Madara Uchiha

was a legendary leader of the Uchiha clan. He founded Konohagakure alongside his rival, Hashirama Senju, with the intention of beginning an era of peace. When the two couldn't agree how to achieve that peace, they fought for control of the village, a conflict that ended in Madara's death. He rewrote his death and went into hiding to work on his plans to end world conflict. Unable to complete it in his natural life, he entrusted his knowledge and plans to Obito Uchiha shortly before his second death. Years later, Madara would be revived, only to see his plans foiled before dying one final time.

Background
Madara was born during the Warring States Period, the eldest of Tajima Uchiha's five sons. Madara and his brothers grew up on the battlefield waging constant war with the Uchiha's rivals: the Senju. Three of his brothers died young, leaving Madara with only his younger brother, Izuna. Madara and Izuna became very close through their shared loss and constantly competed with each other to get stronger. This, combined with his naturally strong chakra, enabled the young Madara to defeat adult Senju in battle and develop a reputation as a genius.

During his infrequent downtime, Madara met a boy his own age named Hashirama. The two quickly developed a friendly rivalry, be it skipping stones or urinating in rivers. Like Madara, Hashirama was also a shinobi who had lost his brothers on the battlefield. Together they imagined a world where children like themselves wouldn't need to fight. As a precaution, Madara and Hashirama did not divulge their family names, but nevertheless discovered each other's identities: Madara was an Uchiha, Hashirama was a Senju; it was their duty to kill each other, even if they were friends. Needing to choose between his family and his dreams of peace, Madara chose to end his friendship with Hashirama so he would have no reservations over killing him in the future, a resolve strong enough to awaken his Sharingan.

Over the following years Madara and Hashirama continued to meet in combat. Madara could never defeat Hashirama — even after acquiring a Mangekyō Sharingan — and Hashirama could never bring himself to kill someone he still considered a friend, resulting in a constant stalemate between the two that lasted decades. In time, both Madara and Hashirama became leaders of their respective clans, a position Hashirama tried to use to broker peace between them. Although some Uchiha found the offer increasingly tempting, Madara refused due to Izuna's death at the hands of Hashirama's own brother, Tobirama. Despite this, some Uchiha defected over to the Senju clan out of self-preservation. Madara then used Izuna's eyes in order to gain "eternal" Mangekyō Sharingan and restore his deteriorating vision. With this new power he waged one final assault against the Senju and was summarily defeated. Rather than kill Madara to bring the era of war to an end, Hashirama offered to kill himself if it would stop the fighting. Madara was moved by Hashirama's gesture and finally assented to peace.

The Senju, the Uchiha, and all their affiliated clans came together to found a village of peace, where children would never need to die in battle. Madara and Hashirama, rekindling their childhood friendship, called that village Konohagakure. But Madara's idea of peace differed from Hashirama's: where Hashirama envisioned cooperation with the other newly-formed villages, Madara desired control so the peace could never be lost, evidenced by his attacking Iwagakure's Mū and Ōnoki so that they would submit to Konoha's authority. When Hashirama was elected as Hokage, Konoha's leader, Madara also became concerned for the Uchiha's future, believing this to be but the first step in the Senju's dominance.

The Naka Shrine had been in the Uchiha's possession for generations and was brought with them when they settled in Konoha. Through careful study, Madara was able decipher enough of it to learn of the history of shinobi: of the endless cycle of failed peace and the destiny of battle between Uchiha and Senju, but also a means of unity for the world. With this knowledge, Madara decided Konoha was a failed experiment. He tried to convince his own clan and even Hashirama of the same conclusion, but none would hear him. Madara chose to abandon the village, returning with the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox under his control to challenge Hashirama. They fought to exhaustion, and from the carnage of their battle the Valley of the End was formed. In the end, Madara, too tired to even keep his Sharingan activated, was killed by Hashirama.

News of Madara's death spread fast and his corpse was secretly hidden to keep anyone from finding it and profiting from it. But Madara had planned ahead: he had scheduled an Izanagi to activate sometime after his death, changing reality to bring him back to life in exchange for his right eye's vision. He left a copy in place of his real body and went into hiding with a special trophy from his fight with Hashirama: a mouthful of Hashirama's flesh that he transplanted into his wounds. It was not until decades later, towards the end of Madara's natural life, that the cells had any effect, awakening the Rinnegan (in the process restoring his right eye). With the Rinnegan he was able to summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, which he used to cultivate a mindless living clone of Hashirama from which he believed he had produced a White Zetsu Army.

Over the years, Madara had perfected his plans for peace in what he called the Eye of the Moon Plan. But as his years waned, Madara knew he couldn't complete his plans in the time he had left. So he transplanted his Rinnegan into a young Nagato without the boy's knowing, intending Nagato to someday use the eyes to restore Madara to life. If Nagato was to do this, however, Madara would need an agent to act on his behalf and guide Nagato towards this ultimate goal. Madara waited, connecting himself to Demonic Statue to keep him alive until someone could be found. Madara spent this time keeping a close eye on Konoha to find a suitable pawn to take his place.

During the Third Shinobi World War, Madara found a badly injured Obito Uchiha. Madara used Hashirama's cells to replace Obito's damaged extremities and placed a Forbidden Individual Curse Tag in Obito's heart as a fail-safe in case Obito ever turned against him. Until then, Madara began working towards corrupting Obito. He had Kirigakure kidnap the girl Obito loved, Rin Nohara, and seal the Three-Tails into her. He then manipulated events so that Rin would die at the hand of Obito's friend, Kakashi Hatake, while Obito watched. Driven to despair, Obito offered his services to Madara. Madara divulged to Obito the history of the Sage of the Six Paths and the Ten-Tails, the details of his Eye of the Moon Plan, and various techniques that Obito would need moving forward. As a final act, he left behind Black Zetsu — what he believed to be a manifestation of his will — to provide additional guidance to Obito in pursuit of this goal. With that, Madara disconnected from the Demonic Statue and, with his dying breath, entrusted Obito with his name: Madara Uchiha.

Personality
Madara's childhood was a product of the times he lived in: the constant fighting made him a perfectionist that would keep at something until he mastered it, and his triumphs on the battlefield made him very confident in his abilities and talent. Whenever one of these personality traits was challenged, as they tended to be by Hashirama, Madara's competitive streak would emerge. Madara did not mind Hashirama's influence in this regard; he believed that the only way to survive in the shinobi world was to make allies with one's enemies. In the anime, his exposure to Hashirama is credited for Madara not experiencing the Uchiha's "Curse of Hatred" or at the very least, not being victimised by it as much as Izuna was. Madara's actions and beliefs were singularly focused on protecting Izuna, his only surviving brother. So long as he had Izuna, Madara was reasonable and kind, willing to make concessions for a perceived greater good. Furthermore, even though he declared he abandoned his original dream of peace and his friendship with Hashirama, Madara still held onto the friendship somewhere in his subconscious. As a result, he stopped Hashirama from killing himself to solidify the truce between them.

Madara changed after Izuna's death, becoming bitter towards the Senju, particularly Hashirama since he still had a brother. Embracing his clan's Curse of Hatred, he opted to die for revenge rather than compromise or forgive. Although he was briefly convinced to set aside his grief and try to replace Izuna with the collective family of Konoha, he could never shake the feeling that he was betraying Izuna's memory. The increasing isolation of himself and other Uchiha from village politics ultimately convinced him of this, causing him to fully break with any other attachments.

During his time as a Konoha shinobi, Madara did what he thought was in the village's best interests. Unlike Hashirama's compassionate methods, Madara took a merciless approach: the shinobi of Iwagakure only had purpose so long as they swore unwavering allegiance to Konoha. After his defection from Konoha, Madara's priorities became centred around himself, manipulating countless others in order to satisfy his own goals and putting in place multiple layers of contingencies so that nobody could ever diverge from his own intentions. As he valued only power and possessed so much of it, Madara therefore disliked to waste it on unworthy causes or unchallenging opponents, claiming disgust when he was forced to.

Madara loved fighting above all else: the sights, the sounds, even the taste of his own blood; he felt being reincarnated deprived him of the full experience. Yet he was very disciplined in a fight, never allowing his failed plans or attacks to upset him and never letting superior numbers or power intimidate him. and always willing to do whatever must be done to gain victory. Although he sometimes imposed limitations on himself, such as not using certain techniques more than once, he was willing to "lower" himself with unbecoming tactics or excess displays, ever willing and able to change tactics and exploit advantages. He was perfectly aware of his talents and did not feign modesty, bluntly stating when he was stronger than his opponents and belittling them when they continued to defy him. Conversely, if he was proven wrong or somebody posed a legitimate challenge to him, he would admit it, apologise for previous remarks if necessary, and if he gained the upper hand, he would not drag out his opponent's suffering.

One of the exceptions Madara makes was Hashirama. Their years of rivalry left Madara with competing feelings of respect and resentment for Hashirama. He hated to hear Hashirama's name and at the same time grew excited at the prospect of fighting him. Madara considered Hashirama the only opponent worthy of his time and would gladly postpone his own plans if it meant prolonging his time to fight with Hashirama. Despite this, Madara is quite open-minded about recognising other strong individuals besides Hashirama. One example is Guy, who he declared the strongest in taijutsu.

In his later years, after developing his Eye of the Moon Plan, Madara became pessimistic about human nature, believing the cycle of battle to be inescapable. He also came to believe that humanity and the world are incapable of changing from what they were in the past. He believed the current, "worthless" reality was built too much on the idea of winning and losing. For this reason he was deeply committed to his plan, so much that he would prematurely end a fight he was enjoying or kill any threat, even, reluctantly, his own clansmen, for the sake of its success. The ultimate failure of his plan left Madara deeply depressed, but it caused him to see its errors: breaking free of his Curse of Hatred, he regretted the mistakes he'd made and admitted the superiority of Hashirama's methods for peace. He and Hashirama were thus able to reconcile in the moments before his death.

Appearance
Madara was a fair-skinned man with spiky, black hair that had a slight blue tint to it. In his childhood, his hair was chin-length that parted to frame the sides of his face. His casual attire consisted of a blue long sleeve shirt and white pants. While on the battlefield he wore the standard Uchiha outfit: a black shirt with a high-collar left slightly open and the clan's crest on its back, with blue pants and bandages around his shins. Around his waist he had a white sash that held a sack, presumably containing his ninja tools. Later, his sash was replaced by a belt, adorned with pouches and various weapons. He also wore another sash strapped across his shoulders which he used to hold his swords.

When he reaches adulthood, Madara let his hair grow to waist-length with shoulder-length bangs framing the sides of his face, covering most of his right eye. Although still relatively young, more prominent creases had developed under each of his eyes. At times, he wore crimson armour with numerous metal plates, forming protective guards along his chest, waist, shoulders and thighs. Most of the time, however, he continued wearing the same basic Uchiha outfit: a blue high-collared, long sleeve mantle that splits down the lower half and a simple, light-brown obi and a belt. During battle, he often carried an orange-brown gunbai which had a long black chain running up it. The anime also shows him wearing a metal belt, as well as a brown leather sash to hold some of his other weapons, and a pair of belt sashes to hold two of his swords.

In his old age, Madara became extremely worn and emaciated, with his hair turned thin and white, and lost all his teeth. He wore a simple black outfit and used his kama as a makeshift cane. When Madara was reincarnated his body's youth was restored, albeit with the generic effect of gaining grey sclerae and minor cracks all over his body. These disappear once he is properly revived.

After becoming the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, Madara had white hair (taupe in the Naruto: Colour Edition) and pale skin, and he became enveloped by a cloak of chakra that stabilised into physical clothing: a full-bodied black garment with black pants, gloves, and boots, over which he wore a flowing white robe with six black magatama markings across his chest and the familiar pattern of a black Rinnegan and nine black magatama markings in rows of three on his back. A grey horn-like protrusions grew out of his left temple and overlapped his forehead akin to a protector with an upward-curve on the right temple, giving him an overall appearance very similar to that of the Sage of the Six Paths. After absorbing the recreated Ten-Tails produced by Obito, Madara obtained additional black magatama markings around his sleeve cuffs and the rim of his robe. He reverts to his former appearance after the Ten-Tails is removed from his body.

Abilities
Madara was recognised as the most powerful member of the Uchiha clan and one of the most gifted shinobi in history. Even as a child he was regarded as a prodigy, as he was able to kill several adult Senju before he awakened his Sharingan. History remembers him best for being able to compete with Hashirama Senju, a "God of Shinobi". For this reason, when Obito began operating under Madara's name, the mere threat of Madara's power caused the Five Great Shinobi Countries, including the normally neutral Land of Iron, to band together and trigger the Fourth Shinobi World War. After his return from death, Madara proved himself to be more than a match for the five Kage and the nine tailed beasts, defeating all of them single-handedly at different times.

Chakra and Physical Prowess
Madara was noted to have been born with very powerful chakra, even by Uchiha standards. This is partly because he was an inheritor of Indra's chakra. His chakra had been described as extremely foul and evil by both the Nine-Tails and Tobirama Senju. His reserves were so large that he could fight nonstop for twenty-four hours before collapsing. Even in his old age, he had enough chakra to summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path from its cage in the moon. His skilled chakra control allowed him to perform complicated techniques with only a single hand seal, as well as quickly absorb and synchronise senjutsu chakra with his own without adverse effects.

Although he primarily relied on his ninjutsu, Madara was skilled with taijutsu as well. During his confrontation with the Fourth Division, he easily tore through hundreds of opponents, disarming many and dodging attacks from multiple directions. Offensively, he could strike with precision before his opponent has a chance to react and overpower individuals twice his size. He has at different times been fast enough to block an opponent in Sage Mode and dodge a Flying Thunder God Slash. Madara's pain tolerance was high, as he did not flinch from being battered by and losing an arm during an assault by the nine tailed beasts.

Ninjutsu
Madara was well-versed in a variety of ninjutsu styles: he could place a juinjutsu on a target powerful enough to restrict their actions; he could perform fūinjutsu strong enough to seal the Ten-Tails; through an unorthodox use of the Shadow Clone Technique, Madara was able to fake his death, having a clone take the place of his corpse. He can hide within surfaces to avoid damage and move around the battlefield unnoticed. In the anime, Madara exhibited the ability to levitate.

Bukijutsu
Madara's personal collection is composed of different weapons including giant shuriken, a kama, chains with weights, a kusarigama, and hand-held shuriken. He was seen carrying swords at different times in his life and demonstrated proficiency with it while fighting the Fourth Division. His trademark weapon was his gunbai, with which he could shield himself and redirect attacks, or utilise it as an ordinary weapon, wielding it as a mace or flail. With his gunbai, he could slice through the giant roots of the Ten-Tails' tree form.

Nature Transformation
Madara was one of the few shinobi in history capable of utilising all five basic nature transformations as well as Yin–Yang Release. As an Uchiha, he had a natural affinity for Fire Release, whether to produce a wall of flames – which required the combined efforts of several Water Release users to repel – or cover an area with ash to act as a smokescreen. In the anime, Madara could create powerful gusts with his gunbai to repel an entire platoon. Later in his life, he demonstrated uses of Yin–Yang Release, such as amplifying the White Zetsu or pouring his will into black receivers to restrict and control those he has embedded with them.

After acquiring some of Hashirama's DNA, he was able to perform Wood Release, a simultaneous mixture of earth and water natures, with his skill being comparable to Hashirama himself. Madara could create gigantic flowering trees, whose pollen could render a foe unconscious, wood clones, and wood dragons to bind large targets like the tailed beasts and drain their chakra. By using Hashirama's cells, Madara could produce roots from his body to connect to and gain limited control of the Ten-Tails. After he became the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, he was shown using Yin Release to create lightning bolts from the palm of his hands, and Storm Release – a mixture of water and lightning – to create energy beams.

Sharingan
Madara first awakened his Sharingan as a child. Initially each eye had one tomoe, but by adulthood his Sharingan had fully developed and he could keep them active near-constantly. Madara's mastery over the Sharingan far surpassed every other member of the Uchiha clan to the point only he could tell a shadow clone and a wood clone from the original.

With the Sharingan, Madara could place targets under various genjutsu after brief eye-contact to either paralyse them or relay information. This even allowed him to control the Nine-Tails which, once he had summoned it, gave him a powerful tool in battle. He was able to perform Izanagi to temporarily alter reality, as seen when he programmed one of his eyes to activate after his death, resurrecting him altogether.

Mangekyō Sharingan
Madara and Izuna were the first Uchiha to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan. Madara's Mangekyō form appeared as three large tomoe with circles at their tops overlapping each other at the bottoms and encircling the pupil. When his eyesight began deteriorating from overuse, he replaced his eyes with Izuna's, restoring his vision and giving him the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. In this form, his Mangekyō design took on a combined appearance of his and Izuna's: Madara's in the foreground with Izuna's thick straight lines stretching outward from just underneath. Madara's Eternal Mangekyō possessed a rare, which granted him an even higher capability of reading and predicting his opponents' movements.

Having awakened the power of both his Mangekyō, Madara could use Susanoo. He did not need to fully manifest it to benefit from its use: with just its ribcage he can withstand an Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan, and he could perform attacks with only its upper half. When fully produced, Madara would hover within Susanoo to grant him greater range of movement. His Susanoo wielded up to two (four in the anime) undulating blades that could be thrown, then maintained and controlled remotely. Madara can also produce Yasaka Magatama of varying sizes.

Madara's experience with Susanoo allowed him to fully "stabilise" it into its Complete Body form, causing it to resemble a tengu with outer armour that was nearly impenetrable, which he calls his Perfect Susanoo. Its secondary pair of arms wield sheathed katana which it was able to bisect mountains. According to Madara, the full power of his Complete Body — Susanoo was comparable to that of the tailed beasts, and no one had lived to see it a second time. Madara was able to shape his stabilised Susanoo as an armour which he equipped unto the Nine-Tails in order to complement their respective abilities.

Madara was knowledgeable of other Mangekyō techniques, or at least able to discern their mechanics after only brief observation. Upon taking Kakashi Hatake's Mangekyō Sharingan during the Fourth Shinobi World War, he was immediately able to use Kamui for the brief period of time he possessed the eye.

Rinnegan
Many years after infusing himself with Hashirama's cells, Madara's Sharingan evolved into the Rinnegan. Because Madara was the eyes' original owner, only he could use them to their fullest power. He was able to switch back and forth between his Rinnegan and Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. With the Rinnegan, Madara could use all of the abilities of the Six Paths Technique, such as the Preta Path to absorb chakra. He could also use the Deva Path to perform Chibaku Tensei on a massive scale. With the Outer Path, he could create chakra chains to fully restrain all nine tailed beasts. In addition, he could create black receivers for various melee and supplementary purposes.

When brought back with the Impure World Reincarnation, Madara was unable to access all of his Rinnegan abilities. It was only after being revived and obtaining one of his actual eyes that he could summon and control the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and generate a corporeal invisible shadow to aid him in battle, which was powerful enough to knock down all nine tailed beasts. Upon regaining both of his Rinnegan, Madara was able to produce up to four shadows to aid him.

Rinne Sharingan
After becoming the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki and regaining both his Rinnegan, Madara awakened a Rinne Sharingan on his forehead by approaching the moon. With this eye, he could cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

Jinchūriki Transformations
Madara sealed the Ten-Tails into his body shortly after Obito's own failed effort. Madara was noted to have obtained more power than Obito did, and likewise did not need to go through an adjustment period to gain control of it. He became fast enough to react to the Flying Thunder God Technique and Kamui, and durable enough to survive even the Night Guy, though admittedly nearly dying in the process. His regenerative powers were high enough to survive bisection, and soon after completely restore himself, causing Madara to declare himself immortal. In this form, Madara could fly and harness natural energy to enhance his various techniques. Most crucially to Madara's purposes, he was able to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi as well as God: Nativity of a World of Trees.

Truth-Seeking Ball
As the Ten Tails' jinchūriki, Madara could use Truth-Seeking Balls, ten black orbs comprised of all five elemental nature transformations and Yin–Yang Release. The balls are his primary weapons and generally float behind him in a halo-like formation. The black chakra is highly malleable, able to be shaped into various forms for different uses, such as high speed projectiles, protective barriers, and various weapons, including a shakujō with a crescent-shaped curve. With his complete control over the Ten-Tails' power, Madara could apply Yin–Yang Release to nullify all ninjutsu the balls come in contact with.

Sensory Perception
Madara was an adept sensor type and could detect and recognise chakra signatures from great distances. His sensory skills were refined enough to determine a person's clan and the nature of their kekkei genkai, and even differentiate species. When amplified with senjutsu chakra, his sensory abilities were great enough that he could fight without eyes, locating targets and dodging attacks through sense alone.

Body Modifications
In addition to amplified chakra and Wood Release, infusing Hashirama's DNA into himself gave Madara regenerative powers, allowing him to heal most injuries in seconds. Should he lose any anatomy beyond his ability to heal, he could immediately replace it with the special material that makes up the White Zetsu's bodies. When reincarnated, Kabuto Yakushi modified Madara to be "beyond his physical and combat prime", restoring his youth while retaining the abilities he developed in his old age. Kabuto's modifications resulted in a pale replica of Hashirama's face appearing on Madara's left pectoral region, which granted Hashirama's abilities to his reincarnated body.

After being properly revived, he was able to absorb Hashirama's senjutsu chakra, causing the replica of his face to develop Sage Mode markings. Although he didn't have direct access to Sage Mode, he gained certain benefits of the form, such as heightened sensory and regenerative abilities, as well as increased durability.

Intelligence
Madara's years of experience on the battlefield had honed his strategic ingenuity. When entering a fight, he could quickly devise a number of approaches so that, should one approach prove ineffective, he could switch to another immediately. The more time he spent against a particular opponent, the less need he had for these backup tactics, as he eventually could both predict what they would do and identify literal or psychological weaknesses for him to exploit. He does not overlook any detail in a fight, using overheard communications and opponents' offhand remarks to form and verify any theories he comes up with. In addition to his sheer adaptability, Madara was simply knowledgeable of a large variety of individuals and abilities, allowing him to identify techniques as soon as they were performed and react with the most appropriate counter to them.

Madara was a researcher, having experimented and cultivated a clone flower through the Demonic Statue of Outer Path and from it create a life-support system to extend his life. He had enough medical knowledge to transplant eyes, treat severe injuries, and replace destroyed body parts with the White Zetsu matter.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown
Tobi, acting under Madara's name, moves into the final stages of the Eye of the Moon Plan by initiating a Fourth Shinobi World War. Before the war's start, Kabuto Yakushi approaches Tobi to try and form an alliance. When Tobi asks what will happen if he refuses, Kabuto resurrects Madara to show he knows that Tobi is not the true Madara and forces him to accept. Tobi reluctantly agrees and Kabuto de-summons Madara.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax
During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Kabuto decides to use Madara against the Allied Shinobi Forces and uses Mū as a medium to summon him to the battlefield. When he first becomes aware of his surroundings, Madara believes he has been brought back by Nagato's Outer Path — Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique but soon realises that he instead has been brought back with the Impure World Reincarnation. Kabuto speaks through Mū, introduces himself, and explains recent developments in the world and Tobi's current actions. After Kabuto points out that he has restored Madara to a state beyond his prime, Madara tests his body by tearing through the Fourth Division, thinning its numbers. The Fourth Division's initial attempts to stop Madara fail as he protects himself with Susanoo. When the Fifth Kazekage, Third Tsuchikage, and one of Naruto Uzumaki's shadow clones combine efforts, Madara is forced to activate his Rinnegan and absorb the attack.

Realising his enemies were too dangerous for him to hold back to basic ninjutsu and taijutsu, Madara pulls down a meteorite from the atmosphere. When the Kazekage and Tsuchikage successfully stops it, Madara adds a second meteorite to his attack, both of which fall upon and devastate the Fourth Division. With most of the Fourth Division dead, Madara questions Kabuto about just how far off-plan Tobi has gone. Because Kabuto doesn't actually know much about the plan, Madara is left to check things for himself and tries to summon the Nine-Tails, only to discover it's sealed in a jinchūriki, specifically Naruto. Despite knowing the current Naruto was a clone, he decided to delay his plans to test out his new powers, namely, the Wood Release: Nativity of Trees which Naruto's clone barely contered. He then moves in to finish off the remainder of the Fourth Division but is repelled by the arrival of the Fifth Hokage, the Fifth Mizukage, and the Fourth Raikage. The five Kage combine forces against Madara and propel him from the immediate area.

By the time he returns, Naruto's shadow clone is gone and the five Kage remain his only opponents. They battle for some time, with Madara equaling and besting the Kage's efforts. When he is hit with the Tsuchikage's Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique, Madara's armour is torn away, revealing the implant of Hashirama's face on his chest. Madara laments Hashirama's legacy that these Kage have inherited, having been completely unimpressed by their attacks, particularly those of the Hokage, Hashirama's granddaughter. Madara then creates creating twenty-five copies of himself and have them each activate their Susanoo.

By nightfall, the Kage are still alive and are able to pool their efforts so successfully that he is nearly sealed. Finally impressed by their display, Madara responds by summoning his perfected Susanoo. Before he can use it to kill the Kage, his Susanoo starts to fade and Madara is engulfed in light. Madara realises that Kabuto has elsewhere released him from the Impure World Reincarnation and his soul is returning to the afterlife. Madara responds by performing the hand seals to rescind the Impure World Reincarnation contract that Kabuto has over him, enabling him to return to his immortal body without further interference from a summoner. Now able to do whatever he likes and bored with the Kage, Madara decides to go find Naruto and reclaim the Nine-Tails. The Kage try to block his escape.

After defeating the five Kage, Madara finds and reunites with Obito while he's engaged in combat with Naruto, Killer B, Kakashi Hatake, and Might Guy. Madara notices the Demonic Statue undergoing a premature transformation into the Ten-Tails and scolds Obito for being too hasty. After Obito returns Madara's gunbai, Madara creates a wood dragon in an attempt to capture Naruto and Killer B and complete the Ten-Tails. He at one point manages to restrain and drain B of his energy but is overwhelmed by Guy's Daytime Tiger. The Ten-Tails is revived before he can recover, forcing Madara to make do. He and Obito leap onto the Ten-Tails' head and connect themselves to it, granting them control of its actions. Their four opponents put up a resistance but are no match for the Ten-Tails' power. Before the Ten-Tails can finish them off, however, the combined Allied Shinobi Forces arrive to join the fight, deflecting the Ten-Tails' attack.

The Allies join forces to immobilise the Ten-Tails, making it an easy target. The Ten-Tails undergoes a new transformation before their attacks can connect, freeing it and letting it block the incoming attacks. Though the immediate problem is solved, Madara realises there's another issue: the Allies are being coordinated too effectively. He and Obito direct the Ten-Tails to attack the distant Allied HQ, something that takes several Tailed Beast Balls due to their lack of control, which Madara attributes to Obito's failure to revive him correctly. Although the Allies' "brain" is killed, the Allies are given one final battle plan in the time it takes the Ten-Tails to hit its target. Obito and Madara try to thin the Allies' numbers before they can get into position and, when that fails, block against the oncoming attack, but the combined forces manage to break through and separate Obito and Madara from the Ten-Tails. With the Ten-Tails now out of their control they must fight the Alliance directly. Obito eventually disappears to the other dimension, forcing Madara to fend for himself.

During Obito's absence, Madara senses that Hashirama has elsewhere been brought back to life. Excited at the prospect of fighting his rival again, Madara eagerly awaits his arrival. When he arrives, Hashirama sends only a wood clone to face him, being too busy restraining the Ten-Tails. Madara decides to sit out the fight until the real Hashirama is ready. When the wood clone persists, Madara easily defeats it. Madara later senses Obito's return to the battlefield and decides to make use of one of his fail-safes, activating black receivers planted in Obito to force him to finally revive Madara. Obito resists and instead seals the Ten-Tails into himself.

Birth of the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki
Though he's frustrated by this setback, Hashirama is no longer preoccupied, so Madara forces him into a fight. As their battle rages, Hashirama tries to convince Madara to postpone, but Madara repeatedly refuses. Nevertheless, he keeps track of Obito's progress and growing control of the Ten-Tails' power. Madara is eventually restrained by Hashirama's wood dragons and the Alliance moves in to seal him.

When Obito is defeated and the tailed beasts are removed from his body, Madara puts another fail-safe into effect: Black Zetsu, with whom he has been in contact ever since he was reincarnated, takes control of Obito's body and forces him to revive Madara. Restored to life, Madara breaks free of his restraints and defects the converging Alliance. Though he's alive again, his reincarnated eyes deteriorate into nothing because he forfeited his real eyes during his life. To compensate for his blindness, he immobilises Hashirama with black receivers and absorbs his senjutsu chakra, allowing him to sense attacks without the need to see them. His first attacker is Sasuke Uchiha. Madara does not want to kill his own clansman, so he instructs Sasuke to stay out of his way.

Madara goes after the freed tailed beasts so that he can revive the Ten-Tails once more. His first attempt goes badly and he loses an arm. While he regroups, a White Zetsu brings him one of his Rinnegan that Obito kept in storage. Madara takes this and one of the Zetsu's arms, allowing him start round two. He summons the Demonic Statue from Obito's body and uses Limbo: Border Jail to repel the nine beasts. Before they can recover, he seals all of them into the Demonic Statue, including those sealed in Naruto and B. While the Statue undergoes its transformation into the Ten-Tails again, Madara asks the Zetsu how Black Zetsu is faring with taking his remaining Rinnegan back from Obito. Tobirama Senju, having been reincarnated alongside Hashirama, attacks him immediately afterwards, whom he dodges and restrains. Sasuke also attacks him. Having already warned Sasuke once, Madara turns his own sword against Sasuke and stabs him through the chest.

With nobody left to oppose him, Madara seals the Ten-Tails into himself once its resurrection is complete. Pleased with himself, Madara sets off to regain his other Rinnegan. Along the way he spits the Benihisago and Kohaku no Jōhei from his mouth, Obito having used both as part of his premature revival method. When he arrives at Black Zetsu's location he discovers that Obito has regained control of his body. Madara tries to reason with Obito, reminding him of all they planned and insisting on the impending effectiveness of the Eye of the Moon Plan. Rather than be convinced, Obito stabs Madara and manages to steal fragments of the One-Tail's and Eight-Tails' chakra from him before using Kamui to escape with Naruto.

Madara tries to decide what to do next. He is confronted by Might Guy, a master of taijutsu, which is one of the only effective attacks against Madara in his new form. Guy opens all Eight Gates and hits Madara with Evening Elephant. Madara is taken by surprise and tries to defend himself, but other Allied Shinobi are able to reduce him to a single Truth-Seeking Ball, leaving him wide open. Madara is visibly battered but not beaten, forcing Guy to use Night Guy. Madara is nearly killed, something so impressive that he offers to put Guy, dying slowly as a side-effect of the attack, out of his misery. His attack is stopped by Naruto, now recovered from the earlier removal of the Nine-Tails. As Naruto goes on the offensive, Madara realises he has gained some new power that is inexplicably similar to his own.

Naruto sends Madara through the recreation of the Ten-Tails in its giant tree form, a remnant of Obito's earlier battle. Black Zetsu speaks to Madara, making him believe the tree is telling him to absorb it. Madara does so and becomes stronger, but is met with a new problem: Sasuke, healed from his injuries, has joined forces with Naruto and is also in possession of new abilities. Despite Madara's efforts he can do nothing against them. Knowing he needs his other Rinnegan if he's to end the fight, Madara takes Kakashi Hatake's Mangekyō Sharingan and uses it to go after Obito. He stops Sakura Haruno from destroying the Rinnegan, to which Obito responds by sending her back to the real world so Madara can't kill her. Obito is too weak to escape.

To give Obito some final words, Madara first congratulates him for removing the Forbidden Individual Curse Tag he had placed on him. He also reveals his role in the death of Rin Nohara, in doing so admitting that he's been manipulating Obito from the start. With that, Madara takes back his Rinnegan, giving Obito the Mangekyō Sharingan he no longer needs. Black Zetsu uses Obito's body to perform Kamui and return them to the real world. Naruto and Sasuke move to attack him as soon as Madara appears, so Madara delays them with multiple Chibaku Tensei. He flies into the sky and a Rinne Sharingan appears on his forehead, which he uses to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi on the moon.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes
The entire world is trapped in a dream and then wrapped into Madara's God: Nativity of a World of Trees. Sasuke is able to save Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura from the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Seeing them, Madara announces himself the world's saviour, one who has saved the world from itself by replacing the hells of reality with the heavens of dreams. While he is proselytising, Black Zetsu stabs him in the back. Black Zetsu reveals that it has never served Madara, but rather Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, and that it has taken advantage of him in order to bring about her revival. Black Zetsu transfers from Obito's body to Madara's, completely covering him and forcing him to start absorbing the chakra of those trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. After dramatically increasing in size, Madara shrinks down until a revived Kaguya is revealed in his stead.

Naruto and Sasuke eventually seal Kaguya in her own dimension, along with Black Zetsu, at which point she reverts into the Ten-Tails and spits out Madara. The Sage of the Six Paths summons Madara and everyone else back to the real world, but he can do nothing to save Madara from his approaching death as a result of having both the tailed beasts and Demonic Statue removed from his body. Madara uses his remaining time speaking to Hashirama, noting that his own dream for peace has died while Hashirama's lives on, and therefore was apparently the better of the two. Hashirama replies that they are still friends despite everything, to which Madara agrees as he dies.

Legacy
After his second death, Madara's greatest lasting influence was in Obito's actions, who used Madara's knowledge to create Akatsuki. Several years later, when Obito began operating under Madara's name, the mere possibility that he was truly Madara was enough to unify the ninja of the Five Great Shinobi Countries and trigger the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Madara's actions during life, and even those subsequent actions of Obito, would end up having disastrous effects for the Uchiha clan. Following Madara's betrayal of Konoha, the Uchiha were entirely isolated from any form of control over Konoha's future, chiefly because of the actions of Tobirama Senju. At the time, some Uchiha saw this as proof of what Madara always feared, but the fears subsided with time. Years later, when Obito causes the Nine-Tails' Attack on Konoha, Konoha once again becomes suspicious of the Uchiha and the Uchiha once again feel wronged. This time, however, their discontent does not subside. When the Uchiha began planning to overthrow Konoha, the upper echelons of Konoha's government ordered the Uchiha Clan Downfall.

Trivia

 * can be translated as "spots".
 * Studio Pierrot's Settei sheets of Madara show that he was 143.5cm when he met Hashirama.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Madara's hobby was falconry.
 * Madara's favourite food was inarizushi, while his least favourite was roe.
 * Madara wished to fight the upper class Konoha ninja.
 * Madara's favourite phrase was, which refers to defeating someone with a single blow.
 * Despite Madara being a user of the Six Paths Senjutsu and using various senjutsu techniques, he is not listed as a user of senjutsu in the fourth databook.

Quotes

 * (To Ōnoki and Mū) "There is no alliance. From here on, you will obey Konoha! And never, ever say that shinobi's name around me!"
 * (To Hashirama) "While I walk towards my real dream, I'll enjoy fighting you."
 * (To Kurama) "Nine-Tails, you are merely a momentary life, a temporary existence of coalesced energy… energy that once was a single, ultimate form! An unstable force, lacking in intelligence or sapience, you require a guide to show you purpose. That guide is the Uchiha! The tailed beasts are but slaves to those with blessed eyes. Obey!"
 * (To Obito) "This world is full of things that don't go as you wish. The longer you live the more you realise reality is just made of pain, suffering, and emptiness… Listen… In this world, whenever there is light, there are also shadows. As long as the concept of winners exist, there must also be losers. The selfish desire of wanting to maintain peace causes wars and hatred is born to protect love."
 * (To Obito before dying for the second time) "Go… until the time… I revive… you are Madara Uchiha."
 * (To Tobirama) "Hashirama's country was a shameful contradiction… Man seeks peace, yet at the same time yearning for war… Those are the two realms belonging solely to man. Thinking of peace whilst spilling blood is something only humans can do. They're two sides of the same coin. To protect something… another must be sacrificed. That is, other than that of, say a dream world."
 * (To Obito) "I taught you that in order to control people, you need to use the darkness in their hearts. And if there's no darkness, then you just create it… […] From the bottom of your heart, you felt kindness and sympathy for others. […] Your deep feelings… …for Rin… …your comrades… …the Hokage and the shinobi… All you needed to do was to fall once, and all that would turn around into deep hatred for the world."
 * (To Naruto) "I just stopped the fate of this world. I freed people from pain, suffering, emptiness. […] Naruto… You're getting in the way of everyone's happiness. Our game ends here. I turned hell into heaven. You should understand… It's already over."
 * (Last words to Hashirama) "As comrades, huh… Well… if that's how… we… will…"