[ronin myael]

Originally Posted by Slayerx

Problem with your theory is the fact that we saw Sasuke as a kid and we saw no indication that "hatred" would be the most preferable motivation. He was a good kid, who loves his family, worked hard and seem to take great pride in his family's line of work which he was told was protecting konoha.

Yes hate can be a powerful motivator, but it can VERY easily motivate you in the most horrible possible way. Many of the most vile people in history had hate as their motivation. Hate has a great tendency to blind people... We can even see it in Sasuke... Hate is a the reason he was willing to abandon Konoha and his friends; Hate is the reason why he was willing to give up his body to a mad man (though he changed his mind later); And now Hate is the reason he is willing to murder all of his former friends and kill thousands of innocent people. Most every character that uses hate as a motivator turns out to be a villain (i think the only heroe's that pop up from hate are those that were villains that managed to reform when they realized how wrong all their hate was)... So ya, Itachi was basically pushing sasuke down the villain path from day one.

which is why i think you're right. i tried my best to explain itachi's behavior but it still came out horribly wrong. i don't understand it myself.

but perhaps itachi isn't the selfless hero we all thought him to be. maybe igniting sasuke's anger was part of his plan so he could gain his redemption. he wanted to be punished for betraying his clan and he chose his poor innocent brother to do it. sasuke was a nice kid, itachi needed to destroy him so he could be strong enough to kill him. he wanted to make sure that sasuke blamed him, hated him so he would come after him. that's not a selfless act in my opinion. it's just that kishi portrayed itachi as the loving brother who sacrificed everything for sasuke. and this is where he fails. this chapter didn't do much to help that either. all i can say is, this uchiha brotherly love is pretty screwed up! it gives a whole new meaning to the term tough love.

So quite frankly, I don't find it convincing that Sasuke and Naruto's friendship is deep enough that Naruto would be the only one who can set Sasuke on the right path, putting aside all his anguish. And, even if Naruto has that ability, why wouldn't Itachi also be able to do so? It just feels horribly contrived, just to make Naruto the ultimate hero.

agreed! contrived indeed! just like how naruto considers sasuke his first bond. what the hell happened to iruka then? personally, i could not understand naruto's attachment to sasuke, nor do i think that sasuke considered naruto a close enough friend who could influence him if we are to think about it in a realistic way. if there's anyone who could change sasuke's thinking it would be itachi himself, no one else.