What Power Did Itachi Give to Naruto?
As far as Naruto characters are concerned, Itachi Uchiha is one of the best and most interesting characters from the whole series. Not only is Itachi’s story one of the best ones, but his importance for the story’s development and Sasuke’s character development is pivotal. Now, Itachi was involved in a fair share of controversial and puzzling moments. This article will be dedicated to one such moment, as we will resolve another popular issue related to Itachi. Namely, in this article, you will find out what power Itachi gave Naruto Uzumaki in the series and how Naruto used it.
In Chapter 403 of the Naruto manga, Itachi Uchiha confronts Naruto and explains the whole situation to him. He explained that he had implanted a Sharingan into the eye of his crow and programmed it to use the Kotoamatsukami technique on the person that takes his Mangekyō Sharingan. Since he suspected it would be Sasuke, who would attack Konoha, Itachi knew that Naruto would face him and try to save him, which is why he is the perfect vessel for the crow.
The remainder of this article will give you a detailed overview of Itachi Uchiha’s story and the overall impact of this decision on the Naruto franchise regarding his relationship with Naruto Uzumaki. You already know what happened and how it happened, so we will just bring you the details, so you know the whole context. Be careful, though, as the article will contain many spoilers, so if you don’t know all the details, be careful how you approach the text.
What power did Itachi give to Naruto?
Before we bring you a direct answer, we have to give you some context, i.e., tell you about the events that basically led to Itachi becoming a member of the Akatsuki. Itachi was born into one of Konoha’s most powerful clans. But at first, his childhood was not as nice as other children’s. He grew up during the Third Shinobi World War and witnessed the deaths of many of those around him when he was just four years old. These events marked him for the rest of his life. His goal was to become a strong shinobi and prevent future wars.
The events we need to clarify all started when Itachi’s best friend, Shisui Uchiha, committed suicide in front of Itachi to prevent a planned Uchiha coup d’état. Upon Shisui’s death, Itachi awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, and shortly before his death, Shisui gave Itachi his left eye, which Itachi placed in one of his crows. Later, many members of the Konoha Police Station accused Itachi of murdering Shisui since only these two were absent from a clan gathering.
Itachi, furious, attacked the police officers and, when his father ended the argument, stared at him hatefully with the Mangekyō Sharingan without him seeing it. This is when Sasuke saw the Mangekyō Sharingan for the first time. When Sasuke was delayed from shuriken training a few months later, he found all members of the Uchiha clan dead. Shortly thereafter, he also saw his parents and Itachi. Itachi was still alive, and Sasuke asked, confused, what had happened. Itachi didn’t answer but instead used his Mangekyō Sharingan and Tsukuyomi to show his little brother how he murdered their parents and killed the rest of the clan as well.
Sasuke ran away from Itachi in panic but was quickly caught up by him. He took the opportunity to ask his brother why he did this. But he didn’t get an answer from Itachi, just this much: Sasuke should fight, train, and get stronger until he – just like Itachi – had learned the Mangekyō Sharingan and then come back to him. Meanwhile, Sasuke should hate and despise him.
Since then, Sasuke only wants to become strong enough to take revenge and kill his brother. In truth, however, Itachi was commissioned by Konoha’s village elders to kill the members of the Uchiha clan. The village elders of Konoha suspected that the Uchiha clan planned to seize power in Konoha to escape years of government discrimination. This would have led to a new war, which the village elders wanted to prevent with this measure. The masked man, who calls himself Madara Uchiha, helped Itachi in the mass murder.
However, Itachi didn’t have the heart to kill his innocent little brother. Wanting to ensure Sasuke’s survival, he challenged him to take revenge and train hard so that one day he could kill Itachi and avenge his murdered family. However, this should only lead to the Uchiha clan gaining respect again since the last surviving Uchiha would have murdered the renegade Itachi and thus would have done something good. And it happened – more or less – like that, but with a twist – due to all the trauma, Sasuke actually wanted to take revenge on Konoha as well, and Itachi was aware that things might happen like that, which is why he prepared a maneuver with his crow.
So, why was the crow so important? As Naruto fans will know, Itachi’s crow had Shisui Uchiha’s left Mangekyō Sharingan implanted in it. When Shisui gave Itachi his left Mangekyō Sharingan to use for the good of the village, Itachi implanted the dōjutsu into the bird’s left eye, giving it the ability to use Shisui’s ultimate genjutsu, the Kotoamatsukami, and use it with the goal of protecting Konoha. The crow is no different than a normal crow, except for the fact that in its left eye, it had Shisui Uchiha’s Mangekyō Sharingan.
Itachi once questioned Naruto about his actions if Sasuke attacked the village. Itachi claimed that he would give Naruto some of his power but hoped he wouldn’t need to use it after hearing Naruto’s response that he would defend the community without murdering Sasuke. He sent this crow into Naruto as a genjutsu distraction so he could use the genjutsu’s power to halt Sasuke and react to Itachi’s Mangekyō Sharingan in case his brother took his eyes to acquire control of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
During the Fourth Shinobi World War, when Itachi activated his Mangekyō Sharingan, the crow came out of Naruto’s mouth and used its power to stop Itachi and liberate him from Kabuto’s control over him. However, because of it, the crow could not use genjutsu again for another ten years. After Nagato (Pain) was sealed away, Itachi said that he would take it upon himself to destroy the Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation and kill the crow with Amaterasu, saying that Naruto no longer needed it to defeat Sasuke.
And this is what the crow’s role in the story was. The crow seemed to have a wholly different role at one point, but it ended up having a major role later in the story. Sure, it wasn’t really necessary for the final battle, as Itachi initially suspected, but it still had a major impact on Naruto and it helped him a lot when he needed help at the time. And this is why Itachi’s crow was so important and why it explains the issue at hand.
