Years after Sasuke’s final battle against his older brother, Naruto fans are still scratching their heads over one question. What was the mysterious illness that killed Itachi Uchiha, one of the strongest shinobi in the series? Itachi’s case is especially strange because sickness is incredibly rare in the Naruto world, where most characters die in battle or through heroic sacrifice, not from an illness that slowly kills them over time.
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Despite all the iconic fights and shocking revelations, the series never gave us a clear answer about the disease that was slowly destroying the older Uchiha brother from the inside. But a recent Reddit thread started by a user named u/Butterscotch4088 pointed out that while many people say Itachi had tuberculosis or an autoimmune disease called MPA, it doesn’t quite add up. So, what was really going on with Itachi’s illness? Let’s dive into the theories and see what fans think!
The Disease Fans Think Killed Itachi
Reddit user u/SignificantHair3204 dropped a theory that got everyone talking: microscopic polyangitis, or MPA for short. This rare autoimmune illness surprisingly fits a lot of Itachi’s symptoms and circumstances, causing fatigue, weight loss, and bloody coughs. Another Reddit user, u/AngryLala1312, chimed in with more detailed medical insight, explaining how some antibodies leading to MPA remain dormant until something triggers them, like infections, cancer, or even drug reactions.
Now, here’s where it gets really interesting: u/AngryLala1312 suggested that Itachi constantly overusing his Sharingan could’ve been a trigger. Then u/Express_Hovercraft10 further explained how MPA is a type of vasculitis that damages blood vessels through inflammation. In Itachi’s case, that could’ve hit the hardest around his eyes, exactly where his power was focused.
The Tuberculosis Theory
Not everyone’s buying into the MPA theory, though. Several users on the thread argued that Itachi may have just had tuberculosis. Reddit user u/zyrkseas97 made a particularly strong case for the disease.
They explained that tuberculosis has always carried this heavy cultural weight and is often associated with tortured artists and writers. Historical figures like John Keats, Franz Kafka, and Emily Brontë all died from it, giving the disease a reputation as the illness of melancholic souls. And Itachi fits that mold perfectly, with his genius being both a gift and a curse.
The redditor further pointed out how people with TB slowly waste away, giving off that “dead man walking” vibe, which lines up so well with Itachi. They also mentioned how tuberculosis was once called “consumption” because it literally consumed people from the inside out. In that sense, the disease feels like a metaphor for how Itachi’s life was eaten away by secrets, lies, and the weight of impossible choices.
The Stress Factor Nobody Talks About
Another redditor u/BlazingInferno4343 pointed out something people often miss: Itachi barely ever turned off his Sharingan after the massacre. They added that this might’ve been his way of punishing himself, which makes a lot of sense when you think about how much guilt he was carrying. Leading the user to believe that’s how he got his sickness to begin with.
But there’s an even deeper angle I think we need to talk about: Itachi lived under unimaginable psychological stress his whole life. He grew up as a child prodigy, was a spy pretending to be a traitor, and a big brother forced to become a villain. That kind of stress and moral conflict doesn’t just break you mentally; it can literally tear your body apart from the inside.
The autoimmune disease theory starts to make even more sense when you consider how stress is a major trigger for these conditions. Itachi never got to be his true self or say how he really felt, not to Sasuke and not to anyone else (except his late best friend Shisui). All that bottled-up emotion and psychological trauma had to go somewhere, and maybe it manifested as the illness that eventually killed him.
The Deeper Truth About Itachi’s Illness
The fact that we’re still talking about Itachi’s illness years later just shows how well Kishimoto wrote his character. The ambiguity around his illness reflects the mystery that surrounded his entire life. Just like we didn’t really get why he did what he did until the very end, we’re still left wondering what exactly took him down.
Whether it was MPA, tuberculosis, or something else, I think his illness was a metaphor for everything that Itachi went through in his life. All the responsibilities he had caused a lot of stress and anxiety that slowly took a toll on his body. It’s almost poetic that one of the strongest Uchiha was not taken down in battle, but by the weight of everything he chose to carry alone.
As Itachi once told Naruto, “No matter how strong you become, don’t try to bear the weight by yourself; you will fail. Don’t forget about your friends.” In the end, maybe the exact diagnosis doesn’t matter as much as what it represents: the price of bearing the world’s weight alone.
H/T: Reddit
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Image courtesy of HBO
