Madara Uchiha

Madara Uchiha (うちは マダラ Uchiha Madara^?) is one of the founders of the Uchiha Clan and its current leader. Madara Uchiha is as well the "real" leader of Akatsuki, disguised as "Tobi". Madara is a descendant of the Sage of the Six Paths. Long ago, Madara became the first possessor of the Mangekyo Sharingan, a rare form of the eye condition unique to the Uchiha which gave him the strength to take control of the Uchiha clan, though it rendered him blind from overuse until he took his own brother's eyes in order to regain his sight.^[33] Madara eventually banded together with Hashirama Senju to create Konohagakure. The two founders disagreed on who should lead their new village, and after a momentous battle between the two it was believed that Madara had died,^[61] though he later revealed it was a ruse to copy Hashirama's powers. In later years, Madara resurfaced, unsealing the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox from within Kushina Uzumaki and using it to attack Konoha, though he denies it. Once the fox was sealed by Minato, Madara was contacted by Itachi Uchiha and subsequently assisted him in assassinating the Uchiha clan.^[62]

Much of Madara's role in the series has been under the guise of Tobi (トビ^?), who replaces Sasori in Akatsuki after Sasori's death. While acting as Tobi he is carefree and goofy as opposed to Madara's usual serious self. Tobi's tendency to take credit for others' work and undermine his superiors annoys his partner, Deidara, who either blows up or strangles him in comical fashion as punishment.^[63] After Deidara dies during a battle with Sasuke, Madara takes a special interest in Sasuke's development and takes him under his wing.^[42] After Nagato's betrayal, he reveals himself to the five Kage, revealing his intent to become the Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tailed Beast and threatening them with war unless they give him Naruto and Killer Bee to complete his goal. When they refuse him, Madara declares the Fourth Great Shinobi World War and takes his leave. Madara is then confronted by Kabuto and agrees to an alliance after being blackmailed into it. Madara later confronts Konan and kills her before taking Nagato's body to retrieve the Rinnegan, replacing the arm he lost during the fight and the eye he sealed with one of the Rinnegan.

Though Madara's face as it appeared during Konoha's founding has been shown in full at various points in the series, he always wears a mask in the current Naruto storyline with a swirl pattern focused around his right eye, allowing him to suck people into a subspace, though when it is destroyed he replaces it with a mask resembling the Sharingan with the characteristic ripple pattern of the Rinnegan. Kishimoto found Madara to be his favorite Akatsuki member at the time to draw, noting his mask to be easy to make.^[64] His black hair is the only constantly visible part of his face. When asked how Madara could have survived since Konoha's founding generations ago, Itachi states that Madara is immortal.^[65] The specifics of his immortality have yet to be touched upon, though Madara implies the potency of his chakra has something to do with it.^[66] In battle he has been shown capable of making his body intangible for up to five minutes at a time, leaving him visible but otherwise impervious to most forms of damage unless while executing a counterattack. He can also teleport over great distances at will and can use his Sharingan to suck opponents into a world inside him.^[67] Having copied Hashirama's Senju techniques, he is capable of using Izanagi, a technique that converts imagination into reality at the cost of one's eyesight. In the Japanese anime, Madara's seiyū is Naoya Uchida and the seiyū for the Tobi persona is Wataru Takagi. In the English version, he is voiced by Nolan North and his Tobi persona is voiced by Michael Yurchak.