Naruto: Why did Itachi tell Sasuke to hate him?

The Naruto series revolves around many characters and their way of coping with the war. Since most eras have been through significant battles between nations, many of the characters deal with trauma, while others have an extreme case of a god complex. One such traumatic experience in the series was the infamous Uchiha massacre.

One night, both Itachi and Obito killed everyone in their clan, including civilians and the military. The former chose to spare his little brother, one of the show's main characters. Itachi's way of tormenting himself to save his little brother touched the hearts of every fan.

Itachi deliberately put Sasuke on the path of revenge by telling him to dedicate his entire life to hating his older brother. The following article will discuss the truth behind Itachi's reasoning.

Disclaimer: The following article contains spoilers from Naruto and Shippuden. Sportskeeda does not claim ownership of any media used here unless otherwise stated.

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Naruto: Itachi and the reason why he kept his little brother in the dark

Itachi was initially introduced to viewers as a mysterious antagonist in the leading criminal group, Akatsuki. Over time, his development as a character through several backstories has been the foundation of several arcs. However, before getting into Itachi's motives, readers should catch up with the Uchiha massacre.

Itachi meeting with Danzo after the massacre (Image via Naruto)

In short, to prevent a coup, Itachi slaughtered all civilians within the Uchiha clan, including his parents. However, as mentioned earlier, he spared his little brother and told him to form immense hate within him. In the initial backstories, Itachi was seen as a cold-blooded killer, but his actions were in the village's and Sasuke's best interests the entire time.

Itachi killing his parents (Image via Naruto)

These are the words that Itachi engraved into Sasuke's mind since the latter's childhood:

"My foolish little brother, if you want to kill me, then despise me, hate me, and live a loathsome life. Run away and away to cling to life. And then someday, when you have the same eyes as I do, come before me."

By doing this, he pushed Sasuke into thinking that his older brother was the villain. Hence, since childhood, Sasuke's only objective has been to get strong and kill Itachi. On the other hand, if Sasuke had understood the truth behind the massacre, he would have gone against the entire village instead.

Child Sasuke after seeing Itachi commit mass murder (Image via Pierrot)

Itachi did not want the latter to happen, as he always cherished his little brother. The only miscalculation was the strong sense of revenge that manifested inside Sasuke over time. Itachi never told Sasuke the truth about the village, even until his final breath.

However, in the latter part of the final arc, Itachi showed Sasuke the truth before disappearing completely. Readers should note that Itachi never planned to reveal the truth to Sasuke during his lifetime. Seeing that Sasuke was strong enough to protect himself, the reanimated version of Itachi decided to let Sasuke know the truth in the end.

Sasuke awakening Mangekyo Sharingan after learning the truth behind Itachi (Image via Naruto)

However, after learning about the massacre, Sasuke went on the same path of revenge, but this time his target was the Hidden Leaf village. While Itachi's entire backstory reveal is still considered one of the iconic moments in the series, it did not change Sasuke's character too much, even after his death.