, while the elder was looming over him, even punching him hard when he made it to get up on his feet.

Itachi used full tsukuyomi when he met Sasuke at the inn, something that wasn’t supposed to happen, but since it did happen he couldn’t risk to blow his cover and make his brother understand the truth. He ignored Sasuke at first, but when his little brother insisted he pointed out that he still wasn’t strong enough, because he lacked hatred. He tried to fuel his hatred against him, taunting him and beating him up with such brutality that even Kisame was surprised, as his partner never got physical with anyone. He didn’t need to be physical, being a genjutsu user. (my personal interpretation of this is that Itachi needed physical contact with Sasuke, so badly that the only way he could allow himself to indulge in it was through violence) And at the end of the beating, he grabbed Sasuke by the throat and shoved him against the wall, and leaning on him he cast Tsukuyomi to show him the fake version of the massacre over and over, so much that Sasuke was rendered unconscious and hospitalized for days.

Itachi used tsukuyomi again during their fight, first to show Sasuke how Mangekyou came to exist, with Madara and Izuna’s story, that turned out to be fake, but most of it all he used it to make Sasuke believe that he was plucking his eyes out. His intent was clear, he wanted to corner Sasuke so that he’d use the curse mark, so that he could free him, and he wanted Sasuke’s hatred to be unwavering, so that he’d kill him.

Lastly, fearing that despite his measures to keep Sasuke away from the man he knew as Madara, he planned to use kotoamatsukami on him, “giving” Shisui’s crow to an unknowing Naruto, so that if Sasuke got to know the truth and decided to attack Konoha, that genjutsu would have prevented him from doing so, conditioning (brainwashing him) to protect it instead. I already talked about this and I don’t intend to do it again, it’s a controversial plan, and it’s a wrong thing indeed, but in my opinion he didn’t do it out of loyalty towards Konoha, but more because he didn’t want Sasuke to become an enemy of the village because it meant being sentenced to death, not having any stability or safety, becoming a rogue like him, which was the opposite of what he wanted for him.

Like Sasuke understood Itachi and forgave him as soon as he was told the truth, because he loved him so, so much, even though I am aware of the immense suffering, the anger and fear and despair he went through, the scr it left on him and that will never really heal, I won’t talk sh*t about Itachi anyway, because it’s Konoha’s fault, because Itachi was alone, in difficult times, facing difficult decisions, whose goal was to keep him alive and safe, unlike Naruto or Kakashi (I won’t even mention S*kura because she is irrelevant. fight me) who claimed to want to save Sasuke, who, in times of peace (or in the end of a war), manipulated, imprisoned, guilt tripped and tamed him into submission.