Image is everything.

This is something Uchiha Itachi knows very well.

If you want people to think that you're a badass villain, you have to look like a badass villain. And through everything, Itachi's sole driving ambition was to become a badass villain.

So, when Itachi became a jenin, he pressured the owner of the local tattoo shop into putting a really badass tattoo on his left arm. It took a little convincing, since he wasn't eighteen yet, but in the end all he had to do was use his patented Glare of Evil no Jutsu.

He worked hard on that glare... it had taken him a year of practicing in front of the mirror every day to perfect it.

And you know, badass villains had to have badass accesories. That's why he looked through the necklaces at Abercrombie and Fitch for hours before he found the perfect one. He never went without it now. And the cape... it just made him look so... well... badass! Coincidentally, he got it at J. Crew. He had no idea they even sold capes.

And his sharingan? They weren't really red, those were just contacts. His real sharingan was blue. He woke up every morning an hour before any other Akatsuki member just so he could put them in without any one noticing. Joining the Akatsuki had been a great move... there was no shinobi organization around that was as evil... it was great for his image.

Then there was the whole killing his clan thing. That didn't hurt his image. He had even left his brother alive so that he would have a rival later on. All badass villains had really hardcore rivals.

Wait a minute.

Didn't the badass villain always get his ass kicked at the end?

Shit.

He'd have to rethink this whole image thing. Maybe he would try the reluctant hero thing out...