Is Madara Tobi The Same Person As Obito?

Obito Uchiha as Madara Tobi (Obi-to as Madara-Tobi) = No. He was pretending to be the legendary Uchiha Madara to gain credence to push his Moon’s Eye Plan and get people to obey him. He wore a mask to conceal his identity and spoke in a completely different voice to him as usual ninja. He worked behind the scenes to manipulate events to his will.

Of course, later in the series the real Madara is brought back to life, and this is significant to the plot of the Fourth Great Ninja War. Yet the real Madara’s scenes are far less powerful to me than the nostalgic scenes with Kakashi and Rin from his past, and I still highly recommend re-watching these scenes.

It’s really amusing how they managed to conceal the truth from us, the writers. Tobi is Obito who pretends to be Madara. The story is full of clever misdirection. Instead of revealing identities straight away, the writers provide us with small clues to the characters’ identities in the form of their behaviors and speeches, often inconsistent and containing subtle hints. As for the timeline of events, Tobi (Obito) was on a mission when he was crushed. He was saved by Madara or his forces, and then physically and ideologically rebuilt. He took on the name of Madara to gain authority by using a legendary name as a weapon. However, later on, the real Madara returns from the dead using resurrection methods. This creates a new situation with two Madaras, the legendary one used by Obito as a mask, and the historic one himself.

This is to contrast with the character study of Obito’s Tobi and the “real” Madara Uchiha. While the former is volatile and tends to change frequently, displaying much emotion, the latter is cool-headed and old. In terms of grievances, the two have much in common. The two differ however in how they express themselves and deal with others, above all the Ishikawa Trio. In comparing the two characters’ dialogue, it is noticeable that there is a marked change in pace and tone in Madara Uchiha’s speech when he is revealed to be Obito Uchiha. Also, the flashback scenes in which we are shown how Obito controlled and manipulated the others, using the name of the legend to achieve his own ends, under the banner of Madara Uchiha, are well worth a look. The scenes of his past with young Kakashi and Rin, in particular, are heart-wrenchingly sad, while fans of strategy and tactics will appreciate the complexity and gamesmanship of Obito’s tactics in manipulating other figures.

It takes a long time to get to the bottom of the Mobius strip of identities in the original ‘Naruto’ and ‘Naruto Shippuden’ episodes. Tobi uses the name of the famous Madara Uchiha to pull the strings of the various shinobi organizations and to hide his true identity: that of the kid who used to play with Kakashi, Obito. He was thought to have been killed by the Third Great Ninja War, but was found and, through various means, had his spirit warped and brought back to life with the intention of fulfilling the dreams of the original Madara Uchiha. The man keeps a mask over his face, is aided by the dark entity Black Zetsu and uses the name and legend of the original Madara to do as he wishes.

Note that there is much more to this story than a simple binary opposition of Obito/Madara, as the original Madara later returns in the story. While Obito was driven by emotions stemming from his painful past, the original Madara had an entirely different kind of ambition – cold and methodical. Re-reading the flashbacks to Obito and Rin can provide great insight into the story and makes Tobi being Madara even more devastating than it initially was as a plot twist.