Darkness of the Akatsuki

Darkness of the Akatsuki follows Itachi into the organization in the Shinden adaptation, the double agent's loneliest years. The episode adapts the novel's account — Itachi inside the Akatsuki, spying for the village that branded him a traitor, carrying his mission in total isolation. It's a mixed-canon beat of profound solitude, the darkness Itachi endured as a hidden protector, the years of being hated to keep his brother and village safe, enriching the canon figure with the novel's view of a hero's thankless burden.