Naruto Shippuuden - Manga Chapter 394

The exciting battle between Sasuke and Itachi comes to a quick conclusion in Naruto Shippuuden Chapter 394 where it is revealed that Itachi has died. However, everything thing in Naruto Shippuuden should be taken with a grain of salt. For example, we saw Orochimaru's supposed demise approximately 50 chapters ago and this turned out to not be the case. Zetsu reveals that Itachi was out of his element, and there was that mysterious encounter between Naruto and Itachi in which Itachi questions Naruto's bond with Sasuke. I feel that the backstory behind Itachi still has a few gaping holes that still need to be answered. Most, if not all of the major characters in Naruto are multi dimensional, and Itachi is no exception.

The main inconsistency I found was that although Sasuke was powerful, his Sharingan was not fully developed because he did not kill his best friend Naruto. It is mentioned that Madara was able to achieve his full potential and have the Sharingan forever by taking his brother's fully developed eyes for his own. However, if Itachi were able to steal Sasuke's eyes, he would not be getting eyes which had obtained the Mangekyo Sharingan. The mystery behing the Sharingan still remains, as we see Kakashi able to obtain an additional type of Sharingan.

Despite all this, I'm glad that Itachi has a stronger presence in Naruto Shippuuden than his cameo in Naruto!!where we are told that Itachi has died. This like many things in Naruto Shippuuden should be approached with a bit of skepticism. In Chapter 349-350 we saw Sasuke absorb Orochimaru's remains yet he still managed to come back for this battle. What this implies for what Kabuto is and will become remains to be seen, as the manga implies he has Orochimaru's conscious as well. Interestingly enough, Zetsu comments on how Itachi was not fighting to his full potential. Earlier, we see Itachi spare Naruto, and it remains to be seen what the implications of that encounter are. There is still a lot of unanswered questions in regards to Itachi, and hopefully we get some answers in the next few chapters.

One question I would like to answer was whether Itachi would have really gained anything from taking Sasuke's eyes. The manga has bee inconsistent on this point. Madara was able to achieve a perpetual Mangekyo Sharingan by taking his brother's eyes, however, his brother had a fully developed Mangekyo Sharingan. Sauske, although extremely powerful, had not obtained this level due to the fact that he spared his best friend Naruto at the conclusion of the original series. By this logic, it remains to see if Itachi would have been able to maintain the Mangekyo Sharingan if he took Sasuke's eyes, but I guess we will never know now. Kakashi was able to develope a new type of Sharingan, which looked like a hybrid Mangekyo Sharingan. It is not revealed how he is able to do this, and the mystique and mystery behind the Sharingan still remains.

All these questiosn keep me on the edge of my seat, and I'm excited to see what happens. I was a strong supporter of Itachi having a stronger impact in Naruto Shippuuden than he did in Naruto!!