In an overall fight statistics if anyone (except madara and maybe sage kabuto) would ever fight him one on one during the time he showed up in the war arc.

Also, I would like to say I might have been sleep deprived when I made this thread since I remember typing it out but I thought I was dreaming it. Please do remove this thread if it's not allowed or anything.

Naruto beat him because of someone telling him how to actually beat the raikage. If that hadn't happened, Naruto would just keep on lobbing him with rasenshurikens that do little to no damage to him. Itachi honestly I don't see him winning against raikage since the only thing he has to damage him is the totsuka blade and that's assuming he can hit the raikage with it. Nagato, you got me there I completely forgot about this monster. Obito as well.

Talking with the eight tales plus one of the land of lightning guys telling him about the scar is what gave naruto the idea of using raikage's attacks against him. Without those, naruto wouldn't have beaten him. He hit the raikage with a rasenshuriken and literally it did nothing to the raikage. Even naruto stated it. This is especially impressive considering that wind naturally counters lightning and yet rasenshuriken did nothing to the raikage but to remove his lightning armor.

Okay now on to itachi. Itachi using amaterasu wouldn't do anything but to maybe burn the battlefield since the fourth raikage was able to easily dodge sasuke's amaterasu and proceeded to nearly blitz sasuke. The third raikage is stated to be faster and stronger than the fourth so I don't see amaterasu hitting him. Itachi's intelligence and ability to find a weakness to every jutsu is dangerous for most opponents, but not for the third raikage considering his most powerful technique literally has not weakness except to pull out a jutsu powerful enough to break through his perfect shield; something that itachi doesn't have since he hasn't really shown any strong wind techniques. Totsuka blade is iffy at best since it's a big sword that can be easily dodged given you have the speed to do so. To further upon this, itachi had to capitalize on nagato being momentarily dazed by chibaku tensei's destruction to be able to hit him with the blade.

The yata mirror is the most OP thing in the anime and manga but it is also not omnidirectional. Itachi's susanoo also hinders his movements making him a slow and big target. If he can turn the mirror fast enough, then he can hold off the raikage but given the raikage's speed, he could just go around the back of itachi's susanoo and hit him from there with his strongest spear technique which can definitely pierce the susanoo.

I just don't see itachi having anything other than the totsuka blade to combat the raikage and that is considering he can even hit the raikage.

edit: also forgot to point out that tsukuyomi and genjutsu would only work if the opponent directly looks at itachi's eyes, which the raikage would most certainly not do. And with his speed, I doubt itachi would be able to force the raikage to look at him. To further upon this, madara had to stop the fourth raikage with his susanoo so he could put him under genjutsu. I don't see itachi's susanoo doing that to a faster and stronger third raikage.

Look I'm not taking away anything from naruto but the info literally given to him is not an inherent part of himself, it's an outside factor. If he had fought the raikage without gyuki there to tell him the story of how he fought the raikage or that lightning ninja to tell him about the scar, then he would have at best been in a stalemate with the raikage where he would keep launching rasenshurikens until he either runs out of chakra or is forced to retreat. It would have been another thing if Naruto were able to put together the pieces by himself (which would be impossible) which is why the lightning ninja and gyuki had to be there to tell him about it.

Itachi is by no means the fastest character in the series. Arguably, shisui is faster than him and so is minato. Now, true that Ay does have to get close to him to attack but it doesn't really matter if he can close the gap between him and itachi in literally less than a second. During the fight between the fourth raikage and sasuke, sasuke was struggling to keep track of the raikage even with his eternal mangekyou sharingan; something that itachi did not have. If sasuke had trouble with the fourth raikage, then I don't see itachi faring any better against the stronger third raikage. Also to mention is that itachi has never shown the ability to control amaterasu the way sasuke does to cover his susanoo like a flame armor.

And as I've already said earlier, the tsukuyomi is a non-factor given itachi wouldn't really be able to force raikage to look him in the eyes for him to use it. The raikage's speed is faster than the sharingan can see.

I'm saying it under the pretense that the susanoo, when formed, acts as a physical object that can interact with the environment. If the susanoo would allow the user to move just as freely as they can without it, then itachi would have kept it on all throughout his fight with naruto and bee. Same thing with madara. We could see his susanoo cause him to be slower as shown when even gaara and tsunade were dodging attacks from him as opposed to when he didn't have it on. The susanoo user just stands stationary and only really runs or jumps. And so with that in mind, that's why I said that itachi might not be able to turn the yata mirror in time to react to the third raikage.

What, no. But before I explain, let me point out that sasuke DID NOT have eternal mangekyou at the five kage summit that was a mistake. But that said, sasuke obtained a substantial powerup that rivaled itachi's during the summit arc. I'm not saying he could win against itachi, but the only thing stopping sasuke from surpassing him is the totsuka blade and yata mirror. I bring up the raikage vs sasuke part because it's a good way to scale off itachi and the third raikage. Sasuke at that point was comparable to itachi, with itachi being slightly more powerful. The third is more powerful than the fourth and if sasuke is comparable to itachi, then it's safe to say that the third is a bit too much for itachi to handle. Also, the condition to use izanami is to replicate the sensation you and your opponent feel during a clash of attacks (like when itachi blocked kabuto's weird claw hands with his sword) Now, if you can concretely say that itachi can do that block with the raikage's full powered thrust then I concede that izanami would be a closing factor.

I don't know if this was made clear, but naruto was holding back against itachi since they were having a nice and friendly conversation (joking) but needless to say, if naruto were actually going at full speed against itachi, it would have been over before they could finish that conversastion. Itachi's speed is mid tier and at best is comparable to sasuke's. And if you want to bring up the dead part, then the raikage is also in a weakened edo tensei form and would have been much faster and more powerful if he were alive. For real, anyone who doesn't have sage mode, kcm, or isn't minato is not gonna be able to keep up with the third's speed.

edited: and you rely too much on totsuka blade and yata mirror which is a problem for a lot of debates that involve itachi since it makes him a one shot pony. Again, yes he could just seal the raikage with the blade but only IF he hits him with it, which I highly doubt he can do.

Where did you get that itachi is far far stronger than naruto at kcm? Naruto was holding back against him during their fight to tell him about sasuke. If he had gone full speed, itachi would have gotten overwhelmed. And the fourth and third use practically the same lightning armor jutsu, just that the third is far more superior to the fourth. This was stated.

I use it to compare because itachi and sasuke have the same level of visual prowess (both using mangekyou) and the specific point I was bringing up is the speed blitz that sasuke had to endure before he caught the raikage in his blaze release susanoo armor. I specifically pointed out that sasuke couldn't keep track of the fourth's speed. Ergo, the third who is even faster would be too much for itachi to keep track of. Now, if you're going to argue that itachi's visual prowess is greater than sasuke's then please name a scenario where that was stated or shown. Because as it was shown in the mange and anime, pretty much every sharingan provides the same boost in visual capabilities. It's just a matter of by how much it boosts the person's base.

edit: sasuke and itachi's style are not that far off. Itachi literally passed his powers on to sasuke. The only outlier is the totsuka and yata mirror which he kept for himself.

edit edit: and like I already mentioned as well, the rasenshuriken did nothing. It didn't damage the raikage. That's the point I'm trying to make here. If one of the strongest wind techniques coming from a KCM amped naruto didn't damage the raikage, I don't see itachi dishing out a technique that can damage the raikage either (since he has never shown a technqiue with the same level of destructive power as the rasenshuriken. Except maybe for yasaka magatama)

What?? no itachi was not sick which is what made his edo tensei form so formidable, because he wasn't coughing up blood each time he uses a jutsu. And I am giving out scenarios on why I think what I think while you're just basing off of vague opinions you have about the character. Show me statements or proof that itachi can pull it off.

btw, you saying "faster than you think" is really vague. Unless you can show me proof that itachi can move faster than the raikage and react the same way naruto did against the raikage, then I stand by what I said.

Good point. I should have stated that in the beginning. If they were to engage in their edo tensei form, it would really be a stalemate with itachi having a really low chance of hitting the raikage with the totsuka. Like I keep saying with the others, itachi has never shown a feat that can prove he could swing the blade fast enough to hit someone as fast as the third raikage (he might be able to but I go by what is seen in the manga and anime). But I do agree that if the battle rages on for too long then itachi might eventually get lucky and hit the raikage with the blade, in which case he wins.

But for the sake of it let's disregard the time difference and put up itachi at his prime against the third raikage at his prime as well

During his prime, itachi was shown to be able to toy around with orochimaru, fend off yagura in his perfect jinchuriki form, and beat kisame in a sparring match (filler only). While the third raikage battled with the eight tales, and also battled with thousands of shinobi for three days straight before finally collapsing from exhaustion. Even in their alive forms, itachi wouldn't be able to do much to the raikage because compared to his edo tensei form, which had unlimited chakra, he had his sickness to hinder him when he was alive and wouldn't be able to maintain the susanoo for too long while the raikage is an absolute monster with enough chakra to keep fighting for three days without rest. Either the raikage blitzes him before he can even ponder using the susanoo or the raikage outlasts him.

What are you talking about. Itachi didn't have the option to "hold back" in the fight because he was being controlled by kabuto. He didn't want to fight naruto but had no choice because kabuto wanted him to. When kabuto gave the order to attack, the best that itachi could do was to shout warnings at naruto about what he was going to use to attack next. And we're talking about speed here. I'm saying itachi has neither the capability nor ability to dodge a full speed assault from the third raikage.

And you're saying the only version of naruto that can beat itachi is six paths mode? Are you forgetting about kcm2 cloak naruto? kcm 1 is already on par if not superior to itachi going by feats alone. Naruto, when using the full speed of his kcm, was faster than the 3rd raikage but even he admits that it's pointless since his attacks can't damage the raikage.

1. No. Totsuka blade can't seal inorganic material. Only organic ones like humans or animals. It is not going to absorb madara's meteors I don't even know where you got that from.

2. Yata mirror is not omni-directional. It can only defend in one direction at once. If he gets hit with anything like a tailed beast bomb or like the aforementioned meteor, he is going to die.

3. Faster than anyone? Have you seen minato? Or KCM 2 naruto? You put too much confidence in itachi's speed when the best thing he has shown is a higher level of body flicker. Please, do show me where you got the statement that he can beat anyone by standing still.

4. He only used crow clones early on in shippuden. In the war arc, where most of the characters are above lightning speed, he doesn't use them anymore since it won't even work anymore. It's a subtle use of substitution jutsu that uses crows. It relies on speed. There's a reason why he isn't shown using it anymore in the war arc and that's because anyone who is fast enough isn't going to fall for it.

He didn't dodge kirin, he blocked it just in time to not let himself be killed. Go rewatch that episode and you can see that although he was still alive, he took substantial damage from blocking it since the area that kirin covered is larger than the yata mirror can cover. Also, a lot of the characters are FASTER than lightning. Kakashi is faster than lightning, sasuke is faster, the raikage is definitely faster than lightning.

I agree. I was looking for a fun debate but has turned into *l out war to defend itachi's honor. Literally, there are lots of other characters that can be mentioned to beat the raikage but all focus is on itachi. And lots of opinions and head canon are being used instead of actual feats. To admins, kindly close the thread. It is too much now.

my god, you just literaly rephrased what I just said. That. Is. My. Point. Itachi didn't want to win. He wanted naruto to win. And although you could argue he was holding back, it isn't really by much since he still has no control over his movements. If he did, he would have just stopped moving to let naruto hit him.

I am trying to say that the raikage can move around fast enough to get behind the susanoo and pierce it from thereeeeeeeee. The raikage would hit the mirror once and realize it's impenetrable and would just adjust his strategy to move behind itachi and strike.

What I initially wanted to be a fun debate has turned into an itachi nonsense war. Please remove or close the thread. I'm not even going to respond anymore. All these head canons being thrown. I just wanted to move past itachi and go on to other characters more fun to talk about like minato against the raikage, onoki, or maybe even hiruzen. But darn, always itachi. Sick of it.