mars

To start this off: not all emotional incest is intentional. In fact, a lot of it explicitly isn't, which is how it happens in the first place. This is true to Itachi's case—in no way, shape, or form do I think Itachi purposefully emotional incestuously abused Sasuke. The emotional abuse was purposeful to a degree (the degree being he was groomed and thought what he was doing was correct), but the covert incest part wasn't.

Further more, covert incest doesn't require romantic attraction or feelings either. Again, most cases of it don't have any at all (a mother seeing a deceased father in her son—begins treating the son like the father in her grief, however doesn't experience any attraction to her son).

The primary checkpoints for "emotional incest markers" I'll be focusing on here are:

1) when a guardian figure makes a child feel guilty if they are not fully complying

2) when a guardian figure puts their own emotional needs above that of a child

3) when a child is forced to give up their autonomy due to the actions of a parent (not inherently sexual autonomy, clarifying that here)

and finally,

4) when a child is forced to give up age appropriate behaviour/activity so that they can be present for their guardian figure.

All of these are markers used in clinical spaces to identify covert incestuous abuse, and all of which are present in Itachi and Sasuke's relationship—with Itachi acting as the guardian. IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Itachi himself is a victim of emotional incestuous abuse, of the parentification variety. He was parentified from an extremely young age (due to Fugaku and Mikoto's common absence from him and Sasuke's lives), which is why he serves as Sasuke's guardian.

POINT A:

Sasuke felt extreme guilt and weight if he even debated not going through with "hating Itachi." This emotional burden in itself was far too much for a seven year old kid, and was purposefully placed on him (again, to an extent, as Itachi was abused himself—his entire character exists to be an example as to the cycle of abuse). It's shown at multiple points early on that Sasuke's entire motivation for existing since the age of seven was to kill Itachi. He went to Orochimaru when he was forced to "realise" that him having fun, and having some semblance of a childhood, was keeping him from his revenge—something that guilted him enough he ran to a predator.

POINT B:

Itachi consistently put his own guilt and his own feelings above that of Sasuke. Sasuke confronts this verbatim, when he asks why only he was left alive—something that burdened him, practically killed him with how much pain it brought him. Itachi did this out of objective selfishness; love, too, yes, but his love in this case does not outweigh the pain he brought Sasuke. Itachi then groomed Sasuke to hate him, to later kill him, because Itachi couldn't kill himself, he needed Sasuke to enact that revenge.

POINT C:

Tying into the last two points, Sasuke was forced to give up his autonomy and his ability to make choices for himself due to Itachi's actions and persistence that he is to kill him. Sasuke had been consistently objectified throughout his childhood (and later his adulthood), and unfortunately Itachi is no exception to this. Itachi viewed him as the ideal little brother he knew, and the one who will avenge the clan, and the one who will ultimately be both his saviour and his executioner. There was no choice for Sasuke in the matter, as Sasuke was never given the truth or the autonomy to choose his own path.

POINT D:

Ties into the rest as well... From the age of seven, where he witnessed a Godawful massacre and the betrayal of his elder brother, Sasuke hadn't been allowed to engage in "fun" or "happiness." His sole goal was training, and training, and training some more. Training to be a weapon, training for the sake of Itachi. Because Itachi made him.

All of the above are (albeit not "classic," given this occurs in a fictional world with different nuances than real life) examples of emotional incest. They also all contribute to Itachi and Sasuke's severe codependency. Sasuke depended on Itachi wholly for a reason to live (before Itachi's death, Itachi was his singular goal, the only thing he had to keep him from killing himself; after Itachi's death, Itachi was still his singular goal, but this time to avenge him, still the only way to keep himself alive). Itachi depended entirely on Sasuke as the "light in his darkness," the one who will save him from his sins. Obnoxiously codependent, and their relationship is fundamentally unhealthy all for it.