Uchiha Itachi. To the Hidden Leaf, he was a genocidal loose cannon who slaughtered almost everyone he claimed to love. To the Akatsuki, he was a resource whose allegiance was for sale. To the Uchiha Clan, he was their greatest hope and their ultimate downfall. And to Sasuke he was an idol, then a monster, and finally a martyr.

But who was he really? Naruto is all about how the past shapes the present, and many of the battles, challenges, tragedies and triumphs that came to both the Hidden Leaf and the greater Ninja world began and ended because of him.

Yet who was this proud, singleminded ninja whose unwavering goals led him to do the unthinkable, without the glamor or the infamy? 

Naruto: Itachi's Story: Daylight answers that question at last.

Behind Sharingan Eyes

A young Itachi learned the grim reality of the ninja world when his father, Uchiha Fugaku of the Wicked Eye, brought him to one of the Third Great Ninja War's many corpse-riddled battlefields. Yet while he had merely sought to teach Itachi the cost of battle and the reality of the ninja way, the young Uchiha realized far more: that nothing in the world was worth this cost. From that moment on, Itachi chose a path that Naruto himself would only choose after many personal tragedies: to change the world and break the cycle of war and hatred forever.

Nothing short of the most powerful ninja in history could make that happen, and Itachi became determined to be that very ninja. This would become the core of his life and the source of his resolve.

No Rose-Colored Glasses

I realized while reading this that various characters in both the Naruto anime and manga remember Itachi as having been both brilliant and aloof prior to the Uchiha massacre. Traits Sasuke would himself later develop. But Daylight reveals that Itachi was just really, really singleminded, a trait that seemed to the casual outsider as an unspoken "I'm too good to associate with the likes of you" attitude.

Not that Itachi's classmates offered much in the way of friendship material. Early in the book, Itachi notes that each classmate's dream is some variation of "I want to be the best ninja soldier I can be and make my family proud" and that he is alone in aiming higher. The one time he openly states his goal of world peace, everyone in the Ninja Academy thinks he's either delusional or joking.

Of course, people forget their laughter (and his dream) once Itachi tears through a multi-year curriculum in a matter of months, earning the praise of his teachers, the envy of a few bullies... and the eye of a certain bandaged old man with a walking stick and control of the Hidden Leaf's secret police...

Speaking of Danzo, Daylight also sheds some light into Mr. Darkness himself, as we also get a look into his motives and thoughts later on. Sadly (though by no means surprisingly), the best thing that can be said of Danzo is he was truly dedicated to his own draconian ideals: coercion is better than cooperation, power is better than trust, "friend" might as well mean "parasite" and there's no better enemy than a dead enemy. His deep distrust of the Uchiha clan leads him to target Itachi from a very early age, getting his claws in at the first opportunity.

I never disliked Itachi myself, but Daylight won me over proper. Itachi's dedication enchanted me. Whatever natural genius Itachi possessed (and it seems to be quite a lot), his unwavering focus on saving the world from its endless cycle of hate is what truly empowered him to become the legend. Seriously, just compare this to the sheer number of characters in Naruto who center their lives around things like their jealousy, vengefulness, thirst for knowledge, power, glory or for godhood and squander their potential. How many could've been more than short-lived megalomaniacs? How many could've been more than just "good soldiers"?

And Itachi's story doesn't end here. Another novel, Midnight, will continue his slow journey into the dark. Even though we know the ending of Itachi's tale, the true mystery is what falls in the spaces between the parts we know. 

Naruto: Itachi's Story: Daylight by Masashi Kishimoto and Takashi Yano is available here. 

by Chris Turner