Itachi Uchiha

"You are weak. Why are you weak? Because you lack ... hatred."

-Itachi

Itachi Uchiha is a major villain in the Anime series Naruto.

Origin
Itachi grew up in the Hidden Leaf Village as a member of the Uchiha Clan. He was a very gifted ninja, even at a young age, and rose above most of his peers. He was very kind to his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha. However, Itachi took a dark turn when he was forced to slaughter the Uchiha Clan to stop them from overthrowing the Hidden Leaf Village. He killed his own parents, but spared Sasuke, hoping that Sasuke would grow to become a challenge one day, and to avenge his family's death. In killing all those people, he was able to achieve a higher level of sharingan, an ability that gives the user the ability to predict actions.

Akatsuki
After leaving the Leaf Village, Itachi joined an evil organization of ninja called the Akatsuki. He now works under them as a mercenary of sorts. He's partners with Kisame Hoshigaki.

Death: during the second part of Naruto, Itachi was worried about his brother Sasuke's behavior. he went to Sasuke's hideout and told him to meet him at the Uchiha's main hideout. A few hours later, Sasuke finally arrived. When he asked what he saw with his Sharingan, Sasuke replied with "your death". Eager to find if this was true, Itachi taunted Sasuke to fight him. Although Itachi managed to gain the upper hand at the beginning of the fight, Sasuke managed to make a comeback with his ultimate jutsu, The Kirin (Japanese for "Dragon"). Although he thought the fight was over, Itachi, able to survive, (with the final piece of his Mangekyo Sharingan, the Susano'o), used his last breaths to give his brother his Mangekyo Sharingan. Itachi later died on the floor, succumbing to his eye illness. Madara Uchiha later told Sasuke the truth of Itachi's reasons for betraying the Uchiha clan: It was on orders from the Konohagakure.

Abilities
A talented and highly powerful ninja, Itachi was a prodigy, his intellect and ability blooming even at a young age. He had already graduated and became a Jonin at the age of twelve and gained the Sharigan at age seven. Itachi's main prowess came in the form of his mastery of the Sharigan, the infamous kekkai genkai exclusive to the Uchiha clan and can only be obtained through some emotional stress. The Sharigan is a dojutsu (eye technique) instantly recognizable upon activation as an Uchiha's normally black eye color becomes a blood-red, accompanied by a varying number of tomoe circling the pupil. As Itachi's Sharigan has been fully developed, he has a maximum of three tomoe. It allows the user to copy any type of jutsu that they see at least once and then emulate it perfectly. It also allows them to clearly see chakra flows which is effective against most ninja. Itachi has only used the Sharigan for its latter ability, as he has never displayed any use of copying his opponent's moves. By killing his best friend, Itachi was able to gain the Mangekyo Sharigan, the second level of Sharigan and a fearsome power. When activated, Itachi's tomoe in his eyes under go a dramatic transformation.

Unlike the normal Sharigan, the shape of the Mangekyou is unique for every user, as his takes on a three-bladed shuriken. With the Mangekyou, Itachi obtains the use of three extremely powerful techniques: Amateratsu, Tsukiyomi and Susanoo. Amateratsu takes on the form of guided black flames, the most powerful stage of fire, completely consuming anything it comes into contact with and is unavoidable as they are guided by the user's eyesight. It burns for seven days and nights and cannot be extinguished by normal means. Itachi only uses this technique in the most dire of situations, especially if his opponent is powerful. Tsukiyomi is a time-dilation genjutsu (illusion) that traps the opponent in an alternate, warped dimension that Itachi has complete control over. A favorite of Itachi's, he can ensnare his opponent in a nightmarish realm to induce realistic pain that mentally devastates the target. Though the genjutsu lasts for for three days tops in that realm, it only takes place in the real world in the span of one second. Though successful activation often requires eye-to-eye contact, Itachi can easily bypass this by simply pointing at the target.

Susanoo is the last ninjutsu Itachi ever uses. Unlike the previous two, Susanoo manifests itself as a creature rather than a primal force. It first appears as a skeletal creature engulfed in flames along with its user (though the user feels nothing). Like the Sharigan itself, Susanoo has to develop. As Itachi's techinques were fully developed, Susanoo assumed a full form, the appearance of that form differing with each user. Regardless of the form, Susanoo itself wielded a sword that was able to both hypnotize and permanently seal away anything it struck, an unfortunate event that Orochimaru witnessed first hand.

Aside from his mastery of the Sharigan, Itachi exhibited exceptional prowess in all forms of jutsu and intelligence. He is able to perform genjutsu and ninjutsu almost instantaneously, performing hand signs at an unreadable speed. He could conjure up shadow clones while at the same time using kunais and shurikens for easy counterattacks. He is also capable of easily countering any physical attacks attempting upon him as not a single character in the Naruto universe was able to actually land a physical blow on him. His intellect allowed him to easily read, predict and counter his opponent's attacks with little effort.

Personality
Before the massacre, Itachi was a caring and loving brother whom cared for his younger brother

After he massacred his clan, he became practically emotionless. A man of complete self-control over his emotions, Itachi only expressed surprise during battle if his opponent was stronger or caught him by surprise. Unlike most of the other Akatsuki members, Itachi did not display the more typical aspects as a villain such as arrogance. He treated his fellow Akatsuki members with equal respect. In fact he goes enough to respect and compliment his opponents for their aptitude and abilities. He is able to back up any claims he makes because he has the power to do so, rather than the result of an ego. He does not enjoy the sport of battle nor does he indulge in violent bloodbaths, rather preferring to hastening to end his battles as soon as possible. All of his supposedly villainous acts were all ruses to encourage Sasuke to kill him as he cared deeply for his younger brother. When faced by Naruto, he sees hope in the young ninja and entrusted him to pull his sibling out of the vengeful darkness he has embraced all these years. In effect, Itachi, although emotionless from the outside, was sorrowful and suffering from the inside.