How Old Was Itachi When He Died?

Uchiha Itachi is one of the most iconic Naruto characters ever. His sacrifice for Konoha village and his brother Sasuke is something to be admired, and his unbelievable talent and skill in combat is something astonishing. He is the reason for the death of the Uchiha clan but also the reason for saving the village. His end came when he died during a fight with his beloved brother Sasuke. In this article, we will analyze how old was Uchiha Itachi when he died in the Naruto series.

According to manga, and anime, Itachi was almost 22 years old when he died. More precisely, some fans speculate he was a month away from his 22nd birthday. The big giveaway was the age difference between Sasuke and Itachi – the former was 12 or 13 years old in the first part of Naruto and in the second part he was 16-17. During that particular arc, Sasuke was 16 years old and if you add the age difference between them, in conclusion, Itachi was 21 and a half when he died.

With all gathered intel, we will discuss this topic further. Itachi’s and Sasuke’s age difference will be the focus and the circumstances around Itachi’s death will be further explored. If you’re interested, definitely stick with us until the end of the article.

How Old Was Itachi When He Was Killed?

Circumstances around Itachi’s death are both complicated and simple. He fought Sasuke who overpowered him and beat him in the fight, however, Itachi suffered a mysterious respiratory disease that weakened him considerably. Some fans speculated it was MPA (microscopic polyangiitis), a condition that causes small blood vessels to inflate. This was speculated because of Itachi’s nonstop coughing blood.

This was never confirmed but it was cool of the fans to go further into Itachi’s health condition because frankly, he never looked 100 percent during his fight with Sasuke. Age was never truly confirmed by Naruto creators but they implemented subtle intel that would lead to the real age of Naruto characters.

Itachi had a lot of greatly impactful you can say milestones in his life. He was four years old during the Third Shinobi War when he witnessed the ruthlessness and destruction of the war. At age 5, he met his best friend Shisui. When he was 7, Itachi graduated from the Ninja Academy at the top of his class in his first year there. At age 8, he mastered his Sharingan and joined Team 2, led by Yuki Minazuki. Two years later, at 10 years old he became a Chunin, and already at 11, he was inducted into Anbu Corps.

Here things started falling apart for Itachi. At 12 years old, he attained Mangekyo Sharingan, which was awakened after seeing his best friend Shisui die. At 13, Itachi became an Anbu captain and was responsible for massacring the Uchiha Clan. A few months later, he joined Akatsuki, where he pairs up with Kisame, and the two of them travel together and complete missions. At 17, he comes back to Konoha with Kisame to try and kidnap Naruto. A few years later (Naruto Shippuden time jump), Itachi with Kisame delays Konoha and Suna ninjas to buy Akatsuki time for extracting Shukaku from Gaara.

At 21 years old, Itachi and Kisame go on a journey to capture the four-tailed beast, Yonbi. During that journey, he stumbles upon Sasuke, who wants to seek revenge against his brother, and consequently, avenge the massacre of this clan. Itachi and Sasuke start their fight, and boy is it epic. Itachi shows all of his abilities against his brother, but they look a bit sloppy and weak. Sasuke uses everything that he learned from Orochimaru (who was also sealed into him) and his own Sharingan powers to fight Itachi, and he almost succeeds. Despite his very bad state, Itachi gives Sasuke a good fight and defeats him.

In the end, when Sasuke thinks Itachi will take his eyes, Itachi taps him affectionately on the forehead and says “Sorry Sasuke”, and falls to the floor and dies.

Uchiha Itachi was 21 and a half years old when he died fighting his beloved brother – Sasuke later learns of Itachi’s sacrifice and sobs for his brother. This was really interesting to cover since a lot of animes do not reveal concretely their character’s ages, but the Naruto series did a good job in worldbuilding and providing fans content and information that we are still learning about today.