Hc that the reason Itachi is so immediately ready to verbally bite back @ Kisame + Deidara (the akatsuki in general tbh) is bc he got there and for the first time was allowed to express his opinions without immediately having someone on his ass for it /hj
He gets through his little Bickering Over Philosophy moment with Kisame by the docks, no one comes to yell at him Fugaku, Inabi, or Danzo style and just just like "Okay maybe this place isn't absolute shit actually"
The first taste of mild independence (His resume of child soldiering or babysitting himself and sasuke does not count) he gets and it's bc his asshole coworkers treat him with more respect as an entity capable of making his own choices than 99% of the people in his life