Board Thread:Theories and Speculation/@comment-31099706-20170327120301/@comment-734582-20170521154432

Starscream1998 wrote: When it comes down to it Itachi probably could have won against Sasuke and even going blind and suffering from illness didn't quite close the power gap between the 2 brothers although at the end of the day this wasn't so much a fight as it was Itachi carrying out his final mission; free Sasuke from the curse mark, implant an Amaterasu into Sasuke to ward off Tobi and die. Oh i agree that Itachi would've won if he'd gone all-out. But that's because he didn't really capitalize on the chances he created. Just look at how he fought versus Kakashi, using clones, explosives and genjutsu layered in order to create multiple openings as he saw fit. Compare this to his fight against Sasuke, where he never really capitalizes on the openings he creates, and doesn't go in for the killing blow when the situation presents itself. He wasn't holding back with jutsu, he was holding back in his strategy, putting just enough pressure on Sasuke to force him to go all out, but never really going for the finishing blow. He kept leaving openings for Sasuke to slip through.