Itachi graduated at the top of his
Academy class at age 7, had mastered the Sharingan by age 8, became a Chuunin at 10, and became an
ANBU squad captain at the age of 13. Itachi was considered the
best ninja among his clan. After the murder of his clan and a bunch of episodes later, we
find out that Itachi joined the group called Akatsuki, a group of highly powerful and
most wanted criminal ninja.
Itachi mainly uses ninjutsu and genjutsu during
battle, both of which are augmented by his Mangekyo Sharingan. In the former, Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan allows him to use Amaterasu, a jutsu which creates
black flames that are hotter than
the sun and can penetrate any barrier. He also uses
basic ninjutsu at such a
speed that even another Sharingan user has trouble following the movements. With his Sharingan, Itachi is virtually immune to his opponent's genjutsu, simply reversing it back upon them using the copy abilities of the Sharingan. With the Mangekyo Sharingan, Itachi can also use Tsukuyomi, a genjutsu which traps his opponent in an illusionary world. Itachi can then torture his opponent for
days on end, all of which takes
place in the blink of an
eye in the
real world. Though the main strategy to avoid the Sharingan is to avoid eye contact and
focus on Itachi's feet or
body, as mentioned by both
Guy and Kakashi, even this is not a certain method of evading his techniques. By merely pointing at an opponent, Itachi can catch them in a powerful genjutsu.