The Uchiha Massacre in Naruto Made No Sense, and Here's Why

Spoilers ahead!

Summary:

• The Uchiha Massacre was an important plot point in Naruto, but it didn’t make much sense.
• It could not have happened under the Third Hokage in the first place.
• Itachi should not have been redeemed after it.

Despite being a battle shounen classic, Naruto still has its fair share of dubious plot twists and storylines. Probably the most infamous is the Kaguya plot twist. That said, even earlier parts of the story have issues with them — and yes, the Uchiha Massacre is one of those.

The event was important, but didn’t make much sense

The Uchiha Massacre is part of the core premise of the series. Sasuke’s brother, Itachi, killed his entire clan — and Sasuke swore to get revenge on him. Simple, right? Well, if you watched Naruto, you’d know it’s anything but simple.

While Itachi did kill his clan, it was under the orders from the village — as the Uchihas were planning a rebellion. More specifically, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was against that plan, but Danzo and the two advisors were pushing for it. It still ended up happening, and a lot of circumstances behind it make no sense if you think about them.

It should not have happened in the first place

First of all, the apparent point of this is that Itachi is a true shinobi, willing to put his village over everything. Only it doesn’t really make sense, as he was pushed into this.

Moreover, people responsible for this were left unpunished when the circumstances were revealed at the end of the series. While Danzo and Hiruzen were already dead, the advisors weren’t — and yeah, they’re still somehow alive in Boruto.

In fact, the Third Hokage not preventing this from happening makes no sense. He is a somewhat controversial character, but one of his defining traits is that he is soft — in fact, too soft.

He let Orochimaru go the first time, and was constantly forgiving Danzo for scheming behind his back — measures such as a massacre of a full clan aren’t something he’d do.

The details are questionable

The actual details of the massacre also are… weird. Apparently, Obito helped with it, but it still remains a mystery how much he was actually involved. Moreover, Itachi didn’t really need to mentally torture his brother.

The anime tried to redeem him after that anyway — despite, you know, being a mass murderer. Who also probably murdered a bunch of children, as the clan definitely had some. Overall, the whole idea of the Uchiha Massacre contradicts the anime's later attempts to frame Itachi as a good person.