Yeah, and Akatsuki knew that Naruto's team would be chasing after them... Plus in their last encounter (Itachi and Gai), it was shown that taijutsu might just be Itachi's weakness, if he ever had any.
Yeah, and Akatsuki knew that Naruto's team would be chasing after them... Plus in their last encounter (Itachi and Gai), it was shown that taijutsu might just be Itachi's weakness, if he ever had any.
Yeah, Gai wouldn't fall for Itachi's Tsukuyomi that easily. He's had years of training against a skilled sharingan user. He would just look at Itachi's feet.
In fact, I'd say that Itachi would have a harder time fighting a taijutsu user than anyone else. Remember from Sasuke's fight with Lee, the sharingan won't help you if your body can't move as fast as your eyes can anticipate. While Itachi might be faster at performing Ninjutsu, he definitely won't be faster in pure agility and taijutsu.
Last edited by Assertn; Mon, 05-07-2007 at 01:25 AM.
10/4/04 - 8/20/07
I find it hard to believe that a guy who killed an entire ninja clan in one night wouldn't be a top level taijutsu user in addition to his Sharingan and other techniques. He could probably keep up with Gai, at least for a while, eventually he might see an opening and apply some devastating jutsu and ruin Gai's day (Amaterasu perhaps). The fact that he forms hand seals faster than Kakashi can see, while Kakashi and Gai are supposedly evenly matched also lowers the chances that Gai would be able to take him on. Buy 2.5 years is a long time and we've never really seen Gai pushed to the limit anyway so who knows what he's got up his sleeve.
In the flashbacks those ninja clan members died like sheeps. It didn't look to me as if Itachi had to fight especially hard to beat them. I think slaughtering them was for him more like a measure of how far he could go morally to reach his objectives than a test of the limits of his strength.Originally Posted by Yukimura
Besides, it would render Gai's character useless if he wasn't at the top in taijutsu. However, that doesn't mean Itachi wouldn't be able to beat Gai using everything he knows. I don't really believe the people at the top, who are specialized at some skills, wouldn't be able to adapt those skills against different all the kind of opponents. That would be insane, and certainly wouldn't make them great ninjas.
While those flashbacks weren't most of them on the manga... the Uchiha clan was cocky, and always seemed to depend on their Sharingans.
Itachi having the Magenkyou most likely owned them all. My guess is what he was measuring was the power of his new eye, not his own previous abilities (which were top ranked). Unless he was the typical cocky Uchiha, he should have trained other abilities all this years. Yet, Gai is most likely above him in Taijutsu.
interesting, I hadn't thought about Itachi being weak against Taijutsu at all... I always figured a pure Taijutsu fighter would be screwed against him, since the second they made a mistake and looked into his eyes it would be over. I always thought the best kind of fighter against Itachi would be an ambush type fighter, someone to get him before he used Sharingan.
But, since he's there and prepared, I suppose it'll be up to Sakura to keep his Genjutsu dispelled, Kakashi to act as the main distractor and Chiyo or Naruto to do the real damage... Rewatching episode 12, it does feel like the Akatasuki didn't want Itachi going up against Gai, so maybe you're all correct. Interesting stuff.
Humans are different from animals. We must die for a reason. Now is the time for us to regulate ourselves and reclaim our dignity. The one who holds endless potential and displays his strength and kindness to the world. Only mankind has God, a power that allows us to go above and beyond what we are now, a God that we call "possibility".
Well, not as to say that Gai would necessarily beat Itachi....just that Gai would stand a better chance against Itachi than most other characters.
10/4/04 - 8/20/07
You are correct on the point of just looking at the eyes and you are screwed.
Yet for that to happen you first need the eyes to meet eyes.
Sasuke (who was very much undertrained) depended to much on his newly gained eyes and got his ass kicked by Lee.
Gai has amazing speed, and the knowledge of how not to fall under the Sharingan.
He being a Tai maniac most likely has enough speed to escape Itachi for a while. We actually don't know Itachi's tai and speed levels. Beat him? Who knows, but like Assertn points out, he has the most chances out of many characters.
Itachi was already an ANBU withouth the Mangekyou, so his abilities should have been top. Hopefully he didn't stop training them after gaining his enhanced Sharingan.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
