In the story of Naruto, the character Itachi Uchiha was introduced as Sasuke's murderous, sinister older brother who had butchered his entire clan before running off to join the villainous Akatsuki organization. Fans were sure that Itachi was a monster and terrible brother, but there is more to Itachi's story than that.
Itachi Uchiha is also a prodigy and a cool, aloof character who keeps everyone else at arm's length no matter what. However, he is also secretly a hero who had killed the traitorous Uchihas to protect his home village, and he had always loved his brother Sasuke and wanted to protect him. When viewing Itachi either as a sinister villain or a loving brother, Naruto fans may realize that plenty of other anime characters are quite similar to him.
10 Tensei Iida Is Tenya's Role Model (My Hero Academia)
Plenty of anime brothers and sisters are similar to Itachi's true nature, being role model siblings who want what's best for their little brothers and sisters. In My Hero Academia, the brothers Tensei and Tenya are a less tragic version of Sasuke and Itachi, with the ambitious, highly driven Tenya being Sasuke.
That leaves Tensei as a slaughter-free Itachi, a much older and cooler brother whom Tenya looked up to and admired. The whole family was immensely proud of Tensei, too, just the way Itachi's parents thought very highly of their prodigy firstborn son.
9 Sho Kusakabe Is A Younger Itachi (Fire Force)
Fire Force has another case of two anime brothers waging war, except this time, it's the younger brother who ran off to become a supervillain. One tragic day, the Kusakabe house burned down, and the infant Sho was stolen away and raised as a member of the villainous Cult of the Ashen Flame.
That creates many parallels between Sho and Itachi Uchiha, and now it's up to the older brother Shinra to steal his brother back from an evil organization's clutches. It won't be easy, though, and there's no guarantee that Sho will be redeemed the way Itachi was.
8 Captain Byakuya Kuchiki Must Protect His Sister Rukia (Bleach)
The aristocratic Captain Byakuya Kuchiki never joined an evil organization the way Itachi and Sho did, but in other ways, he is absolutely the Itachi Uchiha of Bleach. Like Itachi, he is responsible for protecting his younger sibling, but for a time, he was a total villain about it.
Byakuya was Ichigo's worst enemy for a time, a cold and aloof killer who had boundless talents. Now he is redeemed, and Ichigo can rest easy knowing that, like Itachi Uchiha, Byakuya deeply cares for his sibling and will now put her needs above everyone else's, including his own.
7 Illumi Zoldyck May Have Inspired Itachi's Design (Hunter X Hunter)
There are several distinct similarities between the story of Hunter x Hunter and Naruto, especially where the Zoldyck family is concerned, a clan of reclusive, elite assassins. If Killua Zoldyck is a proto-Sasuke, then his big brother Illumi must be Itachi.
Illumi is a strange and insidious big brother who sees fit to manipulate and confuse his little brother Killua, all in the name of protecting him. That's like a twisted version of Itachi's genuine protective love for his own little brother, Sasuke.
6 Zeke Yeager Will Pay Any Price For Peace (Attack On Titan)
Zeke Yeager is Eren's much older half-brother, but the two of them didn't meet until Eren was almost 20 years old, after the fall of the Reiss family. In some regards, they have a Sasuke/Itachi dynamic, shifting uneasily between allies and enemies in a family rife with tragedy.
Like his Naruto counterpart Itachi Uchiha, Zeke expresses his love in bloody fashion. He loves peace and will ensure world peace by gently but thoroughly ending the existence of all Eldians, a plan that the Eldian restorations Eren cannot handle. In a way, the Eldians are like the Uchihas in Attack on Titan.
5 Olivier Armstrong Is 70x1v39" title="tough">Tough But Fair (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
Major-General Olivier Armstrong never sought to harm her family or fellow Amestrians to secure peace, though she might if it was absolutely necessary. She is the Itachi Uchiha of the famed Armstrong family, a wildly talented firstborn who is a tough but fair role model for the rest, especially Louis Alex Armstrong.
Like Sasuke, Alex looks up to but also fears and slightly resents his talented, famous older sibling, and it seems Olivier has no time for him. But like Itachi, Olivier secretly loves her family a great deal, especially her little brother, even if she won't admit it.
4 Kyojuro Rengoku Is The Prodigy Firstborn (Demon Slayer)
On the surface, it may seem odd to compare the cheerful, outgoing flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku with the likes of Itachi Uchiha. Itachi certainly never cried "umai!" with a box lunch, but deep down, these anime heroes have much in common, and they would understand one another if they met up somehow.
Kyojuro and Itachi are both wildly talented firstborn sons who later joined an elite organization, and their little brothers look up to them with awe and respect. But Kyojuro and Itachi are also at odds with their fathers, and they never had a chance to make amends, tragically enough.
3 Braz D. Blood Is A Scheming Brother (Blood Lad)
The Blood vampire family's members live in luxury in the demon world as elite demons, similar to the Uchihas in the Hidden Leaf Village. The oldest son is the cool, aloof Braz D. Blood, a talented, brilliant, and somewhat troubled vampire with a difficult relationship with his little brother Staz.
Staz sees Braz as a cold-blooded monster who tried to kill him, and he rarely trusts him. While Braz is hardly innocent, he also cares much more for his powerful vampire brother than anyone, least of all Staz himself, realized. If Braz must be a monster to save his family, then so be it.
2 Ayato Kirishima Joined The Bad Guys (Tokyo Ghoul)
Tokyo Ghoul is another case of the little brother being the one who seemingly turned on his family to run off and join a team of villains. Touka and Ayato Kirishima tried to live a happy life with their single father as ghouls, but after the father was killed, Ayato went rogue, fueled by his hatred of humans.
Touka is a bit like a moody but well-meaning Sasuke, while her younger brother went full Itachi and joined the villainous Aogiri Tree gang, ready to face his own sister in mortal combat. He was an antagonist for a time, but later, like Itachi, he made peace with his surviving family and repented.
1 Yuri Briar Only Loves His Sibling, Yor (Spy X Family)
With his hairstyle, younger brother status, and melodramatic ways, Yuri Briar might feel more reminiscent of Sasuke Uchiha on the outside, but his character arc makes him more like Itachi in some ways. Like Itachi, he deeply loves his sole surviving family member, his older sister Yor, but otherwise, he's a bit twisted.
Yuri also joined a villainous organization, that being the SSS, or Ostania's brutal secret police. That's like Ostania's version of the Akatsuki, and Yuri isn't afraid to tear people apart in the name of protecting his nation or his sibling. Yuri looks and acts like a villain, but deep down, he has some goodness in him, too.
