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 and Madara was thought to have died. 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.

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 Madara's 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 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. 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. Madara 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 Puppet-Master Seal 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 - an infusion of he believed his will - to provide additional guidance to Obito if he ever needed it. 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 self-assured, confident and proud 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. His actions and beliefs were singularly focused on protecting Izuna, his younger and only surviving brother. So long as he had Izuna, Madara was reasonable and kind, willing to make concessions for a perceived greater good. Due to having spent much time in his childhood interacting with an outsider, Madara had not fallen victim to the Curse of Hatred as much as Izuna did and even considered accepting Hashirama's truce, only to be talked out of it by Izuna.

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 best interest of the village. Unlike Hashirama's more compassionate influence, Madara took a more merciless and ruthless approach. This was shown when the shinobi of Iwagakure only had purpose so long as they swore unwavering allegiance to Konoha and even though they were in a treaty, Madara demanded that they were to obey the village of Konoha first and foremost. Despite having reformed his friendship with Hashirama, Madara apparently didn't like Hashirama's approach for peace and forbade anyone to mention Hashirama's name around him when negotiating peace. However, in the anime, Madara was shown to have compassion too, as he was the first to help a young Biwako Sarutobi after she tripped and fell. He would also regularly have a kind and gentle look in his eyes instead of his usual hostile look when he was in the village and away from hostile environments. 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. Yet he was very disciplined, calm and focused in a fight, never allowing his failed plans or attacks to upset him, never letting superior numbers or power intimidate him, and always willing to do whatever must be done to gain victory, even if he must "lower" himself with unbecoming tactics or excess displays. This made him versatile in combat, 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.

The one exception 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.

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 his own clansmen, for the sake of its success.

In the end, after learning of Black Zetsu's manipulation and finding all his efforts failed, Madara became truly saddened and openly admitted to his mistakes and regrets. Appearing to finally break free of his Curse of Hatred, Madara openly respected Hashirama for making his dreams live beyond his own lifetime and reconciled with his childhood friend before finally passing away.

Appearance
Madara was a light-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. 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 dark red hair and grey-coloured 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 being brought back from death, he at different times proved himself more than a match for the five Kage and all nine of the tailed beasts, able to defeat all of them single-handedly, without once having to use his full power.

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.

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 Kurama and Tobirama. His reserves were so large that he could fight nonstop for twenty-four hours. 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 jutsu 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. His pain tolerance and threshold was unusually high, as he did not flinch after having his arm stabbed or subsequently ripped out of its socket; and wasn't at all bothered by being brutalised by all nine of the 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; he could produce a barrier using his gunbai. 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.

Bukijutsu
Madara was practised with a variety of different weapons. In his personal collection were seen giant shuriken, a kama, chains with weights, a kusarigama, and hand-held shuriken. He carried swords at different times in his life and demonstrated proficiency with a blade on the few occasions he's actually been seen using one. 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
As an Uchiha, Madara 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 chakra receivers to restrict and control those he has embedded with them.

Over time, Madara gained access to other nature types. After acquiring some of Hashirama's DNA, he was able to perform Wood Release, a simultaneous mixture of Earth and Water Release, with his skill being comparable to Hashirama himself. Madara could create gigantic flowering trees, whose pollen could render a foe unconscious, wood clones, and even a large wooden dragon 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 other chakra natures: first lightning, and shortly after that Storm Release, a mixture of Lightning and Water Release.

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 wood clone from the original, and enabled him to see and differentiate chakra.

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 control the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox 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. Madara's Mangekyō possessed a rare, which granted him an even higher capability of reading and predicting his opponents' movements. 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 was able to use his techniques even while not having any eyes.

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 its 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 with which it was able to bisect two mountains. According to Madara, the full power of his stabilised perfect 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 Susanoo as an armour to clad the Nine-Tails, protecting it from chakra absorption techniques. The formation of his Perfect Susanoo distorted the very air around him, so much so that it completely freed him from Gaara's Sand Binding Coffin.

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 awakened 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 use the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique and create chakra chains to fully restrain all nine tailed beasts. Madara could combine the power of his Rinnegan with the power of his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan for other techniques.

When brought back with the Impure World Reincarnation, Madara was unable to access all of his Rinnegan abilities. It was only after being revived that he could summon and control the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, suspend targets in the air, 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 regaining both his Rinnegan and becoming the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, Madara awakened a Rinne Sharingan on his forehead. With this eye, he could cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

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. In addition to his sheer adaptability, Madara was simply knowledgeable of a large variety of individuals and abilities, allowing him to identify jutsu as soon as they were performed and react with the most appropriate counter to them.

Body Modifications
In addition to amplified chakra and Wood Release, Hashirama's DNA that he infused 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 make up the Zetsu clones. When reincarnated, Kabuto Yakushi modified Madara's body "beyond his physical and combat prime", restoring his youth while retaining the abilities he developed in his old age. Kabuto implanted a pale replica of Hashirama's face on Madara's left pectoral region in order to grant Hashirama's abilities to his reincarnated body. This implant disappears after the Ten-Tails is removed from his body.

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

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 faster than the Flying Thunder God Technique and Kamui, and durable enough to survive even the Night Guy. 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
Upon becoming the Ten Tails' jinchūriki, Madara manifested the ability to produce Truth-Seeking Balls, ten black orbs comprised of all five basic nature transformations, Yin–Yang Release and the Six Paths Sage Chakra. 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.

Other Skills
Madara was a researcher, having experimented and cultivated a mindless 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.

Confining the Jinchūriki Arc
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.

Shinobi World War Arc
When the war begins, Kabuto tries to hold off using Madara in battle, wishing to save him as a trump card. When he deems too many of his other resurrected ninja have been defeated by the Allied Shinobi Forces, Kabuto decides the time has come. Using Mū as a medium, Kabuto summons Madara to the location of the Fourth Division. When he first becomes aware of his surroundings, Madara believes he has finally been brought back with Nagato's Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique. When he realises that he instead has been brought back with the Impure World Reincarnation, Madara demands an explanation. Speaking through Mū, Kabuto introduces himself and explains recent developments in the world and Tobi's current actions. After pointing out that he has restored Madara to a state beyond his prime, Kabuto requests a demonstration of Madara's legendary abilities.

Madara tears through the Fourth Division, commandeering a sword from one of its members to begin the slow work of thinning their numbers. 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 use activate his Rinnegan and absorb the attack. Kabuto attempts to take credit for his performance, to which Madara responds by stating otherwise and pulling an enormous meteorite down from the atmosphere. When the 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: he tries to summon the Nine-Tails, but discovers it's sealed in a jinchūriki, specifically Naruto. He attacks Naruto's shadow clone with Wood Release Secret Technique: Nativity of a World of Trees, which Naruto counters. This, however, exhausts the shadow clone. Madara moves in to finish off it and the other survivors, 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. The battle proceeds for some time, with Madara equaling and besting the Kage's efforts most of the time. When he is hit with the Tsuchikage's Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique, some of 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. With his interest in the battle dwindling, Madara tries to inject some fun back into the fight by creating twenty-five copies of himself, five for each Kage. Each clone also activates Suasnoo. 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 block his escape.

Ten-Tails Revival Arc
In an unseen battle, Madara leaves the Kage in near-death conditions and tracks down Obito. He finds him engaged in combat with Naruto, Killer B (the jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails), Kakashi Hatake, and Might Guy. Also nearby is the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, in the process of undergoing a premature revival into the Ten-Tails. Madara scolds Obito for being too hasty. Obito returns Madara's gunbai to him, which Madara proceeds to use to try and take the Eight and Nine-Tails before the Demonic Statue completes its metamorphosis. He creates a wood dragon to attack Naruto and B, but is blocked by Guy's Daytime Tiger. Before he can recover the Ten-Tails is revived, forcing Madara to make do.

Madara 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. They proceed to 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 his control, Obito and Madara must fend for themselves. Obito disappears to the other dimension, forcing Madara to start attacking the Allied Shinobi directly. While he does so, he also 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 gets there, though, Hashirama only sends 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 chakra receivers planted in Obito to force him to finally revive Madara. Obito resists and instead seals the Ten-Tails into himself. 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, marking each step nearer the Eye of the Moon Plan's completion.

Ultimately, Obito is defeated, the tailed beasts that make up the Ten-Tails removed from his body. Madara is also restrained by Hashirama and the Allied Forces move in to seal him. Before they can do so, 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 expresses his excitement to finally feel the thrill of battle again.

Though he's alive again, his reincarnated eyes deteriorate into nothing as Madara forfeited his real eyes during his life. To compensate for his blindness, he immobilises Hashirama with chakra receivers and absorbs his senjutsu chakra, allowing him to sense those around him. His first attacker is Sasuke Uchiha. Madara does not want to kill one of his own clansman, so he instructs Sasuke to stay out of his way. As other attackers converge on him, Madara goes after the freed tailed beasts. The One-Tail tries to seal Madara, but he breaks free with Susanoo. He is immediately met by a combined attack from all nine beasts. He escapes, but loses an arm. While he regroups he is approached by a Zetsu that has brought him the Rinnegan Obito kept in storage. Madara takes this and one of the Zetsu's arms, allowing him start round two.

Madara 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 Demonic 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 fatally stabs him.

Final Arc
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 remove his Truth-Seeking Ball before he can do so. 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 a match for his own. After a volley of attacks, Naruto sends Madara through the recreation of the Ten-Tails in its giant tree form, a remnant of Obito's earlier battle. The tree communicates with Madara and tells him to absorb it. He 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 Puppet-Master Seal 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 Rinngean, 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. 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 manipulated him for decades 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 defeat Kaguya in her own dimension. As she is sealed away, she spits out Madara's body, stripped of all its transformations and enhancements. 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 the Ten-Tails removed from his body. Madara uses his remaining time speaking to Hashirama, noting that his own dream for peace has died while Hashirama's live on, and therefore was apparently the better of the two. Hashirama replies that they are still friends despite everything, which Madara uses his last breath to say isn't so bad.

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 Great 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 begin planning to overthrow Konoha, the upper echelons of Konoha's government instead order the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

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.

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 Senju) "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…"