R E L A T I O N S H I P S   UCHIHA SASUKE Itachi's little brother who dedicated his life to kill his brother to avenge the Uchiha clan. Itachi purposely left Sasuke alive that night and instilled hatred inside him. Itachi's feelings towards Sasuke are not clear yet, but Sasuke holds nothing but hatred towards him. UZUMAKI NARUTO Itachi's interest in Naruto is obvious...he wants Naruto specifically for the nine-tails demon living inside of him. Naruto of course now has a grudge against Itachi as well for torturing Sasuke into unconsciousness and trains to seek revenge. KISAME Itachi's partner in Akatsuki who carries around a huge sword wrapped in an odd tough skin that absorbs Chakra. Their partnership to support each other seems more like an order than an alliance. OROCHIMARU Just when you think that Orochimaru's the strongest amongst the Akatsuki group, here comes a huge twist...Orochimaru actually admits the fact that Itachi is stronger than he is. That's pretty scary... HATAKE KAKASHI Itachi definitely seems to know Kakashi from the past. Although they were once allies, Itachi's power over Kakashi was vast. Even so, Itachi did acknowledge Kakashi for the fact he was a strong user of the Sharingan even though he wasn't Uchiha blood. MAITO GAI It was actually odd that Itachi acknowledged Gai as an opponent and withdrew from a fight with him. It's likely Gai would be the toughest opponent against Itachi because he specifically trained in methods to defeat the Sharingan in order to defeat Kakashi. JIRAIYA Even though he was one of the three legendary ninjas from Konoha village, Itachi was able to trick him for a while in order to face Naruto alone in the hotel room. But Itachi is smart enough not to face Jiraiya head on and withdraws when he comes to rescue Naruto. SARUTOBI ASUMA Although both he and Kurenai didn't recognize Itachi at first when he came back to the village, Itachi had no problem recognizing them. Asuma and Itachi obviously have some sort of past experience with each other. YUUHI KURENAI Kurenai was the unlucky one that had to head off with Itachi using their genjutsu (illusion) skills. Even though genjutsu is Kurenai's greatest abilities, she was still no match for Itachi and was quickly put down.