When we first got introduced to Itachi, he was portrayed as a heartless murderer- a madman, who slaughtered his family for fun, among many things. We were made to fear him, not only for his skill and immense talent, but for his heartlessness. He was deemed a soulless villain.
He lived to be hated because he simply wanted to. He was truly, veritably, evil. Deplorable.
Then, after all these years passed, we learned that the man we were told was a monster, only pretended to be. So that the world could live peacefully. Itachi did not kill his family out of selfish desire or anger. He killed them for sake of the greater good.
Tragedy
The Uchiha sought to start a war with the village. A war which would risk the lives of many innocent civilians. And even though he stood to benefit from this war, the man just couldn’t watch innocents die. At the tender age of 14, Itachi decided to sacrifice his own brethren. His own kin, for the sake of The Leaf Village. He killed off his own family, not because he wanted to, but so that others could keep theirs.
Let’s not forget, he wept as he drew the sword against his own parents, hesitant…
