Itachi insanely underated

I honestly wonder if some people watched Naruto with their eyes closed. Itachi fans get clowned for “ridiculous” scaling, but once you actually look at his showings, a lot of those takes are not as crazy as people make them sound.

To set a baseline: 13-year-old Itachi casually folded prime Orochimaru with basic three-tomoe Sharingan genjutsu. Orochimaru at that point was already high Kage level, yet he got completely shut down with almost no effort. Later, Itachi does it again when Orochimaru appears through the Eight Branches Technique, and he instantly seals him with the Totsuka Blade.

Then there is Sage Kabuto. Kabuto had insane advantages: prep, battlefield control, Sage Mode, body modifications, regeneration, sound genjutsu, and knowledge of the Uchiha. Itachi was also holding back because he needed Kabuto alive to undo Edo Tensei, while also protecting Sasuke and explaining the fight as it happened. Even with all that, Itachi still found a way to win.

That is why Itachi's scaling is more complicated than “he loses because of lower chakra” or “he is sick.” Itachi is not just a raw power character. His entire kit is built around instant win conditions: Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, Susanoo, Yata Mirror, Totsuka Blade, Izanami, elite battle IQ, and some of the best genjutsu feats in the verse.

So no, saying Itachi can threaten characters above standard Kage level is not ridiculous. You do not have to argue that he has more raw power than Madara or Hashirama to argue that he has real matchup-based win conditions. Against someone like alive Madara, Itachi probably loses more often than not in a straight fight, but acting like he has absolutely no way to win is just dishonest.

Itachi has always been a hax-heavy fighter. If he lands the right opening, the fight can end instantly. That is the whole point of his character.

Dude's basically a Mary Sue of the Naruto verse.