Why did Itachi really spare Sasuke during the Uchiha massacre?

Question

I just finished the Itachi flashback arc in Naruto Shippuden and I'm confused about his motivations.

If Itachi was ordered to kill the entire clan, why did he leave Sasuke alive — the one person who could grow up to take revenge on him? Was it purely emotional, or part of a bigger plan?

I've seen people argue both ways, so where I am: anime-only, just past the Itachi/Sasuke fight.

Vandread79 · Accepted Answer

It's both, and the series is explicit about it once all the reveals land.

The emotional side: Itachi loved Sasuke more than the village, more than the clan, more than his own reputation. He tells this to Sasuke directly at the end of the reanimation arc. Killing his little brother was the one order he was never going to follow, no matter what Danzo wanted.

The plan side: Itachi built the rest of his life around that choice. He asked Hiruzen to protect Sasuke, threatened Danzo into leaving him alone, and then deliberately made himself the villain of Sasuke's story — he wanted Sasuke to kill him, avenge the clan as a hero of the Leaf, and come home with clean hands. He even planned to trigger the crow's Kotoamatsukami as insurance.

So the answer is: he spared Sasuke out of love, then weaponized his own crime to give Sasuke a future. The tragedy is that the plan assumed Sasuke would never learn the truth — and Obito told him.

rika_h · Answer

Adding to the accepted answer: there's also a practical reading people skip. Itachi was 13 and had exactly zero leverage except violence and secrecy. Keeping Sasuke alive was the one demand he could enforce, because the higher-ups needed the massacre to stay quiet, and Itachi alive and cooperative was the price. He essentially took hostages in both directions — 'touch Sasuke and I leak everything.'

Why did Itachi really spare Sasuke during the Uchiha massacre?

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