At one point in the Naruto plot, we discovered that Sasuke’s primary motivation for strengthening himself was to ultimately murder and destroy his brother Itachi, who had massacred the whole Uchiha clan when Sasuke was still a young boy.
In that sense, he trained so hard that he believed he was already powerful enough to beat his brother. However, Sasuke was too strong for Itachi in that battle until his younger brother finally overcame him. However, did Itachi truly allow Sasuke to triumph?
The fans were aware that Sasuke could not have defeated Itachi in that battle since Sasuke could not have defeated his older brother at that point in the plot. Simply told, even if Sasuke had chosen to go full out, he wouldn’t have been powerful enough to compete with Itachi. Let’s now discuss the reason Itachi refrained from confronting Sasuke.
Has Itachi Let Sasuke to Win?
Sasuke made it clear that he intended to murder his own older brother when he first appeared in the Naruto series. This is due to the fact that his brother Itachi, who killed the entire Uchiha clan, was spared and instructed to grow strong enough to murder him in the future. In that sense, Sasuke’s primary drive to gain strength was to murder Itachi.
In order to train under one of the renowned Sannin and gain strength, Sasuke actually had to leave Konoha and join Orochimaru.
He learned some of his teacher’s snake-based techniques and developed the strength to master his lightning-based chakra assaults during his training with Orochimaru. Additionally, Sasuke was given a cursed seal that was supposed to increase his strength.
Naturally, Sasuke sought out Itachi in order to finally make amends with his older brother once he had grown powerful enough to really absorb Orochimaru into his body when the latter attempted to do so and take over his body.
After meeting in a fated battle, the two were able to trade genjutsu methods until it became evident that they couldn’t win the fight with just genjutsu. Sasuke appeared to be able to make Itachi work hard even if he lacked Mangekyo Sharingan.
Because of the terminal sickness he was diagnosed with a few years prior, Itachi had to use his Mangekyo Sharingan technique, Amaterasu, to try to destroy Sasuke during that battle, even though it just made him weaker.
Sasuke, however, took advantage of this method since he strengthened his new Kirin technique by using Amaterasu’s fiery flames. But he was shocked to discover that Itachi, using his Susanoo, had escaped his most potent attack to date.
Sasuke was forced to use his cursed seal at that point. Orochimaru was waiting for this moment to emerge from Sasuke’s body and attempt to regain control of it. However, as this successfully eliminated Sasuke’s cursed seal, Itachi took advantage of the situation to seal Orochimaru with his Susanoo’s Sword of Totsuka.
Since Sasuke had expended all of his chakra on that Kirin strike and had nothing left in his armory to pierce Itachi’s Susanoo’s formidable armor, he was at a loss for choices at that point. The elder brother went up to Sasuke and said that he needed his eyeballs in order to make an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan that would restore his failing vision.
However, Itachi jabbed Sasuke’s forehead instead of taking his eyes, which was one of the things he frequently did to his younger brother when they were little. Itachi died grinning and apologizing to his brother because he was unable to maintain the façade any longer. He passed away as a result of his illness.
It was obvious that the elder Uchiha was holding back until the very end and just let Sasuke win because Sasuke won the battle when Itachi succumbed to his own illness. Given that he wasn’t even powerful enough to pierce the Susanoo armor, the younger Uchiha was in no position to overcome Itachi in that battle.
Of course, others would argue that Itachi merely passed away from the consequences of his illness rather than losing that battle. He only let the younger brother beat him in that battle, though, making it obvious that he had no intention of killing and defeating Sasuke.
Why Did Itachi Hold of Attacking Sasuke?
As previously said, Itachi obviously held back from using his strongest attacks until the very end of the battle with Sasuke. As demonstrated during the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Itachi has skills and attacks that he didn’t even attempt to employ against Sasuke during their battle with Kabuto. Why, then, did Itachi resist Sasuke?
Itachi refrained from confronting Sasuke since he had no intention of killing his brother. His sole purpose in inciting Sasuke’s hatred toward him was to build up the strength necessary to eventually vanquish him and let him pass away guilt-free for the murder of the whole Uchiha clan.
Naturally, he also wished for Sasuke to gain enough strength to not need to defend his younger brother. Furthermore, Sasuke could only pursue strength if he had a motivation for doing so.
Itachi also refrained from confronting Sasuke because he wanted his brother to try everything before he had to wield the cursed seal that Orochimaru had left behind. Itachi was aware that Orochimaru was still lurking inside Sasuke, waiting to take control of his body when it was weak.
Itachi was waiting for Sasuke to exhaust all of his alternatives before he would get desperate enough to utilize the cursed seal, since he was still a protective older brother. Therefore, Itachi sealed Orochimaru as soon as he emerged, releasing Sasuke from the Sannin’s grip.
Itachi could have used his Susanoo’s full power early in the battle to kill Sasuke if he had wanted to. However, he didn’t since doing so would have meant Sasuke wouldn’t have been desperate enough to activate his cursed seal quite yet.
Of course, Sasuke would have been able to defeat his brother after he acquired his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and the abilities of the Sage of Six Paths. The Sasuke we saw in that last battle with Itachi, however, lacked the strength to overcome his elder brother.
The older Uchiha was obviously holding back as a result. Furthermore, Itachi would have been a completely different monster in terms of his potential power if he had been healthy and at his best.
Want to know more about Sasuke and Itachi’s complicated relationship? Understand Itachi’s motivations and delve deeper into their tragic conflict. For a thorough analysis of this legendary Naruto incident and more intriguing anime analyses, visit Crossover99. Go over immediately to avoid missing out!