When people think of the best brothers in all of anime people think of Edward Elric, Tanjiro Kamado, and Portgas D. Ace. We also have Ichigo Kurosaki and Killua in the discussion and I think there are characters who I think should be part of the best brother topic like Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho, because I think the concept of protecting your sister while also not telling them your identity is best brother material in my opinion. But another character that people like to put in the best brother conversation is Itachi Uchiha from Naruto, and this might be an unpopular opinion or a hot take but I don't think Itachi deserves to be in the discussion of who is the best brother in anime conversation. Now I know some people are probably pissed off when I said that but I literally don't care. I love Itachi as a character he's one of my favorite characters in Naruto being in the top 10 definitely, but as an older brother there are things that he failed as an older brother ranging from his decision making skills, to his relationship with Sasuke, as well as his impact on him and explain to you guys why Itachi Uchiha is not a good brother so without further ado let's get started.
The first reason as to why Itachi is not a good brother to Sasuke is the decisions making skills. So we all know about the Uchiha Clan Massacre it was really tragic in many ways. Itachi did it not just to protect Sasuke but also the entire Leaf village as the Uchiha were plotting a coop to overthrow and take over the Leaf. But here's the thing: This entire Uchiha massacre could've been avoided. I've been seeing a lot of comments trying to imply that Itachi was truly forced and that Itachi truly had no choice and that they tell you to read the manga. Yet what people ignore is that the Uchiha Clan's massacre wasn't inevitable, it was preventable and here's how. So we all remember Shisui's death.
For those who don't well let me explain. Shisui like Itachi was against the Uchiha Clan's coop, but Shisui had a plan that not only would've prevented the massacre but also the coop. Shisui planed to use Kotoamatsukami on Itachi's father and head of the clan, Fugaku to make him call of the Uchiha coop thus preventing any lives that would've been lost on both sides. However Shisui was unfortunately unable to go through with this plan as Danzo orchestrated events to have Shisui killed so he can take his eyes. With his right eye stolen, Shisui escaped and in his last moments gave Itachi his left eye before falling down a river to his death. While it's technically a suicide, in the Itachi novels Shisui was actually poisoned by one of Danzo's Root ninja so he was pretty much beyond saving and at death's door no matter what the circumstances are. So anyways after Shisui's death here's what I think Itachi should've done. First Itachi should've reported straight to the Third Hokage report to him that Danzo killed Shisui with Shisui's eye as proof. This would cause Sarutobi to want Danzo arrested for treason and Shisui's death. Next he would use Shisui's eye casting Kotoamatsukami on Fugaku and have him call off the coop and engage in negotiations with Hiurzen. I think that by doing this Itachi not only would've prevented from having to massacre the Uchiha clan but he would've saved Konoha as well. He'd save both without any lives lost. Yet despite that Itachi allowed Danzo to blackmail him and as a result the Uchiha Clan excepted for Sasuke has been annihilated. Now I know somebody's gonna argue that Hiruzen would be too soft on Danzo but I doubt that's the case as even Hiruzen would not have approved of Danzo killing Shisui and would have the common sense to have him arrested for committing treason much like he did when he confronted Orochimaru.
But there is also another route Itachi could've taken which is if he was honest to Sasuke. Throughout Sasuke's entire life, Itachi wasn't honest with him and as such Sasuke was never aware of the Uchiha coop. But the thing is he could've been had Itachi been honest with Sasuke and inform him of the coop. By Itachi's own words, Sasuke could've changed the clan's respective and prevent him from rebelling. Sasuke's young and innocence would've been more than enough to convince Fugaku and the rest of the clan go not go through with their coop as they would realize the massive amounts of innocent lives including children like Sasuke that would be lost and as a result the Uchiha clan would give up on their coop entirely and instead try to make negotiations with the Third Hokage. Itachi fans try to make it seem like Itachi had no other choice but to slaughter the clan to protect his brother when in reality he had many options to prevent the Uchiha coop he just chose not to take those routes, and I know this because if the actual best brothers of anime like Edward, Tanjiro, Ace, Killua, and Hiei were in Itachi shoes and it was Alphonse, Nezuko, Luffy, Alluka, and Yukina that were in danger they would've taken the options that not only ensures that not only their siblings are protected but also ensures that innocent lives aren't killed. You can twist this as you will all you want but Itachi had multiple options and he didn't take it.
But let's say Itachi truly had no choice but to slaughter the Uchiha what he did afterwards still pisses me off because he didn't do enough to protect Sasuke by eliminating obvious threats to him. I was originally going to call him out by him not going after Orochimaru but after further thinking, I can honestly let that slide because one the Akatsuki was looking for Orochimaru anyways and two Orochimaru is difficult to find because there are thousands of hideouts across the world so I don't think Itachi could go after Orochimaru because the latter is too sneaky so I can let that slide. But not killing Danzo? I can't let that slide. Itachi knew from the start Danzo was a threat to Sasuke it's one of the reasons why he threatened to expose the truth about the Uchiha clan to other nations if he dared to harm Sasuke. Danzo clearly wasn't planning on honoring his promise as shown when he sent Sai to kill Sasuke in the Tenchi Bridge Arc, knowing full well means that Itachi would go through with his threat of exposing him to other nations. Itachi should've known Danzo was a threat to Sasuke yet despite that refuses to kill him in retaliation. This is even worse when you factor in not only did Danzo kill Shisui and orchestrated events that would lead to the Uchiha's massacre but as he was about to leave Danzo had Root ninja kill Itachi as shown in one of the Itachi novels, rather than retaliating by tracking down and killing Danzo. Killing Danzo would've increased Sasuke's chances of being safe and it also saves Sasuke the trouble of having to go after him.
Lastly the thing that bothers me the most is his impact on Sasuke. The reason why this is a factor is how your impact on your sibling determines if you're a goor brother or sister. It's that reason why Ed, Tanjiro, and Ace are the best brothers because of their impact on Al, Nezuko, and Luffy. But Itachi had the worst impact on Sasuke in the most ways. Despite Itachi's attempts to paint Sasuke as a hero her quite literally failed in the worst possible ways. First of all he was a villain to Sasuke during the time he was alive mentally traumatizing him by using Tsukuyomi on him to replay the clan's massacre not once but twice this completely mentally destroys Sasuke and traumatizes him. I already know someone is going to say he did that to fuel his rage and hatred towards him but a true brother would never do they would never ignite or give birth to hatred inside or their younger siblings. But even worse is that Sasuke found out too late how good Itachi was until he was already dead. Itachi's goal was to have Sasuke kill him and paint him as the hero who avenged the Uchiha clan but this is wrong in many ways, the fact that Itachi actually expects Sasuke to actually be a hero is baffling to say the least especially for the way he treated Sasuke he actually expected him to follow Itachi's will, but reality hits harder on the head because there was no way that Sasuke was going to follow Itachi's path. Itachi fans hate Sasuke for choosing to wanting to destroy the Leaf village rather than protecting it like Itachi wanted and to that I have to say: WTF did you expect? Itachi literally lied to Sasuke his entire life and you expect him to honor Itachi? Yeah no. I may disagree with Sasuke but I'm honestly more on his side than I am with Itachi in fact I sympathize with Sasuke more than I do Itachi because Itachi's impact on Sasuke as a brother is one of the reasons why Sasuke ultimately ended up going into further darkness that was only stopped because Naruto had to step in and fill in the brother void Itachi left behind.
So yeah overall between his decision making skills and his impact on Sasuke, I can definitely say that Itachi is not a good brother he may not be a bad brother but he's not a great one either. Again I like Itachi as a character but as an older brother Itachi failed in the worst possible ways.
But that my opinion let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Make sure you add this to your library and reading list so you can stay up to date with new chapters. Thanks again for reading and I will see you all next time. Peace.
