the 3 reasons why itachi told sasuke to live for revenge, a thread

people often say that itachi's biggest mistake was telling sasuke to live for revenge, since that's what caused darkness to grow within him. they have a point, but i feel like people often miss itachi's point of view. so i made this thread to explain my interpretation.

the first reason was simply to give sasuke a will to live. Itachi knew witnessing the uchiha massacre would severely damage his brother. by giving sasuke something as strong as revenge to live for, itachi is trying to make sure he won't give up.

Itachi loves sasuke an incredible amount; he is the one uchiha he couldn't bring himself to kill. and I think especially after losing shisui to suicide right in front of him, he didn't want that to happen to sasuke.

the second reason is to raise konoha's opinion of the uchiha clan. If sasuke kills itachi, who is a traitor as far as everyone knows, the village will celebrate him. after generations of prejudice, sasuke would become konoha's first hero of the uchiha clan.

finally, the reason people usually miss: itachi's own guilt. he obviously blames himself for having to resort to this to prevent an uchiha coup. being forced to murder his family breaks him, and part of him wants to be punished for this crime, no matter the reason he did it.

just dying isn't enough of a punishment for Itachi. the only thing that he feels would assuage some of his guilt would be death and hate by the hand of the one he loves most: sasuke.

Itachi never did anything for himself. Everything was for other people, the village, for peace. Telling Sasuke to live was probably the most selfish thing he ever did. and as a reanimation he even regrets this, once he sees how sasuke has turned to revenge and violence.

end of thread.