About

Kazuki Uchiha (うちはイタチ, Uchiha Kazuki) was an S-rank missing-nin from Konohagakure's Uchiha clan and a prominent member of Akatsuki who was partnered with Shadow tahigato
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Background Edit
Kazuki holding his infant brother, moments before the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha.

Kazuki was born into the Uchiha clan to Mikoto and Fugaku and was praised by all as the best of his generation; a genius above all others. Even by the standards of the battle-adept Uchiha clan, Kazuki prowess far outshone them. However, not even his family, friends, or teachers could understand him. When he was only four, Kazuki had already witnessed countless lives lost due to the Third Shinobi World War, which emotionally traumatised him and turned him into a pacifist.

During the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, Kazuki held his infant brother Katsuki and told him that he would protect him no matter what as well as wondering where his parents had gone.

At age 7, he graduated from the Ninja Academy at the top of his class after only one year, mastered the Sharingan at age eight, passed the Chūnin Exams at age 10, and became an ANBU Captain at age 13.

He was praised highly by his father, who saw the family's future in Kazuki and hence inadvertently neglected his younger son. However, during this time Kazuki showed great affection towards his little brother and even encouraged his father to come to the Academy enrolment ceremony for Katsuki, something their father had otherwise forgotten, by saying that he would not go to an important mission that would establish Kazuki a place in the ANBU ranks, otherwise.

A young Kazuki with his family.

When the Uchiha clan began planning to overthrow Konoha, Kazuki, as an ANBU, was tasked with spying on the village. Knowing that a coup d'état would only lead to another Ninja War; Kazuki began spying on the Uchiha instead, passing on information to the Third Hokage and the other Konoha elders. During this time he began to act strangely, not attending the clan meetings, speaking out against the clan and becoming the prime suspect for the murder of his best friend Shisui Uchiha, who was drowned in the Naka River. In reality, Shisui had entrusted his remaining Mangekyō Sharingan to Kazuki, the other having been taken by Danzō. Kazuki assisted Shisui in making it seem that his eyes were destroyed. Due to this the clan lost hope in Kazuki, and his father began shifting his focus to Katsuki instead. Meanwhile, the Third's attempts to negotiate a bloodless end to hostilities between the two parties were proving ineffective so, against the Third's wishes, Danzō Shimura and the Konoha Council ordered Kazuki to wipe out the Uchiha clan.
Itachi massacres the entire Uchiha clan.

Before the fateful night arrived, Kazuki discovered the existence of Madara Uchiha, who was attempting to rekindle the flames of war in Konoha. In return for not attacking Konoha, Kazuki offered to help Madara claim vengeance against the Uchiha for turning their backs on him decades earlier; Madara agreed. Kazuki slaughtered his entire clan overnight, sparing only Katsuki, because he could not follow through with the orders to kill him. Instead, he made himself out as a villain, who had killed their innocent family only to test his abilities. He told Katsuki that he was not even worth killing. In addition, Itachi told him, "You've always wanted to surpass me. That's why I'm going to let you live… if you wish to kill me, then hate me, despise me… and by all means flee, cling to your wretched life". Kazuki also revealed to Katsuki where the secret meeting place of the Uchiha was hidden, and suggested that Katsuki go there to learn what the true history and purpose of the Sharingan was. He told him that "to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan", he "had to kill the person he was closest to", and that "when we battle, we should have the same eyes".
Kazuki tortures Katsuki.

Katsuki managed to stand back up, awaken his Sharingan, and pursue Kazuki. Upon reaching Kazuki, he managed to knock off his forehead protector. Itachi shed a tear as he was picking up his forehead protector. He then proceeded to incapacitate Katsuki, who awoke in the hospital remembering only that which Kazuki wanted him to. By doing all this, he wanted Katsuki to take vengeance on him and become a hero to Konoha, thus redeeming the Uchiha name. Hoping that his beloved little brother would someday be powerful enough to kill him,Kazuki left the village as a traitor. According to Madara Uchiha, Kazuki also had a lover, whom he killed during the Uchiha clan massacre.[4]
Itachi pleads with the Third to protect Katsuki.

Knowing that Konoha would still want to eliminate Katsuki, Kazuki pleaded with the Third Hokage to keep Sasuke safe. He also threatened Danzō to not harm Katsuki or risk Kazuki revealing everything he knew about Konoha's secrets to enemy countries. Katsuki's safety was therefore secured and Kazuki returned to his original plan of becoming infamous for his slaughter of the Uchiha clan.
Kazuki joins Akatsuki.

Kazuki joined Akatsuki in order to keep an eye on the organisation, along with Madara Uchiha, in case either ever acted against Konoha, all the while planning for his death at Katsuki's hands. While he was a member of Akatsuki, Kazuki was approached by Orochimaru, who tried to steal his body to gain the Sharingan. Kazuki trapped him in a genjutsu and severed his left hand as punishment, forcing Orochimaru to flee the organisation. He was partnered with Shadow Tahigato, who he initially greeted with threats after the latter tried to intimidate him. However, they eventually became good partners for sharing the common bond of having betrayed the people closest to them. Sometime after joining Akatsuki and forcing Orochimaru to flee, Kazuki helped recruit Deidara by beating him in battle using only genjutsu, to which Deidara swore vengeance against Kazuki.

At some point in time, Kazuki contracted a fatal illness. He kept himself alive through the intake of various medicines and sheer "willpower", in the hopes of living long enough to die by Katsuki's hands.
Personality Edit
Itachi cries for his brother.

Ever since his first appearance, Kazuki had always been mysterious and acted as though he were hiding his true self. While flashbacks to his past showed that he was a compassionate brother and person, his later acts and claims made it seem that this was mostly just an act. But surprisingly, he genuinely was the compassionate brother he had once claimed to be, although he hid this from the rest of the Akatsuki to protect Katsuki.

As a member of Akatsuki, he possessed incredible self-control of his emotions, constantly displaying an emotionless personality. He only showed surprise when opponents proved more powerful or skilled than he had expected, and even then he didn't lose his composure. He did not possess any arrogance, and fully justified any statements he made about his power, even complimenting his opponents at times on their abilities. After his death, he realises that he shouldn't have tried to deal with Katsuki on his own and encourages Naruto to never forget his friends.

In addition to being an extremely powerful shinobi, Kazuki had equally impressive intelligence, and was shown to be very wise, something even Madara acknowledged. He was exceedingly sharp and observant to any situation at hand, as he was rarely surprised or caught off guard. He also displayed great intuition, as he was almost never deceived and even then almost instantly realised the truth. This intelligence could also be seen through Kazuki's immense foresight, such as examples like the foreknowledge of Katsuki's defeat of Deidara and simultaneous survival, his own pre-meditated fatalist view of death by Katsuki's hand, and most recently the implantation of his own Kotoamatsukami-imbued crow inside Naruto were only some examples seen. Despite his status as a wanted criminal, and having wiped out his clan, Itachi took no enjoyment in violence or combat, instead preferring to avoid battle or, if this was not possible, end it as quickly as he could.

Kazuki's only initial interest was in Akatsuki's goals, and his only loyalties appeared to be to the organisation and its members, seeming to put the organisation's success and secrecy before everything else.[5] As such, Kazuki got along with his partner, Shadow, much better than most other Akatsuki members did with their own partners. Shadow appeared to have a deep loyalty to Kazuki, immediately doing as he instructed and constantly looking out for his well-being. Kazuki treated all of his fellow Akatsuki members to this same, more respectful personality, although his courtesy was rarely returned by the other members.

However, when he was in a genjutsu duel during his fight with Katsuki, he cruelly claimed he had only let Katsuki live so that he could take Katsuki's eyes and obtain his own Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, after which he then claimed the Uchiha clan had been nothing but tainted and evil, since many members would kill their friends to gain the Mangekyō Sharingan, and would take another Uchiha's eyes to make its power permanent. Once the genjutsu was released, he called it his true self, implying his calm, emotionless personality was also a façade. This persona was later revealed to be only an act to ensure that he would die by Kazuki's hands, his love for his younger brother being the fundamental aspect of his personality.

In the end, Kazuki put all of his faith in Naruto, who he notes as the person most determined to save and protect Katsuki. After hearing Naruto's answer to keep protecting Sasuke and everyone in Konoha, Kazuki gave him some of his power. He was very grateful towards Naruto's determination to save Katsuki, and was smiling after hearing Naruto's response.[6] Kazuki even trusted him enough to bring Katsuki back to the light and refused to go see his brother after being resurrected by Kabuto, as he believes that Naruto, who has inherited Shisui's feelings, can stop Katsuki.[7]
Appearance
Kazuki's appearance after joining Akatsuki.

Despite his status as an infamous shinobi, his appearance was not the most intimidating, apart from the intensity of his gaze. While living in Konoha, he would regularly have a gentle and caring look in his eyes, especially directed towards his younger brother. After joining Akatsuki, he would regularly have a stern look to them.

Kazuki had dark grey eyes, black hair that hung near his cheeks (which grew slightly longer in Part II) to frame his face and kept the rest of it in a ponytail; which was later obscured by the high collar of the Akatsuki cloak he wore after joining the organisation. Being brothers, Kazuki and Katsuki had a similar appearance but with subtle differences, so much so that Naruto nearly mistook Kazuki for Katsuki when they first met. In comparison to his brother, Kazuki's hair colour was slightly duller and had a softer flow to it; his skin was also slightly darker. Kazuki's most distinguishing characteristics were the long pronounced tear troughs under his eyes; a physical trait he inherited from his father.

When he lived in Konoha, his casual clothes would consist of a black Uchiha shirt with a large Uchiha clan symbol on the back, and black pants with a weapons pouch strapped to his back. When on duty, he would wear the traditional ANBU uniform, although he was never shown wearing a mask. As a member of Akatsuki he wore the traditional Akatsuki cloak and usually kept the centre of it buttoned down, as well as a slashed Konoha forehead protector. At other times, he would unbutton the top half of his cloak and rest his left arm there, rather than in the sleeve. After his cloak was incinerated by Sasuke's Kirin during their fight in Part II, it was revealed that he wore similar clothes to that of the rest of the Akatsuki underneath it consisting of a blue v-neck T-shirt (where as most other Akatsuki members wore a sleeveless shirt) and blue pants with a body mesh under the T-shirt, and a white sash around his waist on the outside of the shirt much like a tunic. Like almost all members of Akatsuki, he wore the headband of his home village with a horizontal line gouged through it to symbolise his broken ties with the village. On his right ring finger was his Akatsuki ring, which was red in colour and bears the kanji for Vermilion (朱, shu). He also wore dark purple nail polish on his fingers and toes and a necklace with three metal circles or rings on it.

After being resurrected, Kazuki's eyes appeared to have black sclera like the other shinobi that Kabuto Yakushi resurrected, except for his activated Sharingan. He was also clad in a dark-red cloak.
Abilities Edit
Kazuki's usage of crows in genjutsu.

Even at a young age, Kazuki's intellect and talent showed their brilliance in everything he did, as even his teachers said his progress hardly required any help. In the few battles he had been seen in since the start of the series, Itachi was shown to be an incredibly powerful ninja, as demonstrated by his ability to easily defeat several powerful shinobi. Despite his pride in his own strength, Shadow Tahigato, Kazuki's partner in Akatsuki, acknowledged Itachi as the stronger of the two. Madara said that Kazuki never ceased to amaze him, and Kabuto recognised that he had underestimated his intelligence, after he managed to break free of his control through the use of Shisui's dōjutsu. However, despite his abilities, he was aware of his limitations, given his praise of Jiraiya, saying the best he could do against him was a stalemate. The only thing that Kazuki was lacking was his chakra reserves, which were below average, presumably made worse due to his illness. Regardless, even with his fatal illness and his own preplanned death as inhibitions, Katasuki was still unable to defeat Kazuki, who instead succumbed to his disease and the strain of maintaining his Susanoo on such low chakra. Despite the stress his body was under that was slowly killing him he was still able, in his last moments, to perform his own fūinjutsu.

Being a technical pacifist due to his traumatic experiences from the Third Shinobi World War, Kazuki did not actively take part in battle, typically only acting in self-defence and trying to incapacitate his enemies instead of killing them if possible.
Taijutsu Edit

Kazuki possessed very high-level taijutsu skills despite not specialising in it. This was demonstrated when he easily dispatched three fellow Uchiha, all of them his seniors as well as members of the Konoha Military Police Force. In Part I, he stopped Katsuki's Chidori with one hand and brutally beat him during their reunion in the Land of Fire despite Katsuki's extensive taijutsu training for the Chūnin Exams. In Part II, despite his illness, Kazuki was able to once again outmatch Katsuki who had improved his taijutsu under Orochimaru's tutelage.

Kazuki was also noted to be immensely fast, particularly with his hand movements. This extended to collectively weaving both hand seals and throwing weapons, as he was able to reveal a set of shuriken and then suddenly perform a ninjutsu, making it appear as if he could perform his techniques without seals. In terms of mobility, he is able to cover considerable distances fast enough to appear like teleportation. His speed was such that neither Katsuki nor Kakashi, who are both very fast and adept at using the Sharingan, could follow his movements in either case during Part I. He could also evade consecutive strikes from Killer B's unusual kenjutsu without injury, despite B's style being acclaimed for its difficultly to both read and dodge successfully.
Ninjutsu
Kazukiusing the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.

Kazuki was a master of all the Uchiha clan's techniques, along with the Sharingan, and had great prowess with all of the three main types of jutsu. When battling against Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma, Kakashi commented that Itachi wasn't fighting with even half of his strength. Itachi's techniques also often involved usage of crows, both in ninjutsu and genjutsu. This is seen amongst others with his creation of a clone that dissolves into crows and using crows to hide shuriken in them or creating shadow clones with the ability to explode.

As traditional to the Uchiha clan, Kazuki could use Fire Release techniques including the clan's Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique and was able to infuse shurikens with fire. The heat of his Great Fireball Technique is great enough to bother even Samehada.[8] He was also shown to use Water Release techniques such as creating a drilling mass of pressurised water.

Kazuki's skill with kunai was such that he could perfectly hit a set of nine targets, one of which was in a blindspot hidden behind a large rock by hitting one kunai with another making it hit the target;[9] he was able to combat Katsuki's masterful swordsmanship with a kunai. During his fight with Nagato, he was able to find blindspots and blind the latter's summons despite the shared field of vision granted by the Rinnegan. He was also very skilled with shuriken, Katsuki stated that he was best with shuriken, even more skilled than their father.[10] During their fight at the Uchiha Hideout, Itachi was able to counter every one of Katsuki's shuriken with his own.[11] After being revived, Kazuki was also able to blind Nagato's Giant Snake-Tailed Chameleon and the King of Hell attacking them with shuriken from their blind spots, an ability that Kabuto cursed.[12]
Sharingan
Kazuki's Sharingan.

Being of the Uchiha clan, and as noted by Kakashi, Kazuki was a true successor of the Sharingan,[13] having fully developed and mastering it by the time he was eight years old. From a stationary position, he would study an opponent's movements with his Sharingan and respond accordingly, often with a genjutsu. Kazuki was often praised for his prowess with genjutsu and could cast it by merely pointing at or looking at someone, and could similarly turn an opponent's genjutsu against them with Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change.[14] According to Ao, he could also use his genjutsu to take control of other individuals from a long distance.[15] Most of his genjutsu are derived from the Sharingan, but regardless of whether they are or not, all of them cause powerful mental trauma.

Using his Sharingan, he could also perfectly fake Shisui Uchiha's suicide letter after he had supposedly killed him. He had trained so much with his eyes that he had reached the stage where he could have his Sharingan activated for extended periods of time, with minimal drain on his chakra levels.
Mangekyō Sharingan Edit
Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan.

Itachi possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, which increased his already great power, and enabled him to use his most powerful techniques. With his left eye, he could use Tsukuyomi, a genjutsu that traps an opponent's mind in an illusory world, torturing them for what seems like days to the victim, in a matter of seconds.[16] With his right eye he could use Amaterasu, a ninjutsu which allowed him to create a black flame, that he could direct by moving his eye, to burn through anything in its path, including fire itself. His final technique was Susanoo, the "Tempestuous God of Valour" (勇武の荒神, Yūbu no Aragami),[17] a technique that uses both eyes to manifest itself as a spectral being. It wielded the Sword of Totsuka, an ethereal sword with the ability to seal anything it pierces into the gourd that serves as its hilt, and Yata Mirror, a shield that could reflect any attack. Zetsu, a fellow Akatsuki member, stated that Kazuki's mastery of the Sharingan, combined with the legendary weapons of Susanoo, made him nearly invincible. With Susanoo he was also able to use his most powerful long-ranged attack, the Yasaka Magatama.
Kazuki's Susanoo, complete with the Yata Mirror.

Despite his mastery of the Mangekyō Sharingan, Itachi suffered greatly from its side effects. Each of the techniques bestowed by the Mangekyō Sharingan required vast amounts of chakra to perform, and they left Itachi fatigued afterwards, to the point of requiring him to deactivate his Sharingan altogether, something that he did not usually need, three uses of which seem to have been enough to bring him to this in Part I.[18] The other side effect was that his eyesight would worsen as time passed since the awakening of the Mangekyō Sharingan, and the degradation would only increase after every time he used it, which would lead him to eventually go blind from its power, with his Sharingan forever sealed away.[19] By the time Itachi activated his Mangekyō Sharingan during his final fight with Sasuke, Itachi's eyesight was so badly damaged, that Sasuke appeared to be only a messy blur and was so close to blindness that by the time he activated Susanoo in his final fight, both Sharingan had lost the Mangekyō design in them, with only the red iris remaining