Disclaimer: Don't own.
Naruto had never thought about Itachi Uchiha much before.
(Only Sasuke's older brother, nothing more.)
He hated him at first. He was the one person who had driven Sasuke to the darkness; and Naruto knew that Itachi could probably bring him back to the light.
A deep, slow-burning sensation had driven itself through his heart whenever Naruto had remembered that, the fact that he could have let Sasuke have a happy life, but no, he just messed with his life, seemingly without any care towards Sasuke's feelings.
(How could you do that? How could you? … Condemn a innocent boy to a life of pain…)
Then, as Madara told Naruto about the decisions Itachi had to go, he had been in disbelief. Itachi was a cold murderer. How could he have been acting? No one could do that. It was better to think Itachi had been a genius gone insane, a traitor, someone who Konoha was ashamed of.
(But Konoha was ashamed of their jinchuriki too, weren't they, and a raven-haired boy who just wanted revenge…)
But Naruto remembered Nagato, and how he had only wanted peace, and Sasuke, who was so misunderstood, and it almost scared him how his enemies could be undeserving of death.
And Gaara, poor Gaara, who was so like Naruto… Neji, who had tried to deny and not deny himself to his fate all at once…
Naruto prided himself on being someone who saw other's pain, and understood. Who helped others overcome their pain, and taught them to never give up. Who inspired others to follow him.
(Then, why didn't you see Itachi's pain…)
Naruto could not kill anyone close to him. Heck, he cried when thinking of Sasuke's blood on his hands.
Even if he had seen, what would he say? Itachi's situation was desperate. Itachi had given up a long time ago.
(What can you say to a broken man … )
How can you save someone who damned himself for others?
(Maybe all Uchiha's are like that ...)