Uchiha Itachi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gentlechild) wrote2014-05-04 10:04 pm
gentlechild) wrote2014-05-04 10:04 pm
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route_29 App
Player
Name: Mir
Personal Journal: n/a
Email: smokeandamirror@gmail.com
AIM/MSN: n/a but I have a plurk at![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
mirrorsinsmoke
Timezone: US Eastern
Current Characters in Route: None
Character
Name: Uchiha Itachi
Series: Naruto
Timeline: Immediately post-Uchiha Massacre
Canon Resource Links: Wiki
here
Personality:Itachi hates war, and loves peace -- and yet, he is a highly competent warrior, even at the young age of thirteen, one who has willingly taken on orders to slaughter innocents. He loves his family, and yet killed them all, save for three -- Obito, Sasuke, himself. He adores Sasuke, and yet has hurt him deeply, and will continue to do so for the rest of his life. He is a powerfully, deeply emotional person, and yet faces the world with an almost sociopathic stoicism.
These base contradictions paint Itachi as a hypocrite, or as someone who is forced into acting against his own nature. However, the former is a shallow view, and the second is simply wrong. While Itachi is deeply regretful over the things he has done, he does not actually believe he made the wrong choices. In his own eyes, he has been placed in the position of choosing between bad and worse, over and over again, and has made his life out of choosing the best of bad options and trying to steer things in the best direction he can conceive. Looking deeper, looking into his philosophy and the choices he has been presented, it is easy to see that there is a consistency to Itachi's actions as they relate to his beliefs and attitudes.
His childhood during the Third War has left him with a deep hatred for the all-out slaughter of mass conflicts. The war ended just as he was entering Konoha's ninja academy -- another year, and he would have been a graduated genin, to be sent out into the conflict against enemies much stronger and more experienced than himself. The tremendous loss of life, as well as his own near miss, has left him with an abiding horror of all-out warfare, and a determination to do whatever is necessary to avoid it. It has also planted him with a deep interest in the history both of his own clan and of the ninja world, and the way that history and human nature has developed into the state of the world as it currently is.
It is the horror of all-out war that leads Itachi to what is perhaps the defining act of his life -- the murder of the entire Uchiha clan, save for three people. He loves Konoha, he loves his little brother, and he hates war -- and he has studied the history of Konoha and of the Uchiha, which shows the role the Uchiha took in the pre-village ninja world, in the founding of Konoha, and in the subsequent years as relations between the clan and the village's leadership soured.
Itachi's role in the planned coup d'etat was to be a double-agent -- and so he was, but not for the side the Uchiha expected. Instead of leaking information about ANBU and the village's leadership to the Uchiha, Itachi leaked information on the planned coup to the Hokage and his advisors, choosing Konoha over his family. His reasons for doing this were multiple, and speak strongly to his personality.
First, his horror of war and his willingness to do anything to avert it. The peace after the Third War had remained tenuous over the past seven years, with Konoha in particular nearly going to war with Kumogakure over the matter of Hyuuga Hizashi, and holding uncomfortable tensions with Sunagakure as well. It would not matter if the Uchiha uprising succeeded or failed -- either outcome would leave Konoha so weakened that the other villages would be able to sweep in and obliterate Konoha, destroying whoever survived the coup itself. So in order to avert a war that would almost certainly end in the obliteration of Konoha, Itachi would have to act.
Second, his intense sense of loyalty. Whether or not the Uchiha had any justification in feeling ill-treated by Konoha -- and they did have reason to complain, as the Kyuubi attack had placed the entire clan under fierce suspicion from a leadership already heavily influenced by the Senju, traditional rivals to the Uchiha -- they were a part of the village and owed it their loyalty. To rebel against a rightful authority was unthinkably immoral in Itachi's eyes. (In fact, although it comes after the canonpoint I'm drawing him from, he remains intensely, almost fanatically loyal to Konoha through his entire life, despite Konoha openly declaring him to be a kill-on-sight criminal.) To bring their grievances to the Hokage would have been fine, to try and use village politics to gain greater influence in the village government would have been fine, but to overthrow the leaders by force would have been a betrayal of the entire concept of the ninja village, to his way of thinking. Before Danzou ordered him to exterminate the clan down to the infants in cradles, the plan Itachi had pursued to stop the coup was to have his best friend Shisui, also an opponent of the coup, use his very special Sharingan to forcefully take control of the minds of the clan leadership and essentially mind-control them out of rebelling -- while not involving wholesale murder, the plan was still a sign of desperate intensity, as it meant robbing those leaders (including Itachi's own father) of their free will.
Third, his willingness to do whatever it takes to keep Sasuke safe. After Shisui's suicide, Danzou convinced Itachi that the only way to truly ensure that there would be no uprising would be the wholesale slaughter of the entire Uchiha clan. Even leaving only small children alive would merely postpone the problem, as they would grow up resentful and angry and would restart the coup as adults. Danzou offered Itachi a choice -- so far, he had been an informant, but had not raised a hand directly against the Uchiha at any point. He could remain thus, his own hands unsullied, and the entire clan would be wiped out save for him. Or he could perform the massacre himself, bloody his own hands with the lives of everyone related to him -- but in doing so he could save the live of the little brother he adored and continues to adore beyond all reason.
Itachi belives he chose the best actions. But he also knows that those actions were best only in comparison to the other possibilities. Betraying his family was a wrong thing to do. But in doing so, he averted war, saved his brother's life, and also saved his family's honor -- part of Itachi's bargain with the village leadership was that the coup plot would never be spoken of. The Uchiha would be dead, but would be remembered as honorable, dedicated shinobi of Konoha, not as traitors or rebels.
So there is a great portion of Itachi's personality as it stands immediately after the massacre: he is a patriot, a devoted pacifist who recognizes the need for some people to engage in violence in order to protect the rest, he is deeply, personally motiavted against any form of disloyalty to one's home, and he adores his little brother and is willing to do anything to protect him. He is concerned with honor, but is also willing to take dishonor upon himself for the protection of others. His own personal dishonor -- being branded a traitor, being listed as one of Konoha's most wanted criminals -- is worth the price of his family's preserved honor and the continued existence of both his village and his precious brother.
There are other factors of important influence as well. Itachi is a genius, but he's also still very young, and while his mental acuity and physical prowess both well outstrip his age, his emotions are much like any young teenager's -- intense, difficult to regulate, and particularly given the circumstances of his life, often prone to dark moods and difficulty settling himself into a casual or cheerful mindset. In order to be a good ninja, Itachi has forced himself to become very good at compartmentalizing -- setting his emotions aside to deal with what confronts him -- but setting aside emotions is not the same thing as not experiencing them. He carries a powerful load of guilt and regret that will be with him for the rest of his life, and while he can be cold and efficient when he needs to be, he also must allow himself to experience those emotions in full at times, lest bottling them up forever leave him a powder keg ready to blow at the slightest spark.
His genius leaves him also arrogant, in a particular way. While he is not prideful necessarily, he is very aware of his skill, and maintains a quiet knowledge that his own ability outstrips essentially everyone around him. It allows him the confidence to assert himself despite his age, to act the equal of those older and more experienced than him.
Because of the roles he has played in his short years -- black ops captain, double agent, murderer, supposed traitor -- Itachi maintains a careful reserve from others, not letting himself get too close, lest he reveal far more than he intends to. The future he plans on requires him to perfectly play the role that has been laid out for him. Traitor, murderer, monster, heartless familicide. If he allows anyone to see beneath, then it might well mean the destruction of everything he has worked for. His ultimate goal is his own destruction, and Obito's as well. To that end, he must be the murderable monster, must be the foe that Sasuke will hone himself to face. A monster can't be sympathetic, can't be understandable.
Strengths/Weaknesses:
Strengths:
▲ Intelligence: Itachi is known to be an amazing genius, even as a child, operating in most things at an adult level. He’s chosen to act as a double agent by the Uchiha and by ANBU both.
▲ Physical skill: Itachi is a ninja, so he’s very physically fit, fast, flexible, and agile. He’s also capable of extreme precision with thrown items (he’s gonna be a demon with Pokeballs!)
▲Compartmentalizing: He’s very good at setting aside things that interfere with what he needs to do. Setting aside his emotions when he needs to be cold, setting aside anger and internal conflict when he needs to be confident, and setting aside the things that trouble him when he wants to show a calm and smooth facade.
Weaknesses:
▼ Emotions: Itachi is highly emotional, and his emotions are something he has to struggle against. He is good at compartmentalizing, but there is a lot he has to compartmentalize.
▼ Manipulability: Because Itachi is a very emotional person who holds very strongly to certain loyalties, he can be manipulated in this way. For example, Danzou convinces him to slaughter the entire Uchiha clan by pointing out that if someone else does it, Sasuke will die too.
▼ Blindness: Activating the Mangekyo even once starts the user on the path to losing his vision. Even though Itachi will not have his abilities in Route, he has activated the Mangekyo at least once in canon, and his vision will very slowly degrade. This may or may not ever become an issue, depending on how long he is in game for, but it’s something he’ll be aware of as his future.
▼Sasuke: Itachi is not entirely logical where Sasuke is concerned. He idolizes his little brother, even through all the cruelty he’s shown him, and is willing to put himself in any sort of danger to protect Sasuke.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Growlithe
Password: Caramel & Popcorn (Yum!)
Samples
First Person Sample: [Itachi is uncertain about putting his message out there for everyone to see. Instinct tells him this is far too unsubtle. He shouldn’t put himself out there for everyone to see and know about. He has no way to know who is in this world, whether essentially announcing his presence will draw unwanted attention to him. He can only hope that if it does come, he’ll be able to deal with it.]
How do you choose names for your Pokemon? What sort of names do you pick?
[It’s an innocuous enough topic, he thinks. Nothing that should draw too much attention to him. And maybe he can begin building some contacts this way -- that would be ideal. He’s cut off right now, adrift.
All except for his Pokemon, at least. She’s… something. And so she deserves a good name, but he’s having trouble on that topic.]
Third Person Sample:
It had never occurred to Itachi before just how serious the responsibility of naming a living creature was. Summons -- the closest thing he knew from home to Pokemon -- weren’t the same thing, really. They named themselves, thank you very much, or existed in sort of a group state where names weren’t really important. And he’d never had a pet of any kind. It wasn’t the sort of thing that made sense for a ninja, because he would be away from home so much on missions it wouldn’t even really be his pet. And Fugaku had always thought that pets were a foolish indulgence.
So it had never fallen to him to choose a name before. His Growlithe obviously deserved a proper name, just like all the other Pokemon with trainers he’d seen since coming here, but he was finding himself stymied on just what to name her. To give her a human’s name seemed… well, disrespectful, he supposed. He’d flinched away from the idea of naming her for one of his family members almost before the impulse had formed itself for consideration. He had no right to do anything of the sort. Perhaps it might serve as a penance, as a way to remind himself… but no. His family’s spirits deserved better than that, and his Pokemon deserved better than to be a constant reminder and punishment to him.
To name her after something in nature, a flower or a tree? No, it seemed trivial and childish. His mind presented him with the image of his father’s frown, the way disapproval deepened the lines around Fugaku’s mouth and eyes, disappointment hanging palpably in the air, like the heavy humidity of summer, inescapable. That was the reward of childishness, and even after he had driven a sword into his father’s back, Itachi could not escape what his father had taught him.
He just didn’t know what sort of name was good, and not knowing troubled him, an itch he couldn’t scratch. He wasn’t accustomed to it, wasn’t familiar with being caught in this situation.
Perhaps… could he ask someone? People seemed to talk about all sorts of things, and a question about naming his Pokemon would not be revealing.
Name: Mir
Personal Journal: n/a
Email: smokeandamirror@gmail.com
AIM/MSN: n/a but I have a plurk at
Timezone: US Eastern
Current Characters in Route: None
Character
Name: Uchiha Itachi
Series: Naruto
Timeline: Immediately post-Uchiha Massacre
Canon Resource Links: Wiki
here
Personality:Itachi hates war, and loves peace -- and yet, he is a highly competent warrior, even at the young age of thirteen, one who has willingly taken on orders to slaughter innocents. He loves his family, and yet killed them all, save for three -- Obito, Sasuke, himself. He adores Sasuke, and yet has hurt him deeply, and will continue to do so for the rest of his life. He is a powerfully, deeply emotional person, and yet faces the world with an almost sociopathic stoicism.
These base contradictions paint Itachi as a hypocrite, or as someone who is forced into acting against his own nature. However, the former is a shallow view, and the second is simply wrong. While Itachi is deeply regretful over the things he has done, he does not actually believe he made the wrong choices. In his own eyes, he has been placed in the position of choosing between bad and worse, over and over again, and has made his life out of choosing the best of bad options and trying to steer things in the best direction he can conceive. Looking deeper, looking into his philosophy and the choices he has been presented, it is easy to see that there is a consistency to Itachi's actions as they relate to his beliefs and attitudes.
His childhood during the Third War has left him with a deep hatred for the all-out slaughter of mass conflicts. The war ended just as he was entering Konoha's ninja academy -- another year, and he would have been a graduated genin, to be sent out into the conflict against enemies much stronger and more experienced than himself. The tremendous loss of life, as well as his own near miss, has left him with an abiding horror of all-out warfare, and a determination to do whatever is necessary to avoid it. It has also planted him with a deep interest in the history both of his own clan and of the ninja world, and the way that history and human nature has developed into the state of the world as it currently is.
It is the horror of all-out war that leads Itachi to what is perhaps the defining act of his life -- the murder of the entire Uchiha clan, save for three people. He loves Konoha, he loves his little brother, and he hates war -- and he has studied the history of Konoha and of the Uchiha, which shows the role the Uchiha took in the pre-village ninja world, in the founding of Konoha, and in the subsequent years as relations between the clan and the village's leadership soured.
Itachi's role in the planned coup d'etat was to be a double-agent -- and so he was, but not for the side the Uchiha expected. Instead of leaking information about ANBU and the village's leadership to the Uchiha, Itachi leaked information on the planned coup to the Hokage and his advisors, choosing Konoha over his family. His reasons for doing this were multiple, and speak strongly to his personality.
First, his horror of war and his willingness to do anything to avert it. The peace after the Third War had remained tenuous over the past seven years, with Konoha in particular nearly going to war with Kumogakure over the matter of Hyuuga Hizashi, and holding uncomfortable tensions with Sunagakure as well. It would not matter if the Uchiha uprising succeeded or failed -- either outcome would leave Konoha so weakened that the other villages would be able to sweep in and obliterate Konoha, destroying whoever survived the coup itself. So in order to avert a war that would almost certainly end in the obliteration of Konoha, Itachi would have to act.
Second, his intense sense of loyalty. Whether or not the Uchiha had any justification in feeling ill-treated by Konoha -- and they did have reason to complain, as the Kyuubi attack had placed the entire clan under fierce suspicion from a leadership already heavily influenced by the Senju, traditional rivals to the Uchiha -- they were a part of the village and owed it their loyalty. To rebel against a rightful authority was unthinkably immoral in Itachi's eyes. (In fact, although it comes after the canonpoint I'm drawing him from, he remains intensely, almost fanatically loyal to Konoha through his entire life, despite Konoha openly declaring him to be a kill-on-sight criminal.) To bring their grievances to the Hokage would have been fine, to try and use village politics to gain greater influence in the village government would have been fine, but to overthrow the leaders by force would have been a betrayal of the entire concept of the ninja village, to his way of thinking. Before Danzou ordered him to exterminate the clan down to the infants in cradles, the plan Itachi had pursued to stop the coup was to have his best friend Shisui, also an opponent of the coup, use his very special Sharingan to forcefully take control of the minds of the clan leadership and essentially mind-control them out of rebelling -- while not involving wholesale murder, the plan was still a sign of desperate intensity, as it meant robbing those leaders (including Itachi's own father) of their free will.
Third, his willingness to do whatever it takes to keep Sasuke safe. After Shisui's suicide, Danzou convinced Itachi that the only way to truly ensure that there would be no uprising would be the wholesale slaughter of the entire Uchiha clan. Even leaving only small children alive would merely postpone the problem, as they would grow up resentful and angry and would restart the coup as adults. Danzou offered Itachi a choice -- so far, he had been an informant, but had not raised a hand directly against the Uchiha at any point. He could remain thus, his own hands unsullied, and the entire clan would be wiped out save for him. Or he could perform the massacre himself, bloody his own hands with the lives of everyone related to him -- but in doing so he could save the live of the little brother he adored and continues to adore beyond all reason.
Itachi belives he chose the best actions. But he also knows that those actions were best only in comparison to the other possibilities. Betraying his family was a wrong thing to do. But in doing so, he averted war, saved his brother's life, and also saved his family's honor -- part of Itachi's bargain with the village leadership was that the coup plot would never be spoken of. The Uchiha would be dead, but would be remembered as honorable, dedicated shinobi of Konoha, not as traitors or rebels.
So there is a great portion of Itachi's personality as it stands immediately after the massacre: he is a patriot, a devoted pacifist who recognizes the need for some people to engage in violence in order to protect the rest, he is deeply, personally motiavted against any form of disloyalty to one's home, and he adores his little brother and is willing to do anything to protect him. He is concerned with honor, but is also willing to take dishonor upon himself for the protection of others. His own personal dishonor -- being branded a traitor, being listed as one of Konoha's most wanted criminals -- is worth the price of his family's preserved honor and the continued existence of both his village and his precious brother.
There are other factors of important influence as well. Itachi is a genius, but he's also still very young, and while his mental acuity and physical prowess both well outstrip his age, his emotions are much like any young teenager's -- intense, difficult to regulate, and particularly given the circumstances of his life, often prone to dark moods and difficulty settling himself into a casual or cheerful mindset. In order to be a good ninja, Itachi has forced himself to become very good at compartmentalizing -- setting his emotions aside to deal with what confronts him -- but setting aside emotions is not the same thing as not experiencing them. He carries a powerful load of guilt and regret that will be with him for the rest of his life, and while he can be cold and efficient when he needs to be, he also must allow himself to experience those emotions in full at times, lest bottling them up forever leave him a powder keg ready to blow at the slightest spark.
His genius leaves him also arrogant, in a particular way. While he is not prideful necessarily, he is very aware of his skill, and maintains a quiet knowledge that his own ability outstrips essentially everyone around him. It allows him the confidence to assert himself despite his age, to act the equal of those older and more experienced than him.
Because of the roles he has played in his short years -- black ops captain, double agent, murderer, supposed traitor -- Itachi maintains a careful reserve from others, not letting himself get too close, lest he reveal far more than he intends to. The future he plans on requires him to perfectly play the role that has been laid out for him. Traitor, murderer, monster, heartless familicide. If he allows anyone to see beneath, then it might well mean the destruction of everything he has worked for. His ultimate goal is his own destruction, and Obito's as well. To that end, he must be the murderable monster, must be the foe that Sasuke will hone himself to face. A monster can't be sympathetic, can't be understandable.
Strengths/Weaknesses:
Strengths:
▲ Intelligence: Itachi is known to be an amazing genius, even as a child, operating in most things at an adult level. He’s chosen to act as a double agent by the Uchiha and by ANBU both.
▲ Physical skill: Itachi is a ninja, so he’s very physically fit, fast, flexible, and agile. He’s also capable of extreme precision with thrown items (he’s gonna be a demon with Pokeballs!)
▲Compartmentalizing: He’s very good at setting aside things that interfere with what he needs to do. Setting aside his emotions when he needs to be cold, setting aside anger and internal conflict when he needs to be confident, and setting aside the things that trouble him when he wants to show a calm and smooth facade.
Weaknesses:
▼ Emotions: Itachi is highly emotional, and his emotions are something he has to struggle against. He is good at compartmentalizing, but there is a lot he has to compartmentalize.
▼ Manipulability: Because Itachi is a very emotional person who holds very strongly to certain loyalties, he can be manipulated in this way. For example, Danzou convinces him to slaughter the entire Uchiha clan by pointing out that if someone else does it, Sasuke will die too.
▼ Blindness: Activating the Mangekyo even once starts the user on the path to losing his vision. Even though Itachi will not have his abilities in Route, he has activated the Mangekyo at least once in canon, and his vision will very slowly degrade. This may or may not ever become an issue, depending on how long he is in game for, but it’s something he’ll be aware of as his future.
▼Sasuke: Itachi is not entirely logical where Sasuke is concerned. He idolizes his little brother, even through all the cruelty he’s shown him, and is willing to put himself in any sort of danger to protect Sasuke.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Growlithe
Password: Caramel & Popcorn (Yum!)
Samples
First Person Sample: [Itachi is uncertain about putting his message out there for everyone to see. Instinct tells him this is far too unsubtle. He shouldn’t put himself out there for everyone to see and know about. He has no way to know who is in this world, whether essentially announcing his presence will draw unwanted attention to him. He can only hope that if it does come, he’ll be able to deal with it.]
How do you choose names for your Pokemon? What sort of names do you pick?
[It’s an innocuous enough topic, he thinks. Nothing that should draw too much attention to him. And maybe he can begin building some contacts this way -- that would be ideal. He’s cut off right now, adrift.
All except for his Pokemon, at least. She’s… something. And so she deserves a good name, but he’s having trouble on that topic.]
Third Person Sample:
It had never occurred to Itachi before just how serious the responsibility of naming a living creature was. Summons -- the closest thing he knew from home to Pokemon -- weren’t the same thing, really. They named themselves, thank you very much, or existed in sort of a group state where names weren’t really important. And he’d never had a pet of any kind. It wasn’t the sort of thing that made sense for a ninja, because he would be away from home so much on missions it wouldn’t even really be his pet. And Fugaku had always thought that pets were a foolish indulgence.
So it had never fallen to him to choose a name before. His Growlithe obviously deserved a proper name, just like all the other Pokemon with trainers he’d seen since coming here, but he was finding himself stymied on just what to name her. To give her a human’s name seemed… well, disrespectful, he supposed. He’d flinched away from the idea of naming her for one of his family members almost before the impulse had formed itself for consideration. He had no right to do anything of the sort. Perhaps it might serve as a penance, as a way to remind himself… but no. His family’s spirits deserved better than that, and his Pokemon deserved better than to be a constant reminder and punishment to him.
To name her after something in nature, a flower or a tree? No, it seemed trivial and childish. His mind presented him with the image of his father’s frown, the way disapproval deepened the lines around Fugaku’s mouth and eyes, disappointment hanging palpably in the air, like the heavy humidity of summer, inescapable. That was the reward of childishness, and even after he had driven a sword into his father’s back, Itachi could not escape what his father had taught him.
He just didn’t know what sort of name was good, and not knowing troubled him, an itch he couldn’t scratch. He wasn’t accustomed to it, wasn’t familiar with being caught in this situation.
Perhaps… could he ask someone? People seemed to talk about all sorts of things, and a question about naming his Pokemon would not be revealing.