Tiny Little Full-Blown Obsession

So. Yesterday I received my New Every Two® phone from Verizon (the LG Cosmos). Naturally, one of the first things I did was start looking for Naruto ringtones. While randomly perusing the internet for said ringtones, I came across "Itachi's theme" here.

My initial reaction went something like, Holy crap, this is awesome, how in the world have I never noticed this before? Once the excitement faded a tad—I admit, that took a while—logic kicked in and I thought, Wait, if this really is Itachi's theme, why don't I remember it?

1.) He is one of my favorite characters in all of Naruto. If he had a theme song, I would remember it (I know Sasuke's when I hear it, and his is pretty lame).

2.) This tune's style doesn't sound like the rest of the show's music. Don't get me wrong, I love some of the songs in Naruto—just to name a few, "Sadness and Sorrow," "Main Theme," "Kakuzu," "Orochimaru's Theme," "Akatsuki's Theme," and practically all the opening and closing songs are very good. But if "Itachi's theme" were part of the show's repertoire, it would definitely stand out, and I'm pretty sure I would have noticed.

3.) This song doesn't fit with the show thematically. This is cowboy music. And while that makes sense for Itachi—he is undoubtedly a bad man who has done bad things (albeit for good reasons), a wanderer, a loner, arrogant, skilled, and in search of atonement—it doesn't make sense for a show set in a ninja universe. Again, I feel confident I would have noticed such discordance.

So. I did some digging. Many people on the internet feel very strongly about the fact that this is really Itachi's theme (for evidence, see YouTube). Some people say it appears in the anime. Like in episode 114 or 121 or 140. Some people say that this is Itachi's theme, it just isn't used in the show. Some people say this song appears on one of the show's official soundtracks. Some people say this is Itachi's theme in the Naruto PlayStation games. Having watched and re-watched relevant episodes and looked up (and re-looked up and re-re-looked up) the playlists for the Naruto CDs and games, I feel fairly confident in saying that these people are suffering under some grand, viral, internet delusion.

In reality, this song is "Thunder Cloud" from the album Theme From Shaft & The Horse by The Ventures. Before it was known as "Thunder Cloud," it appeared under the title (and perhaps here is the origin of the mass confusion) "Naruto" on Golden Pops/Pops in Japan '71. 

So. There you go. Mystery solved. And I was not at all obsessive about it and it only consumed five to seven hours of my life. Go me.